… for the week of April 13, 2025

Remember Us

On this Sunday of the Passion, the gathered church remembers the final days of Jesus’ life. Once the celebratory palm branches are set down, the mood shifts as the somber tones of betrayal and crucifixion take over. The Lukan narrative draws us into the details, and we remember the extent of God’s passion for us as Jesus enters into the depths of suffering through divine selfless love poured out for the sake of the world.

There is power in remembering. To be sure, this is an exercise of memory and recall for us. Yet Holy Week is much more than that. In our remembering of Jesus’ passion, our reality is re-membered with God’s reality. Like members of a body, we are re-membered onto Christ, formed into one through the Spirit, and drawn into the reality of God’s saving love. Through scripture, song, and prayer, the liturgy of this day re-members us as God’s people as we bear witness to Jesus’ remembrance of us.

In the culminating moment of the crucifixion, only Luke’s gospel reports the exchange between the two criminals and Jesus. The one criminal chastises the other before he addresses the crucified Jesus, saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). The request is for more than an act of recall; the criminal is seeking to be re-membered in the dominion of God, seeking a fusion of realities—his with Jesus’. Without hesitation, Jesus responds, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (v. 43). The criminal will be with Jesus, re-membered to Jesus.

This Sunday we remember Jesus’ passion as together we are joined to God’s loving action for the world. Jesus’ last breath on the cross is the moment when our reality is re-membered with God’s, for Jesus remembers us, and paradise’s reign is realized.

Devotional message based on the readings for April 13, 2025, reprinted from sundaysandseasons.com.
Copyright © 2023 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.

… How God Loves Us – Devotion

In a world where love often feels conditional and fleeting, God’s love stands apart—unearned, unchanging, and undeserved. This short booklet explores what Scripture teaches about the depth, certainty, and reality of God’s love for sinners.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GtBkKm8DiATB71cEUqyK_ajxL_twqUVM/view?usp=sharing

… The Lord’s Prayer During Lent

The Lord’s Prayer During Lent explores the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer with reflections on faith, repentance, and God’s grace. Hopefully this booklet helps you meditate on the depth of God’s promises, strengthens your faith, and points you to the cross.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1slkXGPLXwmbXrasDRhaJW2pSl6rXqug_/view?usp=sharing