Daily Readings for April 17-23

Daily Readings for April 17-23, 2011

April 17 Zech. 9:9-12; Phil. 2:5-11; Matt. 21:1-9

April 18 Isaiah 50:5-10; John 12:1-23
April 19 : Jeremiah 11:18-20; John 12:24-43
April 20 Isaiah 62:11-63:7; Luke 22:1-23; 42
April 21 Maundy Thursday: Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; John 13:1-15
April 22 Good Friday: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; John 18:1-19:42
April 23 Holy Saturday: Daniel 6:1-24; 1 Peter 3:17-22; Matthew 27:57-66

HOLY (MAUNDY) THURSDAY

Exodus 12:1–14; 1 Corinthians 11:23–32; John 13:1–15 (34–35)

Let Us Love One Another, as Christ Jesus Has Loved Us

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). By eating His body and drinking His blood, we proclaim to all the world that Jesus is, indeed, our Passover Lamb (Exodus 12:1–14), who was sacrificed for us on Calvary. In Christ, the Lord remembers us in mercy and remembers our sin no more; He forgives us all our iniquity. With such love, he “loved His own who were in the world,” and even loves us “to the end” (John 13:1). As He washes us and feeds us in love, let us love one another, just as He has loved us (John 13:34).

GOOD FRIDAY

Isaiah 52:13—53:12; 2 Corinthians 5:14–21; John 18:1—19:42

Behold the Lamb of God, Who Takes Away the Sin of the World

Jesus, the Lamb of God, is led to the slaughter of His cross as the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world. “Despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3), He is the righteous Servant who justifies many by His innocent suffering and death. He bears our griefs and carries our sorrows; He is wounded for our transgressions; He is crushed for our iniquities; He suffers our chastisement, so that “with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4–5). As the Son of God, He fulfills the Law for us in human flesh, and so fulfills the Scriptures (John 19:7, 24). For in Christ, “God was reconciling the whole world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

EASTER SUNRISE

Isaiah 25:6–9; 1 Corinthians 15:1–11; John 20:1–18

Christ’s Resurrection Brings Us Life

“In Adam all die.” For we are all participants in the sin of Adam, who rebelled against God in the garden and brought the curse of death into the world. But “in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22)). For He was faithful to His Father and destroyed death on the holy tree. Jesus, the Second Adam, now walks in the garden in the cool of the day and reveals Himself to the daughter of Eve (John 20:1–18). The risen Christ brings not the curse of death but the blessing of life, the resurrection of the body. He leads us through the baptismal sea to new life on the other side, conquering our mortal enemies in its depths (Exodus 14:10—15:1). In this way our Lord Jesus wipes away the tears from all faces. For He has swallowed up death forever. Let us therefore be glad and rejoice in His salvation (Isaiah 25:6–9)!

EASTER DAY

Job 19:23–27; 1 Corinthians 5:6–8; Mark 16:1–8

Christ’s Resurrection Means That We Will One Day Be Raised

“Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). By the shed blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, eternal death has passed over us. Now we pass with Christ through death into life everlasting. For Christ the crucified One is risen! The stone has been rolled away from the tomb, revealing that the tomb could not hold Him (Mark 16:1–8). Now our Redeemer lives eternally to save us from sin and Satan and the grave, and we can live in the sure hope of our own bodily resurrection with Christ. “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:26). Feasting on the living Christ, who is our meat and drink indeed, we boldly say: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? . . . But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54–55, 57).