True Christianity, according to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, includes helping the least of these. As the text reads, we see: 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a... Read more
“…the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Mt. 24:44). It’s interesting I would be working on this chapter around the same time I found out about a new religious leader who is claiming the end of the world will be May 21, 2011. You can Google it for yourself, but the math is quite creative in how at a certain day from the starting point of the second Jubilee following the modern... Read more
“The greatest among you will be your servant.” -Matthew 23:11 Jesus turns his attention toward one major problem and its solution in Matthew 23. The problem is hypocrisy. The religious leaders of his time taught purity, yet lived in luxury. They communicated Scripture, yet sought to kill Jesus and in doing so break Scripture. We would expect the solution to be sincerity or authenticity, but it’s not. The solution Jesus gave to hypocrisy was humility: “The greatest among you will... Read more
The religious leaders of Jesus’ time sought a way to trick him. What better way than to involve taxes, right? If Jesus taught taxes should not be paid to Caesar, they had an opportunity to have him arrested. But what did Jesus say? “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Amazing! Jesus stumped his opponents by both honoring God and the ruling leader. What does this say to us today? First, we need to pay... Read more
Matthew is a music fan. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. However, in Matthew 21 he directly cites the Old Testament at least six times. Three of those times were from the Psalms, an ancient book of music (and the largest book of the Jewish Scriptures). So Matthew likes music. More specifically, Jesus likes the Psalms a lot. While I’m not about to go into the technical aspects at the moment (Here’s a great article for those interested in doing... Read more
“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant…” -Matthew 20:26 Jesus repeatedly reminds his followers in Matthew of the need to live as a servant. Why does Matthew focus on this? First, he likely had lived a very selfish lifestyle before following Jesus. He was a tax collector consumed with making money and willing to turn against his own people to work for the occupying government. But when he met Jesus, everything changed. His life became about... Read more
Matthew 19 offers an intriguing look at what Jesus had to say on the issue of divorce from Matthew’s perspective. I’ll let the words speak for themselves and then comment below: 8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” 10 The disciples said to... Read more
“Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 18:4 Jesus measures greatness by humility. We are only truly great when we truly live a life of service to others. We are called to meet the needs of others; not only living to meet our own needs. Jesus knew this, taught this, lived this, died for this, and rose for this. As he has said, “Go and do likewise.” +++ Dillon... Read more
Matthew 17 stands as an amazing connection point between the Old Testament and the New. There, Jesus is on a mountain with Peter, James, and John. Then a cloud shows up and Jesus is with Moses and Elijah. The Father talks from the cloud (Spirit?) invoking imagery of the Trinity as well. It’s quite a party! God (Father, Son, and Spirit), the Old Testament (represented by Moses for the Law and Elijah for the Prophets), appears with the three representatives... Read more
Matthew 16 includes the most important question a person could consider. After asking his followers, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Jesus makes it personal, asking, “Who do you say I am?” (v. 15). Peter’s response? “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matthew’s Gospel is all about Jesus as the Messiah. We find here the driving force of Matthew’s message–Jesus Messiah (Also a great song by Chris Tomlin!). Though Matthew was certainly originally... Read more
Holy Writ
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