Bible Reading Challenge Blog

This parable ranks in the top three of my favorite parables.  It is such a great teaching tool.  I use it to show that God is not fair.  That’s right, God is not fair.  If God were fair none of us would have a chance to even get a glimpse of the kingdom of God.  Because God is not fair, we are all given the free gift of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Fairness in our world means that we get what we deserve.  With God, we get what we don’t deserve.  The free grace offered to us is not anything that we worked for, or anything that we can say in the least bit that we had it coming to us.  Instead, it is grace, it is a gift that we received just because God is good.

Think about the parable and what it means that someone who worked 1 hour got a full day wage, and he was paid first, and someone who worked the normal 12 hour work day received the same full day wage.  The latter received what was agreed upon, what was fair.  The former received way more than he deserved.  When we compare what we receive it is then that we grumble.  When we look around us and see what others have, it is then that we become unhappy.  When we focus on the gifts and the blessings that God gives to us and not be caught up with what others have, then we are satisfied.  I praise God every day that He is not fair.  If He were fair we would all be in a world of hurt.

Today is Snowmageddon, as I affectionately like to call it.  Our puppy had her first venture out in the snow.  Her first venture she hated, she turned around and came back in.  But her second time out we couldn’t get her back in, she loved it!  The snow was over her head and she was jumping all around the yard like a rabbit.  It was such a fun sight to see.  I pray that this journey of the 90 Day Challenge is one where maybe you entered with a little trepidation, unsure if this was really what you were cut out to do.  Now that we are three weeks into it, I pray that you are enthusiastically looking forward to the next day to see what lessons God just might place upon your heart.

The end of this chapter contains a caveat on what it means to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  It is all predicated on our willingness to be servants to others.  “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  If we would only set our sights on using this as our calling card then our lives would be so much more significant and satisfying.  If we knew that when we left our houses we were on the lookout on how can we be servants to others, I guess it would change our perspective permanently.  The world tells us to leave our houses looking for opportunities to get ahead.  What if we instead looked for opportunities to get other people ahead.   

The teaching on divorce is one that many would rather stay away from.  Interestingly enough, Matthew 19 begins more on a theme about marriage than he does about divorce.  Jesus states very clearly his understanding of what marriage is supposed to look like.  Look at verses 4-5: “the one who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.”  Jesus’ view of marriage according to our standards is the most traditional one could find.

His view on divorce was even more strict in his day than it would be today.  Back in the 1st century a Jewish man could divorce his wife if he woke up one day and found her displeasing.  He could write her a certificate of divorce, she would have to leave the safety and the security of the house, she would have no income, she would be shamed and shunned by her family as a divorced woman, and more than likely she would need to prostitute herself in order to survive.  Jesus saw an injustice in what was happening in the 1st century and told the religious leaders: “You are not to divorce for any reason except for adultery.”

It is a hard teaching, but it is a sound teaching.  It is a teaching which applies for us today.  Divorce leaves its scars on all who are in its wake.  No one is left unaffected, and no family today is immune from divorce.  No family.  His disciples rightly say that it must be better to not marry at all. Even Paul states that it is better to be a servant of God unfettered by the marital bond.  But not everyone, in fact very few, are capable of being “eunuchs” for the Lord.  It was certainly not my calling, and I am quite grateful to the Lord that he blessed me with the calling of being in a marriage relationship and provided the perfect partner, Stacy my wife, for that calling.

Jesus then launches into a blessing of the children followed by the very famous warning for those who are rich.  “It is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  He commands the rich young ruler to sell all of his possessions.  There are some difficult teachings in this chapter that don’t necessarily make us merry.  The teaching on divorce is personal to many of us.  The teaching on wealth is personal to all of us.  Jesus didn’t shy away from personal teachings.  Thanks be to God for that.  Now if only we would take it personally.

There are quite a few extremes in these verses, but before we get to those, let’s talk about the children.  Jesus speaks about the importance of children and their upbringing in the faith from vs. 1 all the way through vs. 14.  In vs. 2 he physically puts a child in front of those who are near him and says “unless you change…”  The emphasis was on us changing so that we could “become humble”.  The humility of knowing that you don’t know is what Jesus underlines.  This trait is found in children.  One of my favorite times of the week is chapel time with the children.  They do not know the Bible stories and are always so excited to act them out.  They love to learn, they love to be together, and it is absolutely contagious.

Jesus not only recommends our changing to be more like children, but has his harshest words for those who just might lead children astray.  Kids who are caught in the crossfire of a divorce often find themselves with scars that are difficult to heal.  Jesus uses the image of the lost sheep to describe a child who has strayed and gone from the faith and the effort that Jesus is willing to undergo in order to bring him/her back to the fold.  As vs. 14 states: “So it is not the will of my Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”

Jesus switches gears at vs.15 and addresses conflict within the church.  If we are upset with a member of the church we can’t let it simmer, we have to approach them directly, one on one (vs.15).  If that doesn’t help, and to be honest probably 95% of the time it does help, then you ask someone to go with you.  I would guess that this would help probably 100% of the time.  But we often skip the first step of going by ourselves because we feel like we need a little more support so we immediately skip to the second step.  That isn’t what Scripture tells us, in fact, if we do skip the first step, then we are actually going against Scripture and causing the other person to feel defensive and so we force them to act negatively.

Hand in glove with this verse is Jesus’ admonishment to forgive people an infinite amount of times.  Anytime a member of the church sins against you, it is our responsibility to forgive them an infinite amount of times.  Now, that does not mean that we take the liberty of not approaching them and sharing with them our concern.  It is absolutely crucial that none of these steps are missed.  We must approach a member with whom we feel we are at odds, and we must forgive them.  We can’t think that if we forgive them then we don’t have to approach them, that is not how it works.

We learn that Jesus wants us to be reconciled with each other and that children have a special place in Jesus heart.  These are key understandings to our relationship with our Savior, even if they are unrelated.

If you know your Baroque art then you know the image below is not from Caravaggio, but rather from Raphael.  It is a depiction of the transfiguration which is the story that we find at the beginning of Matthew 17.  As soon as you walk into St. Peter’s along the left hand side about halfway down you will see this painting.  It has always taken away my breath.  It is the full depiction of Matthew 17.  Look at it closely.   From the top to the bottom you see the chapter played out.  You find Jesus in his white arraignment, transfigured, on the top of the mountain with Elijah and Moses on his sides.  Peter, James, and John are prostate under the three figures and I’m guessing it is right after God says: “Listen to him!”  

Don’t you love Peter?  He is such a go-getter.  I’ve got a great idea, let’s make three booths so that we can keep you here forever.  We often have great ideas and jump way ahead of where God wants to go and eventually find ourselves in a bit of a pickle wondering why God didn’t help us out.  Well, maybe we wanted the safety of God in our booth so that we could let Him in and out as we pleased.  That’s not the way the Holy Spirit works.

Do you notice who else made the painting.  We find the man who wants his son healed, and brings him to Jesus before the whole crowd and we find ourselves in a place where they are not able to heal him.  You can see them trying to heal him and pointing at him, and then pointing at Jesus like, there, he’s the one who can do it, because we can’t.  I love this painting.  It is all of Matthew 17 wrapped into one painting.

Okay, what about the Scripture?  The Transfiguration is a portion of Scripture which reveals to the disciples the true person of Jesus.  He is the embodiment of God and the fulfillment of Scripture.  Elijah represents the one who will return to pave the way for the Messiah.  John the Baptist played that role.  He announced the coming of Jesus.  Moses represents the giver of the law and Jesus is the one who came and was a testimony and the fulfillment of the law.

It is a great Scripture which really shows who Jesus was.  And then you have the fish with a coin in his mouth.  It does seem a bit random, but it works because it shows that Jesus and his disciples were not completely removed from the world.  Even in the Scripture where Jesus says render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s is a testimony to Jesus telling his disciples to remain in the world, even while being distinct.   

It has been a while since I included a Caravaggio painting, but this one is one of my favorites.  You find the scene of the Apostle Peter being crucified upside down, so that he would not undergo the same death as his Savior Jesus.  We don’t read about this in Scripture, but it is alluded to in John 21:18-19 very vaguely.

But back to our Scripture, we find here the verses that have been a point of contention between Reformed or Protestant theology and Roman Catholic theology.  Read again what Jesus says to Peter in vs.18-19 of this chapter.  It is interesting to note that Peter enjoys in this one chapter the best of days and the worst of days.  

The best of days comes from answering correctly that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  Jesus rewards him with a wonderful accolade and lays out before him what the church is going to be like.  As Protestants we say that the foundation upon which the church is built is the rock of the statement of Peter which is that Jesus is Messiah.  But the word play that Jesus uses can be used to interpret his statement differently.  Look at those verses one more time.  The word for Peter in Greek is petros.  So in vs. 18 you could read: “You are petros (or the rock) and on this petros (or Peter) I will build my church.”  The Roman church has interpret this to mean throughout the ages that it is upon Peter and those who apostolically descended from him upon whom Jesus built his church.  From the persepctive of the Roman church this Scripture provides the justification for the role of the Pope which as Protestants we don’t follow.  It is a difference of interpretation that has shaped both churches dramatically along the lines of authority being vested within the church and the tradition or authority being vested solely upon the Words of Scripture and the person of Jesus Christ.  

I don’t want to belabor the point but it is not just upon this rock which strikes us as Protestants as a problematic Scripture, but what Jesus says next.  “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  You can always pick out Peter in any work of art because he is the one with the keys.  It is from this Scripture that art history has attributed to Peter the role of key master.  So when we talk about confession in light of theses verses it causes our Protestant hair on the back of our neck to stand on end.  But what is a good explanation for these words by Jesus?  Is there some truth to Jesus giving Peter a certain opportunity that no other person on earth had before or has had since?  I have struggled to come to terms with these verses and have my own understanding of what Jesus meant in these verses.  Let’s see if you can follow.

Like all Scripture we have to be able to take it within the context of what is happening in the life of Jesus.  We know that Jesus knew that Peter would indeed be the Apostle who would be the leader when the church would explode across the land.  The church would be built upon the foundation of  the truth that Jesus is Messiah and it is in that truth upon which it is founded.  Peter knew that truth and the only hope the church would have would be that this truth of who Jesus was would be dispersed throughout the land.  Peter had the opportunity to either allow that foundation to be spread or to bring it to a crashing close.  Of course salvation was not in his hands, but the furthering of the Gospel was intricately woven into the desire and the opportunities that Peter chose to take or not.  I can’t believe that Peter ever had the power to forgive sins or not.  But I can believe that he had opportunities to spread the Gospel, which he took.  By reaching out with the Gospel he affected the lives of thousands and so in turn helped by providing them a glimpse into heaven which they could embrace and call as their own.  

Those were the best of days for Peter, but the worst of days soon follow.  Peter’s denial of who Jesus is begins in these verses.  He doesn’t understand the necessity of Jesus’ suffering and so tries to protect him and discourage him from being a half empty type of person.  Jesus, you will never suffer if I can help it.  That’s really nice Peter, but you don’t get it.  I have to suffer in order for you to have eternal life.  Okay, Jesus was a little more direct and little more caustic than what I just portrayed him as saying: “Get behind me Satan.”  Not much room for error in those words.

Wait, Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fish more than once?  Yes, according to Matthew.  He has the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000.  We will see that Mark has the same scenario, so why not?  It is interesting to hear some of the commentators on this Scripture trying to explain it away either as a mistake or as something that Jesus did not, interpret as could not, do.  I have no issues with Jesus performing the same miracle twice.  After all, look at how many people he heals, including the multitudes in this chapter who come to see him.  We find that healing scene repeated often.

The scene of the showdown between Jesus and the Canaanite woman is one that I treasure.  You will find it depicted in vs. 21-28.  At first reading it seems like Jesus is quite the opposite from compassionate, which we raised as one of his lasting legacies last chapter.  Okay, let’s be honest, even after the second reading it seems like he isn’t very nice to this woman as she begs for mercy.  

“Jesus, help me.”  “Sorry, I just came for the people of Israel, and it is not right to give to the dogs what is reserved for the children of God.”  Do you hear the implications in Jesus’ statement?  He is basically calling this woman and her people dogs.  What is Jesus trying to do?  Her response gives us a clue to what his final intentions were, and what ends up happening with the Gospel message in the long run.  She answers brilliantly by classifying herself and her people as dogs, but stating that even dogs deserve the presence of the Lord and His miraculous touch.  By turning the argument back to Jesus she allows all around to see that she had the same value as anyone else.  

This is not a statement on whether all dogs go to heaven or not, but rather a statement that all people do indeed fall under the watchful gaze and protective hand of our Father.  On this MLK Jr. Day it is one of the most appropriate Scriptures that I can put before you.  There are those in history who have been treated like dogs by people in power for generations.  It is no wonder that African Americans have always had an affinity for the stories of Moses as he led them out of Egypt and into the promised land.  That has been their history in this country.  The promised land is still on the horizon, but we are getting closer.

This day has always been one that has had special significance for me for years.  My father was very involved in the civil rights movement, he even marched on Selma without the approval of his session.  It is a legendary story in our family.  I had a chance to meet Coretta Scott King as a child when my father introduced me to her.  What we can take away from this Scripture is that if all of us were made from the same mud at creation, and if Jesus loves all of us equally and has a place in heaven for all of us who receive him, then why on earth do we treat each other differently and think that some are of less value than others.

I think it is a question that will remain for the ages as long as there are certain people in power and others who are out of power.  Jesus would agree completely with the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28.  Look it up, it will do you good.

There is a great book by Presbyterian Pastor John Ortberg entitled If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat.  Here is the link if you were interested in checking it out: http://www.amazon.com/Want-Walk-Water-Youve-Boat/dp/0310340462.  Peter walking on water in this chapter in Matthew is a classic Scripture which reminds us that it does take risk in order to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Many are internally wired to be risk averse.  Then there are others of us who are wired to be risk takers.  I’m thinking Jesus was wired to be a risk taker and Peter was definitely risk averse.  He didn’t really want to get out on the water.  He needed Jesus to call him out.  

Do you notice what it is that causes Peter to start to sink?  “But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened.”  When the winds of life blow we become frightened.  Did you hear today’s sermon, where fear is called out by Jesus as an enemy to his mission and ministry?  Consistently Jesus blesses us with the opportunity to go through life without fear.  Without fear we are able to walk on the waters that are tumultuous or smooth.  Without fear we have a confidence that allows us to take risks that normally we would not take.  

I don’t want to skip the story of the feeding of 5,000 but it is important to see that at the beginning of the story Jesus withdraws by himself as a result of the death of his cousin, John.  It was really a murder by Herod, which must have caused some consternation for Jesus since they were considered pretty much the same person with the same message by many around him.  What was it that drove him back to be with the people?  Notice on vs. 14 we read that he had compassion on those who sought him.  He had compassion on those who needed healing, and also had compassion on those who were gathered for they had nothing to eat.  

The compassion of Jesus comes out so clearly in these verses, a compassion that drives him to reach out and come out of hiding.  We learn about Jesus that he has a compassion for us even while he wants us to take risks in life that will draw us closer to him and closer to the ones that he loves.

There are two topics that Jesus addresses more than any other in Scripture.  The first is what is addressed in chapter 13, the kingdom of God, and the second is finances.  Aren’t you glad we are going to address the kingdom of God, which is Jesus’ favorite topic?  

There are some who take a very metaphorical approach to heaven and hell.  Some see heaven as a time in which we are in full communion with God and the relationship that we have with Him is complete.  Hell then becomes a complete separation from God, and an experience that is, well, an experience.  They would deny any real presence of heaven or hell and normally would also deny a time of decision or separation where God chooses those who are fit for heaven and those fit for hell.

On this topic, the kingdom of God, I fall on the same of the literalists.  I do believe in a literal, physical heaven, and no, it is not a place on earth (sorry Belinda Carlisle).  In the same manner I believe in a literal hell where, as Matthew states here, that “the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  I don’t dwell on it, it isn’t my favorite topic, but it should also not be avoided.

An integral part of the kingdom of God is that there is a time and a process of separation.  We can’t deny that, at least not if we are going to take seriously Matthew 13.  The parable that we all know is that of the sower who sows seeds on the different types of ground.  I love how Jesus actually takes the time to explain the parable in vs. 18ff, so I really don’t need to.  He warns the crowds, and so warns us, to not be so shallow that we don’t allow ourselves to cling to the Word of God.  Reading Scripture daily allows us to prevent our lives from being that of walkers on the shallow path.  He warns us not to be so caught up in the present that when the future comes we lose the joy and the excitement that comes with joining the church or being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  We need soil that runs deep and not find ourselves treading on rocky ground.  He warns us not to be so caught up the cares of the world that it chokes out the Word because we are so caught up in the wealth and status of being who we are.

All of this is great for us to hear as we live in a world where deep understanding of the Word of God is discouraged and seen more as a crutch than a legitimate way of life.  We live in a world where the here and now is all that counts so we are taught to put all of our eggs in one basket, and when life happens, we lose interest and wonder if we ever felt the love of God in the first place.  We live in a world where we have enough troubles to last a lifetime and we are so focused on the material things of this world that who Jesus is gets chocked out by what we want and how we can get ahead.  

All of the parables in this chapter take us to the kingdom of heaven as a place where God is choosing those who would follow him and those who would not find themselves separated from God, literally.  Again, we end the chapter with a reference to Jesus’ family, and this time his sisters are included.  His home town of Nazareth is not able to receive him because they are too familiar with him.  I pray that we never think we are too familiar with Jesus that we stop understanding his Word, or just think his words refer to a distant heaven, or that his words have no relevance to a world which is dramatically different from the one in which he lived.  Jesus continues to teach and guide us in ways we could never imagine if we would just let him.

Legalism can take the joy out of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  When I attended Philadelphia College of the Bible I was shocked by the amount of rules that we had to follow.  We were not allowed to wear jeans to class, we couldn’t go to movies, we had to go to church twice on Sunday, we had a curfew when we had to be in our dorms, and we certainly were not allowed in the girls’ dorms.  I had thought that once I was in college I would be allowed to make some of those decisions on my own instead of someone else making them for me.  It created a puerile environment where the students were dictated to them their dos and their donts.  You wonder at what stage do you learn to take responsibility for your own actions and not rely upon an administration to tell you what rules you have to follow for life.

Jesus in these verses is speaking to the Pharisees and basically tells them: people who love God do not need to be given a list of rules to follow, but rather what actions we ought to take should come instinctively .  All of our actions ought to be pleasing to God, and what we desire ought to be pleasing to God.  If we find ourselves in sin and unable to control our actions then we are not trying to please God and so we are not a disciple of the Lord.  Let me explain.  We are disciples of Jesus Christ not out of fear that salvation will not be ours.  We love Jesus because of an overwhelming sense of gratitude for what he did for us on the cross.  Our lives are an attempt to give thanks for what he has done for us.  If we are desiring to do that which we know will make Him unhappy, then maybe we are not grateful enough.

This approach to faith, where we live lives of response out of gratitude as opposed to fear of damnation, is a seismic shift in our thinking.  The Pharisees encouraged the people of Israel to rely upon them, the church leaders, to understand the Scripture and what was allowed and not allowed.  Jesus was more than willing to interpret on his own what was allowed on the Sabbath and in life.  This was not permissible and it was so threatening to the church leaders that vs. 14 tells us that they conspired to destroy him.

That is one aspect of the Presbyterian Church that I so embrace.  I am not going to tell you the laws of Scripture and that you have to follow them and the specific way in which you have to live your life.  I will interpret Scripture for you in such a way that I hope you are able to make that decision on your own without me looking over your shoulder to check on whether you are worthy are not.  But some people need to be told how to live their lives.  I can do that as well, but I would prefer that people try to understand the freedom that we have in Jesus where he provides us with opportunity, and not laws or rules.

The latter part of this chapter deals with Jesus and his second coming.  He tells the crowds that with John the Baptist and him present then they have no excuse for opting out of seeing the Kingdom of God at hand.  Jesus has come to clean our houses of all that which would take us away from God.  If we then choose to do nothing with what he has given us, full salvation from our sins, then we leave ourselves open to an even worse future.  Our future is then even more bleak than before because it is much harder a second time to turn to Jesus than it is the first time.

This chapter ends with Jesus and his family obviously at odds with each other.  His mother, Mary, and his brothers are waiting for him outside of the house where he is teaching.  We can only imagine what it is that they want.  We read elsewhere in Mark 3:21 that they thought he was out of his mind, at least that was what some people were saying about him.  That makes sense.  If we were living a life where the only thing that mattered to us was our status as a disciple of Jesus Christ then our family just might think something was a bit strange with us.  But Jesus recovers and points out that our real family are those who are invested in establishing the kingdom of God.

I don’t want to read too much into that, but we will see again in Mark a verse that is equally shocking where it states that we must “hate” our mother and father if we are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  At this point you might check out and say, well, that’s not for me.  Hang in there until we get to Mark and we can see why Jesus says that.

I hope you are able to keep up with the readings.  We find once again some gems in this chapter.  If you look specifically at vs. 28-30 you will hear words that are familiar.  Jesus promises us that he will give us rest.  Okay, maybe not us, but all those who are carrying heavy burdens are promised rest.  Is that you?  The yoke that Jesus has is one that is light compared to the one that we have.  The yoke that we have is one that is burdened with sin, it is burdened with the heaviness of misplaced words and hurtful deeds.  By taking on the yoke of Jesus we are able to learn from him, for he is gentle and he is humble.  This learning will lead to an opportunity for us to find rest for our souls.

While these ending verses are comforting we can’t skip over the verses that are little less than comforting.  Jesus gets a message from John the Baptist where his cousin asks him: “Are you the man?”  Again, Jesus doesn’t answer with the traditional yes or no answer, he tells the messenger to go back to John and tell him what you see.  It is that simple.  I don’t need my words to back me up, just look at my actions.  What a great message for all of us.  We should not use our words to justify our actions, but rather our actions to justify our actions.  

He then describes who exactly John the Baptist is.  This is helpful for us if we didn’t have a real clear picture on who John the Baptist is.  To begin we have to clarify that John the Baptist is not the same John who wrote the Gospel.  I know, this is information that you already know.  But I still get that question frequently.  John the Baptist was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth as we see in Luke 1, and Elizabeth is a relative of Mary…which makes John the Baptist and Jesus related.  We aren’t there yet, but we will be in a few weeks.  John the Baptist is the one who is baptizing those who are repenting as they come to the Jordan river to see him.

Jesus calls John the Baptist: “He is Elijah who is to come.”  Okay, what does that mean?  If you want to find out more about Elijah you can find him in I Kings 17 and following.  He was a prophet of the Lord who was often speaking about the coming of the Lord, and did hand to hand combat with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.  It is a great story found in I Kings 18 and it is a popular sight to visit whenever you go to Israel.  But what Jesus is referring to is a quote in Malachi which states: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” (Malachi 4:5-6).

Before the coming of the Lord, which would be Jesus, Almighty God was going to send a prophet to prepare the way of the Lord.  That was John the Baptist.  Jesus identifies him as such and it gives us a great understanding as to how God continues to be providentially in control of all history, all people, and all time.  

Jesus’ control over our lives needs to be reflected in our understanding of God’s providence in all of history.  Our burdens can be lessened to degrees we can’t even understand if we would only lay them on our loving Lord.  God’s control of history provides us with the relief and the assurance that we are not in charge.  Praise be to God!