God, the Courageous
Reading for Thursday March 30
Bible Section: Mark 8:31 to chapter 9:1.
Now that Peter has recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the hope of the world, Jesus can begin to share his plans for the salvation of the world. Suddenly the whole plan spills out before them, and it is too much to grasp; too much for us, reading it 2,000 years afterwards to grasp. He must “suffer and be killed” he, the one that Peter had just recognized as the hope of the world. Jesus talks quickly and briefly about the foundation of the church, gives warning to those who would like to become his people, talks of his coming in glory and says some of them will see the kingdom of God coming with power before they die.
Here in a few words is almost the whole mystery of our salvation, our life with Jesus, and eternal destiny; spilled on the ground in front of us, like a man emptying a sack of precious jewels at our feet and leaving us to sift through the treasures with exclamations and bewilderment.
The kingdom language they were familiar with; Jesus had from the beginning called people to repent and believe the good news of the kingdom. But the death language; they had not heard that before and Peter reacted with consternation. .
The preparation of his followers for suffering was not limited to the closest friends of Jesus but he called the crowds and began to prepare them for suffering. Who would follow at such a cost?
God’s goodness ultimately triumphs over evil, but at what cost, God calls the masses and tells them that if they value their life they must be prepared to loose it. He who has been so loving and forgiving now warns the masses that if they are ashamed of him in the days to come he will be ashamed of them when he comes in glory. The words, “Take up your cross” were almost an assault on their ears, they had seen men crucified!
The disciples did not understand. Jesus was so severe with Peter that he would certainly have felt crushed and humiliated. Peter’s mind, Jesus said, was not on the things of God but on the things of men. Up till now that was where Peter thought his mind should be. He understood the life of a working man as being preoccupied with earning a living and staying out of trouble.
Jesus turns their lives and the understanding of their lives upside down. From that time onward they must have been perplexed and bewildered, holding their breath in fear and striving to put together the different strands of teaching.
But for us it is all done, we know the end of the story. We know what happened to these men clutched in the grip of a loving Father who would neither shelter them from his purpose, nor deny them the opportunity to be involved with him in the reclamation of the human race.
We understand because we have seen the empty tomb, and read the words of Peter who wrote to the churches that the trial of their faith was more valuable than gold.
God is a risk taking God, he created humans with free will knowing that humans would make wrong choices and men would sin, He took the risk, because some would learn to trust God’s will more than their own, and that was worth the risk. He took the risk of sending his beloved son when he knew that humans would see his divine words and actions as sabotaging the powers of this world and kill him. Then he took the risk of calling people to become loyal to him at the risk of their own lives, He offered us a share in his work of reclaiming humanity and establishing the kingdom of peace and justice, knowing that with his Spirit’s help some of us would be made able to take the offer. Although he loves humanity, which is imprinted with God’s likeness, more than our limited love can fathom, Jesus still warned people that if they are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of them when he comes in glory. This from Jesus who greeted people with, “Your sins are forgiven.”
God’s love will not let us be small. He is seeking to develop his nature in the people who bear his likeness, preparing them to be leaders in the ages to come. He thrusts his chosen people into opportunities that they had neither expected nor asked for, and by his own Spirit supports them as they carry out missions that will be effectual in the eternal ages. He is choosing partners for himself.
We know the end of the story. We know about the triumph of Jesus in his crucifixion. We know about the power of God that resurrected him from a very physical death, and took him physically to be with God in God’s habitation. But do we recognize the kingdom which Jesus told the disciples they would see before they died? What they saw was the resurrection of Jesus, the installation of His Spirit within the hearts of people, and the voluntary formation of groups of people loyal to Jesus and encouraging each other in unity with the Divine. That of course is the kingdom as it is now, we wait with excitement to see what the kingdom will mean to us when Jesus comes to establish what he has started.
“If any person would come after me,” says Jesus and names a price too high to pay. But thousands have paid it willingly and have been supernaturally strong in their ability to resist evil and its temptations and onslaughts.That price, and the effective missions of the people who paid it convince us that what we are receiving is indeed the revelation of the divine God and his Messiah.
Matthew 16:13-27, Luke 9:18-26
Bible Section: Mark 8:31 to chapter 9:1.
Now that Peter has recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the hope of the world, Jesus can begin to share his plans for the salvation of the world. Suddenly the whole plan spills out before them, and it is too much to grasp; too much for us, reading it 2,000 years afterwards to grasp. He must “suffer and be killed” he, the one that Peter had just recognized as the hope of the world. Jesus talks quickly and briefly about the foundation of the church, gives warning to those who would like to become his people, talks of his coming in glory and says some of them will see the kingdom of God coming with power before they die.
Here in a few words is almost the whole mystery of our salvation, our life with Jesus, and eternal destiny; spilled on the ground in front of us, like a man emptying a sack of precious jewels at our feet and leaving us to sift through the treasures with exclamations and bewilderment.
The kingdom language they were familiar with; Jesus had from the beginning called people to repent and believe the good news of the kingdom. But the death language; they had not heard that before and Peter reacted with consternation. .
The preparation of his followers for suffering was not limited to the closest friends of Jesus but he called the crowds and began to prepare them for suffering. Who would follow at such a cost?
God’s goodness ultimately triumphs over evil, but at what cost, God calls the masses and tells them that if they value their life they must be prepared to loose it. He who has been so loving and forgiving now warns the masses that if they are ashamed of him in the days to come he will be ashamed of them when he comes in glory. The words, “Take up your cross” were almost an assault on their ears, they had seen men crucified!
The disciples did not understand. Jesus was so severe with Peter that he would certainly have felt crushed and humiliated. Peter’s mind, Jesus said, was not on the things of God but on the things of men. Up till now that was where Peter thought his mind should be. He understood the life of a working man as being preoccupied with earning a living and staying out of trouble.
Jesus turns their lives and the understanding of their lives upside down. From that time onward they must have been perplexed and bewildered, holding their breath in fear and striving to put together the different strands of teaching.
But for us it is all done, we know the end of the story. We know what happened to these men clutched in the grip of a loving Father who would neither shelter them from his purpose, nor deny them the opportunity to be involved with him in the reclamation of the human race.
We understand because we have seen the empty tomb, and read the words of Peter who wrote to the churches that the trial of their faith was more valuable than gold.
God is a risk taking God, he created humans with free will knowing that humans would make wrong choices and men would sin, He took the risk, because some would learn to trust God’s will more than their own, and that was worth the risk. He took the risk of sending his beloved son when he knew that humans would see his divine words and actions as sabotaging the powers of this world and kill him. Then he took the risk of calling people to become loyal to him at the risk of their own lives, He offered us a share in his work of reclaiming humanity and establishing the kingdom of peace and justice, knowing that with his Spirit’s help some of us would be made able to take the offer. Although he loves humanity, which is imprinted with God’s likeness, more than our limited love can fathom, Jesus still warned people that if they are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of them when he comes in glory. This from Jesus who greeted people with, “Your sins are forgiven.”
God’s love will not let us be small. He is seeking to develop his nature in the people who bear his likeness, preparing them to be leaders in the ages to come. He thrusts his chosen people into opportunities that they had neither expected nor asked for, and by his own Spirit supports them as they carry out missions that will be effectual in the eternal ages. He is choosing partners for himself.
We know the end of the story. We know about the triumph of Jesus in his crucifixion. We know about the power of God that resurrected him from a very physical death, and took him physically to be with God in God’s habitation. But do we recognize the kingdom which Jesus told the disciples they would see before they died? What they saw was the resurrection of Jesus, the installation of His Spirit within the hearts of people, and the voluntary formation of groups of people loyal to Jesus and encouraging each other in unity with the Divine. That of course is the kingdom as it is now, we wait with excitement to see what the kingdom will mean to us when Jesus comes to establish what he has started.
“If any person would come after me,” says Jesus and names a price too high to pay. But thousands have paid it willingly and have been supernaturally strong in their ability to resist evil and its temptations and onslaughts.That price, and the effective missions of the people who paid it convince us that what we are receiving is indeed the revelation of the divine God and his Messiah.
Matthew 16:13-27, Luke 9:18-26
posted by Jessie Coates at 4:24 AM
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