by Prince Mathew
Preface for Meditation:
"Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son,
your only son." God had asked Abraham to make the fundamental sacrifice, that of
his future, his inheritance, his hope. He submitted his will to the will of God
and met the challenge placed before him.
With that in mind, what do we see when we look at the cross before us? Beyond
any of the spiritual and symbolic images that it may invoke, there is one
central tenant, one core fact that we cannot deny: God did not spare His only
son. Instead he hangs there on a cross, crucified.
God the Father did not ask anything of Abraham that He himself would not one day
do. However, for Abraham and Isaac the call to sacrifice was only a test. Not so
for God the Father and his only son, Jesus Christ. There is no ram caught in the
bushes nearby, bringing at the last moment a welcomed deliverance. No, the die
was cast in the eternal heart of God and sealed by Adam’s first sin, then made
final and sure by every sin that followed after. The cup of sacrifice has been
raised to Jesus’ lips and it will not pass him by. There is no reprieve for the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
When we look within this one all-encompassing sacrifice, we see the echoes of
all the sacrifices that God has in the past, or will at any time in the future,
ask each of us to make. From this singular moment of agape, self-sacrificial
love, all other acts of sacrifice find their true significance, their eternal
grounding, their meaning and purpose.
So, as we look back on our past offerings and face whatever sacrifices that lay
ahead, we can know that nothing we offer will ever be forgotten, no effort we
make will ever be lost in the dustbin of time. Every effort will find its proper
place, its appointed purpose within this single transforming moment.
As we survey this wondrous cross, where Jesus hangs to die, with love so
amazing, with love so divine, what small demand then is God asking of us today?
Look upon the one you have pierced.
Bible Reading Passages:
Evening
Bible Verse of the Day:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door
will be opened to you". St. Matthew 7:7
Thursday before Hosanna
St. Matthew 7: 1 - 12
Morning
Exodus 15: 19 -21
Joshua 6:1-5
Isaiah 51:1-8
Acts 16: 23- 40
II Corinthians 6: 1-10
St. Mark 8:22-26
St. Matthew 20: 17-19
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