Second Saturday in Lent: Lent 2014

Lenten Devotional
Matthew 25-26

The gospel continues through on teaching of what followers of Jesus should do to prepare for the end times and what it means to be ready for the end time.  Now we enter into a few parables focusing on these the ways to live in the end and how to be ready.

The first is the parable of Ten Virgins.  Again the story focuses on a wedding situation.  This time the maidens of the wedding group have to wait and wait for the party to begin.    Half the group gets everything ready and keeps a full supply of oil for what ever might come.  The other half does not make any preparations.  When the time came, it was midnight and dark.  The oil and wicks of the second group runs out while the first group has enough to be ready.  There was not enough to share and keep all the lamps running.  The half not ready are sent to find more on their own and they are left out of the feast and the celebration.  A teaching that we must always be ready.

This parable is followed by two more showing that the work of Christ must continue.  The parable of talents where a servant is given different amounts and the one given the least and did nothing was removed.  The last of the parable in chapter 25 is similar.  to the parable of the talents.  This one looks at separating the sheep from the goats.  The ones who come into the kingdom are those that have continue the work and given onto the least.  These teachings all lead to the final times in the gospels.  The next section is the betrayal and anointing of Jesus. 

All of this reminds me of yesterday.   We must remain vigilant in the work of our Lord not matter the length or conditions.  Both of the parables remind us that we are given something from God.  What have you been given that is available to be used?  Some are as simple as a listening ear or a comforting voice to the people hurting.  All of these do not seem important in the scheme of the world.  These are some of the greatest gifts we can have and use with others.  What are you hiding from the world?  Or, what are you afraid to use for the risk?  

Second Friday in Lent: Lent 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 23-24

As we come through the last chapters of Matthew' Gospel and as we enter into the retelling of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, we are given some teaching about the end times and the end of the temple.  Chapter 24 is full of information from Jesus on this event in the future.  People have used this and other parts of the Bible to determine when these last days will come.  Jesus does not want even the disciples to worry about guessing when it will happen.  They are only to look for signs and be ready.

This is the consistent message through the Bible and here especially in Jesus' teaching. He teaches that everyone should not worry about the days.  No one knows the hour.  The time will come to matter, and people will be provided by God in the times of hardship.  I believe this will be important even in times that are not the "end".  Jesus proclaimed there will be many false prophets and people claiming to be Him.

“Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. (Matt. 24:4-8)

 At the end of the chapter, Jesus tells his followers to keep on the path.  They are told to keep following in the ways of God and the work set before them.  This is our best advice for today in a time when everything seems to be against the Christian faith.  Keeping faith in Christ will continue His work and keep the faith alive and moving in the world.  The words to His followers thousands of years ago seems to be the best advice for today.

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Second Thursday of Lent: Lent 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 21-22

We have entered the closing parts of most exciting section of any of the gospels.  We have come to the point where Jesus has made the triumphal entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem and started the week long path to the cross and His crucifixion.  Jesus makes sure that the controversy between Himself and the religious leaders is well established by the time we come to the trial.

There are a number of times Jesus has disagreements with the religious leaders, but the story that always seems to draw the most attention in these chapters is the actions at the temple.  Soon after His arrival in the city, Jesus enters the temple and throws out the sellers of goods and traders.  

“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’ (Matt. 21:13)

Why were these people in the temple to start with and why did Jesus call them thieves and making the temple a den of robbers?

The people selling and trading in the temple were providing a service to others at first.  People traveling from a far distance were not able to bring the necessary animals for sacrifices at the temple.  The merchants provided the appropriate animal to be purchased by pilgrims for the sacrifice.   The problem came when the people providing the animals realized they had a monopoly on the pilgrims.  The price for even the simplest of animals for sacrifice was unreasonable.  It came to a point where a person without means could not purchase the animals for the sacrifice.  This is what Jesus is fighting against.  People are being robed to provide for the religious needs of the day.  Greed over came assistance.

Has greed ever over taken a desire to assist someone?  I feel our society has become greedy in ways that hinder helping people.  Sometimes it is a two way street.  Some needing assistance have learned the receiving from the system and/or government is easier to working.  Others  see assistance as just a way to get breaks and keep more money in the long run through dedications on taxes.  This does not even begin to break into the religious goods industry.  The price of Bibles are a sign of this.  I do not think they should just be given away free.  There is a cost, but what is a fare tipping point.  At what point do we move past assisting people practice their faith and become a robber?

Greed is a powerful tool through the centuries.  It finds many different ways to show up in history and our lives.  This is why we must keep our prayers and studies to help us see where and when we a re moving from the path of Christ to greed.

Second Wednesday in Lent: Lent 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 18-20

As I put down words for a multiple chapter reading in the Bible, I realize more and more that this is a daunting task.  In the gospels, the lessons may not always build as nice and neatly on one topic to the next.  It is a living story of situations and testing by people disagreeing with Jesus.  I would love for sections to focus on a particular subject, but that would not be true to the reason for the gospels, they are a way to tell the story of Jesus to the cross and beyond.  

So, I must focus on what I am being led to bring out in the passages.  Today the three chapters seemed to come together at Matthew 29: 26, Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 

We use this passage many times in conversations about what followers of Christ can accomplish and what he church can do through God's power.  But I hope this will change a little.  We need to read passages in the context of the whole chapter, book and Bible.  This is not about generic situations in life that if we follow God, it will all work out because of His power.  This specific quote is about salvation.  I need to focus on that topic specifically.

The passages leading up to this statement are about what it takes to inherit eternal life.  A rich young man comes up to Jesus asking this very question.  He does not like Jesus' response and walks away sad.  Then a story is told of a camel passing through the eye of a needle being easier than a rich man entering heaven.  This is where Jesus comes in with the testimony of God's power.  

Jesus is telling His disciples and us today that there is nothing we can do for salvation.  We can only believe in Christ and that through his power we will have salvation.  All we need to do is follow. We must be willing to submit to God.  We must surrender to Him and not try and force our will on God.  This is much harder than it sounds.  Most of us a wired to fix problems on our by ourselves.  This is one thing we cannot fix ourselves.  Only God can fix and provide an answer.  

First Tuesday of Lent: Lenten Reading 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 15-17

Today's reading I think is best summed up is with devotion.  Each and every story teaches us more and more about devotion to our King or Father.  It all starts with the religious leaders of Jesus time.  They want to test and get to the core of Jesus' teaching and followers.  They start with what seems to be a very trivial accusation of the disciples.  They are accused of not washing their hands prior to eating.  This is a very important aspect of the laws on cleanliness.  Even if the food is "clean" when eaten, it must remain "clean" as partaken, or so the belief follows.  Jesus refutes this on grounds that it is not what goes into the person making them clean, but what comes out.  IT is God who is in charge not the laws of people or the supposed interpretations of the laws.

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. (Matthew 15:9 quoting Isaiah 29:13).

This all continues through the readings as we come to the final reading in chapter seventeen where Jesus talks about the temple tax.  It becomes a question of who are we as people.  Are we the children of God?  If we are the children of God, why do we need to pay a temple tax?  God is King and ruler.  This is a tough lesson.  We need reminded over and over that we are God's children.

Are we willing to follow God as our Father and our King (ruler)?  The season of Lent calls us back to a path of following God.  Just as this week's readings taught the power of God and the compassion held for the Children of God, we need to be willing to accept who our Father is.

First Monday in Lent: Lent Devotional 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 13-14

Today's readings has come of the most powerful information about the Kingdom of Heaven and the power of Jesus over the nature and power.  It opens with a list of parables on what the Kingdom of heaven looks like.  Each of these focus on agricultural picture to help people to understand the images.

There are many images in this reading, but I find the best I find is the parable of the mustered seed.  This parable demonstrates that the kingdom of heaven will start very small, it grows to the a large and very powerful tree.  This image is used else where to describe the faith need to make large acts.  We get to see here that the Kingdom will grow much like a mustered seed.  The other parables are much the same.

The end of chapter fourteen in a fantastic picture of Jesus and the natural world.  Jesus sends the twelve disciples ahead of him on a boat.  During the night he rejoins the disciples on the water by walking towards them.  This scares the disciples.  They believe they are seeing a ghost.  For proof, Peter the bold one tells Jesus that the proof would be if Peter can walk in water.  Jesus has Peter get out of the boat.  Peter takes a few steps but realizes that he is on the water.  Peter falls in.  Jesus pulls him into the boat.  It was a lack of faith on Peter's behalf.

I think we learn quickly that faith is the foundation of following Christ.  It does not require much faith as we learn from other passages of scripture.  The Kingdom of Heaven is already growing and moving, we need to maintain the faith to follow and know that Jesus will keep us upon the water.  

First Friday in Lent: Lent Devotional 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 8-10

In yesterday's reading, we experience more of  the teaching of Jesus and less of His power. Today we enter the fullness of Jesus' power of illness, nature and demons.  Through this reading, we are face to face with some of the most radical moments in life.  Confronted with a real test of faith.  Did Jesus heal?  Why can no one heal like Jesus today?

 Many people rad through these passages of people being healed of terrible illness and afflictions and wonder why none of these are occurring today.  Is not cancer just as evil as the bleeding of the women in Matthew 8:20-22?  Yet, the women in Matthew just touches the hem of the garment and is healed.  Later, Jesus is asked to heal a daughter.  When Jesus agrees and leaves for the home, a centurion (her father and requester) tells Jesus not to come but just speak and it will occur.  Why not today?

I will admit that this frustrates me many times in life.  When I see a young person with an illness and no hope of a cure, I am frustrated.  The times I have looked into the face of a person who just sees no hope of release from pain and weakness.  Where do we find hope and strength?  

Then, I think and pray.  I realize that there are miracles all around us.  How many people are brought back from the dead every day with the power of CPR?  Others are in remission of cancer.  Still more are seeing for the first time.  We give the credit for these to science.  I give credit to God.  For without God, the skills, talents and knowledge would be unavailable to us simple humans.  

The last point on these is the purpose of the miracles.  All of them are performed as moments of demonstration to the people of Jesus' power and position.  They are being used in a way of reaching out to others.  Even in the Acts of the Apostles, the healing and jail beaks are for others to see the power of God.  Now I am lent to ask, am I praying for a personal desire and hope or am I seeking for a demonstration of God's power for people to see?  No matter, we have hope in and through Jesus Christ.  He has brought and offers new life and strength.  

First Thursday of Lent: Lent Devotional 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 5-7

The reading for today is the bulk of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.  These passages are some of the most most difficult and blessed passages in the New Testament.  For these passages ring of great hope of the lowly and hopeless.  But they also speak of great demands on the life of one who follows after what God desires. 

the first chapter we read is the great list of blessings.  We can probably find our self in at least one if not more of the blessings listed by Jesus.  Who has not mourned a loved one or fells meek.  We gain a connection quickly and acknowledge in one way or another a blessing will be coming for us in the life to come.  

Jesus soon turns from a great blessing to mighty teachings.  We are left in trouble and frustration.  For what is to come seems gravely hard to follow.  Jesus is not just asking the hearers to follow the current laws of Judaism, they are being asked to go even farther.  

Jesus tells people to cut out and off body parts if they even think or look in ways that are contrary to law.  What I think is that Jesus is coming to a point on what the foundation these very specific rules demand.  By the end of chapter five, Jesus makes a statement on oaths, "All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."  Then he teaches on giving more than required.  When demand the cloak give them your tunic.  There is something greater to come by following.  The life of a follower of Jesus will be profoundly different. This is what what the foundation of the Old Testament Law in ancient times. The follower of Jesus is called to stand out for following in fantastic ways.  

We finish our reading today with the parable of the wise and foolish builders.  For one had built on the sand while the other built on the rock.  The one who listens and follows the teachings is like the one who builds on the rock.  When the rains, winds and storms come through, the house will stand.  Everything Jesus just presented was hard and difficult.  Some was even radical to the people listening.  Some is radical for us today.  But when the storms of life and society come through, the person built on the rock will withstand.  May this be our building foundation.  

Ash Wednesday: Lent Devotion 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 1-4

I am challenging the congregation I serve to read through all four gospels in preparation for Easter this year. The challenge is based on the fact that I am the interim at this time.  We are going through a process of discernment for the future mission of the church centered around a process that calls for people to move from being members to disciples.  I prefer to think in terms of attenders or audience to followers and participants.  Who better to learn about following Jesus than Jesus and the disciples themselves?

I am challenging my self to write a devotional for each reading in the form of a blog for everyday of reading. So, this is for Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.

Chapter 1 of the gospel is one of the more tedious parts of gospel reading and the next couple of chapters (at least 2 and part of 3) are familiar to even the most casual of Bible readers.  The birth of Jesus, visit of the Magi, and Baptism of Jesus.  I hope you did not just skip over these four chapters without looking at a few of the very strange realities in these passages.  If you did, take a moment to read them with intensity and I will point out a few details that I find interesting.

The part of this reading most people will look past is the genealogy of Jesus.  But there is some very important facts in Jesus' history.  There are four women mentioned in the genealogy with three by direct name.  The three named were not Jewish.  All three were part of other clans.  This was not expected in the days of Jesus.  As a matter of fact, one had a terrible reputation in her city, Rahab.  She was a prostitute in Jericho just prior to the invasion by the Israel. The one unnamed women is Bathsheba.  She is the women David had an affair with and then had her husband killed in battle.  We would not celebrate these moments in our history, but yet Matthew is making a large deal over these truths.   Not a good picture for the Son of God to be born into.  

Nothing is these early pages of Jesus' history seem to be normal till the preaching in Nazareth.  His family is visited by wise men from the east, they all travel in strange directions and Jesus winds up being baptized by some crazy prophet in the desert.  All a little strange. 

I take away some good news from all of this for my life and others.  It does not matter where you come from or where you have been, God can and will use you for His glory if you will let Him.  The people in Jesus' life were not upright.  John the Baptist was strange.  All of these events demonstrate the reality of Paul's statement to the the Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:28)  

I hope you will see through the pages of Matthew's opening of the gospel, that God will and wants to use your for His glory and mission in the world.