The Triumphal Entry

JesusWalk.com

“The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted. ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest.’ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this? The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matt. 21:6-11 (NIV)

            The people came out to see the Master as he rode on two donkeys from Bethpage to Jerusalem. They rejoiced that He chose to come to their town.  

            Have you ever wondered what caused the people to rejoice the first of the week, turn angry, then ugly as the week wore on?  We have been told by Biblical scholars that the people of Israel were looking for a physical king, not a spiritual one. The religious leaders stirred up the people, especially after Jesus cleared the Temple of the money changers.

            Have you ever asked yourself, “What did Jesus think of the way he was received? I believe He would have preferred to come into town with as little fanfare as possible. He traveled a great distance on his journey to Jerusalem.

            Due to Jesus’ humanity, could He have been fatigued? Might the reception He received at Bethpage have stressed Him out?

             Earlier, Jesus had pointed out to a crowd of people they were only interested in receiving food from Him. I wonder what He would have told these people along the road to Jerusalem, had He the chance. What do you think He would say to them?

Mary of Bethany’s Thoughts

Thisischurch.com

This is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. For the next seven weeks, I will bring you a Lenten thought or message.

            My name is Mary; I live in Bethany. The Master brought my brother Lazarus back to life. My sister Martha and I were grateful to Him. My brother decided to give a dinner in Jesus’ honor when He came to our town.

            My sister Martha is a wonderful cook. She fixed food truly fit for a king. I wanted to honor Jesus myself. All I had was a jar of nard I had received from a suitor.

            I opened the container; the scent filled the room. I poured the perfume on His feet with care, not wanting to waste any of it. Then I wiped Jesus’ feet with my hair.

            One of His disciples, also a dinner guest objected to what I had done. He muttered something about that perfume could have been sold and the money used for the poor. 

            Jesus spoke up for me and said something about my saving it to be used on the day of His burial. But you ask, why did I use it at that time? I did it to show my gratitude to Jesus for bringing my brother back to life. In reflecting on that evening, I am thankful that the Master spoke on my behalf.

            Do believe that Jesus was grateful to Mary for her deed? What might the other disciples have felt during this confrontation between Jesus and Judas?

My Life This Month (February)

    

A gift last Easter, Cecelia Lester

           I gave out section two of my meditation manuscript to local friends for proofreading late last month and early this month.

A group of us are working together to present a Good Friday drama to our church. The practices are going well. I am the assistant director. I have worked on a newsletter item to publicize it to the congregation, a ‘teaser skit’ to spark enthusiasm, and the copy for the program. None of these things are new to me, I have done them before, although it’s been awhile.

            Early this month we received word that Hubby’s best friend’s mother was in ICU. She went to be with Jesus the next evening. Our son lives in the area, we were able to attend the funeral service as a family. Hubby and I were there the evening before the service for most of the calling hours. Our son came after he got off work.

            My visitation partner and I went to see those we see on the 13^th. We took each of the five of them a little-stuffed teddy bear or a little-stuffed dog. I had also ordered some Christian Valentine tracts to put in their little gift bags. They all liked them. One woman was at an appointment. I called her to see if she received hers.

            We have enjoyed the warm weather we had. I even got to sit on my porch two afternoons.

            VBS meeting is at the end of this week. I will miss it because of Drama Practice. I have to reconstruct the attendance sheets. Because of my computer crash, I lost a lot of information. This time, I purchased an external hard drive. Oh, the lessons we learn from our mistakes!

We are having trouble with insomnia. Mine seems to be intermittent. Hubby’s is on a too regular basis. 

Love Songs of the Church

February- The Love of God, the Love of Christ, Christian Love

makinghistorynow.wordpress.com

                As I researched the topic of God’s love, I found myself thinking of hymns that speak of love. Some of these are unfamiliar to me, while others have been favorites of mine.

                Come, We that Love the Lord

              

                Jesus, Lover of My Soul

              Jesus Loves Even Me 

                Jesus Loves Me

                Jesus Loves the Little Children

               Love Divine, All loves Excelling 

               Why Should He love Me So 

                O, How I love Jesus

                They’ll know we are Christians by our love.

                If you choose to, click on some of the links and experience the beauty of love for God, love of God, or Christian love for one another.

              I thoroughly enjoyed setting this post up. I must have needed to hear some Christian music, I especially enjoyed the Reba Mc Entire hymn.

Source Hymns for the Family of God © Paragon Associate, Inc. Nashville Tennessee, USACome, We that Love the Lord

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

heritage youth missions.me

February-God’s Love, Love of God

           

            “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39(NIV)

            I love the beginning verse, so much I chose to spend a bit more time reflecting on it.

I remember when I had a large issue in my life. I told people I wanted to ‘survive’ it. That was the buzzword going around our worldly society then. I made some major changes in my life; one day I was reminded of this verse and how it applied to my circumstance. I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I realized I wanted to conquer those issues with Jesus’ guidance.

            Paul gives answers to the question he posed a few verses before. He states that nothing will have the power over us to separate us from the love of that Jesus has for us.

            He lists six different circumstances life can bring to us. But none of these can keep us away from God’s love.

1.      life or death,

2.       angels or demons,

3.      the present or the future,

4.       any powers

5.       height or depth,

6.      anything else in all creation.

            Again, let’s look at what The Message says about this list of scenarios:

            “I am absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—can get between us and God’s love because of the way Jesus our Master has embraced us.”

            In the process of my writing, I sometimes field questions from Hubby about what I have or have not done. I have learned not to get frustrated as I try to live in both worlds, the one of my literary endeavors and the one we call life.

The Love of Jesus Strengths Us

http://www.extravital.net

February- The Love of God, the Love of Christ

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecutions or famines or nakedness or danger or swords? As it is written:

           

            ‘For your sake we face death all day long;    We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Romans 8:35-37 (NIV)

            In doing research for this month’s blog topics, I came across this passage. These words have become seared into my heart.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

   These words would make anyone stop and ponder them. Have we had times that we were somewhat afraid of going through a circumstance or an event? I admit I have. But we can always call out to God and He will answer that concern. 

“Shall trouble or hardship or persecutions or famines or nakedness or danger or swords?”

Jesus is called Man of Sorrows because he personally faced times of trouble, persecution,

nakedness, and swords. He experienced all the harshness life had to give during the years He preached to, taught and healed those who came to Him.

‘For your sake we face death all day long;     We are considered as sheep to be                                    slaughtered.’

    

     This is how this reads in The Message:

            “They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick you off one by one.”

            In the next sentence, the text says, “None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.”

(Again, this from The Message)   

 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

           

            Paul reminds the Roman believers that they are conquerors because Jesus loves us.

How can we demonstrate His love to others? I will delve into this more in my next post.

No Greater Love

February- The Love of God, the Love of Christ

Cecelia Lester

“Greater love has no one than this that he lay his life down for his friend.” John 15:13 (NIV)

            We talk about love this time of year. Husbands profess their love for their wives by purchasing flowers, and candy. Some young men, in order to impress their girlfriends, do what they can to show their feelings on Valentine’s Day. In the late 1970’s, I purchased some of those small heart-shaped boxes of candy. My son and I gave them people who seemed to be by themselves.

One I purchased went to my Hubby’s sister. She had gone through a divorce and I knew she was one of those who would be alone.

            A few weeks later, she told Hubby what we had done. What he related to me was; she told him, “I had never gotten Valentine candy before.”

            When we study Jesus ’giving his life for us, anything we do to show our love for another pales by comparison.

            We should continue to show others Jesus’ love as we are able. Small, yet sincere, ways are appropriate. When I was in the nursing home a mother and daughter with limited means decorated place mats and gave one each to the people they visited. I was touched; I’m sure the others were also. What I am trying to say is it doesn’t take big things to express the love of Jesus to another person.