{"id":23987,"date":"2024-07-31T10:51:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T14:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23987"},"modified":"2024-07-31T10:51:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T14:51:05","slug":"the-last-shall-be-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23987","title":{"rendered":"The Last Shall Be First"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lauren Daigle - Rescue (Official Lyric Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9PugD11k3JU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Theologian Dorothee S\u00f6lle (1929\u20132003) understood God\u2019s kingdom as good news for women and all oppressed people.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Jesus movement was a group of female and male friends who followed the little man from Nazareth. Many had no fixed dwelling and had abandoned their traditional family bonds\u2026. We can best imagine these conditions if we think of the vast [barrios] of Latin America, for example, where the poorest of the poor are women. When the New Testament speaks on almost every page about the sick, we must think here of sick women, blind, paralyzed, and seared by misery. Many were psychically sick, or possessed by demons, as the New Testament says. The Jesus movement offered hope for these sufferers. They were healed and began to heal others. <strong>They heard the good news of liberation and passed it on. They were filled, and they shared the little they had.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Jesus movement lived in conflict with its society. Jesus expected the reversal of all social oppositions through God\u2019s intervention, and this expectation\u2014\u201cthe kingdom of God is at hand\u201d\u2014characterized the movement. <strong>All those who were outsiders according to the norms of society and held to be \u201cimpure\u201d according to the law\u2014the poor, the landless, public sinners, tax collectors, and women\u2014were accepted here. \u201cThe last will be first\u201d [Matthew 20:16] is a keynote permeating the whole message of Jesus. [1]\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>James Cone (1938\u20132018) relates Jesus\u2019 vision of God\u2019s liberating kingdom to the experience of Black enslavement:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In their encounter with Jesus Christ, black slaves received a \u201cvision from on high\u201d wherein they were given a new knowledge of their personhood, which enabled them to fight for the creation of a world defined by black affirmations. <strong>Their hope sprang from the actual presence of Jesus, breaking into their broken existence, and bestowing upon them a foretaste of God\u2019s promised freedom. They could fight against slavery and not give up in despair, because they believed that their earthly struggle was a preparation for the time when they would \u201ccross over Jordan\u201d and \u201cwalk in Jerusalem just like John.\u201d They were willing to \u201cbear heavy burdens,\u201d \u201cclimb high mountains,\u201d and \u201cstand hard trials,\u201d because they were \u201ctrying to get home.\u201d Home was the \u201cnot yet,\u201d the other world that was not like this one. Jesus was the divine coming One who would take them to the \u201cbright mansions above.\u201d\u2026\u202f<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many black slaves, Jesus became the decisive Other in their lives who provided for them a knowledge of themselves, not derived from the value system of slave masters. How could black slaves know that they were human beings when they were treated like cattle?\u2026 <strong>[Or] that they had a value that could not be defined by dollars and cents, when the symbol of the auction block was an ever present reality? Only because they knew that Christ was present with them and that his presence included the divine promise to come again and to take them to the \u201cNew Jerusalem.\u201d [2]\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>_____________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus Calling Sarah Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Trust Me in the depths of your being. It is there that I live in constant communication with you. When you feel flustered and frazzled on the outside, do not get upset with yourself. You are only human, and the swirl of events going on all around you will sometimes feel overwhelming. Rather than scolding yourself for your humanness, remind yourself that I am both with you and within you.<\/strong><br>\u00a0 \u00a0 <strong>\u00a0I am with you at all times, encouraging and supportive rather than condemning. I know that deep within you, where I live, My Peace is your continual experience. Slow down your pace of living for a time. Quiet your mind in My Presence. Then you will be able to hear Me bestowing the resurrection blessing:\u00a0<em>Peace be with you<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RELATED SCRIPTURE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Colossians 1:27 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong><em>27<\/em>&nbsp;For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional insight regarding Colossians 1:26-27: Through Christ, God&#8217;s &#8220;message&#8221; was made open to all. God&#8217;s secret&nbsp;plan is &#8220;Christ lives in you&#8221; &#8211; God planned to have his Son, Jesus Christ, live in the hearts of all who believe in him &#8211; even Gentiles like the Colossians. Do you know Christ? He is not hidden if you will come to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matthew 28:20 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong><em>20<\/em>&nbsp;Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional insight regarding Matthew 28:20: How is Jesus &#8220;with&#8221; us? Jesus was with the disciples physically until he ascended into Heaven and then spiritually through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). The Holy Spirit would be Jesus&#8217; presence that would never leave them (John 14:26 &#8211; &#8220;But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative\u2014that is, the Holy Spirit\u2014he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.&#8221;). Jesus continues to be with us today through his Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>John 20:19 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong>Jesus Appears to His Disciples<\/strong><br><strong><em>19<\/em>&nbsp;That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! \u201cPeace be with you,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theologian Dorothee S\u00f6lle (1929\u20132003) understood God\u2019s kingdom as good news for women and all oppressed people.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Jesus movement was a group of female and male friends who followed the little man from Nazareth. Many had no fixed dwelling and had abandoned their traditional family bonds\u2026. We can best imagine these conditions if we think [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23987"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23988,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23987\/revisions\/23988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}