Good Friday Earthquake: March 27th Devo

 

Good Friday Earthquake

Matthew 27:50-51

March 27th Devotional

      On this day in 1964, a massive earthquake shook South Central Alaska.  The quake struck at 5:36 PM on Good Friday.  The quake measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, making it the second-highest recorded earthquake with an instrument.  It was over two times more powerful than the great 1906 earthquake which leveled San Francisco.  The ground shook for nearly five consecutive minutes!  The earthquake was felt over a distance of ½ million square miles.  Over 600 miles of the fault line ruptured destroying anything in its path.  Land masses were thrust upward of 60 feet (82 feet was the highest recorded) and land masses sunk by as much as 8 feet.  The earthquake caused two major tsunamis.  One particular tsunami struck Hawaii and Japan.  The other tsunami struck the coast of Alaska.  One particular wave was recorded as being over 220 feet high!  Coastal flooding devasted the area, mainly the West Coast of the United States.  There would be over 10,000 aftershocks over the next few months.  Some of the aftershocks measured over a 6 on the Richter scale.  Miraculously only 131 perished in the wake of the earthquake due to how densely populated the area was at the time. 

      This earthquake wasn’t the only one that occurred on Good Friday.  Another earthquake struck on the first Good Friday.  Jesus hung on the cross suspended between heaven and earth.  The perfect Lamb of God is offered as the sinless sacrifice for mankind.  Matthew tells us about the closing events at Calvary that dreadful day “and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rock were split (Matthew 27:50-51).”  On the day that Christ crushed sin the earth shook violently.  There is topographical evidence that an earthquake happened in that area around the year 30 AD!  One of the most important details of this earthquake is that it was divinely sent by God.  The earthquake’s primary purpose wasn’t the destruction of the earth but the destruction of the separation that once kept man from God.  The earthquake split the curtain of the temple, which was no mere task.  The curtain of the temple was so strong that two horses could not pull it apart.  Behind the curtain was the holy of holies, a place considered so sacred that only the high priest could enter once a year to make offerings.  It was a wall that symbolized the separation between God and man.  When the veil was torn it showed the world that all are welcome, that all can come, and that God had come to earth to crush our greatest enemy, sin.  The veil being rent was an invitation for us to worship God in His holiness.  It was an invitation sent by God to be His child, to be redeemed, to be saved.  This earthquake simultaneously destroyed separation and made a way for man’s reparation.  Mankind had wronged God but God repaired the damage done through Jesus Christ.

Love Thy Neighbor: March 20th

 

  Love Thy Neighbor

Luke 10:25-37

March 20th Devotional

 

      On this day in 1928, Fred McFeely Rogers was born in Latrobe Pennsylvania.  The  Rogers family was very well known in the community.  His father, James, was the president of a wealthy business in town and his mother was dedicated to helping the community, especially during World War II. Rogers's childhood was difficult. He was a quiet, reserved, and somewhat overweight little boy.  He recalled many times when he was bullied.  He dreaded going to school because of the taunting.  He was very lonely as a child.  His best friends were typically his stuffed animals.  Rogers broke out of his introverted personality in high school.  After high school, he would go on to graduate with a bachelor's in music and then a bachelor's in Theology.  He became an ordained Presbyterian pastor in the 1960s.  His desire to enter ministry stemmed from a burden to reach and teach boys and girls.  Rogers found his greatest success in reaching the masses of children with television, though he originally hated television.  He wanted to change how tv reached children.  Through the 1950s Mr. Rodgers would work on multiple different children’s television sets, typically designing and creating puppets (many of these puppets would later be used in his television show).  Rogers was offered a lead position with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.  This would be the first time he would physically stand before the television camera. In 1968 PBS brought the program over to their network.  It would famously be named Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.  Who can forget the famous whimsical opening jingle, Rogers changing into a sweater jacket, tossing off dress shoes for canvas shoes, and welcoming us to be his neighbor?  The show aired from 1968 until 2001 (33 years), encompassing 895 episodes.  Incredibly the set rarely changed, even the land of Make-Believe stayed relatively the same.  Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was unique because it didn’t just focus on education but instead focused on how a child felt and their social development.  Rogers tackled tough issues like death, rivalry, depression, bullying, racism, and he even addressed JFK’s assassination in a way a child could understand.

      Mr. Rodgers invited each of us to be his neighbor every week but he didn’t just invite us, he showed us how to be a good neighbor.  Jesus spoke about how we can be neighborly too.  In Luke 10 Jesus is asked by a religious leader on how to inherit eternal life and Jesus asked him what the greatest commandment was and the man replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your hearts, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).”  The man then asks the key question, who is my neighbor?  Jesus proceeds with the story of the Good Samaritan.  A Jewish man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead along the road.  His countrymen ignored his suffering, but a hated Samaritan came by the scene, dismounted his ride, and proceeded to care for the man.  He cleaned him, bandaged him, poured expensive wine oil on the stranger, and brought him to an inn.  He told the innkeeper to take care of the man and that he would take care of the bill.  The greatest thing that the Samaritan did was to show compassion, compassion in action.  Our neighbors in the world are not just people we like or who are similar to us, or people we agree with, but everyone.  How have you loved your neighbor this week?  How have you shown compassion in action this week?  Mr. Rogers said, “won’t you be my neighbor?”  Who have you invited to be your neighbor?

The Replacement: Devotional March 13th

The Replacement

Isaiah 53:6

March 13th Devotional

      On this day in 1954, a young baseball player named Henry Aaron replaced the iconic Bobby Thomson who was ailing from injury. Aaron wasn’t known as Hammerin’ Hank yet, hadn’t won any baseball hardware, and his stat line was empty. Aaron was born in 1934 in Mobile Alabama. He was one of eight children. His family was desperately poor. Hank loved baseball but his family couldn’t afford any equipment. He resorted to hitting bottle caps with sticks and making his own baseball gear from things he found in the streets. Aaron thrived on the field. He tried out for the Dodgers at the age of 15 but they passed on him saying he was too young. Aaron would then sign with multiple different independent negro league teams, typically making less than $3 a game! In the year 1951 he signed with the Indianapolis Clowns, the highest level of Negro League play at the time. Aaron only played 26 games for the Clowns before signing with the then-Boston Braves. Aaron worked his way up through the minor leagues, posting jaw-dropping numbers. Aaron was invited to the Milwaukee Braves' spring training. On this day the great Bobby Thomson broke his ankle while stealing second, opening up the spot for the 20-year-old Aaron to step into the spotlight. Aaron would continue to play at an elite level for 23 years, 21 with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and his final two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. His most iconic moment would be when he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record on April 8, 1974. He would go on to hit a total of 755 home runs (many people still consider Aaron the home run king), hit 3771 (3rd all time, only behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb), win the world series and the MVP award in 1957, the record for most all-star game appearances, and more records then be counted.

     Henry the Hammer Aaron’s iconic career all started because he replaced another player. He took his spot on the field. The Bible talks about someone else who was a substitute, a replacement. Amazingly He was a substitute for us. This person is Jesus Christ. The Bible declares that the wages of sin are death and that all have sinned and come short of God’s glory. None of us are exempt from that. That is a Bible truth that cannot be ignored or brushed away. For us to be saved someone would have to take our place, someone would have to be our replacement. The prophet Isaiah writes about the “Suffering Servant” who would willingly and sacrificially lay down His own life for us. He wrote “But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).” I cannot think of more graphic words that could be expressed to show how deeply Jesus would agonize. Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God would be pierced (the text indicates pierced through, picturing the image of the spear of the solider entering into the chest of Christ while on the cross and the nails), He was crushed, He was punished, and was wounded. Why? For our wrongs, for our sins, and our well-being. He did it to heal us spiritually, to take away the stain of sin which we could never lighten let alone remove. Rejoice today that Christ, the greatest substitute would take our place to redeem us and make us His own.