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40 DAYS - Day 40 - 4.1.21

Love Goes the Distance – Day 40 – Thursday, April 1st – Pastor Mark White
Read Mark 15:22-47 and focus on 15:33-41 below
Remember to Pause | Read | Reflect | Listen |Pray | Journal |Practice | Encourage/Share |Fast


About noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until around three o’clock. Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He is calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and grabbed a sponge. After he had soaked it in wine, he put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. He said, “Let’s wait and see if Elijah will come and take him down!” Jesus shouted and then died. At once the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom. A Roman army officer was standing in front of Jesus. When the officer saw how Jesus died, he said, “This man really was the Son of God!” Some women were looking on from a distance. They had come with Jesus to Jerusalem. But even before this they had been his followers and had helped him while he was in Galilee. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joseph were two of these women. Salome was also one of them.

Jesus is hung on the cross.  And “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed His last.” Immediately, the curtain in the temple is torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion overseeing Jesus’ execution becomes the first person in Mark's gospel to identify Jesus as the Son of God.  As Jesus dies, a group of female disciples watches from a distance.

The temple contained two curtains, one that separated God’s presence from the rest of the temple and another that separated the Gentiles and women from where only the Jewish men could worship.  Even though Mark does not tell us which curtain tore, he does tell us that a Gentile is the first person to confess Jesus as the Son of God, and women are the first witnesses of his resurrection. When the curtain tore, it was a symbol that the death of Jesus granted access for all people to come into God’s presence.  Jesus was separated and forsaken by God on the cross so that we would never have to be.  

Prayer Focus – Today, we will pray for a revival to break out in our community. We are praying for God to soften hard hearts, restore broken relationships, and renew those whose faith has all but disappeared.

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