"Then they said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping.'" (John 20: 13)
This quarter is about to end, and so is my reading of the Gospels. Each Gospel concludes with the Resurrection of Jesus and the Great Commission, better stated, the Great Command. Most people, however, do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, even though eyewitnesses tell us that Jesus ate fish before them, showed them His nail-scarred hands and feet and wounded side. It just does not make sense to modern "enlightened" man. Mary did not believe it; Peter and John did not believe, and verse 9 tells us why, "For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead." And herein lies the great fallacy of humanity, "....they [do] not know the Scriptures." It is even as Jesus Himself said to some First Century religious people, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." Mary's weeping was due to the fact that, "....as yet [she] did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead."
Bonhoeffer said, "The progress of knowledge can never edge out the reality of faith in a God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. It can only edge out a God whom we have tied too closely to our limited understanding of life and the universe." This "limited understanding of life and the universe" affected Mary and the disciples. It has infected not only humanity in general over the centuries, but also far too much of Christendom in particular. The "whys" of life are continually invading the private lives of many of those in churches. So many of the "struggles" in life come from allowing "our limited understanding of life and the universe" to trump a very thorough, unlimited obedience to the Bible, "the Words of God."
Bonhoeffer's statement should be a constant, much stated and life-style axiom of ours. Most humans are, "mistaken (and thereby very "limited") not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." The challenge to you and me today is to resist leaning on our very, very limited knowledge and "understanding of life and the universe," and walk in obedience in Jesus---------- Who has none.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I readily confess I have very little "understanding of life and the universe." I surrender to Yours. Amen.
*************
You can read of how Assad is making a fool of America: jhs58.blogspot.com
This quarter is about to end, and so is my reading of the Gospels. Each Gospel concludes with the Resurrection of Jesus and the Great Commission, better stated, the Great Command. Most people, however, do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, even though eyewitnesses tell us that Jesus ate fish before them, showed them His nail-scarred hands and feet and wounded side. It just does not make sense to modern "enlightened" man. Mary did not believe it; Peter and John did not believe, and verse 9 tells us why, "For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead." And herein lies the great fallacy of humanity, "....they [do] not know the Scriptures." It is even as Jesus Himself said to some First Century religious people, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." Mary's weeping was due to the fact that, "....as yet [she] did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead."
Bonhoeffer said, "The progress of knowledge can never edge out the reality of faith in a God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. It can only edge out a God whom we have tied too closely to our limited understanding of life and the universe." This "limited understanding of life and the universe" affected Mary and the disciples. It has infected not only humanity in general over the centuries, but also far too much of Christendom in particular. The "whys" of life are continually invading the private lives of many of those in churches. So many of the "struggles" in life come from allowing "our limited understanding of life and the universe" to trump a very thorough, unlimited obedience to the Bible, "the Words of God."
Bonhoeffer's statement should be a constant, much stated and life-style axiom of ours. Most humans are, "mistaken (and thereby very "limited") not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." The challenge to you and me today is to resist leaning on our very, very limited knowledge and "understanding of life and the universe," and walk in obedience in Jesus---------- Who has none.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I readily confess I have very little "understanding of life and the universe." I surrender to Yours. Amen.
*************
You can read of how Assad is making a fool of America: jhs58.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
