Matthew 10:40-42 Have Life to the Full!

Matthew 10:40-42  Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.  And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.

Jesus is sending out his twelve disciples into the Israelite communities.  He assures them that God will be with them as they traverse throughout Israel.  He has given them power to conquer the devil’s attack against them.  Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.  (Matthew 10:1)  In the above verses, Jesus tells them that the people who receive them will be blessed by God, for they will be welcoming God into their midst.  Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  Because God is a transforming power, when He is welcomed into people’s lives, the people who receive the disciples will be blessed by God in an eternal way.  By receiving these twelve as prophets, they will receive a prophet’s reward.  If they welcome them as righteous and good people, they will receive a righteous person’s reward.  And even if they do not do anything more than give a cup of water to the twelve, they will not lose their reward of God’s touch on their eternal souls.  Salvation, culminating in eternal life, is the final solution for all who receive God by faith.  The Israelites, by doing good to the disciples, express faith in Jesus as the Messiah: the One sent by God himself to his chosen people.  They are trusting in Jesus by accepting the works of the disciples; consequently, salvation has come not only near them, it is a promise to them for eternity.  As Paul writes, For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.  It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.  This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight.  This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.  As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”  (Romans 1:16-17)  The Israelites who receive the twelve willingly as God’s presence in their communities will receive God’s eternal blessing on their souls.  The Jews have been looking for the Good Shepherd for generations, now the Messiah might be in their midst, so they were open to the Good News of salvation coming to Israel in the form of Jesus Christ.  

Ezekiel foretold the Good Shepherd coming to Israel.  For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.  As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep.  …You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.  (Ezekiel 34:11-12, 31)  Jesus fulfills this prophesy by telling the disciples to look after the welfare of the Jews, revealing to them that the kingdom of heaven has come near to them, that their day of salvation is near.  These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.  Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.  As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.  Freely you have received; freely give.”  (Matthew 10:5-8)  In Jesus’ ministry, He was especially harsh on the leaders of the Jewish community.  He knew that Ezekiel’s prophesy foretold accurately the condition of the Jewish people.  They were not only in slavery to another people, they were also enslaved by the recklessness and ruthlessness of their religious leaders.  The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves!  Should not shepherds take care of the flock?  You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.  You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.  You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.  You have ruled them harshly and brutally.’”  (Ezekiel 34:1-4)  We see Jesus coming as the Good Shepherd, the one who recognizes the people of Israel as his sheep, sheep that need a shepherd who is concerned about the needs of the flock.  He is the one who will go out in the dark places and rescue the one who is lost, leaving the ninety-nine safely in the fold.  He is the one who will care for the hurting, the disabled, the lame, the blind.  He is the one who will feed and care for the poor and lonely, the disenfranchised of the community.  The people of the Jewish communities knew this about their coming Messiah, so many accepted the disciples as ambassadors of this Good Shepherd.  The disciples demonstrated the goodness of Jesus by healing the sick, casting out demons, and caring for the outcast such as the blind and disabled.  Consequently, the people were willing to receive them as prophets, righteous men, and as representatives of the Good Shepherd.  Jesus said they would receive their eternal reward because of their recognition that the Messiah was now in their midst.  They knew as Ezekiel proclaimed, I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord.  (Ezekiel 34:15, NLT)  As the disciples were going from one community after another in Israel, they proclaimed by their acts and words, that the One who promised them eternal peace had come to them in the man, Jesus.  For all who placed their trust in him, He would give eternal life to them that would never pass away.  The household of God would be theirs forever.

Today, the same message of eternal peace remains outstanding for all who put their trust in the Messiah, Jesus.  He is the Good Shepherd for all people who come to him in faith.  As Simeon prophesied when he had the baby Jesus in his arms, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised.  I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people.  He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”  (Luke 2:29:32)  God has prepared the Messiah for all people.  He is the great light from God to be revealed to all the nations of the world.  Simeon said, Jesus would be received by many but also rejected by many causing a dagger in the parents’ hearts.  Actually, even his parents had a difficult time believing Jesus was carrying the divinity of God in him.  At one time his siblings and his mother wanted him to quit his ministry, but Jesus knew that no flesh could actually hold this mystery of him being the Son of God without a direct revelation from God.  When Peter said that He was the Son of God, Jesus told him that this understanding did not come from man or even his acquaintance with Jesus, but it came directly from God the Father.  “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.  (Matthew 16:15-17)  Blessed are people today that receive that revelation in their hearts and in their lives by faith and share it through the fruit they produce.  The Messiah has come to the world.  Many of the lost sheep of Israel in the time of Jesus realized that they needed a Good Shepherd.  They accepted the apostles in their communities as representatives of this Good Shepherd, Jesus.  Because of this, Jesus said their reward in heaven would be great.  Even if they gave only a glass of water to the disciples, not necessarily a wonderful reception, they would not lose their reward in heaven.  God rewards those who in any way willingly accept the Good News of the Messiah, Jesus.  Dear friends, even if you have come in late in knowing this truth about Jesus and his divinity, even though you might struggle to wholeheartedly accept this Good News, God will reward you abundantly.  Abundant life is an eternal life, one that does not fade away, one that exists forever.  Jesus said,  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  (John 10:10)  Jesus also said the good master gives the same payoff no matter who you are or how long you served him.  You might not be among the strong who were hired early in the day to work for the master.  You might not have been working for him all of your life.  You might have been busy walking the streets of life as others were working for the master.  Whatever your situation, the master pays off the same whether you have worked all day or at your death bed you pay tribute to his divinity.  His rewards are generous and full of his grace and love: eternal life to all who accept Jesus as their Savior.  Jesus tells the disciples that God pays off well to those who greet them with favor for they represent the Messiah who was sent to rescue the human race from destruction.  Today, we can look for the unsaved who will welcome the Good News in Jesus’ name. 

Matthew 10:32-39 Not Peace But a Sword!

Matthew 10:32-39  Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.  Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”  Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

In the above focus, Jesus is not talking about bringing peace to the world, absolute harmony with people regardless of their beliefs, but He is talking about bringing a sword, the word of God, a separator in the midst of others.  This word will divide people, for it discerns the very nature of a man’s soul.  For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;  it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  (Hebrews 4:12-13)  The words of Jesus are offensive to an evil, wayward world.  Man’s basic desire is to exist without many controls on his behavior.  Why?  Because he knows he is going around only once, so he wants to experience everything he can on life’s journey.  He alone will determine what is good and best for himself, even if it is exploitive or unhealthy for others.  The laws and regulations of a society are usually created and enforced to keep man’s proclivity for doing only what he desires under control.  For most people, freedom to live as they want remains the fundamental foundation of living.  For them, to serve a living God who demands subservience to his will, to his holiness, is a sword in their midst.  God’s demands to build their lives on his nature rather than their nature of doing their own thing is abhorrent to secular humans.  Jesus sums up his sermon on the Mount by saying, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.  (Matthew 7:24-27)  A life lived under God’s authority will not lead to disaster, but a life lived waywardly will face not only damage here on Earth, but damnation in the eternal world to come.  God will not look favorably on lives that are not under his governance.  This sword of accusation against sin and unbelief, lack of allegiance to God, will separate people even in their own households. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn “man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”  The word of God separates people who have had even the most intimate relationships here on Earth.  The close knit Jewish priesthood typifies people who desire to focus more on their lives rather than God.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees were emblematic of this serve-serving attitude in living.  They hated Jesus because he pointed out their carnal lifestyle and their willingness to use the priesthood for their own benefit: to get ahead in life.  The people gave great deference to the priests’ supposedly holy lifestyle.  However, Jesus knew the priests’ hearts and accused them of separating the people from God, not entering in to serving God wholeheartedly and richly, but instead, standing in the way of the people finding God.  They were the first to know the sword Jesus was bringing; He was separating the priesthood from the people.  They hated him for that and desired to kill him.    

Jesus spoke with authority as if He had an ongoing relationship with God the Father and a sense that God would back up everything He taught.  The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.  (Mark 1:22)  This caused great consternation for the Pharisees and Sadducees, for they knew God mostly by following his law and regulations and not as a personal God.  Now, they are confronted by a man who claims He is from God and knows God intimately.  Consequently, they ask Jesus to prove himself that He was from God by doing a miracle.  They were hoping that this would reveal Jesus as a fraud.  They wanted to separate Jesus from the people who were following him.  But Jesus avoided this challenge by telling them what would prove He is the Son of God would be the sign of Noah.  Of course, his death and resurrection would be a fulfillment of that sign, but it would be too late for the priests to prove that Jesus was a fraud and that people should not follow him.  Interestingly, the story of Noah is considered by many people today as too far-fetched, too impossible, too unprovable to be believed.  Of course, Jesus’ death and resurrection fall into that same area of unbelief.  Other themes and incidences in the Bible fall into this same category of too far-fetched to believe: the walls of Jericho collapsing, the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery; the dividing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River; the manna by morning and the quail by evening; the virgin birth, the Damascus conversion of Paul, and many others stories in the Bible.  The Christian message and beliefs rely upon stories that cannot be imagined or conceived by the secular world.  If our God is small, powerless, then the stories prima-facie are untrue.  But, if our God is the galaxy-maker and the creator of all that is known, all of these stories in the Bible are possible.  Of course that belief separates: a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.  The problem with the Pharisees and the Sadducees is they lacked faith in the supernatural aspect of serving God.  They could believe in their religion for the sake of their ancestors but not for themselves.  They had allowed rules and regulations to replace intimacy with God.  They needed a sign from Jesus to prove that He had been with God and that he was God’s messenger to the world.  Jesus would not give them that, for He knew with their hard hearts they lacked faith to receive any sign from him.  When Jesus healed a man’s withered hand in the temple, he had looked round about on them (the religious leaders) with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.  (Mark 3:5)  Knowing this, Jesus’ mission was to separate the teachers of the law and their beliefs from the people.        

Jesus warned the disciples about the priests’ contaminating unbelief by saying, Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadduccees.  The priests had ignored the supernatural aspect of serving the Lord!  Jesus reminds the disciples of the miracles of feeding the crowds of 4000 and 5000.  He reminded the disciples that even after the people were fed, they had leftovers, revealing the abundance of the Lord.  To show the disciples the necessity of knowing God in an unbelieving world, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.  (Matthew 16:13-17)  Their answers about what the people believed all referred to men who had already died: John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.  The minds of people were blinded to a reality beyond what might be possible: having former great men’s spirits inhabiting Jesus.  They knew about stories of mediums supposedly contacting the spirit’s of men, bringing them into reality.  But that is as far as their imaginations could go.  But Jesus now asked the disciples directly, “Who do you say I am?”  Peter exclaims, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus tells him, only the Father could have revealed this to you.  In a dark and unbelieving world, only the Spirit of God can open the hearts of men to the reality of the Savior God.  Jesus came to save the world from sin, to make new creatures through his saving grace.  Only He could make people new, for all things from the beginning of time were created THROUGH HIM.  Breakfast companions, we have been separated from the world through the sword of God.  We are aliens here, strangers in a foreign land; this world is not our home.  Consequently, our allegiance to God’s work in us is great.  As Paul wrote,  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39)  Therefore, as today’s verses say, we cannot love anyone more than God, and we must take up the cross and follow Jesus.  As Jesus goes on to say, Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.   We are committed to following him and to losing our lives for him and to glorifying his supernatural strength in us and though us.  Blessed be his holy name!  

 

Matthew 10:28-31 Enter His Rest!

Matthew 10:28-31  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Often in our religious efforts, in our attempts to conceive of God, we make God in our own image.  We make him much smaller than the One described in today’s scriptures.  He knows even the number of hairs on our heads.  We cannot conceive of that, so we generalize or rationalize what Jesus meant when He said, even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Yes, we were made like God in many ways, capable of functioning with him, relating to him, interacting with him, but we are not omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent.  We are not as the all-consuming God, the ever-present God, the eternal One.  God knows every sparrow that falls, not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.   As the mighty God beyond our understanding and knowledge, He keeps a constant inventory of all living matter and of all inert, static matter.  He has inventory of all matter of any sort, carbon or non carbon.  He knows the stars in the heavens, the length and breath of the galaxies.  He knows the meaning of existence, the beginning and ending of all that is and ever will be.  He is a God whose word is timeless, forever speaking, forever creating.  He also is perfect, holy, just, right in every detail of existence and awareness.  The Bible describes him as the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.  (James 1:17 KJV)  Consequently, anything that is incongruent to God’s being and nature is open for judgment.  No imperfection can stand outside of his attention.  Sin is averse to God’s nature of harmony and peace.  Jesus says, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  There is no place of security outside of God’s complete authority; there is no rest outside of perfect harmony with him.  Any action or attitude different from his just and holy nature will face eternal judgment.  God is not a man who relies on the “oops I’ve made a mistake; I will try again.”  He does everything perfectly the first time.  He made humankind as He desired with the freewill of deciding the direction of their own lives.  He set people apart to have the nature they have of making their own choices.  But there is only one perfect God, and He is the Father of all things.  Men and women fail because they are not God, just made in his likeness.  Jesus says very clearly, call no man “good” not even him.   As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.  “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  “Why do you call me good?”  Jesus answered.  “No one is good—except God alone.”  (Mark 10:17-18)  Of course, we know Jesus was sinless, but He was still in the raiment of man.  Man’s nature is to do his own thing.  He has a freewill madness: to be like God.  Nonetheless in his humanity, he fails to be completely good and just at all times. 

The Old Testament depicts this condition of self-will in mankind very clearly.  A chosen race, selected by God out of a pagan caldron of idol worshippers was given his blessing.  A schooling was to take place with a chosen race, one established by Abraham’s faith: his decision to believe in the unknown God and his words regardless of his circumstances.  God takes Abraham’s progeny and forces them into slavery, placing them within the Egyptian kingdom with their own god, the Pharaoh.  As slaves they had no freedom.  God then frees them from this bondage with miracle upon miracle.  When they are fleeing Egypt, He makes a way where there is no way when they reach the Red Sea.  Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land.  The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.  (Exodus 14:21-22)  After they passed through, the Egyptians went into the sea on the dry ground, and Moses stretched out his hand again and the sea closed over them and all were drowned.  God’s people were now free indeed—no longer in bondage to anyone’s will but their own.  He escorts them through the wilderness with one miracle after another, separating them from the rest of the world.  He takes care of them as one would a baby, providing nourishment for them, not even allowing the sandals on their feet to wear out.  In this wilderness, He gives them the law to regulate their lives and to show them He is a just and good God, but a God of holiness as well.  The law and regulations flesh out the image of God and set00 them on a road of faith, believing God’s written words.  By obeying the law and regulations, they are to be especially blessed by God, above all other people on the face of the earth.  He is no longer just Abraham and Moses’ God, but their God.  By faithfulness to this God, they would receive a promised land, an inheritance for loving the God of Abraham who was given the promise of a land his descendants could inhabit peacefully.  Their wilderness journey ended at the doorsteps of this land, but they failed to enter in because they did not believe God.  The Bible says, And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?  So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.  (Hebrews 3:18-19) They were punished for their lack of faith in God’s words and had to return to the wilderness for 40 years.  We are warned in Hebrews not to be as the Israelites.  When they finally do enter in, God gives them Jericho by faith alone, probably to encourage them.  But now their babyhood was left behind.  They would have to fight for the land: with God’s strong right hand they defeated the nations within the land.  In the Promised Land they were to live by faith, following the laws and regulations that God gave them in the wilderness.  Some of their leaders were faithful in following God.  David was the most faithful, seeking God in almost everything he did as the Israelites’ king.  But, most of the kings and religious leaders were unfaithful to the God who had delivered them out of slavery.  Even though chosen, given miracle after miracle, their freewill to live according to man’s sinful nature caused them to do even worse things than the people who had inhabited the land before them.  Even under the threat of great punishment issued by the prophets, their hearts hardened against God.  God finally drove them out of the Promise Land except for a small remnant. The remnant was left because of God faithfulness to his oath of blessing Abraham.

Was all of this an “oops.”  Or was it the plan from the beginning?  We read in the New Testament that God’s plan was always in place: He (Jesus) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  (1 Peter 1:20) God who is greater than our imagination was in the business of making children in the household of God; consequently, He was not negligent in seeking his own.  Yet He knew even the most chosen of races would let him down, for their humanness was filled with the sickness of sin.  Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.  (Romans 5:12)  All sinned, all were contaminated by the nature of mankind.  Even the Jews who found rightness with God were contaminated with sin.  They experienced special blessings from God, even though they knew what it was to be under the oppression of others.  They experienced supernatural deliverance from this oppression, even though they could not stay faithful to the mighty God of deliverance.  They ended up hopelessly lost, so much so, that God drove them out of the Promised Land.  This journey of humankind was necessary to make children of God.  This was not an “oops" in God’s dealings with humans.  God all along determined to adopt children into his household.  Jesus’ teaching about the sparrow and the hairs on our heads reveals that God is greater than our imaginations, bigger than our wisdom, more knowledgeable that our deepest thinkers.  His grace is greater than our sin.  He is the galaxy maker, the star producer, the creator of all that is.  He knows how to make children for his household.  We cannot earn our way to heaven, we cannot make ourselves better, we cannot even be enveloped into God’s image without a Savior.  The Jews, even though chosen, could not avoid their dead-end alley of self-will.  Abraham is emblematic of faith, the right road to God.  Even though his fleshly body was dead, even though Sarah could no longer produce children, he believed God’s promise to him that an Issac would be born.  A year later when the angel of the Lord returned, Sarah had birthed a boy child: the promise had been fulfilled with a newborn baby.  We are children of promise.  Even though we are in a dead world, no hope of regeneration, God has promised us a new birth.  We are to believe that promise which is fulfilled by faith in Jesus’ works.  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  (1 Peter 3-5)  Humans made with absolute freedom have to come to the realization that even if chosen, even if blessed, even if delivered from slavery, their condition of being as God is hopeless.  They need a Savior, for God is God and man is not God.  God does not make mistakes.  He talks to us within our perceptions, our reality, our awareness, our senses; but He is often far removed from our understanding.  He does not need to explain what is or what is not.  He does not use our periodic table of existence.  We do not know what we shall be; we do know the reality of our coming existence.  We do know that the God of all inventory has made it so we who are IN CHRIST will live forever in his household AS MEMBERS OF THE perfect body of Christ.  Yes, He knows the number of hairs on our heads and He knows so much more, enough to fill eternity. Amen!      

Matthew 10:24-27 Proclaim from the Roofs!

Matthew 10:24-27  The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters.  If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!  “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

The leaders of the Jewish community, as with the majority of the people in the Jewish society, were basically comfortable with their lifestyle and mores.  Of course, they chaffed under the Roman occupation.  Rome was very powerful, dominating the whole Middle East, which held little chance of throwing off that oppressive yoke.  Consequently, the day-to-day experiences of the Jewish people adapted to living within the Roman Empire.  As with all people under captivity or political influence, their lifestyle tended to seek what was pleasurable or best for themselves.  But we see with the teaching of John the Baptism that this self-interested life was not what God wanted for his chosen people.  John the Baptist criticized the Jewish people for their selfishness, lack of concern for others, and disinterest in displaying mercy and grace.  John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”  (Luke 3:7-8)  John told them how to cleanse their lives from their selfish, even corrupt ways.  “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”  (Luke 3:11)  John informed the Jews that they had lost their understanding of their God who is a God of love and mercy.  They thought of themselves as a people holding a special place of privilege with God because they were Abraham’s descendants regardless of their purity of heart or lifestyle.  The prophet Micah complains about this hardness of heart by saying, What can we bring to the Lord?  Should we bring him burnt offerings?  Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves?  Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?  Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?  No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  (Micah 6:6-8)  John excoriated the Jews of his time about not doing what is good, not loving mercy, and not walking humbly with God.   In fact they were so out of rhythm with God’s goodness and likeness that they were exposed to God’s fiery judgement unless they repented of their ways.  Jesus attacks their religious leaders as being hypocrites, not true followers of God.  He repeats the same metaphor that John the Baptist used in describing the leaders of that time: snakes.  Of course in the Jewish tradition this is one of the lowest names you could call anyone, for snakes had a curse upon them, placed on them in the Garden of Eden because of the devil coming in the form of a snake to deceive Eve.  Jesus knew the religious leaders were as deceptive as the Garden of Eden’s snake. You snakes!  You brood of vipers!  How will you escape being condemned to hell?  Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers.  Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.  And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.  (Mathew 23:33-36)  Jesus tells the disciples that the household of the Jewish people will not necessarily be friendly to them because they represent the light of God.  By performing marvelous supernatural miracles in their midst, they will be heard by the Jewish people.  However, they have been led by leaders who called their master, Jesus, Beelzebub, so they will face conflict in their ministry.  Therefore, He says, So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  

Nothing is hidden from God.  He even knows the number of the hairs on our heads.  In these communities of Israel, God knew the darkness in their hearts; He also knew their pain in living without God’s blessings on their lives because they had fallen away from him.  Jesus tells the disciples to proclaim his words to help the people understand why they need a Savior.  As with all Christians today, the Spirit of God dwelt within the disciples.  Jesus gave them special powers through the Holy Spirit to perform healings and miracles as they journeyed through Israel.  The Holy Spirit is the indwelling power of God and He is the voice of the Lord.   Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)  Because of the Spirit’s presence in them, the disciples were governed by the still small voice of the Lord.  What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.  As they moved from city to city, the voice of the Lord was with them.  What they heard in the night during their quiet times, they were to announce strongly in the daytime, and what was whispered in their ears as they contended for the Good News to be spread, they were to proclaim from the roofs so that all might hear.  Of course, these were communities that were not following the way of the Lord, his goodness.  They lacked mercy and love towards the poor, sick, disabled.  They were not communities of light, but communities of darkness, led by leaders that Jesus called snakes.  But Jesus told his disciples not to be afraid, for He would be with them, in their minds and souls.  Also, they were not to be intimidated by the people who opposed them, for God knew their souls and that someday they would be judged harshly for their lifestyles and way of thinking, for God sees everything.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  (Hebrews 4:13)

Sometimes Christians are like the Jewish people of Jesus’ era.  As with the Jews, who believed they did not have to line up with God’s nature for they were children of Abraham, we think we have a special dispensation.  Christians often give the impression that they do not have to live by the beatitudes and other biblical guidelines because we have accepted salvation through Jesus.  But just as the Jewish people were wrong so are Christians who think they hold this special place of privilege before God.  God requires righteousness, reflected in mercy, grace, and love towards all people.  Jesus asked, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”  (Luke 6:46)  If you have hatred towards your enemy, be aware that God knows your heart.  If you do not give grace and mercy to others, beware, for God has written it down.  Your deeds will follow you to the mercy seat of God.  He knows your heart—nothing is hidden from him.  What if we are caught in the fleshly pursuits and sinful nature of life?  What if we are living like our fleshly neighbor?  What if no one can detect love in our mouths when we speak of those who disagree with us?  What if. . .?  Do we feel that we are immune to God’s judgement just because we are children of the Most High?  Judgement begins in the household of the Lord.  For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?  (1 Peter 4:17)  To know what to do, and adamantly refuse to do what is right is sin, waywardness from God’s likeness.  If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.  (James 4:17)  Jesus sent his disciples out to the communities of the smug Israelites who believed they were right with God because of their birthright.  But John the Baptist called these crowds who came to repent at the Jordan River snakes.  Jesus called their religious leaders who tithed even their spices, vipers.  Their regulations, their sabbath keeping, their religious activities in the temple meant nothing to God if their hearts were stone cold, indifferent to the mercy and grace of God.  Who is our neighbor?  The one who steps aside to help the broken, the downtrodden.  Who is your neighbor, dear breakfast companions?  Whose needs have pierced your heart?  Is it self you serve?  Or is it to those who need a hand of mercy, healing, or help?  You might believe you are on the right side of the road, going straight to heaven; but beware.  On the other side might be people, communities that need the goodness of the Lord in their lives.  The disciples were sent out with the voice of the Lord in them, the voice of miracles and comfort.  Let us also be that kind of people.  Shout God’s mercy and grace from the rooftops.  Let all people know that Salvation has come to earth.  Make known the day of the Lord!  Amen!