Message: This chapter was all about repentance without excuse. John the Baptist was preaching a message of preparation for the coming Messiah. He told them that they couldn’t use Abraham as their father to excuse their sin and stressed the importance that their repentance should show up in the form of good fruit and turning away from sin without excuse.
Command: Repent. Turn away from sin and don’t return to it.
Promise: The promise was the Messiah. John was preparing their hearts for his coming.
Warning: John warned against insincerity. They were used to using their lineage to get away with things because their lineage had the favor of God. John warned them that they couldn’t use Abraham as their substitute for repentance. They had to actually repent and the fruit of their repentance would be obedience in turning away from their previous sin.
Application: The main point I pulled from this is that it’s not enough to acknowledge or feel bad for our sin. We have to show the fruit of our repentance in our obedience. When I’m aware of a sin issue or an attitude problem in my heart I can’t just look at it as a weakness. I have to see it as sin and change it.
Message: Jesus was born in the least dignified place and hidden from those who would have been considered important. His birth was revealed and announced to those who were least worthy. Even though there were generations of prophesies about the coming of Messiah, those who were educated and anticipating him the most completely missed it. He was hiding in plain sight. Those who were not educated and waiting for him were given the honor and privilege to see him and welcome him.
Command: Stay connected with Jesus.
Promise: If we are connected to Jesus we will see the promises come to pass just like the man named Simeon who was told he would not taste death until he saw the Messiah.
Warning: It’s not about what we know and it’s not about us at all. If we are focused on our own agenda we will anticipate a move of God but will miss it when it happens right before our eyes.
Application: The Jews were God’s chosen people and they were the ones carrying the promise of Messiah. For generations they anticipated his coming but when he came in obscurity they completed missed it. Those who were undignified and not looking were the first ones alerted to the birth of Jesus. We run at risk at missing the plans of God if we are caught up in our own agendas. The most “qualified” people were not in the loop and the most despised people imaginable were brought in to share in the celebration. If we are caught up in our own agenda we risk missing the obvious plan of God hidden in plain sight!
Message: In Luke 1 Elizabeth & Zechariah receive their gift of conception just before Mary received her gift of conception. Zechariah asked “how will I know” and Mary asked “How will it happen”. Because of this, Zechariah was silenced for the duration of the pregnancy and his speech was restored when he aligned in agreement and confirmed the name of the baby according to the word of the Lord. In these stories baby John was filled with the holy spirit in the womb, Elizabeth was filled with the holy spirit and so was Mary. Zechariah was filled with the holy spirit and began to prophesy after his speech was restored.
Command: Align with the word of the Lord. It’s ok to have questions but questioning the plan is counterproductive. Zechariah was silenced until the day he aligned himself with the plan of God by confirming John’s name.
Promise: God has plans that are bigger than we are and he gave us a powerful gift of partnership to confirm his plans by speaking words that align with his plans.
Warning: These plans are not about us so when we question the plan we are making it about us. I believe Zechariah was silenced not as a punishment but in order to protect the plan of God.
Application: Understanding the power of our words is important. Jesus gave us his power and authority to partner with him in speaking out his plans into existence so when we use our words to align with God’s plan powerful things occur. This means that the contrary is also true so we have to be careful with this privilege and use our words responsibly because we can also use our words to bring harm and interrupt the plan of God as well. The conception of John the Baptist happened when the entire assembly was praying together and brought favor to Zechariah while he was making a sacrifice. When his words opposed the plan of God he was silenced and when he came into alignment he was restored. Imagine if we were silenced every time we spoke out of agreement with God’s word! Some of us might find ourselves on mute for a while but I bet we would learn to change our speech pretty quickly! God was not going to allow Zechariah’s careless words to be spoken and mess up the plan so he protected the plan. For us, we need to be aware of the power of our words so that in our ignorance we don’t use the partnership power of our words to interrupt or counteract the plans of God. This convicts my heart so much as I think of all of the things I have said in my ignorance to the power he has given me.
Message: In this chapter Jesus was resurrected and appeared before men before giving the great commission and ascending to heaven. It occurred to me that Jesus probably didn’t come back looking the same in physical appearance. Those closest to him didn’t even recognize him until he spoke or acted. This is huge because it showed their level of intimacy to recognize him for who he was and not what he looked like.
Command: To know God and make him known. The great commission: Go into the world and make disciples. Signs will follow those who believe.
Promise: Signs will follow those that believe.
Warning: We will misrepresent God if we don’t truly know him ourselves.
Application: We are all called to fulfill the great commission. It is our purpose to know God and make him known. We can’t do this unless we, ourselves know God. I’m always fascinated to see the ways Jesus showed up undetected by those closest to him until they recognized his voice or his actions. They knew him and they knew him well so when he tasked the first disciples with the Great Commission they spoke with boldness and carried the heart of the father through what they learned from Jesus. This should provoke all of us to want to know Jesus like this so that we recognize him even when he doesn’t show up in the way we are used to seeing him. When we really know God we automatically make him known through our authenticity.
Message: Sometimes it’s what you don’t say rather than what you do say that makes the biggest impact. In Mark 15 Jesus was standing before Pilate and Pilate knew that there was something wrong with the motives and accusations coming at Jesus. Knowing he had power, influence and authority he tried from all angles to get Jesus to defend himself, to persuade the crowds to free Jesus and to offer a known criminal instead. He really wanted to help him out, so he was setting him up with opportunities to defend himself. When Jesus was silent and did not respond verse 5 says that Pilate was amazed. As kind as Pilate was, Jesus was not relying on the authority and influence of man to release him. He was laying himself down in a plan much bigger than anyone knew or understood. Pilate’s acknowledgements confirmed his innocence and proved that Jesus was doing this by choice.
Command: Don’t rely on the power and authority of man to accomplish the will of God or our own vindication.
Promise: God has plans that are bigger than us and if he allows us to be in a situation where we are misunderstood (and not due to our own guilt or sin) he will either vindicate us or use it as a platform for a bigger and better story.
Warning: Don’t get so caught up in the discomfort of being falsely accused or misunderstood that I take matters into my own hands and distract from the bigger picture that God might be using to tell another story.
Application: I saw this two different ways. First of all, Jesus was on a mission so he was not looking for a way out of his circumstances. He had a plan to lay himself down and he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Secondly, I really leaned into the fact that the silence of Jesus amazed Pilate when seemingly he should have been trying to defend himself. After all, his life was at stake right? I really struggle with trying to defend myself in misunderstandings. I HATE being misunderstood so passionately that when I believe my motives are being misinterpreted with a skewed view I have a bad habit of desperately trying to defend myself or over-explain. Sometimes my attempts to explain muddy the waters even more and my explanations really display defensiveness. God has really had to help me in this area and he is still working on me to accept that I can’t change the perceptions of others. When Jesus was falsely accused he allowed his life to speak for itself. In fact, there are certain things he said at times that didn’t make a lot of sense at the time, but he knew that people would remember them later on and put the pieces together. So often it’s not what we say that impacts people. It’s what we don’t say that catches their attention and allows people to look at our lives and put the pieces together. Sometimes we are falsely accused by design and in time God will use those moments to tell a more powerful story if we don’t try to fix it ourselves.
Message: When I stumble and fail, I usually struggle with feeling adequate with God for a bit. I sit in my self-loathing and ease my way back in with a limp- almost like I’m testing the waters to see if God will have me back. “God, are you still mad at me???” I’ve noticed that in these times my prayers come from a low place that I’d like to believe is humility, but truth be told, I’m more like a wounded animal with my tail between my legs trying to work my way back. As I read Mark 14 it occurred to me that when Jesus chose his disciples, he not only knew in advance the failures that each would commit, but he chose each of them knowing full well that he would be betrayed, denied and left alone in his time of need. He called them all out in advance. Judas with his betrayal, Peter with his denial, and the rest of them for running away during his distress. Interestingly enough, the only ones surprised by their failures were the disciples themselves. Jesus already knew this would happen and he chose them anyway and made them partakers and representatives of his kingdom.
Command: Watch and pray so you don’t fall into temptation.
Promise: God already knows my shortcomings and failures, so I don’t have to flinch and beg God to take me back when I do. He knew before I ever did that I would fail and yet he chose me anyway!
Warning: If I’m not focused and in connection with God I will be found sleeping, unprepared and caught off guard when trouble and temptation shows up. I won’t recognize the danger headed right towards me and I will likely have a knee-jerk reaction like Peter did when he chopped off the ear of the centurion.
Application: I love the wisdom of being proactive instead of reactive. God knew we would fail and he chose us anyway. He doesn’t react to our sin and hold us in contempt while he reacts to our betrayal and rejection. He prepares us in advance. He called us to do the same. If I really understand that God chose me knowing full well what I would do to betray and disobey him, I would spend less time returning with my tail between my legs and more time praying in advance, preparing my heart and staying aware and alert for the dangers and temptations headed straight for me. If I prepare my heart in advance and proactively stay focused, I will have less knee-jerk reactions and more moments where I resist the devil and watch him flee.
Message: Be alert, stay focused, attentive, and busy fulfilling the responsibilities we have been given. There is trouble to come but that is just the beginning. These signs are not meant to call us away into hiding or distract us from doing our jobs. They were meant to be a confirmation of the times we are in so that we will stay active fulfilling the responsibilities that we were left with while our master has been away.
Command: Be alert and be found faithful attending to the responsibilities we have been given. Pay attention to the signs and be aware, but don’t stop working!
Promise: If we stay on task and pay attention to the signs around us, we won’t be sucked into deception or be caught off guard when trouble comes, and we won’t be caught sleeping on the job when the master comes to take us home.
Warning: There is tribulation to come, and the deceiver will be coming with an agenda to not only deceive the world, but also to deceive God’s people if he can. If we are so hyper-focused on the signs of the times but aren’t busy working, we will not be found faithful when the master comes.
Application: As I read this, I thought about all the people who were shaken up by the events of 2020. There has been more talk now than ever about being in the end times, but it started to frustrate me because what are we doing with this information? On the road when there is an accident, traffic always gets backed up worse because as we pass by the scene of a wreck, we can’t help but gawk at it as we slowly drive by. There are people on scene working but we can’t help but stare as we slowly drive by in our distraction. Are we standing around obsessively looking at the signs and talking about it with fear, dread and disappointment as we reinforce our political views, stockpile toilet paper and food to save ourselves, or are we busy at work fulfilling the responsibilities that Jesus left us with? I fully believe in social awareness and preparation, but are we reacting to the climate around us and trying to fix the kingdom of this world, or are we being fruitful about building the kingdom of God? The signs around us are not our cue to hide away and take cover and they are not a call for battling our perceived enemies. We don’t know what day this will be but if we are busy working it doesn’t matter because we won’t be caught sleeping when the master returns. We will be found working and we will be trusted and rewarded for a job well done if we keep on task. Jesus never instructed us to fix the end times mess. He told us to go and make disciples. The signs around us are not our task to fulfill. They are a sign to us that we are closer than ever to seeing our master. We can’t right the wrongs of social injustice and we can’t provide a vaccine that will protect people from all of the travesties that we encounter in this life. Jesus did that and our responsibility is to point the way to him. This brought me back to the scripture at Acts 1:11 as Jesus was ascending to Heaven. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Message: In Mark 12 I found myself frustrated with the questions being asked of Jesus. Not because they were bad questions but because the intent behind their questions was not genuine. They were testing Jesus in the hopes of finding error and fault in him. It also occurred to me that those who were trying so hard to test Jesus had their own motives to justify things in their own belief systems. They had built a structure of beliefs of their own by using the commands of God to appear religious or obedient, but then manipulating them to serve their own interests. In verse 38 Jesus told them to “beware of the scribes who want to go around in long robes and who want greetings in the marketplace and the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows and say long prayers for show. These will receive harsher punishment.”
Command: Obey God out of a genuine heart, and don’t try to manipulate things to justify selfish desires and motives.
Promise: God sees the intent of the heart. Just like he knows when our motives are impure, he also sees when we are following him and obeying him out of a pure and honest heart.
Warning: You can’t fool God! Just like Jesus saw throughthe scribes in their long robes and religion, he sees through our attempts to create our own loopholes of justification. A false appearance of obedience might fool people but it does not fool God.
Application: Before we lie to anyone else, we first have to lie to ourselves. When we are tempted to be disobedient we run a narrative in our minds in order to justify it. If we lie to ourselves long enough we actually believe it. We not only believe the lie, but we reject any kind of truth that serves to expose the lie we are fighting so hard to protect. Lord please expose the lies in my own heart that I have used as a justification for disobedience. Bring the truth to light so that I won’t live in a state of deception.
Promise: Mark 10:29 “ I assure you, there is no one who has left houses, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children or fields because of ME and the gospel who will not receive 100 more…”
Command: Surrender and follow Jesus. This means we give up possessions, ideas, positions and desires that compete for our love and obedience to serve Jesus.
Warning: This is completely a choice so on any given day we could easily be the rich young ruler who walked away sad because we would rather substitute our surrender with a checklist of shallow religious rules than fully surrender. Or we could be like James and John coming from a place of pride and ignorance by desiring a place of honor but not understanding the price or the character required for that kind of honor.
Application: I saw myself in both scenarios, but I also saw myself in Peter as he went into to self-justification mode, and even as the other disciples who felt indignant toward James and John for what they ignorantly desired. Lord, please search my heart and shine a light on the areas where I am either failing to fully surrender, or where I am looking at others with resentment while justifying myself. Expose these things in my heart as they come up and help me to remember that this is a daily process.
Message: In Mark 8 there is a whole lot going on. Jesus fed another large crowd by multiplying the bread and fish that were available and once again there was bread left over. In fact, there was more bread left over than they had when they started. They started with 7 loaves and ended with 7 baskets full of pieces and everyone was full. The Pharisees saw all of that and still demanded a sign. His disciples saw all of that but were completely distracted by the fact that they forgot to bring the leftover bread with them in the boat. When Jesus warned them to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees all they could think about was the bread they forgot to bring. I couldn’t help but relate to this. Have you ever been so focused on something that you did or didn’t do, and it completely consumed your mind? The guilt and shame inside your own mind caused you to hear and see everything as if it were amplified and pointing blame right at you. You probably felt exposed and unable to focus on anything else around you. This is what was going on with the disciples, but Jesus was trying to show them something much bigger. He was standing there with them after multiplying all of that bread and he wanted them to see who he was. They were so focused on what they forgot to do that they couldn’t see who he was or what he was even talking about! They were inwardly focused and missing the moment entirely! Jesus healed a blind man and then began asking his disciples some questions: ‘Who do people say I am?’ They answered “John the Baptist, Elijah, a prophet” so Jesus asked them ‘who do you say that I am?’ Revelation hit Peter right in that moment and he said “the Messiah!” But right after that brilliant revelation of understanding, Jesus started to explain the suffering he would go through and Peter pulled Jesus aside to rebuke him. Jesus rebuked him right back saying “Get behind me Satan because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s”. In a matter of hours Peter had gone from a state of self-obsession over forgetting the bread, to a powerful understanding that he was face to face with the Messiah who created and multiplied that bread. In a matter of moments, Peter went from realizing he was face to face with, and listening to the words of the Messiah, to trying to council the Messiah. This one stung a lot. I’m not gonna lie. I saw myself ALL OVER this one! How many times have I lived in complete obsession over what Ineeded to do about my situation, while sitting in the presence of a powerful and all-knowing God. And how many times have I been so aware of his greatness and yet still had the audacity to try to council God as to how he should handle my situation? I read and reread that statement several times. “Get behind me Satan because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s” If I’m really honest I have found myself so consumed with my human perspective that I obsess over what I need to do and I pray as if I need to inform God of what is going on down here and as if God needs my help in coming up with the solution. Lord please open my eyes to who youare and open my mind to your will and your plan so that I can cooperate with what you plan to do instead of trying to council you from my own mind based upon my own will and desires.
Message: In Genesis 32 Jacob was leaving his Uncle Laban and heading back to his homeland. He had lived his life as a deceiver and a cheat and this is what caused him to live on the run in the first place. Once he had found a wife and wanted to begin building his own life he experienced the other side of being deceived and cheated. He had to work hard building wealth for someone who was trying to cheat him but because of the blessing of God on his life (that he stole from his brother) God didn’t allow the cheating to be successful. Everything worked out in Jacob’s favor because of the blessing. Not because Jacob was faithful, but because God was faithful, and the word spoken over Jacob’s life was honored in spite of Jacob’s deception. When Jacob left Laban God didn’t allow Laban to harm him and he caused the two to form a covenant. Now he was heading back to his homeland and he still feared the wrath of his brother that he had left behind. He attempted to appease him by sending extravagant gifts ahead but he also divided his family into two separate camps just in case something went bad with his brother so it wouldn’t wipe him out completely. As I read this, I realized that we do this very thing on an emotional level. If we have hurt or wronged someone, we fear the vulnerability of what should be coming to us, so we only reveal half or part of ourselves emotionally. We hold the rest back because we are inwardly and subconsciously trying to protect ourselves from full exposure. If we haven’t done this with people, we have certainly done this with God. Verses 9 and 10 reveal exactly where Jacob was with God. He prayed in that moment and acknowledged that it was God who sent him back to his homeland but he also acknowledged that he was unworthy of all the faithfulness and kindness that God had shown him and he begged God to rescue him from the hand of his brother. Jacob must have still felt pretty exposed because the divided camps and the gifts he sent ahead still didn’t feel like enough protection. During the night he took both wives, their servants and his sons and hid them across the river with his personal belongings. That night Jacob ended up wrestling with God described as a “man” and interestingly enough, he told him he wouldn’t let go until he blessed him. Wait what? Didn’t Jacob already have the big blessing that he stole from his brother? Didn’t he even see the fruit of that blessing when God didn’t allow Laban to cheat him and the flocks multiplied in Jacob’s favor? Why then did Jacob still want a blessing? He must have felt desperate as he was about to face his brother. So after he demanded the blessing God (in the form of a “man”) asked him what his name was. This is fascinating because when he had stolen the blessing from his brother, he claimed to be his brother. Now his identity was being challenged here by God and once he stated his true name God blessed him rightfully in his own name but told him he would no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. This is so symbolic of us when God takes us in our broken state with our identity issues and our deception and he brings it all to light before telling us that we will no longer be known as that person, but we will be a new person. We will no longer carry the identity of a deceiver and we will no longer have to lie and cheat our way through life because God has blessed us and given us a new identity.
Message: In Mark 2 we read that Jesus was at home in Capernaum when word got out and crowds began showing up. There were so many people that a group of men who had brought their paralyzed friend removed the roof of his house to lower their friend in. Jesus responded in a surprising way. He told the man “son, your sins are forgiven”. When he said that some of the scribes were THINKING to themselves that Jesus was a blasphemer because only God can forgive sin. Jesus responded to their thoughts and said “why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘get up, pick up your mat and walk’? But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” he told the paralytic to pick up his mat and go home and he did! Verse 12 tells us that “everyone” was astounded and gave glory to God. There is so much going on here. The friends of a paralyzed man brought him for a physical healing but Jesus told him he forgave his sin. This didn’t heal him right away but Jesus was after a bigger miracle. His words stirred up the minds of the scribes sitting there who were calling into question his authority. Sometimes I feel like we’re a little hard on these guys but technically, they were right. If Jesus was not who he was he would have been unrightfully standing in the place of God’s authority. But since Jesus is and was God, he was showing them that not only did he have the power to do the miraculous healing, but more importantly he had that power because of his authority. At this point he had been seen as a prophet. The prophets they knew could do all kinds of miraculous things under the mantle of prophet and the power of God. Jesus was showing the distinct difference that he was not healing under someone else’s authority. The authority was all his and he was showing them that he could do what a prophet could not do. He could forgive sin because he was God in the flesh and he used the miracles to confirm this. Throughout Jesus’s ministry Jesus did a lot of miraculous things but he never walked around proclaiming that he was God. Instead, he revealed his true identity doing things that they all knew only God could do.
Message: In Proverbs 12 there is a lot of compare and contrast bits of truth between the wise and the foolish, the diligent and the lazy, telling lies and speaking truth, righteous and wicked, life and death. The very first verse tells us that whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid. I had to laugh as I wondered to myself “who actually loves discipline?” I love the results that discipline brings to my life, therefore I have learned to fight through the dislike of applying discipline, and I have to admit, I enjoy the freedom that discipline has brought to my life as a result. As I read through all of these, I realized that all of these contrasting topics present an “easy way” vs a “hard way” but the end of each choice produces the opposite effect. If I lie about something, it spares me a hard conversation up front, but then I bear the burden of concealing the truth and getting caught. Being foolish with my words is easier than controlling them in a moment of heated emotion, but the cost of releasing those words can damage relationships and opportunities that take a long time to repair because although you can certainly apologize, you can’t simply take it back. Eating whatever I want is enjoyable in the moment but trying to control weight and restore health later on is hard work! The next one has always blown my mind. Scheming and living corruptly versus working an honest wage. Though it’s true that you can often make a lot more money by scheming and making money corruptly, there is a constant unrest of not knowing who to trust, hiding, plotting, living with suspicion, silencing people who might blow cover and plotting the next scheme. The amount of time, energy, unrest and plotting that it would consume of your life to keep that going is unbelievable and I just can’t help but wonder how much better it would be to work this hard honestly and this creatively and be at peace with what you earn. There really are no shortcuts because you will either pay the price of diligence and discipline up front, or you will choose what you believe to be the easy path and pay for it on the back end.
Message: In Matthew 28 we land on what we know as Resurrection Sunday. We established in yesterday’s reading that Jesus’s death had not been business as usual. There was fear among the soldiers for what they had witnessed, and they had even spoken out loud “surely this man was God’s son”. These were not followers of Jesus and they weren’t weak, scared men. They were hard core soldiers who enforced harsh torturous discipline and death sentences. They were comfortable with death, cruelty and gore but they obviously knew something was very different about this. There was fear among leaders and government that what Jesus predicted just might be true so they tried in advance to concoct a story promoting the idea that his followers might try to come in the night to steal his body to make it appear that he had resurrected just like he had said. Even with guards in place they couldn’t prevent his resurrection from happening and the next morning there were even more terrified men. The tomb guards who witnessed the angel and the resurrection were lying on the ground petrified by what they had witnessed. When they sought out the priests to explain what happened the priests paid them a large sum of money to corroborate their made-up story that somehow his followers came and took his body. I had always heard that the women came to the tomb to anoint the body, but as a woman myself I can’t help but wonder if they really came just to see if what he said was actually true. They loved Jesus and they had to have had some hope, if not just plain desperation that drove them to go first thing in the morning to see. They were the first to see Jesus resurrected and I don’t believe that’s any kind of coincidence. Jesus sent the women to inform his disciples and verse 16 tells us that the 11 disciples traveled to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had directed them to go. Verse 17 tells us that when they saw him they worshipped but “some doubted”. As I pondered this I found it ironic that the soldiers and guards who had witnessed these events couldn’t deny what they had seen (even though the guards accepted money to say otherwise) but some of those who walked with Jesus on a daily basis and heard him predict his death, watched him die and were standing face to face with him still doubted. This blew my mind! We might criticize them for their doubts in our minds just like we are tempted to criticize the Israelites for their constant doubts and complaining. I wonder what my doubts would look like in the perspective of someone else.
Message: Matthew chapter 27 is the story of the trial and the crucifixion. Reading this I couldn’t ignore the fact that as cruel as the Roman government was, they were organized, they had a proper system for trying criminals and they knew that Jesus was innocent and that the Jews were doing this out of envy. Pilate tried to persuade them, and his wife was tormented in a dream and warned her husband not to get tangled in this. The Jews were set on this so Jesus was really condemned by his own people exclusively. They were just using the Roman government system to do the dirty work for them. I also found it interesting that once Judas had abandoned the 30 pieces of silver in the temple and hung himself, the priests suddenly had a conscience that they couldn’t leave that money in the temple. They called it blood money and used it to purchase a field as a burial ground for foreigners and they named the field “Field of Blood”. One last huge observation that I have never paid close attention to is the fact that Jesus’s death was so powerful before he even resurrected that when the ground shook and the sky went dark, there were also tombs opened for many saints that had died and they all were raised from the dead, entered the holy city and appeared to many. This could not have been ignored and these events were so powerful that the centurion and his men that were guarding the body of Jesus were terrified and believed. They said “surely this man really was God’s son”. This was even before Jesus himself resurrected. There were so many details that had been prophesied, things that Jesus fulfilled and things that were known among the Romans in the city so when Jesus resurrected it was not just a small group of people who witnessed these things. It was predicted, surrounded by other miraculous things and boldly in the faces of all those who tried to cover it. In fact, they were so scared that it was all true that they sent the guards to guard the body. Unfortunately, the priests who knew their power was at risk had to choose denial in order to hold onto their positions. This is the nature of humans. We often choose denial when the truth is right in front of us because the storyline of our denial fits our agenda. We fearfully hang onto our agenda and choose to lie to ourselves and others. We avoid looking at the truth because we know that if we even consider it for a moment, our neatly built house of lies will crumble our world. We see this so often in politics and we marvel at the deceptions of others while failing to look at our own. This goes beyond politics though. It’s what we do in order to sustain our selfishness and our will -whatever that may be. Nobody lies to us as blatantly as we lie to ourselves. Today, I’m asking God to show me the areas where I am deceived and living a lie that I am trying to sustain. This is a hard thing to face and our defense mechanisms kick in full throttle with justifications. Lord help me to tear down the walls of deception in my life and look at the naked truth!
Message: In Matthew 26 there was so much betrayal and political manipulation going on many levels as Jesus prepared himself to fulfill the mission he came for. His sacrificial death. While reading the details as they unfolded, I couldn’t help but marvel over the people who believed they had power. Technically, they had all of that power and authority on a human level, but as they exercised their authority and as Jesus even submitted to that authority, they had no idea that the very power they had was given to them by Jesus- the unassuming man they were abusing. They had no idea that as they schemed and plotted against Jesus using all of their earthly power and authority, they were playing right into plan of God. Who was really in control here? As things played out and the pressure was on, it flushed out the true nature of people in both good and bad ways. Judas is most known for his betrayal of Jesus when he sought out the chief priests and asked how much they would give him to hand over Jesus to them. He agreed on 30 pieces of silver which would ultimately haunt him so deeply that he would later take his own life because of the guilt. It seems shocking that one of his own would suddenly flip and betray Jesus, but if you back up and pay attention to the details you will find that Judas was already unfaithful, and it was his greed that pushed him further than probably even he expected. Judas was the disciple who held the money for the group of disciples and small snippets of scripture tell us that he often stole from the money bag while pretending to be in the best interest of Jesus. He opposed the woman who broke her alabaster jar to anoint Jesus by saying that it could have been sold and given to the poor. It all sounded so noble, but his motives were so focused on greed that it distorted his view of not only this woman’s beautiful sacrifice, but of the mission of Jesus. Peter’s betrayal was different. He was close to Jesus, full of passion and loyalty and he never dreamed he would ever betray Jesus. So much so that he actually spoke it out, believing with all of his heart that he was so loyal that he would be willing to die with Jesus if necessary. When the pressure came on and he watched Jesus get hauled away for questioning he knew full well what this meant. I’m speculating here, but his betrayal was most likely not out of social embarrassment, or even selfish or greedy motives, but more likely out of fear that his association with Jesus might land him in the same kind of predicament that Jesus was in. He knew full well what kind of torturous horror was ahead for Jesus because he had lived to see many Roman cross crucifixions. This was not what any of them had anticipated for the man they believed to be Messiah, so although he loved him as his friend, it probably appeared to him that maybe Jesus wasn’t really who they believed he was. Reading these kinds of betrayals I find myself to be like Peter. I see myself as loyal, but somehow can’t imagine that I would ever deny Jesus. I pray with all my heart that it is so, but as painful as it is, I think we all have a little but of Judas in us too. I actually believe that Judas cared about Jesus. This is somewhat evident by his guilt that caused him to hang himself. It was his greed that caused his betrayal. When I think about this it causes me to do a little heart check. We all believe we are faithful and loyal, but what things are in my heart pulling me in other directions? Those things in our hearts are at war with our desire to follow Jesus. We can see how much hold they have when we are faced with the challenge to put those things down, or even in our fight to stay faithful with our prayer and devotional life. What things are pulling us away each day? We would never say we love work or TV more than Jesus, but what wins our time? Fasting can be another checkpoint right? How badly do we want a snack when we are fasting? Do we allow ourselves to give in during those weak moments? How many of those weak moments of giving in does it take before we find ourselves further than we ever expected to be? This is HARD to think about, but the reality is we are always making decisions toward or away from Jesus. This is a daily battle, and we have to remind ourselves that none of us are immune to this kind of betrayal. Lord, please help me in my faithfulness to keep steady and never assume I am immune to being pulled away. Show me the things in my life that are pulling me and help me to keep those desires and those obsessions in check.
Message: In Matthew 23 Jesus was speaking to the crowds about the Scribes and Pharisees. He called them hypocrites but something very important came out. He told the crowd that they needed to listen to what they say because they sit in the seat of Moses (meaning they are sitting in the place of authority) but do not follow what they do. He continued on to point out in great detail all of the hypocritical things that these leaders did. How they showcased an image of purity and religious behavior on the outside, but they were liars and cheaters on the inside. They loved places of honor, but they did not live honorably on the inside. They wanted to be seen as holy and righteous, but they were only displaying a false image. Everything about them was for show but they had no character or purity on the inside. Jesus was speaking to the crowd but he knew they were listening. He exposed them, rebuked them openly and publicly and warned them of their punishment. On one hand, reading this made me feel indignant toward Christians I see acting like these Scribes and Pharisees, but on the other hand, I had to acknowledge that we all have a part in this. It’s so tempting to read the bible and align with the good guys. The truth is, we all have parts in us that we would rather not see. I don’t want to believe that I might have some of this behavior in me, but the word of God is not for us to just read and apply toward others. It was intended to read us and expose the evil within ourselves that we need to address. My question to myself today is what areas of my life am I polishing on the outside to keep hidden what is wrong on the inside? What things do I expect of others, but refuse to do myself? As I ask these questions I know that God is faithful to reveal these broken areas inside me, and as I acknowledge them he will heal and restore. We can polish any exterior image we choose but we will continue to be dead inside if we insist on pleasing people instead of God.
Message: In Matthew 22 the Sadducees were taking their turn to challenge Jesus as the Pharisees watched. Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead and this had been an ongoing debate with the Pharisees so they used the words of Moses in their attempt to disqualify Jesus. They probably thought they had him pinned to a corner until he blew their minds by explaining to them that they didn’t even have the right understanding of heaven to bring any validity to their question. Verse 34 says that when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they came together, and an expert of the law came forward to try to test Jesus by asking him which command was the greatest. It didn’t seem they had a response to that so Jesus did a little testing of his own by asking them whose son the Messiah would be. They told him David and Jesus instantly flipped it on them by challenging them why David, who was inspired by the Spirit, called the Messiah “Lord”. He said if David calls him Lord, how can the Messiah be his son? Nobody had an answer and verse 46 tells us that from that day, nobody dared to question him anymore. What I really pulled from this is that although God doesn’t shame us for having honest questions and asking them, he knows the heart and motive behind our questions and he understands the faulty thinking behind the questions we have. He doesn’t just answer our questions. He adjusts the faulty thinking behind our questions. Often times the questions we talk about are not really the root of our real questions. They are a result of deeper things that we don’t understand. We get frustrated because we want Jesus to answer basic questions, but he digs at the root to identify the real problem. The digging doesn’t make sense to us but if we will allow him to show us what we don’t know he will answer our questions in a way we never expected. We often criticize what we don’t understand. The Sadducees didn’t understand the resurrection so they didn’t realize that their challenge had no grounds. The Pharisees were right in the fact that the Messiah would be born from the lineage of King David, but they didn’t understand that the Messiah would come from God the Father in Heaven. What I really took from this is that we have to be careful with our frustrations and challenge the questions we have. The times I have asked Jesus legitimate questions he has shown me the error of my thinking behind it and changed my understanding. Some of our beliefs are not necessarily biblical at all. They are religious beliefs that man has attached as doctrine. We often get frustrated with people who challenge those things, but we ourselves need to challenge why we believe what we believe and make sure we are in line with the word. If we will surrender our questions and our thinking to God, he will always have the last word- after all, He IS the word!
Message: In Matthew 21 the people of the town had begun to accept the idea that Jesus was the Messiah so they began to celebrate and honor him throughout the city. As I read about this I started thinking about the fact that it all unraveled so quickly. As quickly as the celebrated him, they also turned their backs on him. The problem wasn’t that Jesus wasn’t who they believed he was. The problem was that Jesus as the Messiah was not behaving the way that they had expected. They had plans of their own for the Messiah. They had heard scripture and prophesy their entire lives about how the Messiah would come to rule and reign. It didn’t appear that Jesus was going to do that. Their minds were on the human kingdom they were living in. It was terrible and they badly wanted a redeemer to come in and take over. Jesus kept telling them that his kingdom was not of this world but they couldn’t see the kingdom he was talking about. When Jesus was crucified they were disillusioned. This didn’t look at all like they were expecting it to look. I also thought about the Scribes and Pharisees. They were the religious elite and they knew every scripture and every prophesy about the Messiah. So why didn’t they recognize him when he came? They were blinded by their pride and their own agendas. They weren’t living in heart obedience to God because they were using their position as a platform to promote their own selfish agendas. They didn’t recognize the Messiah when he came because their hearts were not submitted to God. As I read this I thought about how easy it is to believe we are on track. We know scripture, but are we submitted to God? To we know his heart? Would we recognize him if he walked among us, or are we too busy trying to use his name to promote our own ideas, agendas and even political persuasions?
Message: In Matthew 20 we see a few stories that speak to our understanding of social justice and even the area of privilege. Only in this case, there is no race attached to it because the assumption is that everyone in the stories were part of the Jewish nation. In the first story a land owner hired some men to work in his field for an agreed upon price. As the day progressed he hired additional workers for the same amount all the way up to the final hour of the day. He had his servants pay the men the same amount beginning with the workers who were there the shortest amount. The original workers were enraged to see that those who worked an hour received the same pay as they did when they had worked in the hot sun for a full day. The land owner told them he did them no injustice because after all, he had paid them what they agreed upon and he challenged them by asking if they were jealous of his generosity. This is a tough pill to swallow and it challenges me in my attitude at work. Notice he didn’t try to justify the reason for it. The story doesn’t tell us the financial status of any of the workers, or even try to tell us what special conditions they might be facing. It straight up told us that it was nobody’s business to make comparisons. Each worker was paid according to what was agreed upon and it didn’t matter how much more the owner was willing or able to pay. As much as this story ruffles my feathers, I actually raised my kids this way. If I saw something at the store for one child I bought it and gave it to them. I didn’t go looking for something for the others to make it even, but I didn’t favor one child over the others consistently either. We get in trouble when we start looking at the lives of others and making comparisons. God owes us nothing and everything we receive is a gift. He didn’t come to make everything fair, but we will all be accountable in the end for what we did with what we were given. We will have less then many and we will have more than many. What we do with it is what matters and our hearts toward being on the lower or the higher end of things matters too. In some cases it may not even be financial.
In the second story we see the mother of the sons of Zebedee approach Jesus to try to get them an elevated status in his kingdom. She must have had some high class status and was expecting that her status would work as a privilege and an advantage to her sons. She had no idea what she was asking. Jesus made it clear that his kingdom does not function the way the world functions. Position and status is not given by class, by special favors or by privilege. It can’t be obtained by someone else’s reputation. Jesus said that not only were those positions not given by he himself, but those who hold those positions of honor will be honored because of their great suffering and their character through that suffering. Because they blindly and arrogantly expected to be handed the privilege without merit, Jesus promised that they would surely endure the suffering involved with what they were asking, even though they would not be guaranteed the honor of those prominent positions. Sometimes we get so caught up in comparing ourselves to others, that we arrogantly believe we deserve things when we have no idea the cost that is required for the blessing or the position we want. Often times the fact that we believe we deserve it exposes the arrogance in us and proves that we don’t have the character for it. I remember hearing a country song with the lyrics “ I want a love like Johnny & June.” (referring, of course to the relationship between Johnny Cash & June Carter). I remember thinking, what an idiot! Do they have any idea how much pain and suffering they went through to have a relationship like that? I see this often when people want relationships to be satisfying and fulfilling, but they aren’t willing to work and fight for the marriage they are in. Their priority is their happiness, and they want it to come easy. But what comes easy does not carry the place in our hearts of something we have fought long and hard for. Today, I challenge every thought that elevates my status without counting the cost of what it takes to obtain it. Whether this is a relationship goal or a work goal, what we desire has a price and we have to be willing to pay the price for the quality that we want. It may be handed to us in this world, but in God’s kingdom we are expected to give our absolute best and trust God to put us where we belong.
