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Emptied & Humbled: More to Lent

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

There is more to Lent than just Lent.

First, Lent is more than just 40 days and giving something up.

As I’ve stated earlier, I did not grow up observing Lent. I didn’t even know, until recently, that Lent ends before Easter. (blush)

Holy Week

Lent ends during Holy Week. Holy Week starts the Sunday before Easter, Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday celebrates and remembers Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem. The crowd loves Him and expects big things from Him.

Holy Week ends with the Triduum, where we remember the last Thursday (the last day of Lent), Good Friday and Saturday before Easter.

 

Holy Week is interesting to me. In the span of a week, the people went from loving Jesus to killing Him. On Palm Sunday they welcomed Him into Jerusalem and then on Friday killed Him on Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem.

I wonder how often I do the same thing.

Praise God on Sunday, and then deny, ignore, hurt, sin against Him that same week.

This is why I need Lent.

This is why I need Easter Sunday.

Triduum

Triduum is the last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before Easter.

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday is a day to remember Last Supper and Jesus’ washing the disciple’s feet.

Some Maundy Thursday services end with the removing or covering of items in the Church, especially the cross. This is to visually show the sorrow, sadness, grief of Good Friday.

Good Friday

Good Friday is the day we remember Jesus’ crucifixion and death. As I stated earlier, I sometimes struggle with how Good Friday is good. How can death be good? I tend to agree with the people who refer to Good Friday as Black Friday.

 

But then I remember Hebrews 9:22 and Romans 5:8

Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.  (Hebrews 9:22)

 

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

Friday is good because it shows us how much God loves us.

Jesus’ death – His sacrifice – is good because it allows us, even though we are the dirty rotten sinners that we are – to be reconciled to God.

It is good because it is not the end. Yes, it is crucifixion Friday, but Resurrection Sunday is coming!

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is the day we remember – commemorate – the day Jesus was buried. It is a time of quietness and contemplation.

Remember, what Jesus did, He did for you.

Remember, Jesus is in the tomb, but Easter Sunday is coming!

Easter

Easter Sunday is also called Resurrection Sunday.

 

Easter is the time of year that we celebrate what the Jews celebrate at Passover. God has made a way to save us! God has conquered death!

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (I Corinthians 15:56-57)

This is an awesome time of year.

It is a time for us to take our faith seriously.

It is a time for us to empty and humble ourselves.

It is a time for us to repent and to draw near to God.

it is a time for us to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

It is a time for us to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

This Lent season please join Reel Parables as we look at movies to see how we can be more like Jesus.

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Check out Emptied and Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional.

Click To Tweet

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

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Emptied & Humbled: 40 Days

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

As we discussed yesterday, one aspect of Lent is preparation. This is one reason, traditionally, why Lent lasts for 40 days. Traditionally, the forty days of Lent mirror the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before He started His earthly ministry.

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he endured temptations from the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, he was famished. Luke 4:1-2

 

For forty days Jesus fasted.

For forty days Jesus was tempted by the devil.

For forty days Jesus prepared Himself for His earthly ministry.

The same can be true for us. The forty days of Lent can be a time for us to prepare to fast.

Again, I did not grow up observing Lent. As my wife and I have started to observe Lent we have followed the tradition where Sundays are not part of Lent and, assuming you are fasting, you are not expected to fast on Sunday. The reason is so you can take part in communion, the Lord’s Supper, in your church community.

This Lent devotional – Emptied and Humbled – will follow this forty days Lenten calendar.

After this week’s introductory posts I will post Monday – Saturday, but not on Sunday.

Each week will focus on a different movie and will follow, more or less, this outline of Philippines 2:

  • Choice
  • Sacrifice
  • Death
  • Identity
  • Glory

Each week we will look at how Jesus emptied Himself and humbled Himself (Philippians 2) and then examine how we can do the same. After all, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”? But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve,mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. James 4:5-9

Yea, I know it’s not about Lent or Easter, but 40, by U2, is based on Psalm 40 and seems to fit in here nicely.

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Check out Emptied and Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional.

Click To Tweet

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

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Emptied & Humbled: Ash Wednesday

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

From ashes to ashes and dust to dust…

This common saying, often heard at funerals, is not a quote from the Bible, but it is quite Biblical.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:19

And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the life’s breath returns to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7

He has flung me into the mud, and I have come to resemble dust and ashes. Job 30:19

We are finite. We are perishable. Unless Jesus returns first, we will all die.

We will, as Genesis, Ecclesiastes, and Job state, return to “ashes and dust.”

As I stated in the introduction, I did not grow up participating in Lent. I did not grow up putting ash on my forehead. But, as I have grown older, I appreciate its importance.

The ash, in the design of the cross, is meant to remind us of our own mortality. Ash Wednesday and Lent are a time of preparation, repentance and of sacrifice.

Lent is a time of preparation.

The end of Lent coincides with the last week of Jesus’ life; His leading the Last Supper – the Passover feast, His betrayal by Judas, His trial, His crucifixion, His death and burial, and His resurrection.

Jesus prepared Himself.

Lent is a time to prepare ourselves.

Two ways we can prepare ourselves for Passover/Easter is to repent and to sacrifice.

Lent is a time of repentance.

Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes! Job 42:6

Like Job, when he met God in the whirlwind, we, too, are compelled to repent when we meet God during Lent.

Jesus loves you. Jesus loves your spouse. Jesus loves your children. Jesus loves you so much that He died for you.

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Repentance is more than just feeling bad about something. Repentance means to turn from something (sin, actions, words) to God. We turn away from the bad things and turn towards God.

An outward showing of this is ash on our forehead. An inward showing of this is repentance.

Lent is a time of repentance. What is something you need to turn from? In what areas of your life do you need to turn towards God?

Lent is a time of sacrifice.

Fasting is a common tradition during Lent. We give up something because of what Jesus gave up for us.

If I fast during Lent it is usually a traditional fast – not eating food.

For me, it is a time to “reset” my appetite, my heart, my mind, my dependence on God, etc.

There are some who argue that fasting for Lent is a man-made tradition. And maybe it is. But Jesus assumed that we would fast. In Matthew 6:17 Jesus said, “When you fast…” Not if you fast, but when you fast.

Jesus expects us to fast.

What can you fast from this Lent season? Is there something keeping you from God? Is there something coming between you and God? From what can you fast that can/will help you draw closer to God during this Lent season?

Check out Emptied and Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional.

Click To Tweet

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

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Emptied & Humbled: Fat Tuesday

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

I did not grow up observing Lent. 

It is, however, something that my wife and I have added to our family devotions and to our own personal spiritual disciplines, usually in the form of some sort of fast.

You see, the time between Lent and Easter is a very important time for our family, both spiritually and personally.

Spiritually

I like Easter more than Christmas. I like that Easter is less commercial and, to me, more spiritual. Christmas is important, and I love the Christmas season, but to me Easter is crucial. Easter is where it’s at. No Easter, no Faith.

“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.” I Corinthians 15:14 (NET)

Because of this my wife and I have started to take Easter, Passover, and the whole Lenten season more seriously.

While Advent is a time of longing, Lent is a time of preparing.

Personally

It is also a very important time for our family because it marks the life of our middle child, our middle son, Jude.

Jude was born February 11, the week before Lent began and died, two years later, on April, 12, shortly after Easter.

Because of this, Lent is a very emotional and meaningful time for our family.

I get giving something up. I gave up my son.

I know the pain of the Father as He watched His son die.

I have cried out, like Jesus, “why have you forsaken me?”

I get Good Friday. Like others new to Lent, I too question how the day Jesus died could be called good. I also question how any good can from our son’s death.

Yet I still long for the hope that comes with Resurrection Sunday.

I need the hope of Easter.

As we share Lent together with this devotional, we will focus on two themes; being emptied and being humbled. Both of which come from Philippians 2:7-8:

(Jesus) emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross!

In preparation for this Lent devotional read Philippians 2:1-11.

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose. Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,

who though he existed in the form of God
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,

but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave,
by looking like other men,
and by sharing in human nature.

He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
—even death on a cross!

As a result God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow
—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—

and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.

After a brief introduction, Wednesday – Saturday, each week we will look at Lent through the eyes of a movie. So get ready to discover Lent in a whole new way as we prepare ourselves for Jesus’ death and resurrection.

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Check out Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional.

Click To Tweet

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith