READ IT LIKE JESUS SAID IT: The Last Supper

Historians, theologians, and cultural anthropologists have studied the Last Supper with expert eyes.  But for just a moment, I want you to look at the Last Supper through the personal eyes of Jesus.

Imagine walking into the upper room and looking around at the disciples---- not just the 12, but all the friends and followers who could pack themselves in for the annual Passover meal.  Your mother is there. (We know she was close enough to be at the cross the next morning.)  So are James’s and John’s mother, Mary Magdalene, and the others who walked with you from Galilee down through Jericho.

Imagine seeing them there, happy, excited about what a great Passover it’s been so far.  Hear them chattering away, so relieved that finally----- finally the crowds in Jerusalem are giving You the recognition You deserve.   Hear their easy conversation, their jokes about the chief priests with their empty threats, but they won’t raise a finger against You because the city would riot.

Hear them speculating on what the Kingdom will be like because surely it’s near. It must almost be time.  They’re so happy.  They’re so, so happy.

You look around at them all, and you think, “This time tomorrow I’ll be dead.”

That’s what the Last Supper meant to Jesus.

Yes, it was the fulfillment of prophesy.  Yes, it was the bridge between the Old Covenant and the New.  Before the night is  done, Jesus will teach the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, review the fundamentals of the New Testament Church, institute the practice of prayer in His name, and clarify the eschatology of the end times.

But on it’s deepest and most personal level, this seder meal that Jesus organized was His last chance to have all of His friends together before He died.

What would you say to your friends tonight, if you KNEW that you were going to die tomorrow?

From the moment Judas left the room in John 13: 30 until Jesus and the 12 headed out for the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane in John 18: 1,  Jesus talked.  For 4 ½ chapters John records what Jesus said.  Nearly a quarter of John’s gospel is occupied by this one conversation/ lesson/ sermon.

The Last Supper tells us what Jesus would say if He knew that He was going to die the next day.

Because He did.

This week, read John chapters 13-17 again.  Hear the voice of Jesus speak to you.  Hear His sorrow and His hope.  Listen to the Word like your Best Friend was talking and this was the Last Supper you would have with Him.

Listen well, because that’s what it meant to Jesus.

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. (John 14: 30)

I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15: 15)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

THE REST OF THE STORY (of the Virgin Birth)

I've read and heard some very eloquent and well-researched debates about the virgin or "virgin" birth of Jesus. The theological back-and-forth basically revolves around the translation that yields the English word "virgin" in Matthew 1 and Isaiah 7. 

Historically we took the word "virgin" to mean VIRGIN.  But theologians correctly point out that the original term could also mean simply "young woman," not necessarily a young woman who's never had sex.

This argument continues as though there's no authoritative source that clearly and definitively says whether or not Mary and Joseph had sex before Jesus was conceived. 

Oh, wait.   There is THE REST OF THE BIBLE.

Matthew 1: 24, 25 says: 24  Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and DID NOT KNOW HER till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.  (The New King James Version)

The NIV says, that Joseph did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The NRSV says, that Joseph had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;and he named him Jesus.

So if you just keep reading you soon realize that the Bible clearly states that Mary did not have sex until after Jesus was born which means that MARY WAS A VIRIGN WHEN JESUS WAS CONCEIVED.

Now, what was it we were arguing about again?

Riiight. 

Nothing.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

WHY WOULDN'T YOU READ THIS BOOK?

Before my kids leave for school in the morning, we read and discuss a passage from the Bible.  Recently the scripture was Proverbs 11: 15.

He who is surety for a stranger will suffer, but one who hates being surety is secure.  

I explained that surety is collateral, something you put up for a loan to assure the lender that if the debt isn’t paid, then he can take the collateral/ surety as payment.   In ancient times, people could actually pledge themselves as collateral/ surety for someone else’s debt.  If the borrower defaulted (couldn’t pay) then the lender could take your stuff or even sell you into slavery.

The modern version of being surety for someone is called CO-SIGNING for a loan.

Being an educator, I followed up the explanation with a review.

Me:  So, do you understand what surety means now?

My 10 year old son:  Yeah----- RANSOM.

A pause.  A tilt of my head.  A nod.

There are people who say that the Bible isn’t relevant to our modern lives.  I think those people aren’t paying very much attention to what the Bible says.  Maybe they’re only listening to what people say about what the Bible says.

Today, there are a ten year old and a fifteen year old in central Alabama who already understand the danger of co-signing for a loan, apartment, or credit card.  Before they get their first jobs, credit cards, or checking accounts they understand the gravity of asking somebody to “just co-sign for me.”

That lesson in financial literacy didn’t come from a course in school, or a workbook on household economics.  It came out of this ancient book, written over thousands of years, by dozens of different authors, then translated, collated, and reissued multiple times as  holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.(2 Peter 1: 21)  

So if you don’t think that reading the Word of God is “relevant,” then you must be doing it wrong.

ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3: 16)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

READ THE FOLLOWING

Read the following and tell me that there's not something truly, deeply wrong with something fundamental in this country.

Read the following and tell me that it's not something deeper than poverty or race or education or the placement of community centers.

Read the following and tell me that it isn't time to talk about everything, including all of the things that we've been saying we can't talk about.

Saturday, December 15, 2012. A gunman opened fire at St. Vincent’s hospital in Birmingham, wounding 3 people before being killed by police.

Saturday, December 15, 2012.  East of Birmingham, a man armed with an AK-47 assault rifle killed 3 people and injured a child who was under 2 years old, in Cleburne County near the Georgia state line. Police shot and killed the man after pursuit.

On Friday, December 14, 2012, 28 people, including the gunmen were reportedly shot and killed at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, CT. 20 of these casualties were children.

Friday, December 14, 2012.  In Homewood, a 30-year-old woman and her two sons, ages 4 and 5, were found murdered in their apartment.

Tuesday, December 11 2012. A gunman opened fire in an Oregon shopping mall, killing 2.

December 11, of this same week,  22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts killed 2 people and himself with a stolen rifle in Clackamas Town Center, Oregon. His motive is unknown.

September 27, 2012. Five were shot to death by 36-year-old Andrew Engeldinger at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, MN. Three others were wounded. Engeldinger went on a rampage after losing his job, ultimately killing himself.

August 5, 2012. Six Sikh temple members were killed when 40-year-old US Army veteran Wade Michael Page opened fire in a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Four others were injured, and Page killed himself.

July 20, 2012. During the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, CO, 24-year-old James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58. Holmes was arrested outside the theater.

May 29, 2012. Ian Stawicki opened fire on Cafe Racer Espresso in Seattle, WA, killing 5 and himself after a citywide manhunt.

April 6, 2012. Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 32, shot 5 black men in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in racially motivated shooting spree. Three died.

April 2, 2012. A former student, 43-year-old One L. Goh killed 7 people at Oikos University, a Korean Christian college in Oakland, CA. The shooting was the sixth-deadliest school massacre in the US and the deadliest attack on a school since the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

 

And that's just the list from this spring till now.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a pastor, writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Call me at 334-288-0577
Email me at atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

 

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116