Enjoy Some Quiet Time
Psalm 62:5,6—Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
Scripture has something to say about each day of Holy Week except today (Wednesday). There’s Palm Sunday; then the second cleansing of the temple on Monday; Teaching Tuesday; Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; Holy Saturday where Jesus’ enemies paranoia continued; but nothing about today (Wednesday). Sometimes today is called “Silent Wednesday.”
So, what do you think Jesus and his disciples were doing? Down in Caesarea on a Mediterranean beach, putting their feet up? At a mountain retreat in the northernmost reaches of Israel on Mt. Hermon? Maybe getting some R&R at a Dead Sea spa?
Well, consider the week. It was a great festival week—Passover. It’s the biggest festival of the year. Just as our great festivals of Christmas and Easter bring families together, so too the festival of the Passover. It was family time. More than likely, Jesus is where he was earlier in the week, in the village of Bethany at the house of his dear friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
It’s a good day for some quiet time. The previous three days had really been full days. Just yesterday (Tuesday) was perhaps the greatest teaching campaign of Jesus’ ministry. The disciples certainly know that something is different this year, but they don’t fully understand, even though Jesus has told them very plainly on multiple occasions exactly what was going on. While they still didn’t understand, Jesus did.
So, what do you think the disciples needed right now? You know what’s about to come. Do you think Jesus needed to really thunk their skulls so they’d wake up and understand? Maybe that’s what we’d do if we were in charge. What they need is preparation. So does Jesus. Now, you could say this is an argument from silence, but what else would Jesus have done than to find rest for his soul and that of his disciples in the words and promises of God???
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My friends, I hope you find some quiet time with family this week. To be together in your homes and to be thankful for God’s grace and blessings. But, more than anything else, please enjoy some quiet time with Jesus. Keep up with your personal devotions. Start them up again if they’ve lapsed. Read your short Meditations devotions, or, read through all the gospel accounts of Holy Week. Find some quiet time with Jesus by coming to worship on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.
I’d also encourage you to set some reminders on your phone or in your calendar. When you have your evening meal tomorrow (Maundy Thursday), consider the meal Jesus ate with his disciples. Consider how that Passover meal was finally being fulfilled. Consider all the things Jesus taught, especially the command to love others just as he loved them. Consider the blessed new meal he gave his church that night in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
When you go to bed on Maundy Thursday, consider Jesus and his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and how, as you sleep, Jesus spent the night in the court of Caiaphas being brutalized by evil men.
When you wake up early on Good Friday, consider how by the time you rise, Jesus was already on his way to Pontius Pilate, then the Herod, and back to Pilate again surrounded by a hateful mob and continued beatings and mockery. Set an alarm for 9:00am as that was the hour Jesus was crucified. And another alarm for 3:00pm, for that is when our Savior died.
Finally, take some quiet time on Holy Saturday to patiently wait. Consider Jesus’ lifeless body in the tomb. The most awful sight! Yet, his body saw no decay while waiting for Easter Sunday!!! Blessings, my friends, as you take some quiet time this week with your Savior.