Today’s Reflection: Mark 14:49a I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not…
The single-most important question of your lifetime is this; what’s your take on Jesus? Will you take Him seriously, or will you take Him casually? Will you take Him as Lord and Savior of your life, or will you take Him to have Him crucified? The truth is, there is no middle ground; you are either for Christ, or against Him. In our reading today, when the great multitude with swords and staves came to capture Jesus (as if He was a thief, though we know He was not), Jesus pointed out to them that they had opportunity to take him every day while they were hearing him teach in the temple. I would note here that while Jesus was implying that they could have “arrested” him there, that there was another way they could have taken Him. They could have taken Him, not as a falsely accused criminal, but as Savior and Lord. I see the two choices set before them. They chose to take Him the wrong way! A perfect man…the perfect Lamb of God, taken as a thief, to die with thieves, by a crowd who bore the guilt that HE willingly paid! Imagine the weight of judgement facing these men come judgement day. They literally heard Christ teach daily, and they literally took Him at night with ill intent, rather than in the temple, during the day, unashamedly professing faith in Him. Imagine just how accountable they will be for having been guilty of being the ones arranging the death of the only perfect man that had ever lived on this planet! Now, as you imagine that weight of judgement, and that level of accountability, just imagine one more thing; imagine all of that judgement and that accountability resting upon YOUR shoulders as if YOU were the one guilty of His innocent blood. You see, the truth is, ALL OF US were guilty of shedding the innocent blood of Christ. How? Because it was our sin that put Him on the cross. Had we not sinned, there would have been no need for a payment for our sins, but we DID sin. In fact, the Bible says that ALL have sinned, and come short of God’s glory. It says that there is NONE righteous, no, not one! So, we are just as guilty as the ones who literally put Him on the cross. Oh, and one more thing; at first, I was tempted to talk about how they took Christ hostage, but then I discovered that a hostage is one that is involuntarily controlled by an outside influence. Then I was reminded of what Christ said of Himself concerning His life in John 10:18a, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.” Now, once you are taken by His love, you can take Him as Lord!
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Floodgates of Heaven, Volume 2, Entry 74 of 365
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copyright © by Gary D. Caudill
