A Gift For You

Lenten Devotions for 2005

 J e s u s, betrayed by Judas, is
arrested
Wide open are Thy hands,
Paying with more than gold
The awful debt of guilty men,
Forever and of old.
Ah, let me grasp those hands,
That we may never part,
And let the power of their blood
Sustain my fainting heart.1

1
Bernard Of Clairvaux, ? – 1153, Wide Open Are They Hands, Common Service Book of the
Lutheran Church, The Board of Publications of the United Lutheran Church in America,
Philadelphia, 1917.
 Mo n day, February 14
Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him

there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the

elders. Mark 14:43.

In the two thousand and some years remove anything or anyone who stands
since the arrest of Jesus, not much has in our way.
changed in the world. The
old world order is still We do not want a Messiah
watching to insure that to save us since our
they remain in power and salvation would clearly
everyone is afraid of the show both others and
Lord of Life. ourselves that we are
powerless. We cannot even
By having power of some number the hairs on our
sorts, we feel that we have head but we feel that we
some measure of control in are in control. We do not
the world and in our lives. We become want to show anyone how weak we really
upset and we often turn to violence when are. We think in the battle of Passion
our power base is threatened. We want to verses power that our arms will prove to be
stronger than God's love for the Universe.

In order to bolster our case, we often will
enlist those who have the weapons to fight
with us. In doing so, we have just shown
others how powerless we really are.
God is different. Our arms do not
threaten God because God is the One who
created all power. God does not need our
help nor does God need our pledge. God
will do what God wills.

Those with some authority will be happy
to do what we ask only if it increases
their standing and if we are willing to
grant them our allegiance. Even the
power wielded by the world is limited. No
human can keep us from death. No
human can remember their thoughts
once they are dead. Our power is limited
and in many ways very childlike.
In the sending of His Son, God has
shown us of His Passion for the
Universe. Unlike those who will help us
only if we help them, God is willing to
risk everything, even death, to give us
eternal life.
God knows that one-day love will
conquer all.

Heavenly Father I pray that I may always be in accordance with

my Christian brothers and sisters. May we be like minded in our
devotion to you. Amen.
 Tuesday, February 15
Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I shall kiss is the man; arrest

him and lead him away under guard.” Mark 14:44.

Judas wants to be sure that no mistake be

made in the heat of the moment. The We can never fully answer these
gesture will be simple and clear. The questions since we clearly are not Judas.
sign will be the one he kisses. Judas also We can answer the questions for
gives clear instructions on what happens ourselves.
next. Jesus is to be arrested and taken
away under
guard.
I kissed your lips and broke your
It is obvious that
Judas has
heart. –
thought long
and hard about
Until the End of the World by U2
how to turn Jesus
over to the authorities. What has caused We have been given at great cost the gift
Judas so completely to miss Christ's of eternal life. Why then do we continue
message of Love for the world? to ignore the message of the One who
gave us this gift? Why do we forget to
love the Lord our God who saves us from
non-existence? Why do we leave out the
second part of the great commandment,
which is to love everyone in the same way
that we love ourselves?
The easy and wrong answer is that we
are sinful and cannot help doing this.
While the presence of sin in our lives is
clear enough, we as followers of Christ
cannot say that we are unable to help
others because Jesus Himself has given
us the power to love God and our
neighbor. That is one of His most
precious gifts to us because every time we
do Christ’s will we are
like Him.
Dear Lord: help me to be a sign which says that I am a follower
of you. Help me to be honest in my dealings with others and with
my God. Amen.
Every time that we deny
Christ's power in our lives, we are
betraying Jesus. Our actions may not be
as clear as a kiss and they may not
completely break His heart, but our
actions do come at a great cost. We hide
Christ's Passion for creation when we do
not do His will. We break God's will.
And in some way, we are contributing to
His suffering.
Jesus makes no mistake in the heat of the
moment. His gesture is also simple and
clear. His sign for us will be the cross.
Jesus gives us clear instructions that we
need to follow: Love God and love your
neighbor.
 Wednesday, February 16
So when he came, he went up to him at once, and said, ``Rabbi!'' and kissed him. Mark

14:45.

The student has betrayed the teacher. The In the chaos surrounding the kissing of
author of the Passion for the universe has the rabbi, the amazing fact is that Jesus
been given an insincere kiss of passion. does no thing. He does not call down an
Everything is turned around and is army of angels. He does not strike
confused. everyone dead. He does not use this
moment protest the
injustice of the act.
The Lord of the
universe goes without
protest to the
authorities.

Even in His betrayal,

Jesus continues as the
great rabbi and He is
teaching us an
important lesson.
Jesus is true to God’s teaching. In my dream, I was
In doing nothing, Jesus
clearly shows us that we must
drowning my sorrows
follow the greatest
commandment. We must love
But my sorrows they'd
God and love our neighbor even learned to swim
when it threatens our being.
Surrounding me, going
God’s love for us is so strong
that He is willing to do
down on me
whatever it takes to save us.
Spilling over the brim -
Until the End of the
World by U2

Lord God: teach me how to approach the people in my life. May

my actions be honest and trustworthy. May my actions show the
love you have planted within me. Amen.
Jesus is condemned by the
Sanhedrin
 See him at the judgment hall,
beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;
O the wormwood and the gall!
O the pangs his soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn of Christ to bear the cross.2

2
James Montgomery, 1771 - 1854, Go to Dark Gethsemane, The Hymnal and Order of Service
Authorized by The Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod, Augustana Book Concern, Rock
Island, IL, 1925.
 Thursday, February 17
When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and
scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council. Luke 22:66.
This trial of Jesus is very interesting. It
could be said that it is the most
important trial in all of history. We
have the Truth versus a truth. We have
the Word versus a word. We have the Law
versus a law. We have the Prophet versus
a prophet. We have the Lord versus a lord.
In this trial we will hear the arguments
for the One and the Only versus an
argument for any old one.
The council that hold Jesus accountable
is attempting to see if Jesus is the Truth,
the Word, the Law, the Prophet, and the
Lord. On face value, this is a very
difficult task because it seems to be
impossible to determine if any one of the
charges is valid much less, if all of the
charges are correct.
Having the benefit of history, we know
that the assembly found Jesus lacking
on all accounts. Before we are too harsh
on the council, we need to ask if we
would have done any better.
Truth is much more than proving that
some information is valid. Some
experiences are true while others are not.
Truth does not depend on words. How
does one validate the assertion that Jesus
is the only Truth in all of creation? We
have many different words that describe
our existence and us. Assuming that
we can correctly solve the first test of
determining Truth, we then can proceed
on and attempt to ascertain if Jesus is
the Word, which completely describes the
cosmos. How do we proceed given our
limited vocabulary? The Law’s purpose is
to bring life into the community. If we
have found Truth, we can now check to
see if the Law always brings life. The
problem for us limited creatures is that
we need to check to see if the Law always
applies. All true prophets are given a
divine commission from God, they speak
words that are unique and binding for
their community, the words hold a
universal truth, the words also provide a
critique of society, and the prophets help
to transform their community. Given a
human’s limited life span, finding the
Truth of any of these five attributes is
difficult to determine. The final count is
that Jesus is the Lord. How does a
creature determine the creator? How do
we find the ultimate Lord?
Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
Jesus has shown us how to look at each of
these mysteries. Everyone has been
invited to His banquet and at His
dinner, we will all have a chance to taste
and see if He is the Truth, the Word, the
Law, the Prophet, and the Lord.

Lord God, I'm concerned about having meetings with others. I pray
that my intentions will always be for the good of others. Help me
to always consider the outcome of conversations I have. Amen.
 Fr i d a y, February 18
They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.'' He replied, ``If I tell you, you will not
believe.” Luke 22:67.

Many years ago, punch cards were mutilate” the punch cards.
enclosed in some bills.
These cards held a
limited amount of
information history
such as your billing
information and one
was required to do two
actions with the card.
First, you had to return
the punch card with
your bill. Second, you
could not change the
card in any way. The
phrase that became
stuck in US culture
was that you could not
“spindle, fold, or
The reason why you had to return the
punch card with your bill was simple.
The information found on the card
would not have to be keyed in again. The
act of placing the card in the envelope
saved the company money and it
prevented your check from being
deposited in the wrong account.
The reason for not altering the card is
similar. If the punch card was changed
in any way, your identity would
change. This change would send your
payment to the wrong person.
Jesus points out that the members of the
council do not want to believe what He
has to say. The council members want to
return Jesus to the sender, just like we
used to return punch cards with bills.
They want to tell the sender that we
really do not like what we have gotten.
Are we any different?
We do not care what we do in the process
of returning Jesus. We do not care what
the process will cost since Jesus does not
appear to be the savior that we need. We
do not care what happens as long as we
do not have to deal with Him any more.
The irony is that Jesus is the savoir we
need. The Good News is that He still
loves us even though we have torn Him
up.

Dearest Jesus, provide me with your protective spiritual care over

my heart. Keep me spiritually strong so that my faith in you may
not weaken or that I succumb to having a hard heart. Amen
 Saturday, February 19
“And if I question you, you will not answer.” Luke 22:68.
Our trials require an appearance of
truth. We really do not care how we
arrive at justice, as long as we have
moved beyond the doubt that a
reasonable person might have about the
situation. In courtrooms throughout the
US, we present evidence to inform the
judge and the jury about the guilt or the
innocence of the involved parties. If
truth disappears from the US
courtrooms, then we will have anarchy
since we will have lost our control over
truth.
What would happen if the Truth really
appeared in the courtroom? Would the
judge and the jury recognize absolute
Truth? Or more to the question, would we
be able to judge if Jesus was the Truth?
I would hazard a guess that if the Truth
would appear in front of us, we would not
want to experience the Truth. This fact
can be simply seen in any congregation
around the world. There are always
people who do not come when the Truth is
presented. We do not come to hear the
Truth, to see the Truth, or to taste the
Truth.
In addition to not being where the Truth
is found, we also do not do what the
Truth demands us. We do not tell others
where Truth can be found. We do not
follow the rules that the Truth has given
us. No one of us loves others as we love
ourselves and we do not place God first
in our lives.

Our judgment of the Truth is harsh. We
reject the Truth and the Truth’s
teachings. We do not want the Truth
around. We have the opinion that our
version of a truth is better than the
Truth. We trust our feelings rather than
placing our lives in the Truth.
Our denial of the Truth does not make
the Truth false. The Truth continues
even when we do not want it.
The truth is that the Truth has the
Passion for everyone, including all of us
who want the Truth to stop. The Truth
will continue to come to us. The Truth
gives us the strength to accept the Truth’s
teaching. The Truth’s power does not stop
there. The Truth’s potency changes how
we do everything. The Truth’s vitality
gives us the ability to thank God for the
Truth.

Heavenly Father, I want to be firm in my faith in Jesus Christ. I

want to put my trust in Him as your Son, my Redeemer. Help me to
process my Lord and Savior to those who need Him. Help me to
proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the whole world. Amen.
 Soli Deo Gloria
May every heart confess Thy name,
And ever Thee adore;
And, seeking Thee, itself inflame
To seek Thee more and more.3

3
Bernard Of Clairvaux, ? – 1153, O Jesus! King Most Wonderful, The Lutheran Hymnary
Including the Symbols of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Augsburg Publishing House,
Minneapolis, MN, 1935.
Historical Court Photograph -- Courtesy of Sophienburg - New Braunfels Archive &
Museum of History

Comal County -- Modern Court Photograph

Ann Wofford -- Prayers

Elaine Lenz -- Crosses

Kelli Roberts -- Music Suggestions of Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) by Andrew

Lloyd Webber and Until the End of the World by U2

The Winstons -- Photographs

Jody Winston -- Writing