I've been blessed to spend the most important day of the year with my daughter at Moody Bible Institute. I arrived in Chicago early Thursday morning when I grabbed a cab, arrived at the school and toured the the D.L. Moody museum anxiously waiting for her to get out of class. Wasn't long and I saw my girl go by. What a sweet reunion! We dashed off to chapel to celebrate Maundy Thursday.
Maundy is where we get the English word “mandate.” This day observes the significance of Jesus' new commandment to “love one another as I have loved you”--given to His disciples at the Last Supper. Christ's act of foot washing demonstrated the servanthood that Jesus enjoins upon all who follow him.
Students and faculty members led the service of public worship which included a time of foot washing when the congregation could follow Christ's example of humble servitude. After a great sermon and beautiful hymns, I needed my tissues from that point on.
After Maundy Thursday came Good Friday. The service at Harvest Bible Chapel that night was exceptionally somber. We wore black to church and entered the lobby to find darkness, smoke, and men carrying beams of lumber. The clanking of nails that resonated through the lobby immediately brought our focus to the main attraction of the night: the Cross. We watched a video of a man constructing a cross. From the cutting down of the tree to the engraving of his initials upon his work, we were to put ourselves in the place of that carpenter. We were the ones who built the structure upon which the Righteous Servant died.
Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
These are the words I know will remain with me as I board a plane Easter Sunday back to Florida. I must remember that Jesus is not only my Lord but my Savior, Whose stripes heal me. Let us not forget His physical pain but also Christ's immeasurable torture when His Father turned His back upon Him. My prayer for you is that next time you look at a cross you remember who its chief constructor is. The next time you sing a song about Christ's blood, you consider who it was meant for. This Easter, may we view our gift of grace through the lens of the Cross and the Righteous Servant that died upon it.
I love this post, Patrice! I read this after I posted my own blog and was amazed that God put the same verse on both of our hearts this Easter. I miss you and your sweet daughter. I am soooooo blessed by the time I had with you ladies. I learned so much from both of you! God is clearly at work in your family! Love you girl!
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