| Day 75 |
|
| |
The reading for day 75 was Luke 21:1-John 5:47.
In chapter 22 Jesus institutes the "Lord's Supper." When He breaks the bread for them He says, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." No where does Jesus refer to this as a way of "receiving Him." He doesn't say that when you eat it you will receive special grace. He does not refer to it as a "means of grace" so why do we? He says to do it in remembrance. He even shows us what to do before He sacrifices Himself for us. I've been reading a book recently that speaks about the practices of the church regarding the Lord's supper through the centuries. At no point has the whole church ever been in agreement. Except maybe in the very beginning and we don't know anything about what the apostels taught except the things that Paul said. So why don't we just stick with what scripture does tell us? The book is called Take Eat, Take Drink. Sorry for the rant...
In chapter 22 verse 46 Jesus, while in Gethsemane, says this to His disciples: 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. What temptation is Jesus talking about?
Read chapter 23 and see how many times the word King or kingdom is used.
The book of John is so much different than the other gospels. John doesn't start off establishing earthly bloodline but instead starts by establishing His Godhood. Jesus is the very word of God. Read this meaning back into "and My word will not return to me void" and see if you don't come to the conclusion that this passage has been taken way out of context :-)
This verse really stuck out to me: 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That one's for you Mike! :-)
I also find it very interesting that the Pharisees questioned John the Baptist (v22). John told them who he was (v23). Then John told them who the Messiah was (vs29,34) and they still did not believe him. This is the reason Jesus can say what he does after John 3:16.
In chapter 2 we have the story of Jesus turning water into wine. I've never noticed or thought much about it before, but check out what the head steward says to the bridegroom in verse 10, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now" (NASB). Now maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it seems that this is a very good example of the Old covenant versus the New covenant. The Old was so good...but the New is sooooo much better! Is it a conicidence that this is Jesus' first miracle? I think not.
Thats all for now...there is so much here that I know I haven't even come close to scratching the surface...let me know if you want me to scratch some more :-)
|
|