I Must

April 29, 2019

I Must

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Matthew 16:21 (NIV)

I hear Jesus’ words this morning from two perspectives.

First, why did Jesus believe he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die? Discussion of the suffering and death of Jesus is not unusual in the Gospels. Someone has calculated that within the four Gospels, more than 35% of the narrative is devoted to the death and suffering of Jesus. In Matthew’s Gospel, today’s passage is the first of four times Jesus proclaims what awaits him in Jerusalem. Why must he go? Because some may be tempted to think Jesus’ death was as a victim of whim and fate. However, his death was not the result of random violence; rather his death was purposeful and redemptive. A continuing theme throughout Matthew’s Gospel is that underneath the seemingly arbitrariness of life there is a firm purpose. Behind the apparent haphazardness of life there is an orderliness molded by the hand of God who rules the ages. (Thomas G. Long, Matthew)  Thus Jesus understood he must go to Jerusalem because that was his father’s will.

Secondly, as I have sought to immerse myself in the awesome grace of God, I have worked diligently to remove from my life words such as must, should, ought to, and have to, and replace them with get to. Today’s passage arrests me. If Jesus was compelled by his father’s will to go to Jerusalem and Calvary, is there something I must do in response to God’s will for me?

My Takeaway: As I look through our Christian heritage, the pages are full of examples of men and women who believed they must be about their father’s business: the brothers Wesley, the Apostles Paul and Peter, Teresa of Avila and Mother Teresa, just to name a very few. As a Methodist clergy, my calling is clear: I have no other business than to save souls and spread scriptural holiness across the land. I must!

What is your calling?

Sē’lah

Alex

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.