Tag Archives: christianity

12 At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. ² But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.”

³ Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. ⁵ And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? ⁶ I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! ⁷ But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

⁹ Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, ¹⁰ where he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?” (They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)

¹¹ And he answered, “If you had a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you work to pull it out? Of course you would. ¹² And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored, just like the other one! ¹⁴ Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.

¹⁵ But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, ¹⁶ but he warned them not to reveal who he was. ¹⁷ This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:

¹⁸ “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen.
    He is my Beloved, who pleases me.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
    and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
¹⁹ He will not fight or shout
    or raise his voice in public.
²⁰ He will not crush the weakest reed
    or put out a flickering candle.
    Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.
²¹ And his name will be the hope
    of all the world.”

Matthew 12:1-21

Dear God, I’m trying to understand having so much rage toward Jesus that I not only want to kill him but that it causes me to willfully ignore that fact that he just performed an amazing miracle. I want to believe that if I had been there I would have interjected to the Pharisees, “Did you not just see that he healed this man’s hand?!?”

I’ll be frank. Right now, I see national Christian leaders doing things that seem so foolish. I see what Al Mohler has been saying and proposing to Baptists (and the world) about women not just being pastors in the church but having the right to teach a group of people at all and I shake my head. Has he not seen how you have used women throughout history (including biblical history) to teach and lead? I see how church leaders bend over backwards and contort themselves into different positions to justify bad behavior by the politician they favor simply because of the letter (D or R) that is in front of their name (this one is on both sides of the aisle). It feels like Christians have lost the faith that the Sermon on the Mount still counts for today’s age and instead of loving our neighbors as ourselves and working to persuade them to worship the Jesus we know, they are grabbing for power to ensure that the ideals (not Jesus) get forced on everyone. I had lunch with a pastor a couple of years ago, and I complained about gerrymandering, and he countered with, “What that’s what [the other side] does too.” I told him that doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

I heard a man say a few years ago that Jesus used four tools to impact the world around him and four tools only. And that is all he left us: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering (PSPS). That’s it. But I see the church now, much like the Pharisees 2,000 years ago, feeling threatened and instead of leaning into Jesus and praying, serving, persuading, and willingly suffering, it is trying to cling to power so that we can impose our will on our neighbors from the top down. Not much love in that.

This passage is from Matthew 12. In Matthew 11:20-24, Jesus said:

²⁰ Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God. ²¹ “What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. ²² I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.

²³ “And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. ²⁴ I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on judgment day than you.”

He spoke truth to them because they hadn’t repented of their sins, but he also let them be. He knew he couldn’t make them repent and follow him. When I fail to get people to really follow after you in discipleship, I’m reminded of the part of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:13-14 when Jesus says, ¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Somehow we’ve forgotten this and we think we can force the entire country onto the narrow path when I don’t think they realize they are drifting from the narrow path itself and everything Jesus spends the previous three chapters teaching by trying to do this.

Father, I have a funeral to go to this morning. It’s going to be sad. It’s for a young woman who died much to young and needlessly. I am sorry for her. I am sorry for her family. I haven’t seen her in almost three years. I didn’t know her the last three years, but I know the road was hard for her. I also know that she was never quite the same after her mother’s death maybe six or seven years ago. I pray for mercy over her soul. If Jesus can pray for you to forgive the people crucifying him even when they didn’t ask for the forgiveness, I ask that you will forgive her. She was in pain. I don’t know if that caused her to walk the path she chose or if she willfully rebelled against you. I suspect is was the pain that drove her in a direction. Please have mercy on her. Have mercy on her soul. And help her family to find you, find the narrow path, and make this pain count.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

20 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

³ “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. ⁴ So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. ⁵ So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

⁶ “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

⁷ “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’

⁸ “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. ⁹ When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. ¹⁰ When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. ¹¹ When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, ¹² ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

¹³ “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? ¹⁴ Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. ¹⁵ Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’

¹⁶ “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

Dear God, it’s interesting that the theme of my series teaching Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David to the Christian Men’s Life Skills class over the last eight weeks has been the danger of self-pity. I’ve tried to teach them that we are all at our worst when we are claiming our rights and feeling sorry for ourselves. I’ve been that way often (I’m still sometimes that way) when I get upset about how different people treat me. “How dare they?!?” “I deserve better!” But do I? Do I have a right to the rights I’m claiming, or am I allowing my self-perceived rights to distract me from loving and worshipping you and caring about and loving them? If I start to make an idol out of my rights with my self-pity then that’s the top of the slippery slope into selfishness.

I thought of this story this morning because I am supposed to be teaching the guys about work ethic over the last two weeks of the class. This next week will be mostly about applying for a job, interviewing, explaining their legal past, etc. But at some point we are going to be talking about working as unto you. So I’ll explore these passages a little bit. For me, while this story is mainly about those coming into your Kingdom at the end of their lives getting the same reward as those that come to you early in their life, it is also about this idea of dying to yourself. The other one that comes to mind is Colossians 3:23 which talks about working as unto you. Again, am I in it for me or for my love and worship of you?

Father, as I enter this day, help me to work as unto you. Help me to love as unto you. Help me to die to myself. Help me to sacrifice my selfishness and rights to the cross and take up your cross and follow you. Jesus didn’t show us his own rights while he was here. He showed us selflessness. Help me to live that way today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen