Come!

Revelation 22:6–21

Key Verse: 22:17

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”

          Have you ever felt like you were not welcomed somewhere? When I was a little boy, one hot summer my neighbors got a big, above-the-ground swimming pool. They were the only family in our whole neighborhood who had one. A friend was invited to their pool, but I was not. They didn’t like their son to associate with me because my mom was sick. I think I was 5 or 6 years old. I was so hurt. In our democratic society we try to have a policy of welcoming all people, regardless of race, religion, social class, etc. We even pride ourselves on welcoming people from all over the world and assimilating them. But there are still many places where certain people are not welcome.

          In Revelation, we’ve learned that certain people’s names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, and certain other people’s names are not. Certain people are blessed, and others are not. Some are allowed into heaven, and others are not. But in today’s passage, the main climax is the invitation in verse 17. In the midst of all the repeated distinctions between good and bad people, there’s a united effort of the Holy Spirit, the church, and God’s servants, inviting all people of the world, “Come!” Come to what? Come to the new heavens and new earth, the Holy City, the new Jerusalem. How can anybody come there? It says all we have to do is acknowledge that we’re thirsty, and then take the free gift of the water of life. God doesn’t want us to be writing people off and judging them, but telling them all, “Come!” May God speak to us through his living words today.

First, trustworthy and true words. All throughout today’s passage it’s repeated how important the words of Revelation are (6,7,9,10,18,19). These words are not meant to be “sealed up” or hidden, but read aloud, heard and taken to heart (1:3). We’re solemnly warned not to add to or take away from these words (18,19). Twice we’re encouraged to “keep” these words. Two more times in Revelation we’re encouraged to keep God’s commands and remain faithful to Jesus (12:17b; 14:12). But what does it mean to “keep” these words? It means to always remember them, obey them, and never sway from them (7,9).

Most of all, these words are called “trustworthy and true.” When John saw the new heavens and new earth, and the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, he heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” The voice was quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah 25:8, and now these prophetic words were being fulfilled. The voice from the throne concluded: “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (21:1–5).

John’s visions recorded in Revelation may seem too far-fetched, or too good to be true. But they are trustworthy and true words. Four times in today’s 15 verses they are called words of “prophecy” (7,10,18,19). “Prophecy” means predictions of things that are really going to happen (1:1). All the glorious promises and all the severe warnings in Revelation are trustworthy and true. As we finish our study of this book, we shouldn’t quickly forget all we learned. We shouldn’t view this book as human words, but as it actually is, the word of God (1Th2:13). Actually, we should tremble at his words (Isa66:2,5). We should believe and treasure his words as trustworthy and true. Read verse 7. This is the living Jesus, the Lamb on the throne, speaking to us personally. May God help us to keep the words of prophecy written in Revelation.

Second, Jesus is coming soon. Read verse 6. It says the things predicted in Revelation “must soon take place.” In verse 7 Jesus himself says, for the first time, “Look, I am coming soon!” He says it a second time in verse 12, “Look, I am coming soon!” He says it a third time in verse 20, “Yes, I am coming soon.” By repeating it three times he really wants us to believe it. But what does it mean? Revelation was written nearly 2,000 years ago, and obviously Jesus hasn’t come yet. So in what sense is it “soon”? Twice in Revelation it says that Jesus will come “like a thief” (3:3; 16:15). No one knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Mt24:36). So we shouldn’t assume, based on the prophecies of Revelation, that now we’ve got it all figured out when Jesus is coming. On the other hand, it may seem like he’s taking too long to come back. So the Apostle Peter told us: “Above all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation…But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2Pe3:3,4,8). Jesus words that he’s coming soon are still trustworthy and true. He told us: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Mt24:44). His coming soon is both a warning and a comfort. We should live every day as if Jesus is watching. Each day we should be dressed ready for service and keep our lamps burning (Lk12:35), with the hope to see him burning brightly in our hearts. Because he’s coming soon, we should live in the midst of all the darkness of this world with patient endurance (3:10; 13:10b; 14:12). Like John, we should be longing for Jesus to come again (20).

Third, worship. Read verses 8,9. Actually, John made this same mistake earlier (19:10). Even though he was one of Jesus’ original disciples and had the reputation as a most spiritual man, John is honestly admitting his error. He’s probably also speaking to a problem among Christians at that time of worshipping angels (Col2:18; Heb1:4–14; 2:5–9,16). John might have started worshipping the angel because the visions the angel showed him were so overwhelming. Our human tendency is to get spellbound by impressive things or people. Our hearts can so easily get stolen until, though we don’t realize it, we’re actually worshipping these things or people. It could be possessions, our children, a job, a great position—even ourselves. No one or nothing in this world deserves our worship except God alone. Revelation emphasizes that even the greatest in heaven fall down and worship God and the Lamb (4:10; 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4). All people on earth are urged to worship the Creator God alone (14:7). People are easily deceived to worship demons, idols, the dragon or the beast (9:20; 13:4,8,12; 14:9,11; 16:2).

To really worship, we need to know the one we’re worshipping. Who should we worship? Read verse 13. This expression is also repeated in Revelation (1:8,17; 21:6). It’s actually taken from Isaiah’s prophecy describing God (41:4; 44:6; 48:12). It’s a powerful proclamation in Revelation that Jesus is actually God himself. No one else is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Begging and the End, except Jesus. All the other things and people of this world don’t even come close to how great he is. They’re all limited, and they all wear out. Because Jesus is the the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb13:8), he alone is worthy of our worship. And there’s more about the one we should worship. Read verse 16. What does it mean that Jesus is the Root and the Offspring of David? Earlier in Revelation, John was weeping when no one was worthy to open the seals. Then he heard a most encouraging voice: “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed” (5:5). David was famous for triumphing over all God’s enemies. It was just a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do. Jesus is the one who triumphs and defeats all God’s enemies forever. We can admire David as God’s servant, but we can worship Jesus without any reservation. It also says Jesus is the bright Morning Star. As the morning star gives hope that a new day is dawning, so Jesus is our bright Morning Star, who gives us hope of the new heaven and new earth. With Jesus our bright Morning Star, we can have God’s light in our hearts in this dark world. Satan masquerades as an angel of light, but he leaves us dark. Jesus alone is the bright Morning Star.

Fourth, blessed are those who wash their robes. Read verse 12. Jesus promises he’s coming again as the Judge. It’s another fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa 40:11; 62:11). Revelation repeatedly tells us Jesus judges each of us according to our deeds (2:2,19,23; 3:1,2,8,15; 14:13). We shouldn’t be too sensitive to others’ judging us; we need to be most sensitive to live before Jesus, who knows all our deeds. But even if we try our best to be holy, we don’t even come close to his standard. Malachi 3:2a says, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?” Jesus coming as our Judge should make us aware that we’re nothing but unworthy, helpless sinners. So what should we do? Read verse 14. Washing our robes is the only way to be righteous. But what does it mean? Earlier in Revelation, the “white” clothes means having righteous acts, and these white clothes are actually “given” to us (19:8). As the prophecy of Isaiah says, all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isa64:6). We need to wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14). The verb “wash” is present-tense. It means each day we need to be coming to Jesus, confessing our sins, and accepting his blood to cleanse us and purify us from all unrighteousness (1Jn1:7,9). We should never get too proud to be doing this.

          Those who wash their robes are called “blessed.” What’s their blessing? Read verse 14 again. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost the right to eat from the tree of life. But when we depend only on the blood of Jesus, we’ll have the right to eat from that tree and live forever in the paradise of God. To “go through the gates into the city” is a powerful image. It’s the image of victory. Revelation challenges us nine times that as followers of Jesus we need to be victorious (2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12, 21; 15:2; 21:7). How can we be? How can sinners like us ever be worthy of going through the gates into the Holy City? Only when we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb. Only the blood of Jesus gives us victory over the power of sin in and around us. Because of his blood shed for us, we’re spotless, blameless and at peace with him (2Pe3:14). Through faith in his blood, we’re justified freely by his grace (Ro3:24,25a). Through faith in his blood, we have the victory that overcomes the whole world (1Jn5:4). Going through the gates into the Holy City will be the greatest victory, the greatest honor and glory, the greatest vindication.

Fifth, “Come!” Read verse 17. Here, there are three who say “Come!”: the Holy Spirit; the “bride,” which means the church; and, “the one who hears,” meaning anyone who accepts the word of God. This one word, “Come!” summarizes the heart of God. It’s another quotation from the prophecy of Isaiah: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isa55:1). God really wants to invite human beings who are thirsty to come to his heavenly kingdom where there’s eternal satisfaction for our souls. In Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet, the servants say: “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet” (Mt22:4). God wants this wedding to be filled with guests (Mt22:10). God is longing for people from every nation, tribe, people and language to share in his amazing grace (Rev7:9). Revelation shouldn’t leave us being obsessed with our own salvation and righteousness; we need to find our mission to call all people to “Come!” Our church should be a place that welcomes all kinds of people, good and bad, to come to Jesus. We should never be legalistic with people; we should know God’s heart and welcome them all, saying, “Come!”

          The last part of verse 17 says we can take “the free gift of the water of life.” As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, this river of the water of life is flowing from the throne of God and from the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the Holy City (22:1,2). Earlier God said, “To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life” (21:6). During his earthly ministry our Lord Jesus himself said the same thing: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” He was talking about the Holy Spirit (Jn7:37–39). The water of life, the Holy Spirit within us, pours out God’s love into our hearts (Ro5:5). This water of life, the love of God, is the only thing that satisfies our souls. God wants us to have this water, and to invite people to come to Jesus so that they can have this water quench their thirsty souls.

          Read verse 17 again. Today we thought mainly about God’s heart to invite thirsty people to his kingdom. May God help us come to Jesus and wash ourselves in his blood. May he help us to be his servants and reach out to all those who are thirsty to come to Jesus and drink freely the water of life.

THE WEDDING SUPPER OF THE LAMB

Revelation 17:1–19:10

Key Verse: 19:9

“Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ And he added, ‘These are the true words of God."

          Same people pretend to be independent and self-sufficient. But we human beings all are influenced. We can be influenced by people, by our situation, and by the world. As Christians, sometimes we’re influenced for good; but most of the time, the influences around us are bad. In today’s passage an angel shows John a vision of a woman who’s a bad influence on the whole world. She’s a metaphor for the bad influence the world has had on Christians from the beginning until today. Then John sees a vision of a different woman: the bride of the Lamb. This vision helps us have hope. This hope enables us to overcome bad influences and be a blessing in this dark world. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

          Look at 17:1,2. This angel is one of the seven who had the seven bowls. He says he’s going to show John “the punishment of the great prostitute.” He’s referring back to the announcement in 14:8: “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” He’s also referring to the prediction in 16:9: “The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.” We learn more about this prostitute in verse 5: “The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” We learn that the kings of the earth committed adultery with her (17:2; cf. 18:3,9) and that she corrupted the earth by her adulteries (19:2).

          Why is she called “Babylon”? Babylon was an ancient city in modern-day Iraq, about 50 miles south of Bagdad, along the Euphrates River. It became the capital of the Babylonian Empire. Its first major dynasty was long, from 1900–1600 BC begun by Hammurabi, and its second major dynasty was short, from 605–549 BC under Nebuchadnezzer II. During that second dynasty, Babylon ruled the world with impressive power, and the Jews from Judea were invaded and taken there as slaves. Daniel the prophet lived in Babylon. Babylon was powerful, rich and idolatrous. It came to symbolize a time when God’s people were oppressed and forced to adopt the ways of the world. When John saw these visions in around AD 95, the Roman Empire ruled the world. And it was very much like the Babylonian Empire. The Roman Empire was powerful, rich and idolatrous, and God’s people were scattered in many places and seemed small, weak and easily influenced. The term “Babylon” came to refer to any powerfully corrupting influence.

          Another important reason for calling this woman by this name is what happened to the Babylonian Empire in the end. According to the Book of Daniel, it fell in one night. King Belshazzar was having a big party drinking wine with a thousand of his nobles, his wives and concubines. They were using goblets of gold and silver taken from the Jerusalem temple. They thought their empire would last forever. And when they got drunk, they were praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Then there was a mysterious handwriting on the wall, predicting the end of Babylon’s glorious reign. That night Belshazzar was killed, and Darius king of Persia took over (Da5). This famous Bible story reminded God’s people that kings of the world tend to be very corrupt, adulterous and idolatrous, and that God can overthrow them so quickly. The prophet Isaiah also predicted it. The earlier prediction in Revelation 14:8 is based on Isaiah’s prophecy in 21:9: “Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground.” The fall of Babylon was great news for God’s people who’d been oppressed by them. Afterwards God began to work to bring them back to the promised land. In the same way, in Revelation we see that the prostitute Babylon the Great will fall, right before God restores his people and brings them to heaven.

So the prostitute Babylon the Great represents all world powers that seduce people away from God and cause them to be idolatrous and corrupt. Look at verse 3. Here, a woman is sitting on a scarlet beast covered with blasphemous names, seven heads and ten horns. It’s the same beast mentioned back in 12:3. It tells us that this woman was empowered by Satan. Look at verse 4. It’s her luxurious wealth and beauty that make her so alluring. The gold cup in her hand contains a wine that drives people crazy (14:8; cf. Jer51:7). It symbolizes how the world still entices people with its materialism and pleasures. Look again at verse 5. This tells us that the beautiful woman is actually a hideous prostitute and the source of all the abominations of the world. It means, stay away from her. Look at verse 6. This also shows us how evil she is. She’s responsible for the shed blood of God’s holy people, those who bore testimony to Jesus at the cost of their lives. It symbolizes how hostile the materialistic, pleasure-seeking world is to godly Christians. When we want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, we’ll be persecuted (2Ti3:12) because people who live for money and pleasure think we’re strange that we don’t join them (1Pe4:3–5).

In verses 7,8 the angel shows John who the beast the woman sits on is. He’s the one mentioned earlier, who would deceive the world into worshiping him by pretending to die and rise again like Jesus (13:12–14). In verse 9 the angel says the seven heads on the beast represent seven hills. In the Bible, hills can represent kingdoms. The number seven symbolizes completeness. So these seven hills represent all the worldly kingdoms and nations opposed to Christ. In verse 10 they also represent seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. So many people have tried to interpret this in so many ways. Some said it’s a secret code for Roman emperors, but that seems unlikely. The main point is that they’re all opposed to God, and that the seventh king coming will remain only a little while. He’ll be replaced by an eighth king who is actually the beast, the antichrist. And the point is, he’s going to his destruction (11). In verses 12,13 the angel says the ten horns on the beast represent ten kings who’ve not yet received a kingdom; they’ll give their authority to the beast. Here ten is not literal but symbolic of all the earth. It seems so scary: All world leaders giving their authority to the beast, to wage war against Jesus and his people. But read verse 14. When he comes again, Jesus the Lamb, who is Lord of lords and King of kings, will fight against this great array of worldly powers and defeat them, and with him will be all his called, chosen and faithful followers. It tells us that we have hope, and that there’s nothing to fear.

The angel goes on to interpret the vision. Look at verse 15. The prostitute sitting over all these people means she has a strong influence over all the world. Look at verse 16. Shockingly, the beast and the ten horns will hate the prostitute, bring her to ruin, leave her naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. It’s horrible, but it shows how the devil works. He uses people for his own purposes, and then spits them out like garbage. It’s still happening today. It also tells us that this intimidating, seductive world power against Christ and his people will eventually destroy itself. Read verse 17. This tells us that God is in control even of the most wicked world powers, to accomplish his own purposes. When we see wicked people and rulers and nations holding sway, we need to remember that God is in control. Look at verse 18. Here the angel tells John that the woman represents “the great city” that rules over the kings of the earth (cf. 16:19). We’ll see this great city mentioned four more times in the next chapter (18:10,18,19, 21). Apostle Peter referred to the city of Rome as “Babylon” (1Pe5:13). But this isn’t just predicting the fall of the city of Rome, but the fall of all the powerful worldly cities in history that oppose God.

Read 18:1–3. In contrast to the city that gave light to the world, the angel came from heaven with great authority and illuminated the world with his splendor—far superior to the splendor of any earthly city. He again predicts the fall of Babylon. It’s another fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa13:21–22). In one sense it refers to the fall of the Roman Empire. But it also predicts the fall of the entire world order that’s opposed to God and to Christ. Verse 3 especially emphasizes the spiritual dangers of its pleasures and materialism.

Read verse 4. This is actually a quote from the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isa48:20; 52:11; Jer50:8; 51:6,9,45). Apostle Paul also quotes it to believers living in the rich and corrupted city of Corinth: “Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you’” (2Co6:17). “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins…” (18:4) As God’s people, we have to live in this godless, sinful world. But our Lord Jesus didn’t pray for us to leave the world, but for us to be not “of the world”—meaning to be sanctified (Jn17:14­–18). He taught us to be salt and light in the world (Mt5:13–16)—meaning to be a good influence amidst the world’s sin and all its darkness. To be salt and light, we’ve got to be clear about not compromising with the world’s sinful pleasures and all its materialism. The battle is not really from without, but from within. 1 Peter 2:11 says, “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your souls.”

Read verses 5–7a. It again tells us that God will punish the world for all its injustice. Read verse 7b. This is another prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled (Isa47:7,8). Basically, it tells us of the arrogance of this woman. It’s the spirit of this world, which tells people they can be self-sufficient with their wealth and evil deeds, and that nothing will ever happen to them. This was exactly the same reason the Risen Christ rebuked the church at Laodicea: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing’” (Rev3:17). Read verse 8. God has no problem destroying any such proud person or nation. What should we learn from this? 1 Peter 5:5b,6 reads: “‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

In the next section of chapter 18 we see how kings, merchants and mariners all mourned because of the fall of Babylon. The kings seem most responsible—it says they committed adultery with her and shared her luxury. The merchants gained their wealth from her. The mariners also became rich through her wealth. They all will “weep and mourn” over her (9,11,15,19; cf. Ez27:31). They will stand far off, terrified at her torment (10,15,17). Verses 11–13 especially list what business the merchants will lose. It starts with the most valuable thing to them—gold—and gradually decreases to what is least valuable to them—human slaves. This shows the inverted value system of the godless world, where money is more important than helpless people. This is what greed for luxury turns us into—people who value material things more than human beings. Read verse 14. This tells us that God does want us to long not for worldly luxury and splendor, but for his kingdom.

Read verse 20. In contrast to those who enjoyed the luxuries and pleasures of the prostitute, then wept and mourned, God wants his people to rejoice at the fall of such a godless, corrupt world. We can rejoice only if we’ve repented from our hearts of enjoying material luxuries and pleasures at the expense of suffering people.

Look at verse 21. This vision of a large millstone thrown into the sea reminds us of Jesus’ words about causing others to sin (Mt18:6), which is exactly what this woman did. In verses 22,23 all the joys of life that this great city had experienced will be over forever. Why? Verse 23b says it’s because “By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.” And there’s another reason. Read verse 24. Again, Revelation is telling us that God will bring justice for all his precious people who suffered and shed his blood for Jesus’ sake.

Then in chapter 19 the scene dramatically changes. Read 19:1–3. This is a great multitude in heaven. They praise God for bringing his justice on the great prostitute who corrupted the world. In verse 4 the 24 elders and four living creatures join in the worship and praise God. Read verse 5. Not just the heavenly multitude and creatures, God wants us all—great and small—to be praising him for his victory over this corrupt world.

Then there’s a totally different praise and worship session, and a totally different lady—instead of a prostitute, she’s a bride. Read verses 6–8. Here, “the bride” is the church (2Co11:2; Eph5:25–27). This beautiful bride is getting married to the Lamb, Jesus. We’re going to see more about her in chapters 21 and 22. But this metaphor of God’s people being like a bride and God like our Husband is throughout the Bible (Isa54:4–6; 62:5; Hos2:19,20; Mt9:5; 25:1ff.). It’s stunning that heaven is described as the most amazing wedding supper. This, too, fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy: “On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken” (Isa25:6–8).

Read verse 8. Even though we’re so weak and poor, God will give us beautiful wedding clothes for this glorious event. We can wash our robes and make them a beautiful white in the blood of the Lamb (7:13,14). We can be ready for this event, ready to meet our Bridegroom Jesus, when we repent and clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (Ro13:13,14). The wedding clothes are the clothes of his grace, which we need to humbly accept (Mt22:11,12). When we accept the blood of Jesus by faith and clothe ourselves with him and his grace, that’s when we can start doing the righteous acts of his holy people. What a contrast to the filth of the prostitute!

Read verse 9. This is the most blessed wedding invitation we’ll ever get. The imagery tells us we should get excited about being invited to heaven. So many people don’t realize what an amazing privilege it is and ignore the invitation (Mt22:1–14). But we receive this invitation only by God’s amazing grace. Though we’re sinful, Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, waiting for us to let him in, so that we can eat together, sharing fellowship now, and forever in heaven (Rev3:20). Real blessing is not having power and worldly luxuries, but accepting the invitation to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

So what’s the point of these visions of the prostitute and the bride? We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be influenced by the materialism and pleasures of the world. How can we? We need the hope to be at the wedding supper of the Lamb. With this hope in our hearts, we can resist the temptations of this world. May God renew in us the living hope to meet Jesus our Bridegroom and share in his glorious wedding feast in heaven. May God give us keen spiritual discernment to see through the glories of this world and be like salt and light by being close to Jesus.

FIELDWORK TRAINING

Matthew 10:1–42

Key Verse: 10:1

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.”

          The famous rapper Willie D once said, “It’s easy to see why some people can’t seem to get where they want to go in life—they can’t follow instructions.” Many think it’s better to have their own ideas or be creative and to ditch the instructions. But later, they find they haven’t really learned or accomplished much. When we’re in some kind of training, following instructions is essential. In spiritual training, it’s even more crucial.

          One of the major themes of Matthew’s Gospel is discipleship. In this book Jesus uniquely gives five major discourses on discipleship. Chapter 10 is the second one. Until now the disciples have been following, watching and listening. Now they’re sent out for fieldwork training, their first exercise in what ministry would be like. In these instructions Jesus teaches his disciples to do exactly what he was doing. It seems hard—even impossible. But if they really listen to his instructions and follow carefully what he said, God will work through them. At first it may seem Jesus wants to use them to build a bigger ministry, to bring in more people. But his real goal is not a larger ministry, but the disciples themselves. Their spiritual growth is most important. His instructions in this chapter can still change us to really be like Jesus, if we’re willing to accept them. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

In chapters 8–9 Jesus was mainly healing people. He was overwhelmed by their needs. He saw them with compassion, as sheep without a shepherd. In his compassion, people were like a plentiful harvest; the problem was, there were too few workers. The same is true today. In this context, Jesus calls his twelve disciples to him and sends them out. He’s training them to be gospel workers.

How does he prepare them? Read verse 1. First, they’re called “to him.” It means he wants them to come and learn from what he’s about to say. Those not willing to learn from Jesus can’t be sent out by him. Second, he gives them “authority.” The Greek word is “exousian.” It means “permission, ability, strength or influence.” Jesus himself has God’s authority—God’s permission and God’s power—to minister to people, because he was sent by God. Now he gives his authority to his disciples. How could they have it? Only when they obeyed him. Third, he sends them out to heal. Read verse 1 again. To Jesus, people's real problems aren't human but spiritual; they're caused by “impure spirits.” They come from the devil. The human eye can’t see impure spirits, but this world is filled with them. They lead us to lust, or greed, or various kinds of rebellious, self-destructive behavior. Mere talk can’t help people under the influence of impure spirits. We need Jesus’ authority so that these spirits can really be driven out.

Read verse 1 once more. Jesus wants his disciples to focus on healing every disease and sickness. He wants them to be not wounders, but healers. Honestly most people are wounded--by their parents, teachers or coaches, by their classmates or peers or siblings; some are even wounded by their children. Usually wounded people wound others. Some people are like wounding machines; others are healers. As we’ve seen, in his ministry Jesus was a healer. 4:23 says, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.” [emphasis added] Again, 9:35 says, “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.” [emphasis added] Matthew especially portrays Jesus as our spiritual healer. As a tax collector Matthew had become spiritually very sick. But Jesus invited him to be with him. The Pharisees couldn’t understand how Jesus could associate with such people. Jesus responded: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (9:12). Among the Gospel writers Matthew uniquely describes Jesus: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (8:17; cf. Isa53:4). Jesus could heal not just with his power but because he was with the sick, taking up our infirmities and bearing our diseases. Now Jesus calls and sends his disciples to engage in healing ministry.

How can we be spiritual healers? We need to experience Jesus’ grace of healing. Apostle Paul was changed from a wounding machine into a healer when he experienced the grace of Jesus. In his famous book The Wounded Healer Henri Nouwen lamented that most Christian leaders are unprepared to help hurting people. Why? Because they only teach; they’re not willing to expose their own sins or share how the grace of Jesus has helped them. Frankly, many so-called Christians haven’t ever really opened themselves up to Jesus for his healing. So even though they work hard and seem good, they still have deep, unresolved life issues. Jesus doesn’t call us to go and force people to do certain things. He calls us to bring spiritual healing, by sharing his grace personally. In our own power we can’t heal anybody. But when we depend on Jesus’ authority and experience his healing grace, God can use us as a healer.

In verses 2–4 we find the names of the twelve. In some ways they were all similar. Unlike the Pharisees and teachers of the law, none of the twelve were like old wineskins, with fixed ideas, thinking they already knew the Bible. They all were like new wineskins, humble and ready to learn. On the other hand, they were all so different. Each had a unique personality. Simon Peter was passionate and outspoken; Andrew was simple and willing; James and John were quietly ambitious; Philip was a human calculator; Bartholomew was kind of just there; Thomas was a doubter; Matthew had been a public sinner; Simon the Zealot, a political radical; Judas Iscariot, a betrayer. Jesus chose all different kinds of people so that they might reach all kinds of people.

Verse 2 calls them “apostles.” Literally it means “sent ones,” meaning representatives, delegates, or ambassadors. As apostles they were sent by Jesus to represent Jesus. To really be his apostles, they had to represent Jesus well by doing and saying what Jesus would do or say. This again stresses how important it was to really be listening to Jesus and carefully following his instructions. The twelve apostles were special. They lived with Jesus and were personally trained by him. The church is built on them. But in a sense, all Christians are called to be Christ’s ambassadors (2Co5:20a). This is why we all need to be careful to be truly representing Jesus.

Look at verses 5–6. In this fieldwork training they were to go not to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the lost sheep of Israel. It was Jesus’ own mission while on earth (15:24). Later he would tell his apostles, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations” (28:19a). But at this time he tells them to share in his specific mission. God had a specific mission for Peter, and a specific mission for Paul (Gal2:8,9). God always has a specific mission for each believer. We need to pray and listen to God until we can discover it, then start doing it.

Read verse 7. Regardless of our specific mission, this always has to be our message. “The kingdom” was the message of John the Baptist (3:2), the message of Jesus (4:17), and the message of the apostles (10:7; cf. Ac8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23,31). In every generation and every local place, we need to be telling people, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” It’s not a prediction of the end times; rather, it means the kingdom of heaven is near to everybody right now, through Jesus. How? He’ll give anybody the forgiveness of sins if only we repent and believe in him (Ac2:38; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18). “The kingdom of heaven has come near” means people can be reconciled to God through Jesus (2Co5:20b). When we’re forgiven and reconciled to God, we have a living hope in heaven (1Pe1:3,4). The hope of heaven fills our souls. People may seem to need many things—a better job or education, a good marriage, or wisdom. But what everybody really needs is the message of Jesus: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” We should be sharing it. “Near” implies immediacy and urgency. When we hear his message, it’s time to repent, to turn away from our sin and our worldly pursuits, and really turn to God. If we don’t repent, we may miss it.

Look at verse 8. Jesus is calling his apostles to do the very work he did. Healing leprosy? Raising the dead? It was only by the miraculous power of God. Elsewhere he told his disciples, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (Jn14:12–14). We can do such miraculous works of healing when we truly believe in Jesus and pray. We especially need to pray that Jesus may be glorified, not us. Jesus also said that since we have freely received, we should also freely give (8b). It meant not to charge any money. As we receive the grace of spiritual healing freely from Jesus, so we should also share his grace freely. We shouldn’t calculate about the results, or try to hold onto people as if ministry were a business. Just freely receive his grace, and freely give.

Look at verses 9,10. Basically, Jesus is training them not to depend on money in ministry, but to depend only on God. Some people try to use money or material benefit to get people to come to church. It never works. Some workers worry about their own finances too much, and this worry chokes out the word of God from their hearts (13:22). Then they become ineffective and unproductive (2Pe1:8), pierced by financial distractions (1Ti6:10). Jesus wants to train us to truly depend on God for our finances. He taught in 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” He also said, “You cannot serve both God and Money” (6:24b).

Read verses 11–15. Here Jesus mentions a “worthy person” and a “deserving” home. Who is a worthy person? Simply, they're people who welcome a servant of Jesus (40a). They’re not trying to use Jesus’ servant; they’re trying to listen and learn because they’re truly open. Jesus says, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words…” (14a) Jesus is training his apostles here to be clear. We should be spending our time with people who’re interested in the words of Jesus. If not, we should leave.

Look at verses 16–25. In Jesus’ instructions this is the longest section. He predicts that many will not welcome or listen to his apostles. He also says many are like wolves, ready to use, even harm them. He predicts that his apostles will be arrested, tried, flogged, betrayed, sometimes put to death, and hated. The hatred and persecution will not really be for them, but for Jesus himself. Why is there so much resistance to Jesus and his gospel? It’s because he calls all people to repent, and people don’t want to repent. Instead, we get mad. If we don’t repent, we persecute. Persecution is so strong because, frankly, many are under devil's influence. We shouldn't be surprised when we’re not welcomed, but hated and persecuted because of our faith. We should prepare our hearts that when we make Jesus our Teacher and Master and follow him, we'll be persecuted as he was. In fact, God uses persecution to make us more like him.

Look at verses 26–33. Jesus repeatedly told his apostles in these verses, “Do not be afraid.” When facing hatred, persecution, or maybe even death, how easy it is to be afraid! But Jesus coaches us how to overcome this fear. It’s when we fear God. We need to remember that our souls are most important, and that only God determines our soul’s eternal destiny. Most of all, when we turn our thoughts to God and who he really is, fear of people evaporates. We can speak his word boldly, without fear. We also need to know how precious we are to God.

Look at verses 34–39. He goes even deeper here. How easy it is to love people close to us more than Jesus! How easy to love our lives in this world! But Jesus wants us to love him most, more than family and friends, more than the good life, even more than life itself. He wants us to love him, take our own cross and follow his footsteps. We can follow him and do his work when we have such love for him in our hearts. Again, gospel ministry isn’t a business; it’s a matter of love. In the last part Jesus promised God’s reward to those who welcome his servants (40–42). We, too, should welcome and help Jesus’ servants.

Today we learned that Jesus trained his disciples as gospel workers. For the training to work, they had to take his words seriously and actually follow his instructions. Jesus’ main focus was not on gathering crowds, but on his disciples’ growth as spiritual workers. May God humble our hearts to really follow the principles Jesus taught. Through his training may he grow us to be like Jesus, so that through us, people can be deeply healed by his grace and become members of his kingdom.

GOD’S CHOSEN SERVANT

Matthew 12:1–50

Key Verse: 12:20

“A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.”

          Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Power is a scary thing. People tend to use it to dominate and control others. Often, those who represent large institutions use their power over individuals who are vulnerable and have no connections. But, as Foucault said, “Power is everywhere,” and it “comes from everywhere.” In everyday life people use whatever power they have to force others to conform to what they want. And people can abuse power in all kinds of ways. The old use their power over the young, the young over the old, men over women, women over men, the rich over the poor and the poor over the rich. Whenever people abuse power over others, it hurts and wounds. But Jesus is so different. He has the most power, but he uses it not to crush, but to heal.

          In chapters 8–12 Matthew has been describing Jesus’ healing ministry. It illustrates that Jesus is the God of mercy. In his great mercy he invites all those who are weary and burdened to come to him and find rest for their souls (11:28, 29). But the religious legalists are critical, because Jesus isn’t doing things their way. Moreover, they see him as a threat to their positions, their power, their authority. Today Matthew quotes a prophecy to show that Jesus is God’s chosen servant, doing what the Messiah was supposed to do. In this world, when people are wounded, usually they’re ignored or run over by the strong. But to Jesus, wounded people are precious. He’s so patient with them. He works until they’re vindicated by God. As we reflect on today’s passage, let’s try to find in what ways we too may have been wounded. Let’s pray to experience Jesus’ gentle and tender healing. And let’s pray to grow in Jesus’ image, so that we won’t be hurting others, but healing.

          Look at verse 1. Here Matthew emphasizes how hungry the disciples were—so hungry they couldn’t help themselves. It might look like they were stealing. Actually, God had taught his people not to harvest everything but to leave some, so that the poor among them could come and have it (Dt23:25). The problem here was that the disciples were taking leftovers on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were strict about the Sabbath. God had said to do no work on that day, and the Pharisees created an entire system of rules about it. In their system there were 39 categories of work on the Sabbath, and each category had many sub-categories. So they had thousands of Sabbath rules. People could walk only a certain number of steps on the Sabbath, or write only a certain number of letters on the Sabbath. The Pharisees thought they were being zealous for God’s law, but in real life, their system was crushing people. Look at verse 2. They were so excited to catch Jesus’ disciples doing something wrong. What the disciples were doing made Jesus look bad, like he wasn’t training them properly, like he didn’t care about God or about his law or about being holy or about the Sabbath.

          How did he respond? Look at verses 3,4. Jesus said, “Haven’t you read…?” In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says this often. These people thought they knew the Bible so well, but Jesus knew it better. The Bible story of David and his men eating the consecrated bread shows that God is not legalistic; God cares more for people than for rules. Look at verses 5,6. In the Bible even priests had to work on the Sabbath in serving the ministry at the temple. To the Pharisees, the temple was the holiest place. Jesus says now, something even greater than the temple is here—meaning Jesus himself, our true temple (Jn2:21). Read verse 7. Earlier, when they were criticizing him for eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus said, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’” (9:13). He was quoting Hosea’s prophecy. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice—God himself said this. But these Pharisees, though they knew many rules and laws and were so zealous and strict, didn’t know the heart of God. God has a heart of mercy for weak and sinful human beings. He’s our loving heavenly Father who wants to give us good things. The religion God wants us to be learning is the religion of mercy. Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” We all have our own kinds of legalisms—what we think people should and shouldn’t be doing. When we don’t love God’s mercy, we tend to become hyper-critical and condemn innocent people with our nit-picky legalisms. On the other hand, Jesus defended his disciples at their moment of weakness in the strongest possible way.

Read verse 8. Jesus is making a powerful statement. He’s the Son of Man, the one who came to serve all human beings. He’s most humble, yet he’s Lord of the Sabbath. He owns the Sabbath. He created the Sabbath. He rules the Sabbath. He should be worshiped on the Sabbath, not criticized. As Lord, Sabbath rules can’t be used to control him or put him down.

          There was another incident on a Sabbath day. Look at verses 9,10. It shows how warped their minds were. They were always looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. When they saw a man with a shriveled hand, all they could think of was that it was an opportunity to get Jesus to do something wrong. Their hearts were shriveled and hardened by self-righteous legalism to the point that they had lost their basic humanity. How did Jesus respond? Read verses 11,12. These people took care of their sheep—meaning their property and their profit—so preciously that they’d bend all the Sabbath rules to justify it. But they could care less about weak people; they’d leave them in a pit on a Sabbath. Jesus taught: “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” We shouldn’t just legalistically go to church; on Sundays we should find ways to do good for the needy. This is what pleases God. Jesus could have asked the man with the shriveled hand to come back some other day to be healed. But he refused to be intimidated by legalistic people. Look at verses 13,14. Jesus practiced God’s mercy and healed the man, not when it was comfortable, but at the risk of his own life.

          Jesus was aware they were plotting to kill him, so he withdrew from that place (15a). Then what happened? It says, “A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill” (15b). Jesus didn’t have to chase after people; people came to him, because they sensed he was a true shepherd. Instead of getting entangled in conflicts with religious people, Jesus quietly showed God’s mercy toward overlooked and hurting people. And he insisted that people not talk about it (16). What he was doing wasn’t for a show, to impress people; it was real ministry. Read verses 17–21. The prophet Isaiah was describing God’s Messiah who would someday come. We learn some important things here about Jesus. First, though he was so strongly hated, he is God’s chosen servant. The verses emphasize that God loves him and delights in him. We pay close attention to what people are thinking of us. Like Jesus, we should be paying more attention to what God thinks of us. We should be taking comfort in God’s personal love.

          Second, God put his Spirit on Jesus (18). Jesus was empowered for ministry through the Spirit of God. He wasn’t working in his own strength or effort, but in reliance on God’s Spirit. When he was full of God’s Spirit, he was so humble and gentle in heart. He also was courageous and bold to speak about God’s truth and God’s justice, even in hostile situations. All over the world people get away with hurting others and leaving them damaged. The rich grind the faces of the poor. Wealthy countries suck all the natural resources out of poor countries and leave them ruined. The powerful oppress the weak. People do nothing about it. But Jesus is concerned about bringing justice to those who’ve been victimized and abused. Third, Jesus is quiet and peaceful. Read verse 19. Some pastors yell a lot when they preach. Some people involved in ministry are very noisy. Self-righteous people love to teach and argue and prove they're right. They easily snap and lose their temper. But Jesus is just the opposite. He’s so quiet. The Bible says that as his servants, we should not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, not resentful, and gentle in explaining (2Ti2:24,25).

          Fourth, Jesus is the most patient healer. Read verse 20. A reed was used for writing, like our pencil. A bruised reed lost its natural strength and would be easily broken, so it was kind of useless. But here, it’s being valued and preserved. A smoldering wick in a lamp is like a flickering light bulb about to go out. It isn’t working properly, so it needs to be replaced. Both the reed and the wick are beyond repair and should be thrown away. But God’s chosen servant refuses to throw them away; instead, he nurtures them back to usefulness. The bruised reed and smoldering wick represented the tax collectors and sinners in Jesus’ day. Matthew experienced this first-hand. Such people are wounded by their own sins, as well as by society’s treatment of them. Rich and powerful people call them “losers.” Yes, sin still makes us losers—so useless and so sick it’s almost impossible to be recovered. But Jesus never gives up on us. He’s so careful, so tender, so patient, so hopeful, even when there seems to be no hope. It seems like a foolish investment of resources. But to Jesus, ministry is not a business. Compared to Jesus, how quickly we dismiss certain people as if they were nothing but junk! How often we trample on others’ feelings! How easily we hurt others in even small ways! On the other hand, how hard it is to heal! How hard it is to value people who’ve been deeply wounded! How hard to be patient with them to the end! In the name of Christianity’s mission, so many people have been crushed and wounded. May God forgive us our sins that we’ve not been like Jesus. May he draw us close to Jesus and truly change us.

          Fifth, Jesus is our source of hope. Read verse 21. The Jews thought the Messiah was only for them. But God’s intention was to send the Messiah for all nations. In Jesus, God’s chosen servant, who does not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick, all people on earth can find hope. People who’ve committed sin are wounded, but people who’re very legalistic are also wounded. Apostle Paul wanted to help the diverse Roman church, in which its Jewish and Gentile members were having various conflicts. Because of Jesus, he told them, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Ro15:13). He was encouraging them to have hope for one another in Christ. May God give us his hope for those among us who are wounded.

          Next, Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. He was really like a bruised reed or smoldering wick. He seemed like such a lost cause. People were astonished when Jesus healed him, but the Pharisees accused Jesus of healing by the power of Satan (22–24). Jesus answered that Satan would never work against himself--he's too smart for that. Instead, Jesus was driving out demons by the Spirit of God, and it was evidence that God’s kingdom had come through Jesus (25–28). Jesus described his ministry as tying up a strong man, which involves intense wrestling. He was determined to rescue people from being kidnapped by Satan (29). He gave a dire warning about speaking against the work of the Holy Spirit (30–32). He also said people say evil things because their hearts are evil. So we really need our hearts to be changed, and that’s exactly what Jesus can still do for us. Only when our hearts are changed will we bear good fruit (33–35). Finally, Jesus gave another dire warning, this time about “empty words” (36,37). Here, "empty" in Greek is literally “lazy" or reckless. We can be reckless, saying whatever feels good to us, but our reckless words can wound. Jesus wants us to speak words that bring healing. We can do that only when the Holy Spirit changes our hearts (34).

          Some Pharisees and teachers of the law started liking Jesus; they said they just needed to see a sign from him to really commit. Jesus called them “wicked and adulterous” (38,39a). The only sign he would give was the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth—referring to his death and resurrection (39b–40). He's saying his death and resurrection are the only miracle we need in order to commit to him. In verses 41,42 he again used Bible stories to illustrate his point. The men of Nineveh were notoriously wicked, but even they repented at the preaching of Jonah. The Queen of the South, the queen of Sheba, was so proud, but even she repented when she heard Solomon’s wisdom. Jesus was greater than Jonah or Solomon, but his enemies were still too proud to repent. In verses 43–45 Jesus described the inner life of self-righteous, legalistic people. They work so hard to clean up their lives with their own efforts and their own control. But shockingly, such people become the dwelling of evil spirits, because they haven’t been relying on God.

          In the midst of resistance and criticism Jesus experienced God’s encouragement. Look at verses 46,47. Why did his mother and brothers suddenly show up? Mark’s Gospel tells us plainly: they thought Jesus was working so hard with sick people, he had lost his mind (Mk3:21,31ff.). When they were hostile to his ministry, Jesus didn’t go out to see them. Instead, he pointed to his disciples and called them his true family (48–50). Despite what his enemies were saying and how they were treating him, God was raising disciples through Jesus who were so eager to learn, so committed to doing God’s will. This tells us that no one can stop the good work God is doing through his chosen servant.

          Today we mainly thought about Jesus. He’s the God of mercy. He’s Lord of the Sabbath. He’s God’s chosen servant, filled with God’s Spirit. He’s our source of hope because he’s our gentle healer. Nobody is too damaged or too wounded for him to heal. May God help us find hope in him. And may God help us repent and let Jesus change our hearts until we become patient and quiet healers for wounded people.

DO TO OTHERS WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO TO YOU

Matthew 7:1–12

Key Verse: 7:12

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

          In today’s passage Jesus sums up the main teachings of his Sermon on the Mount, before he begins the last section, where he urges us to put what he says into practice. The teachings of Jesus in 7:1–12 have become so famous that they’re now part of our Western culture. They’re so familiar, they can sound like mere common sense. But they are the powerful teachings of Jesus, and they help us live out our lives as children of God and as members of his kingdom. Earlier, he said to be salt and light in the world, and here he shows us how to do it. Living by these teachings makes Christianity attractive and draws people to God. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

          So far, Jesus has been teaching how to truly practice and teach God’s commands (5:17–48), how to live before God, not people (6:1–18), and how to overcome our materialistic tendencies and worries (6:19–34). If we follow what he says, our righteousness will be better than the hypocritical Pharisees and teachers of the law (5:20). Now, he gives us positive direction in our daily relationships.

          Read verse 1. Our common tendency when we’re trying to follow God’s word and be devoted to him is to start judging the people around us who’re not doing what we’re doing. We judge others not just on religious standards, but by all kinds of standards—political, moral, ethical, educational, economic, racial, even physical appearance. We say, “I’m trying so hard!” and we’re implying, “Why aren’t you?” Judging others is really a form of pride. It’s trying to take the place of God, to do what only God can do, for we can never see the full picture of people’s lives to know how to judge them rightly. But we still do it.

Here, to judge others is to be obsessively critical about everything others are doing. It’s what the Pharisees were doing to Jesus and his followers, who were living by grace. They found fault when Jesus didn’t teach his disciples to ceremonially wash their hands or fast. They found fault when he healed on the Sabbath. They found fault when he allowed his disciples to eat heads of grain on that day, which looked like working. They especially didn’t like it when Jesus freely associated with tax collectors and sinners. They wanted to enjoy their own outwardly righteous party with their familiar traditions and people just like themselves, and they were frankly too selfish and too self-absorbed to ever really relate to people struggling with sin. It was much easier just to judge them.

Sadly, even though Jesus says plainly not to do it, so-called Christians have become known as some of the most intensely judgmental people in the world. To them, everyone who’s sinning, making mistakes, or even having a little fun, are unspiritual and destined for hell. So many so-called Christians only want to associate with other Christians and don’t have even one non-Christian friend. So many non-believers don’t ever want to even be around Christians because they sense they’ll only be judged by them. When we’re judgmental, we’re useless to God and getting in the way of what God wants to do.

Loving money and worrying about money might be our strongest human tendency; judging others comes in a close second. There’s even an idiom about it: “rush to judgment.” We’re so quick to judge, to jump to conclusions, based on superficial information and outward appearances. So, to keep us from doing it, Jesus commands us and warns us about the consequences. Read verses 1,2. Here, he’s implying that this time, the judging will be done not by weak people but by God. When we’re strict and harsh with others, God will be strict and harsh with us. Jesus said earlier, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (6:14,15). The Apostle James said the same thing: “…because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (Jas2:13). Basically, Jesus wants us to be merciful and forgiving, not judgmental.

          It’s such a problem that Jesus goes on further about it. He wants us to see how foolish judging others is, and at the same time, what we can do to see ourselves and others rightly. Read verses 3–5. Judging others is as foolish as obsessing about others’ speck of sawdust while ignoring our own plank. It means our sins are much more serious than others’. We tend to treat our own sins very lightly, but then get very serious about others’ sins. We have a high view of ourselves and a low view of others. This is the reason why we get judgmental. Instead, we should take our own sins most seriously, and see others’ sins as their merely suffering from a speck of sawdust in their eye. We’re the ones who need to go to the emergency room and be admitted for major surgery; others don’t even need an outpatient clinic, just a little help from a friend. In other words, instead of being quick to criticize, we should be quick to admit our own sins and put all our focus and energy on repenting of our own problems. Read verse 5 again. Here Jesus is saying that when we see our own sins as the real plank and work to root them out, then our spiritual eyes open to see how to help others well.

          Some people think not judging others means ignoring all realities. But Jesus says that’s not so. Read verse 6. While he tells us not to judge, he doesn’t mean not to be discerning. Dogs and pigs, unfortunately, represent people who don’t value sacred things. We should patiently share God’s word with people, but we should be wise to share it with those who value it.

          Jesus doesn’t want us to get stuck in struggling with people, or even with our own sins. He doesn’t want us to settle for comfortable traditions or give up in despair about things that seem impossible to change. He wants us as God’s children and as kingdom members to press forward. Read verses 7,8. These verses teach us about the spirit of faith required in prayer. Sometimes we don’t have something because we haven’t asked God about it (Jas4:2b). We get too complicated, too full of self-doubt, calculations, and basically, unbelief. Our pride is often our main problem. We try to be self-sufficient. But God wants us to ask him for anything we need. It’s an essential part of having a real relationship with God. Jesus taught us to ask for daily bread, for forgiveness, and to be led away from temptations. He taught us to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and we can do this in prayer. The image of knocking means to be patient and persistent, waiting for the right door to open. To ask, seek and knock all require faith that God is there, listening and ready to respond. To pray the way Jesus teaches us, we need to believe that God exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Heb11:6). We should even be asking for impossible things. Jesus challenged his disciples to the impossible task of throwing a mountain into the sea. We can do this when we pray with faith.

          Jesus especially emphasizes that we need to trust God our loving heavenly Father. Read verses 9–11. God is better than even the best human father. He made us and loves us so much, and he wants to give us good gifts. If we really believed this, we would talk to God much more. We would come to him about all our needs, all our struggles, all our secret worries. The Bible says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1Pe5:7). What a shame that we have such a loving heavenly Father, but we don’t trust him or come to him for what we need!

          Read verse 12. Here Jesus summarizes not just what he’s been saying here in chapter 7, but in this entire Sermon. It’s known as the Golden Rule. It’s mentioned in many religions, in the negative: “Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want others to do to you.” For example, we shouldn’t judge, because we don’t want to be judged. But in verse 12 Jesus isn’t emphasizing what not to do, but positively, what we should be doing. We would want others to pray for us, so we should be praying for others. In everything, we should be doing to others what we would want others to be doing to us. It’s an all-encompassing statement, and it means several things.

First, Jesus wants us to treat each and every human being with respect. People deserve respect not because they have a good record, but because they’re made in God’s image (Ge1:27; 9:6). To respect people means to recognize that, despite our differences, despite whatever weaknesses or problems they may have, they are human beings just like we are. Their lives matter. Their feelings matter. Their problems matter. Their struggles matter. When we disrespect people, we cannot practice what Jesus is teaching us here.

Second, Jesus wants us to empathize with people. Before we speak or do anything, we should pause and try to put ourselves in the other person’s place. What is this person going through? We should use our imagination to try and think what it would be like to be that person. What is this person facing that may be hard, painful, challenging or scary? We should take the time to ask ourselves how we would handle that. A little empathy goes a long way in curing us of being judgmental. Sometimes we need to experience a similar problem to truly understand what others are dealing with. Often, hostility comes from a lack of understanding. As St. Francis said, we should seek not to be understood, but to understand. If we don’t understand people, we can’t empathize with them.

Third, Jesus wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Read verse 12 again. To treat others this way is the same as loving our neighbor as ourselves. What sums up the Law and the Prophets, Jesus says later, is to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt22:39,40). Apostle Paul taught this, too (Ro13:8–10; Gal5:14). Jesus wants us to be known not as people of strict religious rules and traditions but as people of active love. We should always be thinking of how we can show God’s love, God’s kindness, God’s mercy, to all kinds of people. Hebrews 13:1–3 reads, “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Jesus wants us to care for the hungry and thirsty, the lonely, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned, out of love, as if we were serving Jesus himself (Mt25:35,36).

          What happens when we treat people like this? We glorify God. We help people to see that God is real. We advance his kingdom in this fallen world, not through talk, but through deeds of love and mercy.

          Read verse 12 again. May God help us to repent of being judgmental, and learn to love others the way Jesus wants. May he also help us learn how to pray with faith and ask God to help us.

I DESIRE MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE

Matthew 9:1–17

Key Verses: 9:12–13

“On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

          Mercy. What is it? We use the word so much, we become numb to its meaning. People even have used it as an exclamation, to express surprise or fear: “Mercy!” But to appreciate what mercy truly is, let’s think about its opposite: hard-hearted, cruel, or ruthless. We may try to hide, but the real world we live in is tough. In his theory of evolution Charles Darwin coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.” It’s also been used to describe human societies. In our world it seems that only the strongest people are successful, while others fail and die. And in our human ambition we don’t care too much about those who don’t make it.

          But mercy is a key teaching in the Bible, and a core attribute of God. God is described as “rich in mercy” (Eph2:4). God’s mercy is his compassion, his forgiveness, and his willingness to alleviate pain and suffering. God is the God of justice who punishes those who do wrong, but his mercy triumphs over judgment (Jas2:13). God’s mercy is best seen in Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus our King came to save us from our sins (1:21) and bring us back to his kingdom (3:2; 4:17,23; 5:3; 9:35; 10:7; 24:14; 25:34) by his great mercy. In his Sermon on the Mount he taught us to live as his kingdom members, saying, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (5:7). Jesus is the King of mercy; his kingdom is a kingdom of mercy. Receiving and showing mercy are key to living as kingdom members. Today Jesus shows us how to do it. He shows mercy to a paralytic and a tax collector. Then he challenges us to go and learn what God’s mercy means in real life. May God help us accept his word this morning.

Look at verse 1. “His own town” refers to Capernaum, which Jesus made his base of operations in his Galilean ministry. Read verse 2. Matthew gives us a much shorter version of this event than Mark does. He focuses on what Jesus says to the paralytic. But he also tells us that Jesus did this because of the faith of the men who brought him. Why is their bringing the paralyzed man to Jesus called “faith”? It’s because when someone is paralyzed, they usually don’t get better; they just have to live with paralysis. But these men believed that Jesus could heal him. It isn’t just a story about physical healing. Like leprosy, paralysis is a metaphor for what sin does to us. Sin makes us paralyzed. Sin makes us powerless to do the things God wants. There are so many spiritually paralyzed people. We may feel burdened and want to run away from them, but Jesus wants us to have faith to bring such people to him for healing. And what heals spiritual paralysis? Read verse 2 again. Some people would rather scream at a spiritual paralytic: “Get up! You’re lazy! Work harder!” But it never works. Rules and lots of pushing don’t really help. But Jesus’ forgiveness works.

Jesus is intentionally teaching something else here. Our real problem isn’t our condition or situation; it’s the sin in our souls. Jesus isn’t saying that God struck this man with paralysis because he’d committed some sin. He is saying that the sin in his heart was a more serious problem than his physical problem. It’s an important truth: Jesus isn’t interested in merely solving the surface problems in our lives; he wants to get at our core problem, our sin problem. We may not think we have a sin problem. Our other problems in life may feel way more real and way more pressing to us. But to Jesus, our core problem is sin.

          Read verse 3. Why were these people being so critical? To them, only God could forgive sins: Jesus acting like he could forgive was like trying to take the place of God, which is blasphemy. But were they really just having a theological problem with Jesus? No. The real problem was they weren’t open-minded and willing to learn from Jesus. They thought they knew better. And it was even worse. Jesus said they were entertaining “evil thoughts” (4). Here, “evil thoughts” means looking at God’s servant with human eyes and criticizing. Such criticism is evil because it’s against what God is trying to do.

Read verse 5. At first it’s hard to understand what this means. To us, it seems easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven”; it’s hard to cure paralysis. But to Jesus, it was easy to cure paralysis; it was much harder to tell a paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven.” To forgive him Jesus would have to die in his place. It’s still hard to touch somebody’s sin problem; we’re likely to get a hostile reaction. It’s hard to help someone experience God’s grace, but it’s so important. It’s what our King Jesus came to do and what his kingdom is all about. People who don’t experience his forgiveness can’t get into his kingdom, no matter how hard they work or how good they seem. Personally, we need to humble ourselves to accept Jesus’ spiritual help. We need to know how sinful we are, yet how great his forgiveness is. We also need to have Jesus’ point in helping others. We need to be praying for people, most of all, to experience his forgiveness personally.

Read verse 6. Jesus healed the man only because he wanted to demonstrate his authority on earth to forgive sins. Our King Jesus has authority, but he uses his authority to forgive. And his forgiveness brings spiritual healing. It fills us with awe and praise to God (7,8). So many people think they’ve sinned so much, God could never forgive them. But that’s not true. Jesus has authority on earth to forgive the worst sins imaginable. Jesus really wants us to believe his authority on earth to forgive sins. When we truly believe it, we can get up from spiritual paralysis and start living for the glory of God. When we believe his forgiveness, we also can forgive others, even those who hurt us badly (6:12,14, 15). Jesus’ kingdom isn’t about rules and works—it’s about forgiveness.

Read verse 9. Again, Matthew tells the story so briefly, but it’s loaded with meaning. In those days, tax collectors were lumped together with public sinners (9:11) and godless pagans (5:46,47). It was because they sided with the Roman oppressors and were traitors to their own people. In fact, tax collectors used their authority to squeeze money out of poor people to make themselves rich. The stigma was as bad today as being a child molester. When most people saw a tax collector, they would get sick to their stomach. They would avoid them. No religious leader would associate with such scoundrels. But Jesus did. Why? No doubt he was still thinking about demonstrating his authority on earth to forgive sins. The forgiveness of sins is still this radical, radical enough to reach out to the most scandalous people. In this world, when people make a serious life mistake, their careers can be over. But Jesus’ kingdom is different. Jesus was working to build a kingdom of forgiven sinners, a kingdom that welcomes forgiven sinners.

          Read verse 9 again. What do Jesus’ words “Follow me” mean? He was calling Matthew to a completely new life. He was challenging him to repent. He was telling him to stop his selfish, cruel way of life and begin a new life like Christ, the compassionate Shepherd. He was calling him out of a life of chasing money into a life of seeking God and his kingdom (6:33). Jesus’ words “Follow me” are very personal. We all like to think we follow no one but ourselves. But whether we realize it or not, we’re all following someone or something. Sometimes it’s a conglomeration of many things and people, many social and cultural influences. The Bible challenges us, in view of God’s mercy, not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world (Ro12:1,2), but to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices like Jesus did. Like Matthew, if we follow money, we’ll end up feeling lonely and despised. Following Jesus amidst the pressures and pulls of this world is hard. But we end up so blessed in his kingdom. Jesus is saying to each of us today, “Follow me.”

          How did Matthew respond? It says, “...and Matthew got up and followed him.” Wow! No hesitation, no calculation. In this Gospel we’ve seen Jesus’ authority over sicknesses, over evil spirits, over nature, and authority to forgive sins. Now we see his authority over human beings. Jesus has authority to claim anybody’s life for his use, for the work of his kingdom, because he is Lord. Matthew followed so quickly probably because he was sick and tired of his tax collector’s life. It's a powerful reminder that money or material things never makes people happy. Knowing Jesus personally makes us really happy.

Read verse 10. In going into his house and eating with him, Jesus was accepting Matthew and making friends with him. And he was going to be with him from now on (1:23; 28:20b). Many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. In that strictly religious society, they were outcasts. The news that the rabbi Jesus had called Matthew to be one of his disciples surprised these tax collectors and sinners. It made them curious. It gave them hope. Most of them had lived rotten lives. But when they came, Jesus welcomed them and freely ate and drank with them. Jesus didn’t come to impose legalisms on people; he came to be with lost people. He came to make friends with sinners. He came to give sinners his forgiveness. This dinner at Matthew’s house turned into a party. There was food and drink enough for everybody. Matthew the selfish tax collector suddenly became generous. I'm sure it wasn’t a serious, heavy or gloomy meal; there was real joy and laughter. It was an exuberant celebration, a picture of the joy of God’s kingdom because of Jesus’ mercy.

          Unfortunately, some people were unhappy. Read verse 11. Why were the Pharisees even there? It certainly wasn’t to learn; it was to find fault with Jesus. They tried to poison the disciples’ minds against Jesus behind his back. How did Jesus respond? Read verse 12. Here Jesus compares people like tax collectors and sinners to “the sick.” He’s saying plainly that they’re spiritually sick. It’s a radically different way of looking at people. It’s looking at people with God’s mercy. When we view people with critical eyes, we see all their faults and can get angry or even disgusted, wondering how they could do such things. But when we view people through the eyes of God’s mercy, we can see that spiritually, they’re sick; they’re wounded. They don’t need a judge; they need a doctor. And not a doctor who comes in quickly for a few minutes then leaves, but a doctor willing to stay with them until they’re healed. Matthew wrote in 8:17: “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.’” Jesus was willing to be with Matthew patiently, no matter how long it took, how much he would be criticized, until Matthew was completely healed spiritually. Learning God’s mercy involves learning to be with people who are spiritually sick. Those who truly follow Jesus don’t isolate themselves from the spiritually sick; they are with them closely, just as Jesus was. What spiritually sick person are we with right now?

          Read verse 13. Jesus gives a challenge to the self-righteous Pharisees. They thought they knew the Bible so well, but they had only head knowledge; they didn’t really learn it. So Jesus quoted to them from the prophecy of Hosea. Hosea’s story in the Bible is famous. God wanted to teach him his mercy in a very personal way. He challenged him to go and marry a prostitute. And when she kept returning to her old life of prostitution, God told Hosea to go and take her back to be his wife again. God was using this painful experience to illustrate his mercy to his thoroughly corrupt people. God’s mercy embraces sinful people again and again until we can return to him with all our hearts. The Pharisees thought God was pleased with their sacrifices and strict adherence to religious rules. But God isn’t legalistic; God is merciful to people. God wants his people to experience and practice his mercy. Legalism stifles, but mercy heals. Jesus said, “But go and learn what this means.” He wants us not only to know his mercy in theory, but also to learn how to practice it. Learning God’s mercy is a life-long process. But we have to be intentional about it. And it’s got to be “real.” It has to affect how we treat our parents, siblings, spouse, children, people at work or school, even strangers, not to mention people at church.

Some other people also weren’t so happy with this dinner party. Read verse 14. These disciples of John the Baptist thought they were better than Jesus’ disciples because they fasted often. What did Jesus say to them? Read verse 15. Jesus compared himself to a bridegroom, and his kingdom, to a wedding celebration. Just as a bride finds joy in her husband, so Jesus our King is our true source of joy. When we experience his mercy and show it to others, we’re filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy (1Pe1:8). The imagery here also refers to his death on the cross, when he was “taken” from us. When we think about his death for our sins, it’s the time to mourn (5:4; 2Co7:10). Read verses 16–17. The old garment and the old wineskins symbolize self-righteous people with their own fixed ideas. The new garment and new wineskins symbolize people like Matthew. They know they’re sinners and are humble enough to listen to Jesus and learn from him, humble enough to accept his forgiveness. Jesus didn’t bother with self-righteous people; he invested himself in people humble enough to learn and receive his grace. We should, too.

Read verses 12,13 again. May God help us experience his mercy personally. And may he help us make a new decision to follow Jesus and go and learn how to practice his mercy.

HE TOOK UP OUR INFIRMITIES AND BORE OUR DISEASES

Matthew 8:1–17

Key Verse: 8:17

          Have you ever been seriously sick but were not aware of it? It’s kind of scary: Some people have a deadly disease but are oblivious to it. Some intentionally live in denial about their illnesses and don’t want to face them. If we are aware of a disease we have, we may just try to cope with it ourselves—especially because medical care can be so expensive. We may not have just one, but multiple sicknesses at the same time, which overwhelms us. And, even if we believe in God and pray, there’s no guarantee that whatever sicknesses we have will be cured—we may just have to live with them. In chapters 5–7 Matthew has recorded Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, which summarizes Jesus’ teaching ministry. Now in chapters 8,9 Matthew introduces us to Jesus’ healing ministry. He’s not just out to prove Jesus’ miraculous powers; he’s trying to show what Jesus wants to do for us. For Matthew, physical sickness can symbolize spiritual sickness. And he wants us to see that Jesus doesn’t just teach us; he wants to heal us—especially our souls. In today’s passage we can see how Jesus responded to the sick. And we can learn from two people how Jesus still heals today. Through this study may God open our hearts to come to Jesus and truly experience his healing.

          The first time Matthew describes Jesus’ healing ministry is back at the end of chapter 4; it’s a short description, just three verses. Now, beginning in chapter 8, Matthew gives an extended account of Jesus’ healings. The first specific healing Matthew records is of a man with leprosy. It’s a brief but shocking encounter, and it’s loaded with deep meaning for us.

First, let’s think about this man. Read verse 2. Most of us aren’t very familiar with leprosy. It’s a disease people get in tropical climates. In the 19th century in the U.S., people who got leprosy were put on trains, sent to California, then boarded boats to be taken to a leper colony in Hawaii—far away from everyone else. Over 100 years, about 8,000 people were sent there. Leprosy was considered a contagious, incurable disease. It starts out small, with a tiny white spot on the skin, but develops progressively until the extremities of fingers and toes rot off. It gradually disfigures a person, emits a bad odor and leads to numbness, isolation, depression, disorientation, and finally death. In Jesus’ time, leprosy made people “unclean,” meaning they were not allowed to join in worship. This disease of leprosy is a powerful metaphor for the characteristics of sin. Like leprosy, sin also starts out tiny but gets progressively worse. It disfigures, numbs, isolates, and kills. And just like leprosy, sin is incurable. Sin gives us all kinds of spiritual diseases. Some are obvious, such as lust, or depression, or anxiety. But other kinds of spiritual diseases in us we may not even be aware of. We can be sick with pride and not even know it. We can be sick with vanity and not even know it. We can be sick with selfishness and not even know it. We can be sick with fear or greed or cruelty. The power of sin can be growing in us, ruining our humanity and our conscience, making us like a spiritual monster, yet we can be pretending like everything is just fine.

This man had leprosy, yet Matthew wants us to learn from him. Read verse 2 again. The man wasn’t living in denial. He faced the fact that he was so sick and that his disease was incurable. They say that in helping people with physical diseases, the first challenge is to help them realize how sick they are, how serious their illness is, so that they really want help. Likewise, to be healed spiritually, we first have to acknowledge that we have a serious spiritual problem and really need God’s help. Those who are slaves of their own honor can’t admit it. But if we refuse to recognize our spiritual problem, or laugh it off as not serious, we won’t be coming to Jesus for his healing.

But there’s another side to this, too. Once we recognize our problem and how serious it is, it’s actually easy to fall into despair. The more we think about our problem, the more we can lose hope and give up on ourselves. We can think we’ve gone too far and can never turn back. The idea that there’s no hope for me is like a pair of spiritual shackles always dragging us down. This man with leprosy knew his reality. But he wasn’t sulking in a corner in despair. He came to Jesus. His coming to Jesus as a leper was truly a marvelous act of faith.

And there’s more. Read verse 2 once more. We notice that he knelt before him. He called him “Lord.” And he believed that he could make him clean. Each of these things shows his faith in Jesus. He wasn’t your everyday, run-of-the mill beggar habitually trying to get something. He believed in Jesus as the Sovereign Lord and the one who has power to cure anything, even the incurable. Matthew is showing us that the man's faith is totally focused on Jesus. The Bible doesn’t tell us where he got this faith. But 4:24 says that as soon as Jesus started his healing ministry, news about him spread everywhere. It must have even reached the place where lepers lived. News of Jesus stirred this man’s heart. When he heard about what Jesus could do, he found hope. He found strength to come out of his leper’s quarters. He found courage to face hostile people who might start throwing rocks at him. In his society, lepers were the worst of the worst. They were not supposed to come out and be among normal people. But because of his faith in Jesus this man came. Likewise, if we can turn our thoughts away from ourselves and our situation and from people to really meditate on who Jesus is, we can find the hope, the strength and the courage to come to him.

Next, we need to look at how Jesus responds to him. Read verse 3. Jesus responded to this man because of his faith. But we can notice several things here. First, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. In the Law God told his people not to touch lepers (Lev5:3). He was trying to prevent disease among his people from spreading. Then people used this law to totally isolate lepers. Today, too, people use God’s laws to isolate themselves from those who are sick with sin. They do it in the name of holiness. But Jesus wasn’t like that. He didn’t have to touch this man in order to heal him, but he did. He broke the rule. Why? Jesus touched him to show him that he loved him. Jesus touched him to show that he was unafraid of his illness. Jesus touched him to show that he respected him as a human being who was so lovely, so valuable, made in the image of God. By touching him, Jesus was taking up his infirmity and bearing his disease of leprosy. This tells us that ministry can’t be done from a safe distance. Ministry can’t be superficial. We have to get involved with people closely. We have to get our hands dirty. We have to patiently bear all kinds of diseases people have, out of God’s love. If we’re demanding, intolerant and impatient with people, God can’t use us to bring them to Jesus for healing.

To this man, being touched by Jesus was a crucial part of his healing. Years of isolation had scarred his soul. At last there was someone who reached out to him in love and touched him. In our busy, competitive, cruel society, so many wounded, spiritually sick people are longing for a simple, loving touch. They feel dirty and condemned and so alone, but if only someone would reach out and touch them, it would set them on a new path of spiritual healing.

Next, Jesus accompanied his touch by saying, “I am willing.” Sometimes the devil convinces us that God is not willing to help us. He gets us to think God is stern, that we don’t matter, that our problem is not God’s concern. But it is. God is deeply concerned for us as individual people. He’s our Creator who made us. He longs to be in a relationship with us. He longs for us to know his heart and to experience his love. Whatever our problems are, whether they happened to us by chance or we created them ourselves, God is willing to help us and to heal us.

Finally, Jesus said, “Be clean!” “Immediately” the man was cleansed of his incurable leprosy, by the sheer power of Jesus’ word. It tells us that Jesus’ word still has power to cure our problems, no matter how chronic or hopeless they are. The Bible says that the human heart is deceitful above all else and beyond cure (Jer17:9). But the word of Jesus has the power to clean out our hearts, no matter how ugly or dirty they get (Jn15:3). This is why we all need to be studying God’s word. We live in a world that is full of corruption due to evil human desires (2Pe1:4). In such an environment, we may think we’re okay, that we can handle it, but we easily can become ensnared and entangled by sin (Heb12:1). We constantly need the word of Jesus so that we can be growing not in our sinful nature but in God’s nature and in inner holiness.

The last part of this incident is also important. Read verse 4. We learn two things here. First of all, Jesus wasn’t trying to gain glory for himself through healing this man. Instead, Jesus strictly refused to gain glory through it. It’s very relevant today. Our own self-glory seeking desires can still ruin the good work God wants to do through us for the spiritually sick. Secondly, Jesus was thinking about this man’s whole life. He wasn’t trying to use him to show himself off in that moment; he was deeply concerned about this man’s social healing. He really wanted the man to be integrated back into normal society and be happy. A true shepherd isn’t thinking about using sheep for his or her own glory; he or she genuinely cares about the sheep’s entire life—personally, socially and spiritually.

The second healing Matthew records here is also shocking. Read verses 5,6. What’s a centurion? He was an officer in the Roman army in charge of 100 soldiers. To good Jews, such Roman oppressors were just as hideous as lepers. But Jesus didn’t pre-judge this man. This man, too, had faith in Jesus. If we read the story too quickly, we miss many things.

First of all, we notice that he wasn’t coming to Jesus for himself. Who was he there for? He says, “…my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” This is not your average Roman army officer. Most of them were so cruel they would use people up and throw them away like garbage. Because they were officers, they thought they were far above lowly servants who had problems. They didn’t think they could be bothered with such burdensome people. But this centurion deeply cared about his sick servant. He empathized with his condition; he knew he was suffering terribly. We don’t know what exactly paralyzed this man and was causing him so much suffering. But the point is not that; it’s that the centurion understood and cared for him so much. He cared so much that he was even willing to humble himself to go to Jesus and ask his help. His love for this other human being led him to faith in Jesus. We notice that, like the leper, he calls Jesus “Lord.” And he believes that Jesus would care even about a nameless suffering servant.

How does Jesus respond to him? Read verse 7. At first it’s hard to understand what Jesus is saying here. In Greek the emphasis is on the word “I.” It seems Jesus is drawing attention to the fact that the centurion is a high-ranking Roman officer, whereas Jesus is a lowly Jewish rabbi. It was well-known that Romans thoroughly despised Jews. Jesus wants to know if this man is really ready to cross the racial barrier to ask his help. With this question Jesus is gently testing his faith.

What does the man say? Read verses 8,9. In brief, the centurion is saying, “Don’t bother coming over—just say the word.” Again Matthew is emphasizing the healing power and authority of Jesus’ word. This centurion knew firsthand the power of words. If he gave any kind of order, his soldiers would immediately obey it. It seems he learned to think twice about the words he spoke and the suggestions he made. He wasn’t an overbearing and demanding commander, but a compassionate and thoughtful one, so he used his words carefully. Proverbs 12:18 also warns us about the power of words: “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Most of all, this man was thinking about Jesus. If his own words would be obeyed by his soldiers absolutely, how much more would the words of Jesus! He had “just say the word, and my servant will be healed” faith. Let’s skip ahead and look at verse 13. It tells us how God can use us to heal others. We can’t do it at all. We can’t force or manipulate people to be changed. But we can believe that even one word of Jesus can completely heal people from the inside out. Whatever is paralyzing people or causing them terrible suffering, we need to pray that Jesus will just say the word, and the person we love will be completely healed. This is the kind of faith that pleases Jesus.

So how does Jesus respond? Read verse 10. Usually Jesus isn’t amazed by anything. But he is truly amazed by this centurion’s great faith. Often Jesus rebuked his disciples for having so little faith. There were so many religious Jews around him, but their faith was only cultural, and they were spiritually complacent. It’s a kind of stinging rebuke that a Roman centurion had better faith than all the spiritually proud Jews in Israel. Jesus wants all his followers to learn from the great faith of the centurion.

And he doesn’t stop there; he goes on. Read verses 11,12. Jesus is warning the Jews that God’s kingdom is going to be filled with Gentiles from all around the world, whereas many Jews who feel entitled and superior are going to find themselves thrown out into the darkness. It reminds us of the Bible verse: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (Jas4:6; Pr3:34). The man with leprosy and the centurion are examples of those who are social outcasts, but humble, humble enough to come to Jesus and ask his help. Jesus is also warning complacent Christians, people who assume that they’re good with God, even though they don’t really care about others or struggle to have faith in Jesus. In the end they’ll find out too late that they’ve made the worst mistake.

The third healing Matthew records is of another kind of overlooked person. Read verses 14,15. Again, Jesus is personal and uses his touch to heal. And the person he’s healing is Peter’s mother-in-law. She may have been in bed with a fever because she’d become so upset after Peter left his good-paying fishing job to follow Jesus, leaving her daughter so vulnerable. In any case, Jesus considers this woman important. He shows her his love and his healing power. Her fever leaves her, and she begins to serve Jesus. We can’t force people to serve Jesus, but when we experience Jesus’ love and healing, we want to serve him.

Jesus’ healing continues. Read verse 16. Demon-possessed people are another kind of impossible people to help. They’re scary. Nobody can control them. People run away from them. But Jesus didn’t. Even though it was evening, getting dark outside and Jesus was tired, he kept on healing. Again Matthew tells us that Jesus “drove out the spirits with a word.” The power of Jesus’ word can even drive out evil spirits from people. It says Jesus healed “all the sick,” missing no one. There was no disease Jesus could not heal. Jesus worked past his limitations. He showed his healing love even when it was inconvenient and intrusive to him. It showed his true colors: he really cared for people. He was willing to sacrifice himself and suffer to bring people God’s healing.

Read verse 17. Matthew often tells us how the details of Jesus’ life and ministry fulfill prophecy. In this case, it’s the prophecy of Isaiah 53:4. Jesus was like the best doctor who stays with an overwhelming number of sick people to heal them all, even to the point of his own exhaustion. Matthew wants us to know that Jesus is not indifferent to our suffering. He doesn’t run away from us, even though we can be so burdensome. Immanuel Jesus is willing to be with us until we are healed, just as a good mother or father is willing to be with a sick child all through the night.

What brings people healing? Yes, it’s the power of Jesus’ words. It’s the faith of someone who loves them. But most often, Jesus’ healing comes into a person’s life when someone is willing to take up their infirmities and bear their diseases. How? By just being with them. It takes time. It takes patience. Sadly, so few people are willing to take the time to just be with someone who’s spiritually sick—not really teaching or correcting, just bearing in love. It may seem like a waste of time. But slowly and steadily it brings healing.

Read verse 17 again. May God grant us the faith to come to Jesus honestly and humbly for his healing of our spiritual diseases. May God help us experience the healing power of his word. And may God help us learn how to touch and heal others by being with them and bearing their sicknesses patiently with God’s love.

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM

Luke 23:26–56

Key Verse: 23:34a

“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”

          Have you ever felt ignored? Despised? Used? When someone said or did something that hurt you, how did you respond? Did you just keep quiet? Did you boil with anger? Did you lash out? Some people actually dream of getting revenge. Without God, we human beings all tend to treat each other badly. So in life, all of us will be hurt in one way or another. How we respond is crucial. Luke tells us that the death of Jesus on the cross was for us to receive forgiveness. It was the light of God in this dark world. When we’re forgiven, we’re also supposed to forgive. When we show such forgiveness, we spread God’s light. But how can we experience God’s forgiveness? And how can we pray for people who hurt us? May God open our hearts to hear Jesus’ prayer. When we do, may it change us.

Look at verse 26. At first Jesus was carrying his own cross. But after the flogging and loss of blood, he fell under its load. At that moment there was an innocent bystander, Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country for Passover. Cyrene was a prosperous port city in modern-day Libya, North Africa. It had a Jewish immigrant population. Simon may have been a God-fearing Gentile who’d learned from the Jewish immigrants and now was seeking God himself. Because he was from North Africa, many believe he was a black man. The Roman soldiers in their blind racial prejudice treated Simon like a slave. It says they “seized” him. Simon had no choice. He suddenly had to turn around and go back outside the city, carrying someone else’s cross. It was so unfair. But through this experience he and his family became Christians (cf. Mk15:21; Ro16:13). Simon identified with innocent, suffering Jesus. The Roman soldiers’ forcing him to carry the cross was an evil act of oppression. But God used it for good. It points to so many suffering, oppressed people in the Gentile world who’d also see the light in suffering Jesus (2:32). Simon shows us how to live as true Christians: deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus (9:23).

Look at verse 27. These were not the women who followed Jesus from Galilee caring for his needs; they were women of Jerusalem. They couldn’t bear to see any Jewish man publicly humiliated by Gentiles. They were mourning and wailing in the streets as an act of protest. Since Simon was carrying his cross, Jesus was no longer struggling with it. Read verse 28. Jesus didn’t accept these women’s weeping. It means his crucifixion is not just a sorrowful event; it’s the good news to all who believe. But why should these women instead weep for themselves and for their children? Read verse 29. When he said, “…for the time will come” he was predicting the future destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Jesus’ prediction came true. During the Roman siege, all food was cut off, and people resorted to eating their own children. At that time women wished they had never even borne children. Read verse 30. The suffering would be so intense that people would ask the mountains and hills to fall on them to annihilate them quickly. Jesus is quoting the prophecy of Hosea 10:8 and applying it to the future destruction of Jerusalem. It also describes the time when he will come again (Rev6:16). Read verse 31. Jesus is saying that if people could be so evil to him during good times, imagine how evil they’d be during a time of great suffering.

          Earlier, Luke tells us that Jesus had wept over Jerusalem, seeing its horrible future (19:41–44). Jesus knew God would do this to them because they were rejecting God’s Messiah. He also warned his disciples about it (21:20–24). He said that at that time they should flee the city instead of trying to defend it. What should we learn from Jesus’ words to these women? Rejecting Jesus seems to be no big deal. But that’s not true. There’s a future reality coming: those who reject Jesus one day will experience the full fury of God’s wrath.

Look at verse 32. In addition to Simon, there were two criminals in the procession also carrying crosses. It’s not likely that there were plans to have any executions that morning. But when they decided to execute Jesus, they suddenly brought these two men out also. Read verse 33. It wasn’t enough for them to crucify Jesus; they also put him in between two criminals, to make him look as guilty and shameful as possible. Even this fulfilled prophecy; Jesus himself had mentioned it a few hours earlier (22:37; Isa53:12). Jesus bore the guilt and shame of being crucified in between criminals not just to fulfill prophecy but to take away all our shame and guilt. People seem to be happy and free, but underneath, so many are suffering from deep shame and guilt. It all started when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and hid themselves. Only Jesus who was crucified in our places can take away our deeply rooted shame and guilt. When we believe in him, we may suffer many things in this life, but in the end, the Bible says we’ll never be put to shame, because Jesus took it away for us (Ro10:11).

          Crucifying Jesus in between criminals also reveals the evilness in humanity. It was widely known that Jesus was someone who had gone around doing good and healing all who were suffering under the power of the devil (Ac10:38). It was widely known Jesus was merciful and tender toward those who were sick and hurting. But in response, people did as much evil to Jesus as they could. People still can be unbelievably evil and ungrateful (cf. Isa52:14–53:1).

          While they were crucifying him, what did Jesus do? Read verse 34. We’ve heard it so many times that we’ve become numb to it. But his prayer is actually shocking. How could Jesus pray for such evil people like this? While copying the Scriptures, some scribes got so upset that they scratched these words out of the earliest manuscripts. But Jesus had taught us to pray like this. In 6:27,28 he said: “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” He also said: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (6:37). Now, while they’re driving the nails into him, Jesus is practicing his own teaching to forgive those who mistreat us.

It’s so hard to forgive. Sometimes it takes us a long time to do it. But Jesus forgave immediately. How could he? He said, “...for they do not know what they are doing” (cf. Ac3:17). Of course these people knew they were crucifying him. But they didn’t know who he was, that he was the Son of God. They didn’t know what a great crime they were committing against God. Sin makes us blind like that. We can’t see that all our sins are actually sins against our Creator God (15:21; cf. Ps51:4a).  When we don’t know what we’re doing, we’re foolish and confused. When we don’t know what we’re doing, we’re hurting those who are so good to us. When we don’t know what we’re doing, we’re lost. Jesus saw sinful people not with critical, judgmental eyes, that we deserve hell, but with a broken heart, that we don’t know what we are doing. Jesus wasn’t forcing himself to pray; it came from his heart: he really wanted these people, and us, to be forgiven. He had the heart of the father for his prodigal son (15:20). Jesus wants us to learn to see people like he did, so that we can sincerely pray for them.

          What does it mean to forgive? In Greek it means to release or let go. It’s like letting a criminal go free, or cancelling a debt. Jeremiah 31:34b says, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” It’s like wiping a slate clean. Forgiveness is that radical. We wish God could just forgive, without Jesus having to go to the cross and suffering so much. But the Bible tells us that while God is so forgiving, he’s also just. For God to forgive, there had to be a just payment for sin. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, while being crucified, was taking the punishment for our sin, so God can freely forgive us by his grace (Ro3:23–26). Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Jesus’ forgiveness on the cross is like a salve to our wounds. We’re wounded by others, but mostly we’re wounded by our own sins. Our sins against God make us spiritually sick and paralyzed. But Jesus’ forgiveness has the power to bring us true healing. His forgiveness opens our eyes to see God as our loving heavenly Father. His forgiveness takes the hatred and bitterness out of our hearts and fills us with love. His forgiveness gives us hope for ourselves, hope for others, hope for this world. Luke strongly emphasizes that the good news of Jesus is mainly that he came to bring all people God’s forgiveness (1:77; 3:3; 24:47; cf. Ac2:38; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18).

How can we experience Jesus’ forgiveness on the cross personally? Some people don’t realize how sinful they are; they’re self-righteous. To such people, Jesus’ forgiveness isn’t so meaningful. But when we realize that Jesus had to be crucified because of my sins, we can come to see how sinful we really are. Other people think they’re too sinful, that they’ve committed too many sins for God to ever forgive them. But when we realize that Jesus took all our punishment on the cross in our places, we can come to see that his forgiveness is even for me. We each need to hear Jesus on the cross praying for us, “Father, forgive them.”

          Some people may think forgiveness is too basic, even weak. But actually, forgiveness is as essential to spiritual life as food is to physical life. To be spiritually healthy, each day we need to remember how Jesus personally forgave all my sins through his death on the cross. To be spiritually healthy, each day we also need to be showing his forgiveness to others. Ephesians 4:32 says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” If there’s anyone who has hurt us, no matter how unfair or painful, we should not suppress or ignore it; we should forgive.

In verses 35–56 Luke describes how the rulers, soldiers, criminals, nature and a centurion reacted to witnessing Jesus crucified. Their responses were varied. It tells us that not everybody responds well to his crucifixion. The rulers sneered at him. They made fun of his ministry of saving others. The soldiers offered him wine vinegar to spite him and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Even one of the selfish criminals joined in and said, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” Most rulers are really good at saving themselves at the expense of others. But Jesus, our true King, saved others at the expense of himself. If we want to help save others today, we’ve got to imitate Jesus who didn’t save himself.

          At this scene of Jesus’ crucifixion there was an unusual person. He was one of the criminals next to Jesus. It’s one of the most beautiful parts of today’s passage. Read verses 40,41. As he witnessed what was happening this condemned man heard Jesus’ prayer to forgive his enemies. Surprisingly, his spiritual eyes began to open. When he heard his fellow criminal insulting Jesus, he rebuked him and stood on Jesus’ side. Read verse 42. What he’s asking is amazing! How can this condemned man ask such a thing? Somehow, witnessing what was happening he had gained even a little bit of faith in Jesus. By faith he asked Jesus to remember him, meaning to somehow let him into his kingdom. Honestly, asking dying Jesus for this after living a life of many crimes and sins seems a bit too much. But this man dying on a cross for his own crimes is a great example of a sinner reaching out only to the mercy of Jesus by faith. How did Jesus respond to him? Read verse 43. This is even more amazing! How could Jesus say that such a man would be with him in paradise “today,” just as he was? It’s simple: it’s because of his amazing grace of forgiveness, and because this man had faith. Jesus always welcomes repentant sinners who have simple faith. This dialogue between this criminal and Jesus is a classic illustration of the gospel. There’s nothing good we ever could do to deserve to enter God’s kingdom—no ritual, no good work. All we need is faith in Jesus and his mercy.

          In verses 44,45 the sun stopped shining on account of the injustice of Jesus’ execution. The temple curtain also was torn in two. Hebrews 10:19,20 reads, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…” Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we now can have confidence to come into the presence of the Most Holy God. Read verse 46. Jesus died victoriously, trusting in God. He died committing his life into God's hands. Many people responded so poorly, even though they saw and heard all these things. But look at verse 47. Even a hardened Roman centurion was moved, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” Regardless of who we may seem to be, we need a pure heart like this man had, to truly appreciate Jesus crucified. In verses 50–53 we see how Joseph of Arimathea responded to Jesus' execution. Joseph was a man of faith. He didn’t give in to peer pressure. He risked his position and even his security to ask Pilate for Jesus’ body. He served Jesus in his death, caring tenderly for his crucified body with his own hands, and honored him with a decent burial. What a beautiful faith! Other eyewitnesses there could also testify to the truth of Jesus’ death.

Let’s read verse 34a again. May God help us to deeply experience Jesus’ forgiveness on the cross and be healed. May God also help us learn to see people the way Jesus did and pray for them from our hearts.

THE TRIAL OF JESUS

Luke 22:63–23:25

Key Verse: 22:70

“They all asked, ‘Are you then the Son of God?’ He replied, ‘You say that I am.’”

Today’s passage is about the trial of Jesus. Most of us have never been on trial for anything. We’ve probably not been taken into police custody, questioned and had to stand before a judge—especially not for our faith. In the Bill of Rights, the American Constitution protects each individual’s free expression of his or her beliefs. But whenever we let people know we’re believers in Jesus, in a sense we’re all still put on trial. People start scrutinizing our every move and our every word. When the story of Jesus’ trial was first being circulated, Christians everywhere were being persecuted for their faith. Some would be put on trial and even executed simply because they said they believed in Jesus. For many, how Jesus acted during his trial became an inspiration and a role model. Just before his arrest Jesus prepared himself to resist the devil’s temptations through an anguished struggle in prayer (22:39–46). Now, as he encounters humiliation, physical abuse and intense accusations Jesus stands with strength, dignity and silence. In this study we want to think about what his silence and, especially, what his testimony mean to us. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

Read verse 63. When he was arrested, all his disciples, including Peter, deserted him. Now Jesus looked like any other ordinary man: alone and poor—no followers, no trappings of authority, no power. In this vulnerable condition the guards were free to do anything to him. Sinful people love to abuse whatever power they may be given over others. So these soldiers began mocking and beating Jesus. Luke repeats the word “mock” twice (22:63; 23:11). Jesus was mocked. Jesus was so pure, so innocent, so good, so kind and compassionate, so giving. But these loud-mouthed and drunk, thoughtless and violent guards began mocking and beating him. To such brutish people, nothing is sacred.

Read verses 64,65. The guards especially mocked his reputation for being a prophet. Jesus was a prophet: everything he predicted came true. But he endured this mocking with total silence. When these things happened, it must have seemed like too much injustice. In fact, Jesus had predicted it would happen (18:31–33). His mocking fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 50:6: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” Jesus quietly surrendered to the mocking. Why? It was for us. It was to take away our shame caused by our sins. On the other hand, it was also to show us how to live in a godless world. 1 Peter 4:3,4 says, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.” When we choose to follow Jesus, we too will be mocked. Whenever we’re mocked for our faith, we need to remember what our Lord Jesus went through and be silent.

Read verse 66. Ever since he had cleared the temple and predicted God would strip them of their spiritual privileges, the religious leaders had been trying to kill Jesus. But because Jesus was so popular, they couldn’t (19:47; 20:19; 22:2). Now, however, with the help of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him, they could arrest Jesus in the middle of the light while he was praying. Then the religious leaders spread the word, waking up all the other council members in the wee hours of the morning, to come to an instant trial at daybreak, so that they could move quickly and have Jesus executed on Friday before the Sabbath.

What were the charges? Read verse 67a. Who was the Messiah? God had promised King David that one day, one of his descendants would come to truly save his people and establish an eternal kingdom (2Sa7:13,14). This promise of a Savior King gave the people hope in the midst of their suffering and oppression. But the people were thinking of this promised Savior King as a political leader. They wanted a strong and humanly glorious messiah who could kick out the Romans and re-establish the independence and power of Israel. There were a number of men who took advantage of this, claiming to be the Messiah and trying to lead a political revolution. But not Jesus. Throughout his ministry Jesus never went around claiming to be the Messiah. Once he asked his disciples who he was, and when Peter said he was God’s Messiah, Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone (9:20,21). Instead of talking about it, Jesus did the things the prophets predicted God’s Messiah would do. Once, when John the Baptist was in prison, he sent messengers to ask Jesus if he were the Messiah. Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (7:22). Jesus let the facts of his ministry speak for themselves about who he was. Instead of claiming to be the Messiah, he often would refer to himself with a humble expression, “the Son of Man” (5:24; 6:5,22; 7:34; 9:22,26,44,58; 11:30; 12:8,10,40; 17:22,24,30; 18:8,31; 19:10; 21:27,36; 22:22,48). This title “Son of Man” meant a suffering servant. Jesus wasn’t afraid of saying he was the Messiah; he just didn’t want people’s wrong notions of the Messiah to hinder him from what he came to do. Now, when put on the spot, how did he answer? Read verses 67,68. Why did he answer like this, instead of just simply saying “yes” or “no”? It was because he wouldn’t reveal himself to those not really interested. Instead, he rebuked them for their cowardice. They would never take a stand on who he was, because it was too controversial (20:5–7).

Read verse 69. This shows Jesus' faith. He’d been arrested, mocked and beaten. He was these people’s prisoner, standing there like a criminal. Soon he’d be executed in between two criminals. It was total humiliation. But he didn’t think these things would be the end. He had his sights set on the final end. He believed that after obeying his will, God would raise him from the dead and exalt him to the highest place (Php2:9). At the right hand of the mighty God, Jesus is the one who gives the Holy Spirit; at the right hand of the mighty God, Jesus is Prince and Savior; at the right hand of the mighty God, Jesus is the Judge of the living and the dead (Ac2:33; 5:31; 10:42; 17:31). He’s on trial now, but he’s looking ahead to his ultimate end: glory and victory in the kingdom of God. Again, Jesus’ faith is the perfect model for us. Apostle Paul learned this faith and wrote: “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2Ti2:11,12a). Whatever we may be suffering now, Jesus wants us to be sure of his promise that as we’ll share his glory and victory in God’s kingdom (Ro8:17,18; Rev3:21).

Read verse 70. They all understood Jesus’ hope to be sitting at God’s right hand as an admittance that he was God’s Son. To them, this was blasphemy. They thought that anyone who claimed to be God’s Son was making themselves equal with God, and thus, they should die (Jn5:18; 19:7). Jesus knew very well that this was what they were after. But how did he reply? Read verse 70 again. Again, Jesus wasn’t claiming anything; he let them say it. But by not saying "no," he was, in a sense, signing his own death sentence. Read verse 71. When he answered like this, they were sure they had what they wanted to execute him.

Earlier, when Peter was trying to follow Jesus at a distance and was asked if he were a follower of Jesus, he denied it three times (22:54–62). But when Jesus was asked if he were the Son of God, he did not deny it, even though it cost him his life. It’s still costly to admit that we believe in Jesus. It can ruin friendships; we can lose family members and our reputation; in rare cases it might even cost us our lives. But Jesus wants us not to be ashamed of him or of his words (9:26). How easy it is to give in to peer pressure! How easy to hide our Christian identity, relax, and not have to struggle to explain our faith. How easy to identify ourselves based not on our faith but on a career path or job. May God help us tell people first of all that we’re a Christian. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…”

It’s the core of our Christian faith: Jesus was not just a man; he is the Son of God. The angel announced to his mother Mary that Jesus would be born as the Son of God (1:35). When he was twelve years old at the temple, he told the teachers that he had to be in his Father’s house (2:49). At his baptism, God’s voice said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (3:22). Faith that Jesus is the Son of God was the core of the early Christian message. Apostle Paul after his conversion mainly proclaimed that Jesus is the Son of God (Ac9:20). Hebrews 1:3 says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” When we confess our faith, we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Col1:13). Today people have many opinions about Jesus. Some say he was a great teacher, a man of compassion, a humanitarian, a revolutionary, or one of the great prophets. Partly all these things are true. Jesus was a servant, a shepherd and a friend of sinners. But on trial he didn’t deny he was the Son of God. Why is his identity important? When we realize he is God’s Son, we can see that it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him (Ac2:24). More than that, when we confess our faith that Jesus is the Son of God, he becomes our Lord (Ro1:4).

          In 23:1–25 Luke records Jesus’ trial before Pilate and Herod. Under Roman rule the Jews lost the right to execute people, so they had to get Pilate to execute Jesus (Jn18:31,32). When they brought Jesus to him and accused him of many things, Pilate immediately could tell there was no basis for a charge against him (23:4). When the chief priests insisted, Pilate found out that Jesus was from Galilee. So he sent Jesus to Herod, who also was in Jerusalem for the Passover. Jesus’ trial before Herod is unique to Luke’s Gospel. We see in verses 8–12 what a corrupt man Herod was. He was the one who had had John the Baptist beheaded because of his drunken birthday party and lusting after his stepdaughter (9:7–9; cf. Mt14:1–12; Mk6:17–29). Due to his guilty conscience, for a long time Herod wanted to see Jesus (23:8). Now Pilate sent Jesus to him in chains. Herod finally had his opportunity. He hoped to see Jesus perform a sign of some sort. He treated Jesus like a clown in a circus. When he plied him with many questions, Jesus gave him no answer (23:9). At that time Jesus was being vehemently accused by the chief priests and teachers of the law (23:10). But he was silent before his accusers. Finally, Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Jesus’ kingship, dressing him in an elegant robe. Herod was so flattered that Pilate sent Jesus to him that he decided to be Pilate’s friend.

          In the rest of the passage Luke shows the injustice of Jesus’ trial. He repeats three times that there was no basis for a charge against Jesus (23:4,14,22). But the crowd wanted Barabbas, the well-known criminal, rather than Jesus, the holy One. People are still just like that. They would much prefer a corrupt rebel to a godly person. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but he gave in to the crowd. It’s still easy to give in to people instead of holding firm to the truth.

          Today we thought about Jesus’ faith and hope while on trial. May God help us believe that Jesus is at the right hand of the mighty God, and believe our final victory and glory in him. We also thought about Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God. May God help us meditate on who Jesus is until we can confess in faith that he’s the Son of God. Finally, we saw how Jesus endured mocking, ridicule and great injustice, silently, like a lamb led to the slaughter. May God help us experience his love and grow in his image.

BE A WISE BUILDER

Matthew 7:13–29

Key Verse: 7:24

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

For the past five weeks we’ve been studying Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s account Jesus gives this sermon right at the beginning of his ministry, which tells us how important it is. In the history of Christianity there have been countless sermons, but Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount far surpasses them all. It has attracted all kinds of people with the power of its words and with its moral, ethical and spiritual genius. The famous nineteenth century Russian novelist and social commentator Leo Tolstoy was fascinated by this sermon, but despaired that he and most so-called Christians couldn’t live up to its teachings.

The Sermon on the Mount has been called “the constitution of the kingdom of heaven.” It teaches us how to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven during our lives on earth. Jesus begins with the Beatitudes, some of the most beautiful and profound poetry ever uttered. In these words, he shows us how to repent and become more and more kingdom-oriented. He shows us how to keep the spirit of God’s laws, not just the letter. He shows us how to live a devout religious life, not before the eyes of people, but only for the eyes of God. He challenges us to pursue treasures in heaven, not treasures on earth, and not to worry about our needs, but to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Finally, he challenges us not to judge others but to pray, and to treat others as we would like to be treated. His words are so powerful, it’s good to start by memorizing them.

Now in this final part of his sermon Jesus makes four contrasts. They’re all allegories of what following his teachings is like. In all these contrasts, he warns us of the final judgment. He’s also telling us that following his teachings is much harder than we may think. But if we take the easier way, in the end we’ll find that it leads us into disaster. We human beings are so forgetful that we have the saying, “In one ear and out the other.” Jesus is well-aware of this. As we read his words today they are full of urgency. He doesn’t want us to hear but then forget what he says. He’s challenging us to put his words into practice. When we do, he says it’s like building a rock solid spiritual foundation for our lives. What’s your life foundation like? Are you even aware of it? Through this study, we have the chance to reflect on this soberly. May God grant you a new decision to put even one of Jesus’ teachings into practice in your personal life.

Read verses 13,14. Here Jesus is saying that following his teachings is like entering through a narrow gate. Honestly, most people would prefer to go through the wide gate and travel on the broad road. It’s more comfortable and convenient. It’s also popular—it’s where most people are going. We human beings like to think that we’re independent and original, but in fact we all just tend to follow the crowd. It’s not easy even to find the narrow gate, it’s so small. And to travel on the narrow road is lonely. Likewise, Jesus’ teachings are radically different from how most people are thinking or living. To follow his words we have to choose to be different. Once we set our life direction in his way, we feel lonely. But he warns us that the easier, more popular way leads to destruction. It’s like the tragic scene of a large herd of sheep running off a cliff.

On the other hand, Jesus is saying that the harder, lonelier way of following his words is the only way that leads to life. The wide gate and broad road is a metaphor for a lifestyle of indulging in our sinful nature (Eph2:2,3). Many people do it because it feels good in the moment, and because they don’t get caught. In contrast, the narrow gate can refer to Jesus himself (Jn10:9; 14:6). It also describes a life of following him. It’s the way of self-denial and the way of the cross, a life of suffering to do God’s will (16:24). Jesus could see the ultimate destiny of all people in this fallen world. Out of his great compassion he’s telling each of us, “Enter through the narrow gate.”

As we know, most people don’t like to listen to hard teachings. We all like to surround ourselves with people who say what our own itching ears want to hear (2Ti4:3). We see this disturbing trend in our society. People watch 24-hour news that interprets all current events through the lens of their own world-view. So we get expressions like “alternative facts” instead of just saying “lies.” The Oxford Dictionary declared that the word of the year for 2016 was “post-truth.” It means people like appeals to emotion and personal belief, not objective facts. Jesus calls those who mislead people from the truth “false prophets.” Read verse 15. Here Jesus said that false prophets come in sheep’s clothing. They seem so sweet and nice. But inwardly they’re ferocious wolves, meaning they’re out to devour us. Basically, they’re deceptive. They’re just using us for their own purposes. They’re not just fanatic religious figures or creepy political figures. Even friends can be false prophets. A party life of drugs and alcohol is a false prophet. Living to enjoy the world is a false prophet. Anything or anyone that leads us away from following the teachings of Jesus is a false prophet. Today’s most popular life philosophy of living for yourself and following your feelings is the most spiritually dangerous false prophet.

Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets” (15a). Then he tells us twice how to recognize them (16a,20). Look at verses 16–20. Jesus says we can recognize them by their fruit. He’s not talking about produce vendors, but about life fruit. To distinguish good fruit from bad fruit takes time. A tree doesn’t produce fruit right away—we have to wait and see. Even when the fruit comes, we can’t always tell if it’s good or bad—we have to test it. Jesus is telling us not to follow just anything or anyone that seems good at the moment, but to look at the life fruit that results. James 2:13 says, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” What is good life fruit? Galatians 5:22,23 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” It’s the fruit of a Christ-like character. People and lifestyles that lead us to such inner fruit are good. People and lifestyles that lead us away from such inner fruit are bad. We should be paying careful attention to people and lifestyles that help us have good inner fruit.

Another good life fruit is outward: the influence we have on others. James 5:20 says, “…remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” Helping people turn from sin and turn to God is good life fruit. Influencing people to become followers of Jesus is good life fruit. We shouldn’t be impressed by people’s appearance or how well they talk; we should be paying attention to those who have good life fruit. We may not see it right away. Sometimes, it’s confusing. People can be active in ministry and seeming to teach others, but over the long run, there’s no good, lasting fruit of really transformed lives. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says, “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time: wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.”

Jesus goes on to challenge us all not to be false but true disciples. Read verse 21. What’s he talking about here? He’s saying there are plenty of people who can talk the talk, but not many who walk the walk. They’re known as “lip service” Christians. They honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him (Mt15:8; cf. Isa29:13). Their hearts are into the world, into money, into themselves. Those who say, “Lord, Lord,” sing and pray fervently on Sundays, but are really living for themselves the rest of the week. Their crying out to God is fundamentally for themselves. According to verse 22, some of these people seem to be involved in ministry—prophesying, driving out demons and performing miracles. But it’s deceptive because it’s really for themselves and their own glory. They don’t really have a personal relationship with Jesus; in fact, he calls them “evildoers” (23). They’re just as deceptive as false prophets.

Basically, in describing those who say “Lord, Lord,” Jesus is referring to those trying to make use of God. When we cry out to God, it should be for him to help us to do his will, not to force him to do mine. When he was struggling in the garden of Gethsemane just before his arrest, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Mt26: 39). He prayed this out of his genuine love for the Father. He taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (6:9,10). To do the Father’s will, we need to pray out of a real love for him. In fact, it should be our deepest heart’s desire, just like our Lord Jesus, to do the will of God (Heb10:7,9; cf. Ps40:7,8). To be genuinely interested in doing his will requires that we love God more than we love ourselves. It means patiently learning to listen to God and to obey him. Doing his will is not about doing some superficial Christian activities; it encompasses the entirety of life: where I live, what career path I take, what ministry I’m in, even the person I marry. To do his will, sometimes we have to deny our own thoughts and feelings. Doing his will also affects our relationships. Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Mt12:48). Like Jesus, we need to be most committed not to human family or friends or to those most like us, but to those who are actually doing the Father’s will. They should be our kindred spirits.

Read verse 24. Jesus begins here with the word, “Therefore.” It’s his conclusion. He’s challenging us to be doers, not hearers only. It was a problem then just as it is now. It’s described in another place in the Bible, in James 1:22–25: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

So how can we be doers of the word? Jesus tells us of a wise builder. Read verses 24,25. He’s saying that life is like house building. It’s an investment of time, energy and resources. And there are definite outcomes. But the key question is, what’s our foundation? Is it superficial things, like money, or status, or even education? Or is it deeper, more spiritual things? In Jesus’ allegory here, what is the “rock”? It’s Jesus himself. 1 Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The Bible calls Jesus the “cornerstone,” the only way of salvation (Ac4:11,12). Ephesians 2:19–22 reads, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

But the question is, how can we build our lives on Jesus the rock? It’s like digging down deep enough until we hit bedrock. How far down is this rock? In a few places, where the soil is shallow, the rock is just underneath the surface. In other places it can be as far down as 500 feet deep. But when we hit rock, we know it. The wise builder doesn’t settle for less than this rock. He keeps digging until he hits it, and then and only then, builds his house on it. Often it takes a lot of time and wholehearted effort to get there. But in the long run, it’s worth all the struggle, Jesus says, because the house built on the rock can survive the storms. Life is just like that. When we’re rooted and grounded in Jesus, we can weather any storm of life, no matter how violent or upsetting. But it’s not easy to be truly rooted and grounded in Jesus. How can we get there? Jesus says we have to put his words into practice. To do that, first we have to be listening to his words. We need to be holding onto his words. His words need to become a part of our everyday life. Romans 6:17 says, “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.” As we face life’s choices and struggles, we need to remember his words and obey them wholeheartedly. Each time we choose to obey Jesus’ word, it’s like we’re digging another shovel full of dirt and getting closer to the rock.

Jesus warns us of the temptation to take an easier way. Read verses 26,27. This foolish builder was lazy; he just wanted the finished house, quick and easy. He wasn’t worried about the foundation. But without the proper foundation, the house couldn’t survive a storm. All the money put into building the house became a total loss without the proper foundation. Like the foolish builder, we can be spiritually lazy. We can grow tired of listening to his words and struggling to put them into practice. We can settle for just listening, and it can seem good enough. But just listening to his words is never good enough. As James says, it’s self-deception (Jas1:22). It’s true not just for our personal lives, but also for ministry. We can be tempted to just gather people and hold them, but not help them to study the Bible deeply and apply it. We try to hold people by giving them human or financial benefit through the church. It doesn’t give them a spiritual foundation. Building a ministry on the foundation of Jesus the rock means painstakingly teaching people to obey his word. This, Paul says, is building by using gold, silver or costly stones. It’s slow and steady, but gold, silver and costly stones survive a fire. Building a ministry by other easier means, just as a good music ministry, good feelings and cultural activities, is like building with wood, hay or straw, which are rapidly burned up by the fire of testing (1Co3:12,13).

Let’s read verse 24 again. May God help us to remember Jesus’ words and practice them wholeheartedly, so that we can build a rock-solid spiritual foundation in him.