Matthew 14:22-31 Have Faith!

Matthew 14:22-31  Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.  Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.  Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.  “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.  But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”  “Lord, if it’s you,”  Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”  “Come,” he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Why did you doubt?  How easily this walking on water would make any one of us doubt.  Peter was doing something that no man had done from the beginning of time, walking on water, a substance less dense than his body.  This event surpassed the natural law of gravity.  Peter would doubt the reality of what he was doing, but others too would doubt what they were seeing.  Jesus tells Peter that he is a man of little faith.  Jesus’ comments to Peter indicated men have little faith in the God who can do new things.  Our reality is that men do not walk on water—this is an evidentiary reality.  But the Lord hooks up Peter’s failure to walk on water with a lack of faith.  You of little faith!  What is faith and how does it relate to reality?  When we consider faith, what is Abraham’s faith that we see in the Old Testament?  Today, what is faith in Jesus Christ and his works?  Why could Jesus proclaim quite accurately that Peter had little faith, implying in that statement that men have little faith in God’s supernatural ability?  In Paul’s discussion of Abraham’s faith, he states, Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.  (Romans 4:17)  Abraham believed God could do new things that seem beyond rationality.  He could make new things OUT OF NOTHING.  No man, no doctor, no wise man would have predicted that a very old Abraham and Sarah would birth a baby boy.  This whole event exceeded what man thought was possible because this event surpassed what humans could imagine.  As in Peter’s experience, Abraham should have recognized men do not walk on water.  But he believed in the words of God, the promise to him that he would be a father of many nations.  How can you be a father of anything if you cannot produce a baby given your circumstances?  Even though Sarah laughed at the idea she could have a child, Abraham had faith in a God who created this universe, making our existence out of nothing.  (See Genesis 18:12)  God spoke everything into being.  When Peter walked on water, he was experiencing the creative God, doing something only God could make happen.  Men did not sit around campfires talking about walking on water, such an experience was beyond their imaginations.  Isaac’s birth was beyond imagination, the known reality of human experience.  When Peter realized he was doing something beyond what was possible, he began to sink.  The truth of drowning quickly permeated his mind: Lord, save me!  His faith in a God of new things dissipated.  Jesus did not congratulate him on the few steps Peter took; instead, He emphasizes Peter’s lack of faith: You of little faith.  He could have said, Wow, Peter, you have so much faith that you tried to walk to me across the water.  But he knew mankind has very little knowledge of the God they serve: the God who created all things out of nothing, a God of new beginnings.  

In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over a chaotic existence, a dead, unfruitful place.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  (Genesis 1:1-2)  We see in this description, an earth unable to display life or anything new.  Darkness, a dead planet, existed there.  But the Spirit of God was hovering, was present across the waters.  God spoke transformation to the earth and new life arose from the deadness.  Creation was set in motion.  What could not happen, happened.  A NEW CREATION CAME INTO EXISTENCE.  When God moves upon the waters, He changes things.  As Paul talks about Christians, so was it from the beginning, If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  A new creation was made on this dead planet, a new beginning.  If ANYONE is in Christ, a new world is possible.  Abraham believed in this God of creation, and the result of his belief is that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.  (Romans 4:9)  He believed unreservedly in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.  (Romans 4:17)  Abraham did not laugh with Sarah in agreement with her unbelief.  He put his faith and trust in the promise of God that she would have the son of promise.   As Peter was walking on water, he faltered in believing the Lord could bring into being what had never been done.  He could not believe wholeheartedly in the God who creates new things: a new earth, a new Isaac, a new manna, a new fountain of water, and the like.  Peter hesitated in fully trusting God, the Creator of new experiences, new victories.  He sank because his faith was too human, to caught up in the knowledge and wisdom of this world with all its limitations.   However, Peter is not alone in this unbelief.  Mankind struggles with the thought of God, struggles with creation, and with the God of creation who supposedly makes all things new.  Our imaginations whither when we try to imagine a new heaven, a new earth, a new eternal creature.  We are as Adam and Eve in the Garden.  Satan comes to tempt us, and we find ourselves repeating their doubts, “Did God really say, we are a new creation?”  The Lord easily could say to all of us, You of little faith!

This theme of newness runs throughout the scriptures.  We see events in the Old Testament that are beyond rationality.  Our minds try to appreciate and understand them, but the narratives of the stories usually stress our belief in their reality.  How could these things happen in this world of physics, of natural laws?  When we fall back on logic, doubt creeps in.  Yet as with the creation story, the power of God, the Holy Spirit, is evident in most of the scenes.  He is the One who leads the children of Israel through the wilderness.  He is the one who conquerors the land of Canaan.  He is the one who overwhelms the enemies of Israel.  He provides food for the widow woman who houses Elijah.  He raises her dead son.  The Holy Spirit, the power to make all things new, is in the storyline from the beginning to the end in the Bible.  This story of faith in the God who makes all things new is part and parcel of the life of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God.  He does miracles and healing(s) that no man from the beginning of time has done.  His resurrection runs counter to man’s understanding of the finality of death.  Jesus is an anomaly to everything that is known to man.  Jesus claims to be the Son of God, following the Father’s will on earth.  He said, Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  (John 14:9)  He did new things, miracles that were beyond explanations.  His Father is the God of new things, of new beginnings.  We are part of that new beginning.  We who are IN CHRIST are the product of this God, made completely new.  We are known as the born again.  Nicodemus could not understand what Jesus was saying, for he knew no man could be born again, just as Sarah, dead in body, could not produce an Isaac.  How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked.  (John 3:4)   But Jesus served a God of new beginnings, Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  (John 3:3)  The story of faith is a continuum from creation to the end of time.  Jesus was raised from the dead to newness of life by the Spirit of God.  We also will be raised from the dead to a new beginning: one that is beyond our imagination, our logic, our knowledge of what is.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.  (Romans 8:11)  The question is, can we believe that God is doing a new thing in our lives and that he is not finished with us.  He was not finished with the Israelites in Egypt.  He was not finished with the widow woman in Zarephath who thought she and her son were going to eat their last meal before she met Elijah.  He was not finished with Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist.  And He was not finished with Jesus after his crucifixion.  God is in the business of making new things beyond our imaginations.  Abraham’s faith is that kind of faith, a faith believing God’s words regardless of the realities of this world.  Peter, after his first steps on the water, realized the realities of what he was doing and his faith faltered.  We are new creatures only because we have complete faith In Jesus’ intervention into our lives.  We are saved because He came to us on our road to Damascus and in his time element.  We are now new creatures, but as Peter, we still need to walk on water in this life, and that takes faith in what God has said to us.  We do not quit, but keep walking.  God is not finished with us yet.  Behold, I make all things new.  (Revelation 21:5)        

Matthew 14:15-21 Feed the Hungry!

Matthew 14:15-21  As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.  Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”  Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat.”  “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.  “Bring them here to me,” he said.  And he directed the people to sit down on the grass.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.  Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Love without action is useless according to James who wrote that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  (James 2:17)  In today’s scene we see Jesus actively expressing love for the people by feeding them.  The disciples’ attitude was appropriate because of the remoteness of the place and the scarcity of food available to the large crowd.  The disciples did not expect a miracle, so they were planning a way for the crowd to find food.  Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.  Of course another motive of the disciples comes to the surface: it’s already getting late and they were exhausted and needed to eat.  By sending the crowds away, the disciples could then serve themselves the meager amount of food at hand, giving them a chance to restore their own strength.  They probably were somewhat indignant with Jesus when He said, You give them something to eat.  They pointed out something that Jesus already knew about the situation.  We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish.  We have barely enough for ourselves, send them away, so we can sit down and feed ourselves.  Jesus, our own provisions are meager, and you know we have been fighting this crowd all day so that they would not overwhelm you with their desire to get close to you.  We are tired; we deserve to rest and feed ourselves.  How often when there is a need set before us, do we explain to God how another plan is available or how we are beyond our means or strength to help out in the situation?  Love is not thoughts, words, or even intentions: love is action.  If our love is as meager as the disciples’ food basket, we will quickly devise a plan that seems more appropriate for our own personal needs.  When Jesus said, you feed them, the task must have seemed overwhelming to the tired disciples.  Not only would feeding them require a tremendous miracle, the mission in itself would exhaust his disciples as they provided for over 5,000 people.  The apostles knew these people were the ones that would not even allow Jesus a few days to mourn over John’s horrific death.  They understood well that the people were seeking Jesus for their own self-interest, not to benefit Jesus and his helpers.  But even if the disciples did not care much for the crowd, Jesus loved them.  They were sheep without a shepherd.  Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  (Matthew 9:35-36) This task of feeding the crowds would be physically and emotionally tiring for Jesus and the disciples.  But Jesus knew He was the Bread of Life and that his mission was to help the people fulfill their hunger for God.  The crowds were in this remote place because their need of God was greater than their hunger.  They gathered around Jesus so that their souls might be fed.  He gave them the Bread of Life through his service to them—his love for them!

This miracle of feeding such a huge crowd showed that Jesus was not just a prophet such as Elijah who fed only the widow at Zarephath and her son, but Jesus was much greater for He fed all who came to him.  In the eyes of the Israelites, this miracle revealed him to be divine, maybe even the Son of God.  Who else could serve everyone who came to him.  No one but God himself could do this.  In the Old Testament we see a similar scene of scarcity of food, but God’s intervention changes the situation.  Elijah is fleeing King Ahab because he told Ahab that there would be no rain because God was judging his kingdom for their idol worshipping.  Elijah then flees from Ahab’s wrath.  He settles in the wilderness by a brook, being fed by ravens in the morning and evening.  Finally the brook dries up.  God allows this to happen, forcing Elijah to venture into the city of Zarephath.  In Zarephath, he asks a widow for water and food.  Her cupboard is bare with hardly any food left, only enough for one more meal for herself and her son.  After this last meal, they will starve to death.  Instead of using all the oil and flour for herself and her son, she provides for Elijah’s needs.  She feeds him first.  God rewards her for her service to Elijah.  For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.”  She went away and did as Elijah had told her.  So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.  For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.  (1 Kings 17:14-16)   This of course was a great miracle, a happening beyond rationality.  But the woman did not fully believe this miracle  until Elijah brought her son back to life after he died.  Then she knew that God had sent Elijah into her life and that his words had power with God.  The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.  Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house.  He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”  Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.  (1 Kings 17:22-24)  Of course in Jesus’ time, after the 5,000 men were fed in such a remote place and when the crowd did not see any catering service coming down the road to feed them, they must have believed in Jesus’ power to change the circumstances.  But just as with the widow, they somehow could not really take in what had happened to them.  Feeding them did not bring a revelation of who Jesus really was.  Even his disciples later on argued about not having enough bread as they were crossing the Sea of Galilee.  They were as the widow contaminated by the yeast of the Pharisees, the sin of unbelief.   But the widow believed that Elijah was a man of God after her son was resurrected.  The disciples, even Thomas, believed Jesus was the Son of God after his resurrection.  The miracles the people saw or participated in did not hold them in a place of absolute faith.  Only when Jesus was resurrected was there a true understanding of who Jesus really was as God’s gift.  Elijah was sent to the widow, one family.  Jesus was sent to the world; the crowds were emblematic of that reality.    

Are you willing to sit down?  The people in that wilderness had to be open to sitting down, open to waiting for food.  This question is for us every day, are we willing to sit at Jesus’ feet, waiting to be fed?  As we look around in our routine lives, evaluating who we are, what can be done, what cannot be done in our lives, can we believe that God is still in the supernatural business?  Can we believe that God will feed us at his breast, that the Spirit of God will come to us each day to rejuvenate us, to empower us to serve him.  We might be tired as the disciples were weary.  We might even be distracted by our own thoughts: send them away, Lord.  We are too tired, too busy to help them.  The inventory of the spiritual strength in our lives is meager, hardly enough to keep us alive.  Jesus, this is a futile effort—there is not even enough spiritual food or dynamism in us to keep us going, let alone share it with others.  Send them back to the world to fend for themselves.  At least there they will find life as it is: eating, drinking and being merry.  Here, they will just die without food for their stomachs.  But Jesus orders them: Feed them!  Not tomorrow, not at another time or in a more convenient place.  Feed them here, in this wilderness, on this day.  Jesus asks us to participate with him in feeding the world.  Of course, the crowds were there for their own sake, not for the disciples' or Jesus’ sake.  They were there to take, not to give.  But Jesus said to his servants, you feed them now.  Do not send them back into the world without refreshing them, helping them to survive.  As servants of the Most High, we have the Bread of Life to serve the hungry.  But to serve, we must first sit down and be fed by the hand of God.  Yes, the food in our systems might be scarce.  We might have wasted much of it, the energy it provides, doing the mundane things of the world.  But the theme of this breakfast is that God wants to restore everyone to himself by feeding them.  Even if they are selfish, absorbed in their lives, their own needs, unable to see anything more spiritual than their obligations to themselves, Jesus loves them.  Therefore, Jesus is saying to us, feed them, not another day, but now.  If we are willing to do that, if our hearts say that is the right thing to do, then we must first sit down at his feet and wait for his Spirit to strengthen us.  Are we willing to sit down?  As we look around each morning, we see no catering cart coming down the road to feed us.  Nothing is there, no books, no inspiring sermons, no sage advice from fellow Christian are with us as we open our hearts to God.  But what we do have is Jesus in front of us, his hands moving as He breaks the Bread of Life for each of us to receive.  He says to us, this is my body broken for you.  We look at his love and know that He has given his all for us.  He then tells us as He told the disciples, feed them!  I fed you, you feed others.  Do not send them away, no matter how tired you are or how useless it seems.  My words are IN YOU, and you are IN ME because of my bread that I give to you.  This is your reasonable sacrifice, your reasonable service, for me.  May the Lord bless you as you serve him with a joyful heart today!   This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.  (Psalm 118:24 KJV) 

Matthew 14:11-14 He Had Compassion!

Matthew 14:11-14  John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it.  Then they went and told Jesus.  When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.  Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  

When Jesus heard the tragic news that Herod had beheaded John, his beloved cousin and friend, Jesus went away to mourn and probably to reflect on John’s life and his ministry.  As Ecclesiastics tells us, There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.  On this day for Jesus it was a time to weep, a time to mourn.  (Ecclesiastics 3:4)  Jesus had other times to mourn in his life, his tears over a reluctant Jerusalem, to find rest and peace under God’s authority.  He sorrowed, for He knew God’s broken heart over his chosen people’s rebellion to his love for them.  He also knew that if they would have recognized him as the Messiah, He would have taken care of them as a mother hen takes care of her chicks when they are frightened.  He would have hidden them under his heavenly wings, but they would not come to him.  Actually, the leaders of Jerusalem were in open rebellion against God’s authority.  We find in the story of Lazarus’ death another instance when Jesus mourns with weeping.  When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.  “Where have you laid him?” he asked.  “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.  Jesus wept.  (John 11:32-35)  We see once again Jesus revealing the hurting heart of God over the desperate condition of mankind’s rebellion.  Man’s turning away from God caused death.  All men and women would eventually die, leaving behind loved ones who cared deeply for them.  In Ecclesiastics we see there is a time for everything, but sadly there always is a time to die.  This was not God’s desire for mankind when He made men and women, but He did make them in his image.  Mankind could accept God’s authority or he could as God is able to do, design his own existence.  Of course rebellion to God’s plan of life, resorting to a different design of a self-willed life, has death written all over it.  Rather than experiencing eternal life, man’s plan is susceptible to aging, sicknesses, diseases, accidents, to all the vicissitudes of an imperfect world.  Jesus walked in this imperfect world.  He knew what perfection was and what God wanted for his creation.  But the darkness around him caused him to weep and mourn because of man’s desperate condition of finiteness with its inherent weaknesses and sin.  Jesus healed some, He raised the dead, He helped some to see, but what they needed was a new relationship with the Father God.  He gave them this possibility with his death on the cross.  Faith in his works and in his righteousness would restore man to the eternal plan of a perfect, sinless God.  

When Jesus heard about John, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.  His plan for that day was to get away from the crowd.  He needed time to mourn; He needed time to be alone.  His battle each day to restore people to God was an ongoing struggle, a constant giving of himself.  Each day He faced not only the acclaim and adoration of the people who desired his attention, He also faced the devil’s cohorts who wanted him to be shamed and exposed as a charlatan.  They wanted him out of their kingdom.  They wanted him dead.  Jesus went away from the people so that He might mourn for John.  He also needed a respite from the clamor, but the people heard that He was removing himself from them, so they decided to follow him.  Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  For Jesus his time of mourning would be short.  The people wanted him to satisfy their personal needs.  They knew of him as the healer; they were awed by his teaching.  But their thoughts were centered on themselves, on their needs not on Christ’s needs.  So they were unwilling to let him rest.  Jesus expended himself for the people.  He gave his strength and time to them.  Once in a while He would remove himself from their presence, but they were constantly at his feet, desiring for his intervention in their lives.  In the scene above, we see Jesus overwhelmed by the devastating news of John’s death, but his life was a living sacrifice, so He would not take himself off the altar for even a little while.  The people chased after him, demanding that He serve them, so that is exactly what Jesus did.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  This is the same crowd that would cry Hosanna on the day He enters Jerusalem for the Passover, and then a while later would cry, Crucify him.  He knew as He was serving them that their hearts were fickle.  They would seek after him as long as he was serving them, but when they saw him in the hands of the authority, unable to provide for them, they turned against him, for He was no longer of any use to them.  Except for a few, they did not love him, they sought for the bread and fishes.  When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”  Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.  (John 6:25-26)  Jesus was valuable to them only as long as He was serving their needs.  Yet knowing this did not keep Jesus from his ministry or sway him from serving the needs of the people.  He may have been in a TIME OF MOURNING, OF WEEPING but He continued to have compassion and to heal the sick.

Jesus, the Messiah, came as a servant, a slave to people.  God gave him as a sacrifice to his creation.  Jesus’ time was not his own.  The places where He was to serve were not his own.  God designed his ways; He prepared his Son to do his will.  God’s will was Jesus’ will.  His Master was God, his Master’s will was his will.  We who are children of the living God are to be as Christ—totally surrendered and committed.  We are to serve God as Christ served God.  Of course, Jesus is our constant intermediator between us and God.  He has provided the only way for us to be completely pleasing to our Maker.  Jesus’ has made us perfect in God’s sight for He gave his life for us.  When we trust in his works, we become as He is before the Father God.  Our trust in the Perfect One makes us holy.   But we still have a responsibility to God to live for him, to display his image to the world.  In Ephesians 6 we see the picture of a slave owned by another person.  This slave is to serve his master with dedication, enthusiasm, and diligence regardless of whether the master is looking or not.  Why is he to serve in such a way?  Because he is owned by another and that is Jesus Christ.  We are owned by Jesus Christ; we are part of his body.  Therefore, we are one with him.  We have not made this oneness by our works, but it is his works.  We have been bought from slavery to the evil one by Christ’s works, not ours.   Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)  We are to honor God in the way we live.  We are to be a slave to his will, and his will is seen in Jesus Christ in the flesh.  We live as Jesus lived.  Jesus wanted to get away from the crowd after He heard of John’s death.  We also might want to get away to meet our own needs and desires.  But we are slaves to the Master’s will; we are to serve him even in a time of weeping and mourning.  God knows we need time, and there is a time for everything.  But we are not to go off for a long period of time, satiating our own needs.  When the crowd followed Jesus, He knew what God wanted him to do that day.  He had compassion on them and healed their sick.  My friends do not let your fleshly needs dictate your service to God.  The Bible says, Be strong in the Lord!  Be strong in his mighty power!  Put on the whole armor of God; put on his likeness in times of trouble.  Jesus wanted to be alone.  He needed to be alone, but God his MASTER said, Get up and serve.  So Jesus did that, for He always did the will of the Father.  He served, even a fickle people.  He wiped his tears away and served.  Let us also serve, in times of rejoicing and in times of sorrow.  There is a time for everything, but everything must be brought under God’s authority.  He will see you through and the joy of the Lord will be your strength.  Amen!  

Matthew 14:1-12 Victory in Adversity!

Matthew 14:1-12  At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead!  That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”  Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.”  Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.  On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.  Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”  The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison.  His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.  John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it.  Then they went and told Jesus.

In the above scriptures, we see as in the book of Daniel, that a king’s commandment, degree, or oath must be carried out once it is known by others, in this case Herod’s dinner guests.  His position of absolute ruler, sometimes considered to be divinely appointed, would be in question if he went back on his word.  In the book of Daniel, we see King Nebuchadnezzar and King Darius make pronouncements that led to persecution of the Jewish people.  In the case of King Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace for not bowing down and worshipping a golden image set up by the king.  Their violation of his commandment caused them to be cast into a caldron of fire.  Of course, the story reveals that they survived this ordeal and were greatly rewarded by the king because of their victory.  We also read in the Bible that Daniel got caught up in King Darius’ decree.  For thirty days, no one in Darius’ kingdom could worship any other God but the king himself.  Daniel’s enemies knew he would not obey this order; they spied out Daniel’s activities and found him worshipping Jehovah rather than Darius.  The penalty for not worshipping Darius was to be thrown into the lions’ den.  Even though Darius regretted making this decree because Daniel was a favorite of his, the pronouncement had to be carried out or people might question his orders and perhaps disobey his leadership, bringing rebellion into his kingdom.  We know Daniel survived this ordeal and was given a better position in Darius’ kingdom.  In both of these situations, we find the persecuted coming out on top because God was with them in adversity.  In those days, the king’s words were considered as important as written law: his commandments, degrees, and oaths had to be carried out exactly as he ordained them.  In today’s focus, we see Herod foolishly promising the daughter of Herodias anything she desired because her dancing pleased him and his guests.  Since he announced this oath in front of others, it was a solid gold statement, as good as a law.  Surely Herod regretted his cavalier promise to Herodias’ daughter because he knew the people considered John a prophet, but his words had to be carried out, for he was the tetrarch of Galilee.  John does not escape Herod’s oath: he is beheaded.  Jesus’ beloved cousin is beheaded, not delivered from the King’s pronouncement as the Jewish men in Babylon were delivered from their kings’ orders.  This reveals clearly that the purpose of God was not to establish a kingdom on Earth, to deliver John and make him more important on this earth.  Instead, his demise pointed to a new kingdom won by faith.  Jesus said this kingdom was within us.  Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”  (Luke 17:20-21 KJV)

We are not sure if the disciples of John buried only the body of a headless John or not.  Regardless, John’s death was not the end of his existence, for Jesus refers to John as an eternal being, yet at that time as being below the least in the kingdom of God.  Jesus, the gate to eternal life with God, had not passed from life to death yet.  The cross, the power of God to make new creatures, had not been implemented—it was a future event.  So John’s position in the kingdom of God had not been established at the time of his death.  He was still considered a righteous man of good works, but not in the robe of righteousness that only Jesus can bring to a born-again heavenly work of God.   Before his death, he was considered by Jesus as below the least in the kingdom of heaven.  For those after the cross are completely new-works, not just men of great righteousness on earth.   I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you.  Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.  (Mathew 11:11)  John was a man of great works, such so that Jesus said there was never a biological man greater than John.  He epitomized a man of God.  His lifestyle and his ministry of repentance glorified the righteous One.  He did not follow the world’s standards.  He rejected the ways of the flesh; he was totally sold out to God.  When seeing the religious leaders of that time who were supposedly right with God, he rails against them.  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  (Matthew 3:7)  He knew the leaders were deceiving the people with their hypocrisy, their pretense of knowing God.  The leaders were so deceptive that they were like vipers who would lie next to the path of those seeking God, striking them down with poisonous pretense and unattainable requirements of good works.  Rather than supporting the people to see God, they hindered the people in finding a rightness with God.  They were vipers, killers, rather than life-givers; promoting self rather than God.  John was a messenger of God, revealing that the Kingdom of God was near, that the first-fruit to that kingdom, Jesus Christ, was in their midst.  He would enter that kingdom after the first-fruit of God was resurrected from death to life.  “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.  He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”  (John 1:26-27)  Yet with all that John represented, Jesus wanted the people to realize the true children of the kingdom would come after his death and resurrection.

The Holy One, God’s answer to the sin of all men and women, came to earth in the form of Jesus the man.  John realized who Jesus was when he baptized him in the Jordan.  God had told him that when he saw the Spirit of God descend on a man and rest on him, that He was the Holy One of God, the Savior of the world.  I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.  And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’  I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”  (John 1:32-34)  Jesus came to humankind as The Christ, the Messiah, the divine Moses to lead people out of slavery to the eternal Promised Land.  A lamb was needed to release the Jewish people from the hands of Pharaoh; a lamb was needed to lead people out of the Evil One’s hands to eternal life in the Kingdom of God.  We who are alive IN CHRIST have found that delivering lamb through our trust in the works of Jesus.  The Spirit did rest on him as He walked this earth.  Matthew’s account of John baptizing Jesus says, John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:16-17)  We read elsewhere in scripture that Jesus always did the will of the Father because the Spirit was upon him and IN him.  His words were dynamite to the people, exploding the ways that they were trying to please God.  He told them that their standard of living, their society, was not pleasing to God, that unrighteousness dwelled within them.  But there was a way to be right with God that did not demand their efforts, but demanded their obedience in trusting the works of Jesus.  Jesus said that He was the way to God, the way to know the truth of existence and find the grace and mercy of God.  He alone would lead them to the eternal Promised Land, known as the Kingdom of God.  John had prepared the way for this message by telling the people to repent, for their hearts needed to be right with God.  They needed to know they were not pleasing God.  Even their leaders who tithed everything, even the spices in their cupboards, were not pleasing to God.  Effort alone would not make them right with God; they needed a Savior who was right with God, worthy to go before them to God’s throne.  After repentance, then what?  The what was to accept the kingdom of God that was near: Jesus Christ in the flesh.  He was near as surely as Moses was near in the household of Pharaoh.  Moses came near to Pharaoh to deliver his Jewish people out of bondage.  Jesus the Christ came down to earth to deliver the people in bondage from the hands of sin and death.  Jesus came to rescue people made in God’s image, to truly be made whole, inside and out in God’s image.  Believers have been made new forever, never again to hold rebellion against God.  John introduced Jesus to us.  John, righteous man of God, could not cross the threshold to eternal life with God until the cross.  Then, and only then, did God open the gates to heaven to his beloved John.  John, the friend of God on earth, became the child of God in heaven.  Let that faith journey also be ours: a friend of God and then a full-fledged child of God forever in the household of God.  The righteous will live by faith.  (Romans 1:17)  Amen!  Bless you today in your journey of faith.  

Matthew 13:53-58 Love One Another!

Matthew 13:53-58  When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.  Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed.  “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked.  “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?  Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?  Aren’t all his sisters with us?  Where then did this man get all these things?”  And they took offense at him.  But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”  And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.  

“A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”  A lack of honor is common from people familiar with a family member or an acquaintance who attempts to live a dedicated Christian life.  People often doubt the sincerity of a person sold out to Christianity, living totally committed to an unseen God.  They shy away from those who say they have the Holy Spirit resident in them and that He talks to them.  People are concerned about those who consider the Bible a divine message from God.  Unbelievers fear such people have broken from the reality of empirical evidence and rational thought, of perceptions based on the senses: touch, hearing, taste, sight, and smell.  Non-Christians do not want to accept that God is involved with the lives of humans, performing miracles for those who pray.  The idea that prayer changes reality is strange to them.  In today’s account, Jesus does not perform many miracles in his hometown because the Nazarenes accepted him as a good citizen of their community but questioned his claims of being sent from God. To them, He was a carpenter, not a tool of God.  Therefore, they wondered about his wisdom and miraculous power.   Jesus’ thinking He was a special messenger from God troubled them.  How could a carpenter change so much?  His previous mission was to build things, now He seemed to think he was building the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus’ family viewed his transformation from carpenter to some sort of divine messenger of God as too much for them to accept.  Of course, He was performing miracles that no man had done since the beginning of time, but his family must have been suspicious of the reality of these miracles.  However, some  of the Galileans were clamoring for his attention.  Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.  When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”  (Mark 3:20-21)  Jesus’ family knew him as a man of fleshly pursuits and biological needs, not as an instrument from God or even more troubling, divinity in the flesh.  As a member of his family, he was a good, responsible, even spiritual man, but just a man.  How could He now change so rapidly into a man performing miraculous deeds and teaching scholarly messages?  His metamorphic transformation was so complete that his family had reached the conclusion He was crazy and an embarrassment to them.  They wanted Jesus to get off center stage, huddle with them at home until his emotional needs were healed.  The community agreed with the family, something was wrong with this common man.  “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?  Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?  Aren’t all his sisters with us?  Where then did this man get all these things?”  And they took offense at him.  They took offense with him for they assumed Jesus was using religion to elevate himself above them.  They did not want to see him as God’s anointed One.  They wanted him in the picture as one of them, not as a special person from the household of God, but Jesus received the anointing of God at the River Jordan when He was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist.  As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:16-17)  

     

When people become Christians, they are new creations, born-again entities.  To be born again means you are no longer citizens of this existing world as it was first created.  Yes, the needs you experience are based on biology, just as Jesus experienced when He walked this world.  Jesus’ transformation from carpenter to a man under God’s authority, came with the infilling of the Holy Spirit.   He was, is, and ever will be God; but He came in human form, under the dictates of the flesh as a sacrifice for mankind—the perfect love gift to the world.  God did what the law could not do.  He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.  And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  (Romans 8:3 NLT)  In essence, Jesus was the first born of many newly born, experiencing a transformation from the physical to the spiritual.  He began his life under the dictates of the flesh, completely under the control of natural law.  Gravity affected him as it affects us.  Authority controlled him just as it controls us.  We obey people of authority just as Jesus obeyed in his environment.  But Jesus was supernatural in all ways after the Spirit descended on him, breaking through the natural order by performing miracles and healings.  He was acting as a new creature to show those present and all who would read about his life that He was different, totally different.  God had his hands on him with the Holy Spirit completely active in his life.  Jesus was the dynamo of God placed on Earth, the transformer of life from old to new.  The power of God’s Spirit radiated from him, bringing change to everything: the climate followed his orders; sicknesses bowed to his words; demons fled from his pronouncements.  Jesus epitomized the NEW CREATURE.  Alive IN CHRIST, we are new creatures with power determined by the will of the Father.  Jesus’ power was always under the auspices of the Father, for He understood the Father’s heart of love for mankind.  Jesus’ desire is to perform miraculous deeds in our lives, but we are not always full of faith or confidence in his power in us.  We are often short-sighted in our view of God’s purposes in our lives.  We want things to change for us or for others because we view those changes as a solution to our needs or problems, but God is working on permanent solutions for our eternal existence.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:27-28 NLT)

As Christians, we are not to view each other merely as religious humans.  No, we are new creatures, living lives full of the Holy Spirit.  Paul said we should not see others from a worldly point of view.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)  The Galileans and Jesus’ family experienced difficulty viewing Jesus as a divine person sent from God.  Often when we interact with each other as Christians, we forget that the Holy Spirit resides in born-again people.  The born-again experience is in a different dominion than the world because we are eternal.  When we communicate with each other, we should understand that love is the binding agreement in our community.  When Jesus told his disciples that He was going away permanently, He said, A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  (John 13:34-35)  He knew He was the binding glue in the disciples’ relationships with each other.  Would they continue to stay together after He was gone?  He tells them they MUST LOVE EACH OTHER.  This was a new commandment given to all who are born-again.  God’s love was revealed completely in Christ’s sacrifice.  He could have used Jesus’ time on earth to win the whole world for himself.  Jesus told Pilate He could send thousands of angels to defend him on that day of sacrifice.  He was telling Pilate if God wanted to He could judge the whole world right then.  He said, since He was there, He could use his powers to take over every kingdom of earth.  But God does not function that way, for force would not change the hearts of men.  Obedience, forced subservience to God, is not what He wanted.  Instead, out of GREAT LOVE, He put his Son on the cross to make new creatures, to change the hearts of men from rebellion to lovers of God.  Believers are new creatures, born again for eternity.  The Galileans could not envision Jesus’ new life.  They were satisfied with their present life in the flesh and the former Jesus.  They resented this new Jesus with miraculous power and authority in teaching the scriptures.  His teaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand seemed hard for them to swallow.  But this Good News of the kingdom was accepted by many such as Paul.  He preached it everywhere.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.  For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”  (Romans 1:16-17)  The Galileans missed out on the power of God, unwilling to accept the dynamo of God, Jesus Christ on Earth.  Therefore, he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.  We who are IN CHRIST possess this power, the indwelling Holy Spirit through the name of Jesus.  Let us see each other in truth as people of God who are willing to display him to all people by loving those around us.  Let Jesus shine in our hearts so his love will dwell in us.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.   God is no respecter of persons, all are treated the same, WITH LOVE!