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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial Bible Verse:Matthew 26:30-35 "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ [Zechariah 13:7] But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same." Message:
Although all four gospels tell the story of Peter and the rooster, Matthew is the only place we find the Zechariah quote — not surprisingly, considering the overall intention of Matthew’s gospelMatthew is called the Gospel to the Jews, to prove that Jesus was the Messiah predicted by the Old Testament. Throughout Matthew, we find many more Old Testament prophecies being tied to events in Jesus' life than in the other gospels..
There is very little about his personal characteristics in any of the gospels. There is no biography of Jesus. Except for the brief passage in Luke discussed below, we have no hard facts about him between his infancy and the beginning of his ministry (at about age 30). And in the gospels themselves, we find only the tiniest hints about his personal life. But we must always be aware that he had a human life. (For all we know, he might have been married! Although it's unlikely, the Bible does not tell us He was single.)
Part of his life as a human being was the religious life of a Jew. Here we get a very big hint, for Luke recounts that his family went to Jerusalem at Passover, just like any devout Jewish family of the day. (Luke 2:41) The quote from Zechariah gives us another hint about him from his teaching style.
Rooster from illuminated Tanakh
The quote (among others) shows us that, outside of his main role as the Messiah, he was actually somewhat closer to the Pharisees in his religious orientation than the other religious parties of the day. Their teaching style was always to quote a prior source, preferably a prophet, as authority for their propositions.
This painstaking reliance on prior authority was not Jesus' style in general. One of his defining characteristics was that, for his most important teachings, he spoke on the direct authority of the Father. (E.g. John 12:49) But here, we see him quote Zechariah for a minor statementThe later chapters of Zechariah contain messianic prophecy and, although it is difficult to see this particular quote as a direct prophecy of the crucifixion, many scholars do so. , that sheep scatter when the shepherd dies. He lapses, at least arguably, into the style of rabbinical tradition. He was even called “rabbi” sometimes, by Jews who wished to address him with respect.
Again, not to be misunderstood, this addresses Jesus' personal life outside his primary role as the Christ. But it seems likely that he attended synagogue in Nazareth, and the rural synagogues were the home turf of the Pharisees.
The more important issue here is Christ's concern with the apostles being like frightened sheep without a shepherd. And we will see this happen three times: after his arrest, when Peter will deny being his follower; after his death, when the apostles will hide in their rooms; and (at the beginning of Acts) during the ten days after his ascension but before Pentecost. John develops this concern at much more length, especially in John 14:15-31, where Jesus voices a very human concern about leaving his disciples alone and comforts them, in advance, by promising the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Meditation : Prayer : The blessing of the Lord rest and remain upon all his people, in every land, of every tongue; the Lord meet in mercy all that seek him; the Lord comfort all who suffer and mourn; the Lord hasten his coming, and give us, his people, the blessing of peace, this day and always........Amen |
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