From Temptation To Celebration?

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” John 2:1-3

A problem for a celebration, and Jesus had just refused to turn rocks into bread at the temptation of the devil. The temptation was to use power to serve himself. The celebration had a problem that needed solving, and the mother of Jesus turned it over to him. Jesus had a choice, and doing nothing was an option. Or was it? In many instances during His ministry our Lord could have done nothing, but didn't. Compassion seemed to be a primary characteristic of our Lord's journey through the lands of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. People needed help and the Lord Jesus gave it. But not just the minimum. Jesus might have sent the disciples out to purchase enough wine to get by, but He didn't. Instead we get to read of a miracle. Water became wine, and it was good wine too according to the experienced master of the feast.

Sometimes we accept the raising of Lazarus, the healing of blind Bartimaeus, but then struggle to believe this wine miracle. According to John, this was the beginning of the signs. We dare not let the devil take away the beginning, lest we find ourselves unbelieving at the ending.

Bucky

Enduring Temptation

Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him. Mark 1:12-13

Forty days seems a rather long time to endure temptation to me, but let's see how long some others endured. Eve and then Adam made it less than a minute; it appears, when the Serpent cunningly came along to tempt them in Genesis 3. In 2 Samuel 11, David holds out against temptation for even less time before having Bathsheba brought to his bed. And the story of his fall did not even require the Serpent's direct hand. The Adversary entered into Judas Iscariot when Jesus gave the word, and he took off immediately; a sort of record no one should strive to achieve. So, forty days in the wilderness enduring the temptation of this same deceiver would be about 57,600 times longer than any of us if we held out for even as long as 1 minute? Our resistance to temptation is rather paltry compared to our Lord's. Which is why we all need to place our faith in Jesus, right now!

Rejoice in Jesus and live in Him!

Bucky

Hearts Of Darkness

But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  John 2:24-25

As a fellow human, I'm going to guess that this was not our finest moments shining through to Jesus our Lord. In another scripture Jesus tells what comes out of the heart of us humans, and that is not a complimentary list either. This is the sort of thing Jesus faces as He begins His ministry in Galilee and Judea. A bunch of lost and sin-fouled humans looking at Him to be king and save them from the Romans. That He didn't, shows to us that He knew where the real salvation needed to be placed. Born with hearts of sinful darkness, we have no basis for pride but wear it proudly. How did Jesus even manage to start saving us? He sent a fellow from the wilderness in a camel hair suit with a few bug legs in his beard to tell us to repent and get washed. And that was only to prepare the way for His salvation. 

Love to you in Christ our Lord,

Bucky

Forgiving Sins

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Mark 2:5

Last week, we saw how Jesus began His ministry, which, if He were just another preacher, would not have caused the commotion that it did. Some say that Jesus never declared Himself to be God, but the Pharisees knew immediately when He said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you," that He was either blaspheming or God was there before them. We know from the scripture that they chose the one that let them pick up the stoning stones. They didn't do it this time, but later in the ministry of the Christ, the stones would fly. Here we read of a choice to not believe, and one where Jesus saw faith and a man was healed.

Healing faith and forgiving sins, praise Jesus!

Bucky

Hear The Word

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14

The wind blew up this morning wanting to be heard. Another influencer on social media tells of science supporting his opinion and wants to be heard. A politician complains and wants to be heard. And I realize that everyone wants to matter and to have their voice heard above the din of everyone else. 

A few years ago, a voice cried in the wilderness to prepare the way for a greater voice about to be heard. At the baptism of Jesus, God spoke from Heaven, and He was heard. A message of good news was about to be heard in the dark world, and it would be delivered by Him who spoke as one having authority. Some in Judea would be astonished, others would be angered, but according to John the disciple, the voice spoke grace and truth. Today, some still ask, "What is truth?" while others accept the Word and believe. 

It's your choice: do you want to be heard, or do you want to hear the Word and believe? 

Bucky

A Baptismal Recognition

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:16-17

Now we would like a pile of our efforts at goodness to cause God to say something like this of us. A baptismal recognition reward, if you will. However, as the Holy Spirit shows to us the mountain of our sin with its dark slopes, we know that this lifetime will by no means be enough to save ourselves no matter how many good works we do. And of course good works done to save the self has a rather selfish bent to it. Jesus selflessly set out to redeem us from our sin. And His ministry to spread the good news began all dripping wet beside the Jordan River. Humble, obedient to God, and worthy of His baptismal recognition. 

Praise to the Lord our God and Savior!

Bucky

Prevent Jesus?

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”  Matthew 3:13-14

Imagine for a moment that you are a knight in jolly old England during those armor clangin' and bangin' times. For some reason there is a sudden need for more knights, and you are doing your best to knight all the squires you can find. No word on who is going to pay for all that armor, but there you are knighting away. You look up one day and there is the king of England, waiting in the crowd to be knighted. No one else knows him, but you have some secret knowledge. You would likely do as John the Baptizer does here in our scripture for today. 

Prevent Jesus? Can it be that the Baptizer was confused? Certainly, but we would be in a similar situation. With our commission in mind, we lower our Lord into the water, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, uh, Yourself, and the Holy Spirit!" It would seem just a bit out of order to us. However, Jesus gently and lovingly got John on the right track, and He does the same for us in all circumstances...when we listen to Him that is. 

Be in prayer, and don't try to prevent Jesus from speaking to you,

Bucky