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

To me, this passage is one of the most frightening and most heartening passages in the New Testament.  Every time I read this I fear I am the guy who buried his one bag of gold, that I did not make good use of the talent which God gave me and will be condemned for that on Judgement Day.  On the other hand, I also see how Peter denied that he even knew Jesus and yet was forgiven.   So, it really comes down to, no matter how bad we have messed up so far, God will forgive us if we return to Him and seek to do better going forward.

I use 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 really believe that chapter 23 here is very important and that we do not pay close enough attention to what Jesus tells us here.  The New Testament contains many warnings against hypocrisy, but here Jesus gives us a guideline which will help us avoid it.  That guideline has two sides to it.  On the one hand, we should not ask others to address us with titles which elevate us above them.  On the other hand, we should not address others with titles which elevate them above us.  Specifically, Jesus tells us not to allow anyone to call us “Teacher”, because we should have only one Teacher.  And we should not address anyone as “Father”, because God is our Father.  In my opinion, Jesus makes it clear that we should not address anyone with a title which puts them between us and God, nor should we allow anyone to address us with a title which puts us between them and God.  When you start elevating people, or allowing yourself to be elevated, you begin the process which causes the appearance of righteousness to be more important than the reality of righteousness.  We will begin to see ourselves as above others rather than as their servants.

One of the most difficult parts of understanding chapter 24 is that we need to realize that the disciples question was actually three questions.  Nevertheless, Jesus answer tells us a lot about God’s plans for the world.  Point one, the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, will be preached throughout the entire world before Jesus returns.  Point two, many will come claiming to be Jesus Returned, and many more will prophesy falsely in His name claiming to be announcing His return.  Some of them will perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive many.  We should not believe such false prophets and false messiahs because no one will need to announce Jesus’ Return: it will be obvious to all.  Finally, Jesus warns us that no one will know in advance the date and time of Jesus’ return.  Since we cannot know in advance when He will come back, we should make every effort to be doing the work He has given us all of the time.

I use 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 rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey colt He was declaring that He had already won.  The passage from Zechariah which Matthew quotes here refers to a king returning to his capital after winning a war, and not just any war but a war of rebellion.  We often think about the Crucifixion or the Resurrection being the moment when Jesus was victorious over Satan, but this passage suggests that His victory came when He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  Palm Sunday was when Jesus committed Himself to accept being arrested and crucified and when He accepted that He was victorious over Satan.  In the same manner, we are victorious over sin when we accept that doing the right thing will lead to suffering and do it anyway.  I want to add two points to that.  The joy which comes from suffering for doing the right thing exceeds the pain of that suffering.  And the Resurrection shows us that the joy is lasting, but the suffering is temporary.  I realized I have a third point.  If we do not do the right thing for fear of suffering, the shame we will feel is also lasting.

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

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.

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

I am going to skip over the Parable of the Sower today because I don’t feel like I have anything new to say about it (which will not always stop me, but for today) and start with the Parable of the Weeds.  There is a phrase used by soldiers and others who favor using violence against evil, “Kill them all and let God sort them out.”  That phrase is diametrically opposite to the point which Jesus made with the Parable of the Weeds.  Jesus made the point that when we cannot distinguish the good from the evil it is better to leave the evil alone than to harm the good.  In fact, a principle generally observed in U.S. law, and that of many other nations, that it is better for 10 guilty people to go free than for one innocent person to suffer judgement derives from this.                                                                                          Jesus made a secondary point in that parable, one which was important enough that He told a second parable which focused on that secondary point.  In the Parable of the Weeds Jesus tells us that after the harvest, the weeds will be burned while the wheat will be gathered into the barn.  Then in the Parable of the Net, Jesus speaks of a net which gathers all kinds of fish.  The good fish would be collected and the bad fish thrown away.  He explicitly tells us that the good fish represent those who are righteous and the bad fish those who are wicked.

Jesus tells two other parables here which I want to comment on because I think their message is no longer thought about enough.  In one He talks about a mustard seed and in the other He talks about yeast.  Both parables tell us not to be disheartened because we think we are insignificant.  A mustard seed is tiny, but it grows into a large plant which dominates its surroundings.  When you make bread, the yeast is completely overwhelmed by the volume of the other ingredients used, but the yeast completely transforms the dough.  So, each of these parables makes the point that we should not think that our actions are of no significance because both the mustard seed and the yeast appear insignificant to those who know not what they are, but both have a big impact.  However, each parable has a secondary point.  Some of us are called to be like the mustard seed, which changes its environment through determination and consistent effort.  And some of us are called to be like the yeast which changes its environment by transforming what is around it (or, in our case, transforming those who are around us).  And perhaps some of us are called to do both.

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

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

Matthew recounts some very important, and basic, points of what Jesus taught in today’s passage.  I believe that many of them are linked together, but am not sure I will be able to express that link.  I am going to go through these various points and pray that the Holy Spirit guides my words to make it all come together.

When Jesus sent the Twelve Apostles to preach His message, He gave them the power to cast out impure spirits and cure disease and sickness.  Then He told them to be shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.  My father always said that meant that we should not be naïve, we should be fully aware of the ways in which people will try to trick, mislead, and cheat us, but we should act as if we did not.  That does not mean that we let them take advantage of us, but we should do what we can to help them.  Jesus goes on to tell the Apostles (and I believe us) that they will be arrested and hauled into court, but that they should not worry about what to say, or how to say it, that the Holy Spirit will speak through them (and us) in those situations.  I believe that applies to more than just situations when we are in front of the authorities.  In fact, I am convinced that there are days in which the Holy Spirit manages what I write here more than I do (I pray that the Holy Spirit do so every day, but I know that there are days my pride takes over).

Actually, Jesus tells us not to worry at all, a message which permeates much of the Gospels.  He tells us that God cares even for sparrows, which are of limited value.  We need not fear because God values us more than He values sparrows.  Jesus goes on to warn us that if we chose to follow Him, the world will treat us no better than they treated Him, and they accused Him of being a servant of Beelzebul.  If we acknowledge His lordship over us, people will think the same of us, but if we do not acknowledge His lordship, He will not acknowledge us.  Which brings me to the last point I wanted to touch on today.  When John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus if He was the One for which they were waiting, Jesus replied, “The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”  Let us strive to live so that a similar defense can be made of us.

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

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

One of the most misused, and misunderstood, passages of the Bible starts off today’s passage when Jesus says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  That seems pretty straightforward.  Except a few verses further on, Jesus tells us, “Watch out for false prophets. … By their fruit you will recognize them.”  That latter instruction is much like what people often mean for us not to do when they tell us not to judge.  That being said, let’s go back to the verses immediately following the one in which Jesus said, “Do not judge…”  I am not going to quote it, you can read it for yourself.  But, Jesus is clearly telling us that we should be more concerned with correcting our own actions than with correcting the actions of others.  In fact, most of this passage is about evaluating our own actions and faithfully doing the Lord’s will.

Which brings me to where I want to focus my attention, although I am not quite sure how to tie this together.  Jesus gives us very strong warnings against following the crowds, against doing things because everybody else is doing it.  I believe that Jesus’ teachings on having strong faith here are part of the same teaching.  We often overlook what happened when Jesus called Matthew as to how it connects to the other teachings on faith in this passage.  When Jesus called him, Matthew immediately got up and followed Him.  Matthew did not spend any time settling his affairs and making arrangements.  He just began following Jesus.  All of the faith stories in this passage have a similar theme, those who received that for which they asked, asked even though they knew their request was ridiculous.  They all put themselves out there to look foolish (except possibly His disciples on the boat in the storm).

I am going to take one more stab at trying to get this to all come together in the way it felt in my head when I started writing.  Early in this passage Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  Another passage which we often misunderstand and misuse.  Jesus expands on what He means when He says that and wraps it by giving us the Golden Rule, but we so often miss the connection the “Ask, Seek, Knock” quote and the Golden Rule.  We should treat others the way we would like them to treat us because God will give us good things when we ask Him. It is not enough to call Jesus Lord, we have to mean it and act accordingly.

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

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

In the Sermon on the Mount recounted here, Jesus touches on the theme I mentioned yesterday: those who seek to use the appearance of righteousness to further their agenda are hypocrites.  He sets that comment up by comparing His followers to salt and doing God’s will to being a lamp.  A little bit of salt changes the taste of a meal, a little bit of light allows people to see in an otherwise dark room.  In the same way, we should live our lives so as to change society around us.  I can illustrate this by something my parents both spoke of (and which I observed for myself).  Both of my parents worked in environments where their co-workers used foul language somewhat routinely.  Yet, when their co-workers were aware that they were present, they did not use such language, or did so only sparingly.  As I said, I observed this for myself, people who otherwise routinely used foul language did so less when they knew one of my parents was present.  This did not result from either of my parents expressing judgement of those who used such language (although in the appropriate circumstances they would ask people to refrain from doing so).

However, the above is qualified by something else Jesus says here: we should never do acts of righteousness in front of others.  When we give to charity, we should do so in a manner which makes it unlikely anyone else will notice.  When we pray or fast, the same should be the case.  In no case should we do things in order for others to notice that we have done good.  So, how do we reconcile these two things: living so righteously that it changes the behaviors of those around us and hiding our acts of righteousness from others?  I think what Jesus says in between those two things gives us the answer.  It is not enough not to murder anyone.  We should not even want to murder someone.  It is not enough to not commit sexual sins.  We need to not even think about doing so.  It is not enough not to break our oaths.  We should be so honest that we do not need to take an oath.  It is not enough to love our friends, we need to love those who hate us and wish us harm.  I want to be clear that I fail to meet this criteria, but I will continue to ask God’s Spirit to transform me into someone who does.

I think the final portion of this passage tells us the path which reconciles all of the above.  We should not worry: about meeting our material needs, or about what others will think of us, or about what others will do to us.  Instead, we should do God’s will and to do that which will further His kingdom.  He will take care of the rest.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 1-4.

So, we finally get to the New Testament on the 3rd day of the 10th month.  Make of that what you will.  Everything I have read about the Gospel of Matthew says that he appears to have been writing in order to keep Christianity grounded in Jewish tradition.  This suggests to me that even though I would not read the Old Testament prophecies they way he did that much of the Jewish community of the First Century did (even if they did not apply the prophecies to Jesus, they saw them as applying to the Messiah).

As I read this I was thinking about how I was going to write something tying together all of the important things in this passage.  Then I got to Matthew’s introduction of John The Baptist and decided that I was going to focus on that.  Many people came out to hear John’s preaching.  They heard his message and it struck them to the heart.  So, they confessed their sins and were baptized.  When the political leaders realized what was going on, they too went out to hear John.  Except they were not there to hear the word of God.  They were there to harness the popularity of John The Baptist for their own political ends.  John The Baptist was having none of it and he called them out for their hypocrisy.  He told them, and the rest of the people listening, that it was not enough to put on the appearance of righteousness.  We need to hear that message today.  We need to both make sure that we do not fall into the trap of trying to use the show of righteousness for our own ends and call out those who are doing so.  As Jesus is quoted later, we will be judged by the fruit which we produce.

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