❖ Video
❖ Audio
Meditations for Passion Week 2021
Andy Nagahara
From today, we begin the Passion Week, which is the most important week of the year for followers of Jesus. I hope that you too will spend this week in a meaningful way. So, I will be taking a break from the series this week and next week to give a message for the Passion Week and resurrection. This week I will be sharing my message for Passion Week and what I would like you to do with me this week.
That is to have time for meditation. Meditation as the (Chinese) kanji characters depict, means spending time together in silence while thinking about Jesus. Just this week, I would like you to have a little longer time alone with God than usual. And let the cross of the Lord be deeply engraved in your heart. From now on, I would like to show you how anyone can do this.
Meditation is different from prayer in that it is a communication with God without words. All the senses are to be carefully directed to God. Reading the Bible and praying are just the beginning and end of the process.
As long as you have the time, it’s a very simple thing to do. It can be anywhere, but it is best to be alone, and in a place that is as quiet and where you can be as focused as possible. At the beginning of the meditation, you should pray.
” Lord, let your words, the food for my soul, that I will receive from now on, be firmly engraved in my heart to remember your cross.”
Then, read the words of the Bible slowly and carefully. Now it’s time to meditate; for about 10 minutes, or a little longer if you have time, close your eyes and let the inspiration from the Bible come to your mind. Wait for God to speak to your heart in the silence. When you think it is roughly the time you had in mind, pray again, briefly. It is a prayer of response to what God has taught you during this time.
To help you with the meditation, here is a brief description of the text.
3/28 Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-5)
Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey colt
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'”
Verse 5 is quoted from Zechariah 9:9. What we need to keep in mind is that this event was the fulfillment of what had been said through the prophets. Jesus did not come on a magnificent horse ridden by a powerful ruler or soldier, but on a donkey. This shows that Jesus had a completely different approach in leading people than the leaders of the past. He was not a leader who ruled, but a leader who served. He was a shepherd who risked his life for his sheep and a master who washed servants’ feet.
We ought to do the same as Jesus did. This is because the Lord wants us to be leaders. Even if you can’ t be a leader of a country, you can, for example be like parents, who are the leaders of their children.
Another thing that Jesus on the small donkey teaches us is that we can work for Him even if we are as small and weak as a small donkey!
3/29 Cleansing the Temple (Matthew 21:12-13)
The House of the God should not be a marketplace
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’ “
The church is not a temple. Since Jesus comes and lives in the hearts of those who believe as the holy spirit, we ourselves are the temple (dwelling place) of God. So, what we need to remember is that for us, purifying the Temple means keeping each and every one of our hearts clean. No matter how beautiful a room is, if it is not cleaned and tidied, it will become cluttered and dusty. The same is true for our hearts.
Jesus warns us in the temple against using God to seek our own gain. Are the thoughts of our hearts really for God or are they for ourselves? We have to examine them carefully.
3/30 The Question of Authority (Matthew 21:23-27)
The authority God has given to you
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism–where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’–we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
They are not asking serious questions, but simply trying to make an accusation. In response, Jesus cut them off with a question that was just as reprehensible as theirs, no matter how they answered it, and silenced them. Jesus’ words were clear to anyone who looked at them that they were God’s authority. We, too, should preach with God’s authority. But this authority is sometimes questioned, belittled, and trampled upon. No matter how we are treated, let’s not be controlled by anger or sadness, but continue to walk with wisdom and comfort from God without doubting the authority we have been given like Jesus!
3/31 The Day of Anointing with Perfume (Matthew 26:6-13)
We should not judge others by our own standards
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Jesus does not downplay the importance of giving to the poor. However, we need to know that no good deed is more valuable than our willingness to give our best to God. Good deeds” are often a cover for self-gratification and hypocrisy. It is also used as a tool to condemn the thoughts and actions of others.
4/1 Foot Washing Thursday/The Last Supper (John 13:1-15)
Live as servants, serving one another
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.””No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (3-8)
“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (13-15)
This part teaches us clearly how God wants human relationships to be. It is normally the servant who washes the feet and the master who is washed. Jesus did not come as a ruler to reign, but to serve. The peak of this was His accepting the punishment on the Cross in the place of everyone else. Anyone who has received the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins in the name of the Lord can say that they have had their feet washed by Jesus. So we have to ask ourselves, “Am I walking the same path of a servant as Jesus?
4/2 The Day of Passion (Matthew 26:69-75, Luke 23:32-43)
Let us take up Jesus’ cross
Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.” Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75)
The Jesus who was welcomed into Jerusalem with joy on Sunday had no one standing with him at the end; even the disciples who had been with him for three years were no exception. None of us has the right to blame Peter. we too have the same weaknesses as him. Even the resurrected Jesus did not condemn them and say that you are unworthy. On the contrary, he entrusted a mission (of preaching the gospel) to them, the weak and treacherous ones. Like Paul, we can be proud of our weaknesses. We can do so by trusting in the Lord.
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals–one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. ” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:32-43)
The attitudes of these two criminals toward Jesus are also the two attitudes of people toward their own sins. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe that all their problems lie outside of themselves, and do not accept Jesus as their Savior even when they see His cross up close, and those who say, “Jesus, remember me when you come to your kingdom. With Jesus in the middle, the two men are crucified in exactly the same way, but one of them will be separated from God forever, while the other one will go to the Kingdom of God with Jesus right after this and be with the Lord forever.
4/3 Black Saturday (1 Peter 3:18-20, 4:6)
Jesus preached to the imprisoned spirits
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (3:18-20)
For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. (4:6)
At that time, from the time of His death on the cross to the time of His resurrection, what was Jesus doing? His body was lying in the tomb, but His Spirit was doing an important work. What happens to those who do not accept Jesus as Lord while they are alive after their physical death? The answer is found here. We get to know that a chance to receive eternal life is also available to those who have rejected Jesus during their earthly life.
（Prayer)
Dear God,
We again this year listened to your words as we retrace the last week that you came to this world and spent as a man.
Please let the week’s walk from today be a time to once again deeply remember the magnitude of Your grace and how it is provided for each of us.
We, who are alive today after two thousand years of your time on earth, ask for your guidance so that we may walk as your body, as actual agents of your love.
In each of our meditations this week, we pray that you will speak to us in our hearts. We thank you and pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
Passion week starts today. Let’s spend this week meditating on and accompanying the Lord on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, his death on the cross, and his burial in the tomb. Let us commit once again to walking with the Lord as we pray and meditate on his word.
For Discussion
1) What aspects of passion week, apart from the cross, stand out to you? Why?
2) What emotions do you feel when you think about the cross?