JESUS GETS READY TO CROSS HIS JORDAN
It's before the feast of Passover and Jesus knows that His hour has come. It is at this time that Jesus gives His disciples very strong, deep, and personal lessons and instructions. He imparts them with knowledge that will eventually give them power and authority in their ministry. Jesus always the perfect example and teacher to his pupils.
One thing that He does is wash each of His disciples feet. This is a simple but illuminating instruction on the fundamental behavior of each disciple's walk in the ministry. They are to walk as servants. They are serve the One who has sent them and to serve the people of God. His act of washing the feet of the disciples was an act of washing the surface of self. The disciples at first could not understand the Master doing such a task which they thought was truly beneath Him. However Jesus came to serve. He came to save. As Jesus prepared to go and be with the Father, he prepared His pupils for their individual and collective work and journey.
When I think of the position of Judas I think of how someone had to do the job. Someone had to betray Jesus. Jesus had to be handed over to the cross to become the sacrificial lamb. It was time for the traditional religious ceremony to end. It was time for the reconciliation of God and His creation, man. I want to serve the Lord and follow His way. I do not want to be born to be the Judas. Judas it seems could not escape his destiny.
Traditionally I always thought of the disciple at the table who is called the one that Jesus loved to be John. However now it makes sense that it could have been Lazarus. The scriptures give reference to this fact. Jesus calls Lazarus the one He loves.It also brings to my mind that Jesus had more than twelve disciples that we are traditionally taught about near Him most of the time. Mary and Martha are two to mention. Lazarus obviously had been imparted with a spiritual reality and understanding that none of the other disciples had reached. He was raised from the dead in every sense of the word. The sisters gave a diner where Jesus was the guest of honor. People came from all around not only to see Jesus but to see Lazarus who was raised up by Christ. Lazarus seated next to Christ had also become the target for assassination by the enemies of Jesus for the simple fact that he (Lazarus) became a living example and testimony of the Savior and the power of the Kingdom of heaven which was now with us. Even if Lazarus never uttered a word throughout the Bible, he became a living example to the public ministry of Jesus Christ. He drew people from becoming the recipient of the miracle to the state and conscious level of believing. He became an agent in the process of reawakening.
Another example of the power and number of the disciples that Christ had prepared is recognized when His disciples came back to Christ complaining about some other people doing work in the name of Christ. I now can understand that people who recognized the Spirit of God that was in them could be motivated and born from just walking with and receiving the Word from the Master. They would then proceed to walk in authority doing the work that God had created them to do even before they were in their mother's womb. I can also relate to that due to the fact that I watched great men of God work and speak and then I knowing the Spirit of God within was awakened to walk into the ministry that I was designed for. I did not ask for permission to move into my ministry, or trial sermon, I just walked. I was obedient. I walk with the authority and the Spirit of the Lord. Was not the woman at the well also a disciple?
Christ also demands that His disciples now love one another as He has loved them. This was almost an impossible task. The disciples were at odds with each other. They were different individuals with big egos. They were not yet caught up into the spiritual level of consciousness that was needed to walk effectively in the ministry that Christ was preparing them for. It would actually take the total sacrifice and transfiguration of Jesus to bring the disciples in line and ready to go.
As Christ prepared for the final hour He placed His disciples on full alert. He gave them specific instructions that would take them into the ministry of discipleship. He gave them power by awakening the Spirit that was within them. He gave them power and authority in His name. He became the Truth, the Light, the Way. He taught them about obedience. He showed them of the Love from above which came from the Father. Never again would the disciples be alone. They walked with Christ Jesus the Anointed One. Christ told them that He would be with them into to the end of the age.
©Gregory Roberson 2007
One thing that He does is wash each of His disciples feet. This is a simple but illuminating instruction on the fundamental behavior of each disciple's walk in the ministry. They are to walk as servants. They are serve the One who has sent them and to serve the people of God. His act of washing the feet of the disciples was an act of washing the surface of self. The disciples at first could not understand the Master doing such a task which they thought was truly beneath Him. However Jesus came to serve. He came to save. As Jesus prepared to go and be with the Father, he prepared His pupils for their individual and collective work and journey.
When I think of the position of Judas I think of how someone had to do the job. Someone had to betray Jesus. Jesus had to be handed over to the cross to become the sacrificial lamb. It was time for the traditional religious ceremony to end. It was time for the reconciliation of God and His creation, man. I want to serve the Lord and follow His way. I do not want to be born to be the Judas. Judas it seems could not escape his destiny.
Traditionally I always thought of the disciple at the table who is called the one that Jesus loved to be John. However now it makes sense that it could have been Lazarus. The scriptures give reference to this fact. Jesus calls Lazarus the one He loves.It also brings to my mind that Jesus had more than twelve disciples that we are traditionally taught about near Him most of the time. Mary and Martha are two to mention. Lazarus obviously had been imparted with a spiritual reality and understanding that none of the other disciples had reached. He was raised from the dead in every sense of the word. The sisters gave a diner where Jesus was the guest of honor. People came from all around not only to see Jesus but to see Lazarus who was raised up by Christ. Lazarus seated next to Christ had also become the target for assassination by the enemies of Jesus for the simple fact that he (Lazarus) became a living example and testimony of the Savior and the power of the Kingdom of heaven which was now with us. Even if Lazarus never uttered a word throughout the Bible, he became a living example to the public ministry of Jesus Christ. He drew people from becoming the recipient of the miracle to the state and conscious level of believing. He became an agent in the process of reawakening.
Another example of the power and number of the disciples that Christ had prepared is recognized when His disciples came back to Christ complaining about some other people doing work in the name of Christ. I now can understand that people who recognized the Spirit of God that was in them could be motivated and born from just walking with and receiving the Word from the Master. They would then proceed to walk in authority doing the work that God had created them to do even before they were in their mother's womb. I can also relate to that due to the fact that I watched great men of God work and speak and then I knowing the Spirit of God within was awakened to walk into the ministry that I was designed for. I did not ask for permission to move into my ministry, or trial sermon, I just walked. I was obedient. I walk with the authority and the Spirit of the Lord. Was not the woman at the well also a disciple?
Christ also demands that His disciples now love one another as He has loved them. This was almost an impossible task. The disciples were at odds with each other. They were different individuals with big egos. They were not yet caught up into the spiritual level of consciousness that was needed to walk effectively in the ministry that Christ was preparing them for. It would actually take the total sacrifice and transfiguration of Jesus to bring the disciples in line and ready to go.
As Christ prepared for the final hour He placed His disciples on full alert. He gave them specific instructions that would take them into the ministry of discipleship. He gave them power by awakening the Spirit that was within them. He gave them power and authority in His name. He became the Truth, the Light, the Way. He taught them about obedience. He showed them of the Love from above which came from the Father. Never again would the disciples be alone. They walked with Christ Jesus the Anointed One. Christ told them that He would be with them into to the end of the age.
©Gregory Roberson 2007
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