April 12, 2025

Today's Reading: Introit for Palm Sunday - Psalm 24:7-10; antiphon: Psalm 118:26

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 7:1-25; Mark 16:1-20

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. (Psalm 24:7)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Have you ever taken the time to notice the posture of someone who is struggling with death? As we mourn the loss of loved ones, friends, parents, grandparents, we have a tendency to bow our heads. We might bow our heads in reverence of the life lost, from utter despair, perhaps even from guilt and shame over unresolved conflict. It is not uncommon for this to happen. In His human nature, before He breathed His last and gave up His spirit, even our Lord bowed His head. 

But the reading today, which is the Introit for tomorrow, Palm Sunday, turns the posture of death on its head! Although we bow our heads and mourn, especially this next week, as we remember that it was for our sins that our Lord went to the cross, the Psalmist David tells us to do the opposite! He says to us, “Lift up your heads…” (Psalm 24:7). Lift up your heads, for “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he” (Zechariah 9:9).   

We must fix our focus outside of ourselves to see what happens. If, in our grief and shame, we look solely to ourselves for strength and comfort, we will be lost forever. Rather, strength, comfort, and salvation happen extra nos, that is, outside ourselves. In Christ, who has been lifted up for us on the cross of Calvary, death has been turned to life for His Children!

Even our Lord, as He journeyed closer to His death, continued to lift His eyes to heaven! At the beginning of His high priestly prayer in John 17, it is written, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.’” (John 17:1)   

In my church, we have the tradition that our midweek Lenten services always end with the same hymn, Abide with Me. The final stanza of that hymn will be the last thing we hear on Good Friday. 

We will sing:

Hold, Thou, Thy cross before my closing eyes;

Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies.

Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;

In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. 

What are we praying for in this stanza? We are praying that our Father would lift up our eyes, point them to the heavens, that we would see the Lord coming to us now, in the hour of our death, and on the Last Day. For in Him, the Lord of Life, we have our Salvation. 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Hold, Thou, Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies. Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. (LSB 878:6)

-Rev. Timothy Chase, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Truman, MN.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Harrison Goodman, Executive Director of Mission and Theology

Visit the timeless rhythms of the Christian life with award-winning author Harold L. Senkbeil. As he addresses the concerns and pressures of the world today, you'll discover that even while the world is dying, Christ's death brings about life. True life. One that He offers to you. Order Now!