Matthew 28

I read Matthew 28 today, and this one section really stood out to me:

11While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.


I think this section really illustrates that even if people have clear evidence of Truth, some will still hold on to their disbelief. This is after Jesus was raised from the dead and the angel rolled away the stone. The soldiers saw with their own eyes what had happened. The Jewish leaders had an eye-witness account right their in front of them that Christ was raised, and yet they still did not trust Him as God's Son. When witnessing, even when you present a completely clear, logical explanation of the Gospel, some, and I dare say many, will not believe because they choose not to believe.

Jesus's Prayer

Ok, I have two things today. I'll write the other in the next post, but for now, I'd like to talk a moment on Jesus's prayer in Gethsemane. It's in Matthew 26:

36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." 37And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." 39And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." 40And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." 43And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

This has always been a special passage to me. I think it really shows Jesus's humanness, and shows us clearly how we're supposed to respond during trials. He tells His disciples to pray so that they "may not enter into temptation." They had gone through a long day, and they were doing what probably any of us would do to regain our strength: sleep. Jesus didn't sleep, however. Even though He had gone through a long day already, and He knew the next day would be the hardest of His life, He didn't sleep, but spent the night in prayer.

I think you can see his strength building as He prays. Compare the two segments of His prayer that we have: The first:


"My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

And the second:

"My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."

There's a subtle, but I think important difference. They are essentially saying the same thing, but the in first statement, Christ is asking that He in some way be allowed not to have to endure the torment of the next day. The second statement is saying "Your sill be done, even though this cannot pass unless I do it." Just look at the core sentences if you take the grammatically "extra" words out:

First: "My Father... let this cup pass from me."
Second: "My Father... your will be done."

When we need our strength the most, we need to look to God in prayer. He is the source of all of our strength.

Matthew 25

Yes, I know, it's been a while. School's been out for about a week and a half now, but my girlfriend's been down for a week, then I got my wisdom teeth taken out yesterday, so because of that I haven't written in here since school let out. One of my favorite things to do in here was to write a little about my devotions, so I'm going to start doing that again.

The chapter I read today was Matthew 25.

It's divided up into three sections: The Parable of the Ten Virgins, the Parable of the Talents, and the Final Judgment. A little background here: Christ has been in the temple preaching and teaching after being received into Jerusalem by placing palm branches at his feet while he rides in on a donkey (to fulfill Zachariah 9:9). Lawyers, Pharisees, and Sadducees all come and ask him questions in succession, and Christ blows them out of the water to the point where no one "dare[d] to ask him any more questions" (Matt 22:46). In chapter 23 He rips into the scribes and pharisees and exposes them before the crowd as the hypocrites they are. Christ then foretells the destruction of the temple and the end of the age in chapter 24.

At the end of chapter 24 Christ says that no one, including himself, knows the hour of His return
except the Father. Chapter 25 is mostly parables about how we should be in waiting for His return. The section that stood out to me the most was the first section on the ten virgins. Basically, 10 maidens are waiting for the bridegroom to appear so they would be allowed to go to the wedding feast. 5 were alert and were smart enough to carry enough oil with them so their lamps would be lit throughout the night. The other 5 not only didn't have enough oil, but fell asleep while waiting. They had to go get more oil, and in that time the bridegroom came and took the 5 wise virgins with him, and when they other 5 finally came back, it was too late and they had to stay outside in the darkness. My study Bible has a couple sentences that really stood out to me: "The delay of Christ's return distinguishes the wise from the foolish. Being ready mean being prepared for a long delay; short-lived zeal is inadequate."

We should be prepared to wait a while for the Lord's return. It has already been about 2,000 years since he left, but we still do not know the day or the hour. We should constantly be preparing our lives and growing in Him. Yes, in one sense, we should be living each day as it could be our last, we should be witnessing and pointing each other to Christ, but in the other sense, we need to planning our lives for Him.

Ok, that's all for today. Hopefully write more soon.

Photo Meme

I got this idea from my mom... so I'm doing it. You go through the topics and search your answers in Google Image Search, and post a photo from the search from the first page of results. Sound interesting? Let's go!

Age at next birthday: 21



Place I'd like to travel: Hyderabad, Andrah Pradesh, India


Favorite Place: San Francisco


Favorite Things: Sorry... don't have a favorite "thing"

Favorite Food: Lately it's been Indian food


Favorite Color: Blue

Nicknames: HarperNo idea who this guy is... but he kept popping up in the image results

Birthplace: Greenville, SC

And that's it! Feel free to play along too!