Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Exodus 19-20; Matthew 27:27-50
Good Morning Friends! I must appologize for my absence in commenting lately. You know those times in your life when you feel like you're driving in reverse?? Well, that's been me!! Thanks in advance for your forgiveness - cause I know you're all cool like that! Now onto the good stuff.
Ok, how do I not write a blog post on the entire reading for today?!? The OT reading covers Mount Sinai (one of the coolest stories ever!), the Ten Commandments (the "rule book" for life!) and the death of Jesus (the most overwheleming love-story ever). I love how God has totally made His Word come alive for me in these daily readings. I find that some mornings I read the designated passages and find that I don't want to be done reading - I want more!!! That's how I felt today.
Exodus 20:1-17
The Ten Commandments
1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “ Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s
Again, amazing how the OT and NT readings tie together! I found the following commentary here.
This law, which is so extensive that we cannot measure it, so spiritual that we cannot evade it, and so reasonable that we cannot find fault with it, will be the rule of the future judgment of God, as it is for the present conduct of man. If tried by this rule, we shall find our lives have been passed in transgressions. And with this holy law and an awful judgment before us, who can despise the gospel of Christ? And the knowledge of the law shows our need of repentance. In every believer's heart sin is dethroned and crucified, the law of God is written, and the image of God renewed. The Holy Spirit enables him to hate sin and flee from it, to love and keep this law in sincerity and truth; nor will he cease to repent.
Our human nature simply cannot measure up to these Ten Commandments. However, in the New Testament reading we see the sacrifice given so grace can be offered up. Not that the sacrifice offers a "free pass" but as stated in the above commentary, by believeing in the sacrifice "The Holy Spirit enables him to hate sin and flee from it...".
Matthew 27:50 "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit". This line was so hard to stop at today. This line just broke my heart today. I know how the story ends, but the fact that this where we stopped today made me grieve. I realize that, with the story of Jesus' sacrifice I often pause at the moment of his death and keep reading - because I know he rises again. I know the plan. I know this story. Today, reading into his anguish and pain - then actually stopping at his death I ached. Today was a day that I wanted to keep reading, I wanted to get to the "happy ending" part.
This was the reality. Jesus died. Period. Today, I felt the story. I felt the plan. I stopped reading and sat inside the story. I thanked and praised and grieved. Then thanked again. I realized that no matter how many times I read this story, God can reveal himself in different and more tangible ways all the time.
Tomorrow's passage: Exodus 21-22; Matthew 27:51-66
5 comments:
Beautiful post. That's a very powerful quote, too.
I've really been amazed how many times our OT and NT readings have worked together, too. I wonder if it will continue that way through the repetition of the Gospels while the OT laws and history move on? It will be interesting to see!
Great post Jody. It's so easy, for those of us that have heard the crucifixion story so many times, to simply become immune to it. I love it when it just jumps out at you and forces you to take a good hard look at what is anything but commonplace no matter how many times we read it!
It's one of the reasons I "enjoyed" (not the right word) the movie "The Passion of the Christ" because it finally brought the reality of the pain, the horror of the crucifixion into proper perspective for me.
Tammi - I think it will indeed!
I've actually been reading a combination of this plan and Professor Horner's plan and it's amazing how many of the other passages also coincide with our readings. I think it always will - the Word is living and active and this sure shows it!
PS - Sandy missed yesterday's post (which was actually supposed to be on the passage Jody posted about today) cause she was sick, and had a rough week personally. I'm going to adjust this post's date to yesterday and do another post for today's passage - to bring us back up to speed - hopefully that wasn't too confusing ;)
Also a very fitting Valentine's Day post I'd say!
In my bible, it says that it is significant that Jesus cried out moments before His death. It was more common that a person who was crucified would become unconscious first and then just die. Jesus was not common and died the same way.
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