自己的人倒不接待他

“他到自己的地方来，自己的人倒不接待他。” - 约 1:11

　　乍眼看约翰福音第一章，作者使徒约翰讲到第17节，才提到耶稣基督的名字。然而仔细看，之前的16节的内容里，其实一直是在谈到祂。

　　从太初、还没有时间以前，耶稣已经存在。祂不但参与了创造宇宙的每一个环节，更以我们想像不到的方式在其中作工。每一件成形的事物，不管是光还是生命，都是因着耶稣才能存在。昔日、今日，耶稣基督仍然是神。

　　这位创造万物的神，却道成肉身来到世上，受到时间和空间的限制，成为一个有血有肉的人。衪生于一个痛苦挣扎被强权欺压的民族，然而，这个民族却是天父所拣选的，二千年来神一直带领眷顾他们。他们就是——以色列。

　　接下来怎么了？耶稣来到衪创造的世界，世人竟不认识祂，还拒绝接待衪。

　　今天是大斋节的开始，在这个节期中，基督徒要记念耶稣基督所受的苦。这个月，在我们还未思念主在肉体上所受的痛楚时，首先会思念到衪所受的更大的煎熬，就是祂被“自己的人”抗拒、蔑视，甚至出卖。

祷告

耶稣，永生神的儿子、却为我们受苦的人类救主啊，祢昔日道成肉身，为的是拯救我们。今天，求帮助我们以祢当受的荣耀接待袮。奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。

约翰福音 1:1-11

1太初有道，道与神同在，道就是神。
2这道太初与神同在。
3万物是藉着他造的；凡被造的，没有一样不是藉着他造的。
4生命在他里头，这生命就是人的光。
5光照在黑暗里，黑暗却不接受光。
6有一个人，是从神那里差来的，名叫约翰。
7这人来，为要作见证，就是为光作见证，叫众人因他可以信。
8他不是那光，乃是要为光作见证。
9那光是真光，照亮一切生在世上的人。
10他在世界，世界也是藉着他造的，世界却不认识他。
11他到自己的地方来，自己的人倒不接待他。

His Own Turned Against Him

"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." — John 1:11

英语音频 English Audio

Not until several paragraphs into his gospel account does the apostle John name who he is writing about: Jesus Christ (John 1:17). But in his earlier sentences John does tell us a lot about Jesus.

Jesus was present in the beginning, from before there was time. He was not only in on every part of the creation of the universe, but he was also involved in ways beyond our imagining. Everything that came to be—even light, even life itself—owes its existence to him. He was and is God.

Then this same beyond-our-imagination being came into the world as a part of his own creation. He came within the limitations of time and space and was born a flesh-and-blood human being. He came especially as a member of a struggling and politically oppressed nation—a people that the Father had chosen and had already guided for about two thousand years: Israel.

And what happened? When Jesus came into the world he had created, that world did not recognize him. Even his own people refused to receive him.

In the Christian season of Lent that begins today, we remember Jesus' suffering. During the first part of this month we will look not so much at the physical side of this suffering but at something even more painful: how Jesus was rejected, despised, and betrayed—by "his own."

Prayer

诵读: 楚云
片头: 张妙阳