Hey Everyone,
This is my reflection on today's Gospel verses.
This is of Matthew's Gospel 16: 24-28
It's a difficult passage again: 'Take up your Cross'
I just feel that every time we read the Gospels there is a new message, no matter we might have read and heard the same words hundreds of times before.
Anyway.
My audio - my reading - is on my site here - please check it out: Daily Bible Verses | Christian Renunciation | Take Up Your Cross, Follow Jesus | Faith’s Reward In Heaven | Christian Love | King James Audio KJV | Love Revealed By Jesus – Listen To the Bible! | King James Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
My reflection and the KJV verses go like this:
24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Jesus invites us to a life of giving. Jesus declares for the Christian an end to egotism, that hoarding of self as of property which can so restrict our lives, distancing us from God and from our fellow human beings, ultimately from perfect happiness. Our happiness is to be found in the service of God, which is also the service of others. As we give our lives away in this sense, as we deny ourselves, so we grow in community as a Christian people.
We are asked to live the life of the Beatitudes, in particular to identify with those who have little and who experience hardship, with those who are marginalized and live their lives far removed from those who might conventionally be seen to embody worldly success. The riches of the world are potentially a hindrance, where they are seen as an end and not a means to an end, to our ultimate end, God Himself.
Jesus speaks figuratively of the cross we are to carry, while knowing the cross that awaits him. The cross was the imperial Roman death sentence inflicted on the lowest in society. It is a sign of the imperial subjugation, as of the gross and dehumanizing brutality of imperial Rome. Jesus takes this sign and overturns its meaning. For Christians, because of Jesus, the ghastly image of a terrible death becomes the ultimate promise of hope fulfilled, Christ’s throne and the gateway to heaven. By carrying our cross as we follow Jesus, we are refusing the allure of the riches of the world to live in accordance with the higher good. And really, as Jesus tells us, his burden is light.
There were those early Christians who expected the end of the world to come in their lifetimes, interpreting Jesus’ words to mean this. Contrary to this interpretation, we hear Jesus speaking of how his Kingdom will grow and flourish through time, from the most humble of beginnings, to encompass the whole world. It seems Jesus may refer in these verses to his death and resurrection, or to the presence of the Kingdom among Christians, as we welcome Christ into our hearts and as we see our Lord in every other person we encounter. As we ask God for the Kingdom, so the Kingdom is with us, a foretaste of the ultimate goal of our lives, when our relationship with God will be perfected.
...
Additionally, here is a video/slide-show of the Parable of the Marriage Feast I put up on YouTube:
(Again, it's a really complex and challenging text.)
This is my reflection on today's Gospel verses.
This is of Matthew's Gospel 16: 24-28
It's a difficult passage again: 'Take up your Cross'
I just feel that every time we read the Gospels there is a new message, no matter we might have read and heard the same words hundreds of times before.
Anyway.
My audio - my reading - is on my site here - please check it out: Daily Bible Verses | Christian Renunciation | Take Up Your Cross, Follow Jesus | Faith’s Reward In Heaven | Christian Love | King James Audio KJV | Love Revealed By Jesus – Listen To the Bible! | King James Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
My reflection and the KJV verses go like this:
24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Jesus invites us to a life of giving. Jesus declares for the Christian an end to egotism, that hoarding of self as of property which can so restrict our lives, distancing us from God and from our fellow human beings, ultimately from perfect happiness. Our happiness is to be found in the service of God, which is also the service of others. As we give our lives away in this sense, as we deny ourselves, so we grow in community as a Christian people.
We are asked to live the life of the Beatitudes, in particular to identify with those who have little and who experience hardship, with those who are marginalized and live their lives far removed from those who might conventionally be seen to embody worldly success. The riches of the world are potentially a hindrance, where they are seen as an end and not a means to an end, to our ultimate end, God Himself.
Jesus speaks figuratively of the cross we are to carry, while knowing the cross that awaits him. The cross was the imperial Roman death sentence inflicted on the lowest in society. It is a sign of the imperial subjugation, as of the gross and dehumanizing brutality of imperial Rome. Jesus takes this sign and overturns its meaning. For Christians, because of Jesus, the ghastly image of a terrible death becomes the ultimate promise of hope fulfilled, Christ’s throne and the gateway to heaven. By carrying our cross as we follow Jesus, we are refusing the allure of the riches of the world to live in accordance with the higher good. And really, as Jesus tells us, his burden is light.
There were those early Christians who expected the end of the world to come in their lifetimes, interpreting Jesus’ words to mean this. Contrary to this interpretation, we hear Jesus speaking of how his Kingdom will grow and flourish through time, from the most humble of beginnings, to encompass the whole world. It seems Jesus may refer in these verses to his death and resurrection, or to the presence of the Kingdom among Christians, as we welcome Christ into our hearts and as we see our Lord in every other person we encounter. As we ask God for the Kingdom, so the Kingdom is with us, a foretaste of the ultimate goal of our lives, when our relationship with God will be perfected.
...
Additionally, here is a video/slide-show of the Parable of the Marriage Feast I put up on YouTube:
(Again, it's a really complex and challenging text.)