Gathering in Christ

Luke 15:2-3

And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them…”

For thirty years, Jesus did nothing, then for three years He stormed every time He went down to Jerusalem.  Josephus says He tore through the temple courts like a madman.  We hear nothing about that Jesus Christ today.  The meek and mild Being pictured today makes us lose altogether the meaning of the Cross.  We have to find out why Jesus was beside Himself with rage and indignation at the Pharisees and not with those given over to carnal sins.  Which state of society is going to stand a ripping and tearing Being like Jesus Christ who drags to the ground the highest respected pillars of its civilized society and shows that their respectability and religiosity is built on a much more abominable pride than the harlot’s or the publican’s?  The latter are disgusting and coarse, but these men have the very pride of the Devil in their hearts.

The thing that made Jesus Christ blaze was pride that defied God and prevented Him from having His right with human hearts.  “Calvary” means “the Place of the Skull” and that is where our Lord is always crucified -- in the culture and intellect of men who will not have self-knowledge given by the light of Jesus Christ.

Excerpts from Oswald Chambers

Daily Devotional Bible, Reading 110 (4/20)

From The Highest Good

 This gorgeous photograph is by Liz Burnell, who shares her work on her Facebook page.