Good morning. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus. The chief priests and the Pharisees wanted people to report if they saw Jesus, so that they might seize Him. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to where Lazarus was. They were having dinner, and Lazarus was dining with Him. Martha was serving. In Luke we have where Martha was upset because Mary was not helping her. It is in the middle of Luke and not at the end, so it may have been a different situation. Sometimes different gospels have episodes in a different order. Mary took some very expensive perfume and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. Judas wanted to know why it was not sold and the money given to the poor. He didn’t really care about the poor; he just wanted to steal some of the money since he carried the money box. Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me. Jesus knew what was going to happen, and that Mary would not have an opportunity to anoint Him before His burial. Note that Jesus did not say to not help the poor; but it seems that He says no matter what you do, you will not get rid of poverty. The people found out that Jesus was there, and so they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. The chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. In their minds, it was not enough just to kill Jesus; they had to get rid of the evidence that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Father help us to be sensitive to Your leading. Sometimes we don’t listen and later regret not doing or saying something when we had the opportunity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners

  Good morning. So, was the law a bad thing? We know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully (not to control people, as some were), realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane…, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the Blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer etc. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Formerly Paul was good in the eyes of the law, but unrighteous in the eyes of God. Despite that, God was more than able to use him in a magnificent way to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Father thank You that Your Grace is gre...
Read more

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

  Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
Read more

Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them.

  Good morning. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. This is the area where Jesus had the discussion with the woman at the well. Remember from Acts 1:8 that after Jerusalem, Samaria was mentioned. Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews and considered more or less half Jews. A lot of the Jews of the northern kingdom were taken away and replaced by others who were not Jews. They intermingled with the Jews that were living in the northern kingdom. Even though Samaria was not far away, the disciples had not come there to preach the word before this. The disciples may have even thought that it was impossible for them to get saved, just like the Gentiles. The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. Even though he was “just a deacon”, God worked throug...
Read more