Explore the Bible: Matthew 13:10-17

Jesus used many parables in His teaching, and Matthew 13 has several of them. After He gave the parable of the sower, His disciples were curious as to why Jesus used parables. His answer was that those who had spiritual insight would understand the point of the parable, while those who refused to listen would hear the story but miss the point. He quoted Isaiah 6:9-10 to explain this principle.

The passage Jesus quotes is from the call of Isaiah in chapter 6. Isaiah has his vision of the Lord in the temple, and answers God’s call for someone to go and speak for Him. Even as He commissions Isaiah, the Lord warns him that people will refuse to listen to what he has to say, and will reject his call to return to the Lord. Jesus recognizes that people in His own time were in the same position as those of Isaiah’s time, and that many simply refused to listen to or understand what He had to say.

This refusal to heed the word of Christ goes beyond a few parables taught in the first century. Today there are many who attend churches and who know what the Bible says, but who refuse to accept that it is God’s Word. While there are certainly parts of the Bible that are hard to understand and require some significant study, much of its message is straightforward. The gospel is clearly spelled out, and the way to heaven through Jesus is stated many times in very plain language.

So how do people miss it? Many really don’t. They understand exactly what the Bible teaches, and their human nature rebels against the thought of it truth. They want to believe that they can make themselves right with God, and that there are other ways to heaven. They see the Bible as infringing on their freedom and hopelessly narrow-minded, not a message that fits the world of our day as they see it. It isn’t a question of intellect, but of will.

As we continue to study God’s Word, we have to constantly search our own hearts to see if we are open to hear what the Holy Spirit has to teach us or if we want to make the Bible fit what we already believe. Jesus’ own disciples took years to begin to figure out just what He meant by His teaching, and the gospels make it clear that when He died they didn’t yet comprehend what happened. It took years (and the Spirit!) to open their eyes fully to the full truth of His teaching.

We should be ready to allow as much time as it takes for the lessons of Scripture to find a home in our hearts. You may find that over time you see parts of the Bible more clearly, and maybe you even have to change your mind to match the truth. Some sections you may never fully grasp, and some truths of Scripture are simply beyond our finite human minds. (Just how does the Trinity work, anyway?) The rest of our lives, and indeed all of eternity, await our continued searching of the Scriptures to more fully understand the mind of God.

Explore the Bible: Matthew 12:15-21

Matthew quotes Isaiah 42:1-4 here and applies Isaiah’s prophecy directly to Jesus. Unlike the application Jesus made of Isaiah when He answered John the Baptist’s question in Matthew 11:4-5, here the prophecy isn’t focused on the great works of the Messiah. Rather, Matthew uses the prophecy to point out why Jesus urged people not to spread the Word about Him. His role at this point in His ministry was to do the work He was sent to do, not to draw attention to Himself in such a way as to put the focus on Himself as the divine Deliverer.

In a Jewish study Bible I have, Isaiah 42 is said to refer primarily to the nation of Israel as a whole. It does point out that rabbis have seen it as a description of the Messiah (as well as the prophet Isaiah himself or the Persian king Cyrus), but attempts to make the description of the servant fit the role of Israel in a future ideal kingdom. It requires taking some Hebrew phrases in unusual ways, and writes off “open blind eyes” in verse 7 as another parallel way to say “freeing the prisoners.”

Even from an Old Testament perspective, however, it seems to make more sense of a special servant of the Lord, the Messiah. This Anointed One would not come with violence, and would not cease His work until justice was established over the whole earth. He would Himself be a covenant for the people, and would bring liberation not only from prison, but from the imprisoning conditions imposed by illness or handicap. Yahweh announces that this will, in fact, be something new.

For those of us under the New Covenant, we have Matthew’s divinely inspired interpretation to guide us in our understanding of who the Servant is. Although Matthew stops at verse 4, he would have seen the continuation of Isaiah’s prophecy as also applying to Jesus. Thus Matthew shows that he views this passage as referring to the Messiah, and that he believes that Jesus is that Messiah.

We are certainly to proclaim the truth about Jesus to our whole world today. While Jesus was here on earth, He often told people to keep what He had done quiet, but at the end of His earthly ministry He told His followers to proclaim the good news to all people; Matthew records this at the very end of his gospel (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus is the justice and hope that both Isaiah and Matthew speak about. On the cross, Jesus made both possible and fulfilled the mission He had during His time here on earth. The ultimate fulfillment will come when He returns to establish His kingdom. We can continue to have a future hope as we read the words prophesied about Him all through God’s Word, and that hope should spur us to share the reason for our hope with all we meet.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 27: Matthew 23:1-7

Jesus’ warning here Matthew 23 would been shocking to most of the Jews of His day. The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees were held in high regard by the common people. They were seen as the ones who knew and understood the Law, and whose lives reflected the highest standards of holiness. Most Jews would have considered attaining the righteousness of a Pharisee to be an insurmountable task.

Jesus looked beyond their surface. He pointed out how they used the letter of the Law to avoid acting in the spirit of the Law. Jesus also looked at their motivations for their teaching and their behavior. In this passage Jesus accuses the Pharisees and teachers of the Law of hypocrisy, selfishness, pride, and ambition. His appraisal of their hearts and their actions found them to be unworthy of the honor they craved.

When we seek teachers to guide us in understanding God’s Word, we should look at their character as well as their teaching. Many prominent teachers are using their gifts and skills as teachers for their own benefit. They seek fame, success, money, and influence more than they seek to share the Word. This can lead them to focus only on passages that their listeners find comforting while ignoring the hard lessons of Scripture. In some cases, this can lead to teachers even rejecting what the Bible says in favor of ideas and positions that can get them a larger audience.

Note that in Matthew 23:1-7 Jesus doesn’t criticize the teaching of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. While he warns their students not to follow their examples, He still sees that they are teaching what the Word said. A teacher may be faithful to the Word in his or her teaching but still be using their position for the wrong reasons.

This doesn’t mean that pastors and teachers should never receive their living from proclaiming the Word, nor that it isn’t right to look up to godly teachers. The Bible teaches that those who labor in teaching are worthy of honor and of compensation for their work. (See for example Luke 10:17 and 1 Timothy 5:17.) If that compensation and honor become their prime motivation to continue their work, however, they have moved away from what the Lord desires into human selfishness and sin.

In finding a teacher worthy of your honor and of your time, make sure you look not only at what they teach (although you want someone who is committed the Bible), but at what motivates them to teach. That may be hard to determine, but, as with the teachers of Jesus’ time, the heart of a teacher will be exposed. A godly man or woman who seeks to lead students toward Jesus and to a Christlike life is one worth following. 

30 Days in the Bible, Day 21: Matthew 5:1-12

If we look at the way Jesus taught during His time here on earth, we find that it is very different from the way teachers work today. As a teacher myself, I know there is a lot of pressure on those who work in schools to get their students through a set block of material. There is a test coming, and we have to have our students ready. We can’t spend as much time as we’d like to keep covering a subject as thoroughly as we’d like.

Jesus used the rabbinic model that was common in first century Judaism. While there were many books written in that era, rabbis focused on oral teaching that was repeated until their students learned it. Learning from a rabbi required a commitment of time and effort from a student. Many rabbis traveled, so their students had to travel with them. A rabbinic student had a hunger for knowledge and truth.

We see Jesus repeating teaching in the gospels. One of the large blocks of teaching that is repeated is some of the material from the Sermon on the Mount. We find it in Matthew 5-7 and some of it in Luke 6. Each of these passages is slightly different, which suggests that Jesus would match His teaching to specific audiences even while keeping the underlying truths intact. From what we see in the gospels, and what we know about Jewish teaching in His time, we are sure Jesus reinforced His teaching by repeating ideas and stories throughout His ministry.

In our churches today, people aren’t going to spend their lives following a pastor or teacher around day to day. However, we have many ways to study sound Biblical teaching that we can expose ourselves to the truth every day. Modern churches and technology give us the Bible, study helps, and the chance to study with qualified teachers. We have more resources than any rabbi ever had.

This blessing comes with a caution. We can use the wide variety of Bible studies and helps to keep moving from passage to passage and idea to idea without taking the time to allow each teaching to sink in and take root in our hearts. We can also rely on easy access to teachers and helps in such a way that we aren’t truly learning what the Bible teaches, expecting to just look it up. Our goal must still be to get the Word into our minds, hearts, and lives.

Jesus is the greatest teacher of all time, and the Word allows us to learn from Him. While we aren’t rabbinic students, we still need to commit to studying the Word He gave us and putting what we learn into practice in our life. When we make this commitment, we will see our lives transform to become more like our Teacher and Lord. 

Saying "No" to yourself

I'm something of a news junkie. I watch several news broadcasts before I leave for work in the morning, and visit a number of news and commentary web sites in the evening. The one bad thing about being a news junkie is that you are exposed to a lot of bad news. I could list the events of today, but they would soon be pushed aside by a new set of a discouraging or evil news. If you want a list of negative headlines, just go watch the evening news for whatever day you read this post.

Many people, from a wide variety of viewpoints, want to stem the tide of evil, corruption, and just plain bad news that seems to engulf our world. They propose striking at any number of root causes-poverty, racism, education, immorality, and pretty much anything else you can name. Some of these efforts are incompatible, and the fights between the proponents of those viewpoints creates more bad news.

I think there is a root cause for all of these problems. Yes, I said all of them. OK, I'll make an exception for natural disasters, but even the way we deal with those can exhibit what I'm about to discuss. The root problem is the inability of most people (or more likely all people) to say "no" to themselves.

Jesus drove this point home during His ministry on earth. In Matthew 16:24 He says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (NIV) People often speak about their "cross" as some ailment, annoyance, or trial that comes into their life. That's not what Jesus means here. The cross was an instrument of torturous death, and Jesus asks us to die to ourselves. Our own wishes and desires become subservient to those of God.

This doesn't only run counter to what the secular culture believes, it runs counter to what many Christian teachers promote. They teach that the Christian should have success in life because God wants to bless us, and that if we want something we should just ask God for it and it will be ours. Jesus never teaches that. He does promise blessing, but on His terms, not ours. It doesn't always mean material success.

When people don't say "no" to themselves, they essentially decide that whatever they want they deserve, and if they deserve it no one has the right to keep them from it. It doesn't matter what other people want, or what they think, or how they might be affected; it's all about getting what I "deserve." There's a theological term for this attitude. It's called "sin."

We were not created to live for ourselves. Sin came into the world through Adam and Eve, and we live with its effects today. What Jesus calls us to do is to break the power of sin, and say "no" to our selfish desires and "yes" to God's desires for us. He created us, and knows what we need to function best. It can be hard to say "no," and it is definitely counter-cultural. But until we can do this, and spread this through our society, we will never be able to overcome the bad news we see.

Sunday sermon: "Jesus Meets an Adoring Crowd"

[NOTE: As part of my promise to make up for missing posts, I present the missing Sunday sermon from Palm Sunday.]

The crowd that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on His Triumphal Entry was in many ways no different from the crowds that acknowledge Jesus in our own time. Many of those present had likely heard about Jesus' teaching and miracles. The bulk of the crowd, in fact, was probably fellow travelers from Galilee with whom Jesus moved on His way to the Passover. These people knew about Jesus' reputation, and perhaps they believed the time was right for this wonder-working prophet from Nazareth to take charge of the situation in Jerusalem.

In the account of the Triumphal Entry in Matthew 21, we read that the people were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Their cry of "Save now!" (Hosanna!) was eerily prescient, but in their mouths was more likely to be asking that Jesus do something about their temporal and political state right at that moment. Calling Him the "Son of David" indicated that they were prepared for Him to take His place on David's throne. They wanted Jesus to kick out the Romans and re-establish Israel as a powerful and independent kingdom.

The people in the crowd that day were ready to accept Jesus as their king- provided He came on their terms. They wanted to set the conditions under which they would accept Him as their Lord. As long as He conformed to what they thought the Messiah should be, they would let Him be the Messiah. Their main concern was for themselves and their own earthly future.

This is really not much different than the reaction of people in our world to Jesus. As long as He comes in to fix their problems, bring them health and happiness, provide them with nice moral teaching, but then not be too demanding, they will accept Him. Many, including Christians, want a Jesus who doesn't threaten to overturn their lives, and who meets their needs on their terms.

The problem with this interpretation, of course, is that Jesus comes as King on His terms. Jesus is King and Lord whether or not we accept Him as that. We can choose to rebel, but we cannot topple Him from His throne. As Jesus comes to our world, He offers us not the choice of whether or not we will make Him King, but whether or not we will live like citizens and subjects of His kingdom. We can choose to follow another king, but only as rebels who follow a usurper.

This means that Jesus is not only King over those who believe in Him, but over all. Satan may be the "prince of this world" temporarily, but only because he is the leader of the rebellion against God. The Bible may call him a prince as a pretender, but it never acknowledges Satan as a king, even for now. We are no different; we may think we are "king" and try to rule our own lives, but we are still in reality the subjects of the Almighty King of Kings.

The question before us today is, will we live our lives in a right relationship with King Jesus, accepting His Lordship on His terms, or will we rebel and live for ourselves? Jesus is King. Our lives find their fulfillment in living as part of His kingdom.

Sunday sermon: "The Center of Our Story"

As far as Jesus' followers knew, He was dead. The disciples were in hiding. The women who went to the tomb expected to find Jesus' body there. None of His followers expected Him to rise from the dead, despite His own teaching that He would. Thus, when they found the tomb empty, the women were as surprised as anyone. When they saw Jesus, it was no vision or hysterical hallucination based on their hopes. Their own grasp of His feet was evidence enough that He was truly alive, and had left the grave in bodily form.

One of the striking characteristics of the resurrection narratives in the gospels is that they give us no description of Jesus leaving the tomb. While later apocryphal gospels and other writings invent those details, the canonical gospels do not. In Matthew 28 we have the account of the angel descending and rolling the stone away, and of the fainting of the guards at the sight, but even they do not see Jesus leave the tomb. All they know is that when they come to, the tomb is empty. It is not the triumphal appearance of the glorious Lord that is left as evidence, but the stark fact of the empty tomb.

The transformation in Jesus' disciples was complete. In a matter of days, they would go from a group depressed and defeated to one which would literally change the world. They had a message which no other religion or philosophy could match: that in Jesus, sin and death were defeated and new life was possible. The message of the resurrection is that you don't need to earn your own way into heaven (in fact, Christianity teaches the opposite, that there is no way you can earn your own salvation), but that through faith in the risen and living Lord Jesus new life is freely given to all who believe.

Matthew's gospel records the one event that was the flip side of this message. Some of the guards at the tomb, who had seen what had happened and were witnesses that the tomb was empty, went and reported this to the chief priests. These priests were the religious elite of Israel, Jews who were well trained in the Scriptures and knew the prophecies. They had, in fact, asked for a guard to be posted precisely because they knew Jesus had predicted His resurrection. Yet faced with the reality of the empty tomb and the phenomena witnessed by the guards, they willfully refused to believe that Jesus was alive. They chose to create a ridiculous cover story (how did the guards know what happened while they slept?) rather than accept what the resurrection of Jesus meant for them and their religious empire.

Christianity means many things, and there are many teachings that we as Christians have to learn and follow. The center of our story, however, is that through the power of the resurrected Jesus God has shown us the way to new life and to becoming part of the family and the kingdom of God. This is what the church still has to offer the world, a message that can be found nowhere else. As long as we have this offer of salvation and life, we will never be irrelevant to the world in which we live, no matter how our culture changes.

Sunday sermon: "Jesus Meets Persistent Pleaders"

Putting the two pericopes (a fancy scholarly term for "paragraph" or "short literary section") from Matthew 20:20-34 in context highlights the contrast between two similar events. In each section, two men are asking Jesus for something. (James and John try to sneak their request through their mother, who some scholars think may have been Jesus' aunt, but Jesus sees through that.)  In each Jesus asks "What do you want?" And, despite what some people have written, both were answered.

The major difference between the two requests was not in their content, but in their motivation. James and John (and possibly their mother) were motivated by pride. They wanted the chief positions of honor in the kingdom. Perhaps they legitimately thought they had earned those positions, as two of Jesus' closest confidants (as well as possibly His cousins). They may also have just been trying to preempt the other disciples by getting their request in first. In either case, their was a lot of self at the center of their request.

That really isn't much different than what we see in a lot of what passes for "Christian" teaching today. A whole group of "health and wealth" preachers teach that you should ask for what you want, and expect God to give it to you. Some even say that if you ask the right way, God must give you what you ask for. This places the emphasis in prayer on the petitioner, who puts him- or herself at the center of the universe. Prayers like this are made by people who essentially think of themselves as God. the one in control.

Jesus first challenges James and John with the price they would have to pay: the same kind of suffering He was facing Himself. Their glib "Yes, we can!" response was met with the assurance that they would indeed pay a great price. Still, Jesus told them "no." He would not give them the position they sought, because it was not His to give, but was already prepared by the Father for those whose it was.

The rest of the disciples, scarcely less ambitious, were angry with the two, and Jesus rebuked them as well. The key to greatness in His kingdom is not position, but service. The greatest is the one who serves the most; first place goes to the lowliest. How would this attitude taking root in our churches today change the dynamics of our congregations? What would it mean if we chose leaders on the basis of who served the most rather than who jockeyed for power best?

The two men in the other pericope stand in contrast to the disciples. They certainly want their request heard, and they call out persistently for Jesus. Their cry shows their heart: "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" They acknowledge who Jesus is, as Lord and as Messiah, and they ask for mercy, not for something they think they deserve. They believed Jesus could help them, so they cried out for Him.

Jesus answers them with a "yes." In their case, He heals their blind eyes, and in response they follow Him. This apparently means they took to the road to Jerusalem with Jesus' band of pilgrims. Perhaps they were there for the eventful week that led to the death and resurrection of Jesus. In any case, their response to Jesus' mercy was to give Him themselves.

What is our attitude in prayer? Do we pray like we expect God to recognize our worthiness to receive anything we want? Or do we humbly ask our Lord to show us His mercy? Do we respond to the mercy and generosity of God by asking for even more, or by giving Him all we are? We can't buy God's grace; we can't match the price He paid. All we can do is give Him what we have, in humble service and gratitude for all we have received by His grace.

Sunday sermon-"Jesus Meets an Outsider"

Several members of the congregation told me that the story related in Matthew 15:21-28 had bothered them for some time. It certainly seems on the surface to put Jesus in a harsh light. It also doesn't ring true with what has already happened in His ministry. He had performed miracles that benefited Gentiles previously. Why the sudden change in His professed attitude?

As I studied for this message, I came to the conclusion that Jesus' seemingly harsh statements were actually designed with a loving purpose. The woman approached Jesus as an outsider to His world, and referred to Him by a title, Son of David, that made Him an outsider to hers. She was looking for power to solve her current problem, and Jesus seemed like a possible source. Like many today, both outside and inside the church, she wanted the benefit of Jesus without making Him the authority in her life.

 Jesus' first statement actually agrees with her. "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel" reflects her attribution of "Son of David" to Him. He says in effect, "Yes, I am Israel's Messiah. You have placed yourself outside of my authority with the title you have given Me." He seeks to draw the woman into His world.

She does get it. She kneels before Him and calls Him simply "Lord." This is the beginning of a proper realization of her relationship to Jesus. While "Lord" (Greek kurie) can be merely an expression of respect, I believe the overall thrust of the passage shows her to understand that Jesus really does have some authority over her.

We expect the story to continue with Jesus now answering her request, but he adds what appears to be an even harsher statement. "Dog" was an insult no matter what culture of that day it was said in, and the fact that the word is for the household dogs does not alleviate that. Jesus continues to press the woman for her understanding of who He is, and He once again states His primary sphere of concern is with Israel.

The woman agrees that she has no right to the blessings reserved for Israel; she understands she is outside of that covenant community. But she expresses a strong belief in the power of Jesus, believing that even the "crumbs" of His power and authority are sufficient to resolve her problem. She did not need what belonged to God's people, only enough to satisfy her need.

Jesus remarks on her "great faith," and grants her request. He has drawn her into a relationship with Him, at a rudimentary level, and His action serves to strengthen her faith and her bond to Jesus. Although the Bible does not tell us what happened to her, I believe it is possible that as Christianity spread out from Jerusalem, and especially since it found a strong center in Antioch in Syria, that this woman became a follower of Jesus through His church. When we come to Jesus seeking a connection to Him, not merely His favors, He will respond to us and draw us in closer to Him.