Week 14: Day 2

Intro: Hi and welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites. My name is Blessing.

Each weekday we share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today.

Bible: Today's reading comes from John 18:14:

Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

Thoughts: After Jesus’s betrayal he is brought before Caiaphas the high priest and in verse 14 we are introduced to Caiaphas’s words from an earlier occasion, in which he said : ‘it would be good if one man died for the people.’ These words will turn out to be a prophecy – a kind of prediction regarding Jesus.

Now if you think about that, when is it ever good for a person to die for someone else? In order to better understand what’s going on here perhaps the following story from a prisoner of war camp during World War 2 will help us.

On one particular day, 20 men came in from their duty of digging holes, they lined their shovels up on the wall as they always did for the daily count but when they were counted, the officer found only 19. 1 of the 20 shovels was missing.

Angry and furious, he demanded that the prisoner who misplaced their shovel should confess. Filled with fear and terror none of them did. The officer then threatened them all: if no one stepped forward, he would choose ten men at random and shoot them. For a brief moment, there was absolute silence. And then suddenly, a young man of about 19 stepped forward. Trembling, he uttered the words ‘I did it’. He was immediately taken a few paces away and shot

But then as they were dismissing, the shovels were counted again and it turns out there were 20 after all. You see the officer had miscounted. The young man loved his 19 fellow prisoners so much so he was willing to lay down his life for them. He would die and they would live.

The words of Caiaphas ‘It is better that one good man died for the people.’ are exactly what will happen on the cross. Spurred on by love, Jesus – the ultimate example of a good man – will die not only for his friends, but for the whole world.

Now the young man in our story likely died for people who loved him, yet Jesus on the cross died even for those that didn’t – and as we discovered in yesterday’s Orbit, even for his betrayers. You see the cross is a love letter written with Jesus’s blood. It’s message is you are worth dying for!

As we finish let me read 1 John 3:16: ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.’

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that Jesus willingly dies on the cross in order that as we look to him we might live. Amen

Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.

Action: Every day on Orbit we give you a simple practical challenge to help you put this passage into action in your life. Here's today's: Perhaps you struggle with sharing the Gospel… Pray for an opportunity this Easter week to tell the story of the young man who died for the 19 and use that to point to Jesus who gave his life for us all.

Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - we'll be back with another reflection tomorrow.