Our paragraph topic is:
(The mother of James and John) Part 8.
They wanted fame and fortune. They wanted to sit at his side. They wanted to have power and prestige. They wanted to be at the head of the table and not at the end. But, they did not know the price they would have to pay for their wants. These were they wishes of James and John as expressed by their mother. She spoke what they would not speak. She came forth and worshipped even as they could not worship. She brought forth what others only thought about, what would be their rewards for following in the footsteps of the Lord.
They loved him surely. They walked with him for years. They watched him work unbelievable miracles. They listened to his words with care. They, like no other living today, had the opportunity to see with their own eyes and experience with their own beings the living Christ.
He came down from heaven. He walked the earth. He lived amongst the people. He taught them of the Father and gave them his principles and practices. And then he died. He suffered, he was punished as no man has ever been punished. And he was hung on a cross for sins that he did not commit. They did not know the whole picture at the time they asked to sit at his side. But they would follow in his sacrifice. And: He said to them, "Of my cup you shall indeed drink."
Here is something that we can ask ourselves today, "Can we drink of his cup?" Can we take even a sip, a whiff or even a smell of the cup that he drank from? It was a tall cup, a cup filled with issues, a cup filled with pain, suffering, unselfish love, grace, tenderness, patience, knowledge, faith, trust, and a deep seated passion in the redemption of mankind, a passion that required his life. Are we worthy of the love that he has for us? Do we know the value of the sacrifice that was made for us? Can we not see, can we not understand, can we not know the beauty of who we are in his eyes?
We live in a world, a realm, where we are provided with all that our hearts desire. In order to have all, we must strive. We must work, we must achieve, we must educate ourselves, overcome obstacles, revise who we are in order to conform to the common mole. We must give up who we are, sacrifice that which is natural to us, change how we think and feel, how we know, and how we believe, in order to achieve all. And in the process of all this, we become something else, somethin other than who we are. We become something that the world has created. We do all this that we might succeed, that we might be on top.
Will we drink of his cup or shall we drink of the cup the world has given us. Both will change us. Both require a decision. We live in the world but we are spiritual. The world gives us food, gives us protection, allows us to grow, it gives us love, educates us, gives us the opportunity to provide for ourselves, and demands us to conform to its norms. But when we come of age and decide which road we want to take, we make a choice. Sometimes the choice is easy, natural, given to us from birth. At other times we come to re-evaluate the choice in order to continue.
Our Father walks with us at each choice we make. We can let go of the world and turn back to him. We can change the decision that we make. We can understand that there is something more, something greater, something that gives us peace and joy and love in our lives. There is something that is within us that is not of this world but of the spirit and life given us by our Father. It is that spirit that will guide us along right path that leads to him. The choice is ours to make. Do we drink of his cup?
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.
The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Our paragraph topic is:
(The mother of James and John) Part 7.
Wherever the Gospel is written this paragraph shall be included, the paragraph of the mother of James and John. What must have been her faith? What must have been her trust? What must have been her belief in Christ that he was the one who would change all things? She came to him. She worshipped him. She spoke to him about her beloved sons. They were all she had. They were her future and her past and her present. And they were the ones who would become his disciples for all eternity.
Little did she know what would happen. Little did she know what they would become. Little did she know what they would suffer. For they were to drink of the same cup of suffering with Christ. They were to be teachers the same as Christ. They were to be miracle workers the same as Christ. And they would be the twelve disciples, apostles, for all eternity. Did they believe? Did they know? Did they understand what would happen. Did they know the battle that they would face with evil? Could they stand with Christ and become the sacrificial lambs? Could they drink of the same cup? They said to him, "We can."
Can we drink of the same cup? Can we follow in the footsteps as Christ and become sacrificial lambs? Or are we more about ourselves and our own desires? It is a tall question to ask and an even greater one to answer. Just to think of the ramifications of that answer brings shudders to the mind and the body. Just to reflect on the pain and the suffering that he endured makes one think of turning away. Yet he willingly entered into the sacrifice, he willingly became the innocent lamb, he willingly accepted the pain and suffering, the humiliation and mockery, the beatings and the hatred of those who would do him harm. He allowed himself to be brutally beaten and crucified by the doers of evil.
Can we do the same? Can we accept such punishment today? Because he suffered for us then, we do not have to suffer that today. Christ became the sacrifice for all. He accepted the sins for all; past, present, and future. And because of his sacrifice we are redeemed, we are saved, we are born anew. Because he could endure, because he accepted, because he was the lamb, we are reborn anew. Once again we have life. Once again we are acceptable to God. Once again we are his children.
James and John believed that they could. James and John knew that they could. James and John walked in his presence and trusted that they would do the same as he did. What was their prize? What was their motivation? What did they see, what did they know, what did they believe that allowed them to drink of that cup? There must have been something greatly motivating that gave them the courage to continue. There must have been something more than we know that allowed them to be who they were. Can we discover what that something else was? Can we know what motivated them, that it might motivate us today? What will strengthen us to do the same? What will give us the power to accept? What force will guide us to be like Christ, to follow in his footsteps, to know his love? What must we do to discover that which is ours to know? He has given us the key. He has opened the door. He awaits our footsteps that he might guide us to his presence. The choice is ours to make. All we have to do is ask.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.
The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Our paragraph topic is:
(The mother of James and John) Part 6.
Often times when we come to our Father asking for something we do not have a complete understanding of what we are doing. We ask with the understanding that we want what we are asking. We ask with the understanding that we are worthy of asking. We ask with the understanding that we will get what we are asking for. And we ask with the understanding that we will get what we are asking for right now or in the near future, according to our timetable. It is oftentimes that we learn that our timetable does not matter and that can be frustrating or disappointing. We must learn patience in order to see that our Father has granted us what we asked for.
It is in the misunderstanding that we get confused. We do not know the consequences of our actions. Our Father knows all. He knows when and how we will get what we ask. He knows the consequences of giving us what we want. And he knows what is the desire of our hearts instead of desires of our request. It is in that knowing, and in that seeing that we are lacking. He is our Father. It was in that same unknowing and unseeing that the mother of James and John asked for her sons to sit at the right and left hand of Christ. They did not know what they were asking. They only desired to be seated with power and recognition. They did not understand that there were requirements to obtain such a seat. This is why Christ asked them: "Can you drink of the cup of which I am about to drink?"
They wanted power and recognition but did not know the consequences of what they were asking. They did not understand what was required of them. They did not know what they would have to suffer, what they would have to endure, what they would have to battle to be with him. For surely they would have to battle the forces of evil. Surely they would have to endure the constant pressure of those who were evildoers. Surely they would have to suffer the torture at the hands of evil to become like Christ. But did they understand the cup of suffering they would have to endure? Did they truly know what they were asking?
One does not suffer in vain. One does not endure the hardships, the pain, the slings and arrows of oppression without a cause to carry them through. And that cause must be justified enough to transform the person into something better, something more wonderful, more lasting, more beautiful than what they had before. For without the cause one suffers in vain. Without the cause one only endures to a point and then gives up. But with the cause one is transformed in the person that will endure to the end. Christ was the cause. He was the be all and end all that allowed the apostles to be transformed into persons that gave all.
Can we drink from the same cup that he did? Can we become transformed into new beings that are willing to suffer to the end? Or are we just those persons that will only go so far and give up without enduring all? Christ gave his all. Can we give our all? What cause do we have that will transform us into new persons that will allow us to give our all to him? We live in a world that is consumed with self. We are given to be wholly in this world. Yet we are not from this world. We are children of our Father and he gave us the life that we have today, true life, eternal life. And the knowledge and wisdom of the understanding of the life that is given us is the transforming factor that makes us who we are, not of this world but of a heavenly kingdom. Do you belong? Are you of the heavenly kingdom? Are you transformed? Then yours is the cup to drink along with all your brothers and sisters.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Our paragraph topic is:
(The mother of James and John) Part 5.
The mother of James and John came before Christ and made her demands for her sons. She spoke what they would not speak. She asked that her sons be seated with Christ on his left and on his right when he comes into his kingdom and sits upon his throne. She believes that they deserve the place of distinction. She knows, in her mind, that they are worthy of such an honor above all the other disciples. They were the first to follow him. They were the first to believe in him. They were born to the role that they now follow as disciples of Christ, the Messiah.
All their lives the Jews have waited for the time when the Messiah would come. Their history told them of this time. They believed that he would come and redeem them. They knew of the promise made by God but did not know the time that it would take place. So they lived their lives in expectation of what would happen. And when it did happen not many knew or believed that the time had come. But the apostles James and John believed. They knew that he would come and they prepared all their lives for the time when it would happen. And that time had come and they were a part of history in the making. Yet little did they know what they were a part of. And little did their mother know what would come. She only knew that he had come and now was the time for redemption. So she came and made her request thinking that the redemption would be of an earthly or worldly event. But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you are asking for."
And certainly they did not understand what they were asking. They thought that he would come and overthrow the rulers. They thought that he would come and create armies and take back all that was stolen. They thought that he would come and be declared a new king over all the rulers. But they were mistaken. He did not come to conquer the world. He did not come to destroy the rulers of the world. He did not come to be served as a king. He came to become a lamb. He came to be sacrificed. He came as an offering to compensate for the sins that man had committed. And they thought that they wanted to be with him in his sacrifice.
They did not understand that they were asking to be a sacrifice. They did not understand that they were asking to suffer and die. They did not understand that they were asking to be scorned, beaten, bruised, battered, mocked, and crucified on a cross to suffer and die. For this was the price that had to be paid for the sins that had been committed. This was the price that had to be paid for redemption. This was the price that was due for all the wrongs that man had committed against the commandments of God. And they thought that they wanted to be a part of this price that had to be paid.
Can we say the same today? Do we want to be a part of the price that Christ paid for our redemption? Do we want to suffer? Do we want to deny ourselves? Do we want to be beaten, mocked, suffer and die for what we believe about the Christ that came to die for us? Is that something that we can accept? Most would say no. Most would not think of suffering. Most would not think of sacrificing themselves for someone else. Most would not be able to see the good in those actions. Yet it is through the suffering, the pain, and the sacrifice that Christ was able to save me and you and all mankind from damnation.
We were dead and now we have life. We transgressed and now we are forgiven. We were lost but now we are found and redeemed. It is only through acceptance that we are able to find that which was lost. It is only through recognition that we can come to the light. It is only through sorrow that we can come to joy. And it is only through the search that we are able to find that which was originally ours in the beginning. The path is open. The way is fixed. The light of life is within you if you only seek. For Christ has paved the way. All we have to do is follow. The choice is ours to make. Redeem what was lost or loose what was taken away. Only you can make the decision. Come! Christ awaits with open arms to receive you with love.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
