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

I love today’s passage.  It starts with Jesus’ disciples asking Him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus’ response to that question tells us that they were asking the wrong question.  So, the disciples asked who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus replied by saying that unless you become like little children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Later in today’s passage we have the story about the rich man who turned away after Jesus told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor.  After that happened Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  I have heard many people try to explain this so as to make it something which is possible, however, when the disciples asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus answered, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Which gives us another insight into both what it takes to get into the kingdom of heaven and what it takes to be great there.  Finally, near the end of the passage, Jesus tells the disciples that whoever wants to become great among His followers must be the servant of others.

I doubt I can add anything to understanding this than others have said about this passage, but what do I conclude this tells us about being great in God’s kingdom.  First, to even get into it we have to be like little children, trusting and dependent.  Second, we cannot think that we can buy or earn whatever we want.  Finally, we need to put other’s wants and needs ahead of our own.

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

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

As is often the case, there is a lot of things in this passage of note and I was planning on touching on many of them.  So, I went back to the first story in this passage to begin.  And I was struck by the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”  Jesus was not even a little bit apologetic about offending the Pharisees.  His response to His disciples made it clear that He was not concerned about offending them.  I want to note that this was not the first time where Pharisees had confronted Jesus over details in a way that suggests they were looking for something “wrong” rather than listening to see if He was correct.  In His response to His disciples Jesus makes it clear that He is not going to spend any time worrying about offending people who are busy looking for reasons to be offended.  The Pharisees were not worried about offending Jesus, or His disciples, but Jesus was supposed to worry about offending them?  But Jesus’ reason for not worrying about offending them was even more basic: in their hunt for reasons to find fault they had lost track of the basics.

Jesus’ response to the Pharisees here goes back to what He said in the beginning of Chapter 7 of this Gospel when He told us, “Do not judge,…”  There He went on to talk about addressing the major issues in our own lives before we confront others over minor issues in their lives.  Here He points out that the Pharisees are focusing on a minor issue in other people’s behavior while overlooking a major issue in their own lives.

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