SPIRIUTAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2017
9:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Expression of Selfless Love”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
19:25b-27
Message of the
verses: “But standing by the cross
of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and
Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He
loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"
27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that
hour the disciple took her into his own household.”
John MacArthur writes about the sister of Mary, the
mother of Jesus and perhaps we have written about this in earlier SD’s but it
is worth repeating. He states that it
appears that Mary’s sister was Salome, who is the mother of the sons of
Zebedee, James and John. Mark 16:1 “When
the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome,
bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.” This is the only time she appears by name
elsewhere in Scripture. MacArthur writes
“If she was the mother of James and John, she also appears in Matthew 20:20-21 “20
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down
and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you
wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons
of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left."”
MacArthur writes “Little is known of ‘Mary the wife of
Clopas.’ She was the ‘other Mary’ who
kept a vigil at Jesus’ tomb with Mary Magdalene (Matt. 27:61) and was one of
the women who went to the tomb on the morning of the resurrection (Matt.
28:1). She was also one of the women who
tried unsuccessfully to persuade the apostles that Christ had risen (Luke
24:10). She was the mother of the
apostle James the son of Alphaeus (Clopas is the variant of Alphaeus), who is
also called James the Less (Mark. 15:40.”
I find it very interesting to see
more about the people who were involved in the life of our Lord, understanding
that they like every other person born in Adam’s race are sinners and it was
because of the Lord that they desired to serve Him while on earth because He
reached out to them to save them just as He is still doing today.
Now as far as Mary Magdalene we see her in many other
places in the other three gospels. Her
name suggests that she is from the village of Magdala which located on the west
shore of the Sea of Galilee between Capernaum and Tiberias. She is mostly known from having seven demons
cast out of her through the ministry of Jesus “and also some women who had been
healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom
seven demons had gone out (Luke 8:2).” Some
have identified her as the prostitute of Luke 7:37-50, but there is little or
no evidence that this was her.
Perhaps surprisingly the only man who was there was John,
and he identifies as the disciple that Jesus loved. We see that in this section of Scripture that
Jesus calls John to care for His mother as He stated “Behold your mother!” to
John. This shows how great the love of
Jesus was as He is dying on the cross for our sins He reached out to make sure
His earthly mother was cared for. We
have to believe that Joseph had died, but nothing is really mentioned in Scripture
that he had died, but this is the consensus of most Bible scholars. We know that Jesus had half brothers and
sisters, however none of them became believers in Him until after the
resurrection, as James His half brother eventually became the leader of the
Jerusalem church, so at this point Jesus entrusted His mother to John.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I think that sometimes
when I look at the life of our Lord that I don’t see Him as being man in circumstances
like this one, but see more of Him being God, and I know that He was both the
Son of Man and the Son of God as I believe this is still true of Him today even
though He reigns in Heaven at this time.
Jesus is not only my Savior, but also my example and the love that He
shows for His mother is an example to me of the love that I am to show for
others. It would be easy for me to say
that oh, this is Jesus and He does things that I could never do, and although
that is true in many cases this is not one of them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to fill me with His love so
that I can love others as He did, and still does.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Calvary or Golgotha” (Luke
23:33).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘"Stay here
with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and
return to you."”
Answer in our next SD.
5/16/2017 10:31 AM
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