March 22, 2024 

Today’s Reading: Mark 10:32-34

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 5:1-6:1, Mark 15:33-47

[Jesus said,] “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.  And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him.  And after three days he will rise.” (Mark 10:33-34)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus is leading His disciples to Jerusalem.  This may sound like a simple and unimportant point, but it holds more meaning than what we first might assume.  For it is God who leads His people along the Way.  While it may seem sometimes as if we are wandering aimlessly through this Vale of Tears, it is our Lord who is always in front of us, leading us to the cross.  And what better time to be reminded of this than two days before Holy Week when we will be led from Palm Sunday all the way to Good Friday and the place of our salvation?  …  Now back to the text…

It is interesting that some who are following Jesus are amazed and excited while others are afraid.  Judging by what happens immediately following our text, of which we heard about last Sunday, it would seem as if those who were amazed were the Twelve.  They still don’t understand what it means that Jesus is the Messiah.  They still don’t quite grasp the enormity of what is about to transpire in only a few days, even though Jesus has already told them.

And so He tells them again.  And perhaps we should take note of this.  The most important thing that Jesus ever did, the whole purpose for Him becoming incarnate and taking on human flesh, is so that He can go to the cross and die for the sins of the world.  …  The sinner in us often gets tired of hearing about the cross.  We want the glory without the suffering.  We want the “Now what?” after Good Friday.  But without Good Friday nothing else matters.  Without Good Friday all the “Now what’s,” in the world are pointless.

So gird your loins my brothers and sisters.  Next week Jesus is once again leading you to the cross, so that He can once again tell you everything that He has done for you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Then, for all that wrought my pardon, For Thy sorrows deep and sore, For Thine anguish in the Garden, I will thank Thee evermore, Thank Thee for Thy groaning, signing, For Thy bleeding and Thy dying, For that last triumphant cry, And shall praise Thee, Lord, on high.  (LSB 420:7)

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

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