WEEK 4| LENT DEVOTIONAL

This Week’s Readings & Devotion:

Psalm 126

Isaiah 43:16-21

Philippians 3:4-14

John 12:1-8

WEEKLY REFLECTION:

Today’s reflection, our last one in the lenten season, takes us to the Cross as the supreme object of contemplation, the guarantee of our future hope, and the example for our lives.

Let’s begin with Isaiah 43:16-21. The overriding concern for the Prophet and his audience is exile. When the Israelites were conquered by Babylon, God’s people had lost everything. Their lands were plundered, their homes burned down, their families separated, and ultimately their God disgraced. The physical crisis caused by exile raised a theological crisis: where was God in the midst of this? For the audience, the exile challenged God’s faithfulness, his very identity. It seems that after all this time, the Israelites are still pilgrims, wandering then in Egypt and now in Babylon.

But God is not silent to their wanderings! In response to their questions, the Lord instructs Isaiah to offer a word of encouragement, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem'' (Isaiah 40:1-2). Herein 43:16-21, we get the content of this encouragement. Listen closely: “Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.” This is Exodus language! The Prophet is telling his people to remember that the God who speaks is the One who delivered their ancestors out of Egypt! He made the way out of the sea, a path in the waters for them! Yet right after using the exact language that prompts remembrance of that episode, The Lord says, “Do not remember the former things!”. Why not remember? Because the Lord says, “I am about to do a new thing…I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” In other words, the Lord is promising the Israelities a New Exodus! He is pledging a redemption so great that it will surpass the original one. Just as God kept the original Israelites safe from the Egyptian chariots, so God promises to keep them safe from the desert temptations -the wild beasts- who prey on them. Finally, the Lord promises to lead them into living waters. This promise is striking because the Israelites' exile was caused by their own transgressions. Their unrepentant idolatry and willful sinning caused them to forsake what the Lord held out to them. Despite this, the Lord has not abandoned Israel but promises a deliverance that will end any comparison to the original Exodus. No more longing for the “Good Old Days'', the Lord promises a new and final deliverance! The purpose of this is for the Lord’s people, “the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”

In Psalm 126 it appears that this prophecy is fulfilled. Written after their restoration back to Israel, the Psalmist writes, “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” In other words, when they received the decree from King Cyrus to come back to Israel, they thought it was a dream! Spurgeon puts it nicely, “The mercy was so unexpected, so amazing, so singular that they could not do less than laugh.” Verse 3 gives us a model for Christian worship, “The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.” They rejoiced because (1) their deliverance was from a great bondage that seemed too good to be true, (2) their deliverance was sudden and unexpected, (3) the manner of their salvation was in such a way that no one could take the credit except God. But again, there is a hint that their deliverance is not yet complete. Look at verse 4, “Restore our fortunes, O LORD”. This prayer would not be necessary if they were already restored. So they pray for God to complete the work He had begun, the New Exodus promised in Isaiah. At the end of the Exodus, the Lord makes His home with the people. The Psalmist desires that same restoration. They have been called out of Babylon, but they are still waiting for the fullness and intimacy of God’s presence. They desire the glory of the Lord to fill their new Jerusalem, their new temple, as it did in the first! As long as that glory does not come, then the Israelites remain in a state of exile. Or at the very least an incomplete Exodus.

In fact, this Exodus is not complete until Jesus comes. Our passage, John 12 shows us that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise! We’re familiar with this story, with Mary’s extravagant and scandalous act and how our Lord not only commends her but promises that her act will be told so long as we talk about Jesus! (Matt 26:6-13). But for now, let’s focus on the context of anointing. In the chapter before, the stench of Lazarus’ dead body is mentioned. It was customary for dead bodies to be embalmed and covered in perfume to cover the smell. But here, Lazarus’ sister pours out oil on a living person. If you know how the story goes, then John is hinting that Jesus is really being anointed for his burial. He took away the stench of Lazarus, but in doing so caused the final controversy that would lead to his own death, to him carrying the smell. In fact, Jesus implies this when he says, “She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial” At the same time, anointing is also an act of coronation, which is probably what Mary had intended in the first place. And we see in the verses that follow, Jesus enters Jerusalem as the rightful King and the rightful Messiah who will finally restore the fortunes of Israel. This anointing is for a burial and for a coronation! These two converge on the Cross, where Jesus is the enthroned King (19:19). But how does this King accomplish the promise on the cross? Look closer at verse 3, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” A fragrance filling the house recalls the image of God’s glory filling the house when it was consecrated! (Look at Exodus 40:34-35, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”). John is implying ever so subtly here that Jesus is being consecrated as the new temple. Christ’s death on the cross is His enthronement as Israel's King and the establishment of God’s full and intimate presence. Indeed, When Jesus said, “it is finished”, he completed the work necessary for us to receive the fullness of God’s presence. He gave up his Spirit so that we might receive it (John 19:30). Both resurrected and exalted, Christ now rules as king and mediator of God’s presence. He is the one who leads his people out in the New Exodus! Anyone who believes in Him, is counted an Israelite (Gal 3:7), and brought along on this journey.

So the Cross is the ground of our hope that we will be led out into a New Exodus; into the fullness of God’s presence with resurrected and restored bodies. However, Paul holds the Cross also as a daily example. Consider Phil 3:4b, “if anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more.” Paul goes on to list all the qualifications he has to esteem himself. In modern terms, he lists out a resume with the most prestigious qualifications and recommendations possible. And then he tears it up! He says in no uncertain terms, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.” Which is to say, he regards the former life he had as a zealous Jew as a loss. He forsakes it. In fact, he exiles himself from it! He is willing to lose everything he has on this Earth, his closest relationships, his livelihood, and his culture to know God. Those things, even though they have a claim to be from God, were actually enticing Paul to place his hope in temporary rituals and customs instead of Christ. So then, to follow Christ in the New Exodus requires that we take our own Cross, and we forsake the customs, desires, and cultures we have inherited in order to know Christ. This is a hard saying but he says again, “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” By knowing Christ, he means taking hold of Christ in prayer, meditating on Christ and His work for us, loving Christ by keeping His commandments and honoring His bride. In the end, it is not looking to whatever gain we have from our money, family, or culture, but solely looking to Christ as our guide in life. Puritan David Clackson put it like this, “so the soul to whom the Lord has made this rich, this excellent discovery of Christ, he has found a mine more precious than gold, and larger than all the face of the earth; he casts off the menstruous rags of his own righteousness; his former accomplishments are now but as a beggar’s furniture; his heart is full of joy.”

So the mandate for us in the time in between, the time spent waiting for Christ to complete the New Exodus in the resurrection of our bodies and establish life in the New Jerusalem (where God’s presence will fully reside), is to forsake our tendency to be Earthly-minded. We must count Christ worthy of devotion and worthy of sacrificing our lives in praise. This is the sacrifice that Mary makes in anointing Jesus with oil that costs more than a year’s wages! The task is difficult. Consider Judas’ protest in John 12. He says that she should’ve done better by donating to the poor. John tells us he was insincere, but Jesus’ reply does not say that explicitly. Instead, Jesus tells us rightly, that He is worthy of the sacrifice. So then it is the work of Judas, the Antichrist, the literal agent of Satan, to take our eyes off Christ. In fact, the enemy might turn our eyes away from Jesus in the name of a virtue! Caring for our families, helping the poor, and even serving the Churches might be used to make us forget that our true hope lies not in what we do or own but in He who died for us. To fight the Devil here, to fight earthly-mindedness, is then a task of applying the Cross to our own lives. We fight the flesh by contemplating the Cross- reminding ourselves that it is our ultimate assurance- and looking to it as the model for our life in temporary exile.

The Cross gives us hope for a new life. You see, we are just as much defined by our own pain as our successes. But Jesus bids us to lay both on the Cross. For some of us, it is easy to see Christ as our highest good, our sole treasure. Yet it is difficult to let go of our pain, deep sorrow, and hurt. The Cross tells us that Jesus bore these too. For those who have been injured by betrayal, Jesus was betrayed by his own. For those who have been abandoned by others, Jesus was denied and deserted by his own disciples. For those who have been defined by illness, Christ became stricken, smitten, and afflicted. So to look to the Cross is to count even those pains as a loss. They no longer define you, Christ does. He is the one who leads you out of pain and into new life because He bore it all for us. The injury is not denied, but it is redeemed. We have this hope: “those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.”

To apply the Cross is to examine everything through the Truth of the New Exodus. It is to acknowledge that God is present in our wandering and will lead us home, transforming us so that we do not remember our past success or failure but conform to the image of our resurrected King. We crucify ourselves in the hope and knowledge that we will be resurrected as He was. As we look to the Cross as our example and our hope, as we count the earthly and fading things as loss to become more like Christ in His death and resurrection, let our actions embody the words of the great hymn:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all. 

Contemplative Hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross