Matthew 26:47-56 The One I Kiss!

Matthew 26:47-56  While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived.  With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.  Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.”  Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.  Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”  Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.  With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.  “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.  Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”  In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?  Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.  But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”  Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

In the above scene, we see Jesus arrested.  He is betrayed for money by his “friend,” Judas.  Judas unknowingly carries out the words of the prophets.  Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would be just a man born in a time of stress in Israel.  He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.  Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.  Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.  (Isaiah 53:2-4)  Judas, a chosen disciple, saw Jesus as a man, one who probably never would overcome the powers arrayed against him.  He knew Jesus had special powers, but many prophets of old had special powers, yet they all died without establishing a glorious kingdom—none of them became a king.  They lived for a while and then disappeared in death.  Judas was out to gain something from his discipleship.  He probably felt Jesus’ talk of a kingdom on earth was not going to happen soon; the  powers against this reality were too strong.  Rome and the elite in Israel were too powerful for this weak band of men to gain a foothold on power.  Consequently, Judas, the friend of Jesus, betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, maybe at best worth four months of work.  Even though he knew the elite in Israel despised Jesus, we must assume that Judas thought they would not kill Jesus, just arrest him and punish him for being a disruption in the Jewish society.  But his realization that they were going to kill Jesus, his companion for three years, brought him to suicide.  This cup Jesus was going to drink that night was in the plan of God.  Do what you came for, friend.  Judas’ act was the first step of that plan that night.  Peter was in the midst of disrupting God’s plan by drawing a sword and cutting off the high priest’s servant’s ear.  Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear.  (The servant’s name was Malchus.)  (John 18:10)  Jesus had to drink the cup of suffering fully, so He told Peter to put away his sword.  Because Jesus was going to be the Lamb of God and the only Lamb of God, He told the mob to let the disciples go.  They could not pay the price for the sins of the people; only He who was born of a virgin birth could pay that penalty.  “I told you that I am he.  If you are looking for me, then let these men go.”  This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”  (John 18:8-9)  The disciples fled into the night, their lives spared, but later they would pay the price of persecution and death preaching the Good News of the Lamb of God who came to save sinners.

Jesus went to the cross as the Lamb of God.  He would turn the world upside down that night, for He who knew no sin would become sin, to carry the punishment of God on sin to the cross.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away.  Yet who of his generation protested?  For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.  He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.  (Isaiah 53:7-9)  The plan of God would take Jesus, the Messiah, who is holy, without blemish or fault, to the cross, to die in place of mankind.  He died for man’s incessant rebellious nature to his Creator, God.  Judas started the plan of God that night; Peter tried to prevent it, but the will of God would be carried out in those dark hours.  We see Jesus following the footsteps of King David who had twice spared the life of his enemy, King Saul.  (See 1 Samuel 23:14-24: 22; 26)  Jesus would spare the lives of God’s enemies.  It is said of David that he did the will of God in his life.  Now Jesus will take that throne of David of faithful obedience to God by willingly going to the cross as a sin sacrifice.  The elite of Israel were afraid of the people, so they needed to arrest Jesus when He was alone with his disciples and at night where there would be no interference from the people who had allegiance to Jesus.  They came to Jesus as a vengeful mob with the intentions to take him away to the high priest and other authorities.  Jesus castigates them for their ferociousness.  Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?  The mob’s anger probably surprised Judas too, contributing to his suicide.  But the will of God would be carried out that night.  The anger of the mob had to be there, the willingness of Judas to betray Jesus had to have hardened his heart.  Everything had to fall into place for God’s intentions were to sacrifice Jesus for the sins of the world.  This has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.  Jesus understood what was happening that night, and before his accusers He would not answer their accusations.  He frustrated King Herod because Jesus failed to defend himself from the claims against him.  His failure to defend himself left him open to ridicule, mocking, and flogging.  Jesus knew he would pay the full price for man’s rebellion, even his death on the cross, but He willingly allowed God to bruise him for the redemption of men.  

We know as John wrote, God is love.  Christ went to the cross because Christ is love.  The Holy Spirit dwells in us because He is love.  We have been captured by love.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  (1 John 4:10)  Love was in the Garden that night when the mob arrested Jesus.  The angry mob thought they had victory over this notorious troublemaker, Jesus.  But they did not capture Jesus: Love captured the Lord as He surrendered his will to his Father God.  God’s plan of love was to be carried out all the way to the resurrection.  We who are the captives to this love ought to give our lives in reciprocation to God’s love.  The Bible exhorts us to love even our enemies, the mob of this world.  Are we willing?  Are our minds fully convinced of what Jesus did for us that night or are we considering Judas’ way of living for self, to gain this world?  If we sell out Jesus to have better lives on earth, we will lose our eternal souls.  What the prophets’ said, came true that night.  Every word in the scriptures will come true.  We cannot deny the love of God for our souls by living our lives unto ourselves.  If so, we betray Jesus’ work on the cross.  By living our own lives for ourselves, we put Jesus again on the cross, exposed to the shame of being weak and helpless in our lives.  But He is not weak and helpless.  He came to change the world and us, and that is what He has done.  Paul talks to us about our reasonable sacrifice to Jesus, to be his ambassadors in this world of angry and dying people.  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)  How do we measure up to God’s will in our lives, by becoming his servants.  If we love others as we love God: with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, we will fulfill the will of God in our lives.  Our testimony should be, “Jesus saves!”  He saves the world from sin and judgment.  Jesus saves the world from a finite life ending in the grave.  Jesus’ bones did not rot in the grave as David’s did.  No, his bones are not in some tomb, for He rose again, and He lives forever.  Your souls will live forever because of HIS RESURRECTION POWER at work in you.  Jesus lives forever.  HE SAVES!  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Dear friends who sit around this breakfast table, you are seated with Jesus in  heavenly places because you are completely holy, blameless, and without one fault because of what Jesus did for you.  Walk confidently in that new life today.  Amen!      

Matthew 26:36-46 Watch and Pray!

Matthew 26:36-46  Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”  He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me.”  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.  “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.  “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”  When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.  So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.  Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting?  Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.  Rise!  Let us go!  Here comes my betrayer!”

This focus readily shows why man cannot keep the law in his flesh, even when he is considered to be the most faithful, caring, and loving of all men to God.  In the above verses, we find Jesus in great despair, for He knows his hour of persecution and death is imminent.  He has his faithful disciples with him on this night of dread.  Now He tells the majority of his disciples to sit while he goes to pray.  To Peter, James and John, he tells them to follow him into the Garden of Gethsemane.  He tells them the seriousness of his situation that night, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me.  Jesus asked these faithful companions to support him in prayer.  They were his closest disciples: they had seen Jesus heal people, raise the dead, cast out demons, calm the sea; they had heard God’s voice from the clouds, proclaiming Jesus as his Son.  All of this was in their knowledge bank.  They knew Jesus as a person of love, caring not only for them, but for all the Israelites.  Yet, under a direct command from Jesus’ lips, they could not be obedient.  All three fell asleep, not one or two, but all three slept.  The most obedience and faithful of Jesus’ companions were in a deep sleep when Jesus needed them the most.  They were fully aware that Jesus wanted them to stay awake and pray.  This is a poignant scripture passage, pointing out to us that even when we are most aware of what to do, what God demands of us in the flesh, we often fail.  God’s desires for our lives are put aside because of our fleshly wills.  Even Jesus could not keep these three devoted disciples awake.  Often in our lives, we find ourselves unable or unwilling to obey God.  Sin is doing something other than God’s will.  Paul talks about this, So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  (Romans 7:21-23)  These three dedicated and faithful men to Jesus wanted to do good that night.  Falling asleep is not a sin, but falling asleep was not doing the will of God.  They succumbed to the will of the flesh, their eyes were heavy.  Often when we are on the mountaintop and sledding down hill, it is easy to do the will of the Father or to be totally obedient to his commands, but when the day is long and we seem to be going up hill all of the time, our will to the law can become weak.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.  Paul in his walk with Christ knew within him was much flesh.  He expressed his struggles and anxieties as he walked through life to the Corinthians.  He knew he could endure through this wilderness, not by the cloud of the Spirit in the day or the fire of the Spirit of night watching over him, but because the Spirit was embedded in his soul.  He could do all things in God now as the Spirit strengthened him.  Peter, James and John heard Jesus that night, but commands alone will not overcome the will of the flesh.  Only the indwelling Spirit can provide us the will and the strength that the flesh needs to fulfill God’s desire for our lives.

Jesus called himself the Son of Man.  He personified the struggle of mankind in this life.  We read in Hebrews that Jesus understands us because He experienced life as we do.  He was tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  (Hebrews 4:14  KJV)  Now in the garden we see Jesus struggling with his impending death.  He knows that the cross is in his immediate future.  He also knows the Jews in Jerusalem will betray him and rejoice about his death.  They will call out, “Crucify him!"  They will not allow the authorities to release Jesus, for his very existence was humiliating to them.  Pilate and Herod were playing with this Jewish man, having him beaten, flogged, spit upon, undressed, putting him in a kingly robe.  Jesus, the Israelites’ miracle worker, was mocked, abused by these rulers, strongly correlating Jesus’ position of helplessness with the Israelites own condition of weakness, totally under the control of foreign, oppressive rulers.  They knew by calling Jesus the king of the Jews, they were throwing aspersions towards the Israelites, for Jesus had no power over these rulers and neither did the Israelites have any authority over their oppressor: Rome.  The Jewish religious leaders had their own reason for crying, Crucify him: Jesus was a threat to their religious order, to their control over the people.  So both groups yelled, Crucify him.  By crucifying Jesus, the people were exercising some control over these rulers who wanted to set Jesus free.  They were making these rulers bend to their will by having them kill Jesus, restoring some of their own self-esteem.  Jesus knew all of this was in his future, so he prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.  As a man He struggled with the thought of what was ahead of him.  But He knew the Father’s will was to have him killed, placed on a cross.  But still the agony of this future happening was in his mind.  The Israelites will see him in his weakness.  The religious leaders will see him but as a man, maybe one who was possessed by the devil, a miracle worker only because the devil was using him.  The Jewish leaders would glory in getting rid of this nuisance to their power.  But Jesus had told them who He was, and that He was doing the Father’s will even though He carried the mantel of a man.  They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father.  So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.  The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” (John 8:27-29)  He knew all of mankind would eventually understand why He was crucified, lifted up.  Many would only know after their deaths, that Jesus was really the Messiah, sent to set all men free from the captivity of sin.  

The disciples could not appreciate what God was initiating that night: the death of Jesus on a cross for the redemption of man.  They knew only that Jesus was very troubled, in despair, but they were also very tired and needed to sleep.  Even though Jesus woke them up three times, they could not obey his will.  Jesus’ commands were not enough to stir their obedience to his will.  Finally, Jesus tells them to get up, for God’s plan was being put in motion.  “Rise!  Let us go!  Here comes my betrayer!”  They will rise and immediately be thrown into a caldron of confusion and violence.  Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss, and the mob grabs hold of Jesus, arresting him.  Peter, James, and John realized then why Jesus needed them to pray for him and for themselves.  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  Their teacher, the Miracle Worker, would fall into the hands of mere men.  Should they still believe that Jesus is the Messiah?  How can the Messiah be controlled by the strength of fleshly men?  For them, they must have thought, what is going on?  How could this happen?  The temptation to flee for their lives was upon them.  If the Miracle Worker can be controlled by men, what will happen to them?  Of course, they believed their own lives were in danger.  As this commotion is taking place, the three probably felt, why did not we stay awake and pray?  Maybe this would not have happened if we had done so.  Of course, this plan of God was bigger than anything they could do or not do.  Peter tried to defend Jesus, but Jesus forbid him to do so with a sword.  He told Peter to put away his sword.  So Peter followed this mob from afar.  He entered the courtyard of the high priest where Jesus was held.  Jesus as David before him was intent to do the will of the Father. I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.  (Acts 13:22)  Jesus would take the throne of David, a man willing to do the will of the Father at all times.  Even in the horrific acts of that night, Jesus willingly fell at his Father’s feet in obedience.  This mysterious plan of God for the salvation of men and women was implemented that night.  Jesus knew this plan of his Father would cause him to drink the full cup of redeeming mankind.   The pain of being separated from the Father in death would be immense.  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  (Matthew 27:46)  But Jesus knew as Abraham did, Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.  (Romans 4:17)  As with all of us believers who are found IN CHRIST through faith, we have the wonderful knowledge that God will be with us forever and that we will not rot in the grave.  I know the Lord is always with me.  I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.  No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.  My body rests in safety.  For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.  You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.  (Psalm 16:8-11)  Peter, James and John would receive this great inheritance too, for after the gate was opened to eternal life through the cross, they would enter into the everlasting kingdom.  At Pentecost they received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  They became new creatures, no longer frustrated by the flesh’s unfaithfulness, but through and in the Spirit, they became more than conquerers.  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  (Romans 8:36-37 KJV)  Today see yourself as more than a conqueror through Christ who gave himself for your sins. 

    

Matthew 26:31-35 I Don'tKnow Him!

Matthew 26:31-35  Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’  But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”  Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”  “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”  But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”  And all the other disciples said the same.

In the above verses Peter believes he will face down any future temptation rather than abandon Jesus.  He thinks he is in complete control of his life and will battle any foe of Jesus to his death.  He is very brave: in the Garden he is the one who cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear.  He showed he was willing to die for Jesus.  However, shortly he found himself in the courtyard of the high priest, denying Jesus three times.  The number three in the Bible represents being complete, final.  In other words, he completely disowns, abandons, Jesus from his own life.  Peter realizes by doing that he completely went back on his boast of dying for Jesus.  He goes away weeping bitter tears of defeat.  Just a few short hours before this remorse, Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”  (Luke 22:33)  In the courtyard, we see Peter’s words are empty in regard to having Jesus’ back.  His strong allegiance fades after a few threats towards him for being part of Jesus’ retinue.  What could Peter really do, for Jesus told him to put up his sword?  How could he fight Jesus’ enemies without a weapon?  Protesting Jesus’ arrest would lead to his own death.  Therefore, he denies Jesus completely.  Peter followed at a distance.  And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.  A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight.  She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”  But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.  A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”  “Man, I am not!” Peter replied.  About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”  Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”  Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.  The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.  Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”  And he went outside and wept bitterly.  (Luke 22:54-62)  Peter exemplifies mankind at its best and its worst.  At its best, Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.  He was promising even his life such as we do at our weddings.  In the name of God, I, __      , take you, __     , to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until parted by death.  This wedding promise could be considered a high point as we dedicate ourselves to another.  This is what  Peter did.  Nothing much better than such allegiance and dedication to another.  However, Peter also experienced the worst of man’s nature: betrayal.  I don’t know him.  He had little strength to continue to fight for Jesus.  From the time of his boasting before Jesus to his denial, his life had changed dramatically.  He gave in to the circumstances.  We are all Peter at times.  Affirmations and denials are a part of everyone’s life.  We might say or convince ourselves that we will never do that false act again, but then we fail.  We betray our own words, rules or laws.  Sometimes, we recruit others to help us to keep our word to never sin again or betray our words of allegiance to someone.  Jesus confounds the issue by saying that God knows our hearts regardless of our good intentions.  Peter, a strong man, an action man, decisive in faith, one who would attempt to walk on water, found himself denying his Lord, even though he knew Jesus’ teaching about disowning him before men.  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.  “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.  (Matthew 10:28-33)

This story about Peter’s failure to live up to his words is one of the most precious love stories in the Bible.  What great hope is in this story, for it tells the works of God and not the works of man.  Men will always fail God at vital points in their lives.  The Bible explicitly states many times that man has a rebellious heart to the authority of God, his purity and goodness.  Now, we see Peter who saw the transfiguration when God from a bright cloud said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!  (Matthew 17:5)  Peter saw the healings; he experienced the storm on the Sea of Galilee calm down under Jesus’ command.  He saw Jesus walk on water.  He was in the room when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from death.  He knew Jesus as the miracle worker, but he also knew Jesus as a man who he loved greatly and devoted his life to—he left his former lifestyle to follow Jesus.  Even though strongly devoted to Jesus, his flesh and the temptations of the flesh were still a part of him.  When Jesus was praying in the olive grove, Gethsemane, experiencing great pain in his soul, Peter, the one most dedicated to Jesus, could not keep awake.  In this scene, once again we see the failure of mankind to do the will of God.  Jesus wanted the three to stay awake and bolster him with prayer and to keep away from their own temptations that they would experience in the next few hours.  But they could not, for their spirits were willing but their flesh was weak, excessively sleepy, succumbing to the will of the body.  As with the denial of Peter, they fell asleep three times, revealing the flesh was completely unable to fulfill the will of the Father.  Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting?  Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.  Rise!  Let us go!  Here comes my betrayer!”  (Matthew 26:45-46)  Again in this scene, we see the flesh betraying Jesus’ will with the men falling asleep.  Even though all three had a strong dedication to do what Jesus’ desired, they could not fulfill their duty to him by staying awake.  Even when Jesus is under strong duress, they cannot be faithful to him by staying awake and praying, but Jesus is faithful to them.  Even when their flesh betrays Jesus because of their weakness, falling asleep, Jesus will be faithful to them until the end.  He will go to the cross for them and pay for their sins by shedding his redeeming blood.  As John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God."

God’s love story for humans is so clearly revealed in Peter’s denial.  Jesus goes to the cross.  He has heard Peter’s statement of not knowing him.  He knew Peter’s heart was broken.  Peter would now have to live with knowing that Jesus heard his last statements of betrayal.  Why would God consider this man Peter worthy of redemption?  He had seen it all, experienced the goodness of God, heard the voice from heaven revealing Jesus was most favored by God but yet he disowned Jesus, placing him outside of his life by his own words.  Otherwise, crucifying Jesus in his own life.  As with Hebrews 6:6, crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  The people in that courtyard knew he was lying.  By his own words, he was putting Jesus to public disgrace.  They must have smirked, reveling in the fact that now even one of Jesus’ closest followers would disown him.  For them and the devil, what a victory for the dark side to have Peter stand in the midst of them and call God’s curse upon him if he knew Jesus.  Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”  (Matthew 26:74)  But this is not the end to this story, for it is an enduring love story.  We see this scene at the resurrection.  But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.  As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.  “Don’t be alarmed,” he said.  “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and PETER, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you.’”  (Mark 16:4-7)  Jesus wanted the angel to tell Peter.  The focus was on Peter.  Tell the one I love, my dedicated one, that I have risen.  Tell him so that his heart might be healed.  What love!  Jesus loved the one who had betrayed him when Jesus needed him the most as He was enduring the full cup of God’s wrath.  In his need, Peter abandoned him.  But at his resurrection, He has the angel say, “Tell Peter.”  This story has a bigger, more expansive story of love than just tell Peter I love him and I want him to be with me.   We see in Ephesians 5 Paul elaborating on this theme of love in his comparison with marriage.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  (Ephesians 5:25-27)  Christ is the husband who remains faithful to the church.  Peter could not to that.  He was unfaithful under pressure.  But Christ is not unfaithful to us.  Therefore, He goes to us to bind himself to us, to make us without stain, wrinkle or blemish.  He makes us as himself, pleasing to the Father God.  We are presented because of his faithfulness, his works, not ours.  Jesus heals Peter.  He makes him ready to meet God.  What is our duty then to a God of enduring love, a God who made a plan for our redemption from the very beginning?  We were made free as He is, we rebelled as He knew we would, but his plan from the beginning was to draw us into his kingdom.  This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  (Ephesians 5:32)  “Go tell Peter that I am alive and that you too IN ME will be alive forevermore.  What is our duty to God then, just as the wife’s duty to a loving husband: respect her husband.  We are to respect the plan of the Father, the plan of redemption, accept this loving path to his heart by faith.  Respect is an element of love: just as Christ loves us, we love one another.  Rejoice in that overcoming love today!            

Matthew 26:26-30 Essence of Belief

Matthew 26:26-30  While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

At the last supper we see Jesus telling the apostles to eat of him and to drink of him.  In this scene Jesus gives himself completely to his beloved apostles.  Take and eat of the bread, for this is my body.  Drink this cup of wine, this is my blood of the covenant.  We know this scene as the blessed communion or the sharing of the sacramental elements.  As Christians we do this often to remember the foundation of Christianity.  There are no substitutes for this redeeming message: good works, dedication, sacrifice, self-immolation, self-deprecation, righteous acts, and the like do not bring eternal life.  The process of making humans acceptable to a holy and sinless God, a magnificent Eternal Entity, rest exclusively on the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.  John the Baptist who served God with much dedication and sacrifice recognized this truth of Christ alone as men’s righteousness.  The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.  When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”  (John 1:35-36)  The sacrament the apostles shared with Jesus was the sole reason that these men around this meal would risk their lives in the future.  They would face death constantly, not for telling the people they should be good and not sin anymore; they would risk their very existence to tell people that eternal life rests in the man called Jesus.  They had a story to tell of a man dying on the cross for the sins of the world and then in three days rising from the grave to life eternal.  Around the Lord’s table celebrating the Passover, their task of telling the world of this Good New was being formulated.  Jesus said, eat of me and drink of me and you will participate in life forever.  For only this covenant will make you holy and acceptable to my Father.  Because of what I have done for you, you will be called God’s children forever.  The Passover meal is an essential scene in the Bible.  By partaking of these elements with his disciples, Jesus identified them as family members in God’s plan for salvation.  As He presented the bread and wine to his disciples, Jesus was revealing that He is the gate to God’s dominion.  He knows there is no other way to satisfy the Father’s will than through his broken body and the shedding of his blood.  His Father is in the business of eradicating sin from man’s soul.  As Jesus said, you must be born again to inherit eternal life.  You must be in the nature of a creature who can exist forever with the Father God.  John the Baptist understood the mission of Jesus when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God."  He knew Jesus was consecrated to God, so much so that John was not worthy to untie the straps of Jesus’ sandals.  Of course, we must assume the Spirit of God taught the truth of the Messiah to John in the wilderness.  He spent many hours alone with God, listening to the Holy Spirit, for he was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb.  But even under these wonderful circumstances of John the Baptist’s birth and life, Jesus would tell people, you must be holier than John if you want to have eternal life.  Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.  (Matthew 11:11)  The gate to eternal life, to the Kingdom of God, had not materialized before John’s death.  Jesus’ sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection occurred after John’s death—THE WAY would come after his demise.

Jesus Christ is THE WAY to eternal life.  This meal with his disciples was to implant in them that He and only He is THE WAY.  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6)  After Jesus departed from this earth, the disciples preached THE WAY everywhere they went.  They knew of Jesus’ mighty works; they lived with Jesus, conversed with him, heard his thoughts about life and people.  But for them, He was not THE WAY until his crucifixion and resurrection.  Then this sharing the elements at the Lord’s table became a reality to them.  Jesus had shared bread with them before.  He fed the five thousand men and their families with bread and fish.  They had seen him do something far beyond reality, feeding people with only five loaves and two fish. They knew Jesus’ hands could create reality out of nothing.  Of course, they might have understood as Paul states so clearly that their father Abraham’s faith rested on two ideas: God can create something out of nothing and that He can resurrect the dead.  The disciples had seen Jesus literally fulfill Abraham’s first cardinal understanding of God: creating something out of nothing by feeding large crowds of people with food that they did not possess.  They also will see the raising of Lazarus from the dead; they will also discover Jesus is alive after his death.  In this Lord’s supper, Jesus introduced them to something far beyond their imaginations.  He told them eternal life comes from Jesus’ very being.  They must eat of him and drink of him to have life evermore.  They could conceive of Jesus coming as the Messiah to conquer nations and make Israel great again.  They could conceive of things that their senses can perceive, but to know God intimately, to be part of his family was a step too far for their fleshly minds.  But Jesus as He was sharing the elements with them was giving them notice that they would be part of him in an intimate way.  With Jesus they would be a part of God’s cherished family at God’s right hand.  Even though they had seen many miracles and heard Jesus teach many things, Jesus was revealing to them God’s mysterious plan of salvation that was held in his being from the beginning of time.  We, the church, through the taking of communion celebrate God’s great plan of redemption: changing people from transient dwellers on earth to children of God, living in a permanent home with God.

We who are alive in Jesus Christ, who have partaken of his death and risen to eternal life by the faith that Abraham had, can thank God for the fulfillment of this mysterious plan from the beginning of time.  We were once dead as Abraham and Sara’s bodies were dead, but now new life has sprouted within us.  And not only that, we are now in full possession of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us as God’s promise that He is with us.  For we are known as the Temple of God or the place where God dwells.  Ever since the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who was waiting upon God in Acts 2, we have the promise of God for the indwelling Spirit within us. The disciples were told to wait until this act of the fulness of the Spirit was fulfilled, and on that day of Pentecost, tongues of fire rested on God’s people.  As John said, I baptize with water as a sign of repentance, but Jesus, the Christ, will baptize with fire, the sign of eradication of sin and dross in people’s lives.  Of course, this takes place within the souls of men who already have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.  At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus identifies himself with men’s needs by asking them to drink of his blood and to accept his body as theirs for salvation’s sake.  This transformation is supernatural in man’s souls, moving from man’s likeness to God’s likeness, from the impure soul to the purity of God.  To have this transformation to righteousness, Christ had to be a man, to take the place of humans in the flesh.  By identifying with men and women in the flesh, He could take the penalty of sin which is death upon himself.  This would satisfy the wrath of God on sin.  Even though their souls are cleansed by Christ’s work on the cross, they still dwell in the wilderness of life, so the Spirit of God is with them to guide believers until the time they can leave this world behind.  We, who are in the church, celebrate this happy knowledge of Jesus with us by participating in the Lord’s Supper.  We know Jesus because the Holy Spirit’s voice speaks truth about life to our inner souls.  For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.  The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.  (John 3:34-36)  Jesus prayed that we would be one with him and that we IN HIM would be one with Father God.  We have achieved that wonderful place of being one with God.  Jesus hands us the bread to eat, He gives us his blood to drink, and we become one with God.  Brothers and sisters, eat and drink, for you have been made alive IN GOD.  He has prepared us for that glorious day when we will be with him!