Men / boys have more muscle mass, strength and speed than women. There is no excuse to inject men in women’s sports just to give men a false win for sub par performers who can’t win in their own gender.
Wednesday of the Trip to the Cross and a Glimpse of the Last Supper
Last time, we examined Christ’s journey to the cross regarding the second half of Tuesday of His Holy Week. He first exposed the Pharisees’ prideful / sinful practices, which impaired the congregants’ entrance into the kingdom of God. Then Jesus rejected them and left the Temple forever. Afterwards, He would teach the apostles about the coming of and the nature of the ‘end times.’ (See Jesus Was Not Finished with Tuesday of the Holy Week.)
Now, it is Wednesday. Jesus informs the apostles of the exact time of His crucifixion:
“You know that the Passover is coming in two days, and the Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.” Mt. 26:2 AMP
Simultaneously, the chief priests and elders of the Temple were planning His demise:
Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus in a treacherous way and kill him. “Not during the festival,” they said, “so there won’t be rioting among the people.” Mt. 26:3 – 5. CSB
How did they find a way to snare Jesus (as if they could)? They had help from the devil himself:
Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren’t around. Lk. 22:3 – 6. NLT
So, we see that Judas Iscariot, one of Christ’s handpicked apostles, betrayed Him. Judas was sending the Son of God to His death for 30 pieces of silver.
Jesus and the apostles return to Bethany for the last time. They entered the house of ‘Simon the Leper’, (our merciful Jesus was always compassionate, especially to the ‘outcasts’ of this broken society).
While there, Mary of Bethany, accompanied by her brother Lazarus, anoints Jesus’ head and feet with pure spikenard (an extremely expensive perfume). The apostles complained, calling it wasteful, because the spikenard could have been sold to feed the poor. The one who complained the most was Judas Iscariot; and the Bible tells us why:
Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor [for he had never cared about them], but because he was a thief; and since he had the money box [serving as treasurer for the twelve disciples], he used to pilfer what was put into it. Jn. 12:6 AMP
Jesus chastises the apostles for their complaining:
“Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a good thing to Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you will not always have Me. When she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.” Mt. 26:10 – 12. AMP
Thursday: a glimpse of the Last Supper:
Jesus sent Peter and John to Jerusalem to prepare the Passover meal in an ‘upper room’ in the city, which was exactly where Jesus said it would be. They told the owner of the home that the Teacher wanted to celebrate Passover in that room, and he complied.
At this point, the Bible gives us access to the state of Jesus’ heart:
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. Jn. 13:1 NLT
Later in the evening, Christ and His apostles gathered to partake in the Passover meal. Jesus begins to speak:
“I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” Lk. 22:15, 16. NLT
What Jesus means is that He would dine with all the children of God, at the end of time, when they enter the kingdom, attending what is called the ‘marriage supper of the Lamb.’
Christ is commencing a spiritual transformation for God’s children into Jehovah’s final Covenant with them. Jesus is becoming the sacrificial Lamb. It is His blood that will bring salvation.
The Last Supper ‘celebration’ (Communion) replaces the Passover meal for Christians, because at His resurrection, Jesus will become the ultimate liberator of God’s children. The Son of God becomes the Key to His Father’s kingdom.
During Supper, the disciples once again start arguing about who will be the greatest in heaven. Jesus sets them straight.
“But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.” Lk. 22:26, 27. NLT
Again, the Bible makes us privy of Jesus’ thoughts, and of the action that He decides to take to illustrate them:
It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist… Jn. 13:2 – 4. NLT
So here, Christ is preparing to wash the apostles’ feet, removing His outer garment, humbling Himself to demonstrate the role of a servant, yielding to His human nature. But He doesn’t give up His God nature. He begins with Peter, who protests, telling Jesus that it is he who should be washing His feet. Jesus rebukes Peter:
“Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me [we can have nothing to do with each other].” Jn. 13:8 AMP
Peter did not in any way want to be separated from His Savior. So, he relented and told Jesus to wash his whole body! What Jesus was inferring, was that a child of God only remains that way, if, regardless of his or her baptism, remains in a life-long cycle of confessions and repentance to stay right Him.
Jesus responds to Peter with another analogy to that effect:
“Anyone who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, and is completely clean. And you [My disciples] are clean, but not all of you.” Jn. 13:10 AMP
The ‘bath’ represents one’s acceptance of Christ, the ‘washing of the feet’ is to clean the part of you that touches the world, where sin resides. ‘…but not all of you’ refers to the faithless Judas Iscariot, (who hasn’t been revealed to the other apostles yet).
Let’s recap:
1. There is no task too menial in terms of servitude.
2. We must submit to the will of Christ.
3. The washing of the feet was symbolic of the cleansing of the soul, by the blood of our Savior, to enter communion with the Father and Son.
Jesus then begins to drill down on the identity of His betrayer:
“I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this fulfills the Scripture that says, ‘The one who eats my food has turned against me.’ I tell you this beforehand, so that when it happens you will believe that I am the Messiah.” Jn. 13:18, 19. NLT (Jesus is quoting Ps. 41:9)
Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!” Jn. 13:21 NLT
This He would demonstrate by using His omniscience.
Then, Jesus leans into John’s ear alone, to reveal the betrayer:
“It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.” Jn. 13:26, 27. NLT
After receiving the piece of bread, he immediately left. And it was night. Jn. 13:30 CSB
Jesus instantly declared:
“Now is [the time for] the Son of Man [to be] glorified, and God is glorified in Him; [if God is glorified in Him,] God will also glorify Him (the Son) in Himself, and will glorify Him at once.” Jn. 13:31, 32 AMP
All the tumblers have fallen into place. Christ is now prepared to finish His journey to the cross and ascend to His Father.
To be continued…
Goodnight and God bless.
Building Better Americans 197
An unapologetic portrait of one of our greatest Founding Fathers related in TRUE history.
Jesus Was Not Finished with Tuesday of the Holy Week
Jesus had so much to teach, preach, and demonstrate on Tuesday (See Tuesday of the Week of Christ’s Journey to the Cross), that I am having to split in two, so as not to present a gargantuan single post that some might find unwieldy.
In the first part of Tuesday, Jesus blasted the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the scribes, in a very lengthy but indisputable justification, for His authority to teach in the Temple. Peppered within Jesus’ diatribe were many reasons why His distractors were not.
Still Tuesday, and Christ turns both to His apostles, and to a crowd that had gathered to watch Him spar with His opponents. Jesus begins to illustrate the evil within the hearts of the Temple clergy:
“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
“Everything they do is for show.” Mt. 23:2 – 5. NLT
“They love the place of distinction and honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues [those on the platform near the scrolls of the Law, facing the congregation], and to be greeted [with respect] in the market places and public forums, and to have people call them Rabbi.” Mt. 23:6, 7. AMP
Then, Jesus instructs the crowd about a better way to be:
“But do not be called Rabbi (Teacher); for One is your Teacher, and you are all [equally] brothers. Do not call anyone on earth [who guides you spiritually] your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” Mt. 23:8, 9. AMP
Again, the Son of God stresses the importance of remaining spiritually humble, by right application of the Spiritual title ‘Father’ and ‘Teacher’ to Jehovah and Jesus respectively.
Next, right in the middle of the Temple, Jesus seriously takes the Pharisees and scribes to task:
“But woe (judgment is coming) to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven in front of people; for you do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are [in the process of] entering to do so.” Mt. 23:13 AMP
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears [an oath] by the sanctuary of the temple, that is nothing (non-binding); but whoever swears [an oath] by the gold of the temple is obligated [as a debtor to fulfill his vow and keep his promise].’ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the sanctuary of the temple that sanctified the gold?” Mt. 23:16, 17. AMP
Jesus is saying that the scribes and Pharisees have forfeited the kingdom of God because of their disobedience to His word. Worse, they hindered the congregants’ ability to obey God’s word because of the additional burdens that they placed upon them (e.g., false rituals and man-made Pharisaical rules.) Then He raked them over the coals for creating a false hierarchy of binding v. unbinding oaths. According to Jesus, (and He is the authority, being the voice of God), all oaths which invoke Jehovah are binding.
And He’s still not done! Jesus follows with a castigation for their practice of ‘cherry picking’ the fragments of Scripture that suited them:
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,[a] but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.” Mt. 23:23 NLT
Ultimately then, the scribes and Pharisees feign holiness on the outside, but are rotting from within from their malignant practice of pride.
Jesus then sums up their fate with a rhetorical question:
“Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?” Mt. 23:33 CSB
And now, Jesus cuts the cord with them for eternity:
“Listen carefully: your house is being left to you desolate [completely abandoned by God and destitute of His protection]!” Mt. 23:38 AMP
With that said, Jesus washes His hands of them and leaves the Temple – never to return.
Christ and the apostles begin the journey back to Bethany. Along the way, the apostles marvel over the architectural magnificence of the Temple. Jesus takes this opportunity to prophesy to His retinue:
“Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!” Mt. 24:2 NLT
Indeed, this would come to pass in 70 A.D., at the hands of the Roman army.
As they travel further, the apostles ask Him about signs they should be on the lookout for that would herald His return from heaven. He answers:
“Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many.” Mt. 24:4, 5. NLT
“…false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will provide signs and wonders in order to deceive, if [such a thing were] possible, even the elect [those God has chosen for Himself]. But be on your guard; I have told you everything in advance.” Mk. 13:22, 23. AMP
“You will continually hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end [of the age]. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs [of the intolerable anguish and the time of unprecedented trouble].” Mt. 24:6 – 8. AMP
False Christs, major planetary destruction, world-wide warfare; yet this only signals the beginning of the trials and tribulations to come.
And followers of Christ will come under heavy persecution:
“Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.” Mt. 24:9 NLT
“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you. They will hand you over to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to bear witness. Therefore make up your minds not to prepare your defense ahead of time, for I will give you such words and a wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.” Lk. 21:12 – 15. CSB
“…say whatever is given to you [by God] in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit [who will speak through you].” Mk. 13:11 AMP
Jesus also relays to them that many believers will fall out of faith:
“At that time many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust] and will betray one another [handing over believers to their persecutors] and will hate one another. Many false prophets will appear and mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold.
“But the one who endures and bears up [under suffering] to the end will be saved.” Mt. 24:10 – 13. AMP
Finally, Jesus tells them when the end times begin:
“This good news of the kingdom [the gospel] will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end [of the age] will come.” Mt. 24:14 AMP
Accompanying that will come an ugly turn of events:
“For at that time there will be a great tribulation (pressure, distress, oppression), such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will [again]. And if those days [of tribulation] had not been cut short, no human life would be saved; but for the sake of the elect (God’s chosen ones) those days will be shortened.” Mt. 24:21-22 AMP
God’s children can take comfort in knowing that this stage of madness will be brief, especially because Jehovah Himself wants to preserve His children for eternity. Jesus continues, by saying that when the tribulations are complete, the universe itself will be transformed:
“Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Mt. 24:29 CSB
And then, Christ comes!
“And at that time the sign of the Son of Man [coming in His glory] will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth [and especially Israel] will mourn [regretting their rebellion and rejection of the Messiah], and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory [in brilliance and splendor].” Mt.24:30 AMP
Why all this mourning? Because much of the world rejected Jesus – who He is, what He said, and what He did. Realizing Christ is the real deal, they will know that they have missed the boat to heaven.
The children of God will have a far different perspective:
“Now when these things begin to occur, stand tall and lift up your heads [in joy], because [suffering ends as] your redemption is drawing near.” Lk. 21:28 AMP
But there is a caveat:
“But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son [in His humanity], but the Father alone.” Mt. 24:36 AMP
“Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.” Lk. 21:34 – 36. NLT
Everyone stands before the Judgment Seat of Christ. We must be in God’s will the best we can always. If we have a slip up, we confess and repent. To the children of God (sheep), we are rewarded with eternal life; and those who helped forward His kingdom, they will also be given gifts.
Those who clung to the ways of the world (goats), will be cast into eternal judgment. Not a good place to be:
“Then these [unbelieving people] will go away into eternal (unending) punishment, but those who are righteous and in right standing with God [will go, by His remarkable grace] into eternal (unending) life.” Mt. 25:46 AMP
You get to choose.
Goodnight and God bless.