Passion Week Reflections from Prof. Ken Bluemel

Saturday

One Day before Resurrection Sunday

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish;  so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40

 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached [announced the victory of the Cross and the hope of Resurrection] to the spirits in prison.” 

1 Peter 3:18-19 

   A series of post-Calvary events commenced with the death of Christ. Initially, as our Great High Priest, Christ presented His blood in heaven thus satisfying the righteous demands of the Father. He then descended into Hades declaring a full and final victory at the cross. In this declarative act all the righteous dead who throughout the ages had been awaiting the Messiah, could rejoice.  The keys to death, hell and the grave had been taken from Satan; he had been defeated, judged and sentenced. [1]  Christ was triumphant!

  How can I say it any clearer?  “WE WIN BECAUSE CHRIST WON.” Regardless of the daily skirmishes be they large or small, the ultimate outcome has been decided.  In the final analysis, those who are Christ’s are already victorious.  Let your mind dwell on those things.  Set your affections on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of power and authority.  Oh yes, we are seated with him!

    Dear Victorious King, Thank you for victory.  Thank you for the hope and peace provided by that overwhelming and triumphant conquest. Thank you that your righteousness is my righteousness and that I stand totally complete in you.  Let me live with that perspective throughout this day. 

            Gripped by a sense of Your victory,

           

                    Be blessed today folks,

                                Pastor Ken

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[1] Ephesians 4:8-10;Hebrews 9:11-14;  1 John 3:8; Colossians 2:13-15; Revelation 1:18; Matthew 12:40; 1 Peter 3:18-19; Matthew 27:50-53; Colossians 3:1-3;  Ephesians 2:6

Michelangelo's Pieta--St. Paul's, The Vatican, Rome, Italy, T. Colburn

^{Passion Week Reflections from Pastor Ken Bluemel}

^Friday,

^Calvary

^{John 19:30, So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit."}

   ^{Gethsemane was a distant memory, Pilate's Judgment Hall an obscured vision and the long walk down the Via Delarosa completed.  Christ had carried His cross to the place of crucifixion, Golgotha, aptly called, the Place of a Skull where they crucified Him.  "Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."}

   ^{Today is a good day to consider those words Christ spoke while suspended between heaven and earth.  His seven last phrases depict the nature of His heart and sacrifice.  His words tell of His agony, his love and mercy extended.  As you read them take a moment at each and allow prayers and meditations to rise heavenward.  May each one of us consider the scope of what was demanded to purchase so great a salvation.} 

^{"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."  Lk. 23:34}  

^{"Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Lk. 23: 43}

^{"Woman, behold your son!"  Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!"  Jn. 19:26-27}

^{"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"   Mk. 15: 34}

^{"I thirst.".  Jn. 19: 28.}

^{"It is finished."  Jn 19: 30}

 ^{"Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit."  Lk. 23:46}

    ^{Dear Lord Jesus, I cannot imagine the price you paid for my great salvation.  Lord, what can I say? Thank You seems so trite when I think about the price.  But Lord, it is what I have.  I say thank you with my praise and with my life.  Give me Your Grace to live for You.} 

                ^{Eternally thankful,}

                ^Amen

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[1] John 19:19

Passion Week, Reflections from Pastor Ken Bluemel

Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; 

and He said to His disciples,

Sit here while I pray.

 Mark 14:32

   For our Lord, the Passion Week was a series of final events. Each movement carried him further along the process of concluding His redemptive mission.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

   Having just finished the final Passover Supper, Jesus and His disciples made their way to a familiar spot on the Mt of Olives.  Scripture describes the Lord Jesus as troubled and deeply distressed. He, Himself told His own friends, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch."  So great was His anguish, an angel was dispatched from Heaven to provide strength. The tension between flesh and spirit, wanting and yet not wanting the Father’s will, was so profound, so earnest, that His sweat became as "great drops of blood falling down to the ground."     

   As I read the Gethsemane story again and again, I began to imagine the power of living life on the edge.  Jesus always seems to do just that. He was always a man with a mission. His prayers were always significant, His words poignant and His zeal without measure.  For 33 ½ years He lived life on-purpose. I never got the impression He was bored or biding time. He was always connected with His mission and always propelled along in His journey as if by a Divine Design. That evening in Gethsemane was no different.  Jesus is an example for us all of what it means to live a purposeful life.   

Dear Lord,

   Thank you for living your life for me. Thank you for never taking the easy road. I want to live like you lived. I want to live this life for you, not my will but yours. So… today I give you my life.  Let’s journey together Lord, me and You.

                                                                        Amen

Thoughts on the Passion Week 

from Pastor Ken Bluemel

Why do you trouble her, 

She has done a good work for Me.

                                                               Mark 14:1-11

   The Passion Week is about one person’s eternally significant movement to voluntarily lay down His life in death so that others can be saved. Jesus Christ accomplished exactly what He was destined to do, be the Messiah.  Sometimes we forget He was a man.  He had emotions the same as we do. He grieved as we grieve. He felt joy as we feel joy.  He was in every sense the Man, Christ Jesus, and yet the essential God. 

   We are picking up the Passion Week story on Wednesday, just two short days before the horribly death of the cross. Though fully aware of the moment, Jesus still has time enough to visit Simon the leper for a dinner party.  During the party, Mary of Bethany, in an act of abandoned and extravagant love, came before the Savior and taking her personal flask of perfume poured it upon His head. This sacrificial act cost Mary all she had. The fragrant aroma of the oil filled the room. At that very moment, in the midst of abandoned love, Judas recoiled with indignation, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted?”  Others agreed with him. But Jesus spoke, “Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me.” Mary was quite unaware that her act of love was the pre-burial anointing for Jesus. She was humbly and simply overtaken by love.

   No life expended for the Master is ever wasted.  Few will ever understand the cost you pay and even fewer will comprehend your abandoned love for Jesus. As Mary’s surrender of love was misunderstood, so too will yours. But you will serve, you will pray and your love will grow even more abandoned. In it all I can hear Jesus saying, “You have done a good work for Me.”  Can we do less for the One who has done so much?  

Dear Lord Jesus,

   I come to you today with a heart full of love.  Thank you for entering into the Passion for me. I want to serve you with my whole heart. I want to love you with my whole heart. Help me to live my life in such a way that someday I can hear you say, you have done a good work for Me.

                                                            Amen

Welcome to Spring Quarter at EPIC!

It is so good to be back on Campus and welcome our wonderful group of NEW students.

We pray that you will both enjoy your time here and grow greatly in the Lord.

Many blessings on you all.

The Journalism class