Matt 26-28
What is amazing to me, is that to start off this study Jesus is already looking down the road just ahead of him. He drops the word Betrayed. What is crazy is that Mary didn't even know that when she bought, brought, and poured that fragrant oil on Jesus; she was preparing him for burial in a way that they weren't going to be able to do because of the Sabbath. God had looked into the future in such a way that he planned out how to keep the Sabbath by using Mary. And sure enough Jesus is right, we are talking about Him, but her story is being read and told.
It always boggled my mind as to why none of the disciples really paid any attention to Jesus saying that Judas was going to betray Him, and that it would have been better for him not to be born! Like, did they miss that?! And then Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss. The very thing that God created to be an example of love. The thing that every generation learns from their parents and thinks they discover with someone else. Such a sad abuse of that gift.
Someone says that Jesus' silence spoke louder than his words...I think before the phrase, actions speak louder than words. It's also interesting that someone says that if Pilate wouldn't have pronounced the death sentence for Jesus, the mob would have taken him and crucified him anyway. Wow, what a different life Pilate might have had.
What I think is so Awesome about Jesus is that he looked into the future at what he would have to endure and kept walking. He started up the path and it became harder, but he kept walking. When it was so hard that he was proclaiming his desire for another way, and an angel had to come steady him, he kept walking. And when the road became a path of blood, and a literal hill that he had to climb with a cross on his back, he kept walking. Jesus plodded faithfully and passionately upon the hardest road ever. Man of God--God of Man
Jesus was so patient. It's amazing!
ReplyDeleteOne of my professors, Gary Moon, talks about a painting that he's seen that has Jesus right outside the empty tomb, and his head is thrown back and He's laughing. He says it makes him think how maybe at that moment, Jesus is sort of thinking, "I thought so." In other words, perhaps even Jesus had to take at least a portion of His identity by faith--that faith given to Him by His Father in the time that He spent with Him, but perhaps it wasn't until that moment that He realizes yes, for sure, it was all true what the Father had been telling Him about Himself and His mission, 100%. It's not a theological fact, but something interesting to think about.
ReplyDeletei do hope this is not your last thoughts.... The world (and those reading/following this) need more of this as it is a blessing.
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