Lent 2025 – The Table is Set – Stations of the Cross 9 – Purity 1631
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Good morning,
Today’s photo featuring a solitary lamp post and the silhouettes of buildings and trees as the first light of day and the lingering darkness of night meet each other on the horizon comes to us from yours truly as I captured this quiet still moment in the parking lot of the Embassy Suite Hotel in Cockeysville, Maryland before hitting the road back home from my mid-winter recess vacation on February 22nd.
Well, it’s Saturday and as I sit in the quiet weekend predawn stillness of my countryside home, I am enjoying the silence and filled with the joy of anticipation as I am looking forward to going to see Part 3 of The Chosen Last Supper later this afternoon.
While the content of Season 5 of the Chosen has been a mix of the triumphant and trepidatious, ranging from the joy of Jesus’s being honored by the crowds on Palm Sunday, which we will celebrate tomorrow, to the fearful realization that His betrayal at the hands of Judas and the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry is coming quickly, I am excited that “The Table is Set” to see how these Biblical events will play out on the big screen and how and where in the Biblical narrative will the season draw to an end.
I know that the there is criticism from some of how the Chosen tells the story of Jesus, and that it is only a television series based on the Bible, but when I go to the theatre today I will consider it to be an act of worship – not to the actors or the producers of the Chosen – but to Jesus because it produces the opportunity to spend a few hours contemplating what it could have been like to be present during Jesus’ earthly ministry. When I sit down to watch the suspension of disbelief complete, I will take a seat at the Last Supper as if I was there myself.
Speaking of worship and trying to imagine being present in the life of Jesus, during this season of Lent, the Lord has put it on my heart to present the Stations of the Cross, one day at a time, to help us to never forget Christ’s sacrifice and the cost for our peace and relationship with God . It is my hope that presenting the Stations of the Cross will help us to draw close to our Lord and Savior in worship as we move toward Resurrection Sunday, aka Easter, next week and Palm Sunday tomorrow.
Today, we go to the ninth station, where Jesus falls for the third time on His way to the cross at Golgotha. The prayers and liturgy of “The Way of the Cross” leads us to pray:
Figure 1 – Ninth Station of the Cross: Jesus Falls a Third Time – Catholictradition.org
(To examine and to pray through the Stations of the Cross, I will be utilizing “The Way of the Cross” PDF that you can download from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester and images from Catholictradition.org).
Amen. I pray that this contemplation of Jesus falling for the third and final time before his arrival at Calvary, stirs up love and compassion in your heart for His suffering and deep appreciation for the fact that He endured it all for us, for all who would one day see the truth of who Jesus is and who would trust in Him as Savior and Lord. It is my prayer that the Lord will cause you to draw close to Him and His purpose for your life, today, tomorrow on Palm Sunday, throughout Holy Week and for always.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Lust – Evil Desires.
Genesis 3:6 (ESV) So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Today’s verse falls under the first point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Lust – Evil Desires.
1. Eve’s sin began with lusting.
Today’s Bible verse tells us of the three-tiered temptation that caused Eve and Adam to sin and how it was lust that caused the fall of man.
1 John 2:16 tells us about the three “lusts” that Eve and Adam (and all of us) fall prey to:
1 John 2:16 (NKJV) 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
The lust of the flesh alludes to the desires of the body (gluttony, drunkenness, sex) and is seen in Eve’s seeing the fruit as good for food, regardless of it being forbidden.
The lust of the eyes alludes to coveting or wanting what we see (material possessions or outward appearances, things that aren’t ours that we wish to take for ourselves (envy & theft) or that we think will fulfill us (idolatry). With Eve, we see this lust in that the forbidden fruit was a “delight to her eyes”.
The lust of the pride of life alludes to a confidence in one’s own resources, abilities, or earthly things to meet our needs, leading to pride and a denial of a need for God. With Eve, we see the pride of life in her desire to be made wise instantly, not from the source of all wisdom, God and from fellowship with Him, but from a quick bite of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Pondering 1 John 2:16, we see that Eve’s sin in Genesis 3:6, and all of our sins begin with lust.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 130
But He passed through the midst of them and left. – Luke 4:30
We do not know whether it was by some miracle, or by the mere force of His personality, that Jesus escaped from the crowd which was intent on killing Him because He had spoken well of Gentiles who heard God’s Word and exposed the crowd’s sin of rejecting Him. The tragic words that we do know are, “… and left.” Jesus left people behind who were not receptive to the Good News that He was proclaiming. He would not force them to believe. This still happens today. When people are opposed to the Gospel, they often lose their opportunity to find Jesus as their Savior, often forever. Those who would put Him to death today if they were able, turn on Christians as the closest substitute. When Christians are persecuted for their faith (not for some bad behavior on their part), it is because the persecutors dislike (or even hate) the Lord. Because you are a Christian, the more godly you become, the more you remind them of Him and the lifestyle that He approves.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 138.
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