Christ suffered for us to take away our sins and bring us to God
Christ's Suffering for Us Has an End/Purpose I Peter 3:18---
" For Christ hath once suffered for sins"
" the just for the unjust"
"that He might bring us to God"
The theme of Peter is the suffering of Christ and Christians and that this is a part of the Christian life. (" In this world you will have tribulation" Jn 16:33) The first point is that Christians have a duty to conduct themselves with meekness and hope, vs 15 , and that if we suffer we have Christ as our hope and Chief Sufferer.
(note the Apostle's note in vs 14 about why we suffer....and vs 17...if you and I suffer for well doing , good, but if for evil doing then that is not suffering but what we are reaping so to speak...)
Luke 22:44 reminds us that He being in agony "sweat great drops of blood as it were falling down to the ground."
Once suffered also recalls His One Offering of Himself for our sins...
Hebrews 10:10, 12, 14 Once for all Sacrifice by which he hath" perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
Suffered here is deep feeling......empathy comes from this Greek word. ( pásxō (a primitive verb) – properly, to feel heavy emotion, especially suffering; affected, experiencing feeling (literally "sensible" = "sensed-experience"); "the feeling of the mind, emotion, passion" (J. Thayer). )
2. " the just for the unjust" Jn 1:36 " Behold the Lamb of God" We are not just , yet He the unjust Lamb of God suffered for our sins.
The Greek is rather emphatic. Guilty and not guilty. Righteous and not righteous. Stark. Entirely opposite .
Imagine being accused of something you did not do, and then step up and take the blame for the other person. That is part of what this is. But being in His human nature and divine nature sinless, Jesus was tested " in all points ...like as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15
In the older forms of the Mass, the Priest genuflects, turns to the people and says once ( with the small Host over the open ciborium), " Behold the Lamb of God: behold Him that taketh away the sin of the world."
Then he says three times, " LORD I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only and my soul shall be healed."
I used to attend a traditional Episcopal Church in CA that used the older liturgy , the only one in the Diocese to do so, and I remember how those words touched me deeply one day when I heard them. We lose some of the reverence and the beauty when we lose our history and the old words that have meaning.
Those words touched my soul in a deep place that only God could do through the words of that humble priest vested before the Altar of God. I still feel them after he said them.
What will it take for us to understand how much we are owed through the blood of Christ on the Cross ? What will it take for us to recognize the deep things that must touch our souls if we are to be saved and have a Holy Lent?
( all of us have been deeply affected by the shooting that occured last week in FL. Something like this wakes us up to the fact that we are not here forever, are we? WE are to give ourselves into the hands of Almighty God every minute of every day. I am sure all of us can describe a time when we felt that we knew His deep suffering in the depths of our spirits and minds, and we cried tears of repentance...?)
3. that He might bring us to God.
The Chaplaincy motto was etched in my mind ever since I heard it at the Chaplain school and museum, " Bringing men to God, and God to men."
Another instance is the story of the 4 Chaplains. This true account brings me to tears every time I hear it. Do you know it? The US has a stamp that has their pictures on it.
Just after midnight on February 3, 1943, the SS Dorchester, a U.S. Army troop ship, was passing through the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. The ship had left St. John’s, Newfoundland a couple of days earlier as part of a convoy. Laden with more than 900 troops, merchant seamen, and civilians, the Dorchester was on its way to deliver support and materials to Allied bases in Greenland.
German intelligence had determined the convoy’s route, and U-boats had established positions to intercept it. At 12:55 a.m. on February 3, approximately 100 miles sound of Greenland, U-233 located the Dorchester and sent a torpedo into its hull. A massive explosion ripped through the ship, causing an immediate loss of life. The Dorchester began to dramatically list as water gushed into the quarters below deck.
Those that survived the blast found themselves in a state of confusion and panic. Hundreds rushed to get on deck and struggled towards the life boats as the ship began to sink quickly. With few wearing life vests, men were hysterical, knowing the icy waters of the Atlantic would likely mean death.
In the chaos, four chaplains, all first lieutenants, came forward to help their fellow ship mates. They were George Fox, a Methodist minister; Alexander Goode, a Jewish Rabbi; Clark Poling, a Dutch Reformed minister, and John Washington, a Roman Catholic Priest.
The four chaplains tried to calm those around them. On deck, they began to distribute available life jackets, and in a truly selfless act, when they ran out, the chaplains gave up their own. They stayed on deck until the very end doing what they could to help others. More than 670 died in the sinking of the Dorchester, including the four chaplains, who showed that protecting their brothers in arms doesn’t always require a weapon.
After the war, the heroism and sacrifice of the four chaplains was honored in memorials across the country. A stained glass window in the Pentagon Chapel is dedicated to their memory. In 1960 Congress passed a law authorizing the President to posthumously award a decoration for extraordinary heroism to the four chaplains for their actions. The Four Chaplains’ Medal was presented to their next of kin in 1961.
The American government also honored the four chaplains in the same way as all other service members who were lost at sea; their names were inscribed upon the Walls of the Missing at an ABMC memorial.
In the Battery, the park at the southernmost tip of Manhattan Island, stands the East Coast Memorial. Overlooking the waters of New York Harbor, eight large grey granite pylons are inscribed with the names and service information of 4,611 Americans who lost their lives in the western waters of the Atlantic during World War II, including the four chaplains. Their sacrifice remains inspirational 75 years. army.mil. article
---I am sure as began Lent with ashes on Wed last we did not think of all these things, but today, Remember our Lord Jesus Christ died once for our sins, that He might bring us to God, and all of this He did not earn or deserve. The guilty are given new life by the perfect Lamb of God who never sinned, a lamb without blemish.
What will it take for us to know this and to change our habits this Lent? More Ashes? I think not. Fasting? Perhaps that will make us hungry but not lead us to moral acts of love and kindness. Prayer? Helpful, but what these do in a world that is falling apart ?
No, the only thing that will take us to Cross is Christ Himself and when we look into His bloody face and eyes, we will know , He died for us, so that we may be His children serving Him to those who too do not deserve love for how they treat others. But we go the extra mile because Jesus bids us to do that.
" For Christ hath once suffered for sins"
" the just for the unjust"
"that He might bring us to God"
The theme of Peter is the suffering of Christ and Christians and that this is a part of the Christian life. (" In this world you will have tribulation" Jn 16:33) The first point is that Christians have a duty to conduct themselves with meekness and hope, vs 15 , and that if we suffer we have Christ as our hope and Chief Sufferer.
(note the Apostle's note in vs 14 about why we suffer....and vs 17...if you and I suffer for well doing , good, but if for evil doing then that is not suffering but what we are reaping so to speak...)
Luke 22:44 reminds us that He being in agony "sweat great drops of blood as it were falling down to the ground."
Once suffered also recalls His One Offering of Himself for our sins...
Hebrews 10:10, 12, 14 Once for all Sacrifice by which he hath" perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
Suffered here is deep feeling......empathy comes from this Greek word. ( pásxō (a primitive verb) – properly, to feel heavy emotion, especially suffering; affected, experiencing feeling (literally "sensible" = "sensed-experience"); "the feeling of the mind, emotion, passion" (J. Thayer). )
2. " the just for the unjust" Jn 1:36 " Behold the Lamb of God" We are not just , yet He the unjust Lamb of God suffered for our sins.
The Greek is rather emphatic. Guilty and not guilty. Righteous and not righteous. Stark. Entirely opposite .
Imagine being accused of something you did not do, and then step up and take the blame for the other person. That is part of what this is. But being in His human nature and divine nature sinless, Jesus was tested " in all points ...like as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15
In the older forms of the Mass, the Priest genuflects, turns to the people and says once ( with the small Host over the open ciborium), " Behold the Lamb of God: behold Him that taketh away the sin of the world."
Then he says three times, " LORD I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only and my soul shall be healed."
I used to attend a traditional Episcopal Church in CA that used the older liturgy , the only one in the Diocese to do so, and I remember how those words touched me deeply one day when I heard them. We lose some of the reverence and the beauty when we lose our history and the old words that have meaning.
Those words touched my soul in a deep place that only God could do through the words of that humble priest vested before the Altar of God. I still feel them after he said them.
What will it take for us to understand how much we are owed through the blood of Christ on the Cross ? What will it take for us to recognize the deep things that must touch our souls if we are to be saved and have a Holy Lent?
( all of us have been deeply affected by the shooting that occured last week in FL. Something like this wakes us up to the fact that we are not here forever, are we? WE are to give ourselves into the hands of Almighty God every minute of every day. I am sure all of us can describe a time when we felt that we knew His deep suffering in the depths of our spirits and minds, and we cried tears of repentance...?)
3. that He might bring us to God.
The Chaplaincy motto was etched in my mind ever since I heard it at the Chaplain school and museum, " Bringing men to God, and God to men."
Another instance is the story of the 4 Chaplains. This true account brings me to tears every time I hear it. Do you know it? The US has a stamp that has their pictures on it.
Just after midnight on February 3, 1943, the SS Dorchester, a U.S. Army troop ship, was passing through the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. The ship had left St. John’s, Newfoundland a couple of days earlier as part of a convoy. Laden with more than 900 troops, merchant seamen, and civilians, the Dorchester was on its way to deliver support and materials to Allied bases in Greenland.
German intelligence had determined the convoy’s route, and U-boats had established positions to intercept it. At 12:55 a.m. on February 3, approximately 100 miles sound of Greenland, U-233 located the Dorchester and sent a torpedo into its hull. A massive explosion ripped through the ship, causing an immediate loss of life. The Dorchester began to dramatically list as water gushed into the quarters below deck.
Those that survived the blast found themselves in a state of confusion and panic. Hundreds rushed to get on deck and struggled towards the life boats as the ship began to sink quickly. With few wearing life vests, men were hysterical, knowing the icy waters of the Atlantic would likely mean death.
In the chaos, four chaplains, all first lieutenants, came forward to help their fellow ship mates. They were George Fox, a Methodist minister; Alexander Goode, a Jewish Rabbi; Clark Poling, a Dutch Reformed minister, and John Washington, a Roman Catholic Priest.
The four chaplains tried to calm those around them. On deck, they began to distribute available life jackets, and in a truly selfless act, when they ran out, the chaplains gave up their own. They stayed on deck until the very end doing what they could to help others. More than 670 died in the sinking of the Dorchester, including the four chaplains, who showed that protecting their brothers in arms doesn’t always require a weapon.
After the war, the heroism and sacrifice of the four chaplains was honored in memorials across the country. A stained glass window in the Pentagon Chapel is dedicated to their memory. In 1960 Congress passed a law authorizing the President to posthumously award a decoration for extraordinary heroism to the four chaplains for their actions. The Four Chaplains’ Medal was presented to their next of kin in 1961.
The American government also honored the four chaplains in the same way as all other service members who were lost at sea; their names were inscribed upon the Walls of the Missing at an ABMC memorial.
In the Battery, the park at the southernmost tip of Manhattan Island, stands the East Coast Memorial. Overlooking the waters of New York Harbor, eight large grey granite pylons are inscribed with the names and service information of 4,611 Americans who lost their lives in the western waters of the Atlantic during World War II, including the four chaplains. Their sacrifice remains inspirational 75 years. army.mil. article
---I am sure as began Lent with ashes on Wed last we did not think of all these things, but today, Remember our Lord Jesus Christ died once for our sins, that He might bring us to God, and all of this He did not earn or deserve. The guilty are given new life by the perfect Lamb of God who never sinned, a lamb without blemish.
What will it take for us to know this and to change our habits this Lent? More Ashes? I think not. Fasting? Perhaps that will make us hungry but not lead us to moral acts of love and kindness. Prayer? Helpful, but what these do in a world that is falling apart ?
No, the only thing that will take us to Cross is Christ Himself and when we look into His bloody face and eyes, we will know , He died for us, so that we may be His children serving Him to those who too do not deserve love for how they treat others. But we go the extra mile because Jesus bids us to do that.
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