March 8th, 2026 Daily Devotion

A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 

COMPLETELY FORSAKEN

Matthew 27:39-43 “Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked Him. “He saved others,” they said, “but He can’t save Himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 

In a recent devotion I mentioned that it took only a couple of days for the crowds of people to turn against Jesus. From Palm Sunday to Good Friday the shouts of the people changed from adulation, worship, and praise of Jesus to rejection. Jesus was abandoned. As His life quickly flowed out of His body, “Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! Come down from the cross, if You are the Son of God!”  

Jesus performed no miracles on Good Friday that were apparent to those who saw Him dying on the cross. He looked like any other miserable criminal. Nails embedded in his arms and feet. Thorns pounded into His head with crusted trails of blood where each of those thorns had punctured His skin. He didn’t look like a king (Palm Sunday!) He did not look like a Savior! He was a pathetic human being who disappointed the masses. 

What the people that day failed to see or believe, you KNOW: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely, He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:3-6) 

Prayer: O Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon me. Amen. 

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh. . . Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh. . . Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Where you there when they nailed Him to the tree? 

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh. . . Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?  

Were You There // LSB 456

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