Lent Devotional

John 8:1-11 (ESV)

 … but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Early in the morning he came again to the temple.
All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him,
“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?” This they said to test him,
that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them,
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
But when they heard it, they went away one by one,
beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone
with the woman standing before him.
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

The Law was clear — adultery was a capital offense with two guilty parties: “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die” (Deuteronomy 22:22). In accordance with the Law, therefore, the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus with an adulterous woman to be stoned. Where was the man? They didn’t care. After all, their concern wasn’t really with the Law. Their concern was with testing Jesus.

But Jesus wasn’t fooled. He said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Of course, Jesus wasn’t making a recommendation for a new judicial system; no criminals would be held accountable if judges had to be without sin. Jesus was making a point – a point he frequently made to the Pharisees. He often said things to them like, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9:13; c.f., Matthew 12:1-8; John 7:21-23). In other words, he was telling them that they were missing the most important part of the Law – that its foundation was love (Matthew 22:34-40; Matthew 7:12; Galatians 5:14). Thus, although they appeared interested in upholding the Law, they were actually breaking it because they weren’t acting on the basis of love, grace, humility and compassion.

So they went away. And Jesus told the woman, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” He didn’t say, “It doesn’t matter whether you sin.” Instead, he said, in effect, “I myself am establishing your righteousness on the foundation of love and grace. Therefore, don’t sin — not because you fear its punishment, but because you have met me and have been saved by grace.”— By The Park Forum

Prayer

Lord, We exalt the name of Jesus because his righteousness has been imputed to us through grace alone! Therefore, even as we seek to sin no more, let us long for holiness and righteousness out of a deep recognition that we have been saved by grace. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

Mark 1:40-45 (ESV)

 And a leper came to him, imploring him,
and kneeling said to him,
“If you will, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand
and touched him and said to him,
“I will; be clean.”
And immediately the leprosy left him,
and he was made clean.
And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once,
and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded,
for a proof to them.” But he went out and
began to talk freely about it,
and to spread the news,
so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town,
but was out in desolate places,
and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Contracting leprosy was one of the most tragic things that could have happened to an individual in the ancient world. Whenever a leper was around other people, he was required to shout “unclean, unclean,” so passersby would know to keep their distance. A leper was required to live “alone, outside the camp,” so as to reduce the risk of transmitting his disease to others (Leviticus 13:45-46). To be a leper was to be isolated and humiliated perpetually.

And then Jesus came and changed everything. One of the great beauties of the Gospels is how frequently they record Jesus’ interactions with lepers. He approached them and was approached by them. He treated them with respect and kindness. He even did the unthinkable: he touched them, and his touch made them clean. Jesus healed the lepers.

Many biblical scholars have pointed out that there is an analogy between the physical condition of leprosy and the spiritual condition of sin. Sin in our hearts isolates us, both from God and from other people. Try as we might to hide it or remove it, the stain of sin remains present. Like Lady Macbeth, we try to wash away the stain of sin crying, “out damn’d spot,” all to no avail. We are unclean, and we know it.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is the contagiously clean man. When he touched a leper, Jesus did not contract leprosy. Rather, the leper became clean. Those trying in vain to remove their sin must allow themselves to be touched by the contagiously clean man. And, like the leper in the story, may we who have experienced that touch possess an uncontainable gratitude, talking freely about our encounter with the contagiously clean man.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Son who makes clean everything he touches. By his grace may our hearts and our actions be touched by him this day and everyday. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

Matthew 4:1-11 (ESV)

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights,
he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city
and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down,
for it is written, ‘He will command his
angels concerning you,’ and
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written,
‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world
and their glory. And he said to him,
“All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him,
“Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Then the devil left him, and behold,
angels came and were ministering to him.

Here, we learn about three specific ways that Satan sought to tempt Jesus, each one more significant, by challenging his desire for food, urging him to display power sensationally, and encouraging him to use political power to establish God’s kingdom. In this third instance, he was tempting Jesus to bypass the cross. The devil was more than willing to give us all back to Jesus if only Jesus would worship him instead of God. Skip the suffering, save the people, deny God, do it the easy way. For each response, Jesus relied on Scripture, the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), to resist.

These temptations occurred following Jesus’ baptism. Right after Jesus was anointed for ministry, the Spirit led him into the wilderness for 40 days and nights of fasting “to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus’ time in the desert reminds us of Moses fasting for the same period on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28). After Moses’ 40 days and nights, God gave him the Ten Commandments for the Israelites. Thus, here we see that Jesus is the new Moses come to fulfill the law that Moses was given.

Prayer

Gracious God, we praise you that you know what it is like to be tempted in every way, as we are. Thank you for showing us how to resist temptation and thank you for enduring the cross and for fulfilling the law, for our sakes, on our behalf. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

John 1:29-34 (ESV)

 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him,
and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!
This is he of whom I said,
‘After me comes a man who ranks before me,
because he was before me.’
I myself did not know him,
but for this purpose I came baptizing with water,
that he might be revealed to Israel.”
And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit
descend from heaven like a dove,
and it remained on him.
I myself did not know him,
but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain,
this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

In Genesis 22, Abraham took his only son Isaac to Moriah because God had commanded him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. Isaac questioned his father, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham responded to his child that “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” As Abraham was about to sacrifice his own son on the altar, God stopped him and provided a ram to take the place of Isaac.

Jesus is the Lamb that God provided to take away all sins. Abraham did not have to sacrifice his only son, because God chose to sacrifice his son to atone for our sins. Because of this, God views us in the way he viewed his son when John saw the Spirit descend from heaven upon him. He calls us, both men and women, his beloved sons, with whom he is well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

We no longer have to live in anxiety laboring to justify our existence. Our justification is in Christ, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God who took away our sins and the sins of the world.

Prayer

God, our Father, we thank you that we are your beloved sons with whom you are well pleased. We pray that you will work deep into our being the truth that we no longer have to labor for our salvation, but we can find rest knowing our identity is in the Lamb of God. Give us an understanding of the depth of the sacrifice that was made to atone for our sin so we may fall more in love with you to grasp who we are and who we shall become. In Christ’s Name, Amen.