Daily Devotional for Monday 22nd July
The Crucifixion of Jesus
Have you ever considered who was responsible for the death of Jesus?
Here it is, the climax of Mark’s Gospel: the crucifixion of Jesus. We start this week as Jesus is carrying His cross to the place where He is going to die. He was struggling so much, that the soldiers forced someone else to carry it the rest of the way.
Not only was Jesus going through this painful torture, He had to endure insults from all sides in the process.
Just as we have seen in our reflections in Mark 14 & 15 so far, all were responsible for the death sentence on Jesus, so these three groups are representative of those people: v29-30: Passers-by hurled insults, v31-32a: The religious authorities mocked him and v32b: the robbers also heaped insults.
Time to reflect…
If you want to take your study further – Have a look at Psalm 22:6,8 and Isaiah 53:3 to start an exploration of how awesome it is that Jesus’ death fulfilled Old Testament prophecies from hundreds of years before!
We pray that this will increase your faith and trust in God and His word.
Pause to pray…
Ironically, the cruelty intended to show that Jesus was not the king of the Jews, actually confirms that He is the King of the Jews, by fulfilling Old Testament Scripture and Jesus’ own prophecies.
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for sending Jesus to die in our place in order to take our punishment on Himself, bring us life, forgiveness, rescue and an eternal relationship with you. Please encourage us this day with your Gospel news and please renew our faith in you so that we may serve you and love you, building-up your Church and telling others about you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
