A Lenten Devotion for Wednesday, March 26
- ontrakk
- Mar 26
- 1 min read
John 19:24
“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
In his comments regarding this verse, Lucado focuses on how far believers sometimes stray from the most important. The soldiers at the foot of Jesus’ cross have no idea what is happening. To them the most important issue is who will get to keep which items of Jesus’ clothing. How often do we miss the point and waste time on less important peripherals? When our family moved to Contoocook in 1997, CUMC was trying to recover from a conflict within the congregation. The way I see it, it has never really recovered. How would Jesus see this? What would he say? Granted, this was many years ago, but these conflicts play out on a smaller (sometimes larger) scale in other congregations, and other denominations to this day. What are we doing? We are missing the point when we allow these things to happen. We are failing as Christians when we squabble over details.
Holy Lord, lead us, as a family of believers. Help us to live and work and serve as united believers with United goals: to love our neighbors and in so doing bring others to you through relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen
Becky, transforming
John 19:25
Rather than the verse, I felt the need to focus on Max Lucado's writing for today. It brought to mind the words of a song composed by Pepper Choplin as part of a Cantata called "Come to the Cross and Remember." The words are: Father I am your Son
Now Come and make them one
One through love, so that the world will see their love and Unity, and all will know, their lives will show that Love fills the Cup and Love breaks the bread. What has happened to Christ's church that it has become many different churches, all professing to know Him better.
Prayer: Gracious God, put your hand of love and unity on our man…
Wednesday, March 26th, 2025
John 19:24
So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things,
This same scenario was discussed in last night’s meeting. It was customary for the soldiers of any criminal being crucified to have the clothes left to them after the crucifixion . Jesus’s clothes were no different. How Jesus’s undergarments were obtained , we do or know. Perhaps by Mary his mother. (See lucado pg 55) Just that they were one solid piece of material with…
John 19:24
Revealing the interpretive error I made regarding yesterday’s verse aside, I resonated with Lucado’s lament about the direction of the Church writ large over the centuries. We fuss and fret, split and go in different directions over issues that are felt to be of great importance, while Jesus bleeds and dies in the Cross. The mad dash of denominationalism is a uniquely Protestant phenomenon that has done more to harm the witness of the Gospel than promote it. Non-believers watch in amusement as denominations clash while all claim to be followers of the same Christ. Denominational leaders too often seem more interested in preserving the institution and political structure of the denomination than in evangelism and discipleship. Will…