Mercy rather than Sacrifice

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

Forgiveness links the call of the tax collector to the healing of the paralytic – Christ’s authority to discharge sins and restore men – Mark 2:13-17.

When Jesus pronounced the paralytic’s sins “forgiven,” he offended the Scribes and Pharisees. He alienated them further by showing mercy to “sinners” considered especially unacceptable by more scrupulously religious Jews. Seeing Jesus eating with “tax collectors” and “sinners,” the Scribes and Pharisees insinuated that the Nazarene also was a notorious sinner – (Mark 2:1-17).

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Возлюби своего врага

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Если мы отвечаем на враждебность враждебностью и гневом, сатана побеждает. Реальность преследований вызывает вопросы. Как мы должны реагировать, когда на нас нападают государство, культура, общество или даже наша семья и друзья? Уместно ли прибегать к гневу или возмездию, или нам следует следовать примерам из жизни Иисуса? В своих учениях он предупреждал нас о необходимости ожидать “скорби” и призывал следовать его путем (“Если они преследовали меня, то будут преследовать и вас”).

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Love your Enemy

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When we react to hostility with hostility and anger, Satan wins. The reality of persecution raises questions. How should we respond when attacked by the State, the culture, society, or even our family and friends? Is resorting to anger or retaliation appropriate, or should we emulate examples from the life of Jesus? In his teachings, he warned us to expect “tribulation,” and he summoned us to follow his path (“If they persecuted me, so they will persecute you”).

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His Righteous Kingdom

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Jesus proclaimed a unique political reality, the Kingdom of God. It differs radically from the governments and ideologies of this age.

Jesus appeared in Galilee proclaiming the “Kingdom of God” – “Repent, for the kingdom is at hand.” The promised Kingdom had arrived in his life and ministry. He is the Messiah and King of Israel, and all men are summoned to turn from their wicked ways and submit to his lordship while the door remains open.

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The Victorius Shepherd

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The kings and nations of the Earth are found in New Jerusalem because of the Lamb’s redemptive work.

The Apostle Paul describes the proclamation of “Christ crucified” as “God’s wisdom and power.” The proposition that God overthrew Sin, Satan, and Death through the execution of a lowly man from the small village of Nazareth is “foolishness” to men and contrary to this world’s “wisdom” and ideologies. Even the spiritual “powers and principalities” did not understand what God was doing and sealed their fate by crucifying the “Lord of Glory.”

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