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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
Now Jesus was going up
to Jerusalem. On the way, He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are
going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief
priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will
hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the
third day He will be raised to life!”
Matthew 20:17-19
They were on their way up to Jerusalem,
with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who
followed were afraid. Again He took the Twelve aside and told them what was
going to happen to Him.
“We are going up to Jerusalem,” He said, “and
the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of
the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles,
who will mock Him and spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. Three days later He
will rise.”
Mark 10:32-34
Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We
are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about
the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
He will be delivered over to the Gentiles.
They will mock Him, insult Him and spit on Him; they will flog Him and kill
Him. On the third day He will rise again.”
The disciples did not understand any of
this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was
talking about.
Luke 18:31-34
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Jesus’ time on earth was coming to a close.
He didn’t have much time left before He would suffer and die for the cause of
all mankind. Jerusalem and His final week were just on the horizon.
It was something He knew.
It wasn’t something His disciples knew or
would understand, by design.
We see both as we look at our scripture passage
from Matthew, Chapter 20. Look again at these verses here:
Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, He took the Twelve
aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will
be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will
condemn Him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and
flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!” Matthew 20:17-19
Here we find Jesus on His way up to the
city of Jerusalem where He would meet His fate. Soon He would experience a
triumphal entry into Israel’s capital and be greeted by crowds shouting
hosannas unto Him, crowds giving Him a welcome usually reserved for royalty.
Everything would appear perfectly fine and wonderful.
But it wouldn’t last long. For something terrible
lurked ahead, something incredibly horrific in regard to what was to come.
We don’t have to wonder what was going to
happen. Jesus takes the time to detail it for us and His disciples who He chose
to take aside and address. The sequence of terrible events would proceed like
this:
1. First, He would be delivered over
to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.
2. The chief priests and
teachers of the law would then condemn Him to death and since they could not
carry out the death penalty, they passed the job onto the Romans, the Gentiles Jesus
mentions.
3. The Romans (Gentiles)
would mock Jesus and flog Him, making Him endure excruciating suffering while
preparing Him for execution.
4. That execution, the
execution desired by the Jewish chief priests and teachers of the law and
ordered by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, would be by way of crucifixion,
a form of death penalty reserved for the worst of criminals. Indeed, He would
die in the company of two thieves who were crucified on crossed to His left and
right.
5. After His death, something
amazing and miraculous would happen for Jesus would not remain in the tomb but
rather would be raised to life on the third day, resurrected to defeat death
and the grave so anyone who would believe in Him could do likewise.
Over the past two
devotions, we saw Jesus talking to His disciples about what was to come for
them, that there was a great reward called salvation waiting for them at life’s
end. Now, He let them know what His future held, what was to come for Him.
This wasn’t the first time Jesus had told
His disciples about what would happen to Him. You may recall that the first
time, Peter decided to rebuke Jesus, disputing that anything so appalling could
ever happen to Him. And you’ll remember that Peter’s rebuttal earned Him a
stern admonition from Jesus who made it clear that what He said would happen
and anyone who tried to dispute it was under the influence of Satan himself.
Well, look at what happened this time.
Did Peter or any of the other disciples for
that matter raise any objection with Jesus?
We don’t hear a peep, do we?
Maybe they would have had Jesus allowed
them. But given the way they responded the first time, we read where Jesus
makes sure there is no response this time around. For in Luke’s account, we
learn this:
The
disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and
they did not know what He was talking about.
The disciples didn’t grasp the gravity of
what was coming. Perhaps this is why they fled with the exception of John when
everything happened as Jesus said it would. They were unable to fully grasp
what was going on, what was to come.
Friends, Jesus knew He had to go through
what was to come because it was the will of His Father. It was His destiny to
die for the sins of all mankind, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins
of the world as John the Baptist so beautifully proclaimed. He was the final
atoning sacrifice needed to ensure the sins of every man and woman were
covered, so they would be able to be justified at judgment day and receive the
pardon of God as they moved toward eternal life.
At the heart of the good news of the Gospel
is the hope that comes with Christians fully knowing what’s to come. Through
Jesus’ victory over sin and death, everyone who places their faith and trust in
Him as Savior find themselves victorious as well. Death losses its sting,
overwhelmed by the glory and majesty of eternity where all Christians will
abide with their Savior Jesus and God His Father and ours forever.
With this, what’s to come?
Only the best.
Thanks be to God for that blessed assurance.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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