A Bitter Day of Mourning

Bible:

“And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on every waist
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.” Amos 8:9-10

As [Jesus] drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Luke 7:12-15 ESV

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33-34 ESV

Reflection:

In Bible times, and even today in some cultures, a son is very important to his parents, because he is the one who will take care of them when they get old. They will usually live with their son in the same house, and the son will give his parents the best food and whatever else they need to be happy and comfortable. If parents have only one son, he is all they have to make sure they will have someone to help them in their old age, and it is a terrible sadness if they lose him. When Jesus came to a city where a woman’s only son had just died, he felt very sorry for her, because she had already lost her husband and would now be all alone with no one to take care of her. He brought her son back from the dead and gave him back to his mother.

The prophet Amos talked about the Day of the Lord, a day of judgment and punishment for sins. He talked about darkness coming at noon, and terrible sadness coming to the people. They would stop their festivals and sing mournful songs and wear scratchy sackcloth, which people wore to show they were sorry for their sins. The Day of the Lord was going to be a day of bitter mourning, like the sadness of parents who lose their only son. Someday God’s people would be defeated in battle and taken away from the promised land to live in a country far away, and that would be a day of judgment and of grief for them.

The most awesome Day of the Lord, the day when God poured out his judgment against sin, came when Jesus died on the cross. The light of the sun failed and it became very dark at noon. God’s only Son died on the cross in our place, to take the punishment for our sins. Because of what Jesus did for us, we have God’s forgiveness. We don’t have to be afraid of the final Day of the Lord, when Jesus comes again to judge the whole world. For everyone who believes in Jesus, it will be a day of rising from the dead and living in God’s Heavenly Kingdom forever.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your only Son to die for us and bring us into your kingdom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

A Willing Sacrifice

Bible:

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. Genesis 22:6-19 ESV

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Hebrews 5:7-9 ESV

Reflection:

Most nations have a military to protect themselves and to fight when there is a war. Sometimes people volunteer for military service. That means that they are willing to be in the army or navy or another branch of the service. They are willing to serve their country in this way, even if it means dying. Sometimes when there is a war, though, people are drafted. That means they must serve in the military, even if they don’t want to. They still might have to fight or even die for their country.

When Isaac started to climb the mountain with his father, carrying the wood on his shoulders, he noticed that they hadn’t brought an animal for the sacrifice, and he asked his father about it. Abraham said that God would provide a lamb. But when they got to the altar, Abraham tied his son up and laid him on the altar with the wood. Isaac didn’t act like someone who was drafted, but instead he acted like a volunteer. He could have fought or run away. Abraham was very old, and he was young and strong. But he was willing to do what God wanted. When Abraham lifted his knife to kill Isaac, the angel of the Lord called from heaven  to stop him. Then Abraham saw that the Lord really had provided a sacrifice when he saw a ram caught by his horns in a thicket, and he offered that to God instead. The angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham and said that since Abraham hadn’t withheld his only son, God would bless and help him.

God, our Heavenly Father, didn’t withhold his only Son from us, but he sent Jesus to die on the cross for us. Jesus was willing to do what his Father wanted, because he was a perfectly obedient son. He carried the wood of his own cross up another mountain, called Calvary. But when Jesus was put on the cross, there was no ram to die in his place. Instead, Jesus was the Lamb of God to die in place of us. Calvary is the mount of God where he provided a lamb for the sins of the whole world.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for obeying your Heavenly Father and dying in the cross in our place. Amen.