約翰福音13:1-17

 

13:1 逾越節以前，耶穌知道自己離世歸父的時候到了。他既然愛世間屬自己的人，就愛他們到底。
13:2 吃晚飯的時候，魔鬼已將賣耶穌的意思放在西門的兒子加略人猶大心裡。
13:3 耶穌知道父已將萬有交在他手裡，且知道自己是從上帝出來的，又要歸到上帝那裡去，
13:4 就離席站起來，脫了衣服，拿一條手巾束腰，
13:5 隨後把水倒在盆裡，就洗門徒的腳，並用自己所束的手巾擦乾。
13:6 挨到西門•彼得，彼得對他說：「主啊，你洗我的腳嗎？」
13:7 耶穌回答說：「我所做的，你如今不知道，後來必明白。」
13:8 彼得說：「你永不可洗我的腳！」耶穌說：「我若不洗你，你就與我無分了。」
13:9 西門•彼得說：「主啊，不但我的腳，連手和頭也要洗。」
13:10 耶穌說：「凡洗過澡的人，只要把腳一洗，全身就乾淨了。你們是乾淨的，然而不都是乾淨的。」
13:11 耶穌原知道要賣他的是誰，所以說：「你們不都是乾淨的。」
13:12 耶穌洗完了他們的腳，就穿上衣服，又坐下，對他們說：「我向你們所做的，你們明白嗎？
13:13 你們稱呼我夫子，稱呼我主，你們說的不錯，我本來是。
13:14 我是你們的主，你們的夫子，尚且洗你們的腳，你們也當彼此洗腳。
13:15 我給你們作了榜樣，叫你們照著我向你們所做的去做。
13:16 我實實在在地告訴你們，僕人不能大於主人，差人也不能大於差他的人。
13:17 你們既知道這事，若是去行就有福了。

 

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

 

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    主耶穌在這裡要建立真正領袖的形象：領袖要像僕人一樣來服事下屬，就像父母甘心為小孩子做一切一樣。

 

    洗腳本是僕人的工作，但是主耶穌卻用洗腳來和門徒建立關係，這是一種愛與照顧的關係。

 

    古倫神父曾經寫一本書，其書名就是《領導就是喚醒生命》，期副標題也是很棒，稱為《靈性化的生命力領導》。這本書雖然是為「經理人」寫的書，使人在經營事業中讓員工產生「生命動力」。

 

    但是我們想想看，耶穌基督的救贖也是讓我們新的生命被喚醒，就是「上帝兒女」的生命被喚醒。

 

    一位好的領導者不是控制人，而是啟發人，使人活出上帝要我們活的樣式！

 

歷代志下21章

      歷代志下21:1-20  ,

      歷代志下21:1-7 ,

      歷代志下21:8-11  ,

      歷代志下21:12-20 ,

 

歷代志下21:1-20

 

21:1 約沙法與他列祖同睡，葬在大衛城他列祖的墳地裡。他兒子約蘭接續他作王。
21:2 約蘭有幾個兄弟，就是約沙法的兒子亞撒利雅、耶歇、撒迦利雅、亞撒列夫、米迦勒、示法提雅。這都是猶大王約沙法的兒子。
21:3 他們的父親將許多金銀、財寶，和猶大地的堅固城賜給他們；但將國賜給約蘭，因為他是長子。
21:4 約蘭興起坐他父的位，奮勇自強，就用刀殺了他的眾兄弟和以色列的幾個首領。
21:5 約蘭登基的時候年三十二歲，在耶路撒冷作王八年。
21:6 他行以色列諸王的道，與亞哈家一樣；因他娶了亞哈的女兒為妻，行耶和華眼中看為惡的事。
21:7 耶和華卻因自己與大衛所立的約，不肯滅大衛的家，照他所應許的，永遠賜燈光與大衛和他的子孫。
21:8 約蘭年間，以東人背叛猶大，脫離他的權下，自己立王。
21:9 約蘭就率領軍長和所有的戰車，夜間起來，攻擊圍困他的以東人和車兵長。
21:10 這樣，以東人背叛猶大，脫離他的權下，直到今日。那時，立拿人也背叛了，因為約蘭離棄耶和華─他列祖的上帝。
21:11 他又在猶大諸山建築邱壇，使耶路撒冷的居民行邪淫，誘惑猶大人。
21:12 先知以利亞達信與約蘭說：「耶和華─你祖大衛的上帝如此說：『因為你不行你父約沙法和猶大王亞撒的道，
21:13 乃行以色列諸王的道，使猶大人和耶路撒冷的居民行邪淫，像亞哈家一樣，又殺了你父家比你好的諸兄弟。
21:14 故此，耶和華降大災與你的百姓和你的妻子、兒女，並你一切所有的。
21:15 你的腸子必患病，日加沉重，以致你的腸子墜落下來。』」
21:16 以後，耶和華激動非利士人和靠近古實的阿拉伯人來攻擊約蘭。
21:17 他們上來攻擊猶大，侵入境內，擄掠了王宮裡所有的財貨和他的妻子、兒女，除了他小兒子約哈斯（又名亞哈謝）之外，沒有留下一個兒子。
21:18 這些事以後，耶和華使約蘭的腸子患不能醫治的病。
21:19 他患此病纏綿日久，過了二年，腸子墜落下來，病重而死。他的民沒有為他燒甚麼物件，像從前為他列祖所燒的一樣。
21:20 約蘭登基的時候年三十二歲，在耶路撒冷作王八年。他去世無人思慕，眾人葬他在大衛城，只是不在列王的墳墓裡。

 

Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. ² Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.^{[a] 3} Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.

⁴ When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. ⁵ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. ⁶ He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. ⁷ Nevertheless, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David, the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.

⁸ In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. ⁹ So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night. ¹⁰ To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah.

Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his ancestors. ¹¹ He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

¹² Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said:

“This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. ¹³ But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you. ¹⁴ So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. ¹⁵ You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.’”

¹⁶ The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. ¹⁷ They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah,^[b] the youngest.

¹⁸ After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. ¹⁹ In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honor, as they had for his predecessors.

²⁰ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

 

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    約沙法王和以色列王的「良好關係」造成了遺害猶大國，首先是他的兒子約蘭接續做王之後行以色列諸王的道，與亞哈家一樣，就是因為「政治婚姻」，因他娶了亞哈的女兒為妻！

 

    也因為這樣，猶大國的國力大失，許多屬國背叛！如以東人背叛猶大，脫離他的權下，自己立王。立拿人也背叛了，因為約蘭離棄耶和華─他列祖的上帝。

 

    他又在猶大諸山建築邱壇，使耶路撒冷的居民行邪淫，誘惑猶大人。先知以利亞寫信與約蘭說：「耶和華─你祖大衛的上帝如此說：『因為你不行你父約沙法和猶大王亞撒的道，乃行以色列諸王的道，使猶大人和耶路撒冷的居民行邪淫，像亞哈家一樣，又殺了你父家比你好的諸兄弟。故此，耶和華降大災與你的百姓和你的妻子、兒女，並你一切所有的。你的腸子必患病，日加沉重，以致你的腸子墜落下來。』」

 

    最後他就是因為腸子墜落下來而死！更淒慘的是：他去世無人思慕，眾人葬他在大衛城，只是不在列王的墳墓裡。

 

    約蘭王的事蹟今日就成了我們的警戒，也讓我們清楚離開上帝是多麼悽慘的狀態！

 

 

 

路加福音6:21

 

你們飢餓的人有福了！因為你們將要飽足。你們哀哭的人有福了！因為你們將要喜笑。

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

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    主耶穌的話和一般人的想法是不同的，為什麼說「飢餓的人有福了」、「哀哭的人有福了」﹖在原文的意思是被上帝賜福（Blessed）！表示上帝注意到「飢餓的人」和「哀哭的人」，雖然人討厭、不想理會，但是上帝不會！

 

    上帝不但注意「飢餓的人」和「哀哭的人」，還要讓他們「飽足」和「喜笑」！這真是超乎人的想像，而切這轉變的機制是在上帝的主動，祂願意這樣做，而且是沒有條件的！這和人想像的不同，認為是不可能的事情！

 

    上帝就是願意的，祂本是豐盛與富足的上帝！就如保羅所說：「上帝既不愛惜自己的兒子，為我們眾人捨了，豈不也把萬物和他一同白白地賜給我們嗎？」(羅馬書8:32)

 

    也因為這樣，我們透過信靠耶穌基督的救恩，要享受上帝的豐盛！所以，要保羅一起頌讚說：「頌讚歸與我們主耶穌基督的父上帝！他在基督裡曾賜給我們天上各樣屬靈的福氣。」(以弗所書1:3)