HOLY FATHER, thank YOU for Your Beloved SON+ Whose+ most noble Head bore the Crown of Thorns and which same sacred Head was struck with a reed, His+ Face with hands and fists.
This series of Lenten / Passover Meditations will reflect the 3rd Hour Prayer ( 9 a.m. ) Station observed by the Early Christians. Today, many liturgical churches continue to observe these ancient prayer hours. They were based upon the prayer hours in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Morning Prayer came at the time of the Morning Sacrifice in the Temple, the very time that The LORD JESUS was nailed to the Cross.
3RD HOUR MORNING PRAYER
Heavenly FATHER, we come before YOU at this 3rd hour of the ancient day, the hour of the Morning Sacrifice in the Temple . . . that same hour that Your Beloved SON+, the LAMB+ of GOD that taketh away the sin of the world, was offered up on the Cross for our sakes.
We thank YOU for the Great Drops of BLOOD HE+ shed in the garden of Gethsemane, after praying all through the night . . . then facing the men who had come with swords and clubs to violently take HIM+.
Thank YOU, O Holy FATHER, that Your Beloved SON+, as the perfect SON+ of GOD, revealed Your power, saying “ I AM,” causing the armed band of men to go backward and fall to the ground .
Yet, HE+ did not use this great power for HIMSELF+, revealing HIMSELF+ to be the obedient and perfect SON+ of Man . . . still loving His+ disciples to the uttermost, HE+ requested the armed men to “Let them go,” and thus, His+ frightened disciples could flee away.
For the humiliation HE+ endured for our sakes, we give YOU thanks . . . and also, for the answers that HE+ gave to those who accused HIM+ wrongfully.
Heavenly FATHER, we thank YOU for the times HE+ gave no answer at all to His+ accusers, as a Lamb led to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is silent.
We remember the scourging HE+ unjustly received from Pilate’s hand . . . after being mocked, slapped, and beaten by the Temple guard . . . and then Herod’s men . . . and then by the Roman soldiers, giving His+ back to the smiters and His+ cheeks to them that plucked out the hair.
Recalling that HE+ hid not His+ Face from shame and spitting, we thank YOU that by HIS+ Wounds we are healed. We remember the chastisement of our peace was upon HIM+.
+ + +
HOLY FATHER, thank YOU for Your Beloved SON+ Whose+ most noble Head bore the Crown of Thorns and which same sacred Head was struck with a reed, His+ Face with hands and fists.
+ + +
And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon HIS+ head, and a reed in HIS+ right hand: and they bowed the knee before HIM+, and mocked HIM+, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews! Matthew 27:29
And they clothed HIM+ with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about HIS+ head,Mark 15:17
And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on HIS+ head, and they put on HIM+ a purple robe, John 19:2
Then came JESUS forth,
wearing the crown of thorns,
and the purple robe.
And Pilate saith unto them,
BEHOLD, THE MAN+ !
John 19:5
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What words Pilate spoke ! Yes, we DO “ Behold, The MAN+ . . . the only true MAN+ among them that awful night.
It takes nothing more than a man who hosts the devil in his heart to treat someone with humiliation. The devil loves to mock our GOD to us.
Then the devil turns and mocks us !
A deeper Humiliation than what these mockers gave Our LORD is hard to imagine.
HE+, The LORD JESUS CHRIST . . .
the 2nd Person of The Trinity-- THE ELOHIM, the MESSIAH+, the SAVIOR+ of The World, our PASSOVER LAMB+
. . . could have called more than 12 legions of angels Matthew 26:53 and the mocking would have ceased instantly.
The disrespectful, painful Humiliation would have vanished.
HE+ would have been clothed in GLISTENING RAIMENT instead of the tawdry purple cloth the mockers fetched in their hatefulness.
But HE+ chose to WALK that Valley of Humiliation and Injury before us
so that we would not have to walk it alone.
HE+ did it all for you . . . for me.
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