Old Sandals

Luke 6:10
And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

God is the Giver of every good gift, salvation chief among them. We have to receive the gift. That’s all we do, but it is ours alone to do.

“But by grace you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” True. It is a gift. One that we have to receive.

Luke 5:7
So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

Both the boats! It would have been miracle enough had the haul of fish filled one boat. But that is the Lord. He is extravagant in love and mercy.

Luke 4:1
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Anywhere He leads me in this world below…

Luke 3:5
The crooked places shall be made straight.

For me today. For the world on that great day.

Luke 2:16
And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

It is wonderful. It is more than a mortal mind can take in (or an angelic mind for that matter).  Here was Mary and Joseph and God.

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.  And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”   Luke 1:18-20

“Are you sure?”

“I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God.  I’m tellin’ ya—but since you didn’t believe me when I spoke, you will not be able to speak for a time…”

“Don’t be alarmed,” [the angel] said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'”   Mark 16:6-7

It seems odd that the angel refers to the Lord as “Jesus the Nazarene”, for he certainly knew Who He was, and ever has been.

But yet this reference underscores the glorious mystery of the Incarnation.  God became man.  The second person of the Trinity suffered in the flesh.  The only-begotten Son of God, by whom all things were made, condescended to become Jesus the Nazarene in order that we who believe in Him might be given a new name…

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.   Mark 15:47

I’m not sure who Mary the mother of Joseph was.  She was not Jesus’ “grandmother”, if you will.  The more important point here is that there were eyewitnesses to the Lord’s actual burial (and not the disciples, all of whom had fled).

But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.  Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”   Mark 14:61-62

A direct answer to a direct question.

And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!   Mark 13:37