Unleavened Bread, Undeniable Love

 

As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:26

During the Passover meal, the bread was more than food. It was a reminder of Israel’s hurried escape from Egypt  -  unleavened because there was no time to wait, pure because God was calling His people into a new beginning. That same bread, free from corruption, becomes the symbol Jesus lifts in His hands on the night He is betrayed.

When Jesus breaks the bread and says, “Take and eat it; this is my body," He is not merely reinterpreting a ritual. He is revealing its fulfillment. The bread  -  unleavened, untainted  -  mirrors His sinless life. Its breaking foreshadows the physical tearing of His own body on the cross. What had once pointed back to Israel’s deliverance now points forward to humanity’s salvation.

In the Passover story, the bread sustained God’s people for a journey out of bondage. In the gospel story, Jesus’ body  -  offered, broken, given  -  becomes the sustenance that frees us from a deeper slavery. The bread of the old covenant becomes the body of the new. And in taking it, we remember that redemption is never cheap. It required a body that could be broken, a Savior who would not turn away, and a love willing to be torn so we could be made whole.

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Truth is... The bread reminds us that salvation is not an idea. It is a body, broken. A life, given. A Savior, offering Himself so that we might live.

[This post was created through CoPilot, using the resources of BibleHub.com, ScriptureSavvy.com and BibleRef.com.]

The Day Ephesus Lost Its Cool

 

You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.

Acts 19:26 (CSB)

The man who spoke these words was Demetrius, a silversmith whose shrine-making business for the goddess Artemis (or Diana, in Latin) kept many craftsmen in ancient Ephesus employed. Paul’s preaching was disrupting their commerce, and Demetrius wasn’t happy about it.

So he gathered the silversmiths and every craftsperson connected to their line of work into the local amphitheater — the ruins of which still stand today. There, he held a rally and whipped the crowd into a chaotic frenzy against “this man Paul.”

It's interesting to note how he starts with their wallets, warning that Paul’s message is wrecking their livelihood. Only afterward does he tack on a religious concern: that “the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin — the very one all of Asia and the world worship.”

The result was an hours-long, life-threatening riot.

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Truth is...people have been using religion for personal gain for a very long time. That doesn’t make faith the problem, but it does mean we should stay alert whenever someone tries to blend profit and piety.

The Dumbest Charge Ever Thrown at Jesus

 

If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Matthew 12:26

This statement by Jesus comes in the middle of his response to some hecklers. They didn't like the fact that Jesus had freed some people from demonic possession. They said that he was only able to do that because he was working with the chief demon himself, Beelzebub.

Jesus replies with an appeal to reason: "Wait a minute, guys. Think about what you're saying. It doesn't make sense. Why would Satan empower me to defeat himself? That would be like our government selling the ultimate weapon to its primary enemy. If you're going to speak against me, at least have a little intellectual integrity."

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Truth is...Jesus never requires us to put our brains on mute to follow him. On the contrary, he says the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37 CSB)

 

Is Loving Yourself Too Much Even a Thing?

 

Let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.

Galatians 5:26 (NIV)

It starts innocently enough.

We are all encouraged to have a positive self-image, right? I mean, you can't "love your neighbor as you love yourself" if you don't first love yourself.

The problem is that some of us get to loving ourselves a bit much, as if we could do no wrong.

Then we want to make sure other people recognize how lovable we are, prompting them to appreciate our personal greatness. (A synonym for prompting is provoking.)

And what happens as we encounter people who have no need to compare or contrast themselves to others to feel good about themselves? We wish we could be like them, and that's called envy.

Most people quote the tenth commandment as "Thou shalt not covet." What most people don't do is translate that churchy word covet into something that normal people understand. You know ... something like envy.

Don't misunderstand. We have good reason to carry around a positive self-image. After all, Jesus thinks we're to die for! But before we get over-impressed with ourselves, let's remember the reason he died. And those sins of yours that put Jesus on the cross are "just as bad" as mine. And mine are just as bad as my neighbor's. 

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Truth is...The ground at the foot of the cross is perfectly level.