Set Apart: Holy Sacrifice

[Featured Art by Jen Horton, “Palm Sunday“]

We’ve arrived at the final week of Lent, the week set apart as holy for Jesus followers to commemorate and celebrate all that happened over the course of the last days of Jesus’ life on earth. And rather than rehearsing the well-known facts of the story, let’s engage our imaginations for a bit and enter the scenes that lay before us. Let’s pretend that we are followers of Jesus during the days He walked the earth in first century Israel…. 

In those days, we would have known the Scriptures well because it was common practice to memorize them. We would have learned everything we know about God from our parents and rabbis – because it’s serious business passing God’s Word to the next generations (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). 

We would have been overwhelmed by the Romans’ rules and taxes and abuses; we also would have been exhausted by the legalism laid upon us by our Jewish leaders and their expectations that we obey every one of the thousands of ‘laws’ to the letter. In fact, many believed the Messiah would not come until every single Jew obeyed every single law (talk about pressure). 

We more than likely would have had great hope and expectation that Messiah would arrive with an army to defeat the Romans; we’d have great confidence in His power and might, His skill as a warrior. And we would be praying every day for Messiah to arrive – so expectant that we would be actively on the look-out for Him.

If these were our circumstances, context, and experiences, imagine what our reactions would be to Jesus the Christ when He says things to us like…

• “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43).
• “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected…. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.” (Luke 9:22,44).
• “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:56).
• “I’ve come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished! Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I’ve come to disrupt and confront!” (Luke 12:49-51 MSG).

We would’ve been ready for righteous retribution; Jesus gives sermons on repentance.
We would’ve been armed for a fight, but Jesus commands compassion and love for enemies.
We would’ve been expecting a king who would establish an earthly kingdom, but Jesus keeps painting pictures in parables about the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Not fighting – but preaching? 
No victory over Rome – but suffering? 
Not destruction of the enemy – but salvation?
No peace for Israel – but disruption and confrontation?

How would you have reacted to this Messiah – His ways and His words?

It might help to answer that question by seeing how the Twelve responded:

• “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” (Acts 1:6).
• “[The Twelve] didn’t know what [Jesus] meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it” (Luke 9:45).
• James and John ask, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54-55).
• “They immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to [betray Jesus]. Within minutes they were bickering over who of them would end up the greatest” (Luke 22:23-24).

Rather than faith, we witness hyper-focused stubbornness.
Confusion and resistance.
Hatred and retaliation.
Infighting and distrust.

Perhaps over the years, we have been guilty of being impatient with the Twelve. Or maybe we’ve even judged them for their lack of faith. But, now we have a clearer picture as to why the disciples continuously fell short of fully understanding Jesus and His ways. So much of what Jesus said and did was opposite of what they’d been told. Upside-down to the ways they’d been taught. 

For all of these reasons, the Twelve misunderstood Jesus’ warnings of what was to come – His suffering, His death – because they wouldn’t shift their paradigm of Messiah as warrior. They mistook Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as a sign that He was about to take His earthly throne. They missed the implications of John’s initial moniker for Jesus, “Lamb of God,” for this Lamb was destined for the altar of sacrifice.

Holy Week

In His final week on earth – what we now call ‘Holy Week’ – Jesus takes care of every loose end, wraps up everything He had begun, and steps fully into the spotlight.

As we move through these last days, we’ll see that the holy signs and wonders continue – Lazarus raised from the dead, the colt of a donkey mysteriously right where Jesus said it would be (19:23-34), an upper room miraculously provided for the Passover meal (22:10-12). But so do the ‘strange’ behaviors of Jesus – His sorrowful reaction as He rides into Jerusalem (19:41-42), His angry assault of the money changers in the Temple courts (19:45-46), His response about paying taxes to Caesar (20:25).

We keep listening to hear that Jesus’ holy words continue – more parables about resurrection and marriage and the end of days (20:28-40; 21:29-31), more lessons about hypocrisy and values and generosity (20:45-47; 21:1-4). But then come the new teachings about bread being Jesus’ body and wine being His blood, a new covenant (22:19-20), as well as something about the greatest being like the youngest, like one who serves (22:26). And then there are eerie predictions of the destruction of the Temple, of Jesus’ betrayal and Peter’s denials (21:6; 22:22,34). 

We read Luke’s final chapters and feel the atmosphere intensifying, the pace of the narrative picking up. We watch the Twelve wrestle and wonder while still clinging to the idea of Jesus fighting for them soon (22:38). But instead of picking up arms to march against the Romans, Jesus leads His faithful men to a garden on the Mount of Olives. To pray.

Then we watch with something like awe-and-horror as Jesus Himself agonizes over a cup that He wants to pass, but then our hearts flood with something akin to relief as He aligns His will with the Father’s, choosing to stay on the path laid out for Him – and facing His accusers head on.

So much about Jesus stood in stark contrast to what the Twelve had expected that by the time this last week arrives, the Twelve look to Jesus with more confusion than ever before. Still full from their Passover meal, the Eleven follow their rabbi across the Kidron Valley to their usual spot – totally clueless that everything is about to change. 

Once again, let’s put ourselves in this scene and imagine being present when the crowd – and Judas! – arrive to arrest Jesus, the Messiah! And, perhaps, we find ourselves with more compassion for the disciples’ shock, fear, bewilderment…For this was not how the story was supposed to end. Not in their minds.

Holy Sacrifice

The story Jesus was writing may not have been the one His disciples had envisioned, but everything was going according to plan, God’s plan. Even the precise timing of all the events of Holy Week had been pre-planned to happen during Passover – itself a holy week set apart for Jews all over the world to gather together in the Holy City to celebrate God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery.¹ 

The Passover meal Jesus shared with His disciples epitomized the traditional Seder and would have included specific foods, eaten in a specific order, each symbolizing parts of the exodus experience. Foods like bitter herbs, representing the harshness of slavery, and unleavened bread, symbolizing Israel’s hasty departure from Egypt (Exodus 12). 

But at the ‘Last Supper’, Jesus carried the symbolism forward when, early in the meal…

“He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’”  

Luke 22:19

Throughout the Seder four cups of wine were always shared, each one representing four promises of God. But the main course of the meal was lamb, eaten to recall the shedding of lambs’ blood on the night of the original Passover, blood that was smeared on every doorpost of every Israelite home:

“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

Exodus 12:13

With each sip of wine, the disciples sitting around the table with Jesus would most certainly have been thinking about shed-blood, but they wouldn’t have expected Jesus to change the Seder script. At the third cup, known as the Cup of Redemption, Jesus announces:²  

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Luke 22:20

Matthew expounds on Jesus’ exhortation about this third cup: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). In one act, Jesus ties the old with the new. He demonstrates how He is the fulfillment of all the promises of God.

• Just as Moses had taken the blood of slaughtered animals to ratify the Mosaic covenant between God and His people, announcing as he did so “This is the blood of the covenant,” Jesus initiates a new covenant of blood between God and His people (Exodus 24:8). 
• Just as the blood of lambs was shed for the saving of lives in ancient Egypt, so does the blood of the Lamb of God redeem all who believe in Jesus, delivering them from the slavery of sin and into life with the Lamb (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

Jesus’ change of script ushered in the new covenant that had always been planned, that was birthed out of every covenant God had established before, and leading up to, Christ.³ With that Cup of Redemption, Jesus was declaring that His death would be (and is) a holy sacrifice. A sacrifice to end all sacrifices because the Sinless One died to atone for all sins, for all time, for all who are willing to receive Him as Savior and Lord.

My friends, as we step into this Holy Week, may we think of the Twelve who were the ones to experience every moment of joy and confusion, every event of humility and horror with Jesus. 

May we put ourselves in their shoes and imagine how revolutionary Jesus – His words and His ways – would have been. How deep the grief would have been on Friday and Saturday. 

May we be willing, in the midst of all this holy-soaking, to shift our own paradigms to see Jesus as He is – rather than as we want Him to be.

And may we remember that we are invited into these holy moments – not for rote acknowledgement but for personal and communal experience. The Lamb of God gave His all for us. “The precious blood of Christ,” who is “the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” died. for. Us (1 Peter 1:19 NLT). And His blood-soaked, holy sacrifice sets us apart as holy.

This week we use the lyrics of Hope Darst’s song “The Blood of Jesus”⁴ for our prayer –

Father God we know these truths:

God so loved the world
That He gave His only son
Knowing on a cross, He’d give His life
He gave up His crown
And traded it for thorns
Pouring out a perfect sacrifice
Knowing on a cross, He’d save my life

What can wash away my sin?
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood
Nothing but the blood
What can bring me back to life
And turn my crimson stains to white?
Nothing but the blood
Nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ

Oh, the blood still cleans, oh, the blood still saves
Oh, the blood still heals in wonder-working ways
It’s still giving life, it’s still breaking chains
The blood of Jesus Christ, it will never change

Nothing but the blood.

In Jesus’ holy name we pray, amen.

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

• 1 – Bible Project Video #4 in a series on Luke, “The Crucifixion of Jesus”
• 2 – An article about the four cups of the Seder, the Passover meal, which ties the old and new covenants together. If you’re curious for more details about the Seder, its original symbols and its ties to Jesus, this website has them.
• 3 – A Gospel Coalition article, “How Jesus Understood His Own Death”
• 4 – Hope Darst’s song, “The Blood of Jesus,” has played on repeat in my little writing room for weeks and weeks. It’s truths soaking into my soul have been life-giving and love-filling. And the reality of how I, how we, have been saved – by our Lamb’s death – always rocks me to my core. It’s a truth we never want to forget or grow numb to. It’s a truth that means everything to our faith. And, of course, we know the story didn’t end with the grave. Next Sunday we’ll celebrate the fact that Jesus lives! And, this song is on our series’ Spotify playlist, Set Apart As Holy.
• Each Wednesday I upload a “Teacup” teaching video that carries on the topic here. You can find all the videos on my Facebook Author Page, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Many of you have found me on Substack. Thank you so much! And, if you’d like to listen to (rather than read) these weekly posts, you can do so on Substack. It’s easy to see and use the audio bar across the top of each post. While you’re on Substack, check out the ministry I’m blessed to be part of, the Devoted Collective.
• My monthly newsletter, The Abiding Life, goes to email inboxes the first week of each month to those who have subscribed on my website. I also post them on Substack. My most recent edition can be found there, and you can subscribe for future newsletters on Substack, here.

Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike.

• It’s Lent, so it makes sense that we’d pick up the spiritual rhythms of fasting and praying. I’ve been hearing some incredible teachings on fasting this Lent, and I have felt the conviction of my erradic to non-existent fasting practices. I’ve also found myself grateful for teachings that not only give history and reasons why we should be fasting, but also practical ways to fast. Here are two of those teachings that I know recommend to you — not to guilt you. Not to pressure you. But to invite you to engage with Holy Spirit on what He might have you do. First, this sermon on fasting by my dear friend and pastor, Rev. Jay Smith. Second, this That Sounds Fun podcast episode where Annie F. Downs interviews Lisa Bevere on fasting.

• We’re all called to share the truth about who Jesus is. One way you can do that is by sharing this site and telling others your own stories of faith experiences. May we use our whole selves to tell others about our holy God!!

Featured Featured art by Jen Horton, “Palm Sunday“

“All the Bits and Pieces” Photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.