050425

 

Beautiful green and silver rainy day

Walked to church
Pink petals falling everywhere
White Roses left on tables, blue sequins on the ground

"Green blade" song reminder again, look it up

Baptism sprinkling AGAIN!
Literally teared up, I NEEDED that today
Baptism homily brought the point deeper

Thinking about the Atonement, needing to remember it ALWAYS IS UNITED WITH THE RESURRECTION.
Jesus brought human nature INTO God, sanctified it
Paid our debt of loving obedience = the original sin WAS disobedience, through KNOWLEDGE = Christ "did NOT know sin"!! Yet "Became sin" = became human, but with innocent knowledge!
REDEFINED human nature? "Touched by God"; changed forever in Him

Piu Sole


https://youtu.be/LJwL6GRSt1Y?si=lkj1eRedCHhFHJZD

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I belong to Jesus. There are parts of my psyche that don't. I must stop listening to them. They are carnal, worldly, and selfish. I must disown them and deny them entirely.

BTW "deny" means=
"declare to be untrue or untenable," "repudiate, reject, withhold, refuse, refuse to grant or give," also "refuse to acknowledge, disavow, disown." ..."refuse access to"... "to say 'no to'."

Repudiate = to reject as having no authority or binding force... to cast off or disown... to reject with disapproval or condemnation... to refuse to acknowledge and pay.

Untenable = incapable of being defended;incapable of being sustained or maintained over time:not fit to be occupied, 

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"Christ’s Passion and death are the cause of the forgiveness of guilt, by which forgiveness we die unto sin"

DESPAIR PREVENTS REPENTANCE

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...the baptism of Jesus that culminates in God’s proclaiming him his “beloved Son”, and the temptation in which he proves his true sonship by his victory over the devil’s attempt to deflect him from the way of obedience to the Father.

The central message of Jesus’ preaching is the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven and the need for repentance, a complete change of heart and conduct, on the part of those who are to receive this great gift of God.
(We cannot be of God's Kingdom if we're still enslaved to the "rule" of sinful behaviors)

The nature of the community that Jesus will establish is shown; it will always be under the protection of him whose power can deal with all dangers, but it is only for those who are prepared to follow him at whatever cost.

The reason given for Jesus’ speaking to the crowds in parables is that they have hardened themselves against his clear teaching, unlike the disciples to whom knowledge of “the mysteries of the kingdom has been granted”

...his declaring that not even the most intimate blood relationship with him counts for anything; his only true relatives are those who do the will of his heavenly Father.
...Righteousness means doing the will of the heavenly Father.
(OBEDIENCE = The will of God is fulfilled in Christ; the "work of righteousness" is to believe in Christ; ties into CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM BY FAITH , the ONE TO WHOM THE PROMISE OF CHRIST WAS MADE?? )

In Matthew “righteousness” means both =
1. the faithful response to the will of God demanded of all to whom that will is announced, 
2. the saving activity of God for his people.
The Passion supremely exemplifies both meanings... In Jesus’ absolute faithfulness to the Father’s will that he drink the cup of suffering, the incomparable model for Christian obedience is given; in his death “for the forgiveness of sins", the saving power of God is manifested as never before.

⭐⭐⭐Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus in his passion combines both the majestic serenity of the obedient Son who goes his destined way in fulfillment of the scriptures, confident of his ultimate vindication by God, and the depths of fear and abandonment that he feels in face of death. These two aspects are expressed by an Old Testament theme that occurs often in the narrative, i.e., the portrait of the suffering Righteous One who complains to God in his misery, but is certain of eventual deliverance from his terrible ordeal.


...speaking parables against... all those Israelites who have rejected God’s invitation to the messianic banquet, and against all, Jew and Gentile, who have accepted but have shown themselves unworthy of it...
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐What do we think is meant by the wedding garment, dearly beloved? ...What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person [in the parable who] enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment... is [still] present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love... love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself. Only God’s love brought it about that his only begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself.

⭐⭐‼️‼️The passion-resurrection of God’s Son means nothing less than the turn of the ages, a new stage of history, the coming of the Son of Man in his kingdom. That is the sense of the apocalyptic signs that accompany Jesus’ death and resurrection. Although the old age continues, as it will until the manifestation of Jesus’ triumph at his parousia, the final age has now begun. This is known only to those who have seen the Risen One and to those, both Jews and Gentiles, who have believed in their announcement of Jesus’ triumph and have themselves become his disciples. To them he is constantly, though invisibly, present, verifying the name Emmanuel, “God is with us”.


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The Corinthian Christians had done well in that they received the gospel. They were doing well in that they did stand in the gospel. But they had to continue to do well, and hold fast the gospel Paul preached to them. Every Christian must take seriously their responsibility to not only have a good past, and a good present, but to determine to have a great future with the Lord, also.
‼️"Hold fast" also implies there were some people or some things which might want to snatch the true gospel away from the Corinthian Christians. All the more, this is why they had to hold on! If the Corinthian Christians did not continue to hold fast, one day they might let go of the gospel. And if one lets go of the gospel, all their previous belief won’t do them any good. It was as if they had believed in vain. [This] stresses the importance of steadfast faith, warning against a belief that is ultimately purposeless if not held firmly.

⭐⭐‼️‼️The Greek adverb εἰκῇ appears in several New Testament passages, emphasizing the futility or lack of purpose in certain actions or beliefs. It is used to highlight the emptiness or ineffectiveness of efforts that are not grounded in truth or divine purpose... [it] serves as a caution against actions and beliefs that lack substance or divine approval. It calls believers to examine the motivations and outcomes of their actions, ensuring they align with God's will and purpose.

⭐⭐‼️‼️"Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?" The rhetorical question uses the concept of εἰκῇ to question the pointlessness of suffering if it does not lead to spiritual growth or understanding.

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"Notice that the preacher does not make the gospel. If he makes it, it is not worth your having. Originality in preaching, if it be originality in the statement of doctrine, is falsehood. We are not makers and inventors; we are repeaters, we tell the message we have received.” (Spurgeon)

As Paul describes the gospel in the following verses, it is important to notice that this gospel is not insightful teaching or good advice. At the core of the gospel are things that happened – actual, real, historical events. The gospel isn’t a matter of religious opinions, platitudes, or fairy tales; it is about real historical events.

"Our religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, ‘Those are your views, and these are ours.’ Whatever your ‘views’ may be, is a small matter; what are the facts of the case?” (Spurgeon)

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"Christ died ὑπέρ our sins according to the scriptures"

5228 hypér (a preposition) – properly, beyond (above); (figuratively) to extend benefit (help) that reaches beyond the present situation.
5228 /hypér ("beyond") is usually best translated "for the betterment (advantage) of," i.e. focusing on benefit... signifies something like 'in the interests of the truth . . . concerning."... hypér has 'a sense of interest in'...
[5228 (hypér) naturally expresses conferring benefit, i.e. for the sake of "betterment" (improvement, extending benefit).]

for, on behalf of, above, beyond, more than, over, for the sake of, concerning, instead, regarding,

⭐for one's safety, for one's advantage or benefit (one who does a thing for another, is conceived of as standing or bending 'over' the one whom he would shield or defend... to be for one i. e. to be on one's side, to favor and further one's cause...

In the New Testament, ὑπέρ is frequently used to express the idea of "on behalf of," "for the sake of," or "in place of." It can indicate a sense of representation or substitution, often in contexts of intercession, sacrifice, or advocacy... appearing in various contexts to convey a range of meanings related to position, advocacy, and substitution... Additionally, ὑπέρ is employed in contexts of prayer and intercession... The term also appears in expressions of advocacy or defense... conveys the idea of divine support and protection.... a significant theological term that underscores the concepts of substitutionary atonement, intercessory prayer, and divine advocacy, reflecting the multifaceted nature of God's relationship with humanity as depicted in the New Testament.

"Christ died ὑπέρ our sins according to the scriptures"

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I NEEDED EXACTLY THIS

In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis said that God’s justice is often misunderstood as mere punishment when in reality it “raises us up” by “freeing us from the snares of evil.”

On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Jan. 8, the pope said that “Jesus reveals God’s justice.”

Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, he said: “Very often we have a limited idea of justice and think that it means: those who do wrong pay … and in this way compensate for the wrong they have done.”

“But God’s justice, as the Scripture teaches, is much greater: it does not have as its end the condemnation of the guilty, but their salvation and rebirth, making them just.”

The pope said that God’s justice is not “intended to distribute penalties and punishments but rather, as the Apostle Paul affirms, it consists of making us, his children, righteous (cf. Rm 3: 22-31), freeing us from the snares of evil, healing us, raising us up again.”

Jesus revealed the meaning of his mission when he was baptized on the banks of the Jordan River, the pope explained: “He came to fulfil divine justice, which is that of saving sinners; he came to take on his own shoulders the sin of the world and to descend into the waters of the abyss … of death, so as to rescue us from drowning.”

Pope Francis quoted a homily that Benedict XVI gave in January 2008 in which the late pope said: “God desired to save us by going to the bottom of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who have fallen so low that they can no longer perceive Heaven, may find God’s hand to cling to and rise from the darkness to see again the light for which he or she was made.”

Francis urged all Christians to also exercise justice in this way in relationships with others, not condemning or dividing, but with “the mercy of those who welcome by sharing the wounds and frailties of their sisters and brothers, so as to lift them up.”