Continuing Easter week! You can read my other posts from this week here, here and here.

“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

I love the beginning of this passage. I don’t believe I had really noticed it before but I am so happy the Lord allowed me to see it today.

They sang a hymn.

Wouldn’t you love to know what the Lord sang with His disciples before Gethsemane? Before standing in front of those that would beat Him and mock Him? Before Calvary? Before “It is finished.”?!

It is enough to know they did, even if we do not know the words. It likely was not Bill and Gloria’s ever-popular Because He Lives, although that would have been a good one! (smile) There is truly so much strength in song, in praise and worship. This week is one of the best for old hymns.

I love the new songs to be sure. I’m not one that says there is nothing worth listening to today. Yes there is! So many songs speak of the blood and redemption and they sing to our great God, directly sing to Him instead of just singing about Him. if you can’t find anything, ask me, I will point you in the right direction (smile). But I digress, that is another post for another day!

I was raised with a songbook in my hands and on Easter mornings I can still recall turning to our favorite pages to sing songs such as “He Lives!”, “The Old Rugged Cross”, “Jesus Paid it All”, and “Because He Lives”.

But it’s the next part of the text that really spoke to me.

And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.’  Peter said to him, ‘Even though they all fall away, I will not.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.’  But he said emphatically, ‘If I must die with you, I will not deny you.’  And they all said the same.” Mark 14:26-31 ESV.

You will all fall away.

One of the saddest passages in the Bible! Jesus knew that the disciples would leave Him, yet He went to Calvary anyway.

He knew Peter would deny Him, but He paid the price.

Some of those that were the closest to Him for the last three years would walk away when He was facing the trial of His life.

The last part of that section says, “And they all said the same.” They all said, just like Peter, that they would never forsake the Lord, they would even die with Him. I believe at that moment they were sincere but when it came down to facing the soldiers, they couldn’t hold up.

We have all fallen away at some point in our lives. We might not have been like Peter and said, “I never knew Him!” but we have failed, just the same.

He knew we would. He knows we could again. Yet on to Calvary He went, enduring the suffering and agony of a crucifixion, the cruelest death anyone could face.

Why? Because He loved us.

Without Calvary, we would have no hope and no future.

What do you need hope in today? Good Friday (the cross) and Easter Sunday (the Resurrection!). It’s all wrapped up in that weekend, but it didn’t end there. The blood that was shed that day still covers sin today. The price He paid all of those years ago is still good today! We just have to accept it.

Some are still not able to gather in their church buildings again this year or it may look differently than it has in Easter’s past. Wherever you celebrate this weekend, celebrate with all of your heart. We know we don’t have to be in a building to worship or to share with others.

Is it well with your soul? It was all for a purpose, friend, He IS coming back and the signs are all around us…turn to Jesus today!

Blessed Easter!