Calvin Synod Herald, 2013 (114. évfolyam, 3-12. szám)
2013-03-01 / 3-4. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 3 Easter 2013 "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He Is Not Here, But Has Risen" Luke 24:5B, 6A On the first day of the week, women heard the good news for the first time: “He is not here, but He has risen.” The disciples and followers who later met the risen Christ, preached God’s miraculous deed to the world as their own faith experience. Meeting with the resurrected Christ changed human lives, not just on the first easter morning after his crucifixion. The risen Christ changed the lives of all those who were connected with him throughout the centuries and are even today. Research can trace Jesus’ life on earth to the cross of Golgotha and the sealed tomb. But the miracle of the resurrection is also evident in the world of faith. Christian faith is victorious because it ties us to the living Christ. Jesus promised his followers, “those who believe in me, even though they die will live; and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die ” (John 11:25,26). He makes us a part of a new and eternal life through him, and later, through our resurrection, our greatest treasure is faith which makes us citizens of a new world, the kingdom of God. Without faith, we can only reach the reality of the grave and decay. Through faith we are given a new and eternal life, what can we do to receive faith? Faith is given by God as a gift through the Holy Spirit. We cannot achieve it through human merit, but by his grace. We cannot earn or buy it; God gives faith and we can and must receive it. Acceptance and repentance are the human part of receiving faith, the beauty of creation and the curse of sin are part of our human experience. The world of faith opens to us through obedience to God. Faith comes through the hearing of the word of God. This is the reason why the gospel is preached to the outermost ends of the earth in obedience to God’s commands. It pleases God to reach people through the preaching of the word. On this easter, the deciding question is: do you believe in God and in the risen Christ, who was sent by God to be the Savior and Messiah of the world? Let us pray with the biblical prayer: “/ believe my Lord, help my unbelief. ” I pray for the joyful faith of the resurrection for every member and friend of our Calvin Synod. Christ has risen, he has risen indeed. Jesus lives and we will live also. Praise be to God for Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Amen. fl (Bfessecf Easter to aCC of you! Yours in His service, Bishop Béla Póznán The Last Supper or the Lord's Supper? Matthew 26:20-30 The Last Supper as it is commonly called is recalled in most churches on all of the major holidays, or at least once a month. It is a reminder of what the Lord had done on our behalf. The passage from the Gospel of Matthew 26:20-39 relates to us the prophecy of the betrayal, and we see the promise of Jesus that he will not take of the fruit of the vine until we drink it with him in His Father’s Kingdom. But the Passover, which this actually is, has roots in the Old Testament, the meal has dealings in the past, the present and the future. What do we see, when look into the past? The leader of the Seder would say “For thousands of years the people of Israel have not forgotten that their ancestors were slaves in the land of Egypt. The passage from slavery into freedom became the chief event of Israelite history. Classical Hebrew writings lay stress on the fact that the external liberation was not an end in itself but the necessary precondition for the receiving of the Law on Mount Sinai. In every generation let each one feel as if he or she came forth out of Egypt. It was in this spirit that the story of the liberation was told and handed down from generation to generation, each generation in turn growing up in the knowledge that it would have the responsibility to tell the story to the next one. The beginning is the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. The unleavened bread was baked without any yeast in it, today we liken the cracker or the Matzos to this. Some have even gone as far as actually baking bread with yeast. While taking of the bread they would say; “Remember the day on which you went forth from Mitzrayim, from the house of bondage and how Adonai freed you with a mighty hand. What do we see when we look at the present? I am sure that you have heard many communion meditations in you lifetime. In it we are asked to examine ourselves, and to take of the bread and the cup in a worthy manner recognizing the Body of Christ. Some have taken this to be literally recognizing the bread and the wine to become the actual body and blood of Jesus. This is called TRANSUBSTANTIATION. We celebrate it in a little different fashion. We do not take the bread and the cup in that manner, e believe the emblems represent the Body of Christ calling this CONSUBSTANTIATION. In actuality, the recognizing the Body of Christ as Paul relays it to us is in recognition of the church. In taking of the emblems we remember THE DAY on which we went forth from the bondage of sin and how the Lord freed us with his death on the cross. What does this mean for the future” We will take of these emblems in the Great Banquet, called the Wedding feast of the Lamb, and in it we will remember “How the Lord freed us from this mortal body to immortality and we will be with him forever.” (1 Thess. 4:17) There are 4 cups which they take part of throughout the Passover meal: but before I go there, let me tell you of the seating arrangement. The Head of the House would naturally be seated at the Head of the Table, the wife/mother would be at the other end of the table. The children would be seated from oldest to youngest, with a chair to the right of the head being empty. That chair is
