A place for thoughts, ideas and discoveries

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Jesus' way of dealing with betrayers....

Reading thru John...again...what a book!!  

Scene 1:  So Ch. 13 begins with the last supper....the disciples enter the room arguing about who will be the greatest among them.  No rebukes from Jesus.  They all sit down and Jesus girds Himself with a towel, grabs a basin with water and begins to wash their feet!  I know that I would feel like a dog if I would've been there.  Did Jesus not know that most of these men would leave Him all alone at the cross?  How could He wash their feet knowing THAT?!  

Scene 2:  Jesus announces at the meal that one of the disciples would betray Him.  Peter and John ( and all the rest) wonder who He is talking about....Wait a minute!...John 6:64 says that Jesus knew from the beginning the one who would betray Him.  And the disciples couldn't tell?  How could Jesus treat Judas just like all the others and NOT reveal that he would betray Him?!! Then, to top it off...Jesus dips the morsel of bread and hands it to Judas.  This is an act of love and honor in Oriental cultures!!

So there you have it.  Jesus' way of treating those who betray him....wash their feet and show them honor and love....
He then proceeds to give them a New Command...that they should love one another as He has loved them.  "The command to love wasn’t new; but the extent of love just displayed by Jesus was new, as would be the display of the cross. Love was newly defined from His example."

How wretchedly short I fall of this kind of love.  The best I can do with my "enemies" is to ignore and not speak evil of them.  But to honor them and humble myself to whatever degree for THEIR good? ...LORD, help me.... 2 Cor. 5:19...

Monday, June 13, 2011

The Sting of "Oppression"

Reading a wonderful book on Jesus thru Middle Eastern Eyes.  A Few Thoughts on why Jesus came...

It seems almost heartless to preach forgiveness of sins to an oppressed people.  "Don't tell me about my sins when I have an elephant on my foot!!" type of thing... Yet that is exactly what Jesus did and why He came!  He was preaching that the sins of the oppressed were of first priority and that their Roman oppression was secondary...heartless, isn't it?

His point was that both the oppressor and the oppressed are sinners in need of a Savior.  This message alone would cut across class & physical distinctions, now we are ALL oppressed!

As the oppressed, they needed to understand that "suffering does not produce people without sin."
Yet we are more willing to remove the suffering than to deal with the sin.  We would rather itch the spot than get the stinger out!!  However,  there actually is a certain amount of hesitation...what happens if I take the stinger out?  Will I continue to itch? If yes, then why bother! just itch it!!  But, if the stinger is gone, along with its poison, isn't there hope that the itch will eventually subside? 

     "O death where is your sting?  The sting of death is sin..."  I Cor. 15:55-56

The "itching" of looking for peace in the inner soul was dealt with by Christ when He removed the "stinger" of sin at the cross.  Once we receive Him as our Savior, He removes the stinger and we find that regardless of outward physical oppression, our worst inward oppressor is gone!  The stinger is gone...NOW there is hope that this incessant physical itching will eventually be gone all together...

   "Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ."Rom. 5:1