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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.Eph 2:9 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
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. Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Authority of Jesus Challenged Bible Verse:Matthew 21:23-27 (ESV) "And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. " Message:
Jesus is no longer teaching in rural synagogues. He is in Jerusalem, in the Temple, the center of Judaism and home of the Sanhedrin. He is, in effect, climbing a ladder of authority: He speaks his gospel before increasingly important Jewish officials, and he does not intend to stop until he gets all the way to Caiphas, the High Priest of the Hebrews.
What these high priests and elders apparently want to hear Jesus say is that he is the Son of God; they seem to be seeking, in a sly way, to trap him into answering the question that Caiphas will pose to him directly: “[T]ell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63) They need to hear an outright claim to divinity, so that they can convict him of blasphemy and be rid of him.
Christ has every intention of being found guilty of the charge, but not now, and not by these men. They have tried to trap him before, with their clever word games, but he always turns their slyness back against them.
He counters their question with one of his own: did John the Baptist have divine authority for his baptism? Thus, he catches them in their own snare. They cannot admit that John baptized with the authority of God, because John bore witness to the divinity of Jesus. On the other hand, if they were to publicly denounce John as a fraud, they would risk a riot in Jerusalem at Passover.
God, not the Jewish authorities, controls the timing of Christ’s passion. Christ does not dodge the question out of fear of the consequences. He came to Jerusalem to suffer and die. But this is not the time and place God has chosen for it. Christ will die just as the Passover Sabbath begins, ensuring that we see the reference of his death to the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.
Meditation : “You are priests, not social or political leaders. Let us not be under the illusion that we are serving the Gospel through an exaggerated interest in the wide field of temporal problems.” Prayer : God of love, Father of all, the darkness that covered the earth has given way to the bright dawn of your Word made flesh. Make me and all who confess your holy name people of this light. Make me faithful to your Word that I may bring your life to the waiting world. Grant this through Christ our Lord......Amen |
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