Rode the bus to town and back!...Matthew 26:47-56...The Pass Off of Jesus

 


If you look closely in the mirror you can see me.  I have actually taken the bus a couple of times.  I have enough time to do my weekly errands in town and also to take my current book that I am reading and get through some more chapters.  People are also talkative on the bus so I get to strike up some conversations.  It has only been a couple of weeks but people are using this service between Granby to our south and Grand Lake to our north.  Maybe I will get to know the bus drivers who are stopping at a church for one of their stops.


Above this park overlooking Grand Lake and its small beach are benches and yesterday I was able to watch 2 F-16s fly over the lake at eye level 3 times.  It must have been a training run.  This was a little excitement to one of the places I go to read and study and also a popular spot for Stephanie and I for our Sunday afternoon non-dairy ice cream treat.  It is summer so town is busting at the seams almost everyday and especially on the weekends.  Many people come here to visit from all over the world.

Our present President talks about using "the weave" when he communicates a thought.  This is nothing new for pastors who come to the Passion Week of Christ.  We have 4 gospels that we weave together to get a fuller picture of what is happening to Jesus, our Savior.  We do our best to put the events in order and insert where one speaks of something that the others have not.  Some of these events are solely that gospel writers contribution and sometimes that makes a point in relationship to who their primary audience was.  For example, Luke tends to give more details for his Gentile readers while Matthew makes connection to the prophecies of the Old Testament for his Jewish readers.  I am in the middle of "the weave" right now.

I finished the passage of Judas Iscariot passing off Jesus with a betrayal kiss with these 3 considerations.  

What sword am I using?  One sword is the words and ways of this world and Jesus tells us if we use that sword then in will be used against us.  The other sword is the words and ways of our God.  Peter pulled out the sword of the world while Jesus entrusted Himself to the sword of the LORD.  These words of God are to be used by His children over the words of the world.  They will be very different at times.

What kind of kiss am I giving Jesus?  Judas doesn't come to the feet of Jesus like a servant to his master, the one he belongs to.  Judas doesn't come to Jesus bowing and giving respect to Him as the superior and kissing His hand.  Judas comes to Jesus as an equal and calls Him by His earthly position, "Rabbi," rather than by His divine position, "Lord." Is Jesus your buddy or at least a little better than you or is He the One you belong to?

Am I embracing God's word and His redemptive plan of salvation?  Jesus puts God's given words and plan above the calling of more than 12 legions of angels.  He keeps going back to what God has said.  He is fully resting on it no matter the immediate outcome because He is also resting on the ultimate outcome that God has said.  Do we take God's words "lock stock and barrel"?  Or do we do what the Sanhedrin will do in the next passage and toss out those things that don't fit into our agenda?  

I am so enjoying walking through this part of the Gospel of Matthew and doing "the weave."

Adam





A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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