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Coffee With Jesus: Luke 22–23

...omes. On the cross, Jesus is offered bitter wine and refuses at first, but then moments before his death, he says “I thirst” and drinks the wine. This is recorded in more detail in Matthew and John: Matthew 27:48At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. John 19:29–30A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Even the use of hyssop here in John’s account points to something often ove...

the Author of Life Knew Death For Our Sake!

...t back to the cross which that in itself points to the forgiveness of sin and new birth. Through “the water of rebirth” we receive the “renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5) that gives new life, and, as Peter says, “as an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism brings about forgiveness and displays our repentance over our former life. Similarly, it is through the partaking of the Eucharist that we take on the eternal life that Jesus gives, to become a “partaker of the Lord’s immortality” as Clement of Alexandria wrote, and to make a reality the eating of the bread of life and being sustained by “every word that come...

Lent Day 40: Leo the Great: Sermon LXXII: ON the LORD'S RESURRECTION, II

...e wood of the cross, truly laid in an earthly tomb, truly raised in glory, truly set on the right hand of the Father's majesty”! Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.   That marks the end of this Lenten series, I hope you’ve enjoyed it throughout these forty days. Enjoy your Resurrection Sunday – HE IS RISEN!...

Before the Pumpkins: the Road To the Lions

...fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ. (Letter to the Romans, 4–5) Ignatius did not seek death out of despair or self-glorification. He saw in his coming trial an opportunity to be conformed perfectly to his Lord suffering as he did. His martyrdom was not an act of “fanaticism” but of deep love, a participation in the suffering of Christ, and he viewed it as a way to complete his race (2 Timothy 4:7). Sharing in Christ’s Passion...

Lent Day 22: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 11-20

...Day Twenty-two: St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 11-20 Who: Bishop of Alexandria; Confessor and Doctor of the Church; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373 AD. He was the main defender of orthodoxy in the 4th-century battle against the Arianism heresy. Certain writers received the title “Doctor” on account of the great advantage their doctrine had on the whole Church, Athanasius especially for his doctrine on the incarnation. What: the biography of Anthony the Great’s life, which helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism, particularly in Western Europe. Why: From the letter’s own prologue: “the life and conversation of our holy Father,...

the Gospel of Jeffrey Dahmer

...d work on the cross. the Apostle Paul knew the depth of this grace well for he was also “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1) when hunting down Christians and approving of Stephen’s martyrdom (Acts 8:1). Paul acknowledges his sin but recognises that God saved him as a testimony to the abundant goodness and mercy of God, so that if even Paul can be saved, then so can anyone. 1 Timothy 1:16But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate His extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Jeffrey Dahmer was definitely “...