{"id":5214,"date":"2022-09-29T20:29:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T18:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5214"},"modified":"2022-09-29T20:29:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T18:29:50","slug":"let-us-claim-christ-faithfully-and-not-despise-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5214","title":{"rendered":"Let us claim Christ faithfully and not despise him."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Try to put yourself in this situation: an old, life-worn father, who has raised two sons, is alone. He wanted to live the rest of his life among his own and die in their circle. But they are not interested in the father. They are ashamed of him. They openly made him feel it not only by word but also by decreeing that he be admitted to a nursing home. However, he did not survive a single night in the house. He died. His heart failed due to the pain of being despised, disliked…<\/h2>\n
The Lord Jesus suffered similarly. He performed several miracles in Korozain, Bethesda, and the same in Capernaum, but they did not accept Him as their Lord and God. He said to them, but also for our edification: “He that hearth you hearth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me. But whoever despises me despises him who sent me” (Lk 10:16).<\/h2>\n
Contempt hurts very much. It offends. It can hurt very deeply. We know that the Lord Jesus came into the world out of love to bring the world back to the Father. He has often shown His love in the cities mentioned above by His miracles, yet He must sigh sadly: “Woe to you, Korozain! Woe to thee, Bethesda! For if the miracles that have been done in Tyre and Sidon had been done in you, they would be long ago have been sitting in ashes in repentant garments and repenting” (Lk 10:13). These are solemn words of caution, for rejected love brings just punishment. Whoever denies the Lord Jesus rejects the God who sent him, for according to the old diplomatic law, it is still true today that “an ambassador is like the one who sends him.” We know that it happens from time to time that whoever offends a diplomat who represents his nation somewhere offends the whole country in him. So it is with God. Whoever insults the Lord Jesus does not receive His love, despises it, and thereby offends and despises God Himself in all the three Divine Persons.<\/h2>\n
Sometimes in your rashness, in your hastiness, under the pressure of crosses and difficulties, you may have wished for a miracle to happen to confirm the truth of faith, the existence of God. But we know that even if this were to happen, it might not be beneficial. No miracle will disprove human objections and bring about conversion, for we see this in the performance of the Lord Jesus. His miracles, healing, resurrections from the dead, and satiation in the wilderness did not convert the majority of the Jews. They persisted in their bias against the Lord Jesus.<\/h2>\n
Therefore, our faith does not have to be based on miracles, but we are to believe the words of Jesus. It is the same then as it is today. Back then, actual people saw the Lord Jesus face to face and could touch Him. We today have the Church’s teaching that Christ is the same yesterday and tomorrow, and though He is veiled, we believe in His presence in the sacraments. He says that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he is present among them also. Let us accept the words of the Lord Jesus, let us listen to them, and let us not despise his love. Whoever hates the teaching of the Church hates Christ himself, for Christ is the same in the Church.<\/h2>\n
Indeed, children who are ashamed of their father and have no place for him in the house must realize that they are calling down punishment upon themselves. The father’s heart broke with pain. Christ’s heart was pierced on the cross. But let us see that our intervention does not repeat the drama of Golgotha.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"