This year, Easter is arriving with Mark 2 still fresh on my mind. The last supper, denials, trial, beatings, crucifixion. What a Friday it must have been. What a dark Saturday with hope seemingly gone forever. And what joyous celebration when death is conquered.
But tomorrow may I meditate on the death that comes before life.
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
In staff-lingo, some questions I ponder: In what ways have I died? Where am I unwilling to die, yet the thing I am holding onto is preventing from deeper life? What life have I gained by losing?
This passage was the tipping point for me as laid down on a rooftop in Kolkata the summer of 2010. Brokenness and despair in ways I have never seen, yet glimpses of redemption. Yes, glimpses of redemption, pockets of hope--those were my phrases for the summer. The overwhelming goodness and healing never swept in and still hasn't. And yet light persists. Hope persists. And Jesus is present--He dwelled among us. Lived, died, and lives now. So that we too may die to what is life-less and live for abundant life.
Even as I write this I struggle to find words, for one can be alive yet not live, but how does one describe dying to a life that isn't alive? Fortunately Jesus promises both.
But tomorrow may I meditate on the death that comes before life.
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
In staff-lingo, some questions I ponder: In what ways have I died? Where am I unwilling to die, yet the thing I am holding onto is preventing from deeper life? What life have I gained by losing?
This passage was the tipping point for me as laid down on a rooftop in Kolkata the summer of 2010. Brokenness and despair in ways I have never seen, yet glimpses of redemption. Yes, glimpses of redemption, pockets of hope--those were my phrases for the summer. The overwhelming goodness and healing never swept in and still hasn't. And yet light persists. Hope persists. And Jesus is present--He dwelled among us. Lived, died, and lives now. So that we too may die to what is life-less and live for abundant life.
Even as I write this I struggle to find words, for one can be alive yet not live, but how does one describe dying to a life that isn't alive? Fortunately Jesus promises both.
Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self? If any of you are ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Luke 9:21-24
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