I have been busy getting ready for Pesach (Passover) this week and the work is certainly not finished by any stretch of the imagination. I just sat down to plan what I will do for Friday's article that will need to be completed well before Shabbat starts, and a thought came to mind. Let's call this a Nugget.
I was looking at the days and the upcoming week with much preparation, and cooking to be done and I was reminded of many conversations that I had with friends when I was in school. These are things that only a kid would be able to see like why priests are called father when the leader of the church said not to call anyone father except The Father in heaven. That was a good one.
Another one that always got them was how Mashiach claimed he would be in the ground for three days and three nights, like Jonah, then rise again. But everyone was fine with him dying on Friday evening, being put in the ground hastily before sunset, and rising after only one day and two nights in the ground.
If he died on Friday and rose on Sunday morning, then he was lying about what he would do.
If he meant what he said but people have been going to church on the wrong days for so many years, then the church would be no better than the religious Jews of that that time who were heavily criticized by Yeshua for misleading the people.
I am not going to say which it is or is not. Some will fail at common sense conclusions no matter how much the answer leans to one side. As a present day example, many have been getting their polio tests several times per month so they know when to buy crutches.
I have been cleaning and getting rid of anything in the house that has Chametz in it and sweeping any areas that could have seen crumbs over the last year. That is the command (Mitsvah) for preparing for Pesach and when I looked at the calendar, I ended up counting the days and nights until Sunday morning as I had done as a kid - I had faced many classroom and lunchroom debates as a youngster. My conclusion, if we are trusting the math, is that the Son of Man would have been meeting with his followers and breaking bread with them last night - two millennia ago during the preparation phase of Pesach.
This evening more than two thousand years ago however, he would be on the cross after undergoing several audiences with rulers, many cruel punishments, and a final death sentence. He would be dying right about now and though he had wanted to eat the Passover with his friends, he would not be able to.
There is little doubt that he rose on First Fruits as much of his prophetic actions took place on the appointed days (Moedim) of YHVH. When you add that into the mix and reconcile the facts, the room was in preparation when he met with them and created the memorial that most churches practice.
No Hebrew to read today, just a bit of common sense and simple counting skills to practice as we head into this prophetic time of being ready to go!
Eat fast with your shoes on and your car keys in your hand!
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
