Tag: jesus

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            NPR gave a report a few years ago about the relationship between our minds and our stomachs.  Scholars at UCLA conducted some experiments that give us some insight on what we know as a ‘gut feeling.’  Their studies indicate that microbes in our stomachs affect the neural activity of the brain.  They concluded:  “Your brain is not just another organ.  It is affected by what goes on in the rest of your body.”  Scientists are discovering that there is a vast network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive that some researchers have nicknamed it our “second brain.”
 
            When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and invited his disciples to eat and drink with him as a way of following him, he was reaching us as holistic people.  We do not simply follow Jesus by affirming right doctrine in the head (as important as that is); we walk in the way of Jesus on a very visceral level, literally!  Perhaps Jesus knew that the way to our hearts is through our stomachs.
 
            We observe the Lord’s Supper as part of our full-orbed Christian discipleship.  This is also why practices like hospitality and even church potlucks have the incredible power to form us as the people of God.  As often as we break bread together and drink together, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.  We preach Christ not only with mouths, but with our stomachs.  How cool is that!
 

 

            Look down O Lord, I pray, on all of us, your family for whom the Lord Jesus was betrayed and delivered into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer torment on the cross.  In the Holy Supper which you have instituted, let us remember this great love which you have bestowed on us.  May I eat and drink knowing the wondrous unity I have with you, in Christ.  Amen.

Hebrews 12:1-3

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “Capital punishment” is simply a softened way to say “state-sponsored killing.”  It is a bit like always using the word “discomfort” instead of “pain.”  Pain is still pain, and some pain just hurts like hell.  Jesus knows all of this first-hand.  He experienced capital punishment – not only state-sponsored killing but state-sponsored torture, humiliation, and intentional shaming.  What Jesus faced was no humane lethal injection; it was full of prolonged agony, blood, nakedness, and public humiliation.  It was awful.  It was the ultimate act of shame.  The cross was terribly painful in every sense of the word; it was filled with physical pain, emotional hurt, mental anguish, and even the spiritual weight of separation from the Father, and the worst pain of all:  carrying the sins of the entire world, past, present, and future.
 
            This is a staggering thought, that Jesus would endure such incredible torture.  So, it is even more astounding that the author of Hebrews would describe this event from Christ’s perspective as “the joy set before him.”  Huh!?  Such sorrow, such agony described from the vantage of Jesus as joy.  Our Lord was no masochist.  He willingly persevered under such strain and pain, endured the worst that hell could throw at him, and faced the ignominy of the cross all because of love.
 
            Jesus Christ loved us so much that he went through the horror of it all with confidence knowing that his sacrifice would mean the redemption of humanity.  With each lash of the whip, with every curse uttered against him, and with all the cruel force of sinful people Jesus had a settled conviction that he would endure so that we could be saved from sin’s power.  Now that is love!
 
            Thus, whenever we despair over some slight of another, become down because of a little opposition, or wonder if we can make it another day under the stress, we must put our lives in perspective.  We are saved, redeemed, forgiven, and loved infinitely by the God who gave himself for us.  Consider him who endured such hostility so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
 

 

            Loving Lord Jesus, you suffered in a way that I can barely comprehend.  And you do it all for me.  Oh, Lord, forgive me for all those times of being ungrateful and discouraged over my circumstances.  Lead me to the cross, and let me bow in worship before you.  Amen.

Hebrews 9:11-15

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Imagine being an ancient worshiper and going to the temple, bringing an animal for a sacrifice, and having its blood sprinkled on the altar by the priest.  Imagine doing it again… and again… and again… and again.  Somewhere along the line you might think, “Wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t need to keep offering animals again and again for a sacrifice?  Wouldn’t it be great if there could be one sacrifice that would end all sacrifices?”  This is, in fact, what was inherently designed into the sacrificial system.  These sacrifices, repeated over and over, were to point to a lasting and permanent sacrifice. 
 
            Enter Jesus.  He came “once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.”  Once for all – what a beautiful statement!  No longer is there any need to keep offering sacrifices.  No longer is there a reason to try and somehow clear my conscience through a ritual act.  No longer do I need to wonder if I have brought enough sacrifices to cover my sin.  It is finished.  It is done.  Christ has secured deliverance from sin, death, and hell through the singular sacrifice of himself.
 
            In this Holy Week we journey with Jesus, remembering his once for all redemptive event of deliverance on our behalf.  If there ever was a time for contemplation, now is it.  Allow the phrase “once for all” to seep ever more into your soul.  Let it bring healing and rest to all of our frivolous striving toward earning deliverance on our own.  Let it slide comfort into your spiritual bones.  Let it settle contentment and confidence to a life filled with insecurity and dissatisfaction.  Let the death of Christ do its intended work.
 

Precious Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the hope of my life and of the whole world.  Your once for all sacrifice has decisively taken care of the sin issue.  I am now forgiven and purified in your holy name.  Praise God!  Amen.

Hebrews 2:1-9

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Here we are at the end of another Lenten season with Spring upon us and Holy Week’s near arrival.  For many people this is simply old hat.  The redemptive events of Jesus are so familiar to some of us that it runs the risk of being, well, boring.  After all, we know this stuff already – why keep doing this continual Church Calendar thing? 
 
            While some might cry out that lectionaries, the Christian Year, Holy Week, and liturgies are just vain repetition, I would argue otherwise:  we are in grave danger of not paying attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  Like a beach-goer out on the lake drifting on her flotation device far out from shore, we are unaware of how far we have strayed from our spiritual moorings.  If the passion and death of Jesus can only get a shoulder shrug and a “meh” out of us, there is a real problem.  We have ignored Lent’s emphasis on repentance and want the destination without the time it takes to get there.
 
            “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” protests the author of Hebrews.  The events and services of Holy Week are designed to help us pay attention, to remember, to give thoughtful reflection and due diligence to the incredible work of salvation that Jesus has pioneered and achieved for us through the cross.  The sin which we must turn from is not the overt commission of having done something really bad, but the negligent omission of not doing anything, of treating Holy Week just like any other old week.  Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.
 

 

            Gracious Lord Jesus, you went to the greatest lengths possible to redeem us from sin’s terrible bondage.  As I contemplate your passion in this next week, lead me to fresh appreciation and a depth of gratitude that goes beyond comprehension.  Amen.