Tag Archives: Good Friday

Passover to Pentecost – Lord of the Sabbath

Posted on by
3

Lord of the Sabbath

In Matthew 12:8, Mark 2: 28, and Luke 6:5 is the story of the disciples harvesting and eating grain on the Sabbath.  Jesus’ replied to those complaining, “The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.”  Then not much more is said about this passage/idea. In John’s story of the crucifixion that statement is made very clear!

John’s Gospel has the most references to Passover, especially the three that Jesus spent with His disciples, but the last one, John 12 -20, will be our focus for this blog.

  • John 12: 1 timestamps the action as “six days before Passover.” This is when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet.
  • John 13: 1 is “just before Passover” and it would have been the Thursday of that week.Jesus sends Peter and John off to prepare for the eating of the Passover meal.  But Thursday is before what the Jews would call the “Day of Preparation”, when they would kill the Lamb and paint the doorframe.
  • John 18: 28 is early on Friday morning the “Day of Preparation” and the Jews are trying to stay “Clean” so they can eat the Passover.
  • John 19: 14, 31, and 42 again mentions the “Day of Preparation.” Christians now call this Good Friday.  This is when the Jews would have killed the lambs and is when Jesus died.
  • John 20: 1 is “early on the first day of the week.” Christians call this Easter!

So why does this make Jesus Lord of the Sabbath?  Is our communion really the same as the Passover sharing of wine and bread?  Is Easter and Passover the same thing?

I will answer these questions this way: Jesus and the disciples broke tradition and ate the “Passover Meal” and shared communion twenty-four hours to soon. So even though these things happen around Passover they did not happen ON Passover!  Jesus did something new but He had to so that He could fulfill the requirementsof Passover.  It is probable that He died just as the lambs were being killed in the Temple for the Passover meal.

I see this as Jesus doing what had to be done to fulfill all things of the Law!  I am not sure that for us it should cause a major change in traditions, but it does show that Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath and all of our holidays.

SECOND THOUGHT – Did the disciples understand what was happening when they ate early?  If they did were they questioning Jesus as to why?

pic : http://clipart.christiansunite.com/1395312061/Communion Clipart/Communion005.jpg

Things That Happen With † = ♥

Posted on by
Reply

While having a morning break in our local Mickey D’s a man, in a plumber’s uniform, stopped and said, “After Jesus put that guy’s ear back on in the Garden how could you not believe!”

Surprised at his question, I added, “Remember, that was after everyone picked themselves up off of the ground when Jesus spoke.” We traded several other ideas and said good-bye. All of this started because I was wearing a † = ♥ shirt.

When a GODportunity like that occurs, it tends to lift you from your earthly thoughts and sets your mind on things above.  My two thoughts were:

  1. Did that servant join with the crowd calling for Jesus’ death?
  2. How was it that there were only two people who saw Jesus as the Son of God on Good Friday? The thief on the cross and the Roman soldier.

My thought on #1 is, NO!  He may have been there but a touch from Jesus would have changed him.  It would be nice to know his story.

The thief was a Divine Appointment.  Jesus was doing His work of glorifying the Father right to the very end of His earthly life.  This would also set an example for the Christians who were to die at the hands of the Romans many years after death.

The battle-harden centurion knew Jesus was different because of how He died.  No curses, no fighting with the guards, no blaming everyone else, no crying how unfair it was, just Jesus speaking words of comfort to His friends and being in control of Himself.  He recognized the darkened skies had to be from God as a show of His disapproval!  I like to believe that he was the centurion who had his servant healed at Jesus’ command.  And that he would have a visit from Peter, after all of these events, and receive the Holy Spirit!

Two other thoughts about this day:

  1. Were the people who came out of the tombs among the three thousand on the day of Pentecost?

2. Was it grief, fear, or a limited vision of Jesus that blinded the disciples from seeing Jesus as the thief and soldier saw Him that day?

Add your thoughts and questions!

The blue highlighted words are links to other blogs in WordPress.

 

 

Easter 2015 – Reflections – IT

Posted on by
4

It Is Finished.

John 19:30 has the last three words Jesus said on Good Friday, “It is finished.” The word finished is teleo meaning to complete, conclude, or discharge. It comes from telos which infers a point set as a limit; my Strong’s/Vine’s Concordance goes further and says in is the end, a termination, whether of time or purpose and says a secondary denotation is what is paid for public ends, tolls, or customs. Ok, how many sermons have and can come from just the word finished in this phrase.

The word “it” however is what grabbed my attention. I can remember people talking about exactly what was finished:

  • Redemptive Work
  • Aaron’s Priesthood
  • The Old Covenant – every jot and tittle
  • His Life (earthly)
  • Sacrifices and the Temple Worship

If I may I would like to add the ending of the judgment on the people before the Flood. 1 Peter 4: 6 says He had to preach the gospel to them also, that would have brought about the end of that Judgment.