A LENTEN ADVENTURE for 2024: The Jesus of the Gospels - Part 1
A LENTEN ADVENTURE for 2024: Friday February 16
Two days ago was Ash Wednesday, the first day of our Lenten celebration …
Why are we practicing Lent in these 40 days before Holy Week? Why are we preparing ourselves spiritually in order to commemorate the Passion, the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus? Why is this JESUS so central in our universe?
Jesus is the center of history: in almost the entire world, history is divided into B.C. and A.D., referring to the date of Jesus’ birth (whether that date is completely precise or not)
Jesus is the center of the Holy Scriptures: the Bible is not a haphazard collection of religious documents – Jesus Himself said: “… These are the Scriptures that testify about me …” (John 5:39)
Jesus is the center of missions: those who go to the nations, making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them are not recommending a doctrine, an ideology or an institution – they are recommending a person, the one and only Jesus Christ
Who then, is this JESUS, the center of all that exists? Let’s discover Him today, and in the next few days, in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – each one giving us a portrait with a unique face:
The Gospel of Matthew: Christ, the Fulfillment of the Scriptures
while the prophets of the Old Testament lived in the age of anticipation, the apostles of the New Testament lived in the age of fulfillment
the Christ represented by Matthew was the fulfillment of every prophecy ever made about Him – 11 times throughout his gospel, the author explains: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet …” (Matthew 1:22, + others) – everything that happened had been prophesied, and everything that was prophesied was fulfilled … in Jesus
the Christ represented by Matthew was the fulfillment of the Law – in Matthew 5:17, Jesus declared: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” – and how did He fulfill the Law? by living, and asking His followers to live, a righteousness that was not mere words of outward actions, but a righteousness that is pure in attitude and in the motives of the heart
