Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 22:54-71. Let’s go!

Luke 22:54-71 (NIV) 
54  Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.
55  But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.
56  A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
57  But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said……

Peter’s denial was based on weakness and fear. After the Last Supper, Jesus took the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to await His arrest. There Jesus told them to be alert and prayerfully while He went off to pray by Himself. When Jesus returned to them, He found the disciples sleeping. Jesus warned Peter to stay awake and pray because the spirit was willing, and the flesh was weak.

Peter, despite this warning, fell asleep, and by the time the soldiers had come to arrest Jesus, it was too late to pray for the strength to endure the trial ahead. Later, after Peter was restored, he urged Christians to be alert in 1 Peter 5:8. Peter’s weakness caused him to be devoured temporarily as he denied the Lord three times because he wasn’t prepared in prayer and underestimated the extent of his weakness.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 22:39-53. Let’s go!

Luke 22:39-40 (NIV) 
39  Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.
40  On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 

On verses 39-40: Previously, when his disciples asked Jesus how to pray, one of the lines Jesus taught them to pray was “lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:4). Now is when the rubber meets the road, when the disciples are in a situation where they need to pray more than ever the way Jesus teaches them to pray.

How often do you pray, “Lord, lead me not into temptation”? It may be a prayer we ought to pray more often.

Luke 22:41-42 (NIV) 
41  He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,
42  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

On verses 41-42: Jesus is the Son of God, the most powerful man to ever live.  Yet notice the way Jesus approaches his Father in prayer:

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 22:25-38. Let’s go!

Luke 22:25-27 (NIV) 
25  Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.
26  But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
27  For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

On verses 25-27: Back in Jesus’ time, the highest profile leaders were very much about titles and throwing their weight around (v25). In contrast, Jesus calls his disciples to a revolutionary kind of leadership, one that is about service. In God’s economy, the greatest and most valuable leaders are those who serve.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 22:14-24. Let’s go!

Luke 22:14-24 (NIV)
14  When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.
15  And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
16  For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
17  After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you…….

On verses 14-24: This scene, one of the most famous scenes from Jesus’ life, is the basis for why and how we do communion. The bread we break represents the body Jesus broke for us on the cross. The cup we drink represents the blood Jesus shed for us on the cross.

At first, when I read a passage like this, I’m struck by how petty the disciples are in this scene. Their leader Jesus has just shared his heart about how much he desires to eat this final supper with them before he suffers. The disciples, however, upon hearing that one of them will betray Jesus, turn this last supper with Jesus into a quarrel among themselves about who would be the one to betray Jesus. This would lead to various disciples getting defensive and starting to talk about which of them was the greatest disciple. Yet in quarreling this way, the disciples were missing the point of the last supper. They had turned an occasion that was supposed to be about Jesus into an occasion that was more about themselves.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 22:1-13. Let’s go!

Luke 22:1 (NIV) 
1  Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching…

On verse 1: The Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, was one of the most important festivals in the Jewish calendar. It was an annual event to commemorate the time described in the book of Exodus when the Israelites were still slaves in Egypt and were getting ready to leave Egypt under Moses’ leadership. God warned that every firstborn son living in Egypt would be struck down and killed unless his family sacrificed a lamb without defect and painted the doorframes of their homes with the lamb’s blood. When God saw the blood painted on the doorframes, God’s wrath would “pass over” that family and that house. God also instructed the Israelite families back then to bake bread without leaven (yeast) in it, so as to have a quick meal before being led out of Egypt. As a reminder of the mercy God showed to the Israelites back then, every year the Israelites would commemorate this event through the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, by eating a similar meal together consisting of unleavened bread and lamb.