The Dying Parent and the Little Ones

"After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly." So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.

 New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Jn 13:27, 30.

This is probably one of the saddest days in history. To be the One who knows who will betray you after knowing for years this was going to happen; then it happened.

Judas had been traveling with the disciples from early on in their journey. He was not from their native area. He was an outsider from the beginning. Over time, he assimilated into the fold of the disciples. Now at the table at the Last Supper, he does what Jesus knew he was going to do for years.  He betrays Him. Jesus though, viewed this in a different manner and how He addressed the disciples after Judas departure is thought provoking. 

"In His last words to His own the Savior employed two different styles of speech. First, He spoke to them as a dying parent addressing his children; and then He assumed a loftier tone, and spoke to them as a dying Lord addressing His servants, friends, and representatives. The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, page 379.

In Jesus encouraging words, He shares with the disciples this message; "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

 New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Jn 13:34.

Everything these men had in their teacher, Lord, dear friend and brother's presence, is now about to disappear... 

Jesus knows that each of these men would need each other in the coming days. They would need the comfort that can only be found in reciprocating and mutual love. This love would carry them through some of the darkest days ahead in their own ministries. It was as if the man of Jesus who lit their paths in the previous days with wonder and power, during their night of sorrow they did not even have a solitary star to alleviate the coming gloom. But He knew that their love for each other would encourage each other in the coming days.

In the coming new year, many will be looking to their own destinies, while others look to the coming year with great anticipation and/ or worry over where our country is headed. Let me leave you today  with some great encouragement; Jesus has it all covered. He left here and went there to prepare our great treasure which awaits all who have trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

Today, heed the words of Jesus; "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." We as the church united need each other. Use the church to be the encouragement when you feel down, share your cares and burdens with one another, pray for one another (just as Jesus did for His disciples), and love each other with the love of Jesus Christ. Then and only then, will we be applying the guidance left to all who call upon the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord!

If you don't have a church home, come and be a part of our wonderful church. You truly will find a group of people who will love you unconditionally here at Grace! May God bless you and your families in the coming year! 

The Lord's Supper

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

 New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mt 26:26–28.

The disciples were witnesses to a new form of an institutional symbol. Here love would be willing to die in the place of sin. From their history, the Jews dealt with sin by its blood offering; an innocent unwilling animal offering.  Here in this passage, Jesus tells the disciples He would become that offering. His offering of His body and blood were to be "given" for the sins of not only the nation of Israel, but to the whole world. Animals do not willingly give their lives for man's sin cause, but are led to their deaths by man's guidance. Hereby, Jesus offered Himself as that "willing" sacrifice. He did it out of love for His fellow man.

This new "testament" for which He was willing to give Himself, required a "testator." Normally a testator requires a normal death, but the Testator of the New Testament (Jesus) had to die a sacrificial death. Think about it; when men who have died and left a legacy, their tombstones leave an epitaph of their legacies for all to see fixed in stone. In the case of Jesus, men would go on throughout history celebrating his death in the form of the Last Supper. Better is the day that Jesus died than the day he was born, because we receive so much as a result of His death! His death opened a new era of forgiveness and mercy than the day He was born. 

Bruce reflects in his writings; "But why in a history throughout so remarkable should the death be thus singled out commemoration? Was its tragic character that won for it this distinction? Did the crucified One mean the Supper which goes by His Name to a be a mere dramatic presentation of His passion, for the purpose of exciting our feelings, and electing a sympathetic tear, by renewing the memory of His dying sorrows? So to think of the matter were to degrade our Christian feast to the level of the pagan festival of Adonis,
                  
           "Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured 
             The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
             In amorous ditties all a summer's day."

Or was it the foul wrong and shameful indignity done the Son of God by the wicked men who crucified Him that Jesus wished to have kept in perpetual remembrance? Was the Holy Supper instituted for the purpose of branding with eternal infamy a world that knew no better use to make of the Holy One than to nail Him to a tree, and felt more kindness even for a robber than for Him? Certainly the world well deserved to be thus held up to reprobation; but the Son of man came not to condemn sinners, but to save them; and it was not in His loving nature to erect an enduring moment to His own resentment or to the dishonor of His murderers. The blood of Jesus speaketh better things than that of Abel. " The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, page 358-359. 

So when we partake of the Lord's Supper, do we really celebrate the day of His death with a mere kindness and respect or do we take time to reflect on all that He gave to us as a result of His death? Remember, so much was given to us as a result of His death, but with purpose. We are to remember how that in the face of death, love was about to win and win big. You and I have received in that we are now winners, and we have won big! 

Blessed be the Lord our God who loved us so much that He gave us the riches of heaven we can enjoy here on earth and eternity to come! But never forget the great cost of Jesus life for us to receive this wondrous gift. He was willing to be treated worse than the average criminal, and it was all for Love's sake!