FirstSF

Holy Saturday is not usually a day we think of “celebrating”. It’s the day Jesus lay dead in the tomb, the day the disciples went home after walking through three exciting and enlightening years with their Lord. Then He was not. But on this day that was likely filled with confusion and depression for the disciples, Jesus was accomplishing something unseen, something hidden. Though all seemed lost above the earth, under the earth, Jesus was proclaiming his victory over death to all who had gone before him - both righteous and unrighteous. Though most of our emphasis as a modern church tends to fall on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the silence of Holy Saturday reminds us of the silent work that Jesus accomplished - and is still accomplishing - behind the veil. We may feel as if God is absent in the midst of our suffering and spiritual, or even physical, death. But Holy Saturday gives us hope; though we may not see Him working now, we know He is with us in the midst of suffering and death.

PRAYER POINTS
-Voice a prayer of lament over any of the suffering or death you or those around you are currently walking through. Be so bold as to express your confusion and depression to God as the disciples must have felt.
-Pray that in the midst of this suffering and felt silence from God that you would be comforted in the Spirit and reminded of Jesus’ presence, Immanuel, with you. Pray for a hope that extends beyond the seen and known present.
-Consider those who are suffering around you today and how you might be a tangible representation of Jesus’ presence to them. Pray for them to find hope in the Lord who is triumphant over suffering and death, and seek to share that hope with them today.

Good Friday - the day Jesus was crucified and buried. It’s ironic that such a morbid day filled with death and sorrow for Jesus, his family, and his disciples, we now refer to as “good”. How could an innocent man’s unjust execution be considered good? This very concept is what the thief on the Cross teaches us about this day. On a day when this man faced the same morbid, slow, painful execution, Jesus gave him a word of hope: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” We don’t know the theological nuances behind Jesus’ statement, whether or not the thief would literally be in paradise with Jesus that very day, or if the marker of “today” referred to the turning point for this man’s eternal station. What we do know is that on the same day Jesus died, he declared to another dying man that he would find the hope of salvation. No earning, no working, no proof needed to justify his entrance into paradise other than the simple act of faith of believing in Jesus as the Christ and his coming Kingdom. On this day, Jesus invites us to trust in the sufficiency and finality of his death for us, resting secure knowing that no work of ours can obtain nor undo Jesus’ salvation over us.

PRAYER POINTS
-Take time to pray and trust anew in Jesus’ sufficient work of salvation at the Cross. Pray that your heart would rest in this finished work and not tireless look for its justification before God or the world.
-Pray for the Spirit to convict and convince you of Jesus’ invitation to paradise “today”, regardless of your sin, spiritual maturity, or knowledge.
-Pray that you would have a hope that results from the assurance of this salvation, and that your genuine hope would lead you to eagerly share it with others.

Maundy Thursday, or “new commandment” Thursday, marks the final day before Jesus’ betrayal and death. On this night, Jesus shared the Passover with his disciples and washed their feet. The significance of foot washing has been somewhat lost on us today. In first century Palestine, where the primary means of travel was by foot, in open toed sandals on dirt roads, foot washing was a necessary act of physical and ritual cleansing upon entering any building or residence. It was a dirty job, one assigned to the lowliest of servants and slaves. For Jesus, the Master and Teacher, to wash his disciples’ feet was an absurd, role-reversing act of humiliation. Then Jesus gives them the command: “As I have loved you, so you also are to love one another.” This act stands as an example of the kind of love Jesus desires and expects of his disciples as we extend humble service and hospitality to those around us - even the Judas’. But it also pointed to what he was about to accomplish at the Cross. We now have the responsibility, and the joy, to enter into this same kind of counter-cultural love as we humbly serve one another within the church and extend it to those outside the church.

PRAYER POINTS
-Give thanks for the counter-cultural act of humiliating love Jesus extends to us and the open, hospitable invitation He gives us into relationship with Him.
-Consider the ways you can extend that same humble, hospitable love to others. Pray for fellow brothers and sisters at FirstSF that we would go great lengths to love and serve one another.
-Pray for your time tonight at your Passover Outreach Dinner. Pray for the non-believers who will be coming into your home, that you would go to great lengths to display the humiliating, sacrificial love of Christ in a way that demonstrates the Gospel to them.

On the Wednesday of Holy Week, we are told little about the events surrounding Jesus, except that the plan of betrayal was put into motion by the chief priests, scribes, and Judas. It’s a bit jarring to think during this week leading up to Passover - a week filled with the remembrance of Israel’s exile, the atonement of the sacrificial lamb, and God’s redemption of his people - that the leaders of Israel had murder on their minds. Instead of being filled with gratitude for God’s supernatural salvation, they were filled with resentment towards this Prophet of God. Imagine if our Pastors of FirstSF were plotting to frame and murder one of our Deacons just days before Easter! But even this heinous act of sin was done under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty. In our own sin, we are led to remember the grace of Christ that extends without running dry. We are also reminded that no matter the evil or injustice we experience today, the Cross is a monument to show God’s good, sovereign purpose through even the worst of circumstances.

PRAYER POINTS
-Spend some time examining your heart and where you might be filled less with gratitude toward God, and more with anger, bitterness, lust, and the like toward your neighbor. Confess your sins and find comfort in the Cross that is both the result and the answer to the problem of our sin.
-The Cross invites us to cry out against evil and injustice around us. Pray for circumstances in your life and the world around you, pleading with God for his justice, but also to seek comfort and rest in his sovereignty and goodness.
-Pray for those in your life who are burdened by the sin and evil in the world - whether their own sin that weighs on their minds, or the sin in the world that angers their hearts. Pray that they would come to know the comfort of the Cross, and that God would give you the boldness to speak that comfort to them this week.

On Holy Tuesday, Jesus is busy discoursing with the Pharisees in the Temple and warning them of the Son of Man’s coming judgment. Upon leaving the Temple, he sits with his disciples at the Mount of Olives and exhorts them to “stay awake” in anticipation of the Son of Man’s return and subsequent judgment. As we are now 2,000 years removed from that Holy Tuesday, the temptation to “fall asleep” as we await his return is just as prevalent today as it was then. Jesus’ warning to his disciples is one we should consider each day His return is delayed. It may be another 2,000 years before Jesus returns, but until then the call is the same: stay awake and alert to the pressures and draws of this kingdom as we live and hope for Christ’s Kingdom to come.

PRAYER POINTS
-Consider where Jesus is warning you to “stay awake” and not be drawn to the earthly comforts of this life. Confess the ways you have “fallen asleep” to the things of God and lived more for this earthly kingdom.
-Pray for your heart to seek God and long for his Kingdom over this world. Pray the Spirit to impress upon you the urgency of Christ’s return in a way that shapes our everyday comings and goings.
-Pray that the hope we have for Christ’s return would be known by those around us. Consider how you can share the urgency of that hope with your friends and family this week.