Christ is risen indeed

I finished reading Köstenberger's book, The Final Days of Jesus, and found it excellent as a companion to reading the Scripture on a day-to-day basis during the Holy Week.

I have also concluded the daily readings everyday with the videos provided here, with this video on the Resurrection Day:

I will do this again next year, and make the passages of the Passion Week, of the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus the focus of my thought, meditation and commitment. 

pearlie

The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

The church I am attending now does not observe Lent and I forgot that it is Palm Sunday today. This makes me miss the more traditional churches I have attended before. 

Therefore, it is good that I received an email from Crossway: A Day-by-Day Guide to the Holy Week. It is to be followed along with Andreas J. Köstenberger's book. 

The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived

by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Justin Taylor

I have not read it yet, and it will be good to stall what I am reading right now and spent the week reading this in meditation on the final days of Jesus, the most important week of the most important person who ever lived. 

As I began to read the Scripture passages, read the first chapters of the book and watched the video, we found that Jesus entered Jerusalem amidst people with high hopes and expectations. They wanted a political king to free them from the Roman Empire. 

It was a very volatile situation. The people wanted a revolution, the Jewish leaders most probably wanted things to remain status-quo with the Romans, and the Romans were keeping a close eye to all that is happening to ensure things don't go out of hand. 

But with all of that, Jesus has an entirely different and unexpected agenda in mind. 

What began as a small celebration of the beginning of the week, will turn to chaos, but will then in turn become the grandest celebration of mankind of all times. 

pearlie

With the barest of words and emotions

 

The sermon this morning was from John 19:17-42, the passage about the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Pastor said that it unusual that after spending so many verses telling us what happened to Jesus who was before the Jews and Roman authorities after his arrest, the passage here on the crucifixion seem anti-climatic with the barest of words and descriptions.

But I find that most remarkable. With just a short passage, the apostle John gave us the most important facts about the crucifixion of Christ. With the economy of words, every sentence and verse, are packed and deep with theological truths. You can practically spend your whole life just studying each and every of these 21 verses in John, let alone the other parallel passages in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

When I watched movie adaptations of Jesus's crucifixion, I always thought it interesting that the Gospels did away with the emotions, feelings, and sensations of the event. 

With just two words in Greek, John wrote, αὐτὸν ἐσταύρωσαν, they crucified him. 

Was it not important how Jesus reacted, what he thought, and how he felt on the cross? Or was it something so painful and so unimaginable that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John chose not to describe it?

I don't know but I believe that even with the barest of words and emotions, they are so important and theologically packed that it is what I need to know and believe in: that Jesus died for me, so I may live.

pearlie

In Christ we shall be made alive

I have two songs with me this Easter Sunday. 

Firstly, this chorus from The Messiah has really become my favorite. Taken from 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, it has indeed the Easter message: we were fallen and we face death but through Jesus, we are resurrected in him. We all will die one day, but in Christ, we shall all be made alive. We will be resurrected. Amen!

Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The second song that was with me was this delightful Cantonese 3-part canon. The worship leader used it in service this morning and I was brought back to when I sang it most probably 30 years ago and haven't sung it since. 

Alle，Alleluia，Alleluia！ 

基督降世

gei duk gong sai

Christ was born

為我罪受死埋葬， 

wai ngo jui sau sei mai jong

Died for me and was buried

三天過後

sam tin gwor hau

Three days passed

復活叫我們

fook woot giu ngo moon

Resurrected and called us

承受永遠盼望。 

sing sau wing yuen paan mong

To receive eternal hope

復活主，復活主，

fook woot jue, fook woot jue

Christ is risen, Christ is risen 

基督今天復活， 

gei duk gam tin fook woot

Christ is risen today

復活了。

fook woot liu

He is already risen. 

Amen.

Blessed Easter everyone! May the resurrected Christ be the center of your life now and forevermore. 

pearlie

Are you sure Jesus is not alive?

Dr. James F McGrath posted this cartoon by Kevin Frank which is so amusing to me. 

But amusing only on the Schrödinger part, more precisely the all-too famous Schrödinger's Cat. The checking of the empty tomb is no joke. Every living person, whichever religion we subscribe to, must seek and question what we believe in. This is so we know for sure it is the right thing.

The Schrödinger cartoon bears a very good message. If you have not checked in the tomb, you will never ever know, will you? Are you sure Jesus is not alive? Are you sure he is not the only way as he says he is? You will never be sure unless you go find out for yourself. 

The good thing about Jesus is that we have with us the most number of earliest and most reliable manuscripts in the world. What you read in the Bible is as accurate as it can get to the historical account two millennia ago. 

For one, parts of the New Testament have been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work, having over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages. 

Bruce Metzgar said, "In evaluating the significance of these statistics...one should consider, by way of contrast, the number of manuscripts which preserve the text of the ancient classics. Homer's Iliad...is preserved by 457 papyri, 2 uncial manuscripts, and 188 minuscule manuscripts. Among the tragedians the witnesses to Euripides are the most abundant; his extant works are preserved in 54 papyri and 276 parchment manuscripts, almost all of the later dating from the Byzantine period...the time between the composition of the books of the New Testament and the earliest extant copies is relatively brief. Instead of the lapse of a millennium or more, as is the case of not a few classical authors, several papyrus manuscripts of portions of the New Testament are extant which were copies within a century or so after the composition of the original documents."

Sure, there are a lot of questions. You may never be perfectly sure. It is indeed by faith. But God has revealed himself to us in no other way than to come to us in person. How more real can it get? It is all in the historical documents. 

Please for the sake of your life, check them out. Ask the questions. Find the answer. 

pearlie

It is Good Friday

I am blessed this Good Friday to have the music and words of Handel's Messiah that still plays in my head. I am beginning to realize that the experience of being in the chorus of The Messiah, and on top of it in the Lent and Easter Season, will always be with me. I will have the songs, the Scripture verses with me to remind me and teach me the birth, death, resurrection and hope in Christ.

Handel had chosen just these few verses from Scripture and put them with wonderful music to aptly tell the account of Jesus's suffering and death on the cross: Here is the Lamb of God that takes away your sin. He became despised and rejected in your place. He took upon your grief on himself. He was flogged and maimed. He has borne your griefs and carried your sorrows. Wounded for your transgressions. Bruised for your iniquities. And with all the stripes he suffered, we are ironically healed. But still, we are like sheep who have gone astray, we removed ourselves from his grace. We even laugh at him and question the drama of it all. Jesus suffered still. He knew it is the only way for our salvation. He was stricken. But...there is hope. There is life a-coming!


22. Chorus
Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.
(John 1: 29)

23. Air  (Alto)
He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
(Isaiah 53: 3)

He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off His hair: He hid not His face from shame and spitting. He was despised...da capo

(Isaiah 53:6)


24. Chorus  
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows! He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.
(Isaiah 53: 4-5)

25. Chorus  
And with His stripes we are healed.
(Isaiah 53: 5)

26. Chorus  
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
(Isaiah 53:6)


27. Accompagnato (Tenor)
All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn; they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying:
(Psalm 22: 7)

28. Chorus  
"He trusted in God that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, if He delight in Him."
(Psalm 22: 8)

29. Accompagnato (Tenor)
Thy rebuke hath broken His heart: He is full of heaviness. He looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was no man, neither found He any to comfort him.
(Psalm 69: 20)

30. Arioso (Tenor)
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow.
(Lamentations 1: 12)

31. Accompagnato (Tenor)
He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of Thy people was He stricken.
(Isaiah 53: 8)

32. Air (Tenor)
But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell; nor didst Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption.
(Psalm 16: 10)

pearlie

The Messiah: "He was despised" should have been "I am despised"

We finally had our first performance of Handel's Messiah today. It was truly an experience of mixed emotions that I will need to unpack in days to come.

I won't say we did that well but the reviews so far have been surprisingly good. For one, Paul Baker, our conductor,  posted in Facebook saying that, "A good friend who came...runs a company that stages huge arts events globally in tandem with e.g the Olympics, World Cup etc. He's worked with Orchestras such as Simon Bolivar, London Symphony, Vienna and New York Philharmonic and Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He stated that [the] night's performance of Messiah was as good as any he's ever seen globally and a lot better than many. He was truly stunned to witness this level in Malaysia. Now that's what I call a seriously worthy testimony not just given out of a new convert's excitement about classical music."

Wow...that is really something. 

What moved me most tonight however was Gabrielle Maes's aria He was Despised. It was so emotionally sung in these words that they pierced my heart as to what an amazing Saviour in Jesus we have. 

He was despised

Despised and rejected 

Rejected my men

A man of sorrows 

And acquainted with grief

When I came home and further reflected on the song, I suddenly realized that I should be the one saying those words - I am despised, I am rejected, I am with so much sorrows, I am the one with grief. How often have I forgotten that and only looked at Jesus as one who died on the cross, period. 

Yes, I know he died for me, but have I really understood the immensity of the cross? Most probably I will never ever understand it fully, academically or emotionally or experientially or spiritually, but this encounter has indeed deepened my understanding of the cross. 

I am despised and rejected. As much as I seem like a good person on the outside, no one has seen me on the inside. I am truly despicable. And yet God has accepted me. He gave his Son to be despised and rejected in my place so I can be whole and complete again to meet the Holy Almighty One. 

And for that I am so grateful. How amazing is his love for us, his mercy and his grace, that Jesus suffered and died in our place so that we are complete in him again. 

pearlie

We will be complete when he returns

I learnt about the concept of protogospel from this morning's sermon on Genesis 3. And on checking my commentary, Derek Kidner says on 3:15, "There is good New Testament authority for seeing here the protevangelium, the first glimmer of the gospel."

The first glimmer of the gospel... Wow.

With the gospel beginning right from the start, we are clear that God's redemption plan for us is The One Grand Plan of God, which I have posted three years ago in December 2012. (Wow, I did not even realized I had posted that so long ago. The thought I had still feel fresh to me, which means I should continue developing it.)

Although Gen 3:15 happened after the fall, it does not preclude that it is still God's one grand plan to create us in his likeness, who will disobey him and die, who will need the Incarnate Son of God to die and be raised for us to live. And as his kingdom is already upon us now, this Advent is where we are reminded of our waiting for his coming again, to bring completion to his prefect creation of the world, the universe and us, his chosen people, his royal priesthood, his holy nation.

Our story began back when he created us, and we will be completed in Christ when he returns.

pearlie
Source: Derek Kidner, Genesis, An Introduction and Commentary, TOTC, IVP 1967

Jesus was here!

I was doing my devotional this morning when I read this: "We have the finished work of Christ on the cross more than 2,000 years ago."¹

My next thought really surprised me.

"Jesus was here!"

Wait, what was that?

Of course I know Jesus was here. I've known that all my life. And so why this sudden revelation that Jesus was here?

As I take time now to reflect on it, I feel that it is the prompting of the Spirit to me to the reality of God in my life.

I've studied Scripture. I've meditated on his Word. I've worked on obeying him and living my life according to his will. And now it is being impressed on me that God is real, in history, in time, in space, not just in thought and belief, if I can use the word.

This may not seem much to you. And yet, right here, right now, the realization that Jesus became man and lived among men, walked on this earth, breathed the air, amazes me. I don't know how else to put it.

God was here. In person. Wow.

pearlie
1 'Isaiah: God Saves Sinners' by Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., R.Kent Hughes, General Editor

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed

We were late for church service today, not realizing that being Easter Sunday, it was an hour earlier. We were half an hour "early" and so we just missed half an hour of the service. I'm sad to miss the praise and worship part, but glad we were there nonetheless.

The sermon today was on John 20:19-31 on "Doubt: Good or Bad?"

I remember blogging about Doubting Thomas before, here.

Back then I was crazily into chiasms. I still am but I don't do it much anymore.

John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe."
28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

I noted then that the passage can be divided into 2 parts: firstly, when Jesus appeared to the disciples but Thomas was not around (v.19-25) and secondly, Jesus appeared to the disciples again and this time Thomas was with them (v.26-29). I came out with this chiastic structure:

Disciples, in fear inside with doors were locked
    Jesus came and stood with them
          Jesus proclaimed peace, showed his physical being
                Disciples overjoyed!
          Jesus proclaimed peace and breathed on them
    Jesus commanded them to receive the Spirit for mission
Thomas was not there, was told, did not believe

Disciples were inside, with Thomas, doors locked
    Jesus came and stood with them
          Jesus proclaimed peace, showed his physical being to Thomas
                Thomas believed – my Lord, my God!
          Jesus proclaimed Thomas’ belief because he has seen him
    (No command given)
Those who have not seen but believe will be blessed

Right now, I don't think this I structure would carry much water. The second chiasm is broken with Part B' missing. But the first one holds. So what's the difference between the two sections?

I think that's where the focus of the passage is--where it diverted from the structure is where the emphasis of the message is. If you compare the two parts of the passage:

Part 1 v.19-25	Part 2 v.26-29
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."	26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.	27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe."
Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.	28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."
	29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
	30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

I find 20:23 very interesting. Apparently it has to do with the receiving of the Good News of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Spirit in the preceding verse. Colin G. Kruse says, "The non-forgiveness of sins is always related to refusal to believe in Jesus, suggesting that forgiveness of sins comes through belief in him. It is noteworthy that Jesus’ statement ‘If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’ is intimately connected with the (symbolic) bestowal of the Spirit (22–23), which is in turn related to the disciples’ being sent into the world as his witnesses (21–22; cf. 15:26–27). This supports the view that the way in which the disciples forgive sins and retain sins is by preaching the good news and declaring the effects of believing it (forgiveness) and rejecting it (no forgiveness)."¹

I would the interpret the emphasis of the passage as this:
1. Jesus is risen and he is sending us to preach the Good News
2. So receive the Holy Spirit, and preach the forgiveness of God
3. To those who have yet to believe, believe even though you have not seen
4. Because though you have not seen, the word is given to you that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and by believing you will have life in him

pearlie
1 Colin G. Kruse, John, Tyndale New Testament Commentary, IVP, 2003

It's Friday...but Sunday's a Coming

pearlie

Waste and rubbish, meanness and forgiveness

I was once referred to by someone as his favorite waste of time. I remember feeling ambivalent about it but not very happy at the same time. That was a long time ago. I don't know why I suddenly remembered it.

But this I remember very well. Recently someone indirectly said that the work I did was rubbish. I was quite angry.

Sigh...I don't understand why people say the things they say that aren't very nice.

Maybe this is good advise--How to Deal with Mean People:

1. Control Your Response - which I did. I could feel the surge of anger coming but I kept telling myself to step back and create the space to cool down.

2. Response to Meanness with Compassion - I think I did this too. I did not react but continued on the relationship ordinarily as if nothing happened. I'm working towards forgiveness.

3. Take Care of Your Own Pain First - this I feel is important. I'm a person who forgets easily whatever that is said or done against me except when I feel it's big. And so I acknowledged the pain but when I felt it again, I laughed it away. And right now as always, writing as a therapy helps. I think and write the pain away.

4. See Mean People for What They Really Are - and feel compassion for them. Not easy but necessary.

5. Fight Fire with Water - I pray for them. I pray that God will surrounded them with his holy presence.

The key to all this is forgiveness. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 4, verse 30-31:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

It's time I concentrate on this lesson this Holy Week. Jesus has died for my sins and with his death in the cross, God has forgiven me. Who am I not to forgive others for what they have done against me?

pearlie

Guilty moms?

Chris Abner spoke to us in church today with a sermon entitled The Gospel and Motherhood. He opened with the above video, which I have come across before but not watched. It brought tears me my eyes, and mom, Happy Mother's Day - I love you!

The main message of his sermon this morning will be something I will put close to my heart. It is a fact that all mothers are plagued with guilt. All. The. Time.

The only way out is to cling to the Gospel of Christ. His grace, his salvation, his providence, his mercy.

Chris quoted a mom, the source of which I think is from here by Julie Coleman.

When you are a mother, guilt is a state of being...(but) when Jesus suffered and died on the cross, the Heavenly Judge banged the gavel, and those who believed were set free. One man's act condemned us. The other One's act paid our debt in full. So technically, we are not guilty any more, at least in God's sight. Yet we do often continue carrying the often crushing weight of guilt around on our shoulders...one of the many benefits to our salvation is the fact the Holy Spirit resides within us as a guarantee of our salvation. He does more than inhabit us. He guides us and teaches us...yet still we may hold tight to the guilt, refusing to forgive ourselves...once we have confessed the sin, we must place the guilt in God's capable hands and walk away. Jesus' shoulders are big enough to bear our guilt. And His sacrifice was big enough to pay the price for that sin.Be wise enough to see the difference between conviction and guilt. Let the forgiveness that has been so freely given us wash over you. Bask in the grace of God. Because you are free."

Bask in the grace of God, my
fellow mothers. Happy Mother's Day!

pearlie

It is finished!

Jesus' "τετέλεσται" (tetelestai), "it is finished!" (John 19:30) was the meditation of our Good Friday service yesterday.

I had song practice this morning for Easter tomorrow. During the opening prayer of the practice session, I thought I heard the person praying "it was finished" referring to the finished work of Christ. I may have misheard it but it has again reminded me of the Greek word I learnt some years ago, were the tense is of utmost importance, in that we say "It is finished" and not otherwise.

I shall quote from William D. Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek, Zondervan, 1993, p.218:

It is often the very first and the very last thing we say that is the most important, or the statement that is the most memorable. First impressions and last impressions are the lasting impressions. The same is true for Jesus. The first statement we hear him say is that he should be in his Father's house (Luke 2:49). Even at the age of twelve, he was aware of his divine lineage.

And as he hung on the cross, having lived a sinless life, having paid the penalty for your sins and mine, Jesus uttered his last words before dying. Tετέλεσται. "It is finished" (John 19:30). This one word summary of Jesus' life and death is perhaps the single most important statement in all of Scripture. The word means "to complete," "to bring to perfection." Jesus has fully done the work God the Father sent him to do. Paul spends Romans 5 discussing this very fact, that our salvation is sure because Christ's death totally defeated the effects of Adam's sin, completely.

But the tense of the verb, the "perfect" tense, bring out even more of what Jesus was saying. The [Greek] perfect describes an action that was fully completed and has present-day consequences. Jesus could have used the aorist, ἐτέλησεν [etelesen], and simply said, "The work is done." But there is more, there is hope for you and for me. Because Jesus fully completed his task, the ongoing effects are that you and I are offered the free gift of salvation so that we can be with him forever. Praise the Lord. Tετέλεσται. (Emphasis mine.)

pearlie

Our First Passover Meal

Our CG leader and host, Chor Hon and May Foong, invited us to their home this evening for a Passover or Seder meal, on Good Friday today. For most of us, including the host, it is our first.


The table is prepared.


Our meal is simple. Since it is difficult for us to replicate it exactly, our host did a great job in preparing it as close as they can. We had unleavened bread in the form of biscuits, raw parsley in salted water, fruit and nut mix, roasted lamb and hard boiled eggs.


We had the privilege to share this special wine in the meal: Cana, Wedding Wine of the Holy Land.


We take our seats. We perform a reading of the Passover meal and Scripture passages, and partake the meal together.


May Foong lights the candles and prays:
Blessed art thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us by Thy commandments and hast commanded us to kindle the festival lights. Blessed art Thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this season. May our home be consecrated O God, by the light of Thy countenance shining upon us in the blessing and bringing us peace.

Chor Hon introduced the meal:
What is the passover meal?
A Jewish celebration of freedom from the oppression of slavery in Egypt. The story of escape from bondage.
The Good Friday celebration: a Christian celebration. Remember we were captive to death from sin, an eternal separation and condemnation from God. Yet we have been set free by the precious blood of Jesus.
At the ancient Passover meal, the son asked the father four traditional questions about the Passover. It is to carry on a discussion about the symbolic foods.
In more recent times the same four questions have been asked at the
Seder. The questions we ask tonight are similar but have been adapted to bring to mind the relationships between the Old and the New Testament.

Alvin: Let us eat this unleavened bread.
Matthew: Why are we eating unleavened bread?
Alvin: Leaven which represents yeast symbolizes the sin in us. This sin makes us puffed up inside and turn us away from God. Take the "s" and "n" . See the big "I"? We need to be rid of the sin inside us.

Cheng Han: Observe the holes in this bread.
Tim: Why are there holes in the bread?
Cheng Han: These holes symbolizes the thorns that pierced Christ's brow and the nails that pierced His Hands. It was for us He did it. Jesus is the Bread of Life and as we partake of His Bread, He will abide together with us.

Pearlie: Let us eat this parsley dipped in salt water.
Jun Ming: Why are we eating this parsley in salt?
Pearlie: Like the bitterness of the Israelites' life under cruel slavery in Egypt, we remember the bitterness of our lives under the ugly bondage to sin. We remember how we cry because life is bitter without a relationship with God.

Miranda: Let us eat this sweet sticky raisin nut mix, the Horoseth.
Rachel: Why are we eating this sweet pleasant dessert?
Miranda: Life is bitter sweet; the smell and pleasant taste of the Horoseth impresses upon us that, no matter how bitter and dark the present appears, we should hopefully look forward to better days. Now we have hope. Now we wipe away our tears, for we have new life in Christ.

Ee-Tan: Let us eat this lamb.
Kaylene: Why are we eating this lamb?
Ee-Tan: On the Passover night in Egypt, death was forced to pass over the door posts of the houses who were marked with the blood of lambs . The sons of Isrealites were spared but the Egyptian sons died.
As Jesus hung on the cross, His blood has forced God's judgement to pass over us. Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, was killed and His death was a sacrifice to pay for the punishment for our sins . For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

Peih Venh: Let us eat this boiled egg.
Carolyn: Why are we eating this egg?
Peih Venh: The egg, a symbol of mourning (as eggs are the first thing served to mourners after a funeral), the Jews mourn over the destruction of the Temple. Yet through Jesus, a new temple is in each of our hearts instead to worship God.

Chor Hon: Let us drink this cup of wine.
Matthew: Why are we drinking this cup of wine?
Chor Hon: So that we remember three things:
a) This is the cup of the new covenant. "This is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day," says the LORD. "I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Jer 31:33).
b) It is the cup of praise: we praise God here on earth and we look forward to drink this together in Heaven.
c) It is the cup to remind us that others are looking for the Saviour. We need to share this cup with those who thirst for the living waters of Christ but have not found it yet.

May Foong: Why are we reclining and drinking?
Richard: Tonight we remember that we are no longer slaves, but children of the very King of Kings. Freemen, royalty, reclined while eating. So, as Jesus who reclined at the Last Supper, we too lean back this night, for we are free to come before God who is upon the Throne.

We close with a reading together of Psalm 118.


Fellowshipping in the Seder meal - it was a truly blessed time of sharing the grace and goodness of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ His Son with the presence of the Holy Spirit. We remembered the work of Christ through the partaking of foods and meeting together as the body of Christ.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. (2 Cor 1:3-5)

pearlie
Photos: Pearlie Ng, 2014

My Song is Love Unknown (John Ireland)

I was in worship practice this morning and I fell in love with this song that is new to me.



I found the music score as well - and found that the timing is quite interesting. It does not even have a time signature. But I think most sing to a strict 4/4 timing now. I simply love John Ireland's music here and how he captured the emotion of the words with perfect notes.



My Song is Love Unknown
by Samuel Crossman, 1664

My song is love unknown,
My Saviour’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take frail flesh and die?

He came from His blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none
The longed-for Christ would know:
But O! my Friend, my Friend indeed,
Who at my need His life did spend.

Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,
And for His death they thirst and cry.

Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight,
Sweet injuries! Yet they at these
Themselves displease, and ’gainst Him rise.

They rise and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they save,
The Prince of life they slay,
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes,
That He His foes from thence might free.

Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King!
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in Whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.

pearlie

The world in devastation

Ah! I have been missing for 10 days as far as this blog is concerned.

And a lot has happened in the past week or so - a harbinger to the kind of year ahead? The major ones being the attack on several Malaysian churches over the court's decision in allowing the use of "Allah" by a Catholic newsletter to refer to God, and more devastatingly, the massive earthquake in Haiti that has brought much destruction to the lives of the people there.

I was preparing for bible study this evening and reading Leon Morris's NICNT commentary to the Gospel of John. This section on John 16:33 spoke very loudly:

"The world will infallibly bring them 'trouble'. That is its characteristic. But he can bid them 'take heart!' He had overcome the world, the perfect tense denoting an abiding victory. This statement, spoken as it is in the shadow of the cross, is audacious. The cross would seem to be Jesus' total defeat. He sees it as his complete victory over all that the world is and can do to him. He goes to the cross not in fear or in gloom, but as a conqueror." (Eerdmans, 1995, p.633)

It makes no sense to be joyful and yet we are called to rejoice in God. We can only do so if we look at our lives and live our lives through the cross of Christ. Without the work of Christ on the cross, we have nothing.

Therefore, rejoice! Take heart! He has overcome the world.

pearlie

Maundy ThursdayAt the Garden of Gethsemane

At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked if the cup can be removed from him, but yet not his will but the will of the Father be done. "It symbolises neither the physical pain of being flogged and crucified, nor the mental distress of being despised and rejected even by his own people, but rather the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world, in other words, of enduring the divine judgement which those sins deserved ... in Wisdom literature and the prophets the Lord's 'cup' was a regular symbol of his wrath." (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 76)

Jesus took on the wrath of God that is meant for us.

At the cross, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). For far too many times, I was being told and retold that Jesus was reciting Psalms 22:1 without much being reminded of the reason for it being uttered. John Stott himself said that while the people there at the cross at that time misunderstood it, thinking that Jesus was calling for Elijah, many today still misunderstand it. Some suggest that is was a cry of anger, unbelief or despair. Some understood it to be a cry of loneliness. Some said Jesus was uttering a cry of victory, using the first verse of the psalm to represent the whole of the psalm which ends with great confidence and triumph. Some even took it as a simple and straightforward cry of real dereliction. But these are not why Jesus cried out those words.

He called out to the Father - calling Him his God - crying why has He forsaken him - in the darkness, he was alone, he was God-forsaken. As Calvin put it, "If Christ had died only a bodily death, it would have been ineffectual ... Unless his soul shared in the punishment, he would have been the Redeemer of bodies alone." In consequence, "he paid a greater and more excellent price in suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man." So then an actual and dreadful separation took place between the Father and the Son; it was voluntarily accepted by both the Father and the Son; it was due to our sins and their just reward; and Jesus expressed this horror of great darkness, this God-forsakenness - God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ. C.E.B. Cranfield emphasised that Jesus experienced not merely a felt, but a real, abandonment by his Father, but the paradox is that while this God-forsakenness was utterly real, the unity of the Blessed Trinity was even then unbroken. (Stott, 81-82).

I needed so much to be reminded of this. Through the years, the message has somehow became diluted. It has not been taught enough, not been reminded of, not been meditated upon much. My attention was mainly directed to the bodily pains of Christ. The death meant to me just something temporary because after death came resurrection anyway, because Jesus is after all, the Son of the Living God. But now that I am being brought back to the reality of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. He gave up more than his bodily life. He experienced a separation from the Father, with whom he has had eternal communion from everlasting. He experienced the separation that is rightfully ours, for our sake. So that we can be reconciled to God through him. Oh, such is the steadfast love of the Lord.

Just imagine: though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8).

What kind of a God would do that? If you have created something and it turns bad - discard it, no big deal. But we are more than a big deal to God. More than fixing us, he made himself one of us, so that we can be right before God on his account. He died so we may live. He got forsaken so that we may be returned to God, holy and justified, redeemed and made righteous. But first, he has to die.

O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head!
Our load was laid on Thee;
Thou stoodest in the sinner's stead,
Didst bear all ill for me.
A victim led, Thy blood was shed;
Now there's no load for me.

The Holy One did hide His face;
O Christ, 'twas hid from Thee:
Dumb darkness wrapped Thy soul a space,
The darkness due to me.
But now that face of radiant grace
Shines forth in light on me.

J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 218.

pearlie
Photo: Jim Caviezel as Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. From The Passion of the Christ

Holy WednesdayJesus is Lord

Carson in his teaching session on Revelations 13 strongly calls for us to lead a life that reflects what Christ has done on the cross - we must live a life that either proclaims that Jesus is Lord or the beast is lord. There are no two ways about it: it is one or the other.

So what have I been doing?

Do I think, say and do things that reflect Christ? Do they testify to the truth that is in Christ? Do I passionately endure and be faithful to the gospel of Christ? Do I bear up under the pressure in faithfulness to display godliness and obedience to the gospel of Christ? How I live bears testimony to who rules my life.

If the answer is no, it is then without a doubt that the beast is lord. The beast is lord if I have tacked God to only when I am free, the beast is lord if I have a need for prayer only when I am in trouble, the beast is lord if do not take pain to think and reflect what the cross means, the beast is lord if I abbreviate the cross to just an ornament I hang around my neck, the beast is lord if I reduce the cross to just a piece of wall fixture in my church.

Indeed, Jesus is Lord: what is my testimony?

Ephesians 2:13-16
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

pearlie
Photo © 2008 Vivek Chugh

Holy TuesdayJesus of the Scars

Jesus of the Scars
If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow;
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars we claim Thy grace.

If when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know today what wounds are; have no fear;
Show us Thy Scars; we know the countersign.

The other gods were strong, but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

by Edward Shillito (1872-1948)

pearlie
Photo © 2007 Herman Brinkman