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He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." - Jesus |
| Luke 14:15-24
One of his fellow guests
on hearing this said to him, "Blessed is the one who will dine in the
kingdom of God." He replied to him, "A man gave a great dinner to which
he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his
servant to say to those invited, 'Come, everything is now ready.' But
one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him,
'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you,
consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of
oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me
excused.' And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore
I cannot come.' The servant went and reported this to his master. Then
the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, 'Go out
quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the
poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The servant reported,
'Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.' The
master then ordered the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedgerows
and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you,
none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'" Luke 24:13-35 "And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight." Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?" And he replied to them, "What sort of things?" They said to him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see." And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer 8 these things and enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Johm 13:1-20 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well." Jesus said to him, "Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all." For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, "Not all of you are clean." So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the scripture might be fulfilled, 'The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.' From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." John 6: 1-15
After
this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (of Tiberias). A large
crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the
sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his
disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his
eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip,
"Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" He said this to
test
him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered
him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough
for
each of them to have a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, the
brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five
barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" Jesus
said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of
grass
in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then
Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who
were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they
had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments
left over, so that nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and
filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley
loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the
sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one
who
is to come into the world." Since Jesus knew that they were going to
come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the
mountain alone. |