FAITHFUL TO THE END

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening He went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear Him at the temple.

Luke 21:37-38

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The four gospels that open up the New Testament are centered on Jesus, God’s one and only Son, created to save mankind by serving as a substitutionary, ultimate atoning, sin sacrifice. In these Gospels, we read a multitude of words, spoken by our Savior but do you remember the very first words He said?

They are recorded in Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 2, verse 49, when Jesus was just 12 years of age.

You may recall the circumstances that led up to these words. Joseph and Mary had traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover observance and just as any other parents might do, they took their child with them. Well, after the celebration had ended, Joseph and Mary set out to return home to Nazareth and the scriptures tell us they were in the company of many friends and relatives. For reasons we’re unaware of, Jesus’ father and mother lose sight of the fact that he wasn’t with them for an entire day’s travel. When they finally realize they didn’t know where he was, they frantically searched within the group and not finding Him, they quickly made the day’s journey back to Jerusalem. It was a daunting task, trying to find a lost 12 year old boy in such an incredibly large city but Joseph and Mary accomplished the feat within another day, finding Jesus sitting in the temple and listening to the teaching of the rabbis there. The Bible tells us that all who were there and heard Jesus asking questions to His teachers were astonished at His understanding. Obviously, this was no normal 12 year old.

Well, when Joseph and Mary find Jesus, His mother speaks words of rebuke to Him saying:

“Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

To which Jesus replied, speaking His first words recorded in the scriptures:

“Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:49 (NKJV)

Those words, “be about my Father’s business”, would define Jesus from that point forward. In fact, He would never fail to stay loyal to God’s will through His entire life, even at the very end. Look again at the scripture passage that ends Luke, Chapter 21:

Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening He went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear Him at the temple. Luke 21:37-38

Now these could have been words that would have applied to every time Jesus was in Jerusalem but keep in mind that they were written in regard to the final days of His life.

In regard to the timing of events in Jesus’ final week, sometimes referred to as “Passion Week”, the setting her is sometime on Tuesday, before Judas agrees to betray Jesus. So think about that for a minute. Jesus has basically three days left to live and all madness will break out Friday on the way to the cross. You and I may have bad days but I believe anyone would be hard pressed to have as difficult a day as that last one was for Jesus as He had to endure false accusation and trial, condescension and mocking from the very people He had come to save, savage torture at the hands of the Roman soldiers, and the coup de grace, a brutal crucifixion as He was nailed to a cross and hung up to die.

That’s what was waiting for Jesus and He knew it as He went into that Tuesday prior.

But did Jesus take some time off to try and prepare Himself for the suffering ahead?

Not at all.

We know this because the scriptures relay that it was business as usual for Jesus and that business was His Father’s business, just as it had been from the very start.

Having to endure unprecedented affliction, torment, and agony but Jesus didn’t sit around and sulk, immersed in the funk of deep depression.

He didn’t seek to please Himself, satisfying a bucket list of items before His time on earth was done.

No, we find Jesus teaching at the temple in the morning and spending His evenings at the Mount of Olives where we found Jesus give guidance to His disciples earlier in Luke 21. Yes, Jesus was soon to die, bearing the sins of the world, but His Father still had things for Him to do before that happened and Jesus was unfailingly devoted and faithful to God to the very end.

So what’s the point here?

What is the word of God trying to convey to us in these two verses that could easily just be passed over in your scripture reading?

I believe God is showing us through the life of His Son that He expects us to be about His business, carrying out His will faithfully, until the very end. Jesus didn’t take much time off. He labored for His Father and labored hard, never shying away from the tough places God brought Him into for ministry.

The world might state that this attitude fits the saying, “It’s not over until it’s over”.

I think the Lord would rather us see that it fits this exhortation from the Apostle Paul found in 2 Timothy, Chapter 4:

I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. Vv. 6-8

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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