This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
You're welcome to read one, two, or all three of the readings every weekday. And if you fall behind, don't worry! You can either use the weekends to catch up or you can simply dive in to the reading for that day, even if you've missed a few days, weeks, or even months!
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19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews1 answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic2 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.3 He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.4 But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus5 by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds6 in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
[1] 19:7
[2] 19:13
[3] 19:14
[4] 19:23
[5] 19:39
[6] 19:39
(ESV)
The other day, I was walking back from the cafeteria on our Concordia campus talking to one of our staff members. We were joking around about my propensity to be a 'control freak.' And it's true. As much as I hate to admit it, I do have a problem with power. I like to know what's going on, when it's going on, and exactly how it's going on. I want to leave nothing to chance. And leaving nothing to chance can sometimes mean leaving everything to me. Sadly, or perhaps happily depending on your point of view, even when I'm ruling the roost, things do not always go according to plan. Mistakes happen. Directions veer off course. Things fall through the cracks. And it is at these moments, often through my gritted teeth and clinched fists, that I realize that no matter how much I may try to direct things, I am not always really in charge. I just like to think I am.
In our reading from John 19, Jesus' moment of deepest sorrow, deepest agony, and deepest anguish has come. For Pilate, in the face of escalating acrimony from an unruly mob, has handed Jesus over to be crucified. And when Pilate does this, John records: "So the soldiers took charge of Jesus" (verse 16). And so, John tells us, Roman soldiers are now in charge of the Son of God. They are directing the course. They are making the plans. They are calling the shots. Who's in charge? Roman soldiers are. Or so they like to think.
It's quite striking to me that the actions of the soldiers, after "taking charge" of Jesus, are anything but according to their plans and directions and courses. First, the soldiers, after nailing Jesus to the cross, decide that they will cast lots to decide who gets Jesus' last piece of clothing, which is finally nothing but a pair of underwear. Jesus, it seems, upon his crucifixion, does not even have control over the way he dresses. But though the soldiers believe they have control over Jesus' wardrobe, John tells us that their control is only illusory: "This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, 'They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing'" (verse 24). The soldiers, even if unwittingly, are not "in charge;" instead, they are only fulfilling a biblical prophecy from Psalm 22. And so John continues, "So this is what the soldiers did." Scripture, not soldiers, is "in charge" of the events at the cross.
Then, in verses 32-34, when the soldiers arrive at the cross to break Jesus' legs in order to expedite his death, they find him already, and seemingly prematurely, deceased. And so, "One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water" (verse 34). Why did this unnamed soldier do this? Because he is "in charge" and desires to demonstrate, with ghastly gruesomeness, his unilateral authority over death and life? Hardly. According to John, this soldier is once again at the mercy of biblical prophecy: "These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: 'Not one of his bones will be broken,' and, as another scripture says, 'They will look on the one they have pierced'" (verses 36-37). And we find, once again, that Scripture is calling the shots, directing the course, and fulfilling its own plans. The soldiers are not, nor have they ever been, "in charge." They only think they are.
As John highlights so eloquently, the cross, among many other things, is an attack on our presumption that we are "in charge." The cross shows us that we are not in charge of our own mortality, for it reminds us that we will all die. The cross shows us that we are not in charge of our own righteousness, for the very reason that we are in need of the cross is because we are "slaves to sin" (Romans 6:20) and unable to stop sinning. And, most significantly, the cross shows us that we are not in charge of God's grace. We do not deserve it nor can we earn or coerce it. It is completely and wholly a gift from God, apart from our control or domestication. We are not in charge, no matter how much we might like to think we are.
So, stop gritting your teeth and clinching your fists when things do not go according to plan and instead cling to the cross. For this is the very place we meet the one who not only thinks he's in charge, he really is. Jesus, even though he looks weak and wounded, sick and sore, is the one with real power. And in a world where so many things are out of our control, why wouldn't we want to trust in the one who really is?
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
we will come no more to you’?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number.
33 “How well you direct your course
to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
the lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
35 you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.’
Behold, I will bring you to judgment
for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 How much you go about,
changing your way!
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 From it too you will come away
with your hands on your head,
for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper by them.
3:1 “If1 a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the LORD.
2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 will he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”
6 The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD.”
11 And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the LORD.
I will not look on you in anger,
for I am merciful,
declares the LORD;
I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the LORD your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the LORD.
14 Return, O faithless children,
declares the LORD;
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15 “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
[1] 3:1
(ESV)
Jeremiah cries out to the Jews of his own generation condemning their spiritual adultery. Despite being married to the LORD they felt free to roam. They were like a bride who forgot her wedding jewelry. Repeatedly, Israel denied her guilt claiming innocence. But because they falsely said, "I have not sinned," God warned that they would find no shelter in their foreign allies. God declares that it would be a disgrace to take back an unfaithful wife who prostituted herself with many lovers. Although they cry out, "My Father, you are the friend of my youth," yet they continue to do all the evil they possibly can. Jeremiah dated these words to the reign of King Josiah, a period of spiritual reform when idols were cast down and the King was calling people back to God's Law. God told Jeremiah that He had hoped the idolatrous people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel would return to Him but they would not. God gave Israel a certificate of divorce by exiling her to Assyria, but it had no impact on the Southern Kingdom of Judah at all. For too many, Josiah's reforms in which they took part were nothing more than a pretense. Even at this late hour, however, God offered grace to His people, "only acknowledge your guilt." God promised to restore His faithless people, returning them to Zion and placing over them "shepherds after my own heart." Together, Jeremiah prophesied, Israel and Judah would return from the north to serve the LORD. This is, of course, a prophecy not just of the remnant returning from exile, but of the New Covenant and the New Testament Church, as shown by these words: "In those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again." The New Covenant is not about the Ark of the Covenant but rather the Cross of Christ, by which we are made right with God.
56:1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many attack me proudly.
3 When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they injure my cause;2
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk;
they watch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.
7 For their crime will they escape?
In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
8 You have kept count of my tossings;3
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call.
This I know, that4 God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I must perform my vows to you, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
[1] 56:1
[2] 56:5
[3] 56:8
[4] 56:9
(ESV)