Comments - devotion RecentComments

July29 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:6:1-11 IS IT LAWFUL - After a time or two I think the majority of us would say "I am just going to avoid this on the Sabbath since it is causing such uproar"; you know, pick your battles. Jesus seems to be looking for it. Had the Pharisees any sense they would drop the matter as well. It is obvious that they are operating from an indefensible position based on hardened traditions and He is operating from a sense that He is going to make sure that everybody else knows it. We however frequently read into this that the Sabbath is not important to Jesus which is false; He is the Lord of the Sabbath (is He the Lord then of nothing?). Jesus attempts to free the Sabbath from the death grip of staunch tradition where select authoritarian legalists get to decide what can and can't be done instead of it being a day set apart for rest and reverent worship and holy reflection and yes even an occasional good deed. Jesus does not nix the idea of Sabbath, He nixes the idea that sour pusses can rule over it. So why is Jesus not willing to back down on this? Why is He looking for the fight on this? The faith of our Lord is in the real and true religion, the liberating faith, the unfeigned outreach, the joyous worship. The normal and everyday must be challenged. The way things have been long been done must be challenged. The "because we know better than you" must be re-examined. Not because it all must be done away with but, because the scriptures do lay out a desire on God's part for us to observe such on a truly pure spiritual level. Many of His promises to us stand in sync with these specific observances.

October4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:20:20-26 WHY TEMPT YE ME - So the plan is to trap Him in His word, to use his words against Him before Pilate. To do that they have to disguise their approach. Their first approach Roman taxation. Nothing that Jesus could answer about taxes could draw the death penalty in and of itself, but it could along with other well feigned approaches could add up to the charge of sedition against Rome. Their means of future attacks are immediately telegraphed. They will use all the talk of His kingdom as intentionally sowing rebellion against the state, boasts of the destruction of their temple stirring the people into a frenzy, talk of Him being a God on the lines of the Caesar able to rebuild a temple in three days to therein manipulate Pontius Pilate's better sensibilities. All of this might still seem lame and harmless to the governor unless they can make the evidence and accusation stronger with some quotes as to taxation and/or government authority. The case even then would be pretty lame if it were not for the sheer numbers of people now gathered daily to hear Jesus in and around the temple. They will need to come up with numbers of their own to show the disruption Jesus is creating. It is a lot to have to go through just to rid yourself of someone unwanted isn't it? Especially when He is wise to your craft. Jesus probably knew the grounds on which they would attack all along, if not He knows now. He knows that this is all in the Father's hands and that there is no turning back. At the same time though He is not going to just make it easy for them by stepping into their trap without exposing to us what it is that they are doing. The faith of our Lord is that once we knew how and why these men acted against Him we would come to see how and why we have acted against Him in similarly disguised ways during our rebellious disbelief; the measures that we are willing to go through to make Him likewise no longer exist or be a nuisance. We however would know that He died to redeem us out of this corrupted nature and the cleansing of His blood. We would know by His resurrection that He has the power to make our better calling to a true glory and virtue happen.