“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45
There are many verses I could have chosen to start off this month-long devotional. I selected this verse in Mark 10 because it reminds me of two important things: how Jesus lived (and how we should too), and why He came. Jesus came as a servant-leader and He died the Savior. He defeated death so that we could too.
This study is meant to be started one week before Easter Sunday. The reason for this is that we often spend so much time just looking at and celebrating the resurrection that we only give a mere glance to the before and after. Still, there is not enough time to fully cover every event and aspect. So, as always, I encourage you to study for yourself.
In this study, we will journey through the 50-something-day window of Palm Sunday to Pentecost and beyond. We will start, however, by doing a brief review of some themes in the Old Testament regarding the prophecies and precursors of the coming Messiah who would live, die, and then live again.
After we look back at the “BC” days, we will then fast-forward to the final week of Jesus’ earthly life leading up to the most pivotal moment in human history. We’ll focus on key moments shared in the Gospels. Then we’ll look at those fateful days, the turning point that changed the course of human history. We won’t stop with the resurrection, though. There are some crucial events that followed it—namely, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the spread of the Gospel to the Gentile world.
As is usual for my writing and teaching style, there will be emphasis on the individuals mentioned and applications for us today. We can identify with their shortcomings and the lessons they learned. What we call Easter (a word with possible roots in German or Old English) is also referred to as Pascha, which is translated from the Hebrew word for Passover. It has been my observation that it is a much more important day than Christmas to the Body of Christ outside the Western world. There is much less materialism there, and so the focus is rightfully on the primary moment that changed the world: the resurrection. We have the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus to distract the Christian and non-Christian alike and to de-emphasize the Messiah. So I encourage us all this “Easter” season to commit afresh to putting our emphasis where it should be: on living for Christ and serving others, especially the needy.
Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many. As Matthew records early on in his book, the reason Christ came into the world was to “save his people from their sins” (1:21b). That’s you and me. We have been adopted into His family.
If the Lord has already removed the scales from your eyes and opened your heart to Him, please share this devotional with someone who is still lost and searching. It is available for free on our website as well, along with every other devotional we have produced.