Happy Veterans Day. Thank you to all of our Veterans!
This conference details the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual benefits of a lifestyle of sexual abstinence before marriage. Your children under age 19 can attend with you for free! What a great opportunity to discuss crucial issues with your children!
Join us for the STAR Interfaith Leadership Training Conference November 24 to 26 in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Informed choice between a lifestyle of sexual abstinence before marriage and one of non-abstinence is a crucial issue for societal stability and personal happiness.
This conference provides a practical and Biblical framework for understanding the benefits of practicing sexual abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage.
Register or find out more: http://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/281-star-interfaith-leadership-training-conference
CSG 2372
The seventh verse says, “Our Fam-
ily Pledges to perfect a world based on
the culture of heart, which is rooted in
the original lineage, through living for
the sake of others, by centering on true
love.” You must be rooted in the origi-
nal lineage. You must perfect a world
based on the culture of heart rooted in
the original lineage. Nothing can stop
you from doing anything once you have
reached there. You are free even in hell
as well as in heaven. The Family Pledge
not only covers the general outline of
the providence, but includes the pref-
ace, main contents, and conclusion. It
is the encapsulation of the entire Princi-
ple. I am sure your thoughts will change
after hearing such words from me. This
will become the contents you tell your
descendants after having established the
heavenly kingdom. (280-35, 1996.10.13)
CSG 489
What kind of couple are the ideal
husband and wife we speak about in the
Unification Church. They are a married
couple who can turn the highest art into
reality. They are a couple who can turn
the highest literature into reality. Before
we come into contact with the highest
level of art in the world, the highest and
sweetest love shared by the husband and
wife has to be the best work of art in the
world. It has to be the best work of lit-
erature and the real body of literature.
(22-269, 1969.5.4)
Let Us Become Someone Who Can Hold Jesus’ Body and Mourn
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
April 13, 1958
Matthew 27: 1-56
27 Early the next morning all the chief priests and the nation’s leaders met and decided that Jesus should be put to death. 2 They tied him up and led him away to Pilate the governor.
3 Judas had betrayed Jesus, but when he learned that Jesus had been sentenced to death, he was sorry for what he had done. He returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and leaders 4 and said, “I have sinned by betraying a man who has never done anything wrong.”
“So what? That’s your problem,” they replied. 5 Judas threw the money into the temple and then went out and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the money and said, “This money was paid to have a man killed. We can’t put it in the temple treasury.” 7 Then they had a meeting and decided to buy a field that belonged to someone who made clay pots. They wanted to use it as a graveyard for foreigners. 8 That’s why people still call that place “Field of Blood.” 9 So the words of the prophet Jeremiah came true,
“They took
the thirty silver coins,
the price of a person
among the people of Israel.
10 They paid it
for a potter’s field,
as the Lord
had commanded me.”
11 Jesus was brought before Pilate the governor, who asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Those are your words!” Jesus answered. 12 And when the chief priests and leaders brought their charges against him, he did not say a thing.
13 Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear what crimes they say you have done?” 14 But Jesus did not say anything, and the governor was greatly amazed.
15 During Passover the governor always freed a prisoner chosen by the people. 16 At that time a well-known terrorist named Jesus Barabbaswas in jail. 17 So when the crowd came together, Pilate asked them, “Which prisoner do you want me to set free? Do you want Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 Pilate knew that the leaders had brought Jesus to him because they were jealous.
19 While Pilate was judging the case, his wife sent him a message. It said, “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man. I have had nightmares because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the leaders convinced the crowds to ask for Barabbas to be set free and for Jesus to be killed. 21 Pilate asked the crowd again, “Which of these two men do you want me to set free?”
“Barabbas!” they replied.
22 Pilate asked them, “What am I to do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?”
They all yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”
23 Pilate answered, “But what crime has he done?”
“Nail him to a cross!” they yelled even louder.
24 Pilate saw that there was nothing he could do and that the people were starting to riot. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of them and said, “I won’t have anything to do with killing this man. You are the ones doing it!”
25 Everyone answered, “We and our own families will take the blame for his death!”
26 Pilate set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.
27 The governor’s soldiers led Jesus into the fortress and brought together the rest of the troops. 28 They stripped off Jesus’ clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They made a crown out of thorn branches and placed it on his head, and they put a stick in his right hand. The soldiers knelt down and pretended to worship him. They made fun of him and shouted, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” 30 Then they spit on him. They took the stick from him and beat him on the head with it.
31 When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross. 32 On the way they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.
33 They came to a place named Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull.” 34 There they gave Jesus some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain. But when Jesus tasted what it was, he refused to drink it.
35 The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes. 36 Then they sat down to guard him. 37 Above his head they put a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.
39 People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and 40 shouted, “So you’re the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days! If you are God’s Son, save yourself and come down from the cross!”
41 The chief priests, the leaders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said, 42 “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the king of Israel, he should come down from the cross! Then we will believe him. 43 He trusted God, so let God save him, if he wants to. He even said he was God’s Son.” 44 The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.
45 At noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until three o’clock. 46 Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”
47 Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” 48 One of them at once ran and grabbed a sponge. He soaked it in wine, then put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus.
49 Others said, “Wait! Let’s see if Elijah will come and save him.” 50 Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died.
51 At once the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and rocks split apart. 52 Graves opened, and many of God’s people were raised to life. 53 Then after Jesus had risen to life, they came out of their graves and went into the holy city, where they were seen by many people.
54 The officer and the soldiers guarding Jesus felt the earthquake and saw everything else that happened. They were frightened and said, “This man really was God’s Son!”
55 Many women had come with Jesus from Galilee to be of help to him, and they were there, looking on at a distance. 56 Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and Johnwere some of these women.
The title of the sermon I am going to give is, “Let Us Become Someone Who Can Hold Jesus’ Body and Mourn.” You must feel once again that Jesus, in whom you believe, was sent as the great prophet of the heavenly principles, with the mission from Heaven to restore all things. He is the center of hope for which all things, human beings and Heaven have longed.
