Triple C News - March 31

Hey, everyone,

Monday night in our prayer time, we just spent the first minutes sitting in silence. 

And in sadness. 

For the broken-hearted of Nashville. 

It’s called “lament”. 

To sit in silence with our broken-hearted God…

with our heavy-hearted Heavenly Dad…

and share at least a tiny drop of His sorrow.

And His beautiful heart breaks for the broken-hearted everywhere.

In Ukraine and Turkey and Syria and Nashville and Haiti and Ethiopia and…and…

My heart turned to the verses of the wonderful Christmas story of Matthew 2.

To the place where the story wasn’t wonderful anymore.

To the place where mothers of Bethlehem cradled their babies that they had lost to hate and violence. 

It is the story of one mom who escaped with her husband and Child because she had a promise that they would one day return from Africa where they had run away to be safe. The only promise Matthew offered for grieving mothers left behind was of…

“‘a voice heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.’”

A prophecy of weeping mothers who refuse to be comforted, weeping while rocking lifeless babies who had been pierced through the heart.

But Mary would know their pain one day.

A day would come when she would rock her lifeless Child, pierced through the heart. 

His Beloved Disciple saw the moment it happened.

“…But when they came to Jesus and they found that he was already dead…One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water…These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled:…’They will look on the One they have pierced.’” (John 19:33-37)

John’s heart turned the pages of his mind to Zechariah’s prophecy. 

“They will look upon Him Whom they have pierced…” (Zechariah 12:10)

When would they look upon Him and see Him pierced?

Five centuries before the day, Zechariah foretold that John and Mary would look upon Him pierced for us that darkest of all days. 

But the prophet’s heart was looking far beyond that day.

He was looking to the Day of Days when out of the sky…

Jesus our Lord, the One pierced for us will come to claim and heal and rule this hate-filled, broken world, bought by His piercing…

 ‘And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced…(Zechariah 12:10)

‘On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem…(13:1)

It will be the Day “when evening comes, there will be light!” (13.7)

And “the Lord will be king over the whole earth!” (14.9)

And from that Day on, because of Him Who was pierced for love…

there will be no more shootings, no broken hearts, no more tears, no more mourning, sadness, sorrow. From that Day and forever, NO MORE WEEPING.

“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

“The only remedy for the mass of misery around us is the return of our Lord Jesus Christ and why we don’t plead for it every time we hear the clock chime I will never know” 

-Anthony Ashley, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

“Blessed be God for news of a better world.”

-John Newton