More thoughts on the road to the Cross. The encounters Jesus had (actually during the crucifixion!) at Calvary were very brief and very powerful. The following is a quote from Fulton Sheen on the exchange between Jesus and the thief on the cross beside him.
"A dying man asked a dying man for eternal life; a man without possessions asked a poor man for a kingdom.…In the divine plan it was a thief who was the escort of the King of kings into paradise. If our Lord had come merely as a teacher, the thief would never have asked for forgiveness. But since the thief’s request touched the reason of his coming to earth, namely, to save souls, the thief heard the immediate answer. “I promise thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). It was the thief’s last prayer, perhaps even his first. He knocked once, sought once, asked once, dared everything, and found everything. When even the disciples were doubting and only one was present at the cross, the thief owned and acknowledged him as Savior."
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I am so grateful for the family of God. In a culture that idolizes individualism, we are called to be a body, a connected entity made one by Jesus Christ.
In Revelation, the message of the vision of Christ was not written for individuals, but as a word to the church, as the messages to the seven churches (ch. 2-3) demonstrate. Jesus meets us and grows us in this family, with all its frailties and shortcomings, because that is where His Spirit resides and that is where he can best paint a stunning portrait of his grace. |
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October 2023
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