PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2023-2024

I remember vividly when Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ came out.  The violence and the blood and the gore was almost overwhelming for me.  I really didn’t feel that I needed to see that, although since it came out during Lent it did serve the purpose of setting up one of my sermons.  Chapter 27 contains all of the scenes from that movie that were the most disturbing and the most gruesome.  You have a Pilate who is very conflicted especially with his wife who is telling him to let Jesus go.  Keep in mind that people back then were very wary of the gods coming back in human form so his question: “Are you King of the Jews” is more a question related to are you one of us or are you one of the gods come to rule over us?  Because if you are one of the gods I’m not dealing with you.  Certainly his wife thought Jesus was one of the gods.

The dramatic washing of his hands and the response from “the people as a whole” that Jesus’ blood would be on them and their children has been used for centuries to point the finger at the people of Israel as “Christ killers”.  This phrase has been seen as perpetrating an anti-semitic sentiment that was carried out fully by the Nazis and others in history both before and after WWII.  As we mentioned last chapter, who was it that betrayed Jesus?  It wasn’t just the mob, it wasn’t just Pilate, it wasn’t just the disciples, it was all of us.  Lent is a time that we remember the suffering of Jesus and our complicity, even our daily participation, in his betrayal.  The solution is not Judas’ action, but rather what Joseph of Arimathea and the women do at the end.  They do not abandon Jesus, even in death, even when things seem completely without hope, but rather stay by his side and tend to the details.

Once again Caravaggio depicts a scene from the Bible that is so alarming that you almost feel as if you are there.  You find Joseph and the women taking Christ down and placing him in the tomb.  It seem as if they are standing on a cliff and lowering Jesus into an abyss.

A trip to the Garden tomb is a must for those who visit Israel.  It is so dramatically different from the Church of the Sepulcher where the traditional sight of Jesus’ burial is thought to be.  Normally we will have communion together at the Garden tomb and it is powerful to see the opening of the tomb, the face of the skull on Golgotha, and know that this just could be the place where Jesus was laid in the tomb.  

That’s probably enough pictures for today, but it truly is a powerful experience to be able to be there and think…this could be the place.

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Have you heard that phrase before?  Did you know that it comes from Matthew 26:41?  You do now.  It seems that all of a sudden things have become so much more intense than they have up to now in our readings.  You have Jesus today on Maundy Thursday with his disciples getting ready for the Passover.  But before this takes place don’t lose sight of the first story that is recounted which I believe is one of the most important stories in all of Scripture.  

Starting at vs.6 we have Jesus who is prepared for burial by a woman who breaks a jar of costly ointment in order to anoint him and, as Jesus interprets it, prepare him for burial.  She was probably just showing how much she loved Jesus, but he took it to mean so much more.  The disciples are furious, especially the keeper of the purse, Judas.  What a waste of money.  Jesus’ response is one that we have to remember and that should be ringing in our ears our entire life as disciples. “You always have the poor with you…”  

When you first hear this it might sound like Jesus is not taking too seriously the poor and kind of flinging them aside as if no matter what we do we will always have the poor with us.  In fact, he is saying exactly the opposite.  He is chastising his disciples for using the poor as an excuse to fill up the coffers of the disciples.  They are furious that this money was wasted because they felt like they could have used that money for something else.  They use the poor as the public reason for why they were furious, but deep down, they probably just wanted to have a little padding.  Jesus’ response is that you do always have the poor with you so you should always have them as a priority and focus upon them as you go through life.  Don’t use this one opportunity to bring up the fact of the poor when throughout the rest of your life they really haven’t been a concern to you.  Ouch, those are pretty harsh words.

There are times when we will use straw horses to try to prove a point when in reality we don’t care about those horses.  Jesus says in regards to the poor, we should always care about the poor, not just when it is to our benefit to care about the poor.  It is a great lesson for any time that we feel somewhat self-righteous in judging others for their wasteful lives.

But there is so much more in this chapter, where do we begin?  Judas betrays Jesus as a result of this harsh lesson.  Judas finally realizes that he is not going to get wealthy by following Jesus.  This was not Jesus’ priority for either him or his disciples, but it was a priority for Judas.  

We find Jesus at the last supper with his disciples and the whole mystery that surrounds who is the person who is going to betray Jesus.  Again, this Scripture has been misinterpreted.  His teaching in vs.21 reveals to us what he is trying to tell his disciples.  “You all will betray me.”  There is not one single person who is the betrayer.  We falsely accuse Judas as being the traitor as if he were the only one.  Do we forget vs. 56 which tells us: “Then all the disciples deserted him (Jesus) and fled.”  It is exactly as he predicted and exactly as Scripture said it would come about.  I am getting some great feedback from people on this study.  I am so pleased you are following it and enjoying it.  One point that was brought up in a conversation is the phrase that Jesus uses often – “for it is written…” and then it is followed by a quote or a statement.  Whenever Jesus says “for it is written” he is referring to a Scripture in the OT that was written which directly speaks to what is about to take place.  If you look at vs. 31 you will see Jesus quoting Zechariah 13:7, and the disciples would have been familiar with that Scripture.

We find in vs. 26-29 the words that we call the Words of Institution.  They are the words that are spoken at the beginning of communion every month.  Now I choose to use the Words of Institution that are found in I Corinthins 11:23ff, but some pastors do use these words.  We will find these words, or a rendition of them, in Mark and Luke.  Only John doesn’t contain them, but we will see in John where we can find them even in that Gospel.  

The betrayal scene is legendary.  The disciples fall asleep and Jesus three times gives them a chance to redeem themselves.  When we went to Israel and to the place that could have been the Garden of Gethsemane right outside of Jerusalem, it was overwhelmingly powerful for me to imagine what it would have been like at night in that garden with Jesus alone.  The garden is full of olive trees and terraces and you can imagine Jesus being able to see his disciples and their heads nodding in sleep.  How heartbreaking to imagine that your friends, by this time your family, is not able to stay up just a few hours at your request.  It was one of the most sobering times in the trip for me as I thought about my life and the times that I chose to pursue my desires instead of staying up for the Savior.  A great video that speaks to this concept of overlooking eternity in favor of the present is found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF_x8dsvb_4

We end the chapter with Peter’s denial, which mirrors his not being able to stay awake three times in the garden.  All of it powerful, all of it sobering, all of it pointing back to us and the times that we are not able to stay awake in vigilance for the coming of God, all of it reminding us that we have said: “Jesus who?” in various times in our life.  The resurrection is coming soon, I can’t wait!

The kingdom of heaven is Jesus’ favorite theme upon which to teach.  He addresses the issue of when he is going to be coming back again and what we need to do in order to be prepared when he comes back again.  In the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids we have those who are ready for the second coming of Christ and they bring along extra supplies just in case he delays.  The constant theme that we hear over and over again is that we just simply do not know when he is coming, but he is coming, and we have to be ready.  We can’t go off and live our own lives that are devoid of Jesus’ influence and think that we are going to be ready when he comes back again.

The parable of the reproduced talents is also one of my favorites because it does emphasize how we have to work with what God has given us.  It raises the point that each of us is given something different from those around us.  If we do not risk for the sake of the kingdom of God then Jesus will find us lacking.  There are some really harsh and strong words in this parable, but words that should not shock us, but rather motivate us.

The final parable of the sheep and goats emphasizes more what we do while we are on this earth and the ways in which we use our resources for our neighbors around us.  We never stress that we will be judged in any way upon our actions here on this earth because we recognize that we can never work hard enough or do enough in order to justify our salvation on our works.  But this parable should give us pause.  If we have no regard for the least of these, then Jesus will have no regard for us.  Those are strong words because our Savior wants us to be strong in the way in which we follow him.

Let’s talk a little about parables.  Jesus’ disciples ask him why he insists on teaching in parables back in Matthew 13.  Do you remember the parable of the sower?  Jesus answers that he teaches in parables because he wants to reveal the kingdom of heaven to some, but hide it from others.  There are those who are so intent on their own welfare and their own life that what happens around them and to their neighbor seems insignificant to them.  To them is hidden the lessons from these parables.  Stories are powerful mediums in which to hide the truths of God.  God desires us to know that He is coming back again, and wants us to be ready.  But He also does not tell us exactly when that will be so that we will always be ready.

This is probably the most difficult chapter of Matthew to understand.  So stay with me, as we plod our way through it.  I actually hope you don’t feel that it is plodding, but rather discovering truths that before had remained hidden.  The operative verses in this passage are found in vss. 36, 42, 44.  Reread them and see if you get a sense for what Jesus is saying.  Jesus is saying that the last days are coming, and in fact today we are closer to the last days than we were yesterday.  Tomorrow we will be even a day closer than we were today.  But, and this is key, we do not know when that day is coming.  We cannot predict that day, we cannot line up historical events that are happening in our day or that have happened in the past and try to say that we are this close because we can predict the days in Scripture.  According to Matthew, we cannot predict.

What we do know is that Jesus is coming back.  Before he comes back there will be suffering and difficulty and false teachers and false prophets.  There will be people who come and try to lead Jesus’ disciples away from the truths of Scripture, these truths that focus upon a relationship between God and neighbor.  There will be those who say that the only thing that matters is a relationship with Jesus and how we treat people on this earth doesn’t really matter.  There will be those who say that the more finances you give to the church then the more God will bless you financially, and that is the goal, isn’t it, to be secure financially?  Matthew says don’t listen to any of these people.  These messages don’t change everything, in fact, they don’t change anything.

Above you will find the wailing wall.  This wall is the last remaining wall of the grounds of the temple in Jerusalem.  Chapter 24 begins with Jesus coming out of the temple.  It could have been at this exit where Jesus departed the temple, we just don’t know (you may notice some familiar faces, or at least backs in this picture).  But it is called the wailing wall because this wall reminds the people of Israel that the promises that God has made will not come about until the temple is rebuilt within this wall.  If you look at the right side of the picture just above the wall you will see the top of a mosque which is situated within the temple grounds.  For the people of Israel this is also something about which to wail.

The verses that I gave you previously reminds us that Jesus commands us to be vigilant and always ready because we can never know when He will be coming back again.  It is a great lesson for us whenever we slip into complacency.  There needs to be a constant sense of urgency in our faith walk, for who knows, just right now the Lord might call us away.

The verse which really defines what Jesus says in this entire chapter is vs. 3.  The religious leaders did not practice what they preached.  As a pastor looking outside of my office window at the 3 feet of snow, I wonder in what ways do I fall short so that Jesus might, just might, call me a hypocrite.  I am sure there are many areas of my life that are found wanting.  But this chapter is by far the harshest criticism of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.  At the new members class we had one couple who said that they loved the church because it just seemed like a perfect place to raise a family.  There were no identifiable issues with which we were dealing.  I told them to give us a few weeks and you will find out that we are like every other church in many ways.

The hypocrisy that Jesus is especially speaking out against is when the leaders of the church set up more laws and more requirements to heaven than what Scripture allows.  We do not follow a set of rules, but rather a risen Savior.  Jesus tells the religious leaders not to focus on profit and benefiting from what the people bring in to them so that they can profit from it.  The religious leaders focus on how they were able to profit the most from the sacrifices of the people.  I guess the only parallel for today would be how do religious leaders profit from weddings, or baptisms, or funerals?  Or maybe we stress the numbers that attend so much that we tell people false theologies built around feeling good so that they will keep on coming.  

Maybe as you are reading this you can say that these verses are not addressed to you because you are not in a paid position of leadership in the church.  In some ways you are right, Jesus is not calling you a hypocrite.  But I would encourage you to identify ways in which the church and its leaders can be held more accountable so that there would never come a day at First Presbyterian where Jesus would say: make sure you listen to what they teach and follow it, but don’t do what they do.  That would be the worst kind of criticism possible.  We, pastors, need to be held accountable and you, the members, are the only who are able to do that.

In yesterday’s reading we found included the very important passage of Jesus opening up salvation not just to the people of Israel, but to all who would call him Lord and Savior.  The first parable for today continues that theme.  The wedding banquet is another name for the kingdom of God.  The guests who were first invited were those who were the children of Abraham, but they refused to respond to the invitation offered by the Lord.  They even went so far as to kill the servants, which we said yesterday refers to the prophets who brought warnings and the Word of God to the people.  So the king says fling open the doors, let anyone enter into the kingdom of God.  Just so that we are all aware, that act of flinging open the doors is what allows us to have a personal relationship with Jesus.  As far as the poor guy without a wedding robe on, not sure what to make of him.  Maybe, just maybe, he came along for the ride and didn’t really understand that this was a wedding after all.  Maybe he didn’t understand that this was an (maybe his only) opportunity to have a time with the Lord of all creation.

There are a few other classic teachings in this Scripture.  The “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” is an absolute classic.  Especially as we come up to tax season we find ourselves having to figure out exactly how much do we owe Caesar.  It is important to note that Jesus requires us to perform our civic duties, especially paying our taxes.  There is no wiggle room to be able to say that Jesus didn’t really mean that we have to do that which the government requires in this regard.  I know some would like to be isolationists in regards to the government, but Jesus is consistent on this issue.  

Then we have the greatest commandment which is twofold.  Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.  You will notice the vertical relationship between us and God and the importance of that relationship.  Equally important is to love your neighbor as yourself.  That horizontal relationship is not in any way secondary to the first.  The problem is how do we judge whether we have a solid love of the Lord our God?  There is no measuring stick.  But we do have a measuring stick in regards to our neighbor.  Do we love our neighbor as ourselves?  Are we in the mindset that if there is a single person who is hungry, or without clothes, or without shelter that it actually affects us.  It is so much easier to focus on the spiritual and let aside the pragmatic challenges that face us daily.  As Jesus said: You will have the poor with you always.”  That is true, and so we must always consider the poor to be our neighbor and our priority.  This would be a great time to reread the book of James as a little extra homework for you.  It fits hand in glove with this Scripture.

You have made it through all the way until the last week of Jesus’ life.  Didn’t that just fly by?  It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the first Gospel on our challenge.  The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, what we call Palm Sunday, begins our Holy Week.  It was like any other week in Jesus’ life, except it ends with the culmination of his death and ultimate resurrection.  Holy Week simply means the last week of Jesus’ life, and this Scripture marks the beginning of that week.

Palm Sunday in Matthew is the most curious of any of the Gospels.  Do you notice how many animals the Gospel writer has Jesus ride into Jerusalem?  It is hard enough to keep one donkey on track, much less a donkey and a colt of a donkey.  Don’t get hung up on the detail, the point is that a king riding into a city in peace would be riding a donkey and not a war horse.  Look at Zechariah 9:9-10 where you see a king who is ushering peace into the world would be riding a donkey.  Instead of riding to conquer, Jesus rode to bring in peace.

Admittedly that peace is short lived as Jesus is shown driving out the money changers from the temple.  This verse is used more than any other as a proof text that Jesus was willing to use force, even violence.  It is a terrible example as a proof text.  The driving out of the money changers, even with whips, was not an act of violence.  The whips were used to drive out the animals that were making the temple unclean.  The overturning of the tables was done in an effort to highlight the strange straying from the temple as a place of worship to a place of commerce.  Jesus was not thinking, now I get to give people of the 21st century a justification for the use of force.  If we are that desperate to justify force, then maybe we should pay more attention to Jesus saying we should turn the other cheek or forgive 70×7.  

The parable of the wicked tenants is not one of my favorites, but it does show very clearly the purpose of Jesus coming into this world.  It also presents to the leaders of the temple of that day a very real harbinger of God taking away their place of privilege and giving it to those who would follow Jesus.  The moral of the parable is that God sent his servants, who would be the prophets and specifically John the Baptist, to  let people know that the kingdom of God is at hand and that they are to be gathering fruit.  We are to be bringing people to a closer relationship with Jesus, that is gathering fruit.

But instead of responding to those who came before Jesus, we turned our backs on the prophets, and killed John the Baptist.  So God our Father decided to send His only Son, His beloved, Jesus, and we treated Jesus the same way that we treated those who came before him.  We tortured him and killed him on a cross.  Ultimately we thought we could save ourselves, that’s what the words of tenants refer to when they say: “let us kill him and get his inheritance” as if the works of our hands could in any way win us a place before God.

So God decided that the tenants who had originally been caretakers of his vineyard would be replaced by those who were loyal to him.  Many see this as the expansion of the Gospel from the exclusive emphasis on the people of Israel to now include gentiles and those who do not come from the Jewish background.  The end result is that now all who are loyal to Jesus Christ are able to claim the kingdom as they work for the Father.  

This desire to try to live our lives as independent beings has been tested throughout history.  Before WWII humanism was taking root to the point where people thought that maybe, just maybe, we had reached the point where humans were able to live alongside each other and figure things out on their own.  The outbreak of the war drove many people to desperation not only because of the massive scale of deaths, but because of their disillusionment in the ability of humans to make things right by themselves. 

Currently there is a wave of secular humanism that is searching for community and meaning among gatherings of people focused on, well, people.  A book by a good friend of mine who is a leading voice in secular humanism is entitled Grace Without God.  The title is disturbing, but it also reflects the belief in many “noners”, people who have no religious affiliation, that people are able to achieve meaning and community even without the presence of the belief in God.  It does remind me of the tenants, who may not be wicked in the 21st century, but certainly are desperately searching for meaning in a society that fails to provide them meaning and a church that institutionally has systematically disillusioned.  I hope that people are able to plug into churches and meet people who are disciples of Jesus Christ without an agenda, and so turn their hearts back to a living Jesus.

One word about this painting.  It is by Giotto and it is significantly earlier than the Baroque period which was when Caravaggio was around.  I love the bottom right hand corner where you see people literally disrobing in order to place their clothes in the pathway of Jesus.  The little people in the trees are also pretty entertaining.  All of this artwork has been impactful for me in different times in my life.  I remember seeing this fresco in Padova when I was studying in Rome and my calling to the ministry seemed to come back to life even stronger.  The Lord uses many different mediums to call us back to Him.

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.