A gracEmail subscriber in the southeastern USA writes that his house church is considering celebrating a messianic Passover. "I do not believe that Christians are required to observe this feast," he says, "but I think there is value in it." He asks for my thoughts. * * * As you know, Passover memorializes Israel's exit from Egypt and liberation from Egyptian slavery. On the night of the exodus, God killed the firstborn child and animal of every Egyptian household, but "passed over" Jewish homes which were marked with blood on the doors (Ex. 12:1-13). God commanded the Jews to remember that … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2012
DID JESUS’ FAITH WAVER ON THE CROSS? (2)
Someone writes: "You said that Jesus is the only person who ever trusted God perfectly. But what about his cry on the cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' (Matt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34) Doesn't this show that Jesus as a man questioned God's purposes? That very fact gives me great encouragement when I don't know the answers to life's circumstances I encounter." * * * You are exactly right that Jesus was a man like us, and that he had to trust God the same way we do. The author of Hebrews makes that very point -- and it is one we need always to remember for our own encouragement (Heb. … [Read more...]
DID JESUS’ FAITH WAVER ON THE CROSS? (1)
Someone writes: "You said that Jesus is the only person who ever trusted God perfectly. But what about his cry on the cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' (Matt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34) Doesn't this show that Jesus as a man questioned God's purposes? That very fact gives me great encouragement when I don't know the answers to life's circumstances I encounter." * * * What was going on in Jesus' mind when he cried out the question you quoted? I believe an important clue is found in the cross-reference which many Bibles provide to other texts from this verse. This cry of dereliction is … [Read more...]
LET THIS CUP PASS
"What should we make of the fact that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane to avoid the cross, if possible in God's will?" * * * "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me," Jesus prayed, "yet not as I will, but as you will" (Matt. 26:39). But was he really asking to avoid the cross? If that is all we see, we will miss a powerful statement of the extent to which Jesus was willing to go to save us. Jesus prayed with loud cries and tears to God "who was able to save him from death," says the author of Hebrews -- and God heard this prayer of his reverent Son (Heb. 5:7). It is a fair … [Read more...]
ASHES — OR JUST ‘A-FIB’
Feb. 26, 2009 -- This past Wednesday in many Christian traditions was Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of Lent, a 40-day period (not counting Sundays) of repentance and prayer that ends in the victorious climax of Easter Sunday. Some churches ignore, avoid or even oppose the liturgical church calendar because it is not mentioned in the New Testament. However, a person would be hard pressed to object to the traditional themes and details those special days incorporate -- words and actions that are solidly biblical and spiritually strengthening as well, when celebrated with faith resting on … [Read more...]
ASH WEDNESDAY
In this Year of Grace 2010, today is the seventh Wednesday before Easter, known in the annual rhythm of the Christian calendar as Ash Wednesday. The day initiates the season of Lent, a 40-day period of repentance and prayer that progresses to a climax in the great resurrection celebration of Easter Sunday. Although Scripture says nothing about Lent, it says much about the disciplines of humility, repentance, fasting, prayer and self-control that define its purpose and meaning. These acts can be done with improper motives, to be sure, but that is no reason for not doing them from a pure heart … [Read more...]
THE MAGI MEET THE MASTER (1)
"Who were the wise men that visited Baby Jesus? Where did they originate? What does their visit mean?" * * * The traditional story bursts with details: three kings, with names hard to pronounce, begin from different countries to follow a moving star. They ride on their camels until the star guides them to Bethlehem, where they find the newborn Jesus lying in a wood manger surrounded by shepherds. There they present him with expensive gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. That scenario shares but one detail with the biblical account, and that is the gifts. Matthew does not count the Magi … [Read more...]
BETHLEHEM’S BABIES (2)
"It is hard to celebrate Christ's birth with joy when I read about Herod killing all the boy babies of Bethlehem. Can we find any beam of light shining through this horrible and senseless event?" * * * More than a thousand years after Rachel's death, Jacob's descendants of the Southern Kingdom were snatched from their homeland and taken at spearpoint to faraway Babylon. Ramah, five miles north of Jerusalem, was a gathering place for the exiles. Rachel's "children" are dead and dying. Jeremiah captures the scene -- in the verses which Matthew quotes and throughout the Book of Lamentations. … [Read more...]
BETHLEHEM’S BABIES (1)
"It is hard to celebrate Christ's birth with joy when I read about Herod killing all the boy babies of Bethlehem. Can we find any beam of light shining through this horrible and senseless event?" * * * We could wish that Matthew's Christmas story stopped with the Magi and the wondrous star, but it doesn't. The Magi had asked Herod's help in locating the newborn king, and the tyrannical despot had asked them to return with the baby's exact address. Instructed by a heavenly dream, they returned home instead (Matt. 2:1-12). When he realized that the Magi had come and gone, Herod ordered that … [Read more...]
WHEN GOD BECAME MAN
The greater miracle, it has been said, is not the virgin birth of Jesus but the fact that in that wondrous conception the eternal God took on human nature and the Creator condescended to join his creation. Mary's son is none other than Immanuel -- "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). Like the Magi, we fall down and worship him. The Christmas carol has it right: "Hail, the incarnate deity!" He who existed in the form of God emptied himself and was made in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:6-7). It is part of the mystery of godliness that in Jesus of Nazareth God was "revealed in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). He … [Read more...]
