Hello and cheerio from Poznan, Poland! Doug and I are here for a few days, visiting with the saints who are gathered here for a conference on apologetics and another conference the next day on family. On our way to Poznan we got to sight-see in Berlin and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Our hotel in Wittenburg was right next door to Luther’s house, which is now a museum with an impressive collection of old (and I mean old) Bibles as well as first-edition copies of Luther’s tracts. It is all very new territory for us, and we’re enjoying being the foreigners in a strange land. Or is it stangers in a foreign land? Either way, we are thanking the Lord for our tour-guide, Bubu, who is the CREC pastor here in Poznan. He speaks German, Polish, and English, so we have had a very easy time of it. Berlin was interesting, Wittenberg was fascinating, and Poznan seems an entirely other world. Look at this picture of the square in the Old Town, and you’ll see what I mean. But the colors in the picture are very muted compared to what they are in broad daylight. Wish you were here!
Luke and Rachel just bought a house, and they moved in a week or so ago….and hosted our Easter feast today! This buffet table/unit is from their La Bella Vita shop (the old counter), and it works so well loaded up with the Easter fare. Kids are in the background and Heather (who never takes a bad picture) gives the camera a smile. You should have seen the crazy egg hunt in the back yard: thirteen cousins running around while two baby cousins watched with interest. Hope you all had a blessed day!
The women who watched the crucifixion from afar had “followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him” (Mt. 27:55). I’d like to consider what it would mean to minister to Jesus, and how we can continue in these women’s footsteps today, ministering unto the Lord.
Jesus had a following of faithful women, as I mentioned in the previous post, and they must have been preparing food for Him, getting water for Him, perhaps washing His feet, and any number of other things. This was their ministry to the Lord, the One who made Heaven and Earth: to give Him a drink of the water that He spoke into existence.
To minister is to act as a servant, to provide and care for. The women who served Jesus used their hands and feet. Mary even used her hair and her tears to wash His feet (Luke 7:36-50). Their ministry to Him was tangible. Jesus could taste it, drink it, and smell it. Continue reading ‘Women of the Cross’
Many women were eyewitnesses of the crucifixion, “looking on from afar” as it says in Matthew 27:55. This text tells us they had “followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him.” Those named in the different Gospels include Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
Both Marys saw the body of Jesus removed from the cross, they saw where Jesus was laid in the tomb, and they witnessed the large stone rolled against the door of the tomb. Both arrived at dawn Sunday morning and saw the angel of the Lord descend and roll back the stone; and both met the risen Lord as they ran to tell the disciples the joyful news. These women, when confronted with the risen Christ, “held Him by the feet and worshiped Him” (vs. 9).
The Gospel of Mark also mentions Salome (15:40-41) at the cross and with the two Marys as they brought spices to anoint His body. Luke includes more women at the tomb in the morning: “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women Continue reading ‘The Women of Good Friday’
From the preface of a sweet, old, little copy of The Loveliness of Christ:
“Strong and quaint and bracing are the words of this saint of olden time — very unlike the feeble wails we often hear in these days. People seem now to consider it more than unfair to have to bear the weakest cross, and certainly not to ‘count it all joy’ with St. James.”
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