Darkness - Scattered - Spices
Whilst I was in Fort William last week I did take time to read and now I can catch up.
Darkness: I've never had a problem with the fact that Jesus 'died'. The Romans were very good at crucifixtion; crucifixtions were carried out wherever the Romans needed to impose discipline and public order. So when someone says that Jesus probably fainted, and was revived, I know that they haven't got a clue about how this form of execution was carried out!
In this chapter I love the way that James debunks the idea of 'reasonable Christianity'. And the paragraph, on page 156, 'God's love is mysterious. Christianity will never make sense to your head. It's not meant to. But it will make sense to your heart - if you leave yourself open to the mystery of his love.', just brings home to me the fact that once again it is down to personal choice! I pray that I will never have a closed mind to the things of God.
Scattered: It must have been so scary for the disciples and their fellow believers - nothing made sense to them; it must have seemed as if they were living out a nightmare! They had had personal teaching from the Messiah himself and yet they still didn't want to hang around and be there when he rose up from the grave - they had been told often enough but was their faith so weak that they still didn't believe?
But then as James so pointedly says, 'I see myself: hiding from God like Adam & Eve, or slipping off to the field like Cain, or running into the night like Mark.'.
But I pray that I will stick around for the rest of the story and not be left in the shadows.
Spices: I just love the fact that it was the women in Jesus' life who wanted to do their duty to him. But do you know what? I don't think that they saw it as a 'duty' so much as a privilege. This was the man that they had shared a special love with. A love that was pure, honest and above reproach. Theirs was a love that the world did not understand - it was a love that enabled Jesus to allow his feet to be washed in such a way that could have been totally misunderstood and yet there was nothing untoward about it at all.
And they go to the tomb despite their heavy hearts, and their tears, to carry out a final act of love. And they are greeted by the sight of the empty tomb - Praise God!
Darkness: I've never had a problem with the fact that Jesus 'died'. The Romans were very good at crucifixtion; crucifixtions were carried out wherever the Romans needed to impose discipline and public order. So when someone says that Jesus probably fainted, and was revived, I know that they haven't got a clue about how this form of execution was carried out!
In this chapter I love the way that James debunks the idea of 'reasonable Christianity'. And the paragraph, on page 156, 'God's love is mysterious. Christianity will never make sense to your head. It's not meant to. But it will make sense to your heart - if you leave yourself open to the mystery of his love.', just brings home to me the fact that once again it is down to personal choice! I pray that I will never have a closed mind to the things of God.
Scattered: It must have been so scary for the disciples and their fellow believers - nothing made sense to them; it must have seemed as if they were living out a nightmare! They had had personal teaching from the Messiah himself and yet they still didn't want to hang around and be there when he rose up from the grave - they had been told often enough but was their faith so weak that they still didn't believe?
But then as James so pointedly says, 'I see myself: hiding from God like Adam & Eve, or slipping off to the field like Cain, or running into the night like Mark.'.
But I pray that I will stick around for the rest of the story and not be left in the shadows.
Spices: I just love the fact that it was the women in Jesus' life who wanted to do their duty to him. But do you know what? I don't think that they saw it as a 'duty' so much as a privilege. This was the man that they had shared a special love with. A love that was pure, honest and above reproach. Theirs was a love that the world did not understand - it was a love that enabled Jesus to allow his feet to be washed in such a way that could have been totally misunderstood and yet there was nothing untoward about it at all.
And they go to the tomb despite their heavy hearts, and their tears, to carry out a final act of love. And they are greeted by the sight of the empty tomb - Praise God!
posted by Dave. at
2:06 PM
2 Comments:
You have brought out excellent points, Dave, in all three chapters! :) I'm glad you are caught up. Wasn't it nice of the Lord to provide you some extra R&R to reconnect with Kriss and to continue reading in your book? Ya just gotta love a God who provides in ALL ways!
By
Pilot Mom, at 4:30 PM
Great chapter reviews, Dave. I, too, love how miraculous the whole thing is. And I love that our hearts can understand what our heads cannot. Surely that is a HUGE sign that there certainly is a God. Can you imagine looking at something logically and saying "This makes no sense whatsoever" and then saying, "But I don't care!" Yup...gotta be a God thing. :-)
By
HeyJules, at 4:36 PM
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