Faith Capsule: It is a day of rejoicing not a day  of living like one that needed to be pitied.

Mark 15:1-41

Easter celebration is a moment of celebrating the One that came to elevate us. In Him there was no fault but He was faulted when He was arrested and bounded. He was excessively beaten. The bible stated that they all forsook Him and fled. Peter one of His closest denied Him. Mark 14:55, “But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.” Peter denied Jesus by all standards. At a point he cursed and swore that he did not know Jesus. (Mark 14:71) We are talking about Peter denying Him. How are you denying Him?
He was disrespected. Mark 14:65 gave account about how He was disrespected, “Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.” Pilate scourged Him, the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they struck Him with their hands. (John 19:1-3) Jesus could have avoided all kinds of humiliation but he wants for us to be positioned at the juncture where humiliation will not have its way over our life.
Jesus carried the cross so we would be enabled to cross over. “And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. (John 19:17-18)
The account of His humiliation is not to provoke emotional sobering but invoke engaging Christ reality. From the time of His birth in a manger where sheep reside, to the point of death in place of a criminal, He demonstrated humility. Jesus had a set mind and it was a mind of humility. Are you mindful of Him? Philippians 2:5-9 admonished us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,  who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” Without humility there is no way one can become obedient to the word of God.
Let us celebrate our Lord with clear understanding knowing that, “…He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of understanding.