QT 30/03/2024 Saturday: A congruence of the wills of God and mankind? 上帝和人类的意志一致吗？
QT 30/03/2024 Saturday: A congruence of the wills of God and mankind? 上帝和人类的意志一致吗？
https://www.esv.org/matt27:62-66
What was the human intentions on this sacred Saturday–the day after the crucifixion, the day before the resurrection? Nothing much is recorded about this 2nd day of the 3 days.
(1) Jewish Leaders: However, Matthew 27:62–66 contained a little clue: the minds of the chief priests, Pharisees and Pilate the governor were in congruence–Jesus was to be dead and had to remain dead once and for all. The Jewish leaders' request for a guard to secure the tomb was met with endorsement by Pilate. The seal and guard made sure that no greater power and authority would reverse their agreement to let Jesus remain dead.
(2) God the Father: After a life of hard work, Jesus "rested" from his working of redeeming mankind. His work was finished, as he uttered so on the cross. Yet, the penalty paid for sin by the death of the Lamb of God is no small matter. This 2nd day is the longest, a full 24 hours. God the Father is in agreement to let Jesus stay in the tomb for the full day.
There you have it, Jesus' death and burial in the tomb had, to my surprise, the agreement of both God and the Jewish leaders (even though their motivations were different). On this day, Jesus experienced death himself. He understands your fears of death and anxiety over threats of death, decay and deterioration of the human body (ageing). He himself had faced a painful and cruel death head on in submission to God's will.
(3) Jesus' Disciples and Followers: What did they do on this Saturday? The women made preparations for Jesus' burial rites. The disciples, on the other hand, had scattered out of fear much earlier when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:50). After their master's crucifixion, they huddled together in fear of the Jews, for fear of being arrested (John 20:19). Jesus' followers had to organise their disorganised thoughts regarding what had just happened—one of their own had betrayed their master, and the sequential events that followed led to their master's death.
Reflections: God did not allow Jesus to shortcut. No resurrection Sunday without going through the full 24 hours of Saturday in the grave. While Good News of God's salvation was important, this very Good News would have lost much of their underlying meaning if God did not mean what He said, that sin shall lead to death (see Genesis 2:17). (1) Are we fully aware and sensitive to how serious God viewed sins, just as sin led to death for Adam and Eve, and all who follow in their disobedient footsteps? (2) Are we willing to include and accept reprimand, recourse, re-training, renovation by God to alert us to the reality of death, and being sensitised to leave unholiness of all kinds in our lives?
星期六 2024年3月30日 上帝和人类的意志一致吗？
http://m.bbintl.org/bible/ncv/Matt/27/
在这个神圣的星期六--受难之后的一天，复活之前的一天，人类的意图是什么？关于这三天中的第二天，圣经没有很多的记载。
(1) 犹太领袖： 然而，马太 27：62-66 却包含了一点线索：祭司长、法利赛人和巡抚彼拉多的想法是一致的--耶稣将死，继续的死亡，永远地死亡。犹太领袖要求派人看守坟墓，得到了彼拉多的同意。封印和守卫确保了没有更大的权力和权威会推翻他们要耶稣继续死亡的协议。
(2) 天父上帝： 经过一生的辛勤工作，耶稣从他救赎人类的工作中 "安息 "下来。他的工作已经完成，正如他在十字架上所说的那样。然而，上帝羔羊为罪所付出的惩罚而死，是却非同小可。这第二天是最长的一天，整整24小时。父神同意让耶稣在坟墓里呆上一整天。
就这样，耶稣的死和埋葬在坟墓里，竟然有了上帝和犹太领袖同意（虽然他们的动机不同）。在这一天，耶稣亲身经历了死亡。因此，他理解你们对死亡的恐惧，以及面对死亡的威胁、人体腐烂和退化（衰老）的焦虑。他自己也曾顺从上帝的旨意，直面痛苦而残酷的死亡。
(3) 耶稣的门徒和追随者： 这个星期六他们做了什么？妇女们为耶稣葬后仪式做准备。另一方面，门徒们早在耶稣被捕时（马可 14：50）就因害怕而四散奔逃。他们的主被钉死在十字架上后，他们因为害怕犹太人，害怕被逮捕而挤在一起（约翰 20：19）。耶稣的跟随者们不得不整理他们杂乱无章的思绪，思考刚刚发生的事情–他们中的一位同行背叛了他们的主人，而随后发生的一系列事件导致了他们主的死亡。
思考： 上帝不允许耶稣走捷径。没有在坟墓中度过完整的 24 小时的星期六，就没有复活的星期天。上帝救赎的好消息固然重要，但如果上帝说的不是 "罪必导致死亡"（参考创世纪2：17），那么这个好消息也就失去了很多意义。(1) 我们是否充分意识到上帝看待罪的严肃性，正如罪导致亚当和夏娃的死亡，以及所有跟随他们悖逆脚步的人的死亡？(2) 我们是否愿意接受上帝的斥责、追索、再培训、改造，以提醒我们死亡的现实，并敏感地认识到我们生命中的各种不圣洁？
