Week 14: Day 4

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 19:17-18.

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Thoughts: For many, on the day Jesus died on the cross the world went on as normal. The man hanging on the middle cross was just another man. For passers-by, all they saw was another common criminal deserving death.

You see the Roman rulers had engineered crucifixion as the most humiliating way to die. It was a shameful public way to die for breaking their laws. Crucifixion was designed to ensure maximum suffering.

As Jesus was being crucified, 5–7-inch rough metal spikes were driven into the most sensitive nerve centres on his hands and feet. His body had just endured a sleepless night, miles of walking, severe beating and scourging and his lungs begun to give in.

A crown of lengthy thorns was pressed into his head as passers-by mocked him for thinking he was the ‘King of the Jews’. They had no sense or idea that all of history had just changed.

This would be like waking up one morning, turning on the telly only to discover that while you slept a comet was hurdling towards earth – a comet large enough to destroy every living creature on the planet. And while you slept, a top-secret military unit launched a rocket that obliterated the comet. It prevented an extinction level catastrophe, and you didn’t even know it.

In the same way Jesus has prevented an extinction level disaster and many still don’t know it. Just as the rocket takes the hit and obliterates the comet, Jesus takes the hit from God’s comet hurdling toward us because of sin. He does this by dying on the cross in our place for our sin. Motivated by love, he takes the hit! Driven by a love unequalled, he pays the price! He goes through what we were meant to go through for our sin, in love, laying down his life in order that we would live.

This is good news of the Gospel – the comet has been obliterated! What looked like the end of a seemingly failed- wannabe King was actually the climax of a life-giving rescue mission. You see, what looked like the deserved end of a convicted criminal was actually the ultimate rescue operation of a conquering King.

There are many today for whom the events of that morning meaning absolutely nothing, but you and I are called to help them have a closer look.

The comet has been obliterated!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that Jesus takes the hit. 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: Take a moment to thank God for the cross and the living hope you now have because of it. Write down what the cross personally means to you, you could do this by writing a song or poem or even drawing a picture or painting.

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