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

There are three things in this passage which I want to focus on today.  The first of those comes when Jesus commissions the Twelve to preach throughout Israel.  He tells them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the unclean, and drive out demons .  They have freely received from God, so they should freely give to others.  A little later during His commissioning of the Twelve He tells them not to worry about what to say, or how to say it, because it will not be them speaking, but the Holy Spirit speaking through them.  The third thing comes when Jesus responds to the question from John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask about whether He is the One.  Jesus tells them to report what they see–the blind can see, the lame walk, the unclean are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead raised, and the gospel preached.

When I started to write this I had no idea how these three things fit together, mostly because in my mind the first thing was “Freely you have received; freely give.”  As I wrote it, I felt like I needed to include what came just before that about healing, etc.. So, I did.  Which made me realize that the first “thing” is almost identical to the third “thing”.  Which brings me to what brings this all together.  Jesus did not directly answer the question John’s disciples asked Him.  Instead, He told them to look at what He was doing.  And most of what He was doing was the same as what He told the Twelve to do when He sent them out.  So, we too should be doing more than speaking, and when we do speak, don’t spend time worrying about what to say; God’s Spirit will talk through 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 5-6.

Today’s passage contains the centerpiece of Jesus’ teaching.  It contains enough material to blog on for days.  However, I am going to write about something which I have never thought about the way it struck me today.  That is not quite true, it crossed my mind several times, but I just went on and dismissed the thought as unimportant.  Today I realized that it is important, and that I cannot recall anyone taking note of it.  So, Jesus talks about being angry at people as being as great of a sin as murder, and then says “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled t them; then come and offer your gift.”  Or, if you realize that someone is angry with you, drop everything, no matter how important, and go make it right with them.  And why does He say you should do that, because being angry with someone is just as bad as murdering them!  But wait, He doesn’t say, “Because being angry is so bad, go and resolve things with those YOU are angry at.”  No, He says, “Because being angry is so bad, if you know that someone is angry at YOU, go and resolve things with them.”  He doesn’t say to make it right if it is your fault. He says, make it right, no matter whose fault it is.  Now, we could easily make the mistake of thinking that if we are angry at someone, it is their job to come to us and make it right and that it is OK for us to stay angry with them until they do so.  But that doesn’t work because Jesus has just gotten done saying that being angry with someone is the same as having murdered them.  So, it comes down to this: if you are angry at someone and hold on to that anger, you are sinning.  On the other hand, if you know someone is angry with you, or think they might be, and you do not go and try to make peace with them, you are sinning.  Or, to put it more generally, if you realize that someone sins because of you, you should strive to change either your behavior, or how they view you.

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.

One of the things we often miss in reading the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, is the way in which Jesus’ ministry was connected to what was going on in Judaism at the time.  The Gospel of Matthew was written in attempt to convey the connection between Christianity and Judaism in a manner convincing to Jews.  Which brings me to Herod and why he and “all of Jerusalem” were disturbed by the arrival of the Magi looking for the newborn king of the Jews.  I think that, in part, Matthew included this account because it reminded his readers about the political instability of this region.  Most of us are familiar with the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid dynasty based out of Antioch on the Orantes (a city located in what is now Turkey) to establish the Hasmonean Dynasty over Judea.  What we generally are unaware of is the many civil wars fought among the Hasmoneans.  To a large degree those civil wars were fueled by disputes over the proper way to worship God.  Fights between Jews who had adopted the cultural practices of the Greeks (Hellenists) and those who supported more traditional cultural practices.  Further, it is clear from the stances on these issues taken by the various Hasmonean rulers that the conflicts were more about different factions than about specific religious practices.  Herod the Great had been made king over Judea, in place of the last Hasmonean, by the Romans and despite his cruelty brought a period of stability.   Since Herod was an Idumean who had converted to Judaism, he had brought a sort of peace among the factions.  So, the various leaders of Jerusalem had to be alarmed by the news of the birth of a new king…especially since they knew he was not being put forth by their own faction.  While the various factions hated each other, and fought each other for power, they were united in opposing Jesus because His very existence was a threat to their power.

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

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.