Incarnation to Resurrection
Incarnation to Resurrection roughly three and one-half
years, in 12 weeks, Sunday through Friday (six days) per week
Day Seventy-one of Eighty-four:
Through the course of this week’s
readings, we discover the blackness of, and in, the hearts of the religious elite of
Jesus’ day, the pride of men, where the chief priests,
elders and religious leaders were meeting in the chambers of Caiaphas, the
Chief Priest, with one purpose - conspiring to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. - Matthew 26:1 -
5, Mark 14:1 & 2, and Luke 22:1 & 2
Additionally, we’re granted an introductory view into, perhaps one of the single
most cold-hearted betrayals in recorded history. A betrayal by
a man whose education[1] set him apart from, at least 10, if not all
11, of the original twelve Disciples - Judas Iscariot. A man, who by today’s standards of church
leadership was, at least in part, the veritable bench-march of ideals[1]. He was educated, articulate[1],
passionate and zealous. What more could
one want? How about LOYALTY! - Luke 22:3
- 6 & John 13:21 - 30
But enough of
Judas, we’ll get another dose of his antics in tomorrow’s reading anyway. Today we read of Jesus Anointing at
Bethany, from Mark’s
perspective. - Mark 14:3-9 And this too
we’ll read more about from Matthew’s perspective tomorrow. Please note three things here:
First - worshipful honor - a woman entered the home of, Simon the leper, opened (broke open) an alabaster flask, or bottle, of very expensive ointment, perfume, oil, pure nard, the poured it on (anointed) Jesus’ head - Mark 14:3
First - worshipful honor - a woman entered the home of, Simon the leper, opened (broke open) an alabaster flask, or bottle, of very expensive ointment, perfume, oil, pure nard, the poured it on (anointed) Jesus’ head - Mark 14:3
Second - indignant
anger - some
got angry, indignantly crying, “That’s criminal! A sheer waste! Why was the
ointment wasted like that?” this very expensive ointment, perfume, oil, pure
nard could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii (well over a
year’s wages) and the proceeds given to the poor - Mark 14:4 & 5, and
Third - Righteous
Indignation from Jesus - Jesus rebuked those nay-sayers, citing i) “Leave her alone.” Then asking ii) “Why do you trouble
her?” and then
closing with iii) “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” - Mark 14:6
Then Jesus went on to explain a profound thing that, I feel, many of us
in the church tend to lose sight of… focus on JESUS. He said “You will have the
poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it,
you can do something for them. Not so with me.” This reminds
me of Cärpē ˈDiēm, loosely translated Latin for “Seize the Day”, based on “…the
Roman poet Horace to express the idea that we should [Pluck the day, and] enjoy
life while we can.”[2] Or, to
paraphrase, voraciously seize the moment with our Lord Jesus the Christ!
We’ll close
today’s readings off with this thought - “The world that
Jesus shed His Innocent Blood for; the world that Jesus DIED for; the wretched,
indignant, ungrateful sinners that Jesus came to restore to relationship with
the Father to, they will KNOW, SEE, UNDERSTAND and RECOGNIZE that Christ’s
followers are indeed, His followers, because of the Christian’s (believer’s /
Disciple’s) love* for, and toward, one another.” - John 13:35
And that right
there ^ ^ ^ that, my friends, is…
GOOD NEWS!
We’ll leave reading the rest of the text for you individually.
I’ve taken the liberty of assembling a weekly chart of daily readings to cover the chronology
Week 11
Matthew 26:1-46; Mark 14:1-42; Luke
22:1-46; John 13:18–17:26
Day
1 Matthew 26:1-5 Mark 14:1-9 Luke 22:1-6 John 13:18-35
Day 2 Matthew 26:6-16 Mark 14:10-11 Luke 22:7-13 John
13:36-14:24
Day 3 Matthew 26:17-25 Mark 14:12-21 Luke 22:14-23 John
14:25-15:17
Day 4 Matthew 26:26-29 Mark 14:22-25 Luke 22:24-30 John
15:18-16:15
Day 5 Matthew 26.:30-35 Mark 14:26-31 Luke 22:31-38 John
16:16-17:4
Day 6 Matthew 26:36-46 Mark 14:32-42 Luke 22:39-46 John
17:5-26
Shalom!
“No Jesus, NO peace” and yet, “Know Jesus, KNOW peace”
How does one get to “know” Jesus? Simple, invite Him into your heart, as Jesus
says: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” [Revelation 3:20 NIV]
How can be assured that this Jesus stuff means anything? Well because the Bible tells us so, as the
Apostle Paul wrote:
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is
Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it
is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” [Romans 10:9-10 NIV]
And for those of you who say to me, I
can’t be bothered reading the Bible, “it’s confusing” or “it’s a waste of my
time”, may I draw your attention to what the Bible says about wisdom: “The fear
of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.” [Proverbs 9:10 NIV]
If nothing else, PLEASE read two chapters
from the Bible – (don’t own one, sorry NO excuse, if you’re reading this, you
can access this: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203:16&version=NIV) John 3 and John
14!
John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.”
And John 14:6 says: “Jesus answered, “I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.”
Well that’s it, that’s Da Bauz’s Take on, “Incarnation
to Resurrection, Day Seventy-one of Eighty-four” – this 18th day of March
2018 © 2018, All Rights Reserved. wr (Da Bauz, Christian Zionist “creationist”
too!)
Pray for the peace
of Jerusalem...
What is #RAD? #RAD
is:
R epent of
rejecting Christ
A ccept Christ as
your Lord
D evelop your
relationship with G-d
#RAD your relationship
with the Living Almighty God Himself as your personal Lord and Saviour depends
on it!
What is #ATEND G-d
(Christ)? Ask me!
What is #IIC714?
II 2nd
C hronicles
7:14
John 3:16,
Revelation 3:20, Romans 10:9 -10, Revelation 21:27, II Corinthians 5:21 and I
John 5:13 / John 20:31!
Shalom
* What is “Love”,
or… more to the point, what is “Christian Love”? The Blog from this past Friday, March 16, “Christian
Love, What Is It”
Cited or consulted sources and resources
[1]
- “Who Was Judas Iscariot, Why Did he Betray Jesus, And What Happened To Him?”
- http://truthbook.com/jesus/passion-of-the-christ/who-was-judas-iscariot - Truthbook . com
“He was PROBABLY THE BEST-EDUCATED man among
the twelve and the only Judean in the Master's apostolic family. Judas had no
outstanding trait of personal strength, though he had MANY OUTWARDLY APPEARING TRAITS
OF CULTURE AND HABITS OF TRAINING. He was A GOOD THINKER but not
always a truly honest thinker. Judas did not really understand himself; he was
not really sincere in dealing with himself.” - emphasis in ALL CAPS, BOLD and
ITALICS, mine
[2]
- “The origin of carpe diem” - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carpe%20diem - Merriam-Webster online
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