Matthew 18:12-14 – Concerning straying believers

Earlier Jesus stressed on the importance of taking care of the little ones. People who are less mature should not be stumbled. He advocated that proper models and examples should be set by the more mature. Careful and considerate living should be ensured by the more mature disciples so that the weaker ones will not be stumbled in their relationship with God. The Lord now turns His attention from the weaker believers to the straying ones.

In verse 12, Jesus asks a question that presupposes “yes” for an answer. What kind of shepherd would not leave behind his other sheep to go for one that had strayed from the fold? The point of Jesus is this: a good shepherd is not willing to lose even one straying sheep. He would leave the ninety-nine sheep that are safe and secure, in search for that straying sheep, even if it is only one.

This short parable tells us how much Jesus value each one of us, His sheep. As a caring Shepherd, He will ensure that every one of us is safe in the fold. Here we get a glimpse of the heart of our Lord. He zealously cares for each one of us that belongs to Him. He would pursue any one of us who has strayed. When the straying one is restored, it will bring joy and gladden His heart.

Like Him, we, especially those more mature, must also develop that kind of mentality. We must adopt a caring attitude and not a ‘couldn’t careless’ one. We must not entertain the mentality that we already have the ninety-nine, so why should we be concerned for one that strays. We must value all that the Lord values. As we do, put James 5:19-20 at the forefront of our thoughts. “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

Matthew 18:8-11 - Setting right examples for the weaker believers

In verse 6 Jesus warned of the dire consequence of stumbling the little ones. The little ones here could refer to two categories of people. They are the little children, people whom the Lord had just borrowed to emphasize His points on Kingdom greatness. Jesus could also be referring to those who have not yet matured in the faith. Many of these are more susceptible to pick up wrong examples in life. Therefore, it is important that the mature believers of Christ live their life in such a way that they rightly set the pace for them. If we think we are mature, we should leave behind godly examples and values for them to emulate.

What’s Jesus point here? As a disciple of Christ, each one of us must structure our life in such a way that we don’t become a stumbling block to other believers. Especially so for those who are less mature and discerning. They are usually the people who are more vulnerable and susceptible to the influence of other’s inconsiderate lifestyle. So the Lord sternly call for a radical severance with the sources of sin in one’s life. Of course verses 8-9 are hyperbole. They are exaggerations deployed to prove a point. These exhortations are not to be taken literally. What Jesus is calling for is a radical severance with a lifestyle of sin. It’s better to live a life with less but right in the eyes of God, than to end up totally in the fiery hell of eternal damnation.

To live inconsiderately is to despise the weaker. We must know that everyone is important to God, especially the weaker ones. Here, Matthew tells us that God even assign special angels, those who behold His face, to also look after the weaker and less fortunate ones. If heaven won’t even marginalize the weak and little ones, so we mustn’t also. Hence, we must be careful not to do anything inconsiderately. For it has the potential to harm weaker believers and lead them astray. We must remember that we are finally accountable to our Lord for anyone whose life we have stumbled.  Bear in mind that they are among the many that the Lord also came to seek and save. In the light of these warnings, let’s live and act right.

 

 

Matthew 18:1-7 – Path to Kingdom greatness

In these verses we see Jesus defining the Kingdom’s perspective of greatness. The disciples came to Him wanting to know about greatness in the Kingdom. They asked, “Who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” Like many in the world, they must be thinking of greatness from what they had seen and known of the heroes of old. Apart from faith and hope in God, many of course possessed strong, militant, courageous characteristics. What they probably didn’t expect Jesus to do was to pull out a child and illustrated to them what kingdom greatness looked like.

There are many things that a child would illustrate. Those of us parents know how simple, how trusting, and how sincere a child can be. A child is also very dependent and honest and forthright. He or she doesn’t scheme or mince words, but would just tell it as it is. We all also know that a child is vulnerable, ever so eager to listen, to love and receive love, to learn and to grow. Jesus’ point here is this: to be great in the kingdom, we need such childlike qualities. He invites us to adopt such qualities.  

So what’s the point? As Jesus instructed His disciples then, He now tells us what we must do to attain Kingdom greatness. We must be childlike – simple, honest, sincere and be ready to listen, learn and grow. To adopt all these characteristics calls for humility. Rightly so, humility must be the hall mark of a person pursuing greatness. For pride and arrogance, more than anything, will not only destroy a person but also those close to him.

In verse 5, we can see that Jesus not only wants us to see that developing such qualities was critical to kingdom living, He also wants us to show concern towards children. They are vulnerable and would pick up both good and bad traits, from people they trust. As followers of the Lord, we need to set good examples for them. Jesus shows how detrimental it can be when we stumble one of them. Here He had prescribed such a heavy judgement for one who intentionally stumble a child. It is better to have a mill stone hung around the neck and be cast into the deepest part of the sea, than to be a stumbling block to a child. Here is a serious warning. It behooves us to heed the Lord’s word here, especially those of us who are parents.

We can be sure that Jesus is addressing how we should treat children. As parents we need to heed His call not to stumble our children by the way we conduct our lives. But we know that Jesus is also talking about dealing with people who are vulnerable and needy. People who are watching and learning from our life examples. Let’s be sure to set them godly characteristics to help them to be more and more Christlike!

Matthew 17:24-27 – Discerning and acting at the right moment

In order to understand these few verses, we need to know that every Jew, everywhere, needed to pay a little temple tax of two-drachma (a little coin which is equivalent to half a shekel). In today’s term it would be the amount of half a day’s wage of a person. This amount went toward maintaining the temple in Jerusalem. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why people were irritated with the way the temple was run and wanted to overturn the regime. Jesus Himself could have been annoyed by this demand. There were many things that took place in the temple that Jesus had to deal with, but it was not time. Besides Capernaum was not the place to begin with. The tax collectors were not the key people Jesus needed to deal with. The people that Jesus finally would have to deal with were those who abused the temple system, the authorities and the rulers. And the time has not yet come, so Jesus chose to play along with them.    

For Jews who went to the Passover every year, they would just pay the temple tax there. But the rest of the Jews, tax collectors would be stationed everywhere they were, to collect it from them. Here Jesus came to Capernaum and as usual He would stay in Peter’s house. That’s why the tax collectors approached Peter and asked, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” Peter’s answer tells us that Jesus would abide with the law as a lawful citizen. Although, He felt that whatever they were doing was pure absurdity. The little dialogue between Jesus and Peter tells us that He, as the King and they, as sons of the Kingdom, should have been exempted from paying that tax. But to humor the authority, for it was not yet time to deal with the flaw, Jesus told Peter to go and pay it.

The amount of tax required to be paid was half a shekel per person. So the Lord instructed Peter where to get the money. He was to get it through the mouth of a fish. Peter was told he would find a shekel in the mouth of the first fish he would catch. He was to pick up that shekel to pay for the tax that would be enough for both of them. The key point of this whole account is not to show that Jesus has special knowledge about that fish that has a shekel in its mouth. It’s not about the miracle of supernatural provision although it certainly was. It’s not even about Jesus being submissive to authority although this account also implies that. The whole purpose of this account is to show what a master strategist Jesus was. He would only execute the plan of God at the right moment. He exercised discernment and waited for God’s precise timing. This tells us that as we work with Him in the matters of the Kingdom, we must also learn to be like Him. We need to spend time to pray, plan, discern and learn to schedule and execute each activity at the right moment. Only then can we experience effectiveness and achieve the intended result.

 

 

Matthew 17:22-23 - The prediction of the Lord's betrayal, death and resurrection

 

Jesus and the three disciples, Peter, John and James had returned from the mount of Transfiguration. The Lord had also dealt with the case of the lunatic boy and healed him. He had also told His disciples the necessity to fast and pray and stay current in their faith with God. So now the disciples were assembled in Galilee and here He told them of His impending betrayal, suffering, death and resurrection. In His first prediction to them at Caesarea Philippi, in Matthew 16:21-23, Peter protested and had to be rebuked by Him. This time around they did not protest but were saddened by the information.

Jesus’ suffering and death of course was solemn news. It was constantly on His mind because it was the highpoint of His mission to usher in God’s Kingdom. So He spoke about it to His disciples. The disciples were too overloaded with other information of the Kingdom that they could not process this one. They were probably so set on the dream of a worldly kingdom that they failed to realize that what Christ talked about was in another dimension, equally real. The Lord knew that His death would certainly be a grievous trail to them. So whatever He was doing, He was preparing them to face it. He used the words ‘delivered into the hands of men’. He came to save men but now He had first to be betrayed into the hands of men.

However, notice that they were so distressed that they failed to hear the whole prediction. Christ did not only talk about His betrayal and death but also His resurrection. They were so distracted by the news of His death that they didn’t hear about the victory of His resurrection. Or perhaps, the resurrection might not have made much sense to them. This wonderful news could have been quite abstract to them. They could have been thinking that He was referring to some future remote event where He would come and deliver them. The reality of His resurrection only dawned on them much later.  

 

Yes, Christ suffered and died but He also rose again. The light of His resurrection had forever banished the darkness of despair. If only the disciples have understood that His death was a needful but temporary event, they would not have been overly saddened by it. Like the disciples we also need to see the importance of Christ’s suffering and death to set us free from the bondage of our sinful past. But we must learn to see the important part of Christ’s work, that is, His resurrection. We serve a risen Savior! And He still wants to walk and talk with us. Let’s find the time to relate and fellowship with Him.  

Matthew 17:14-21 – Mountain moving faith

Remember in Matthew 10, when Jesus first sent the disciples out on a mission on their own, they came back with exhilaration report that even demons were subject to them. What happened between then and now?

In these verses we see a desperate father coming to Jesus, pleading for mercy and asking the Lord to attend to his seriously ill son. That father had brought his son to the Lord’s disciples for ministry, but they weren’t able to do a thing for him. The disciples referred to here were those who were not with Jesus at the mount of Transfiguration. Notice that this man called his son a lunatic. Why? It’s because he was possessed by a demon. Isn’t it true that when a person is overtaken by a demon, he would display symptoms of a schizophrenic and become out of his mind? No wonder the father of the boy called him a lunatic. Besides, he was also suffering from epileptic fits. And whenever he had a seizure of convulsive fits, the demons would seek to take his life by hurling him into water or fire. It sought to take his life either by drowning or burning him to death. 

Why were the disciples, who earlier could easily cast out demon and heal the sick, not able to do something for this boy? The clue is found in Jesus’ response to the father. He called the disciples a faithless generation. The issue could be traced to their lack of faith and unbelief. Jesus called them an unbelieving generation. They had taken their dependence off the Lord. Bear in mind that the Lord was away from them and up in the mountain. It was very likely that those disciples thought they could do it without the help of God or that they could do it without bothering God. Let’s be reminded that without the help of God, we can never do a thing. We must develop a life of total dependence and reliance on Him. Jesus then asked for the boy, rebuked him and immediately the demon left him, leaving him totally cured.   

In the disciples’ private moment with the Lord, they asked Him for the secret to His victory over that lunatic boy. The secret it seems lies not in what one does but on who one knows. He told them that while faith is important the size of it doesn’t matter. Faith, even if it is small like a tiny mustard seed, if placed on a huge God can accomplish much. Look at it this way. If our faith is huge and we place it in a puny little god, who can’t do a thing for us, we will still have no triumph. If we believe we have a big God, the size or measure of faith doesn’t matter anymore. So long as we put that measure of faith in Him we will experience the impossible. He is a God who does exceedingly abundantly, above all that we could ever ask or think or imagine.  The issue is: are we prepared to pay the price to seek and know Him? Fasting, solitude and praying are costly spiritual habits and disciplines that we should engage in. We need to give up pleasure and time, and seize the opportunities to be with Him. As we do so, we become more attentive to Him and what He will say to us. It helps us to develop an intimate, experiential knowledge of Him. Ultimately, our victory in life and ministry is not in what we know, it’s in who we know. For when we know God, we shall do great exploits with Him!

Matthew 17:9-13 – Paving the way for victory

In order for these verses to make sense to us, we need to understand some backdrop. In Malachi 4:5-6 we read of God sending Elijah the prophet before the coming of the Messiah. It was also taught in those days that in God’s timetable, Elijah must come when things had gotten really bad to prepare the way for Messiah. If Jesus is really the Messiah, then why didn’t Elijah come first as purported by the prophets and taught by the scribes? The disciples had acknowledged Christ as the Messiah and now on the mount of Transfiguration, they had seen Moses and Elijah coming to speak to Him. They were puzzled because Elijah should have come first, and not in the midway of Messiah’s work? So here they were seeking clarification from the Lord.

Jesus then affirmed that Elijah indeed must come. God’s timetable was on schedule. Elijah had already come. And the person of John the Baptist was that Elijah, but they had missed it altogether. Clearly in Matthew 11:14 Jesus had already said so. The reason the disciples failed to see that John was Elijah, was because they were looking for the wrong sort of person. It was precisely how they had also failed to fully understand Jesus and His work and role. They failed to understand that at the crux of Christ’s mission would be His suffering and death.

Both John and Jesus did not fit into their mindset of what Elijah and the Messiah should be.  John came to prepare the way, he did come with the fury of heaven to wrack the people with his heavenly whip. He came to pave the way for the Messiah by renouncing evil and finally died under the cruel hand of the evil he came to renounce.  In much the same way, Jesus came to initiate the Kingdom of heaven, not with fire and brimstones. He came to usher it in by love and the power to restore life. We need to know that He also came to show that the pathway to ultimate victory must be preceded by the path of suffering. So in verse 12, Jesus clearly enforced the message that suffering must precede victory. Jesus’ explanation now made sense to them, and it dawned on them that John was the Elijah that came to pave the way of Jesus, the Messiah.  

Where are we in God’s timetable? John the Baptist and Christ Jesus were both on schedule. What part are we to play in the light of all that Christ had done? We need to hear the Lord’s exhortation to take the path of self-renunciation and sacrifice even more seriously. Let’s remember Matthew 16:24-25. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

 

Matthew 17:1-8 – The transfiguration of Jesus

The scene in these verses shifted from Caesarea Philippi, where Peter made that great confession, to Mount Tabor six days later. For Christians, Mount Tabor is considered a holy mountain. It is also referred to as "the mount of Transfiguration," for it was on top of this mountain that Christ was transfigured before His three close disciples, Peter, James and John. Now in these verses Matthew describes for us that remarkable event on that mountain. On careful examination we’ll find four dramatic experiences described for us  

Firstly, the Lord Jesus was gloriously changed before the eyes of those three disciples. His countenance was altered. His face shone so brightly like the sun and His garment became whiter than light. Glory simply radiated from His whole being.  It could well describe the same glory He had before His incarnation as the Son.

Secondly, there were two heavenly visitors – Moses and Elijah that appeared and were talking to them. Interestingly, Jesus did not have to introduce them to His disciples. They just knew who these two heavenly visitors were. But why Moses and Elijah? And not Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David or any of the other prophets of old? It’s probably because these two represent the two major divisions of the Bible – the Law and the Prophets - that pointed to the coming of the Messiah. Incidentally they also represented two ways that men could enter heaven – via death or the impending rupture. Come and think of it, Moses finally got to step on the soil of the promised land. Remember he was barred from entering it because he did not wholly obeyed the Lord during the wilderness journey. God extended His grace to him and allowed him to experience what he failed to experience centuries earlier.

Thirdly, we are told of Peter’s suggestion to build three booths up on that mountain - one for the Lord, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  Perhaps Peter wanted to make that their headquarters for world reformation. Out of fear Peter felt compelled to say something. There are those that have something to say, but there are also those that have to say something. Peter was the second category of people. And scarcely had he finished what he had to say when the fourth and final dramatic experience took place. They were suddenly overcast by the Shekinah, the cloud of glory, and the voice of the Father was heard. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased: listen to Him!” Why this dramatic announcement? Peter had just tried to place Jesus on par with Moses and Elijah. It was God’s way of saying to the disciples that Jesus is different from Moses and Elijah. We all need to know that He is God’s own beloved Son.  

On that mountain the focus was on Jesus. It wasn’t on Moses or Elijah. Peter felt he needed to say something and it all came out wrong. The purpose of the whole scene was to highlight our precious Lord. As He was then, He is still the same. He is not just a great leader. He is not just a prophet. He is the Messiah, God’s beloved Son. God made it categorically clear that He was pleased with what Jesus, His Son, was doing. The words that the Father said to the disciples then, He will say to us His followers today: listen to Him! Will we?

Matthew 16:24-28 – The cost of following Jesus

Immediately after rebuking Peter, Jesus issues the challenge. He spells out what it entails to follow Him. The Lord is talking about something far larger than life itself. It’s not about comfortable living. Hence He made the demand: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” Herein is the cost. To follow Jesus will cost everything. It requires that we give everything. He does not want half measured commitment.

Here Christ our Lord calls for a commitment to His cause. We need to divest of self-interest, self-trust and self-sufficiency. All self-effort must come under the subjection of His will.  It is only as we seek to do His will that we will find the essence of true life.  This requires us to look at things with eternal perspective. We are not just temporal being for the here and now. We are made with a soul to live eternally. There is absolutely no point to gain everything in this world and forfeit a life with God.  There is no cause worth our every effort if it meant giving up an eternity with the God we love.

Verse 27 is a prediction of His resurrection. It is not about the second coming as most people would see it. The Lord was telling His disciples that they would see Him vindicated after His suffering. For then all authority in heaven and on earth will be His. Verse 28 is another puzzling verse. Many saw verse 27 as a prediction of His second coming, hence this verse is confusing because He had not returned as yet, and all those who were with Him were long dead and gone. However, if we follow the drift of the event that follows in Matthew 17, we will realize that Christ was referring to His transfiguration. Peter, James and John were given a preview of Christ’s coming glory at the mount of transfiguration. It was a manifestation of His coming into His Kingdom with power.

The call is for us to take the call of Jesus seriously. We are to divest of self and to be fully committed to His cause. When we give everything we have to Jesus, including life itself, we will win it. Over the years many had taken Jesus seriously and gave up everything for Him. The question that confronts us today is: would we?   

Matthew 16:21-23 = Mistaken zeal

Peter just had a great revelation. He said of Jesus - You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus told Him how from a shifting-sands like character, he was going to be stable and solid like a rock. We can see it as a hint by Jesus on the part he would be playing in the His New Community. As we have said in the previous passage that he still needed to be honed. So the process had begun.    

 

It seems so ironical isn’t it? The same Peter who was given a grand revelation of who Jesus really is, now trying to prevent Him from fulfilling His mission. His idea of what God’s Messiah would do was much like the Jews. He was expecting the Messiah to lead them in a revolution against their pagan enemy, the Romans. Messiah would free them from their oppression and like David, should lead in the march forward. Hence when told of God’s intended way to bring about the expected liberation, he balked. Having told that Jesus would build His church, the next natural step should be to strategize how to bring it about. Peter was probably expecting the Lord to sit down with them, His disciples, and talk about plans to bring forth what He had said into fruition. Instead the Lord began to reveal the crux of His mission.  

 

Here were how things would be happening, He must go to Jerusalem and suffered greatly at the hands of the elders, chief priests and the scribes and eventually be killed. But He also told them That He would rise on the third day. Instead of being on God’s side, Peter played the devil’s advocate. He took the Lord aside and rebuked Him. He said some very sharp words to the Lord, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Immediately, the Lord told him off. Peter unwittingly had played himself into Satan’s hand and would have become a tool in his hand to foil God’s grand scheme to save humanity. Peter had thus become a stumbling block. His thinking was not in God’s grand scheme, his concern was merely for the interest of men.

 

When we are called into leadership or into God’s service, we need to be careful to seek to be on God’s side. We must seek to look at things from God’s perspective. We must be concerned with God’s work and the advancement of His Kingdom, but we must never play into the enemy’s hand, and unwittingly retard the progress of God’s plan and purpose through us.      

Matthew 16:13-20 – Jesus the Messiah and God’s New Community

Jews, then and now, h0ld the hope that God will send a Messiah, the Anointed King to liberate them. They believe that He will front a mission to free Israel from their oppression. Through Him justice will be instituted and peace in the world will be experienced. According to Micah 5:1-3, the prophets foretold that He would be born in Bethlehem. As to when He would be born, nobody has any clue. However, most Jews believe that He would hail from the linage of King David. Hence, one of His titles was “Son of David.”

Who is this Messiah? What is He like? Has He arrived? What exactly will His role be? In Jesus’ days there were all kinds of idea concerning Him. Many saw Him as a strong and mighty warrior much like King David of old. His coming would be to deliver Israel from the oppression of their pagan enemies and establish their freedom. Many also believe that He would come and cleanse the Temple and restore true worship. He would fulfill the Scriptures prophesied about Him, usher in and inaugurate God’s Kingdom and establish it here on earth.  In the days of our Lord, many who had claimed to be that Messiah had come and gone. To publicly declare to be that coming Messiah would attract the attention of the authorities and invite hostility. So we see in these verses that when Jesus wanted to ask the question concerning the Messiah, He took His disciples up north of Israel to Caesarea, Philippi. This place was out of the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas and would be a good two days walk from the Sea of Galilee.  

The question Jesus asked was sort of indirect. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  It’s an indirect way of saying, who do people say that I the Son of God is? Jesus had an inclination what the answer would be, He nonetheless wanted to hear from them. So they merely reported what others thought He would be – John the Baptist, Isaiah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But Jesus was not interested in what others thought of Him. He wanted to know what His disciples, who had been with Him and saw His works, thought of Him. Indeed Jesus was not just God’s mouthpiece, He was the long awaited Messiah. Peter then boldly declared – You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. That elicited an immediate response from Jesus, telling Him that He did not know it by himself. What He just said of Jesus, the Messiah of God, had to be a revelation. He saw Jesus as Israel’s long awaited King, the one prophesied in the Psalms and spoken of by the prophets. With that revelation, they were not just joining a prophetic movement, they were enlisted into the army of the true King. They had just entered a huge challenge. With Jesus as their true King, then Herod, Caesar, the Roman emperor and even all the temple authorities had a challenge at hand.

At Peter’s bold declaration, Jesus revealed that He would build a community based on that declaration as its very foundation. It would be on the Rock of that confession that a new community would be built. It would comprise of people who would place their allegiance on the King whom Peter had just declared. And the invincibility of this community will be so evident that not even the gates of hell can prevent its advancement. For to them, Christ would give the key to the Kingdom. It will give them power to excess to the works that advance the Kingdom. Through them God will begin to put the world right, and the realities of heaven would be brought into the realm of earth.

Jesus warned them that till the right moment to be made public, they must keep the message of His Kingship a closely guarded secret, so as not to invite unnecessary hostility. Furthermore there are yet areas that needed honing. Peter still had much to learn and much failures to overcome. All these were part of the process of establishing this new community of God. For after all, this community is made up people drawn to God, sinners who are forgiven. For us who are grafted into this new community, let’s avail ourselves to God to fulfill His desire to make heaven a reality here on earth. 

Matthew 16:1-12 – Be careful what spiritual food you are ingesting

Dictionary defines the word sign as something that indicates or acts as a token of a fact or a condition that is not immediately or outwardly observable. It is a gesture or a mark that conveys information of an event or of some underlying activities. The activities happening in Jesus’ ministry, had quite adequately proven that the Kingdom of heaven or Kingdom of God has broken into the human realm. Jesus was not only the herald of that Kingdom, He was in fact, Israel’s long awaited Messiah. His Kingdom activities sought to initial or restore the people’s relationship with God once again. The Pharisees and Sadducees were political groups having different views about the restoration of the Kingdom. They were blinded by their personal agendas and acted in their personal interest. To be able to identify with Jesus and His ministry we all need to lay aside our personal agenda.  

 

But it is so true that none can be as blind as one who refuses to see. This exactly describes the situation of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Here we see an indication that they had stubbornly refused to acknowledge all that were obviously happening in Jesus’ ministry. Those activities pointed clearly to the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven (God) has broken into human realm. But they chose to see Jesus’ ministry as a threat to all that they were propagating. Thus, they sort to trap Jesus by asking Him to show them some signs. Earlier they had accused Him of collaborating with the devil and they were probably hoping to highlight it again. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5, the people of God were warned of activities of false prophets leading Israel astray to false gods, with false signs and wonders. Perhaps, they were hoping to trap Jesus into doing something so that they could accuse Him of being one of those false prophets. Jesus saw through their scams and told them they were quite an expert at reading signs of weathers and climates, but they really had no clue concerning the signs of the time. Calling them an evil and adulterous generation, He blatantly told them that they would see no sign except the sign of Jonah. This of course was referring to His death and resurrection. With that He left them and went away. 

 

So coming away, Jesus took the opportunity to warn His disciples about being led astray by ostentatious signs. He referred to the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees as leaven or yeast. The disciples mistakenly thought that Jesus was chiding them for the bread they did not bring. So Jesus now truly chided them for their lack of perception. They had so quickly forgotten the two miraculous provisions of bread that fully satisfied the multitudes, and even had huge leftovers. Jesus’ reference to the unleavened bread brought them to the history of the Passover and that feast. In that event they had no time to bake leavened bread for they had to leave Egypt in a haste. Over time, leaven that was added to make bread more palatable came to be likened as impurity. When Jesus warned about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, He was warning against their adulterated version of the Kingdom message. They have added their impurities to the message and were propagating an impure form of the message. Jesus only wants the message of the Kingdom to go forth in its purest and unadulterated form.  

 

We are living in days where there is an explosion of all kinds of teachings. We get it from the internet and even from some live conferences by eloquent, flashy preachers. What must we, who want to be true to our Lord, do?  We need to be vigilant and we must also be observant. The warning of the Lord is a call to distinguish between what’s pure and what’s adulterated. One clear way to help us in our task of distinguishing this, is to look at the fruit of the teacher. For we are told that we shall know them by their fruit. In all these, we are also called to embrace only what’s pure and unadulterated.

Matthew 15:32-39 – God will do it again

All the four Gospels carry the account of how Jesus fed the multitude with five loaves and two fish. We were told that many ate till they were full and the fragment of broken pieces that were left behind filled twelve baskets full. But now, in Matthew 15:32-38, we find another miraculous feeding. This second account of miraculous provision is only recorded by Matthew. The number of people who participated in this account of miraculous provision was less. Although they had a little more to begin with here than previously, the result nonetheless is just as amazing.

Earlier in Matthew 15:29, we learned that Jesus came up to the mountain and was seated. Great crowds of people came bringing to Him the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. Each one was healed by Him. The healing was so amazing that it left the people praising God. From verse 32 we know that those people were already with Jesus for three days and ate nothing. We can tell that the reason of Jesus’ earlier provision was the same here. He felt compassionately for them. He didn’t want to send them back hungry, for He didn’t want them to faint on the way home. It shows us that the Lord wants us to have a sustained journey toward our destination. So He called the disciples together and expressed His concern. Obviously the disciples had not learned from the earlier experience where He miraculously fed the multitude with just five loaves and two fish. Their perspective of Him had not changed. They felt the same way as they did earlier. So they asked the Lord, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?”

The Lord then asked them how many loaves they had. “Seven, and few small fish,” they replied. They had forgotten that in the last miraculous feeding, they had less, yet had more left over.  So like the last time, the Lord told them to get the people seated on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and fish, He gave thanks, broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to be distributed to the crowd. The crowd ate till they were full and satisfied, and yet they could pick seven baskets full of broken pieces. Matthew tells us that the baskets used were not small but big ones. The number of people who had eaten of the bread totaled 4,000 men besides the women and children. Jesus then sent the crowd away satisfied, while He and his disciples proceeded toward Magadan in a boat.

This second account was perhaps to seal the lesson once and for all that Jesus is our amazing provider. Even if He has to do it again to teach us that lesson, He will. The response of the disciples tells us that they had not learned from the previous incidence. Aren’t we like them sometimes – dull headed and slow to learn? We can trust the Lord to provide again and again. In our journey with the Lord, sometimes we find ourselves in similar situations and similar circumstances. They could be indications that we have not learned from our past experience. And the Lord knows we need to go through that precious lesson again. He is a God of the second chance and He will teach us again. We should then wise up and respond appropriately to Him. For those of us who find ourselves in a circumstance and needing the Lord to grant us a breakthrough, let’s not be tempted to think that He will not help us again. Let’s remember His challenge to us is to ask, seek and knock persistently. To everyone who asks, receives; everyone who seeks, finds; and everyone who knocks, the door shall be opened.

Matthew 15:29-31 – Object lessons of Who Jesus is

Jesus had been healing, delivering, restoring wherever He went. We are told in verse 29 that He now departed from Galilee and went up to the mountain and was sitting there. Matthew seems to place much emphasis on mountains as venues where the Lord did something.  We see several times he brought up events that happened on the mountain. In Matthew 5, we have the sermon given on the mountain. In Matthew 14:23. We are told He went up to the mountain and was praying alone. Now again in this passage we discover Him on the mountain and was sitting there. And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them lame, crippled, blind, mute and many others. Each was laid at Jesus’ feet and He healed them all. We will see another mountain scene again in Matthew 17 where Jesus would be transfigured. And it was on that mount of transfiguration that He spoke to Moses and Elijah. This mountain motif would eventually culminate in the last instruction that Jesus would give to His disciples. Yes, it was on the mountain that the Great Commission, to go into the world and preach the Gospel, was given (Matthew 28:16).

 

What’s the significance of mountain? For Jews, mountain would remind them of Mount Zion where the eschatological event of scattered Israel would be gathered. Here the messianic feast would also take place and healing experienced. In these three verses, we are given an object lesson that Jesus is truly the Messiah. Isaiah 35:5-6 tell us that…the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.  According to Isaiah, God had promised that His people, the Israelites, would be brought back home from the exile. Now this is happening, and it’s indicative that the long awaited moment had now arrived. And in Jesus, this prophecy was being fulfilled. He is truly Israel’s Messiah.

 

Knowing the Old Testament does help us to connect the dots. These three verses serve as object lessons to Christ Jesus as the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. We all struggle to know the message of the Old Testament books, but study them we must. As difficult as they may seem, knowing them will help us to understand the mission of Christ clearer. And as we see Him more clearly, it will spur us on and be engaged in the mission that He had inaugurated at His first coming. So before we get busy with His work, let’s take time to seek and connect with Him first!

Matthew 15:21-28 – Tenacious faith

One part of Singapore’s national pledge makes us promise to seek to be one united people regardless of race. Rightly so! And no one should take racial tension and harmony lightly. If not well handled, a racial riot can spark off anytime. We all have read about racial disharmony in different parts of the world. Haven’t we? Leaders all over the world voice the sentiment that all human must be treated equally regardless of race or color. And most people have a strong aversion towards racism. It’s something that many cannot tolerate, much less our Lord. Then, why did the Lord not help someone in need just because she came from a different race? Why did He pass a racist remark, referring to Gentiles as dogs? It seems like He was practicing something many loath. Before we go way off, we need to re-calibrate our bearing. The Lord’s initial response was an issue of the time table of God and not the race. 

We must know that Jesus’ primary mission was not just to be a traveling doctor going everywhere to heal people. His coming was to fulfil the will of the Father, to fulfill what was promised through the law and the prophets. His specific calling, revealed to us earlier in Matthew 10:5-6, was first to the lost sheep of Israel. That was where He sent His disciples to then. Israel needed to know first that the promise that God made to them was being fulfilled. The Kingdom they had yearned for was now in sight. Jesus came to proclaim it and some, especially the disciples, must have realized by then that He was truly their long awaited anointed King and Messiah. His message must first go to Israel, otherwise it would imply that God had made a mistake in choosing and calling Israel to be His special people. The New Testament constantly reminds us that God has a special relationship with the people of Israel. It was the Israelites that God had assigned to show the world that He alone is God. If the world was to experience the new life God had promised, the message must come through Israel. God must not be discredited and seen as not keeping His word. So Jesus and His disciples did not go haphazardly into all the world before God’s purpose in Israel had been fulfilled. He wasn’t being racist. At this point, the time of the Gentiles had not arrived yet.

In Jesus' ministry, much of some future hope seems to break into the present. Although His program was first to reach Israel yet time and again we see the Gentiles being touched. Take for example, the centurion and his ailing servant whom Jesus healed, recorded in Matthew 8. Now we have this Canaanite woman with a need. Jesus and His disciples were in the region of Tyre and Sidon. His fame must have preceded Him. So that the Syrophoenician woman came beseeching Him, seeking help for deliverance for her ailing demon-possessed daughter. She even used the title assigned to Israel’s Messiah – Son of David - to addressed the Lord. Jesus did not do a thing at first for His mission was, as we know, still to the lost sheep of Israel first. His disciples wanted to send this woman away but she refused to be denied. She came bowing down with her sincere plea for help. “Lord, help me!” she pleaded. Jesus told her that it was not time yet to give what is rightly Israel’s portion to Gentiles. The word “dogs” is not meant to be derogatory. At least not in how the Lord used it. It was a term used to refer to the Gentiles. The reply of that woman made her request undeniable even if it was not time for the Gentiles. What she was saying to the Lord was, even if it was not time to eat from the plate, as dogs, they could pick up the crumbs that fell from the Master’s table. Her extraordinary faith broke through. Jesus stepped out of God’s program long enough to give her what she requested.

What do we make out of all these? Do we have a need concerning our future and we must come to the Lord in prayer and faith now?  Do we have such a tenacious faith and no matter how epic a proportion our crisis may be, we come with a stubborn prayer that refuses to be denied? 

Matthew 15:10-20 – Deal with the root, don’t just treat the leaves

In these verses, Jesus began to address the question that the Pharisees from Jerusalem had raised. They asked Jesus why His disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate.  Jesus answered them by addressing the crowd, through a riddle-like parable. His answer needs unraveling that even Peter needed an explanation from Him.

The disciples of the Lord told Him that the Pharisees took offence with His statement. Jesus’ answer indicates to some alluded lessons of the parables He spoke earlier. He, Jesus our Lord, came to sow the seed of the Kingdom. Then there were others who came to sow seeds of a different kind, with other agendas. They pushed for the option of keeping the purity of the law and were unwittingly barking up the wrong tree. They will be uprooted eventually. Each one of these teachers was like a blind man trying to lead others who were equally blind around the direction in life. Consequently, both the teachers and followers would fall into a pit on the way.

The disciples of the Lord told Him that the Pharisees took offence with His statement. Jesus’ answer indicates to some alluded lessons of the parables He spoke earlier. He, Jesus our Lord, came to sow the seed of the Kingdom. Then there were others who came to sow seeds of a different kind, with other agendas. They were planting different kind of trees. Their pushing for the option of keeping the purity of the law and made them unwittingly barking up the wrong tree. They will be uprooted eventually. Each one of these teachers was like a blind man trying to lead others who were equally blind around the direction in life. Consequently, both the teachers and followers would fall into a pit on the way.     

Jesus maintains that it’s not what enters one’s mouth that would make him unclean. It is what comes out of his inner being. We know Jesus wasn’t talking about undigested foods and vomits. He was referring to words that one speaks. Why? Because words reveal what the person is made up of at the heart of his being. What make a person unfit for God’s presence are in the list shown in verse 19: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft, false witness, slander - and much more. And all these actions are motivated by the thoughts, and they are revealed through one’s words that come from the depth of one’s personality. Our words indicate what’s at the depth of our being. It tells us what must be changed to help us become what is acceptable to God. 

In this discussion Jesus was driving at something deeper still. It is not about keeping tradition which the Pharisees maintained and were teaching the Jews to do. It’s about the sort of pure people God wants us to be and how a pure desire can be attained. The heart of the matter is about how a person’s heart can be made pure. It certainly cannot be accomplished by following a set of regulations. If we think it can, we are sorely mistaken. It reveals how lack of understanding we have about the level of human wickedness. It reveals how lack of understanding we have about the menace that lies underneath our personality. Every one of us, none excluded, is capable of what Christ had listed in verse 19 and much more.  

The point is this, through all that Christ is doing, God is giving us humans, a cure to the deep seated root of impurity. Merely treating the symptom can never get rid of the disease that’s festering at the root. As followers of Christ, we need to ask, are our thoughts, our intentions and the words we casually express, indicative of the level of our purity? What are we doing about it? We must certainly realize that the real remedy to all these lies in our relationship with Christ. It’s in knowing Him and His Word, and applying the liberating truths that can indeed set us free to be the version of “me” God is looking for!   

Matthew 15:1-9 - The importance of obeging God's Word

The essence of whatever is happening in these verses can also be found in the church scene today. There are people who like to do things the same old way year after year. They don’t care if there are new revelation. They don’t even care if they are bringing in a new transformational effect on the community. Such people disregard a new level of experiences in one’s relationship with God. Like sticks in the mud they’d rather stick to old tradition. Anything new is viewed with suspicion.  

In these verses some Pharisees came from Jerusalem to Galilee to confront Jesus on why His disciples did not keep to the tradition of hand washing before they eat. This seems like a trivial issue, yet to them it warranted such an action. We need to bear in mind that Jesus is heading a new movement and brought people into a new level of relationship with God in a revolutionary way. He was revealing truth in a brand new way that brought people into fresh relationship with God. This frees them to a deeper level of fellowship and worship. People were responding to Him and large crowds were attracted to His authoritative and transforming teachings. What He was doing was viewed as dangerous by the Pharisees. Even though God was not disrespected at any point, they were looking for little tell-tale signs to discredit Him.  

In this passage Jesus did not answer the Pharisees directly. Instead He launched a counter attack that addressed the issue. Jesus told the Pharisees that in their adherence to traditions, they had nullified the Scriptures which is more important than tradition. He pointed out that they had allowed a tradition to cancel out the command to honor one’s father and mother, stipulated in the Ten Commandments. In their tradition, anyone who gave to the Temple the amount equivalent to what was required to sustain their parents through old age, they were under no obligation to keep that command.

Jesus then called them hypocrites. He suggested that they were merely play acting, like people who put on a mask. The mask was their words of piety. But behind the words they had no desire to honor God. Unwittingly, they had raised human tradition above God’s command. This short passage underscores the importance to study the Word of God. When we understand where God is coming from, we can then evaluate the demands of tradition in the light of God’s Word. Some traditions are helpful to discipline living, but we need to make sure they are in alignment with God’s Word. Hence it makes Bible study and understanding the Word absolutely important to right living.

Matthew 14:23-36 – Overcoming the storms of life

Resolved to have His solitude, Jesus now sent His disciples into a boat to go ahead of Him to the other side of the lake. Then He sent the crowd away while He went up to the Mountain to pray. At last, He got the solitude He needed and was by Himself and praying all alone. How needful it is for us to emulate the Lord. No matter how busy life presents itself, we must take time out to be alone with God. There is absolutely no replacement for undivided time to talk to God and to learn to listen attentively to Him.

The hour Jesus sent His disciples and the crowd away was not indicated in the passage. However, we are told that He was there alone praying and it was evening. Meanwhile, the disciples were already a great distance from the shore, and the boat was sailing into the eye of a storm. It was tossed and driven by the rough wave. A strong wind had blown from the opposite direction and was preventing them from advancing in their journey. Isn’t this very much the story of life and faith journey with Jesus? Things are not always smooth sailing. The Lord, who sent us on the journey ahead, knows that we have to confront the storm and adversities of life. Through it all, we must remember that oak trees grow strong through contrary wind, and diamonds are made under great pressure. We need to be aware that God never leaves us alone to struggle on our own. All we need is to look up and look to Him.

Verse 25 tells us that it was at the fourth watch of the night, which is between three to six o’clock in the early morning. Here they were in the fiercest moment, engulfed by fear that the Lord came to them walking on the water. Two things to ponder. Firstly, He who sent us into the storm is also the Lord of the storm. Secondly, whatever storms that threaten to overwhelm us are already under His feet. More importantly, He will always come to us in the night of our storm. And He will come to help us walk through it.

Jesus coming to us may not be as apparent as we sometime wish it is. But like Peter, we can always seek His affirmation. But when we are walking towards Him, let’s keep our eyes on Him and not the threatening storm. But first, if we want to walk over our storm, we need to get out of our boat, our comfort zone. Keeping our eyes on the Lord is imperative. Fears develop when we look away from Jesus. Keeping our eyes steadfastly on Jesus in the face of difficulties requires faith. And without it we sink into the mire of fear and despair. Always know that He stays around to help get us out. As Peter cried out to Him, we need to cry out when we feel overwhelmed. His hands are never too short that He will not save, and His ears never too dull that He will not hear.

In this account Jesus helped Peter and together they got into the boat. How can they who experience such wonders not worship? So the disciples did exactly that. They worshipped Him there and then in that boat. He truly is God’s Son. He certainly is! News concerning Jesus spread. People thronged to Him. Many sick implored Him to heal them. We know He did. Even those who merely touched the fringe of His garment went away healed. Let us get out of our comfort zone and walk with Jesus! There can never ever be a storm too great that He will not be able to take us through! Brace up for the journey over your storm!  

Matthew 14:13-22 – God’s economy – He doesn’t just add, He multiplies

Just put yourself in Jesus shoes for a while. Imagine you have heard news that someone who is very dear to you has passed on. And like Jesus, you sought a place of quiet solitude to think through and be by yourself for a while. And the last thing you would be thinking about would be ministry. But much to your chagrin, where you were was found out. And your friends and people, whom you have blessed and ministered to in life, came in drove to where you are, yearning to hear your wisdom. What would you have done?

This was the precise place where Jesus is, in these verses. News of John’s death reached Him, he departed to a secluded place for solitude, somewhat sad and disheartened. And soon He discovered a throng of people seeking Him out, wanting to be ministered to. What Jesus did was to convert His sadness into ministry. He did not chase the people away, and then sat there and mopped over the demise of His cousin and partner in ministry. He channeled His energy to minister to the people and brought healing to those who were sick. What a marvelous self-sacrificing Lord!  

And when evening came, He even thought of the physical needs of the crowd. It was already late and the nearest town where they could get some food for the people was four hours away. It was impossible to get anything for them to eat. However, he was told by the crowd that there were five loaves of bread and two fish. In a similar account in John’s Gospel, we are told that these food belonged to a small lad. So Jesus asked for them to be brought to Him. He instructed the people to sit all over the field probably in groups. He then took the bread and the fish, looking toward heaven, He blessed them, broke the bread and gave them to His disciples to be distributed to the people. The amazing thing here is that the supply equal the demands. That’s God’s economy. God doesn’t just add, He multiplies. So everyone had their fill and were totally satisfied. And when they collected the left overs of broken pieces, they could fill up 12 baskets full. Matthew tells us that besides the men, there were women and children that ate and were fully filled.

Each one of us probably would go away taking different lessons from this account. Allow me to offer some thoughts here. We should not allow a deep sorrow to de-capacitate us and keep us from doing what God has called us to do. We should not disappoint anyone seeking for ministry for a touch from the Lord, even during the time of our deepest disappointment and pain. Let’s seek avenues to serve and meet the needs of others despite our own personal hurt. There is no problem too small that the Lord would not take notice. There is no resource too little that the Lord cannot multiply to meet the needs of many. What little we bring to Him could be turn into huge resources to meet the needs of the multitude. If anyone of us needs to evaluate how much it would cost to follow Him, take into account what it costs Him to offer His leadership, so that you can freely follow Him.

Matthew 14:1-12 – The senselessness of pride and lust

In Matthew 4:12, we recall that John the Baptist was arrested and taken into custody. Then in Matthew 11, we read that John was in prison and entertained doubt if Jesus was the Messiah. So he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask if he was the Messiah or should he look for another. Now we come to the reason he was arrested and finally executed. This Herod Tetrarch referred to here was one of the sons of Herod the great, the one who tried to kill Jesus earlier. This son of his is none other than Herod Antipas.

John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Messiah. He warned and cleared the way for the Messiah. He e He had pointed to Jesus as the coming Messiah. In the process he had also shown why this Herod was not the king of the Jews, the Messiah.  The idea that Herod Antipas as the Messiah was unthinkable. His moral life left much to be desired. And John had blatantly confronted him and told him it was unlawful to take his brother’s wife. For stealing his brother’s wife, he was clearly an adulterer, and such an immoral behavior would of necessity preclude him as the Messiah of Israel. If not for the fear of the crowd who considered John the Baptist as God’s prophet, Herod would have gotten rid of him earlier. So now he had John sent to prison for daring to point out his wrong.

In this account, we get a glimpse of events that led to the death of John the Baptist. Here we read of the events that led to his execution. Herod was enticed by his step daughter, who was also his niece. He had already stolen his brother’s wife and now he was being aroused by Herodias’ daughter on his birthday. In his drunkenness and having been seduced by her sensual dance, he made a promise to give her anything she asked for. It was a promise that he regretted, but a promise he was too proud to retract. In consultation with her mother, his step daughter asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. This was more the desire of her mother, who was offended by John’s forthright declaration of her adultery with this Herod Tetrarch. Her long wait had finally found its perfect moment. At the height of Herod’s arousal, Herodias got her daughter to make that request of John’s head on a platter. This was duly granted. John was beheaded in prison, and his head on a platter was brought to Herod’s step daughter. She then brought it to her mother. Meanwhile, the disciples of John then came to take his body away to bury it and also to report everything to Jesus. 

Among many applications, this account warns of the danger of pride and lust. When overtaken by them, one becomes incapable of sound reasoning. Much as Herod knew about John’s innocence, yet he was incapacitated by his pride and lust. He finally gave in to what he knew was wrong. From his life, we see how needful it is to deal with pride as well as taking control of lust. The way to do it is to live a Spirit filled and directed life. For it is in living a Spirit filled life that we cultivate the fruit of faithfulness and self-control.

Matthew 13:53-58 – Don’t shut out God’s blessings

If the proverbs that says “familiarity breeds contempt” is any clearer, it is here. In these verses, we find Jesus returning to His hometown after teaching a series of parables of the Kingdom by the Sea of Galilee. Here, He began teaching in the synagogue. Not only were His teachings clear but the insights that came with it were powerful and explosive. We surmise from the people’s reactions that it must have been spoken right into the heart and calculated to elicit changes to one’s lifestyle. The exactness of His demands and the truths that He spoke, must have pricked the conscience of His hearers. For people who were steeped in their past, it was hard to respond to Him positively.

Thus, they tried to find reasons and rationales to deny the truths and the power He demonstrated. They knew His earthly father was none other than Joseph, that ordinary carpenter of the city. They knew His mother, Mary not as someone special, but just a very ordinary woman. Then there were His earthly brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas, the children of Joseph and Mary – all very human. How can He be the Messiah, the one sent from God? These were their much too common conclusion. John 1:11 affirms this: He came to His own but those who were His own did not receive Him. And just because they knew His earthly family, they took offence with the truths He brought, despite the authority and miraculous demonstration that came with it. However, these verses point beyond the shadow of a doubt that although 100% Divine, Jesus is also 100% human.

Knowing their rationales, Jesus concluded that, “A prophet is not without honor except in His hometown and His household.” This verse suggests that even His earthly family took offence with Him. In all these, it was not a case that He could not do but that He did not do. When the signs were so clear, and in Jesus’ ministry elsewhere they were in abundance, to reject Him and His message was not simply a case of one being off track. It was a case of denying God the opportunity and avenue to pour out His blessings. From these, we must learn never to take God’s presence for granted. We must grow in awareness of His presence and cultivate gratefulness and gratitude, so that we will not shut out His presence. Be mindful that the moment we shut out His presence in our life, it will leave us high and dry! 

Matthew 13:44-52 – The Kingdom is priceless

Jesus continued to share other parables concerning the Kingdom of heaven. He likened it first to a field with a hidden treasure, and then a pearl of great price. It is so precious that one should be willing to get rid of every other treasures in order to acquire this field of hidden treasure or this pearl of great price. Jesus’ assertion in these two parables is this: wonderful as all the experiences of life may be, religion or otherwise, there is only one experience that’s worth having. It is none other than the experience of the Kingdom of heaven, the one that He came to usher in. We will know that this Kingdom contains a great treasure. It is also like a great pearl like no other. Once we have discovered it, we want to possess it. Even if it means trading all others in order to gain it.

The Kingdom is also like a dragnet that a fisherman spreads over the sea. He drags in the school of fishers caught in his net toward shore. There he spreads the net out with all the catch of different fishes. He will then sort the catch on the shore. The good ones go into a container and the bad ones will be thrown away. This parable again anticipates an end-time judgement, when everyone will be assessed. Jesus’ emphasis is that the whole world will be divided sharply, only into two categories. Those who with joy gladly accept and experience the message of the Kingdom, and those who repel and refuse it.  

Jesus rounded up these verses with the account of a householder. He brings out from his storeroom some new items and some old ones. In this, Jesus is pointing to Himself. In Him we have the new items concerning the treasures of the Kingdom with all its vision and promises. The old items are the messages of old that contain the wisdom and the hope of Israel. In the Gospel the two are brought together. The root of the message Jesus brought, could be traced to the wisdom of the old found in Israel’s past. A scribe who embraces the Kingdom of heaven knows how to share the new and true message rightly, combining the new with the old.  

What is our understanding of the Kingdom? Having known what it is all about, what must be our action? It is pointless if we have heard about the Kingdom, know all about it and yet remain passive. But it is also just as pointless, if we jump into action without first seeking to understand the message and the workings of the Kingdom. While the Gospel we preach is rooted in Israel’s past, it has the capacity to bear the new and fresh fruit of the Kingdom of heaven. We need to know and understand it well but we must also do all we know so that we will bear the righteous fruit of the Kingdom.