Ring in Jesus!
One hundred years ago yesterday, the weather was balmy; lows in the mid-60s and highs in the mid-80s. Lake Wales was at the peak of the Florida Land Boom, with lots of people moving into the area. Traffic was terrible. Bok Tower was a set of blueprints. (They would begin construction on it the following year.)
It was an exciting day. The missionary community formed under the name Church of the Good Shepherd gathered to celebrate Easter Sunday. It was their very first service in their brand-new church building, their own worship space, which elevated them from “mission” to “parish” status. They had worked very hard for months to raise the funds and build that wooden church on this very spot.
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God Made the First Move
Scripture lessons like the ones we just heard are the stories of Our God reaching down into the lives of His chosen people. His Grace, and Blessing to a people who truly didn’t understand the gift that they were receiving. A people that had done nothing to deserve this grace. God didn’t wait for a change of heart from His people; He made the first move.
Come let us imagine that night with Jesus and the disciples as they enter the upper room for their Passover meal. Jesus had sent the disciples ahead to make the preparations. They assumed it would be like the other Passover meals that they had shared with Him in the past. Little did they know, this Passover meal would be different, much different. It would be the last meal with Jesus before He went to the cross.
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The Same Mind
Caesarea Maritima was a fabulous city built by Herod the Great – the Herod that was the King of Judea when Jesus was born. It – not Jerusalem – was the capital of the Roman province of Judea. It sits right on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, and Herod built the first man-made harbor there. The trading of goods and flow of people all came through it.
It had a large outdoor theater, a hippodrome where they would have chariot races and gladiator fights, and numerous temples including one to Emperor Tiberius. And Herod built his palace on a promontory reaching out into the Mediterranean, with the sea on three sides. He also had a large freshwater swimming pool in the middle of it. Very impressive.
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