If Jesus were to make a list of “Things to Do and Say before You Die,” what would you find on that list?
In Chapters 22 – 25 Matthew tells of many things Jesus said to people, Friends and enemies, that He clearly needed to say before He died. They comprise the final entries in His “Bucket List.”
30. My Kingdom is a festive place. You who will enter it are going to be invited to a Marriage Banquet. Be prepared! Always be ready to drop everything else and attend this Great Feast! Special attire will be required; a “righteousness” I bought for you with my Life’s Blood!
31. Resurrection and Eternal Life are as real as God Himself. He is, after all, the God “of the living.” And when He says He’s the God of folks like “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” who have died, He is as much as saying that these men still live.” Jesus knew He would rise again. He knew, also, that all who trust in Him will live forever.
32. The most important things in life are these. “Love God with ALL THERE IS OF YOU.” “Love your neighbor the way you love yourself.”
33. In my Kingdom anyone who thinks he or she is a VIP is reduced to nothing. The Humble are considered Very Important and celebrated.
34. I will deal harshly with those who set up false requirements for admission into my Kingdom. People who are more concerned about their rituals and traditions, than their thoughtless exploitations of people less fortunate than themselves, will suffer dire consequences; great trouble.
35. I will not admit anyone into my Kingdom who has misguided another requiring that they live by rules so contrary to my Father’s expectations that when followed make their followers more like the devil than they were before they met these false teachers.
36. I despise oaths and the practice of the religious to “swear by” this or that. They presume their position to be so superior that they presumptively desecrate the icon by which they swear as if they, themselves, were more important than it. More reprehensibly they desecrate the Lord, Himself, whom the symbol represents and set themselves up to be more important than He is!
37. Great distress and trouble will come on those who withhold “justice and mercy;” who refuse to live by “faith,” fussing over insignificant things and failing to take seriously those matters of the heart which are of the greatest importance to Our Father.
38. Appearances are as worthless as the decaying flowers on last Week’s open graves.
39. I am heartbroken by the rejection of my people. And I will abandon them. Still, I cannot refuse them grace. Because I will have mercy I promise to restore those who say of me, “He comes in the Name of the Lord! May His Name be highly favored!”
40. Those my Father and I love and will welcome into Our Kingdom are people who tirelessly pay attention to what concerns us and are fully devoted to these things which are of greatest importance in Our Kingdom.
41. People who see their life as a God-given, sacred trust and live it as though they’re honoring me in it are very important to me. I will give them High Commissions in the Eternal Kingdom.
42. When people treat the marginalized in their world with concern and care I take it personally. It’s as if they’re concerned and caring for me. Because of that I will give them an inheritance. It will be the Kingdom prepared for them before the world was founded and now trusted to them.
