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Questions

Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:38

Two nights have passed and they still remain in hiding. The Eleven sit in a room darkened not only by the lack of light, but by the loss of their Rabbi’s once constant company. His presence has been replaced with an all-enveloping depression. They had devoted their entire existence to following Him, and now all that remains is a sentiment of abandonment. Had they abandoned Him or had He abandoned them? His body was not the only thing entombed. Their hopes, desires, and lives were buried and had died along side Him.

His words hung like a wraith haunting all of their thoughts. They had nothing else to do but ponder the last tragic hours of His all-too-short life. The mysterious words that He spoke to them of His imminent end were now blatant. He had said He would suffer a heinous death. He named His accusers days before the events would transpire.

But it was His words about a cross that seemed to trouble them the most. He proclaimed, on more than one occasion, that the cost of following Him was their willingness to carry a cross every day. In fact, He had said that they had to lose their lives for the gospel, to gain life in God. But where was that good news now? His statements about the cross caused all of them to be dreadfully uncomfortable. In their minds, thieves, murderers, and the godless were the only ones destined for that specific means of Roman torture. Why would He compare following after Him to the most brutal death sentence their oppressors employed? Yet they now realized that their beloved Master and steadfast friend, the one they all believed to be Messiah, had carried a criminal’s weight. His words about carrying a cross, once uncomfortable, were now tormenting to this group of men who were gradually pining away in the darkness. They wondered what their lives were worth. What was His life worth? So here they cower as the last few hours of their beloved Jesus’ life replay in their minds over and over again.

This way of the cross began late in the evening just two nights ago in a garden called Gethsemane…

This day, I begin a journey.
I am not sure where this expedition of the heart will lead me.
Yet I am assured that You will guide my steps.
Help me, through the story of Your passion, to discover what it means
To take up the cross and follow in Your footsteps.
Help me journey from Gethsemane to the empty tomb
Discovering what it means to carry the cross and follow You.

—

Each day we will provide a “daily question” to help you navigate your Lenten journey. This is your time to reflect on how God is moving through your life.

“The cross was a place of death that brought forth life. What places in your heart need to be put to death in order for you to be living a life in Him?”