Reading: Luke 22:63-65 NLT
The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him.
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Reading: Isaiah 53.3 NLT
He was despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
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Reading: Luke 22:54-62 NLT
So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance. The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there.
A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!” But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!”
After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.
About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.” But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter.
Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
Prayer: Lord Jesus – Fill me with a spirit of repentance and remorse for the times that I have denied you. May I weep with Peter over my weakness of resolve. Forgive me… and give me the the courage to follow you… come what may. May I honor you in all things. Amen.
Hymn: “Are Ye Able,” Said the Master – Earl Marlatt (1926)
“Are ye able,” said the Master, “to be crucified with me?” “Yea,” the sturdy dreamers answered, “to the death we follow thee.”
Refrain: Lord, we are able. Our spirits are thine. Remold them, make us, like thee, divine. Thy guiding radiance above us shall be a beacon to God, to love, and loyalty.
Are ye able to remember, when a thief lifts up his eyes, that his pardoned soul is worthy
of a place in paradise?
Are ye able when the shadows close around you with the sod, to believe that spirit triumphs, to commend your soul to God?
Are ye able? Still the Master whispers down eternity, and heroic spirits answer, now as then in Galilee.
Reading: Luke 22:47-53 NLT
But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!” And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear.
But Jesus said, “No more of this.” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him. “Am I some dangerous revolutionary,” he asked, “that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus – When I find myself overwhelmed by betrayal and darkness… remind me that, in the end, you win. Amen.
Spiritual: “What do you think about Jesus” (He’s alright)
Reading: Luke 22:39-46 NLT
Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives.
There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”
He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.
He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.
At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief.
“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father – Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. Thy will be done… in me. In Jesus’ name, I ask it. Amen.
Hymn: “Go to Dark Gethsemane” – James Montgomery (1825)
Reading: Luke 22:35-38 NLT
Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything?”
“No,” they replied.
“But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one! For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’ Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.”
“Look, Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.”
“That’s enough,” he said.
Prayer: Lord Jesus – I understand packing and getting ready to travel. And I understand the counter-culture threat your followers pose to prevailing societal norms. But I don’t understand arming myself… except with the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” So give me both wisdom and and innocence… that I might be a faithful bearer of your Good News – fully clothed in your heavenly armor… and prepared to go when you call. Amen.
Hymn: “Song for the Nations” – Chris Christensen
The Peanut Gallery 