Today's Reading: Matthew 28: 11-15
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Please click this link to read Matthew 28: 11-15
Bible Study
This passage shows us how those authority planned to cover up the fact of Jesus resurrection. For centuries people have been trying their best to make this world to believe that the resurrection of Jesus is false and then Jesus was just a plot to deceive people.
N.T. Wright says:
The movement in Western culture known as the Enlightenment, which swept through philosophy and politics in the eighteenth century, producing the French Revolution, the American Constitution, and many other phenomena, always tried to make out that it had done away with previous superstitions and was replacing them with rational, 'enlightened', views. These, it claimed, would free people from intellectual and political tyranny. In fact, the opposite is the case. Granted, the movement brought great blessings, such as modern medicine and communications. It also brought great curses - not only the French Revolution itself, which killed thousands of its own people in the name of liberty and equality for all, but also the terrifying totalitarianisms of the twentieth century. The selfishness which keeps the West economically prosperous whilce much of the rest of the world remains poor is itself part of 'Enlightenment' philosophy.
No wonder, then, such a world-view wants to resist the news of Jesus' resurrection every bit as much as the chief priests did. No wonder it bribes people in all kinds of subtle ways to tell stories in which Jesus didn't really rise from the dead. No wonder it tries to make out that Christianity is just the invention of a few cunning individuals trying to feather their own nests. All the while, of course, by denying the resurrection, the 'modern' world-view, and many other ones too, want to preserve their own status quo intact against the radical disruption that would otherwise occur.
Are you sure that Jesus is risen? Why are you so sure?
N.T. Wright says:
The movement in Western culture known as the Enlightenment, which swept through philosophy and politics in the eighteenth century, producing the French Revolution, the American Constitution, and many other phenomena, always tried to make out that it had done away with previous superstitions and was replacing them with rational, 'enlightened', views. These, it claimed, would free people from intellectual and political tyranny. In fact, the opposite is the case. Granted, the movement brought great blessings, such as modern medicine and communications. It also brought great curses - not only the French Revolution itself, which killed thousands of its own people in the name of liberty and equality for all, but also the terrifying totalitarianisms of the twentieth century. The selfishness which keeps the West economically prosperous whilce much of the rest of the world remains poor is itself part of 'Enlightenment' philosophy.
No wonder, then, such a world-view wants to resist the news of Jesus' resurrection every bit as much as the chief priests did. No wonder it bribes people in all kinds of subtle ways to tell stories in which Jesus didn't really rise from the dead. No wonder it tries to make out that Christianity is just the invention of a few cunning individuals trying to feather their own nests. All the while, of course, by denying the resurrection, the 'modern' world-view, and many other ones too, want to preserve their own status quo intact against the radical disruption that would otherwise occur.
Are you sure that Jesus is risen? Why are you so sure?
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: Why are you so sure that Jesus is risen?
What I got from Jesus today is a question with so many answers:
1. For non-Christians they will say that is a lie because they are either being misled, deceived or they just do not believe in the fact in the Bible or what it was recorded in the history of Christianity.
2. For Christians who have not born-again, who have not experienced the daily presence of Jesus they cannot be able to answer this question in a very sure manner because they may also be misled and deceived by all those cunning ways in the past twenty centuries.
3. For me and those Christians who are born-again and have been experiencing a daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus. This question is just like asking us whether our parents are really our parents or not. Do I have to test DNA to prove my parents are really my biological parents? No, of course not. Why do I need to go to a Lab to get a DNA test?
So, why are you so sure that Jesus is risen?
What is your answer?
1. For non-Christians they will say that is a lie because they are either being misled, deceived or they just do not believe in the fact in the Bible or what it was recorded in the history of Christianity.
2. For Christians who have not born-again, who have not experienced the daily presence of Jesus they cannot be able to answer this question in a very sure manner because they may also be misled and deceived by all those cunning ways in the past twenty centuries.
3. For me and those Christians who are born-again and have been experiencing a daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus. This question is just like asking us whether our parents are really our parents or not. Do I have to test DNA to prove my parents are really my biological parents? No, of course not. Why do I need to go to a Lab to get a DNA test?
So, why are you so sure that Jesus is risen?
What is your answer?
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to be able to enjoy a daily intimate personal relationship with you so that no deceiving scheme can pull us away from your presence and love. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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