Here's good news to start your day: We know about only a fraction of the asteroids which could crash into our planet.  Today's Wall Street Journal says that spending $100 to $200 million on telescopes could fix this problem.  Let's say we did, and discovered that we're going to die on Friday.  What would that do for your Wednesday morning?

Today is Silent Wednesday of Holy Week.  On this day Jesus did nothing which the Gospel writers record, staying with his friends and disciples at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany.  The day passed in quiet preparation for the events soon to come.  Let's try to imagine what our Savior was thinking.

He knew that he had come to Jerusalem to die, a fact he had made clear numerous times (cf. Luke 18:31-33).  As the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), his death had always been the centerpiece of his Father's plan to redeem humanity.

So Jesus knew that in two days' time he would be crucified (John 12:30-32), a death so horrific it has been outlawed worldwide.  Much worse, he knew that for the first time in all of eternity his sinless soul would bear sin: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He would soon cry from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).  This would be the only time in all of Scripture that he would refer to his Father by the impersonal "God."

Imagine what it must have been like to know that in two days you would be tortured, nails driven through your wrists and feet, and that your Father would abandon you.  Know that you still have time to avoid all of this.  You're safe in Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem, free to come and go as you please.  You can easily retreat back to Galilee and safety.  You can live a natural life with your friends.  Or you can die on a cross for them.

All of this was on Jesus' mind and soul this Silent Wednesday.  The One who prayed before daylight (Mark 1:35), late at night (Matt. 14:22-25), and all night long (Luke 6:12) knew he needed this day for spiritual preparation with his Father.  All because he would soon die for the sinners who would execute him, and for you and me (Romans 5:8).

Never wonder again if your life has meaning and value, for you have been "died for."  The Son of God prepared on this day to go to your cross, bearing your sin, to save your soul.  Why do you need that encouragement this morning?