I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 25-26.

    The passage begins with two parables about being prepared for the Kingdom of God. The first, the parable of the bridesmaids, reminds us that we must continue to serve God until He calls us home. We cannot do good and then rest on our laurels. The second, the parable of the three servants, reminds us that God has given us things, talents, gifts, material possessions, in order to serve Him. We must put what He has given us to good use in order to further His purposes. Finally in this series, Jesus gives an account of Judgement Day involving sheep and goats. In this he tells us what sorts of actions the first two were talking about: feeding the poor, providing water to the thirsty, offering hospitality to strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison.

    However, almost immediately after that we have the story of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with perfume. I am not completely sure of the meaning of this incident, but its message contains a lesson that providing a little luxury to those who serve God is not wrong. That not every ounce of our energy and resources must be spent relieving the suffering of the poor. An element in my believing that I am missing something is the fact that Matthew juxtaposes this incident with Judas selling out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. I think that there is more to it than this, but Matthew is telling us that we can become too obsessed with money, even when we intend to do good things with the money.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 23-24.

    I think we often miss Jesus’ true intent when we read His condemnation of the Pharisees and other religious leaders. We tend to read it as directed at someone else, not ourselves. The fact of the matter is that His words are directed at us, because right in the middle of condemning the Pharisees and other religious leaders He gives His followers direct instructions. He condemns the Pharisees and sets them up in direct contrast to how we should behave. They do things for show and set themselves up as above the common man. They seek to be called teacher and desire fancy titles. But Jesus tells us that we should not let anyone address us with a title which elevates us above themselves. We are all equal, nothing more than servants of God. If we want to be important, we must seek to honor others above ourselves.
    Related to this Jesus warns us against setting up and following rules designed to let us get around the rules. Rules that let me deceive people by taking an oath that “doesn’t count”, while those in the know would know to make me take an oath which does. Rules which allow me to declare myself righteous by giving a percentage of my wealth to charity while obtaining more by taking advantage of the poor and unfortunate. God will not honor such loopholes. If you are looking for the loopholes in God’s commands, you have missed the point and will pay the price.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 21-22.

    When Jesus entered Jerusalem for His final Passover before His crucifixion, He symbolically declared Himself the Messiah by riding in on the back of a donkey. Jesus rode in as a King at peace, a King whose battles were over. He did not ride into Jerusalem as a king going to war, but as a King declaring peaceful intentions. However, the first thing He did when He got into Jerusalem was go into the Temple and drive out the merchants exploiting those who came to worship God. This juxtaposition shows us that Jesus’ call to peace was not a call to lay down and submit. The following day the religious leaders challenged Jesus’ authority to do what He had done. It appears to me that they were challenging both His authority to chase the merchants out of the Temple and to conduct the parade He had led into the city the previous day. We can learn a lot from the way Jesus answered their question. If Jesus had answered their question by saying that He had been given authority by God to do as He had done, they would have accused Him of blasphemy. Instead of answering the question on their terms, He re-framed the question by asking them by what authority John the Baptist preached, that of God, or of man. The religious leaders unwillingness to answer Jesus’ question made it clear that they intended to use His answer to their question against Him, no matter what answer He gave.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 18-20.

    At the beginning and near the end of today’s passage Jesus discusses what it takes to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, what it takes to be a godly leader. I do not think that I can fully express what Jesus meant when He said that we needed to become like little children in order to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. However, He specifically talks about being as humble as a little child. At least part of what Jesus is talking about is the way that children tend to view all adults as more important, more worthy of respect than themselves. There is more to it than that, but, in light of what Jesus says about what it takes to be a godly leader, that is the core.
    In the secular world, leaders tell others what to do in order to accomplish things which serve the interests of the leader. In the Kingdom of Heaven, leaders direct others to do things which further the interests of those who the leader is directing. Yes, the godly leader will direct people to do God’s will, but the godly leader will seek how he can make you better able to perform your ministry, not how you can make him more effective at his ministry. The true leader will seek how he can help others do their jobs better and more efficiently.

    I want to tie together two of Jesus’ teachings which we often separate. The first is Jesus’ teaching on how to deal with those who sin within the Church Body. This teaching is especially important to follow if you are the victim of that sin (or feel that you are). The second is Jesus’ teaching on how often we should forgive those who have sinned against us. Jesus tells us that if a brother or sister has sinned, especially if it is against us, we should go to them privately and discuss it with them. If we cannot resolve the issue privately, we should take a couple of witnesses with us. Now, sometime back it struck me that this means we should go to them for dialogue to discuss what happened. Perhaps we misunderstood and the person had not committed the sin we thought that they had. Then if when we talk to them they fail to show us how we had misunderstood the situation and fail to understand that they had done wrong, we bring in neutral third parties to hear both of our sides to the story. Then, if we cannot resolve the dispute, we take it to the entire Church. Even at this point, people should not prejudge who is in the wrong. When we think we have been wronged we should be willing to forgive, again and again. An important part of that is recognizing that we may have been the one in the wrong (if for no other reason than that we supposed the other person had sinned when they had not). No matter what wrong others have done to us, it does not add up to the wrong we have done, nor does it justify us doing that wrong. Our goal when we confront another sinner should be repentance and reconciliation. And that repentance should be both ours and theirs.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 15-17.

    At the beginning of today’s passage the Pharisees confront Jesus because His disciples do not follow their traditional interpretation of how to follow the Law of Moses. When Jesus replied to their confrontation over keeping the Sabbath, He told them that their traditions went too far because they did not understand the purpose of the Law. This time He is less gentle. He tells them that they have developed their traditions as a way to get around the Law. Following the traditions had become more important to them than following God’s Law. There is value in traditions, but we must never allow tradition to prevent us from doing God’s will.

    As with the previous passages I have read in Matthew this year today’s passage is dense in lessons for us. I am not sure how to transition into what I want to write about the Transfiguration. What I have to say is not particularly original, but I think it is important. The experience comes shortly after Peter, on behalf of all of the disciples, acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. It also occurred after Jesus started teaching His disciples that He would need to die. It was a high point for those present. However, like all such experiences in this life, it did not last. I believe it energized Jesus for the hard part of His ministry, which was about to begin, and provided Peter, James, and John an experience to look back on when they truly began their ministries. Experiences such as the transfiguration are wonderful, but any attempt to make them last will rob them of their meaning.

    When Jesus came down from the mountain where He was transfigured, He was met by a father whose son was demon possessed. The disciples who had not joined Jesus on the mountain had been unable to drive the demon out of the boy, but Jesus was able to do so easily. When the disciples later asked Jesus why they were unable to do os, Jesus told them it was because they lacked faith. Then He told them that if their faith was as big as, but no bigger, a mustard seed they could tell a mountain to move and it would do so. I have come to believe that there are two aspects to the faith Jesus is talking about here. The first part, which most people understand, is that we must believe that God is able to do what ask and that He will do so. The second part is that we need to believe that what we are asking for advances God’s will. It seems to me that we often overlook what this second part means. If we believe that it is God’s will that this mountain move from where it is to some other place, we will not wait until God miraculously moves it. We will grab whatever tools we can obtain and start moving it, even if those tools are nothing but shovels. Sometimes God will miraculously move the mountain, but sometimes He will provide us with the tools to do so.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 13-14.

    I usually focus on Jesus’ parables when I read this passage, but today I want to focus on Jesus’ explanation of why He taught with parables. There are actually two parts to that explanation, one explicit and one which I only just realized (although thinking about it, I believe that I have heard it touched upon before). Jesus tells us that He taught in parables because so many people look, but do not see, and hear, but do not listen. And that leads me to the part I just realized. Jesus did not teach in parables to hide the truth He was teaching. He spoke in parables because even the people who were not really listening would often remember the parable. Then later when things had happened in their life which made them receptive to His message, the Holy Spirit could use the parable to reveal God’s truth to them.
    When Jesus talked about looking but not seeing, and hearing but not listening, He was making a comment about how we, all too often, go through life. We look at the people around us, but we do not see what they are going through. We hear what they say, but we do not listen to what they mean. Oh yes, when Jesus said this He was talking about seeing what God is doing and listening to what God is saying, but if we truly see what God is doing and listen to what He is saying we will do the same for the people around us. The reverse is also true. The less we see what the people around us are going through and listen to what they mean, the less we will be able to see what God is doing or understand what He is saying.

    At the beginning I kind of implied that I was not going to talk about the parables today. However, I want to touch upon the parable of the yeast. Jesus’ point was that a very small amount of an ingredient, if it is the right ingredient, can have a large impact on how a recipe turns out. A typical bread recipe calls for 1/4 ounce of yeast to 6 cups of flower. Six cups of flour weigh more than 25 ounces, which is more than 100 times the amount of yeast. I make mead (which is essentially honey wine). In the process, only a small amount of yeast is necessary to ferment a large amount of liquid. The thing is that in many ways the hardest part of making mead is keeping everything clean, because it takes only a small amount of bacteria to ruin the batch. So, the lesson here is that a small number of people can make a huge difference in society for good or bad.
    So, if we strive to make a difference in society, and Jesus teaches that we should, how do we make sure that we make a positive difference and not a negative one? The account of what Peter did when Jesus walked on the water gives us the answer (although not from within the metaphor of yeast). When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he wanted to do the same in order to go to Jesus. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he was able to walk on the water. As soon as he began to look at other things, he began to sink. As soon as he lost his focus on going to where Jesus was, he stopped being able to walk on water. As soon as we stop focusing on Jesus and doing what He wants us to do, we stop being a positive influence on those around us.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 10-12.

    I had forgotten how packed with things for us to learn the Gospels are. Jesus’ instructions to the Apostles (which means “one sent on a mission”) included “be as shrewd as snakes and as harmless as doves.” Following this is truly a challenge. Jesus us not to be gullible, but not to be cunning and sly. We should be aware of the tricks and deceits which people will use against us, but not use them ourselves. Another part of His instructions to them was to tell them not to worry about what they would say when called to account. If we allow Him, God will speak through us. In a way this is related to the previous instruction. Yes, we should study and prepare for what people will ask us, but we should not try to have a slick, packaged answer.

    Numerous false religions have been created which have secret teachings, some of these claim to be following Jesus. However, Jesus makes it quite clear here that He is not teaching anything which can only be told to the initiated: “What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!” It could not be made more clear to me that while unbelievers will misunderstand many of Jesus’ teachings that is no reason for us to be secretive about them. Which leads into the next part I want to highlight. Jesus warns us that His teachings will not lead to unity and peace. If we love our parents, spouses, children, or, even, unity more than we love Jesus, we are not worthy of Him. If we want to serve God we must be willing to sacrifice our relationship with any of them to do so. Of course, anyone who truly loves us will not begrudge us our service to God.

    When John the Baptist’s disciples came to Jesus to ask Him if He was indeed the Messiah, Jesus did not answer them directly. Jesus’ answer was, “Judge me by the results of what I do and say.” That is the way to judge any person or organization which claims to serve God. Are people being healed physically, mentally, and spiritually? If the answer is “Yes” then they are serving God. If the answer is “No”, get as far away from them as you can.
    Related to that is Jesus’ teaching about the Sabbath. This teaching applies to all of God’s Laws and regulations. Their purpose is to make us better people and to provide guidelines to living a loving, healthy life. If they fail to do so, or, even worse, if they cause hurt and pain, then you have failed to understand them and are applying them incorrectly. When the Pharisees confronted Jesus because their interpretation of the Sabbath said it was wrong to pick and eat grain as you walked along and that it was wrong to heal on the Sabbath, He told them, “You missed the point.” Jesus was not setting aside God’s Law to keep the Sabbath Holy. He told us that the Pharisees interpretation of what that meant was wrong. We must never mistake our interpretation of God’s rules for God’s rules.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 7-9.

    Today’s passage starts with a saying by Jesus which is often misinterpreted: “Do not judge others…” Yet a few verses later Jesus tells us that we can identify people by their actions. In the context, Jesus tells us to judge others by the criteria by which we would wish to be judged. Yesterday I wrote about how Jesus tells us that what we think and say matters as much as what we do. That guideline is for judging ourselves, we should strive to only think and say that which is righteous. We cannot judge others by that standard because we cannot know what they are thinking and are all too likely to misinterpret what they say. In today’s passage He makes it clear that the only criteria by which we can judge other people is by what we see them do. Even there He gives us a guideline to apply to ourselves. If we only think and say good things but do not actually do those good things we will not be welcome in God’s Kingdom.

    When I read about what Jesus’ critics said to Him when He dined with Matthew’s friends and His reply I think about how my parents’ taught me to understand it. My parents’ were teetotalers. They strongly believed that Christians should never consume alcohol, yet they also believed just as strongly that we should be friends to sinners (as our society defines “sinners”). Explaining this next part gets hard. My parents taught me not to drink alcohol, yet another part of their teaching tells me that I should. It came as a revelation to me that Jesus was the life of the party. Everybody invited Him to their parties, the “good” people, and the wild ones. He was not a wet blanket, yet He called sinners to stop sinning. Jesus tells us that only those who know they are sick benefit from a doctor. In the same way, those who do not think they are sinners will not respond to a call to repentance. If we want to reach people for Christ, we must spend time with those who know they need His healing.
    Which brings me to the last part of today’s passage. Jesus told His disciples (which hopefully includes us) that the people who needed His healing were many, but those who were spreading it were few. He told them to pray that God would send more workers. Which brings up two points. Are we praying for God to send more workers? And, is He trying to send us? Which brings up a third point, if He is sending us, will we go?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 5-6.

    Today’s passage contains most of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon contains the core of Jesus’ teachings and is worth in depth study. It contains a lot of instructions which have value. However, I am going to touch on only two aspects of it today. Jesus tells us that what we think and say determine whether or not we are righteous more than what we do. I want to stress that, in my opinion, when we apply these teachings we focus on ourselves, not others; we cannot accurately know what others are thinking. If we think evil thoughts, our actions will not be righteous. I think something my father said about thinking applies here. “You can’t stop a bird from landing in your hair, but you can keep it from making a nest there.” I may get angry, or have some other negative thought, as a result of something which happens outside of my control, but I do not have to dwell on that anger, or other thought. Experience has shown that if I immediately put aside my anger, or other negative thought, the less likely I am to get angry, or have the other thought, the next time an incident happens which might provoke anger. On the other hand, if I spend time thinking about why my anger is justified, or what I can do to make someone pay for angering me, the more likely I am to get angry the next time, and the more likely I am to get angrier.

    The second is related to the first. Jesus tells us that we should not do our acts of righteousness, giving to the poor, prayer, fasting, etc. to be seen by others. We should not seek to be seen as righteous by others. No, that is not right. We should not do righteous things in order to be honored by others. We should do righteous things because they are righteous, not because others will think better of us for doing so. In order to be sure that our acts of righteousness are done out of pure motives we should seek to hide them from others. As I was writing this something struck me. Some of the most righteous people I know do righteous acts in full view of everyone, while working hard to keep Jesus’ teaching on this. However, the reason they do not hide the acts which we see is because they do not consider the acts we see to be noteworthy. The more we train ourselves to do righteous acts just because they are righteous, the less we will think that a particular righteous act is noteworthy.
    I want to point out that there is another facet to why we should follow both of these. The more we allow ourselves to wallow in negative thoughts the more likely we are to act on them. More importantly, if we allow ourselves to remain angry with someone we are less likely to treat them as we should, without our even realizing that we are doing so. The same applies to other thoughts which we should not harbor, they make us less likely to behave as we should. Related to that, if we do our acts of righteousness in order to be seen by others the more likely our acts will be calculated for show and the less likely they are to actually do any good. If we help the needy in order to be seen as helping the needy, our acts are more likely to be an impressive show that does little good for those it is supposed to be helping. Those who strive to put on a good show of being righteous often do more harm than good.