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

Jesus makes many points in this passage which we need to give deep thought.  I am only going to touch on a few of them.  The first one I am going to look at is the contrast between the approach Jesus and John the Baptist took to preaching their message.  John the Baptist took an austere, ascetic approach.  He preached in the desert and expected people to come to him.  Jesus, on the other hand, went to where people were.  He joined them at their feasts and at their parties.  He ate and drank with them.  Despite their different styles, they both preached much the same message; repent of your sins and do what is good.  They also respected each other.  Jesus spoke highly of John, and John sent his disciples to Jesus.

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 begins with Jesus saying something which people love to quote, “Do not judge others…” and there is merit in paying close attention to that and the ways in which Jesus expounds on that.  However, a little further on Jesus also tells us that we can identify a tree by its fruit.  He says this in the context of warning us to beware of false prophets.  There He tells us that we can identify what type of person someone is by their actions.  So, we have two different instructions from Jesus.  One tells us not to judge others, the other tells us to pay attention to how people act and judge them accordingly.  A little closer look at what Jesus says immediately after telling us not to judge reveals that He is telling us to apply the same standard to others that we apply to ourselves.  Actually, I think Jesus is telling us we should apply the standard we apply to others to ourselves.  All too often we loudly complain about those who break a “rule” in minor way when we ourselves break that same “rule” in a major way.  We should instead seek to be more forgiving of the failure of others than we are of our own failures (although there are people who take this too far as well).

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

I have always loved this passage, there is so much in it for us to learn from.  For me what Jesus has to say about salt losing its flavor strikes me as the central take away from this passage today.  I recently saw someone say that Christians being pro-life makes people not want to get to know Christ.  That is the sort of thinking that Jesus was talking about when He said that if we lose our flavor we become good for nothing.  I almost did not use that example because I am not a champion of making abortion illegal…I am not a champion of making anything illegal.  As a Christian, I want to convince people not to do things which will cause them, or others, harm.  I want them to not do those things because they love God, not because those things are illegal.  Nevertheless, we should not be afraid to express unpopular opinions that reflect Jesus’ teachings.

However, just a few verses further on Jesus warns us against allowing ourselves to be controlled by anger, a temptation which can be hard to resist when talking about some of today’s issues.  I want to go on to another aspect of Jesus’ teaching about being salt.  Well, actually, it is the other metaphor He uses for the same lesson, being light.  He tells us to let our good deeds shine out for all to see, but, again just a few verses down, He tells us to not do our good deeds for others to see them.  He says that we should give to the needy in private, that we should pray and fast in ways that others do not see.  As part of His teaching about giving to the needy, Jesus tells us not to worry about our physical needs.  Let’s pay careful attention here.  He tells us to not worry about OUR physical needs while telling us to care for the physical needs of others.  Seek first God’s Kingdom and His will and everything we need will be provided.

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 1-4

As I was reading Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth and Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt I was struck by something interesting.  I have frequently seen the family (Joseph, Mary, and Jesus) compared to refugees, poor people with just what they can carry on their backs and on the back of their donkey.  I have never questioned that image because it fits with how I think of Jesus’ family going to Egypt.  However, Matthew tells us that the wise men had given Jesus (and, let’s be honest, at that age they really would have been giving it to His parents) gold, frankincense, and myrrh just before the family began their journey to Egypt.  That means that Joseph and Mary were not destitute refugees when they went to Egypt.  In fact, they were relatively well to do at that point.

In addition, reading Matthew’s account of John the Baptist and Jesus’ interaction with John the Baptist struck me differently than I had ever thought of it before.  Typically, we have read this passage as showing John the Baptist as a unique figure who previewed Jesus’ coming.  While there is truth to that and things we can learn about our relationship with God by looking at it that way, I believe there is more to it than that.  We know now that John the Baptist was part of a larger religious movement, perhaps even the leader of that movement, which is only mentioned in the Gospels in connection with John.  Those for whom Matthew was writing would have been familiar with that religious movement to one degree or another.   I believe that Matthew included this account to make the connection between Jesus and that movement.   With his account of John the Baptist, Matthew is placing Jesus in the midst of a Jewish tradition which emphasized faithfully following God.