Powerful.

February 12

And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. 

Luke 20:40 

The scribes and Pharisees did not dare question Jesus any more. Why? They heard the words He spoke, the logic He displayed — and they were completely silenced in their cynicism. But you and I have an even greater proof before us than the words He spoke, for we, unlike the scribes and Pharisees, can look at the Cross. 

You who shrug your shoulders in apathy, look at His shoulder and see it ripped apart by the flagellum, yet bearing a Cross which should have been yours.

You who shake your fist because things aren’t happening the way you think they should, see His hand not clenched but open, pierced by a nail. 

You who have walked away from the Lord in anger or drifted away in busyness, look at His feet and see them pinned to a beam of wood, bleeding for you.

The word ‘crux’ meaning ‘cross’, the crux of every matter is indeed the Cross. Does God love me even when the job doesn’t work out like I thought it would, even when people don’t treat me the way I think they should, even if I’m not healed in the way I hoped I would be, even if I’m not understanding what’s happening presently? The crux of each of these matters is the Cross. 

It is in Cross-examining that which is happening in my life, it is looking at everything through the lens of Calvary, that I have absolute assurance that, although I may not understand it, everything taking place in my life is for my good because if Jesus loved me enough to die for me, surely He will do what’s best concerning me. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, perhaps the greatest of the modern German theologians, said this: ‘The words why, when, where, and how are all words of the faithless. The only word spoken by a man or woman of faith is ‘Who’. And the ‘Who’ will lead you to Him.’

What gave Bonhoeffer the authority to say this? Living in Germany in the 1940’s, he began to publicly call for the overthrow of Hitler. As a result, in 1943, SS officers broke into the church where he was preaching and hauled him off to a concentration camp. Upon his arrival, the commandant said, ‘Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous preacher and writer, come up here and address the assembly. I will give you two minutes.’

‘I don’t need two minutes,’ Bonhoeffer said, ‘just two words: Watch me.’

Although the Nazis beat him mercilessly, every time they lifted a hand or used a club, Bonhoeffer would smile, lift his eyes towards heaven, and say, ‘Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.’ He shared a portion of every meal with either a fellow prisoner or one of the Nazi guards. He was constantly smiling, constantly praying, constantly loving — to the point that revival began to break out in the concentration camp — not because of a word he said, but because of what he did. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was killed April 9, 1945. He could have asked why, but instead He asked Who — and was satisfied.

If I had the power, I would change the punctuation for the language of the believer. I would eradicate the question mark and replace it with the mark of a cross. Whenever people are asking questions, put the mark of the Cross at the end, and you will find every question answered conclusively.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Days Journey" by Pastor Jon. "A Days Journey" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the New Testatment.