Fortieth Day of Lent (Saturday, April 4, 2026)

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Holy Saturday

As this is the weekend of Holy Week, we step out of our practice of offering an instrumental reflection on Saturday to instead offer a song that is very appropriate for today, a song that’s become a Holy Saturday tradition for this devotional.

Words of Reflection

Today is the final day of Lent.

It is called a number of different things in various church traditions:

Holy Saturday
Great and Holy Saturday
The Great Sabbath
Hallelujah Saturday
Saturday of the Gloria
Black Saturday
Joyous Saturday
The Saturday of Light

That’s quite a range, if you think about it. What intrigues me is that, apart from “Black Saturday,” all of these titles for today have a fairly positive connotation: it’s holy, great, joyous, filled with light and hallelujahs.

I’m not usually one to argue with centuries of church tradition, but that is not what the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter brings to mind for me. Every year on this day my mind wanders back to a group of friends and disciples, scattered and frightened, wondering what had just happened. The one in whom they trusted, the one they looked to as “rabbi,” the one they saw as the long-awaited Christ of God, lay dead in a tomb. Looking back, we can be tempted to shake our heads and wonder at their cluelessness. Didn’t Jesus tell them he’d be raised? Didn’t he assure them, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me” (John 16:16) in a clear promise of his resurrection? What’s their deal?

Their deal is…they’re human.

We can’t begin to imagine the shock and grief that swept over their souls as they processed what had just taken place. One of their own betrayed Jesus. Their friend and teacher was falsely accused, brutally tortured, and subjected to the most painful and humiliating death possible. Even a brief moment of hope for release was dashed when the crowd chose Barabbas over Jesus. Add to that the fear that they themselves could be next. We can’t enter into that depth of emotion 2,000 years later.

We don’t know what the disciples did on Saturday. It was the Sabbath, after all, so they probably did very little. But I can’t help but imagine…did any of them brave going outside in their grief, perhaps taking a walk to view the tomb? Probably not, given the fact that the tomb was guarded, but I know it would have been a temptation had I been there. In my grief, pain, and disappointment, I would want to go and just sit near the tomb while I poured out my anger and frustration to God. I would have so many questions:

How could you let this happen?
Was it all a lie?
What am I supposed to do now?
Where were you?
Where are you?

As I picture that garden tomb on Saturday, my heart and soul are filled with the reality that on that particular day the answers would not be found. On that day the questions would most likely be met by a resounding silence. Yes, on the next day it would be broken, but for now…it is silence.

We may not be able to enter into the hearts and minds of the disciples on that day, but we do know that silence. Any Christian who says they have not at one time or another wrestled with the sense that God is silent is not being completely honest with themselves. We all have seasons where the questions echo in what seems to be empty space. It’s not empty, but in that moment it most decidedly seems so.

The mystery of God’s silence is a good one to sit with on this day. As we sit with that mystery, we can identify with Christ’s disciples, if only in a small way. And we can pray for all those who are sitting with that silence in a very real way right now. If it were up to me, this day would be called “Silent Saturday,” which in itself is an invitation.

Tomorrow that silence will give way to a resounding “Hallelujah,” but for today…let’s remember that this, too, is holy ground.

Scripture for Meditation:

“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.”
—Psalm 13 (NIV)

Song: The Silence of God

It's enough to drive a man crazy; it'll break a man's faith
It's enough to make him wonder if he's ever been sane
When he's bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod
And the heaven's only answer is the silence of God

It'll shake a man's timbers when he loses his heart
When he has to remember what broke him apart
This yoke may be easy, but this burden is not
When the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God

But when you have to listen to the voices of the mob
Who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they've got
When they tell you all their troubles have been nailed up to that cross
Then what about the times when even followers get lost?
'Cause we all get lost sometimes...

There's a statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll
In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold
He's kneeling in the garden, as silent as a stone
And all His friends are sleeping and He's weeping all alone

And the man of all sorrows, he never forgot
What sorrow is carried by the hearts that he bought
So when the questions dissolve into the silence of God
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
In the holy, lonesome echo of the silence of God

Andrew Peterson
© 2003 New Spring

Questions for Reflection

1) How do you think you would have spent that Saturday so long ago if you were one of Jesus’ followers? What emotions would sit at the forefront of your soul? How does imagining their experience help us prepare for our Easter celebration?

2( Have you had seasons of your life when God has seemed silent? Offer to God your own “Silent Saturdays” and your willingness to sit in that mystery.

3) Spend some time prayerfully considering this quote from Oswald Chambers:

“When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes.”—Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Oct. 11)

Thirty-Ninth Day of Lent (Friday, April 3, 2026)

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Good Friday

What words are sufficient for this day? What can possibly be said in response to the cross of Christ? Preachers have proclaimed its power, theologians have debated its meaning, artists have represented its mystery, and disciples have abided in its sufficiency for almost 2000 years, and yet we have only scratched the surface of everything the cross represents.

We do not undertake a Lenten journey in order to study, even though study can be part of our journey. We make our way through these 40 days so that we might enter into the truth and reality of what God has done for us. We walk with Jesus in order to know him better, and to better know the depth of his sacrifice for us. A Lenten journey is experiential. It is surrendering ourselves to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, inviting him to impart deeper and deeper levels of understanding of what took place at Calvary.

And now we have arrived. We have come to the darkest day in humanity’s history, as the Son of God willingly offers himself up to death on our behalf.

What can we say?

One thing we can offer is a request: “Lord, let me not avert my eyes,” for the temptation to do that is strong. We don’t want to watch. It’s too much. If we want to finish our Lenten journey in a way that honors every other step we’ve taken with Jesus along the path to Jerusalem, we need to take the final step and confront the cruelty, the pain, the suffering, and ultimately the majesty of the cross. It is God’s greatest declaration of love, and we stand in awe.

Or as the spiritual puts it, “Sometimes it causes me to tremble.”

As well it should. And so the invitation today is to embrace the trembling reality of the cross, for only there can we begin to grasp the breathtaking reality of God’s love. We may not have been there, but we can still linger there as we mark this holiest of days.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Were you there when they crucified my Lord
O sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree
O sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb
O sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb

Below find different versions of this powerful spiritual: an acoustic version, an a cappella choral version, and a classic live rendition by Mahalia Jackson.

Praying at the Foot of the Cross:

For our reflection today, you are invited to enter into a spiritual discipline called “Praying With Imagination.” It is an ancient practice that invites us into a Scripture text in a way that engages our whole being: soul, mind, and spirit. It is a powerful reminder that the word of God is “living and active” (Heb. 4:12), as we prayerfully imagine that we are right in the midst of it.

In the novel Sensible Shoes, retreat leader Katherine Rhodes gives very simple instructions for praying with imagination:

—Listen to the story.
—Imagine you are there.
—What do you see? Hear? Feel?
—Where are you in the story?
—Then talk to God about whatever you notice.

Begin by asking the Holy Spirit to let this story from the Scriptures come alive for you in a new way. Then read the story out loud, slowly, perhaps a couple of times. After reading it, sit with the questions, and finish by talking to God about what you notice. You might want to consider having a journal handy to record your reflections and reactions. After the text below you will find a closing prayer for Good Friday.

Our text is the Good Friday story from the gospel of Luke 23:33-49:

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The Death of Jesus

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

A Closing Prayer for Good Friday

Lord Jesus, you carried our sins in your own body on the tree,
You came so that we might have life.
May we and all who remember this day find new life in you,
Now and in the world to come,
Where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Thirty-Eighth Day of Lent (Thursday, April 2, 2026)

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Maundy Thursday

It is the night before Jesus’ death. A time for one final meal, one last celebration of the Passover with his closest friends. As he serves the meal, Jesus gives it new meaning that has been central to Christian worship ever since:

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”—Matthew 26:26-29 (NIV)

Jesus knows this is the last time he will sit at this table with his disciples. Even though there is a promise of a new table in a new kingdom one day, it does not diminish the sadness of this moment, a sadness that will reach further depths in what happens next.

After the meal, Jesus and his disciples make their way to Gethsemane, a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives. He takes Peter, James, and John with him to a secluded place in the garden and makes clear what is on his heart in this moment:

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”—Matthew 26:38 (NIV)

It is a difficult thing to imagine, the Son of God being sorrowful “to the point of death.” But Jesus is fully human, and as much as he knows the importance of what is about to happen, as much as he knows that it will not end with his death…the enormity of it all seems too much to bear. And what is it that he asks in this heartrending moment?

He asks his friends to stay with him and keep watch with him while he prays.

Much has been made through the centuries of the failure of Peter, James, and John to stay awake and do what Jesus has asked. It is incredibly sad that Jesus has to face that night alone, and I can only assume that the disciples (as usual) simply don’t understand the significance of what is taking place.

But we do. And knowing the significance of what the next few days mean, perhaps the best way to mark this Holy Thursday is to simply sit with Jesus and pray.

Stay with me here
Stay with me
And keep watch with me

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) How will you keep watch with Jesus today? As you sit with him, what images or words from Jesus’ last night before his death resonate most with you? How does that lead you into prayer?

2) Read and contemplate this quote from author and speaker Kathy Howard. Who does it bring to mind? Spend some time in prayer for them as they sit in their own Gethsemane.

“As I think about His solitude in that garden, I am reminded to pray for all of those who are sitting up in their own Garden of Gethsemane tonight. I think of anxious hearts that feel all alone while the rest of the world is sleeping away…Tonight, as I reread the final earthly prayer of Jesus, my soul needs to keep watch, as if to give to Him this small gesture of love.”—Kathy Howard

3) Sitting with Jesus is often a time of silent waiting. Spend some time in silent prayer as you allow God to prepare your heart for what the next few days hold.

Thirty-Seventh Day of Lent (Wednesday, April 1, 2026)

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Wednesday of Holy Week

Tomorrow the journey to the cross takes a crucial turn. Events are set in motion on Thursday of Holy Week that lead quickly to Christ’s arrest, torture, and execution. Each of the coming days has a specific event or theme that will guide us in our devotional journey, and if we’re honest they will take us to places that are sad and difficult. We know where the story lands come Sunday morning, but the journey to that day is not an easy one.

From the very beginning of this Lenten journey it has been our prayer that you have been keenly aware of the passionate, pursuing love of God that sits at the heart of what this week is all about. It is love that brought Jesus to earth, and it is love that now brings him to the cross.

How can we begin to even imagine so great a love? What words can we use to describe it? Our vocabulary isn’t extensive enough to capture it in its completeness. Paul himself acknowledged this, saying that the love of Jesus “surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:19).

In the original Hebrew of the Old Testament there is a word for “love” that is difficult to capture fully in our English translations. The word is hesed, and it is translated many different ways in the Hebrew Scriptures, some of which include:

  • Steadfast love

  • Unfailing love

  • Lovingkindness

  • Great mercy

  • Goodness

Musician and author Michael Card says this of the word hesed:

“Let’s let go of the illusion that hesed can be reduced to one English ‘literal’ word and instead see it as a key that can open a door into an entire world—the world of God’s own heart, the world of loving”

-Michael Card, Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God's Lovingkindness

Perhaps it’s a good thing that there is a Biblical word for “love” that defies translation, because the divine love reflected in the Scripture defies explanation. We need to be reminded that God’s love can’t be pared down to a sound bite or a slogan. Remembering the depth of God’s love is a discipline that requires us to go deep—to a place beyond words, into the very heart of God himself.

As we prepare for what the next few days hold, let’s spend some time meditating on the amazing, inexpressible love of God.

O love of God, how rich and pure
How measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) Steadfast…faithful…merciful…kindness…goodness…five words we glean from “hesed” to describe God’s love. Spend some time praying with those words and ask God to show you in a new way how they reflect his heart for you.

2) Today’s song refers to God’s love as “The saints’ and angels’ song.” How have you experienced that song being sung over your life? Spend some time reflecting on all the ways God has demonstrated his love for you through the years.

3) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
—Ephesians 3:14-19 (NRSV)

Thirty-Sixth Day of Lent (Tuesday, March 31, 2026)

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Tuesday of Holy Week

Tradition tells us that the Olivet Discourse, a teaching by Jesus found in Matthew 24 and 25, was preached on the Tuesday of Holy Week from the Mount of Olives, found just east of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is not an easy teaching by any means, which is consistent with the mood of the week. Jesus has already spent time in Jerusalem sharing lessons and parables about the Kingdom while enduring the schemes and traps of the religious leaders, who want to trip him up and create an excuse to have him arrested. Jesus cleverly evades their theological machinations and turns the tables on them, confronting those entrusted to care for Israel with their own hypocrisy, wickedness, and spiritual blindness. After one such encounter, Jesus leaves the temple grounds with his disciples and remarks that the temple itself will one day be razed to the ground. After they arrive at the Mount of Olives, his disciples ask him, “When? When will these things happen? What signs should we be looking for?”

Jesus’ answer to their question becomes the Olivet Discourse. In it he speaks directly to the day when history ends and God’s Kingdom arrives in all its fullness.

With everything going on in the world right now the subject of Christ’s return is once again a popular one. As wars rage in the Middle East it’s only natural to pay attention, but we need to remember that Jesus’ advice to us is not “figure it out.” His words to us are about keeping watch and being ready:

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”—Matthew 24:42 (NIV)

Jesus is clear: keep watch. Stay alert. These words apply to us even now in the season of Lent. The story of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection are all about redemption, and when he returns in glory all of creation will know the extent of that work. The coming of the New Heaven and the New Earth is directly linked with the events of the cross and the empty tomb. The Kingdom coming in fullness begins with the story we sit with right now.

Today’s song reflects this expectant hope we have in that promised coming. It’s normally a song we associate with Advent, but its themes of freedom, hope, joy, and deliverance also speak to our current journey as well as our eventual destination.

Keep watch.

Born Thy people to deliver
Born a child and yet a King
Born to reign in us forever
Now Thy gracious Kingdom bring

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) How does contemplating the return of Christ impact your reflections during Holy Week? Spend some time sitting with the wonder of his return, knowing that God is unfolding his plan for history and for your life.

2) Jesus says of his return, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36, NIV) If we are not meant to know, why do you think so many followers of Jesus become so concerned with figuring it out? How comfortable are you living with the mystery?

3) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude.

“In the same way, Christ was also offered once to take on himself the sins of many people. He will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
—Hebrews 9:28 (CEB)

Thirty-Fifth Day of Lent (Monday, March 30, 2026)

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Monday of Holy Week

The excitement of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem has subsided. The religious leaders are on alert, having been greatly concerned by the crowd’s fervor in welcoming Jesus to the city. The events that will lead to Friday have started to unfold.

You can almost imagine the disciples, aware of mounting tension and danger in the city, quietly hoping Jesus will keep to himself and not cause too much of a stir. That’s not what happens, not by a long shot, as all three Synoptic gospels go on to tell:

“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, ‘Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.”—Mark 11:15-19 (NIV)

The people coming to Jerusalem for the Passover need animals for the sacrifice, and out of that need it seems the merchants and money changers see an opportunity for profit, even here at the temple. It seems the laws of supply and demand have overshadowed the Law of God. What’s worse is that their tables of exchange and sale are set up in the Court of the Gentiles, a large space set aside for worship that is the only place in the temple where non-Jews are allowed. The Gentile converts to Judaism would have found no place to worship or pray in all of the chaos.

Jesus is rightfully upset, and it shows. He throws the money changers out, blocks their way, and begins to teach the crowd, who stand amazed at what he says. And the religious leaders take note. They perceive a threat.

Jesus is a threat. That’s not a word we necessarily want to associate with Jesus, but it’s an accurate one. In Jerusalem that first Holy Week Jesus is a threat to entrenched systems of religious abuse and hypocrisy. And as the week plays out, he will show himself to be a threat to the entrenched powers of sin and death, which will tremble and fall in defeat as he fulfills God’s plan of salvation.

To anything that sets itself up against God, Jesus will always be a threat, especially when those things are found in the very places that should be set apart for worship. He still moves through temples, and he still overturns those practices and idols that do not belong there. The temples he cleanses today can be churches, but they are also the hearts of those who desire to follow him. Especially during Lent, we invite Jesus into our hearts and lives and give him permission to do what he did that day in the temple. We invite him to cleanse us of anything that is not of him. And like that day so long ago, his motivation is zeal. It is his fervent desire to see us free of those things that have become entrenched in our lives, the things that keep us back from being the people we were created to be.

As we find ourselves closer each day to the cross of Calvary, and as our Lenten journey draws to a close, let us not forget the call that set us on this path so many weeks ago: the call to self-examination, confession, and repentance. He stands at the entrance to the temple of our hearts.

Let’s invite him in to do his cleansing work.

Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You Lord

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) How do you respond to the idea that Jesus is a “threat” to the things in our lives that are not of God? What would it look like for you to accept him in that way, while always remembering his motivation is love?

2) Here is the text of an ancient prayer of confession. Offer it to God, substituting “I” for “we,” and watch for the movement of your soul as you pray. Is there any part of this prayer that signals something in your life that needs attention, maybe even needs to be overturned?

Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. In your mercy, forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

3) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude.

“If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
—1 John 1:9 (NRSV)

Palm Sunday (Sunday, 29 March 2026)

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Sundays of Hope and Joy

During Holy Week we often face a temptation to “fast forward.” We normally talk about that in relation to the time between Good Friday and Easter, but there is another temptation to jump ahead that we face: moving too quickly from Palm Sunday to Good Friday.

This is our last “mini-Easter” before the real thing. And as we’ve learned on our Lenten journey, these are days of celebration. We may not embrace the Easter imagery in all of its fullness, but on these Sundays we remind ourselves that what is taking place is something amazing, wonderful, and worthy of praise. We remind ourselves that the cross we are journeying towards is not the place where the story ends. On these days we let our rejoicing be loud and real.

In that respect, the crowd welcoming Jesus into the city had it right. They may not have understood the real reason the Messiah had come, but they certainly recognized that the Messiah was in their midst. Their shouts confirm this:

“The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

‘Hosanna!’

‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’

‘Blessed is the king of Israel!’”—John 12:12-13 (NIV)

These are purposeful words. The shouts of Hosanna literally mean, “Save!” The imagery of palm branches is often linked to Messianic victory, and Jesus is referred to as “King" (and is even linked to King David in Mark’s account), all of which point to the crowd’s clear understanding that something historical is taking place. The Messiah has come to Jerusalem. The promised deliverance is about to be made real in their midst. Even if they don’t see clearly how it will take place, they at least see it.

And they celebrate.

The coming days are not for the faint of heart. They weren’t 2,000 years ago. They aren’t now. They are filled with anger, grief, injustice, false accusations, torture, and death. And we do well to meditate on them before we proclaim the fullness of the empty tomb.

But as we enter into this week, we also do well to celebrate what God is doing. So let’s welcome Jesus into our midst anew. Let’s throw the doors open wide and let the music play. On this mini-Easter, let songs of hope and joy lift our spirits, even as we know what the coming days hold. Because what they ultimately hold is our deliverance. The darkness is trembling, sin and death are facing their defeat, and the injustices that have defined humanity’s existence since the garden are about to meet their match.

We can celebrate that today.

Scripture for Meditation:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion.

Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
—Isaiah 52:7-10 (NRSV)

Song: The First Hymn (lyrics here)

Questions for Contemplation:

Today we simply focus our time of contemplation on our celebration of this day:

-How will you celebrate today?
-What will you do today to rejoice at the coming of the Messiah?
-How will you shout “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” on this Palm Sunday?
-What makes you thankful and overflowing with praise at the arrival of Jesus?

Here are some additional celebration songs to help you enter into the joy of this important day:

Here’s a song that was written for Christmas, but pay attention to the lyrics and how they speak to our Lenten journey and especially Palm Sunday:

Thirty-Fourth Day of Lent (Saturday, 28 March 2026)

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Saturday Reflections

For the last time of this Lenten Devotional we spend Saturday simply sitting with an instrumental version of a well-known hymn or worship song. Our weeks are so full, so busy, so noisy…use these Saturdays to prepare your hearts for gathered worship by reflecting on lyrics and Scripture in a space of stillness and simplicity.

As Holy Week approaches there is a description of Jesus that seems to take on deeper meaning and significance. It comes from John’s powerful and poetic introduction to his gospel:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”—John 1:!4 (NKJV)

Five short words that contain so much: full of grace and truth. That’s who Jesus is.

Our Lenten journey, and ultimately the cross to which it leads, is all about grace. It is also about truth. Neither is left short, neither suffers at the expense of the other. Jesus is the perfect embodiment of both, and the cross where he will die demonstrates this as nothing else can. The truth is we are dead in our sin. The grace is that God was not willing to leave us there.

Generations before Jesus was born, the beauty of this balance was captured by the psalmist:

“Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.”—Psalm 85:10 (NKJV)

The psalmist penned these words as a longing — a vision of something that felt almost too beautiful to be true. How could mercy and truth both triumph? They seem to pull in opposite directions. For centuries, this verse hung in the air like a promise waiting for its moment.

Then came the cross.

At Calvary, these seemingly opposing realities didn't compromise — they converged. God did not set aside His truth to show mercy, nor did He abandon His righteousness to offer peace. Instead, in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, every one of these demands was fully, finally, and gloriously met.

Scripture for Meditation:

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”—Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

Song: Beneath the Cross of Jesus (lyrics after video)

Lyrics for Reflection

Read through the lyrics of this hymn slowly and prayerfully. Read them more than once, and pay attention to the movement of your soul as you pray. What words or phrases grab your attention? Why? As you finish, sit in prayerful silence before God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you something of your need and God’s provision that emerges from these words.

Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand;
The shadow of a mighty rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From burns beneath the noontide heat
And burdens of the day.

Upon that cross of Jesus
Mine eyes at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffer'd there for me;
And from my striken heart, with tears,
Two wonders I confess:
The wonders of redeeming love,
And my unworthiness.

O safe and happy shelter!
O refuge tried and sweet!
O sacred place where Heaven's love
And Heaven's justice meet!
As to the exil'd patriarch
That wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Savior's cross to me:
A ladder up to Heav'n.

I take, O cross, your shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of his face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain or loss;
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross.

Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane
Public Domain

Thirty-Third Day of Lent (Friday, March 27, 2026)

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

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Today’s song is a somber one. Like yesterday’s song, it is rooted in a verse from Isaiah 53:

“Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.”—Isaiah 53:4 (NKJV)

There are, again, such direct connections to the events of Calvary that we can’t help but be astonished. Those gathered around the cross mocked Jesus, and in their eyes he was receiving the just punishment for blasphemy. As they understood it, the cross was just punishment for his sins, and he was “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” because of what he had done.

Yet Isaiah’s words echo the truth that the crowd’s understanding of justice is completely wrong. Yes, Christ is being crucified for sin, but not his own. What sent Jesus to the cross is not what he had done, but what we had done. It is our griefs, our sorrows, and our sin that he bears to Calvary. Christ is stricken, smitten, and afflicted not because God’s anger at him is unleashed, but because God’s love for us is unstoppable.

To meditate on the wounds of Christ is not only to meditate on his brokenness, but our own. In the words of a popular modern hymn, “it was my sin that held him there.” As we gaze upon the wounded one, we are humbled and brought to repentance. But as we considered back at the beginning of our Lenten journey, this is not a place of shame. It is a place of love. It is God’s desire for our wholeness and healing that calls us to the cross, that turns our eyes to the wounded One, and that brings us to our knees to receive the healing those wounds have procured.

None shall ever be confounded
Who on him their hope have built.

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) sit with these images of Jesus that come to us from today’s hymn. Pray through these and consider what each means to you. Which ones speak most powerfully to your heart and soul today?

Prophet
David’s Son
David’s Lord
True and Faithful Word
The Lord’s Anointed
Son of Man
Son of God
Firm Foundation
Refuge of the Lost
The Rock of Our Salvation
Lamb of God
Wounded Sacrifice

2) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”
—Galatians 2:19b-21 (NRSV)

Thirty-Second Day of Lent (Thursday, March 26, 2026)

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

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It’s pretty amazing that one of the Scripture passages we turn to most often during Lent and Holy Week as we reflect on the sacrifice of Christ was written generations before Jesus was even born:

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.”—Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

These familiar words from Isaiah are so precise and specific that they could have been written in the aftermath of the crucifixion, but they weren’t. Like most Old Testament prophecies these words operate on multiple levels, to be sure, but they paint a clear picture of God’s “suffering servant” whose wounds lead to our healing. The language is intense, and even though this verse is only 29 words in this English translation, it is packed with meaning and spiritual depth.

Here’s an interesting experiment that provides us with a unique way of reflecting on this verse: read it multiple times out loud, and each time you read it emphasize different words. The first time through, emphasize the words that refer to Christ: “he,” “him,” and “his.” Then read it again, putting the emphasis on what Christ suffered: “pierced,” “crushed,” “punishment,” and “wounds.” Then read it a third time, emphasizing our presence in this event: “our,” “us,” and “we.” Finally, read it a fourth time and note the shift halfway through from the things that are taken away and the things that are received: “transgressions,” “iniquities,” “peace,” and “healed.”

As you read prayerfully in this way, note your reactions. What movement do you notice in your soul as you read each time? What does it stir you to think about the sacrifice of Jesus? About his wounds? About yourself?

Isn’t it amazing to think that 29 words written so long before Christ can bring us closer to the cross and help us understand better the wounds of Jesus?

Because he was pierced, because he was crushed, we have peace and we are healed.

We are healed by Your sacrifice
In the life that You gave
We are healed for You paid the price
By Your grace we are saved

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) How have you experienced healing and peace as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice? Spend some time in prayer naming to God the ways you have seen the efficacy of Christ’s woundedness in your own life.

2) Offer the phrase “by his wounds we are healed” as a breath prayer. If you’re unfamiliar with breath prayer, simply sit in stillness and prayerful attentiveness and take slow, deep breaths. As you breathe in, offer in silent prayer the words “by his wounds,” then as you breathe out, offer in silent prayer the words “we are healed.” Try this for a few minutes and allow the powerful truth of this verse to saturate your soul. This kind of prayer is a wonderful way to meditate on Scripture, finding a short phrase that splits well into two parts which can be prayed while breathing in and out.

3) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
—Isaiah 53:10-11 (NIV)