2016-Lent at JW2_Page_1

Wednesday Fasting: Our story from Monday continues. After the soldiers mockingly hailed Jesus as king, they “spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him” (v.v. 30, 31). They didn’t realize that their mocking was actually a declaration of his kingship, so they continued their tactics of humiliation and torture. Why were they doing this? What was the big deal? Even if they didn’t believe in Jesus, why were they filled with so much hate towards him? People in positions of power are often fearful of losing that power, and the message and person of Jesus was a threat. He had to be shut down, and he had to be shut down in such a way that would send a message that you don’t mess with Rome.

The wonder of the kingdom is that it promises the end of this sort of oppression. We sing this during Christmas in the classic carol, O Holy Night: “Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother; and in his name all oppression shall cease”. Jesus came to bring life to the words of the prophet Isaiah, “to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke” (Is. 58:6). Spend some time today fasting and praying for those who are on the receiving end of this sort of treatment, sex trafficking victims, the poor right here in NJ, the unborn children and the mothers who feel as though they have no other options than to abort their babies. Fast and pray that the bonds of oppression and enslavement would be broken. The Gospel is a message of peace and freedom. This is true spiritually, and it is also true physically. We no longer have to live in light of lies, false expectations, and self-fulfilling prophecies. Jesus came to “break the chains of oppression”.