The Foolishness of the Cross Book - 2025 Holy Week

2025 Holy Week Devotions

A gift for you from Martin Luther College, the WELS College of Ministry

About the artist and his art: Michael Wiechmann is an art teacher at Minnesota Valley LHS in New Ulm, Minnesota. He studied studio art at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. He is blessed to be the husband of Kristy and the father of six children.

This image is a reflection on the upside-down nature of Jesus’ pathway during Holy Week. Wiechmann explains: “The collaged background text is from 1 Corinthians. Building up layers of paint and texture, I try to show the pathway of the cross, a path that travels through the pain, visually represented by the crown of thorns. I wanted to singularly focus on Jesus in a moment of calm and silence, before the crowds and the chaos. These humble moments on the path to the cross are what Christ goes through as he is crowned King through his sacrificial death and resurrection.”

See more of Wiechmann’s work at wiechmannart.com and @wiechmannart.

2025 Holy Week Devotions

The Foolishness of the Cross is the newest devotion book we’ve created for you. It contains a devotion for each day of Holy Week, April 13-20, written by MLC faculty.

The cross of Christ is the setting for the greatest reversal in history—an altar of humiliation transformed into the ultimate stage and revelation of the King of kings. To the world, it seems absurd that God would save through weakness, suffering, and death. Yet believers come face to face with God in all his power, providential might, and glory nowhere as clearly as at the cross.

These devotions will help us see how the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Acknowledgments Concept: Professor Luke Thompson / Devotions: MLC faculty members / Editor: Laurie Gauger / Copy editor: Heidi Schoof Digital media: Valerie Fischer / Audio recordings: Benjamin Matzke / Coordination team: Tami Board, Allison Bovee

A devotion book produced for you by Martin Luther College

His Chariot Is Humility Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 On Palm Sunday, the happy crowds threw palms in the path of the preacher from Nazareth as he came to Jerusalem. Palm branches had long been a symbol of royalty in many civilizations of the ancient world. The palm was also a symbol of victory. In fact, successful Roman generals were granted the right to wear a tunica palmata—a special robe embroidered with palm branches.

Yet as our Savior rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he looked neither like royalty nor a conqueror. True, some were shouting about “the kingdom of our father, David.” But what kind of king rides a borrowed donkey? What kind of king has a crowd of pilgrims for an army?

Our King does. As Zechariah foretold, Jesus comes in a chariot of humility—riding a colt, accepting the praise of children, and wearing the only piece of clothing he owned. His entourage consisted of 12 men who, later in the week, would not prove equal to the challenge to their faith; they would abandon him to face the injustice of both Jewish and Roman courts all alone. “He humbled himself ” is how St. Paul so briefly—so shockingly—puts it. The Maker of all will allow himself to be mocked, beaten, and crucified by people to whom he had given life. The sight of

Palm Sunday his suffering shocks and saddens because we know that our sins also helped put him there.

But “rejoice, Daughter Zion! Your king comes to you!” He is a King, although he doesn’t appear to be. He is “righteous and victorious.” He comes with a holy life of perfect obedience to offer for your sins and mine. He will conquer death and hell. He will humbly go through everything for us and our salvation.

This is our King, and this is his kingdom—a King who once hid his glory behind shame and death, a kingdom whose glory is also, at present, hidden from the eyes of the world.

Yet, by God’s grace, you who believe are sons and daughters of this King and heirs of an eternal kingdom. And you who trust in him have this confidence: “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree … planted in the house of the Lord” (Psalm 92:12-13).

Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us to humbly live and serve you in your kingdom, knowing that—as with you—first is the cross, but then the crown. Amen.

Author: Dr. Keith Wessel serves Martin Luther College as a professor of foreign language, theology, and history.

A Sign of Stumbling Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 1:22-23 What kind of rescuer did God send to save us?

Someone strong, or someone weak? God’s plan was to send someone strong and weak, someone who would be both the mighty Messiah of Psalm 2 and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. He sent Jesus.

The Jews of Jesus’ day wanted only a strong rescuer, and they wanted to see signs of his power. Although Jesus did many miraculous signs, they demanded more (Matthew 16:1). Instead of accommodating them, Jesus followed God’s plan all the way to Golgotha, where he died in weakness on a cross.

That settled it for the Jews. They had no use for a crucified Messiah.

They might have given more thought to their own history and Scriptures.

Wasn’t Israel a nation of helpless slaves when God brought them out of Egypt? Didn’t God reduce Gideon’s army to a feeble force of 300 in order to win a stunning victory? Wasn’t David a fugitive, persecuted by Saul, before God raised him to the throne? What about the prophecy that God would not abandon his “faithful one” to stay among the dead (Psalm 16:10)? In all these ways, God was showing how he turns weakness and even death into victory and life.

Still, many of the Jews stumbled by rejecting Christ crucified.

Monday Let’s take a warning from that, for we are exposed to similar temptations.

When we see the gospel rejected by Islamists and Buddhists and atheists, or when we see friends and relatives who once professed faith in Jesus turn their backs on him, it is easy to think, “Our message seems so weak. Wouldn’t Christianity be more successful if we could do miracles to convince others? That’s the kind of power we need!” But God tells us the gospel itself is the power by which he saves us (Romans 1:16), and that if people refuse to listen to his Word, they won’t believe even if they see someone rise from the dead (Luke 16:31).

We may also want to say, “God, I could serve you better if you made me richer, healthier, and happier.” But then we remember Paul’s prayer for the removal of the “thorn” in his flesh and the Lord’s answer: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Prayer: Father, keep us from stumbling when we fear weakness, and show us the power of salvation in Christ crucified. Amen.

Author: Rev. Joel Fredrich serves Martin Luther College as a professor of foreign language, theology, and history.

Wisdom That’s Foolish Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 1:22-23 Have you ever had a religious argument with someone like this: “Was it six days, or millions of years for God to create the universe? Is the Bible God’s Word, or does it have errors? Did Jesus really die and rise again, or is it just a metaphor?” The list goes on.

You might have felt frustrated after those conversations. The other person demanded proof and logic.

In 1 Corinthians 1, the apostle Paul wrote about this: “Greeks look for wisdom.” The Greeks demanded physical evidence before they believed something. They wanted a logical human argument before they accepted a religious tenet. The people you speak with today also continue to look for so-called wisdom. They want to believe in a truth that makes sense to their human mind.

Tuesday the message of the cross. The message itself has the power to change people’s hearts.

By nature, the human heart thinks that salvation must be attained by merit. “Christ crucified” teaches that God saves people by grace, by undeserved love. This is a religion of grace, not merit. But human wisdom will always reject a religion of grace. A God who would punish his Son in our place for our sins? That’s “foolishness to Gentiles.”

So what are we to do? Paul said, “Preach Christ crucified!” It’s not an argument! It’s an announcement! In every religious conversation, we must bring people back to the cross. Talk about your own sins and failures to live a holy life. State how thankful you are that God punished Jesus in your place. In other words, keep preaching Christ crucified!

It’s a wisdom that seems foolish to the human intellect. But it has the power to make people wise for salvation.

But Paul continued: “But we preach Christ crucified.” When people demand evidence and physical proof, we announce, “Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross to take away God’s holy anger against your sin!”

Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me remember that only your message of Christ crucified can overcome human wisdom and bring people to faith in you for the forgiveness of sins. Amen.

You notice that “Christ crucified” is not an argument. It’s simply an announcement. We can’t argue or debate people into believing

Author: Rev. Joel Thomford serves Martin Luther College as an admissions counselor.

The Wrong Crown for a King They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. Matthew 27:28-29a This is hard to watch. Deep inside, a sense of anger wells up as Jesus is ridiculed by the soldiers. Don’t they know whom they are taunting and teasing?

“This is no joke,” we want to blurt out. But they keep laughing and jesting with such scorn and contempt. “He’s a king?” they sneer. This isn’t innocent amusement. They play the bully . . . and get carried along . . . and carried away . . . as with cruel delight they press hard enough to make the crown hurt.

Shame on them. For Jesus the pain was real and raw—emotional and physical. “This is how you treat the King of kings?” we ask. But, like a sheep before the shearer, Jesus is silent. As we reflect on the injustice of the scene, we must also confess that every time we wander down a rebellious path of our own choosing, we too are spitting in the face of our King. Disregard for God’s will is disrespect for the King who rules all things. “Honor those in authority,” God says, but slander and defiance have become standard behavior in our world. Sinful attitudes mock the giver of every good and perfect gift. Shame on us.

Christ’s suffering—his very cross—highlights the apparent contradictions of the gospel message. We see a man mangled and mocked, but he is the

Wednesday one in control of all things. We see a defeated man, but his death is a victory over the power of sin and Satan. It is true that Jesus had never—not once— done anything to deserve the punishment that he endured. But he willingly allowed accusers to win the day. The God-man Jesus submitted to abuse so that thoroughly corrupt people could be saved. He loves us that much!

Jesus was, is, and always will be the King of kings.

During his life on earth, few understood with clarity what that meant. The nature of his kingdom and rule remained a mystery. Things became clearer when the crucified Jesus was gloriously raised to life, and clearer still as the apostolic church grew under the ascended Christ’s supreme authority.

Crowned in glory, Jesus “fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:23).

When you watch closely, you see the depth of Jesus’ love for you and me.

Prayer: Lord, have mercy on me. Keep me strong and rule in my heart by your truth. Amen.

Author: Rev. Paul Koelpin serves Martin Luther College as a professor of history and theology.

A Servant King “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:14-15 If we are to do what Jesus did, then it raises the question: What did he do?

Earlier in the chapter, John tells us that he loved his disciples “to the end.” That night he stooped low, and his hands washed feet with water. But his love did not end there. The next day he washed souls with his blood on Calvary’s cross. He didn’t just handle his disciples’ feet, but in a far greater display of love, Jesus handled the world’s sin—every last one, including every one of yours.

That night he poured wine and, giving it to them, he said, “This is my blood.” But his love did not end there. The next day he poured that blood out on the cross to show just how much he loves you.

Jesus, the all-powerful Son of God and our King, didn’t need to think twice about setting aside the use of that power to wash feet, to suffer death, for you. It almost seems foolish, but it’s what he needed to do to save you and make you God’s child. And that is what you are now because Jesus is your Servant King.

Now do as he has done for you.

Maundy Thursday You see, those who realize their exalted state before God have no problem leaving it behind before people. What does that look like? It’s when your spouse hurts you, but you refuse to scold them because you know it will hurt their feelings. Instead, you say, “I forgive you,” then treat them as forgiven.

It’s seeing someone who longs for fellowship, even if they are a little different from the norm, and offering them a conversation and community. I know a college girl whose grandma had a foot infection that she couldn’t reach down low enough to treat. Doing as Jesus did is that girl going twice a week to clean Grandma’s foot without complaint.

That’s what it looks like to be servants of the Servant King.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, though true God, you stooped down to wash the disciples’ feet and to wash our sins away by your cross.

Give me your heart to serve the people you place into my life today. Amen.

Author: Rev. David Scharf serves Martin Luther College as a professor of theology.

The Power of Weakness When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 In psychology, there is a theory called Terror Management Theory. It suggests that all human worldviews stem from the facts that 1) we want to find meaning in life, but 2) we are constantly faced with the inevitability of our own death. So, the psychologists say, we construct meaning around a life that deep down inside we know is going to end.

We “manage” our “terror.”

Can we see how horribly depressing a theory like that is? If indeed everything that brings purpose to life is really just a construct of our imagination that makes us feel better about dying, then life really is meaningless.

Can we also acknowledge why human wisdom would think something like that? Human wisdom has no answer for death. Sure, we try to stave it off with the best research and technology money can buy. We try to avoid thinking about it as much as we can, and when it does confront us, our society in many ways works to shield us from its ugliness. But in spite of all that, our human wisdom has no solution for death. It appears to be the ultimate proof of our weakness, our ultimate defeat.

So as human wisdom beholds Jesus dying on a cross, it might appear to be the same old story. Certainly, Jesus’ enemies thought they had won.

Good Friday Perhaps Satan in his blinding hatred thought so too—that at last he had bested the Son of God. But what Jesus’ enemies could not see was God’s perfect plan unfolding all along. In willingly laying down his life when death had no claim on him, the sinless Son of God was taking away the world’s sin once and for all. In bowing his head in apparent defeat, Jesus was winning an eternal victory over death. In giving up his spirit, he was crushing the devil’s head once and for all. Jesus revealed his power in weakness.

Jesus reveals his power in our weakness too. It might sometimes feel like we’re facing the ultimate defeat in death, but in Christ we know better.

We don’t need to manage our terror. Christ has done that for us, and he has turned the greatest defeat into the greatest victory. He has turned death into life.

Prayer: Lord, have mercy on me. Keep me strong and rule in my heart by your truth. Amen.

Author: Rev. Jacob Behnken serves Martin Luther College as dean of chapel.

The Silence of God “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. Matthew 27:65-66 “Thursday, Friday, Saturday.” Together, those words roll off the tongue seamlessly. They have ever since our parents first taught us the days of the week when we were 3 or 4 years old.

“Maundy Thursday, Good Friday . . . Holy Saturday.” For some, there may have been a slight seam after Friday and before Saturday. I do not recall the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday being referred to as Holy Saturday when I was growing up. And only one of the 10 websites of WELS congregations I just checked had Holy Saturday on their calendars.

That less attention is given to the Saturday of Holy Week than to Thursday or Friday may be partly because the only biblical reference to what happened on that day is the section of Matthew’s gospel from which our verses are taken. The Jewish leaders came to Pontius Pilate and asked him to post a guard at Jesus’ tomb. They remembered Jesus saying that he would rise again in three days. They were worried that someone might steal his body and then claim that he had risen from the dead, turning him into a powerful symbol for those who resisted the political leaders of Rome or the religious leaders of Jerusalem.

Holy Saturday On this silent Saturday, it appeared that the unholy trinity of sin, death, and the devil had won. Satan celebrated when Jesus was laid in the tomb, and that celebration continued Friday night, throughout Saturday, and into Sunday.

Yet God was at work even in the stillness, preparing for resurrection. Jesus had embraced the deepest agonies of hell on the cross for us and for all people.

The quiet of the tomb now held the lifeless body of our Savior, who willingly gave up his life as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In his incomprehensible grace, “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).

Hell’s celebration ended on Sunday morning. Remember that as we stand in stillness before the guarded tomb and hear the sound of silence.

Prayer: Jesus, fill us with sorrow for your death, reverence for your holiness, gratitude for your grace, and joy for your victory. Amen.

Author: Dr. Lawrence Olson serves Martin Luther College as director of the Staff Ministry Program and the Congregational Assistant Program.

A Hidden Kingdom Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

John 18:36-37a His servants didn’t fight to prevent their king’s arrest. How foolish!

There was the sword swish to Malchus’ ear, but the king halted this defense: “Put your sword back in its place!” (Matthew 26:52). While that may have saved Simon’s life, that allowed the process to continue unhindered that would cost the king his own. How foolish!

And here he stands before Pilate and refuses to defend himself from the lying accusations. And with that refusal, the king brings closer the sound of pounding nails and the agony of death. How foolish!

Except, through all that seemed so weak and foolish, this king—this King!—knew he would live to fight another day! All of which sounds like just more foolishness!

But today is the glorious day of days when we see he wasn’t foolish at all!

The foolish King who wouldn’t fight steps from a sealed tomb. Alive.

Victorious. He lives to fight for his own—no, still not with swords or other weapons of worldly kingdoms, but with his heavenly kingdom’s gracious, forgiving truth.

Easter Sunday It’s the wonderfully upside-down heavenly kingdom where the servants don’t fight for their King. The King fights for his servants and hands them the victory!

This foolish King who wouldn’t defend himself before Pilate lives to speak in our defense before his Father’s throne (Romans 8:34)!

The foolish King who bowed his head in death, by dying defeats death for all of us who, because of our sin, live under death’s seemingly undefeatable reign (Hebrews 2:14-15)!

This may be a hidden kingdom to those who vainly hope in earthly kingdoms. Yet, on this Easter Day, we who put our hope in this King find ourselves part of the only kingdom that will never end. This King will never fail us in life . . . through death . . . to eternity.

This Easter, may the glory of this hidden kingdom, and of our gloriously risen King, lead us to improve on Pilate’s words: “You are my King!”

Prayer: You have died for my transgression, all my sins on you were laid.

You have won for me salvation, on the cross my debt was paid.

From the grave I shall arise and shall meet you in the skies.

Death itself is transitory; I shall lift my head in glory. Amen.

(CW 470:3) Author: Dr. Richard Gurgel serves Martin Luther College as president.

It is our prayer that these devotions will be a blessing to you as you focus on our Lord’s death and resurrection.

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