From the Pulpit...

With profound, searing emotion Jesus must have felt as His arrest drew near. Three times Jesus implored His heavenly Father to remove the cup of the cross from Him if such a thing was possible. And three times He received silence in return, which He rightly took as a divine "no," although Luke reports that an angel came to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). Surely God would have granted Jesus' request if any other means existed to save the human race. Luke reminds readers that Jesus came to satisfy all the prophecies made about Him in the old testament. The disciples heard the Lord teach innumerable times. They watched Him perform miracles for at least three years. They saw Him crucified; and now they stood in His resurrected presence. But not until the Lord opened their minds to understand the Scriptures did they truly comprehend. Spiritual understanding comes through the Spirit of the living God, or it does not come at all. Luke makes clear that the message of Christ ought to include a focus on repentance and remission of sins. One without the other is incomplete (Acts 26:20). Even after the disciples believed that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, they did not become effective witnesses until the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2). Jesus instructed His followers to wait at Jerusalem until the Spirit came and filled them with His power and authority. Knowledge and conviction alone are not enough; the Christian mission depends on the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit for its success.