LEST THE CROSS BE EMPTIED OF ITS POWER
Table of Contents
Week One Mark 14:1-31 Prelude of the Passion
Week Two Mark 14:32-72 Arrest and Trial
Week Three Mark 15:1-41 Condemnation and Crucifixion
Week Four Mark 15:42-16:20 Death and Resurrection
Meditation Suggestion
Christians should not view Good Friday as a day of leisure, but a day of devotion and worship. In the past years, we have gathered brothers and sisters one week before Good Friday to meditate on the passion of Christ. This has always felt too hasty to commemorate the Word Incarnate and His wondrous work on the Calvary Cross.
This year, we hope to use one entire month to do it. We will read through the passion account recorded in the Gospel of Mark, beginning with Chapter 14. This was the time when Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly “in the name of the Lord”. It is also the final week before the Lord’s crucifixion.
We have a total of four booklets, one for each week; five devotion passages per week, one for each day. Each devotion is divided into four parts: scripture reading, pastoral sharing, personal reflection and prayer. You can also find a few hymns printed at the back of the booklet.
You may set aside 30 minutes each day, meditate on the given scripture passage, sing a hymn, write down your reflection, and end off with a prayer of confession and dedication. I believe your relationship with the Lord will grow deeper.
We have also dedicated four Wednesday Life Bible Study sessions that lead up to Good Friday for you to share your learnings. This way we can encourage and edify one another with our spiritual blessings.
Due to this year’s COVID-19 outbreak, many of us now have additional time to rest from work and from worldly leisure. Let us use this time to draw near to God to meditate on –
this great and mighty Saviour whose work shook the heavens and earth,
this amazing Grace which even the angels long to look into,
this Missionary for whom Abraham willingly forsake his riches and Paul willingly gave up his honoured religious position to follow,
this Word of life for which generations of godly saints before us did not hesitate to guard with their lives.
May the Lord wipe off the earthly dust which has settled on our souls, lift the fancy veil which has obscured the sight of our faith, remove the yeast of sin which has been fermenting in our lives, and spur us on to carry the cross once again to follow the Lord Jesus, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power over us.