Faith is often painted as a place to get answers, and yet I find the longer I have walked this life with Jesus the more questions I have.
I have been reading the gospels again, and I am struck by how many questions Jesus poses to his followers and those he encounters along the way. Central to our faith is the value of asking questions and being curious.
As we finish this time of Lent, this time of travelling with Jesus to the cross, I am drawn to looking at the questions he asks and opening my heart to listen to what that question might illuminate in me today. Join with me as we journey to Easter and look at the questions Jesus asks.
Each devotion has a time for reflection and a prayer, you may wish to pause whilst you reflect.
As we enter into Good Friday, the day of the sacrifice, the day of the cross, one question from Jesus lingers with me.
“Do you understand what I have done for you?”1
Jesus asks this question after he washes the disciples’ feet. But it is one that I sit with as I look at the magnitude of the cross, the depth of sacrifice. It is a question that I mull over.
Do I understand what He has done for me?
The answer honestly is, “No”. Yes, I can intellectually explain why we have Good Friday. Yes, I am so very grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus, and that I live in relationship with him.
Do I understand what he has done for me? Not fully. Not the depths.
Whilst I am incapable of totally understanding what he has done for me; I can tell you why he did it.
Love.
And no, I cannot quantify the depth of that love, nor can I fathom it. I can talk about how he came to save the world, and that no one is exempt from his love, but when it comes to quantifying that love I am lost.
When it comes to a real understanding of the cost, of the price he paid, again I am out of my depth.
There is a beautiful mystery about Good Friday, as Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians we are only seeing dimly.2 There is some understanding, yes, but not all. We still don’t truly understand all he has done for us.
Reflection:
Today, take some time to sit with Jesus and ask him to reveal what he did for you, on the cross. You may like to read the account again in one of the gospels.3
Prayer:
The prayer today comes from Romans 8:38-39:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Amen