Guest blog by Phil Cappuccio His personal ministry
HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY NEVER REACHED FOUR YEARS IN LENGTH AND THE WORLD HAS NEVER BEEN THE SAME SINCE!!
MOHAMMED devoted nearly 25 years of his life to the spreading of his Islamic teaching. Fighting for it and killing those who resisted or strayed away from his teaching.
BUDDHA devoted 50 years of his life to spreading Buddhism
JESUS, only 3 1/2 years of Teaching and Preaching Ministry. He forced no one to follow Him or His teachings. Nor did he resort to physical or military force in order to spread his teachings. His earthly ministry concluded with Him being arrested, scourged and then sentenced to death by public humiliation, having to endure crucifixion… naked.
Nailed and tied to a tree, He hung with an inscription over his head in the three major languages, just to mock Him… “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS!!” (Luke 23:38)
According to His public persona, His ministry ended in shame. With Him being made into a public spectacle, despised and reputed as a blasphemous teacher according to the age old religion of his peers. His own follower betrayed Him and nearly all of His tiny band of followers scattered from him at the time of his death (except one, John).
Some Considerations?????
Have you ever once thought what might account for the enormous and uninterrupted impact that Jesus Christ has had upon the nations of the world since His death for these past 2000 years??
Not to mention that His influence has increased through an ever growing number of followers!!
Who in their right mind, would continue to devote their life (giving up all) in order to associate themselves with Jesus and commit themselves to perpetuate what He taught during His short and shamefully concluded life?
Why would innumerable men and women of all different ethnicities be so willing to become His disciples? And when given the opportunity, why would millions be willing to endure persecution. And even torture and death,” rather than continue living by “DENYING” Him?
Can you think of anyone else in History who spent less than 4 years teaching and preaching and then afterward was imprisoned, presented as a spectacle and then shamefully executed. Who, then after their death continued to amass followers willing to forsake all, just to be called a disciple and who were willing to commit their lives and treasures in order to propagate what this person preached and taught?
Can you think of anyone else who had an active ministry for only 3 1/2 years and yet, inspired the founding of Missionary Organizations, Relief Organizations, Hospitals, Orphanages and Schools, the world over for more than 20 centuries??
Would people give up fame, fortune and life to follow such a LOSER? A SELF PROCLAIMED KING who never engaged in a battle or even attempted a coup d’état?
Instead, in his final hours before being sentenced for execution by crucifixion, He’s presented before his followers, family and a mocking crowd, wearing the ONLY CROWN he’d ever wore… a twisted “Crown of Thorns”!!
BEHOLD YOUR KING, they cried!! There He stands, the “PICTURE OF DEFEAT and HUMILIATION”!!
There can be ONLY ONE reason… and it is captured in what the angel told a few women when they arrived at his tomb:
“He is not here: for HE IS RISEN, AS HE SAID. Come, see the place where the Lord lay”. (Matthew 28:6)
This one fact about His LIFE sets Him apart from all others, VALIDATING ALL THAT HE EVER TAUGHT AND PREACHED!!
The evidence of His EMPTY TOMB demands our most ardent devotion!! And the fact that He is still ALIVE and TRANSFORMING for the Good, the lives of all who follow Him has produced that kind of devotion within our hearts!!
(I would like to thank Phil Cappuccio for this guest post. I appreciate how he articulates such wisdom and expression through his writings. Blessings, Arleen)
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Arleen Jennings is the author of:
Created to be Creative
to purchase her book Click Here
eBook available
