Friday, March 29, 2024  

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Today's Hymn
“They Crucified My Lord”

They crucified my Lord, and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
they crucified my Lord, and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.

They nailed him to a tree, they pierced him in the side,
The blood came trickalin’ down, and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.

He bowed his head and died, and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
he bowed his head and died, and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.

African American spiritual
Hymn 219, Glory to God

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Reflection

What would you do if you knew which day was going to be your last? Jesus knew. Jesus knew the day he was going to die and even how he was to die. In his final days on earth he healed the blind, cured a person suffering from leprosy, fed the hungry, even raised Lazurus from the dead, and so much more. Jesus helped the most desperate people he encountered, regardless of their status, gender, ethnicity, or what others might think, loving those in need.

When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus lived out this commandment until his final breath on the cross. Jesus knew that his life would end this day, and “he never said a mumbalin’ word,” because his entire life was an act of love, love for God and love for his neighbors.

What would you do if you knew which day was going to be your last? Would you also help those in desperate need? Would you tell someone you loved them? Would you love God and your neighbor as yourself? Love is the lesson Jesus taught and demonstrated every day of his ministry among us. Loving God and others is the fullest response needed to Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross this day, because Jesus died for love. It is a love that will never let go, never end, certainly not on the cross, and not even on our final day. Love will always endure.

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Prayer
“Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small; love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Amen.
(Prayer from the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts)

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Reflection written by John W. W. Sherer, Organist and Director of Music

Reflection © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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