The Three Cs

The pericope for Lord’s Supper in the Gospel of Matthew is in the midst of a paradox. The fruit of salvation offered in a cup is sandwiched by two of the worst kinds of sin. On one hand, Jesus will be betrayed by someone who doesn’t believe in him (Mt 26:14-16, 24), and on the other he will be denied by someone who does (Mt 26:30-35). Jesus will warn us that it would be better we hadn’t been born than to betray Him (Mt 26:24), and he has already said that if we deny him, he will deny us (Mt 10:33). All the while, forgiveness is in the offering. As readers hit this foundational passage to the sacrament of Holy Communion, the ministry of Jesus is coming to a close. Matthew has presented the Messiah in an orderly fashion, not linearly like Mark and Luke, through five discourses — the sermon on the mount, the ten miracles, the establishment of the apostolic ministry, the kingdom parables, the life of the church, and the prophecy of the end times — and he has gone into great detail conn...

I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. I have always been fascinated by the illustrations of light in the Bible. You know, God is light, right? Evil hates the light, because it exposes our dark deeds. We turn away from the light of the Word that became flesh because we cherish our sinful pleasures. In darkness, we learn to indulge in our selfishness, in our passions, in our debauchery, in our drunkenness, eventually losing sight of real life in God, the life was the light of men (John 1:4). And so in today's reading I couldn't help but spend a lot of time here in chapter 26. But unlike some of my previous studies of light, I was captivated by Paul's account of his conversion. This is the third time in Acts of the Apostles we hear the story of Saul's journey to Damascus. The first time...

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives  forgiveness of sins through his name. Today's passage reminds me, you can't hear this message enough. Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name. You caught that, right? Everyone! Not some believers. Everyone! As Peter reminds us through Luke's account of the early years after Pentecost, God has promised. He didn't just promise here. He promised Abraham (Gen. 15:6). More than that, Jesus himself promised.  Don't be afraid, just believe. Mark 5:36 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. Mark 9:41 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one an...

The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Acts 13:27 I can't imagine that if I had been alive 2,000 years ago I would have recognized Jesus either. He was, after all, a man, right? And God is, after all, the creator of the Universe, which today we understand is so big that we can't even begin to comprehend how big it really is. Think about this for a second. There is a website called Scale of the Universe that does a good job helping you begin to understand. Neptune is only 4.5 billion kilometers away. We are only 2 million light years from the Andromeda Galaxy. The known radius of the universe is only 14 gigaparsecs, which in simpler terms is only 14 times 3.3 billion light years, or 3.3 x 10 25 meters. And God came to us. And the Jews didn't recognize him. Honestly, that doesn't surprise me. Jesus looked like a regular guy. The God of the Univers...