260 in 2012 DEVOS - Day 43 - Mark 15: The Journey to the Cross is Lonely

We continue on this journey of Jesus’ last week on earth by looking at what he went through:
Before Pilate – “Very early in the morning…” – The “Holy Hefty’s” held an illegal trial of Jesus in the middle of the night and determined He was guilty. They brought Him to Pilate. And even though Pilate saw no crime, he handed Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus said nothing.
Mocking – They stripped Jesus, made fun of him, spit on Him, mocked Him and hated Him so much that they would lead our innocent Lord away to be crucified! Passers by hurled insults and the chief priests & teachers of the law mocked as well.
Jesus’ Death & Burial – For the first time in Jesus life, he felt loneliness. God, His Father, had turned His back on Him and for the first time ever there was a tremor in the Trinity as Jesus took on the sins of the world! The moment Jesus died, an amazing & symbolic event occurred: “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This was to show that all people, now through Jesus, can have instant access to God!
SO WHAT?!
*How do you react when being unfairly treated? Usually we argue or loudly plead our case or try to “prove” we’re right or maybe even get into a scuffle! We can learn a lot (again) from Jesus on this one. Was Jesus right? Yep! Were his accusers wrong? Yep! But Jesus left the results up to God. Peter puts it best: “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23)
*Loneliness is a terrible feeling. God made us for relationships! No one likes to feel alone or likes to feel like no one cares. Jesus felt it too and what did He do? He cried out to God! He had to go thru an excruciating experience BUT God came to Him, resurrected Him and exalted Him! Usually when God doesn’t immediately answer us in our lonely times, we can become offended. Let’s resist that temptation and continually go to God! Maybe even grab someone else who will pray with you – that’s a good start to combat loneliness!