You’ve probably seen the sign hanging beside someones desk. It says “failure to plan on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part”. It seems like that should be right, but when compared to the actions of Jesus it falls short. Speaking literally, I don’t think Jesus ever had an emergency. I don’t think he ever panicked. But when the crowd failed to bring along food for themselves, Jesus made it His problem. The sign over Jesus’ desk would read “your problem is my problem. Your emergency is my emergency”. That’s what love says. Love says “I care enough about you to be inconvenienced by whatever is going on in your life.”
I wonder, how many miracles are unused because modern day disciples have decided that the people should go elsewhere to find help for their needs?
18-22: How could Peter confess that Jesus was the Messiah, and then hear Jesus plainly say “I will be killed and will come back to life after 3 days” and then…see Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah, hear a voice from heaven….and still deny Him three times? This is the human condition before we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Fear and doubt and weakness overcome us. Praise the Lord that the Holy Spirit now has come, and we never have to collapse like that again!
23-26: This passage outlines the main thrust of the Christian life once we accept Christ. Self must die. It doesn’t die easily, nor should it die all at once, because it is so intertwined in our character that it would probably kill us to have it removed all at one time. Piece by piece it is sliced away, and as it goes Christ replaces what He removes with His perfect nature. The good work of the Christian is to engage in the battle of surrendering self to Christ. As He reveals areas in our life where we don’t match His character, we surrender those areas to Him, and through His power they are defeated, removed and replaced. Amen!
49-50: We should follow this advice for people who aren’t part of our “denomination”. Too ofter we are prone to focus on our differences instead of our similarities. The Church should be (and is) ONE. There is only ONE Church. Any denomination that preaches Jesus Christ accurately is part of it. However, I don’t think this sentiment should carry over to people who don’t accept the clear authority of the Bible. The New Testament has much to say about dealing with false teachers…some of whom sounded good, but had impure motives on the inside.
51-56: This is the human mistake that gave us the Crusades. “If you don’t accept our teaching, and become like us, then we will kill you”. That’s completely unhelpful and not productive. That sort of mindset has never drawn anyone to Jesus and it never will. If our message is rejected, then we should simply move to another place that is willing to listen. I suppose that this thought doesn’t consider any political motivation or advantages, but then again….should it? So what if it is in our best political interest to be involved in the region…if the message of Jesus is rejected there, let’s move on and find somewhere else to be. Let the receipt of the message be our key indicator on whether or not we will interact politically.
Moving forward,
PR