{"id":20652,"date":"2023-03-18T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotionsaturday-18-march-2023"},"modified":"2023-03-18T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-18T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-saturday-18-march-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-saturday-18-march-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion\u00a0Saturday 18 March 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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inspiration in your inbox<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Saturday 18 March 2023 <\/strong><\/span>
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St Matthew 21: 23 – 27<\/strong><\/span>
When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, \u2018By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?\u2019  Jesus said to them, \u2018I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.  Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?\u2019 And they argued with one another, \u2018If we say, \u201cFrom heaven\u201d, he will say to us, \u201cWhy then did you not believe him?\u201d  But if we say, \u201cOf human origin\u201d, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.\u2019  So they answered Jesus, \u2018We do not know.\u2019 And he said to them, \u2018Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong>
The chief priests and the elders were not happy.<\/p>\n

Yesterday Jesus had caused havoc. First he had stirred the city of Jerusalem into turmoil, leaving everyone asking who he was. Then he went straight to the temple and turned over the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. Next he had the temerity to hold court inside the Temple, purporting to cure the blind and the lame and rudely rebuffing those who remonstrated with him when children began to call out \u2018Hosannah to the Son of David!\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now Jesus was back again, teaching the people as though he owned the temple. So they accosted him, knowing that they were in the right \u2013 that they had the right, because they were in charge, as their caste had been for centuries (albeit now with the shadow of the Romans ever present). They didn\u2019t beat about the bush. \u2018By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?\u2019<\/p>\n

Jesus, like the seasoned teacher he was, answered their question with one of his own. One that reminded Matthew\u2019s audience that it was at Jesus\u2019 baptism that he had received confirmation of his authority from heaven and that the Spirit had descended upon him then, making him the anointed one, the Messiah.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 question also left the chief priests and the elders in a quandary. The people believed in John and they did not. They could not or would not believe that either John\u2019s or Jesus\u2019 authority came from heaven, because that would have meant drastic changes to their understanding of God and God\u2019s purposes, and, as a consequence, to their lives.<\/p>\n

The question for us, is what do we believe and are we willing to let our beliefs change our lives?<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong>
Lord Jesus,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to you.
Help us not simply to believe this,
but to let our beliefs change us and the way we live our lives,
that we may become every more true to your image in us.
Thanks be to God
Amen.<\/p>\n

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Today’s writer<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Rev\u2019d Jacky Embrey, minister in the Bolton and Salford Missional Partnership.<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright \u00a9 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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inspiration in your inbox Saturday 18 March 2023   St Matthew 21: 23 – 27When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, \u2018By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?\u2019  Jesus said to them, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion\u00a0Saturday 18 March 2023”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}