A Messiah's Death

        Jesus was the only perfect individual to walk on the earth.  He dedicated His life to others.  He taught the people, He ate with the sinners, He made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and He healed the leper.  Despite all of this He was rejected of men.  He was persecuted and hated and eventually was betrayed and killed.  Even His disciples, who by definition, are suppose to follow Him, betrayed and denied Him. 

  The Jews hated Jesus because they feared His influence over the people.  They plotted His demise and eventually found a way through Judas.  Judas was supposed to be Jesus’ disciple.  He had seen the miracles Jesus had performed and heard the lessons Jesus taught and yet was willing to sell Jesus out for literally a few pence.  He even betrayed Jesus with a kiss. 

   What could cause such animosity towards someone as loving and good as Jesus?  Even towards the end of the days He was preaching love towards one another.  John’s gospel does a good job depicting this.  In John 15:13 Jesus says “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  Jesus is the ultimate friend.  He offers His love freely and only asks for one thing in return- that we keep His commandments. 

       It brings great comfort to know that even this perfect individual had enemies.  Jesus says “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”  Jesus was perfect.  He is the Son of God.  He is the Messiah.  He is the savior of the world.  And yet He died between two thieves.  Jesus died the death of a common criminal.  There is no justice on earth, but Jesus did not bring justice- He brought hope. 

By Faith

            Jesus, by all appearances, was a normal man.  He was made of flesh and blood.  People knew His mother and father.  Believing that He was anything more was difficult for many people.  Even nowadays people struggle with the concept of Jesus.  At the same time, those people saw Jesus heal the sick, give sight to the blind, feed the multitudes, and even raise the dead.  So, why was it so hard for them to believe?
           In Matthew 8-20 and Luke 8-19, it tells of many things Jesus did.  It tells of how Jesus healed a leper, a Centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, and many other people.  What did all these people have in common?  They believed in Jesus.  They had faith that He could heal them.  These were people who had not seen all of Jesus's miracles and yet believed in Him.  His disciples, who had witnessed all of His miracles, still had trouble having complete trust in Him.  They were fearful of the tempest, and Peter could not walk on water because of fear.
         Throughout the passages, Jesus kept talking about how it is what comes out of a man that determines what kind of man he is.  It is our words and actions, not what we hear or see, that determines if we are worthy to one day be in God's presence.  Through these passages, Jesus teaches how we can live our lives to where we are speaking and acting the way we should.

Luke 4:16-7

         At the beginning of our reading Jesus is giving a sermon in the church.  The people there get very angry with him and run him off.  The way the people viewed him was as Joseph's son.  They did not see him as the Savior of the world.  Jesus even says that no prophet is accepted by his own people.  This is because when you know someone well it makes it hard to believe they are anything, but a normal person.  
       Next Jesus goes out and heals and gets disciples.  He tells these men that they will be fishers of men.  They will not literally catch men, but they will be missionaries and disciples of Jesus to lead men to the path of truth and righteousness.  Jesus gives many parables along the way as well.   
       At the end a women who has sinned greatly washes Jesus's feet.  Jesus forgives this woman her sins.  This can be interpreted to mean that if we are willing to humble ourselves and do service for Jesus that we too may be forgiven of our sins.

Living up to Jesus

          What did Jesus say?  In Matthew 5-7 is Jesus's famous Sermon on the Mount.  In this speech, Jesus sets up a new ideal to live by and teaches how to pray.  Jesus explains how He has come to fulfill the old law.  So what exactly did this mean for the people Jesus was preaching to?  And what does it mean to us today?
          Jesus came to fulfill the law.  Because he fulfills the law, we can live by a higher standard.  We all fall short of perfection, yet we are commanded to be perfect, because through Christ we can be made perfect.  In these scriptures Jesus gives an impossibly high standard by which to live.  Yet, if we try to live it, even though ultimately we will fall short, Christ will complete were we fail.  
          Also, Jesus was giving a better way to live, to set Christians apart from non-Christians.  This way Christians can be the example to the world and be a witness of Jesus.
          The standards Jesus sets in the Sermon on the Mount seem impossible.  Yet, as Christians, we are commanded to live this way.  I feel that Jesus is not necessarily saying we will reach this goal in life, but the closer to the goal we are, the more prepared we will be to meet God.  At the end of Matthew 7 Jesus gives the parable of the wise man, who prepared his house on a firm foundation and was able to meet the rain fearlessly. I believe if we build a firm foundation through striving to live up to Jesus's ideal, we will be prepared to meet any "rain."

Star on top of the Christmas Tree