Daily Thought for Wednesday 12th March 2025
“Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them.”
Luke 22.3-4 (NRSV)
Two destinations
Leslie Milton
People often speak of the days leading up to Good Friday and Easter as a Lenten journey. When we say that we acknowledge that this is more than a simple story. We do Lent by travelling with Jesus. We begin by imagining the places Jesus visits on his way from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem. But the real power of Lent is in connecting Jesus’ feelings with our own experiences as we travel with him on the way.
We normally think of a journey as having a destination, a place we are headed towards. The particular point of the Lenten journey is that it has two destinations, the bleak darkness of Calvary on a Friday afternoon, where nothing more seems possible, and the growing light of Easter morning at sunrise, the hope of an unending future. And we make sense of this by knowing that in order to understand the mystery of the Sunday morning you have to enter into the darkness of the Friday, and how that came about. The joy of Easter come out of the pain and suffering and betrayal that lead to Jesus’ crucifixion. In today’s verse we find ourselves in one of the darkest places of the whole story, and the power of this moment is found in the way in which the sense of betrayal is familiar to us.
What was it like for Jesus to know not only that he was on his way to death, but also that it would come about because of one of his friends betraying him? What does Jesus’ experience of betrayal stir up within us? What about your own actions, or the actions of someone you trusted?
Journeying with Jesus takes us right to the heart of the hard things we perhaps would rather not think or talk about. And as we travel with Jesus we come face to face with hard things that sometimes we feel are better avoided.
Shall we pray?:
Lord Jesus, help me to see you in the fulness of my life, when I have joy and when I know pain. In all of my life’s journey comfort me in the knowledge that you travel with me. Amen.
Thinking it through:
You’re one week into the Lenten journey which began on Ash Wednesday. Take a moment to think about the different emotions you have already encountered. A few examples might be fear, hope, denial, anxiety, trust … but there are many more, and no right or wrong answers.
From your list, identify any that might connect right now with the things that are happening in your life. Do you sense the presence of God in those feelings?
Is the idea of Lent as a journey helpful for you? What do you hope for as you travel with Jesus to the cross and beyond?
Leslie Milton is minister of Musselburgh: St Andrew’s High and convener of the Resourcing Ministry Committee of the Presbytery of Lothian & Borders.