EIGHTEEN DAYS TO EASTER!
Reading for today:
Matthew 22:41-46
Mark 12:35-37
Luke 20:41-44
Today's passages are a reminder for me that the Gospels were first translated to Greek - then to English, and that those who translated these passages relied heavily on the Greek. At least that is the assumption I draw from their use of the reference to the promised Messiah as 'Christ.' Christos was the Greek word. I don't understand why the word used is not Messiah - or Meshiach.... It's a triviality - but Jesus was talking to Jews. Jews who knew that Messiah was to come...so logically, I presume His actual question referenced Messiah by the name they would identify with....
In this passage, He doesn't state His claim to the title, he just asks them whose Son the Messiah (the Christ) is. They are Scholars of the Pentateuch and the writings of the prophets from the written 'scriptures' - what we now refer to as 'The Old Testament.' There is no hesitation in their response. Messiah is the Son of David - - in other words, the promised Messiah will come from David's line.
Then Jesus asks them, 'How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord.'
He challenges them to think deeper than they have ever thought. They are stymied. He is setting the stage. Very soon He will live out the reality of being Messiah.
He is also providing future readers a reminder. We already know from His prior questions to Peter: "Who do people say that I am?" and "Who do you say that I am?" that Yeshua/ Ieoeos/ Yesu/ Isa/ Jesus is the Messiah/ Christos/ the Christ - the promised One. We know He is God/ YHWH/ Jehovah incarnate. The Great I Am; the One who was and is and is to come; LORD, The Alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and The End. In this age of Grace I take Him too much for granted. He, the LORD of Glory, allows us to come to Him as Abba - Daddy.
He leads me into Truth - His Truth - and His Truth is revealed most clearly with His incarnation - His being willing to come into the world He created to redeem what was lost through the separation that occurred in the garden, when 'man' decided to take matters into his own hands instead of being obedient to God's one restriction - - and we've fought God ever since with defiance and independence - self sufficiency that says, "I can handle things on my own;" or even more insidiously, "I have a better way."
That 'better way' claimed by many has led to the creation of all false religions. To be a true religion, it must teach that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life - - the only way to God; and that Jesus is God in the flesh. All other religions are false - and the greatest 'lies' are the ones with the most truth mixed in. Satan is a liar, and he appears as an angel of light. He doesn't care what people believe - as long as they don't believe the Truth and the One who is Truth. Jesus is the complete representation of God. God Himself took on the form of man, and dwelled among us. Jesus was fully God and fully human. He was everything He claimed to be.
Many people - including false religions - will say that Jesus was a good man, or a prophet - but no more than that. Good men do not base the premise of their entire existence on a lie - - and if Jesus was not who He professed to be, then He was the greatest liar of all time. It hurts to even write that. Because HE IS TRUTH. It is Lucifer, the one who was created as a beautiful angel of God's making, who defied God, and became the Great Deceiver - the ultimate Liar and Father of Lies. What a horrible title.
Lucifer/ Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants God's place. He will tolerate Atheism, but what he wants is worship - and one way he gets that worship is through false religions that do not place Jesus in His rightful place. It breaks my heart to see that deception - yet, I am not brave about sharing my faith, and sharing the Truth. I am far too aware of 'offending someone' or having them reject me along with the message, I suppose. Why else would I not tell those I love that Jesus loves them - and that He is the only Way to God?
We just had Missions week at church. There are people throughout the world that know accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior is a death sentence in the societies in which they live. Yet - when He is introduced to them, many hear the Truth and accept Him, knowing they will die for their faith. In reality - they probably would have been willing to die for the religion they left as well - so now that they know Truth, they recognize it as something truly worth dying for.
We live in such a different world in America. We don't have a clue what it is like to truly be persecuted. I pray we never have to find out - but I also know I need to be more faithful to pray for the persecuted church.
Very soon in our journey Jesus will pay the price to become Redeemer. And He wants to be our Lord - but we are the only ones who can give Him that place in our lives.
Humor for today:
A Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Johnny interrupted, "My Mommy looked back once when she was driving, and she turned into a telephone pole."
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