Lent + Valentine's Day . . . How Convenient!

Considering Truths during Lent

Today's Scripture

[Jesus said] "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13. [You might appreciate reading the entire context of Jesus' words in John 15:9-17.]

Today's Devotional Thoughts

Jesus is speaking to His disciples in the Upper Room. It's the night "in which He was betrayed," commonly known as Maundy Thursday. We will be "celebrating" this religious event in the not-too-distant future. 
      I'm sure you know the Golden Rule, because most if not all of us learned us as little children. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It's even in the Bible! [Luke 6:31]
      Not so fast . . . Jesus appears to up the ante in John 15. Apparently, loving others as we love ourselves--& we typically have no problem putting ourselves #1 in our lives--doesn't quite measure up to His holy standards.
      No, we are called as Jesus' disciples to show even greater love. How? To lay down our life for our friends.
      Consider the import of that statement for a moment. Lent is that 40-day season of the Church year that is meant to prepare us for the "celebration" of Jesus' death & resurrection. It's quite easy to celebrate Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday. It's quite another matter to think of Jesus' death on the cross, which we observe on Good Friday, as a moment to celebrate.
      Now this . . . Loving others as we love ourselves maybe doesn't quite cut it. Our Savior expects us to love others in a manner that makes us willing to lay down our lives for them. Wait . . . what?
      I can fathom being willing to donate a kidney for my spouse or one of my children or grand-children. Such a surgical procedure carries certain risks, & if I would give up a kidney & then develop kidney disease in the future, well, that would be an example of being willing to lay down my life for a friend, wouldn't it?
      What about a close relative or distant relative or close friend or maybe someone who isn't on my list of Facebook friends? Because of something he or she has done to offend me in the past? A matter of grave offense? Would I be willing to give up a kidney for such a "friend?"
      Was our Savior willing to lay down His life for His friends? His friends who were soon to scatter & desert Him on the night He was betrayed? A friend who was bold to claim He would fight to the death to defend His Lord, then hours later deny that He knew Jesus 3X, punctuating his final denial w/an oath?
      And I could go into greater detail about the many, many times that you & I have denied our Savior by the many words & actions that belie our love for our Great Friend.
      Time to try to make a feeble connection between Lent & Valentine's Day. This Hallmark holiday is supposed to be all about love. While I literally buy into it, I also must confess that my motives aren't entirely pure. There was a St. Valentine, * or should I say, multiple St. Valentines, & in most of the ancient church traditions he gave up his life for the sake of his friends.
      During our Lenten journey, I think it's good for us to consider giving something up for Lent, but not because it brings us any closer to Jesus. That would be a form of works righteousness.
      Might I suggest that giving something up for Lent is a way to remind ourselves:

• Jesus gave His all on behalf of His friends.
• Those so-called "friends," including you & me, committed the sins or would commit the sins that nailed Him to the tree.
• When we sacrifice on behalf of our "friends," some of whom might not be all that friendly to us, it's a good reminder of Christ's sacrifice--so much greater, so much more of a sacrifice with eternal consequences for us.

* I did not take the time to thoroughly review this site, so I cannot vouch for its authenticity. Leave it to say that there was most likely a St. Valentine who was a bishop in the early centuries of the Christian church & who was martyred, but, beyond that, much of his history is shrouded in mystery.

Today's Prayer Thoughts

My choice today is Hymn #419 from the LSB. I really like this hymn. We sang it at our Ash Wednesday service at Grace Lutheran Church last WED 2/10. This is not a contemporary Christian hymn by any stretch of the imagination, but the imagery is sharp, & the supplication is meaningful to me; to you, too, I hope.

Savior, when in dust to Thee Low we bow the adoring knee;
When, repentant, to the skies Scarce we lift our weeping eyes;
O, by all Thy pains and woe Suffered once for us below,
Bending from Thy throne on high, Hear our penitential cry!

By Thy helpless infant years, By Thy life of want and tears,
By Thy days of deep distress In the savage wilderness,
By the dread, mysterious hour Of the insulting tempter's pow'r,
Turn, O turn a favoring eye; Hear our penitential cry!

By Thine hour of dire despair, By Thine agony of prayer,
By the cross, the nail, the thorn, Piercing spear, and torturing scorn,
By the gloom that veiled the skies O'er the dreadful sacrifice, 
Listen to our humble sigh; Hear our penitential cry!

By Thy deep expiring groan, By the sad sepulchral stone,
By the vault whose dark abode Held in vain the rising God,
O from earth to heaven restored, Mighty, reascended Lord,
Bending from Thy throne on high, Hear our penitential cry!

A couple of notes

• Most of my devotions I post are adapted from those I wrote for the Daily Bulletin of Lutheran High Northeast during the '14-15 school year. I wrote this devotion on SAT 2/13.
• When I use the word Truth, I never refer to my own words--the words of my devotional thoughts. While I would like to think that my devotional thoughts are truthful insights into God's Word, it is Jesus Christ, the Living Word, who is the Way, the Truth, & the Life. The Living Word is found in God's Truth of Holy Scripture. [John 8:32]