Matthew 9:27-34 Responses to Jesus

Chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew are largely about describing the astonishing authority Jesus had..He healed a leper and a paralytic was restored, a storm quelled, demons cast out and then he raises a dead person. All of this is extraordinary.

This leaves us with a puzzle.  Why does Matthew then tell us about the two blind and the mute men?  We have already learned that Jesus could heal such people of their disease.  The dead girl was blind and mute and much more, and Jesus could deal with that problem.

These stories are written in a very brief way, few details are given.  We are just told this happened.  Why does Matthew do this?

We do learn one detail, the way they addressed Jesus.

“As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” Matthew 9:27

It is easy to miss this.  Matthew wants us to note this stunning declaration.  Do you remember how he began his record of the gospel about Jesus?

“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew 1:1

My wife happens to have in her genealogy Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Henry 1, Henry II, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, John o’Gaunt’. John o’Gaunt died in 1399 and since then there have been 15 generations, of outwardly less significant people, except for the Guinness’ in Ireland.  There must be thousands of people who could claim such a lineage but who are now not notable in the public eye.  My wife can therefore only be called a descendant of royalty.  However Jesus claim, that we saw in Matthew chapter 1, includes the great King David and many kings after, but note he doesn’t say ‘a descendant of David’, but ‘the Son of David’, the one prophesied about throughout the Jewish Scriptures.

David lived around 1000 years BC and he was told that one of his descendants would come to the throne of God’s people and rule for ever. Under David, Israel was united, strong and secure – free from other nations. Rival nations always wanted to conquer Israel. David knew that he couldn’t rule forever. But here promises him a descendant who would rule forever. The prophet Nathan said to King David:

“When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands.  But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.  Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.”’ 2 Samuel 7:12-16

This does refer to Solomon, David’s son with Bathsheba but it seems to say much more.  Solomon did build a temple which was destroyed by the Babylonians.  Jesus also claimed to be the temple and said that his people would be the made into the temple of God.  Solomon’s dynasty died out but that of Jesus continues to grow.

There are many other prophecies that declare that the Messiah would be a direct descendant of King David.  There was a special interest in the Messiah who come in the name of David as Israel was occupied by the Romans and they longed for this who would lead them to freedom.  The problem was that they had misunderstood the sort of Kingdom the Messiah would have.

So these two blind men cried out to Jesus calling him ‘Son of David’.  Were they right?  If you look a little later in Matthew’s record we read:

“ When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:  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 proclaimed to the poor.” Matthew 11:2-5

Jesus is listing what he has done, but there is more to his reply than first seems.  His hearers would know the Old Testament and the prophecies about what would happen when God’s King, the Messiah appeared.

Isaiah 35 is a prophecy about the Messiah, and includes this section:

“. . . they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.”  Isaiah 35:2-6

This prophecy is abundantly clear.  God will come to earth to save his people. The evidence will be healing miracles.

Another prophecy in Isaiah explains that the Lord will raise the dead:

“But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise - let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy - your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.” Isaiah 26:19

We are also told that he will not associate with the rich and privileged but will bring God’s message to the poor.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explains that it is the ‘poor in spirit’ who God blesses.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captive, and release from darkness for the prisoners . . .” Isaiah 61:1

The reaction of the people listening to Jesus and seeing what he was doing was that they were bowled over:

“The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” Matthew 9:33

Now the chosen Son of David has appeared.  This is the moment the world has been waiting for.  Our creator has intervened in an unmistakable way and has kept his promises.

We have many powerful leaders in our world today, Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping and others, but such people are powerless when faced with death.  They cannot offer anyone eternal salvation.  They are certainly not God even though they may think so at times!  Look what happened to Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Hitler, Stalin and Churchill!

How do people respond to the coming of Jesus?  Matthew gives us three options.

1. Belief

“When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them,      “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied.” Matthew 9:28

Matthew wants everyone to see that it is a trust in Jesus and that there is nothing less that God desires everyone to have.

“Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.” Matthew 9:29-30

To be a follower of Jesus is God’s way to eternal life.

There is a misunderstanding that some have after reading this verse.  Some think that Jesus heals in proportion to someones faith in his healing power.  As a result some healers do all they can to whip up peoples credibility in their ability to heal.

A video spread widely online showing a Pastor Lukau praying over a man in a white suit who was lying in a coffin in the middle of a healing service. Lukau shouted ‘rise up,’ and the man sat up gasping and moving his mouth, prompting wild cheers from the congregation. The church initially claimed the man had died days prior and was brought to the church on the way to a funeral. After intense public ridicule and criminal charges the church later backtracked, admitting that the man was already alive when he arrived at the premises and that the pastor had merely ‘completed a miracle’ rather than performing a literal resurrection. Such fraud is the very opposite of what Jesus was about.  Truth and love were prime values for him.

The point is not having ‘great faith’ in a Saviour, but faith in a ‘great Saviour’.

If you are at a party with a notable person and you get into conversation, the temptation will be to try and impress them.  You may mention some good actions you have taken, some famous people you also know.  However in this situation the blind men have nothing to impress Jesus with except that they had come to him.  They simply said:

“Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

They are asking Jesus to be treated with undeserved kindness, with grace.  We all need to understand that before God we have nothing to offer him.  All we have comes from him.  We are powerless.

Do we all realise how small and insignificant we are compared to the Lord God who created us. We desperately need him.  We don’t just need a bit of help here and there when we are in trouble, we don’t just need a little spiritual inspiration, we need God’s mercy.  The promise he has given us all that if we come to him, he is gracious and kind and will show us mercy.

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” Isaiah 30:18

Paul quotes this verse from Exodus and then reminds his readers what our salvation depends on:

“It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”     Romans 9:16

There were many who were impressed with Jesus:

“The crowd was amazed and said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’” Matthew 9:33

2.  Opposition to the Messiah

In contrast the religious people hated all that Jesus did and said.  They knew that he was claiming to be God’s Messiah and he did not fit with their understanding:

“ But the Pharisees said, ‘It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.’” Matthew 9:34

They cannot deny the miracles they had seen, the mute man had just spoken.

There is a similar situation today. There is immense historical evidence for Jesus, his miracles and especially his resurrection.  The Old Testament keeps pointing to Jesus.  His character and his compassion for those in need is remarkable.  He had immense power for good but he was not only rejected, he was actively opposed and hated.

Even today those who speak clearly about Jesus are considered to be intolerant and anti-social.  We are accused of disrupting the cohesiveness of a multicultural society.  This is similar to the opposition Jesus faced from the Sadducees and Pharisees.  Didn’t Jesus warn his followers:

“Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” John 15:20

3.  Speaking about Jesus as God’s Messiah

After Jesus had touched the blind mens eyes, an act that no orthodox Jew would readily perform because they recognised that illness and evil spirits were associated.  After the excitement of being able to see Jesus said something that seems strange:

“. . . and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, ‘See that no one knows about this.’” Matthew 9:29-30

We are meant to be puzzled. It must have been thrilling for the men to be able to see.  They would naturally long to tell everybody what has happened to them.  But that is precisely the problem.  They would naturally talk about the miracle whereas Jesus wants those with faith in him to talk about who he is and why he had come.  Jesus said to the repentant Zacchaeus:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

We have the same problem in some churches today.  Church members love to talk about the atmosphere, the singing, the friendliness and even the sermons but how seldom do people speak about the Lord Jesus.

It is no coincidence that the next short miracle Matthew describes is the healing of a man born mute, he had never been able to speak. It is significant that he was brought to Jesus.  Who brought him?  This is always a major purpose of those who believe in Jesus.

It is also interesting that he is described as being possessed by a demon.  In those days all sickness was attributed to Satan.  There will be no sickness in heaven.  Even the woman with kypho-scoliosis (a bent and twisted back) has this attributed to an evil spirit:

“. . . and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.” Luke 13:11

It is surely no coincidence that after telling the blind men not to tell others that the next healing of this mute man.  Now he can speak why would he keep quiet.  If Jesus did not want his followers to talk about him why does Matthew emphasise that Christians must never be ashamed of their commitment to him:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32

Jesus did want people to know the truth about him and his reason for coming to earth:

“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.” Matthew 9:35

The difference is that those healed would talk more about them and the miracle that had experienced and less about the King and his kingdom.  All they had to share was their experience, however dramatic that it, it would be better if they said nothing.

Jesus did not come merely as a healer.  In the world today many people are hurting and it is easy for preachers to capitalise on this need and they benefit from this.  However Jesus is not offering people the best life now, he has far more to offer.

Even if the healed men said: “Jesus is the Son of David,” Jesus would still want them to keep quiet as listeners would misunderstand them.  The popular belief in the Messiah was a political leader who would free his people for the Roman occupation.

Today, when people talk about Jesus they sometimes still have a political agenda, what they would like Jesus to do.  Thus the stopping illegal immigrants into a so-called Christian country, the abolition of euthanasia and abortion can have a Christian sound to it, but all to often it is not associated with the Kingship of Jesus over all our lives.

Jesus challenges us not to put our agenda onto Jesus but to listen to his.  He wants people to understand who he really is.

So we must be clear what Jesus wants us to proclaim about his gospel or good news.  How do these healings fit into the big picture.  Matthew quotes from Isaiah and he does this ten times.  Together they describe how the Messiah will be identified and what he was coming to do. He loves Isaiah 53 which reminds his readers that God’s suffering servant who would be despised, afflicted, wounded, killed and crushed.  He would be ‘cut off’ with anguish of soul so that he could be the means of forgiving his people from the consequences of their sin.

This is why Jesus and only Jesus can and will bring about a new world free from sickness and death.

Yes, we must speak of Jesus but our hearers must be told that Jesus came to meet our most urgent need, to put his people right with God.  He gave his life in humiliation and shame because of his love for you and me.

Count von Zinzendorf

In 1719, a 19 year old German nobleman, Count von Zinzendorf, saw Fetti’s painting ’Ecce Home’ painting in the Düsseldorf museum. Attached to the frame of this specific painting in Germany was an inscription that read:

“"Ego pro te haec passus sum. Tu vero quid fecisti pro me.”

This means:

”This I have done for you; what are you doing for me?”

The image and its inscription profoundly changed his life. He went on to revitalise the Moravian Church, launching the modern Protestant missionary movement. He made a vow:

”From now on I will do whatever He leads me to do”

Zinzendorf transformed from a wealthy young aristocrat into the pioneer of the modern Protestant global missionary movement. Because he was a nobleman, Zinzendorf's family strictly forbade him from becoming a theologian or preacher and he was obliged to fulfil his familial duties. He completed his Grand Tour of Europe and accepted a position in October 1721 as the King’s Judicial Counsellor in Dresden. However, he treated his prestigious government job as secondary; his apartment in Dresden immediately became a weekly hub for informal prayer, Bible study, and religious reform meetings.

In 1722, wanting a dedicated space to put his faith into practice, Zinzendorf purchased a large plot of land from his grandmother in Berthelsdorf, Saxony. He originally envisioned this estate as a model Christian community for local peasants.

However that same year, a group of heavily persecuted, German-speaking Protestant refugees from Moravia and Bohemia arrived at his estate seeking asylum. Zinzendorf gladly took them in, granting them land to build a village. They named this settlement Herrnhut, which translates to ‘The Lord’s Watchful Care’.

As hundreds of religious refugees from different theological backgrounds flocked to Herrnhut, bitter arguments broke out over doctrine. Zinzendorf left his government job, moved to Herrnhut full-time, and physically went from house to house to resolve grievances. His efforts culminated on 13 August 1727, when the community experienced a profound spiritual revival during a communion service. The divided refugees united, officially renewing the Moravian Church under Zinzendorf's leadership. Zinzendorf turned the Moravians into a global missionary force. In 1732, he personally commissioned the first two Protestant missionaries to go to the Caribbean island of St. Thomas to minister to enslaved populations. Over the next few decades, Zinzendorf sent Moravian missionaries all over the world—including to Greenland, Africa, North America, and England, where they would eventually cross paths with, and deeply influenced John and Charles Wesley.

In 1735, John Wesley and his brother Charles sailed to Georgia as Anglican missionaries. During a terrifying Atlantic storm that panicked the English passengers, a group of Moravian families remained completely calm, singing hymns peacefully.

When John Wesley asked if they were afraid, they replied that they did not fear death. This starkly exposed Wesley's own spiritual anxieties and ignited his deep desire for their level of serene, unshakeable faith.

Upon returning to England, John Wesley was mentored by Moravian leader Peter Böhler, who taught him about the nature of saving faith and the necessity of personal conversion to follow Jesus Christ. This directly led to the defining spiritual moments for both brothers in May 1738.  Charles Wesley submitted to Christ alone for salvation on 21 May 1738.  John Wesley attended a meeting at Aldersgate Street on 24 May 1738 where someone was reading Martin Luther’s preface to the Romans. There, John experienced his famous conversion, noting that his heart felt "strangely warmed" and that he finally felt an assurance of personal salvation.

The Moravian Church profoundly shaped early Methodism by providing the theological framework for what a personal faith means, the possibility of assurance of salvation, and offering models for discipleship training and global missions. The Moravian practice of dividing congregations into small, localized sub-groups for intensive discipleship and confession heavily inspired Wesley’s famous Methodist ‘class meetings’ and ‘bands. The Methodists adopted the Moravian practice of the "Lovefeast" (a communal meal of fellowship, testimonies, and prayer). Furthermore, Moravian vibrant hymn-singing deeply influenced Charles Wesley's prolific career as a hymn writer. Their emphasis was on a ‘heart-centered’ relationship with Jesus as Lord and Saviour and this became the bedrock of Methodist identity.

BVP

This article has been posted on the website www.bvpslmer.com where there are many other articles on a wide range of topics from a Christian perspective.

Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching, gospel centred, local church.  More details can be found on its website.  It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock.

Bernard can be contacted at berniepalmer1@sky.com

Matthew 9:18–26 ‘Not dead but sleeping’

Matthew's Gospel is structured to answer one central question for a largely Jewish audience: is Jesus truly the promised Messiah, the Son of David, the King who was to come? Matthew builds his case in blocks — teaching sections (like the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5–7) followed by narrative sections that demonstrate the authority of what was just taught.  Thus the book has an introduction, five narrative sections followed by five teaching sections and then a conclusion.

Chapters 8–9 is one of these narrative blocks. Having just delivered the great manifesto of the Kingdom in chapters 5–7, Matthew now assembles a carefully arranged sequence of miracles — roughly nine or ten of them — that prove Jesus has authority not merely over words, but over disease, nature, demons, and even death itself. This section answers the question the crowds were quietly asking: ‘Does Jesus have the power to back up what he taught?’

Where this passage sits in that sequence:

8:1–4 — cleansing a man with leprosy (authority over ceremonial uncleanness)

8:5–13 — healing the centurion's servant (authority reaching Gentiles, at a distance)

8:14–17 — healing Peter's mother-in-law and many others (authority over sickness broadly)

8:23–27 — calming the storm (authority over nature)

8:28–34 — healing the demon-possessed men of the Gadarenes (authority over the demonic realm)

9:1–8 — healing the paralysed man, with the pointed claim to forgive sins (authority over sin itself)

9:9–13 — the calling of Matthew, and eating with sinners (authority to call and redefine who belongs)

9:18–26 — the synagogue leader's daughter and the bleeding woman (authority over death and over chronic, "untouchable" affliction)

9:27–34 — healing two blind men and a demon-possessed mute man (authority over blindness and mute demons)

Notice the escalation, Matthew has been building toward a climax: sickness, storm, demons, sin — and now, in one interwoven story, Jesus confronts death itself and a suffering that has resisted twelve years of hopeless treatment. This is Matthew's way of saying: there is no category of brokenness beyond the reach of this King.

It is also significant that Matthew places two healings inside one another — the woman's healing happens while Jesus is on his way to deal with the synagogue leader's daughter. This "sandwich" structure (a technique also used by Mark, who tells the same story at greater length in Mark 5:21–43) is deliberate. Matthew wants us to read these two accounts of desperate faith together, not separately.

1. A Father's Desperate Faith (v. 18–19)

A synagogue leader comes and kneels before Jesus, pleading that though his daughter has just died, a touch from Jesus would bring her back to life. Mark and Luke identify this man as Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue — a position of real social and religious standing. This detail matters. Synagogue rulers were not typically friends of Jesus; many in that class viewed him with suspicion, even hostility (recall the controversies already brewing in chapter 9 over Jesus eating with sinners). Yet here is a man of status and reputation, publicly kneeling before Jesus in front of a crowd, in his moment of desperation.

Notice what strips away pretence: ‘grief’. Status, reputation, theological suspicion — none of it survives contact with a dying child. Jairus doesn't come with careful theology or cautious hedging. He comes with a raw, specific request: come and put your hand on her, and she will live.

A hospital chaplain once observed that in the paediatric ICU waiting room, titles disappear. The CEO sits next to the janitor, both equally undone, both praying the same simple prayer. Status is a useful tool for navigating ordinary life, but it has no currency at all in the room where a child might die. Jairus, a man used to being deferred to in the synagogue, kneels in the street. Desperation is a great leveller — and, as this story shows, it's often the doorway through which real faith walks in.  This is repeatedly seen in Scripture

Mark 5:22–23 — the fuller account naming Jairus as "one of the synagogue leaders"

Luke 8:41–42 — Luke's parallel account, adding that she was his only daughter, about twelve years old

John 4:46–49 — a royal official's similarly urgent plea for his dying son

Psalm 34:18 — the Lord is close to the brokenhearted

Hebrews 4:16 — believers are invited to approach God's throne of grace with confidence

This synagogue leader is desperate and he comes to Jesus for help:

“Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.”

This story is interrupted by another person in dire need.

2. A Woman's Hidden, Desperate Faith (v. 20–22)

Matthew tells this story with striking economy — Mark's version (5:25–34) gives us fuller, more painful details: she had spent everything she had on doctors, and instead of improving, she had grown worse.

What Matthew doesn't need to spell out — because his first readers would have known instantly — is what a twelve-year bleeding condition meant under Jewish law. According to Leviticus 15:25–27, a woman with this kind of chronic bleeding was ceremonially unclean — continuously, for as long as the condition lasted. Anyone or anything she touched became unclean too. For twelve years, this woman had been functionally excluded from worship, from touch, from ordinary human contact. She had likely not embraced another person, been embraced, or entered the temple courts in over a decade. She was ‘unclean’.  She was suffering a living death and her disease had cost her everything.  Mark includes what doctor Luke omits:

“ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.” Mark 5:26

This is why she comes up behind Jesus — secretly, hoping to escape notice. She isn't just shy; she knows (rightly, under the Law) that reaching out to touch a rabbi in a crowd would make him unclean too, and could bring public shame and censure on them both. Her plan is to take just enough — the very edge of his cloak — and vanish before anyone notices.

Think of someone who has carried a shame or a wound so long they've arranged their whole life around not being seen — sitting at the back of the room, leaving gatherings early, deflecting every question about how they're really doing. That's this woman's twelve years distilled into a single posture: come close enough to touch hope, but not close enough to be noticed. Her faith is real — she believes Jesus can heal her — but it's a faith still shackled by shame, reaching out from the shadows rather than walking up in the light.

She realises that there is something special about Jesus, even though there is a hint of superstition in her action.  Many in our world are superstitious, thinking that if they do the ‘right thing’ in the ‘right way’ something good will happen and disaster avoided.  Even religious people can think that doing the ‘right thing’ will somehow protect us.  Much religion can be just superstition but this lady had more - she did have a personal faith in Jesus.

But notice what happens: she cannot stay hidden. Jesus turns and sees her. And rather than any rebuke for a supposedly presumptuous, law-breaking touch, Jesus calls her ‘daughter.’ In an instant, twelve years of exclusion are answered not just with physical healing, but with public, dignifying inclusion into the family of God.

Jesus only says two sentences in this account.  He says to this troubled woman:

“Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.” Matthew 9:22

Trusting Jesus is what counts.  Many think that faith is Jesus is for the naive and doesn’t make any real difference in life.  Jesus profoundly disagrees.  He says that faith in him is essential and everything else flows from this.

Death and dying are common to us all and there is nothing we can do to avoid this.  Only Jesus can change this desperate state of affairs.  When facing terminal illness in a member of the family or in ourselves or attending at a graveside, the world has no answer, it offers no hope.  Jesus however does just this.  He gives us an evidence based hope.

This woman was suffering from the tragic end result of sin in this world. Only occasionally is suffering the direct result of a person’s individual sin, most suffering comes because we live in a fallen world.

Cross References:

Leviticus 15:25–27 — the ceremonial law that made her an outcast

Mark 5:25–34 — the fuller parallel account

Luke 8:43–48 — Luke's parallel, noting no one could heal her

Numbers 5:2–3 — the broader Levitical exclusion of the ceremonially unclean from the camp

Matthew 8:2–3 — Jesus deliberately touching a man with leprosy earlier in this same section, another "untouchable" restored

Hebrews 4:15–16 — Christ, who is not distant from our weaknesses, invites us to draw near

Isaiah 61:1–3 — the Messiah's mission includes binding up the brokenhearted and freeing captives

3. Interrupted, Not Delayed (the "sandwich" structure)

It's worth pausing on the narrative shape itself. Jesus is en route to a dying girl — an urgent errand of mercy for someone with status and standing — when he stops everything for an anonymous, unclean woman in the crowd. In the culture of the day, and by any measure of practical urgency, this looks like a costly delay. A little girl is diying. Every moment matters.

Yet Jesus stops. He turns. He waits for the woman to come forward (Mark 5:33 tells us she came ‘trembling with fear’). He calls her "daughter" and reassures her before he ever continues to the synagogue leader's house.

This is not divine inefficiency. It's a statement: no one's suffering is an interruption to Jesus. The dead girl and her family not loved more because of her father ‘s status; the outcast woman is not loved less because she came from the shadows. Both receive Christ's full, unhurried attention.

Imagine a surgeon rushing to an emergency who nonetheless pauses, mid-corridor, because a frightened patient grabs his sleeve — and rather than shaking free, he stops, looks the patient in the eye, and makes sure they are cared for before continuing to the emergency. It would be a strange thing for an ordinary surgeon to do. It is exactly the kind of thing this Great Physician does, again and again, throughout the Gospels — because for him, there is no queue of the unimportant.

Cross References:

Mark 5:31–34 — the disciples' impatience at the crowd pressing in, contrasted with Jesus's deliberate pause

Luke 19:1–10 — Jesus stopping for Zacchaeus amid a crowd with more pressing claims on his time

Matthew 19:13–14 — Jesus refusing to let the disciples turn away children as unimportant interruptions

4. Death Meets Its Master (v. 23–26)

By the time Jesus arrives at the synagogue ruler’s home, professional mourners are already at work — the noisy crowd and the pipe players were a standard, even hired, feature of ancient Jewish funerals, confirming that the girl was certainly dead. Mark's account even records messengers arriving to tell Jairus not to bother Jesus further, since his daughter had died (Mark 5:35).

Jesus's makes a simple statement :

“The girl is not dead but asleep.”

This provokes laughter and mockery. The mourners knew death when they saw it; they had no reason to expect otherwise. But Jesus's words aren't a denial of the reality of her death. They're a statement about what death actually is, from the vantage point of one who has authority over it: for Jesus, physical death is no more permanent or fearsome than sleep, because he has the power to wake the sleeper.

The English word ‘cemetery’ directly originates from an ancient Greek verb meaning "to put to sleep.” From this verb, the Greeks created the noun koimeterion (κοιμητήριον), which literally translated as a "sleeping place," "dormitory," or "inn." At this point in history, it referred strictly to a place where the living went to sleep.

The major shift in meaning happened with the rise of early Christianity. Early Christians rejected the standard pagan Latin words for burial grounds—such as ustrina (cremation site) or sepulcrum (grave)—because they implied finality and destruction.  Instead, viewing death as a temporary sleep before resurrection, they adopted the Greek koimeterion as a metaphor. To them, a burial ground was simply a "dormitory for the dead."

Early Christian writers began calling burial grounds coemeterium (cemetery) or dormitorium—literally creating a "dormitory for the dead." Over the centuries, "dormitory" shifted exclusively to mean housing for the living (monks, then students), while "cemetery" kept the funerary association.

Jesus puts the crowd outside, takes her by the hand — remarkable again, given the ceremonial uncleanness associated with touching a corpse (Numbers 19:11) — and she gets up. No incantation, no lengthy ritual. A touch, and life returns.

To someone standing at a grave with no hope beyond it, death looks total and final — the end of the story. But to a parent standing at a child's bedside at 2 a.m., ‘asleep’ is not a synonym for ‘gone’; it's a temporary, reversible state, and the parent expects morning to come. Jesus speaks over this girl's death the way a parent speaks over a sleeping child — not denying the stillness, but refusing to accept it as the final word. That's precisely the authority Matthew has been building toward across two whole chapters: this is a King who does not merely heal sickness, but reverses death.

Cross References:

Mark 5:35–43 and Luke 8:49–56 — the fuller parallel accounts.

John 11:11–14, 25–26 — Jesus using the same ‘sleep’ language for Lazarus, then declaring himself ‘the resurrection and the life’.

Numbers 19:11 — the ceremonial uncleanness of touching the dead, which Jesus overturns by touch rather than being defiled by it.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 — Paul describing believers who have died as those who have ‘fallen asleep’.

1 Corinthians 15:20–26 — Christ as the ‘firstfruits’ of those who have fallen asleep, the guarantee of a future resurrection.

Luke 7:11–15 — the raising of the widow of Nain's son, another demonstration of this same authority.

John 5:28–29 — Jesus's own claim that all who are in their graves will one day hear his voice.

5.  Bringing the Two Stories Together

Matthew has deliberately woven together a story about a twelve-year affliction and a girl who was twelve years old (Mark and Luke supply this detail explicitly). Whether or not every hearer caught that numeric echo, the parallel in substance is unmistakable:

The Woman

The Girl

Ceremonially unclean, excluded

Ritually unclean in death, mourned

Approached in secret, from behind

Approached openly, by request

Healed by a touch she initiated

Raised by a touch Jesus initiated

Restored to community after 12 years of exclusion

Restored to family after death itself

Both accounts turn on the same principle: faith that reaches out to Jesus, however hesitant or however bold, meets a Christ who does not turn suffering away — regardless of how "unclean," hopeless, or socially advantaged or disadvantaged the sufferer is.  Our hope is an eternal hope and we know this is secure for those who are following Jesus because of the fact of his resurrection.  Paul stressed the essential nature of this fact

“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Just before Easter, in April 2018 there was an outcry against the Archbishop of Wales.    He liked to call Christian ‘Agents of the resurrection’.However in an interview published in the magazine, ’Christianity Today’, he was asked whether the resurrection of Jesus was real.  He replied,

“I don’t think any of us knows, quite frankly.  I don’t think anyone can tell you what happened when it comes to empty tombs.”

The subsequent outcry against the Archbishop was justified.  For him to fail to affirm the physical resurrection of Jesus is to deny the Christian faith.

Dr. David Jenkins, the former Bishop of Durham, caused a major national controversy in 1984 by questioning the literal, physical interpretation of the resurrection. Jenkins famously stated on a BBC broadcast that the resurrection was ‘not just a conjuring trick with bones’. He argued that the resurrection stories were a way for early Christians to express the living reality and ultimate significance of Jesus, rather than acting as strict, modern, news-like historical reports.  His appointment and views sparked intense protests, a petition signed by roughly 12,000 people called for his dismissal, and accusations of blasphemy came from traditionalists and conservative politicians. Shortly after, a lightning strike caused a fire severely damaged York Minster!

It is disturbing that some leading Churchman can openly disagree with Jesus and his apostles without there bing any consequences..

Later in Matthew some women were mourning after the execution of Jesus.  An angel then said to them:

“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”  Matthew 23:5-6

The fact of the resurrection is confirmed by the Old Testament prophecies, by what Jesus had foretold, by the evidence of the women and disciples there at the time, and by the many, over 500, who saw him after the resurrection.  Death has been defeated, only by the resurrection of Jesus..

Application

A personal appeal to Jesus by someone in need is essential.  Jairus didn't come with careful theological language; he came with the plain truth of his need. So can we.

Shame does not disqualify you from Jesus's touch. The woman came from the shadows, expecting at best a quiet healing and at worst public rebuke. She received both healing and open dignity. Don't let shame keep you at the back of the room.

No one's crisis is too small to interrupt Christ's attention, and no one's crisis is too large for his power. He gave the woman his full attention on the way to a dead girl, and then gave the girl his full power once he arrived.

Christ's authority extends beyond what looks final to us. Whatever in your life currently looks like "dead" — a relationship, a hope, a calling — is not necessarily beyond the reach of the one who can say, "not dead, but asleep," and mean it with full authority to back it up.

Closing

Matthew has spent two chapters proving one thing: this Jesus, the Son of David, has authority over every category of human brokenness — sickness, storm, demons, sin, shame, and now death itself. A woman who had been unclean for twelve years is healed with a touch. A girl who has just died is raised with a word and a hand. Whatever the crowd or the culture around you has already laughed off as hopeless, the Gospel of Matthew invites you to bring it — openly like Jairus, or quietly like the woman — to the one whose cloak, whose hand, and whose word are still more than enough.

“Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”

BVP

This article has been posted on the website www.bvpalmer.com where there are many other helpful articles and videos.

Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching, gospel centred, local church.  More details can be found on its website.  It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock

Bernard can be contacted at berniepalmer1@sky.com

Matthew 9:14-17 Not Fasting but Feasting

A member of the GB Athletics team who was in the the successful 400 meters relay squad was staying in our home.  He comes from a Christian family.  His mother told him that if he wants to receive God’s blessing when racing he ought to fast the day before a race.  Is fasting really a way to obtain God’s blessing?

Why do people fast?  Is it a means to get in God’s good books or can it be used as a means to impress others with my devotion to God?

In this passage there is a complaint against Jesus’ disciples.  They were not behaving appropriately according to what the Pharisees thought was God’s law:

“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

We are not told whether there was a national fast at the time or if they were discussing a principle.   There are really two questions here:

1. ‘Why do we, the disciples of John, and the Pharisees fast?’

2. ‘Why don’t your disciples fast?’

The way John’s disciples and the Pharisees practiced their religion was based on very different principles to those of Jesus.  The Pharisees and John’s followers fasted and mourned but Jesus’ followers seemed happy and saw no place for public mourning and fasting.  Jesus had just had a party with godless people, they were feasting whilst the religious were fasting.  It is possible that the low blood sugar levels of those fasting made them more critical and irritable!

The Context

It is important to say that fasting is not wrong.  In the Old Testament Israel had to fast only one day a year, on the Day of Atonement.  Later in the Old Testament earnest Jews fasted twice a week, specifically on Mondays and Thursdays, as a sign of mourning both for sin but also for the poor state of God’s people.  This was not wrong so long as it represented  a genuine expression of people’s innermost feelings and was not just hypocritical and done to impress.  Yet Jesus did not encourage his disciples to fast and the relevant question is, ‘Why not’.  Jesus’ teaching reveals what his listeners had failed to understand.

1. The Bridegroom is here

“Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” Matthew 9:15

On January 5th 1973 Kathleen Rosemary Knight was due to be married in St Helen’s Church Bishopsgate.  Do you think she woke up that morning excited?  This was to be her big day.  She was to be the centre of people’s interest.  She was about to marry her bridegroom - who happened to be me.

Jesus is saying to his hearers, 

‘Don’t you realise that the bridegroom is here?’

This may seem a strange analogy but those Pharisees would know what he meant.

Old Testament teaching about the Bridegroom

In the Old Testament, God (Yahweh) is frequently described as the husband or bridegroom of His people Israel, with the covenant at Mount Sinai viewed as a betrothal.  Here are some examples:

“ . . .your Maker is your husband - the Lord of hosts is his name.” Isaiah 54:5-6

“As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 62:5

“You will call me 'my husband'... I will betroth you to me forever.” Hosea 2:16-20

The entire narrative of Hosea 1–3 acts as a living metaphor of God as the faithful husband to an unfaithful bride.

Jeremiah refers to the Lord's marriage with his people during the Exodus,

“. . . my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them.” Jeremiah 31:32

Ezekiel 16:8 describes God entering into a covenant and spreading His garment over Jerusalem, swearing an oath and saying, “you became mine.”

The Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs) 

This book describes the loving relationship between a king and his bride. Ancient Jewish rabbis interpreted the book not merely as human love poetry, but as a holy allegory depicting the passionate love, courtship, and marriage covenant between Yahweh (the Bridegroom) and Israel (the Bride).  Early Christian theologians adopted this allegorical framework but shifted the focus. They interpreted the Bridegroom as the Messiah (Jesus Christ) and the Bride as the Church (or the individual believer's soul). This directly links the Song of Solomon to New Testament imagery where Christ is explicitly named as the Bridegroom.  These are some key passages from this book about the relationship God wants with his people:

“Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers.”    Song of Solomon 1:4

Allegorically, this represents God inviting Israel into the Holy of Holies or Christ drawing believers into intimate fellowship.

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." Song of Solomon 2:4

This is interpreted as the spiritual shelter, protection, and abundant provision God gives to His chosen people. 

“My beloved is mine, and I am his.”   Song of Solomon 2:16 (also 6:3)

This is viewed as the ultimate expression of the close relationship God wants with his people, and this is seen throughout scripture:

“. . .  but I gave them this command: obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” Jeremiah 7:23

This close relationship is also emphasised in Genesis 17:7, Exodus 6:7, Ezekiel 34:24, Ezekiel 36:28, Jeremiah 30:22, Jeremiah 31:33.  This is the essence of the Bible’s teaching.  A real relationship with God must be in our hearts.  The famous Jewish ‘Shema’ emphasises this.  The disaster was that in Jesus’ time the Pharisees emphasised the outward show of religion which is not what God wants.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” Deuteronomy 6:4-6

The New Testament keeps asking us,

“Have I invited the Lord Jesus into my heart to live with me there?”

This is what it means to ‘believe in him”.  Thus

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20

Exclusive devotion to him that results in a holy life are the sort of relationship that God expects between God's people and Himself. He chose us to be set apart from the world.

“Set me as a seal upon your heart . . . for love is strong as death . . . Many waters cannot quench love.” Song of Solomon 8:6-7

This symbolises the unyielding, unbreakable, and sacrificial nature of God's covenant love for His people. The New Testament frequently refers to this heavenly feast.

New Testament teaching about the Bridegroom

The New Testament writers took these exact themes of exclusive covenant intimacy and directly assigned the role of the Bridegroom to Jesus Christ.

Jesus refers to Himself as the bridegroom who is currently present with His guests. 

“Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.” Mark 2:19-20 

John the Baptist explicitly calls Jesus the Bridegroom and identifies himself merely as the ‘friend of the bridegroom.’  He said about Jesus:

“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” John 3:29

The Apostle Paul compares human marriage directly to the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:25-32). He states that Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to present her ‘splendid, without spot or wrinkle.’

In the book of Revelation the entire Biblical narrative culminates with the picture of a wedding. 

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) 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.” Revelation 19:7-9 

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” Revelation 21:2

The people of Israel were longing for the day what God would fulfil his promises and enter his world to save his people.  Matthew shows us that God has kept these promises.  The Messiah has come, sins are forgiven, the incurable are healed, his teaching resonates with the emphases of the Old Testament.  Jesus fulfils all the prophecies about the coming Messiah - he is the divine Bridegroom.

Fasting and mourning were closely associated in Jewish thinking.  Matthew links the two:

““How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?” Matthew 9:14-15

The Bridegroom is taken away

In the midst of this celebration comes a jarring concept, ‘the bridegroom will be taken away’:

“The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” Matthew 9:15

His removal and death will indeed be a time for mourning and fasting.  When a person is really sad it is hard to find an appetite.  Matthew has already told us what will happen to the Messiah by referring back to the prophet Isaiah; he will suffer and die to pay for our sin and its consequence, disease:

“He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Matthew 8:17

Isaiah said:

“For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.” Isaiah 53:8

Jesus is the bridegroom, he is the Lord God who entered the world he has made, to die for his people, his bride.  For him to save us he had to be taken away, he had to die.  At that time the celebration about his coming will be on hold for a little while.  Those who are mourning have little appetite. 

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Why did Jesus have to die?

Why didn’t God just click his fingers and sort out the mess in this world?  Why couldn’t he just say ‘You are forgiven’?.  Why did Jesus have to die?  This assumes that all God needs to do is to say a word and all can be forgotten and forgiven.  The Bible teaches that the problem is far deeper and more serious than we realise.  It goes deep into the hearts of all people and God hates the sin we commit.  In the Old Testament, the only remedy for sin was the sacrifice of a perfect lamb, its blood was the symbolic means by which sin was transferred to another.  

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22

In the New Testament the spirits occupying Legion, the man who lived among the tombs and was possessed by many spirits, had to transferred to about 2000 pigs for him to be freed.  For us to be put right with God our sin has to be paid for.  God is a God of justice.  To put the problem right, the bridegroom must be taken away and die to pay the penalty for us.  If Jesus had not done this there could never be a wedding feast.

In his second letter to the troubled church in Corinth, Paul explains that Christians are engaged to one husband.  In those days an engagement was stronger than today but a couple were not finally married until they lived together.  In a similar way we Christians do belong to Christ, we are his bride, but we also are waiting for the day of his coming in glory so we can enjoy the wedding banquet with him.

“I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:2-3

Our only hope is to remain committed to Christ.  The preparations for this marriage feast are still being made.  Our place is secure; Jesus death has paid the price for us but still the invitations need to keep going out, far and wide into this world marred by sin and its consequences.  Now we will face difficulties and pain, but the outcome for those committed to Christ is not in doubt.  This means we can and should rejoice now, even if we still have tears.  Peter could write just before he was executed:

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:6-7

Life will never be the same again

This is true for marriage.  Many changes by both will be needed if a couple are to live together in harmony.  Those who think little will change, that they can continue their old habits and live separate lives are sorely mistaken.  Something is not right.

Jesus wants his followers to understand that the old life and the new are utterly different.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:14-17

These illustrations are from a very different world but their meaning is clear.  The old and new cannot combine.  Paul emphasised the importance of this radical change when writing to the troubled Christians in Corinth:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Before Jesus came, religious life consisted of fasting, sacrifices, priests and temples.  They had missed the significance of these outward signs.  They all looked forwards to the coming of God’s Messiah, their bridegroom.  Now he has come everything must change.

1. Mercy shines, not religion

Jesus has just emphasised that this is what God primarily wants to see in his people:

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13

Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6.  This chapter from the Old Testament describes what it will mean to come back to a relationship with God.  His followers must openly acknowledge who they are following because he will certainly appear on earth:

“Come, let us return to the Lord. . . . Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.  As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

A faith that comes from God will focus first on internal changes in our thinking and priorities and not the externals such as church that are secondary.  Mercy is a characteristic of God so it will always be seen in his people, those who have his Spirit.

The Old Testament taught that sacrifice was essential if men were to approach the holy God.  Obviously the sacrifice of a sheep cannot put a person right with God.  These were symbols of the one ultimate sacrifice that Jesus would make, once for all time.  Jesus came and ‘was taken away’.  His ‘once for all time’ sacrifice means we have been completely forgiven.  We have now been given the Spirit of God to live new lives that copy him.

It is therefore silly to say that more sacrifices are needed.  Some people think that the communion service is a repeat of Christ’s sacrifice.  It is not, we ‘do this in remembrance’ of what Jesus has done ‘once for all time’:

Hebrews 7:27, 9:28, 10:10, and 10:12: These verses emphasise that Jesus offered Himself up once for all, bearing the sins of many, sanctifying believers through that single offering, and sitting down at the right hand of God.

Romans 6:10: Explains that His death was for sin once for all.

1 Peter 3:18: Notes that Christ suffered once for sins to bring us to God.

2. Temples are no longer needed

When Jesus healed the paralytic he did this to show that he was God and therefore had the power to forgive sin.

On earth the place where sin had been forgiven up to that point was in the temple where the sacrifices were offered.  If sacrifices are no longer needed for forgiveness then the temple was no longer necessary.

This was unthinkable to his hearers but Matthew tells us later that the physical temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed.  It has never been rebuilt because it is no longer necessary.

“‘Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.’” Matthew 24:2 

Christians have buildings to meet in and we are grateful for these.  However no part of our buildings are more holy than others. Some years ago we took our family to look around Rome.  Whenever I suggested visiting anew church, our son Andy would correctly remind us all that a church is not the building, it is the people who are committed to following Christ.

In the New Testament, the ‘temple’ is a word used to describe both Jesus and his people

3. Priests are now different

Earlier in Matthew (Matthew 8:4), when a leper had been healed, he was told to show himself to the priest where sin offerings would be offered.  The temple, priests and sacrifices were there to mediate between God and man.  Now the final sacrifice has been offered there is no further need for the temple of for those priests.

Jesus is described as a our eternal High Priest who offered that unique sacrifice of himself.  However all Christians are also described as being God’s priests now.  We are the intermediaries between God and the people in the world in the sense that we share with them the message about Jesus and the forgiveness he offers.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

But as priests once offered other kinds of sacrifices in the temple, the sort of sacrifices Christians who are the temple of God are to offer, are very different:

“ . . . you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5

We who were once ‘not a people’ and ‘had not received mercy’ are the people of God who serve as holy priests because of the mercy of God.

“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:10

The second thing to know about the priesthood of believers is that we are chosen for a purpose: to offer up spiritual sacrifices (cf. Hebrews 13:15–16) and to 

“. . . declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light” 1 Peter 2:9

Thus, both by life (1 Peter 2:5; Titus 2:11–14; Ephesians 2:10) and by what we say (1 Peter 2:9; 3:15), a Christian’s purpose is to serve God. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19–20) and so God has called us to serve Him with all we are. We offer our lives as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1–2). 

One day we will be serving God in eternity (Revelation 22:3–4), but not in any temple, for “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22). As the Old Testament priesthood was to be free of defilement, so has Christ made us holy positionally before the Father. He calls on us to live holy lives that we might also be a “holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5).

In summary, believers are called “a royal priesthood” as a reflection of their privileged status as heirs to the kingdom of the Almighty God and of the Lamb. When we are in Christ, our High Priest, we have a closeness to God, and no earthly mediator is necessary. As priests in God’s kingdom, we recognise that salvation is not merely “an insurance policy” but an opportunity to serve God in offering spiritual sacrifices. The royal priesthood is comprised of people “eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). As priests of the living God, we give praise to the One who sacrificed Himself on our behalf, and we share the wonderful news of this grace with others.

In view of this teaching, fasting is relatively insignificant. Our attempts to impress God with our sincerity is very insignificant with what Jesus has done for us.  The response God really wants is not religious actions but a deep-seated devotion to serving him.  This will be reflected in the way we deal with other people. Jesus said to the Pharisees:

“Go and learn what this means ‘ I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ (quoted from Hosea). “ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13

BVP

If you would like to discuss further please get in touch with me on - berniepalmer1@sky.com

My website is – www.bvpalmer.com which contains many interesting articles on a variety of subjects  

‘Christchurch Baldock’ meets at 10.30 am every Sunday in Knights Templar School, Baldock.

Matthew 6:1-18. Genuine Faith

Religious hypocrisy puts so many off the church even though we are all hypocrites to some extent.  Here Jesus warns us to be on our guard and to keep thinking who we are trying to impress.

Who is my audience?

Jesus begins this section of the sermon with words of warning:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Matthew 6:1

The motive of our actions is all important in God’s eyes and only he and we know what our motivation is. Are we doing this with my eyes on the Lord or on others.  He selects three examples that have always commonly been marks of religious life.

v. 2-4       Giving

v. 5-15     Prayer

v. 16-18.  Fasting

It is so easy to behave appropriately in order to impress others with my devotion.

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Giving

Jesus assumes his people will not be skin-flints or misers, stingy or parsimonious people who hoard money.   Again what matters is our motivation in giving.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:2-4

There were special days in Jerusalem committed to giving and this was a feature of the Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah. This day, the beginning of the Jewish civil New Year, was on the first day of the seventh month, is literally described as a ‘memorial of blowing of trumpets’ (Leviticus 23:24). In the Temple in Jerusalem, this was a day of intense sound, with both the shofar and trumpets being blown from morning to evening.The blasts served to remind the people of God's covenant, call them to repentance, and signal the start of the new year. A stone has been found at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, bearing the inscription ‘To the place of trumpeting’ and this is probably the spot where priests stood to blow the shofar to announce the start of the Sabbath and festival days. Two types of trumpets were used, the silver trumpets and the shofar, a rams horn.

It is so easy for giving to be used for ostentation.  When visiting a large ‘prosperity gospel’ church in Ethiopia the time of the collection was a major feature.  There was a large rug laid out at the front on which people could throw their offerings.  The opportunity for ostentation was enormous. Everyone could see who was donating and what they were giving.  Jesus is warning us not to make our giving self-centred, for our glory and reputation.  Our giving should be private and is meant to reflect our gratefulness to God whose service we are committed to.

It is possible for preachers and leaders of services to be giving their time and energy to glorify themselves.  One writer noted:

“The sonorous tone, the appropriate pause, the well pitched, further, the right versus quoted. All these can become tools to win the approval of others or even compete with other members of the synagogue for the respect and admiration and the approval of men.”

Our motivation must be to please our heavenly Father who sees both what we do and why we do it.  Note that those who are living for the glory of God will be rewarded by God.

Prayer

Jesus assumes that his people will be in regular communication with him.  He doesn’t say, ‘If you pray’ but says ‘when you pray”.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” Matthew 6:5

In synagogues or church meetings it is all too easy for the leader to try to impress others by their oratory and language. It is noticeable in prayer groups that some people are always the first to pray and tend to pray long prayers.  We do need good speakers in churches, we need people to start the praying but what God is asking us to consider is our motivation.  Am I using the gift he has given me for my glory or for him?  Although corporate prayer is important private prayer is even more important.  It reflects how important our relationship with god really is.

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:6

Notice how Jesus keeps emphasising that our heavenly Father knows all that we do and all that we think!

The English word ‘theatre’ is derived from the Ancient Greek word ‘theatron’ (θέατρον) which means ‘a place for viewing’. In Ancient Greece, the ‘theatron’ referred specifically to the seating section of an open-air theatre, where the audience sat to watch (or "see") performances, rather than the stage itself.  The aim of an actor is to be centre stage, to be the focus of attention.

The word hypocrite also originates from the Ancient Greek.  Their word ‘hypokritēs’ (ὑποκριτής), literally meant ‘an actor’ or ‘stage player’, ‘Hypo-‘ meaning ‘under’ or ‘beneath’ and ‘Krinein’ means ‘to decide’, or ‘to judge’.  Combined, it referred to an ‘interpreter from underneath’. In ancient Greek theatre, actors wore large, stylised masks that depicted the character they were playing and they literally ‘interpreted’ their characters from underneath them.

Jesus is saying, 

“Make sure that your Christianity is not just an act, a performance, laid on to impress others.”

We must all be clear who we are really serving.

Fasting

Fasting can be a means of showing others how ‘spiritual’ we are.  It is usually associated with mourning, mourning over our own sin and imperfections and is a sign to God to show our dependance on him.  There are many such self-disciplines in the Christian life such as setting aside time to pray and meditate on the Bible each day and joining up with other Christians regularly, whether you are in the mood or not.

All these religious activities can look as if they are directed to God but can be, to a large extent done to glorify myself.

Polphail was a village located on the west coast of the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, on the shores of Loch Fyne.  It could be seen from the road on the other side of the loch.  It was a majestic Scottish village.  It had a pub, small church and many cottages.  However if you entered the village there was nothing there, no people, just graffiti.  The village was built between 1975 and 1977, and was designed to accommodate up to 500 workers for a nearby government-funded oil platform construction yard during the 1970s North Sea oil boom. However, due to the move away from concrete oil platforms towards steel, the nearby yard never produced a single platform, and the village was never inhabited. The village sat empty for nearly 40 years, becoming a well-known "ghost village" used by street artists and artists.  Polphail was demolished by December 2016 to make way for a new development.  In the same way it is all too easy for church people to appear to be godly but for this to be an empty shell.  The test is what are we like when we are in secret, what do we think about.  The Lord knows all this and does know those who are his.

It is all too easy to have a form of religion, looks can be so impressive, but for this to be a facade.  There is no real relationship with the Lord.  What a tragedy it is to hear of well-known Christian leaders in all denominations whose disgusting private lives have later come to light.  They have had their reward, there will not be an eternal glory.  Didn’t Jesus say:

“What comes out of a person is what defiles them.For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Mark 7:20-23

Old Testament teaching about hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is repeatedly spoken against by the Old Testament prophets.  These are some examples::

“These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honour Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me”. Isaiah 29:13

“Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations -  I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.  Your hands are full of blood! “ Isaiah 1:13-15

Jeremiah 7:4-10 warns against God’s people relying on the false security of having the "Temple of the LORD" while stealing, murdering, and committing adultery.

Isaiah 58:2-7  describes people who appear to seek God daily and delight in His ways, yet continue to oppress workers and fight while fasting.

Amos 5:21-24 God expresses hatred for religious feasts and songs, demanding that "justice roll down like waters" instead.

Micah 6:6-8 contrasts the desire for lavish sacrifices with what God truly requires: "to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God".

Deuteronomy 17:1 indicates that offering blemished sacrifices is an abomination, highlighting the hypocrisy of offering God less than one's best.

New Testament teaching about hypocrisy

This theme continues throughout the New Testament.

Matthew 23:13-36  HereJesus explicitly condemns the Pharisees and teachers of the law, calling them "hypocrites" and "blind guides" who focus on appearances, neglect justice and mercy, and shut the kingdom of heaven to others.

Matthew 7:1-5, The Log and the Speck passage warns against judgmentalism, telling people to remove the ‘log’, the major fault, from their own eye before addressing the ‘speck’, the minor fault, in someone else's.

Mark 7:6-8.  Quoting Isaiah, Jesus notes that hypocrites honour God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him, preferring human traditions over God's commands.

Luke 12:1.  Jesus warns his disciples that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is like ‘leaven,’ which spreads and corrupts.

Romans 2:1-3, 21-24. Paul highlights that those who judge others for doing wrong but commit the same sins are hypocrites who come under God’s condemnation.

1 Peter 2:1 Peter here instructs believers to rid themselves of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. 

The Bible scholar, Don Carson, told of an able young man from a Christian home who, at school, was excellent at sports and was made Head Boy.  He gained a place at Harvard University to study law.  There he represented the University in two sports and was made President of the Christian Union.  After graduating he became a lawyer in a major city, got married and had a family. Soon he became an elder of his church.  He was a very gifted speaker.  However he then had a sexual affair and dropped out of the church.  His minister, when discussing the issue with don Carson said,

“I wonder if he ever was really a Christian.  Everything he did in the christian life was centred on him.  He relished the popularity his gifts gave him.  His Christian life really revolved around what satisfied him.”

Shock

This teaching was so radical.  In his day the Scribes and Pharisees were considered to be the most upright members of society, they were the religious aristocracy.  When it was time for the synagogue, they were there.  They were elected to senior positions.  They gave meticulously to the poor.  Their companies were the first to donate to charitable causes.  Their personal study of the Law and the prophets was exemplary.  They were the teachers of the Scriptures.  Yet Jesus says that their behaviour was a phoney righteousness in God’s eyes.

Jesus use of the word ‘trumpet’ is a dramatic way of showing what was wrong.  How we like to show people that we are heavily engaged in good work.  We use God’s name, yet too often ‘we use God’s name in vain’, much is really vanity.

I suspect this is a particular problem for those of us who want to be leaders.  We desperately need more leaders of God’s people yet with this ambition can come a great temptation.

In Shakespeare's play ‘Richard II’, Henry Bolingbroke knelt before the King but in his heart he was not really his servant.  He also was a hypocrite with hidden ambition that led ultimately to treacherous actions against King Richard II. Throughout the first half of the play, Bolingbroke speaks to Richard with outward deference, calling him ‘my dread sovereign’ or ‘my gracious lord’. However, this ‘service’ is shown to be a mask. After Richard unjustly banishes Bolingbroke and seizes his inheritance, Bolingbroke returns to England not just as a wronged subject, but with the intent to take the throne, effectively making his earlier loyalty a sham. When they finally meet at Flint Castle Bolingbroke kneels and claims he has come only for his rights, saying "My gracious lord, I come but for mine own". Yet, this is the very moment he is actively deposing Richard. His "service" was a political performance. Richard himself recognizes this, noting that Bolingbroke, the "horse" he used to feed, was actually his ruin. Bolingbroke's actions demonstrate that he was never truly a loyal subject in his heart, but a pragmatic leader waiting to take power.  Bolingbroke's swift move to usurp the crown confirms that his allegiance was temporary and conditional, rather than the deep-seated loyalty of a true servant.

In December 1998, while their husbands President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair held meetings, their wives Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair, visited the newly reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London to watch a performance of Henry V. The two women sat in a prominent box just at the side of the stage.  In Shakespeares day fops and showoffs would preen themselves there.  It specially designed for people who want to be seen rather than to see. The attention of the audience and the gathered press was on the two ladies.The visit was a high-profile public appearance for the two ‘first ladies’.

Jesus is saying ‘Watch out’, leadership roles can go to your head.  Unfortunately many have succumbed to worldly temptations and caused immense harm to Christ’s reputation.  Yet there have been many godly people who have, to all we can see, lived lives centred on pleasing the Lord Jesus. Great will be their reward.

We will look at the Lord’s prayer later but note how it focusses on what it means to be a Christian.  The prayer starts with ‘Our Father’. He is at centre stage, not me.  It continues, ‘You Kingdom come’, it is his Kingdom that matters, not mine.

The essence of the Kingdom of God is the relationship we each have with our heavenly Father because we have a relationship with God’s only Son.  Skin deep morality cannot earn us salvation, religious activities cannot earn us salvation.  Redemption is only given to those who genuinely live with Jesus as their Lord.  We will all fail but then we need to return to him on bended knee as soon as possible.  There is no salvation outside of the Lord Jesus.

BVP

Matthew 21:33-43. God’s Grace Demands Gratitude

Everything we have depends on God’s grace.  We have no right whatsoever to expect anything good for the way we have treated our creator.

Jesus told the following parable about some wicked tenants,

“There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country.  When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them.  Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’  And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”  They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.” Matthew 21:33-43

The religious leaders of the Jews recognised that Jesus was talking about them.  In today’s societies there are relatively few who acknowledge that all they have is a due to the grace of God

The church reformer, Martin Luther recognised that this grace was not just about material benefits but even more profoundly concerned a person’s ability to stand in the presence of a holy god.  We are dependent on grace for forgiveness of all we have done wrong.  Luther wrote early in the sixteenth century,

“Although out of pure grace God does not impute our sins to us, He nonetheless did not want to do this until complete and ample satisfaction of His law and His righteousness had been made. Since this was impossible for us, God ordained for us, in our place, One who took upon Himself all the punishment we deserve. He fulfilled the law for us. He averted the judgment of God from us and appeased God's wrath. Grace, therefore, costs us nothing, but is cost Another much to get it for us. Grace was purchased with an incalculable, infinite treasure, the Son of God Himself."

This grace demands a response of genuine gratitude.  This is the message of the whole Bible.

Adam

He was created by God ‘out of the dust of the ground’, a man is just a physical being with a limited life, yet we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).  Man was given authority to rule God’s world as his tenants.  God walked with Adam and Eve in his garden until that calamatous day when they rebelled, went independent, and decided that they would decide what is right and wrong, they ‘ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.’  Adam and Eve and their family were expelled from the presence of God, yet there was still hope when people relied on the grace of God and then lived according to his wishes.

There are two family histories given in Genesis chapters 4 and 5.  One outlines the descendents of Cain who had murdered his brother Abel.  There is no mention of God at all in this genealogy.  They were a godless line that ends with the egocentric bully, Lamech.  The other line is that of Seth.  In this we read of Enoch,

“Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” Genesis 5:24

Noah

It is surely no coincidence that Enoch’s son, Methuselah, became the oldest man who ever live.  Methuselah’s grandson was Noah:

“But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD. . . Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Genesis 6:8-9

In Noah’s day there was widespread godlessness in the people of the world:

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  So god said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.” Genesis 6:11-13

Note that the cause of the problem was man’s rejection of God, for that is the essntial meaning of ‘sin’ but this results in a great catalogue of ‘sins’, violence, theft, immorality and the like.

After the flood in which Noah and his family were rescued in the ark, God reminded Noah that his grace to mankind would still continue. When he said,

“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” Genesis 8:21

All we have, even our hope, is dependent on the grace of God, but clearly he expends, no demands a response of genuine gratitude from us.

Abram

It was God who subsequently chose a descendent of Noah’s son Seth, the father of the Semitic people, a man called Abram and told him about the grace God had for him:

“I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3

The source od this grace and blessing was God himself.  God’s blessing would also be given to others who acknowledge his rule.  The next sentence makes clear the response God expects to see,

“So Abram left, as the LORD had told him.” Genesis 12:4

Abram’s commitment to the Lord was clear for all to see.  Whenn he entered the land of Canaan he went Shechem where the Canaanites had a religious shrine, the ‘Great Tree of Moreh’.  The Lord appeared again to Abram at this site and his response was very public,

“So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” Genesis 12:7

Abram’s devotion to the one true God continued throughout his life.  When he subsequently moved to the hills east of Bethel,

“There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.” Genesis 12:8

God kept reminding Abram. Many years later,

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.  I will confirm my covenant between you and me and you will greatly increase your numbers. . . I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you . . .” Genesis 17:1-6

The problem Abram had was that his wife, Sarah, was infertile.

“Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.” Genesis 21:1

A year later the aged Sarah had a son they called Isaac, which means ‘he laughs’. Acknowledging God’s grace to us should always fill us with great joy.

BVP

Matthew 5:20-48 God Can See What We Are!

A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain, 

‘Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.’ 

‘I have a better idea," replied Twain. "You could stay in Boston and keep them.’

People have interesting ideas about what God thinks of them or how they will satisfy him but these are usually wrong.

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The Danger of Self-Righteousness

Self-righteousness is one of the most dangerous conditions known to man.  It lies in all of us and if allowed to be established is a fatal condition as it will result in us being separated from God for ever.

When we watch News at Ten or read the newspaper it is so easy to behave like Alf Garnett in the sit-com ‘Till Death Us Do Part’ who can see the faults in everyone else but never in himself.

Throughout the Sermon on the mount Jesus is emphasising the two main characteristics of those who belong to the Kingdom of god:

1. They recognise how bad they are

2. They believe in and follow Jesus, God’s only Son.

1.  Recognise how bad we are

Look at Matthew 5:6:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Those who hunger and thirst realise they have a great need.  They are starving.  Their need cannot be met from within themselves, their filling will come from outside - they will ‘be filled’.  Self-righteous people think others need filling more than them.  

After this sermon Jesus was invited to a meal in Matthew’s home to which many ‘tax collectors and sinners’ had been invited.  The Pharisees there could not understand why Jesus mixed with such tarnished, disreputable people so Jesus tells them what he has come to do:

“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.” Matthew 9:12-13

Clearly Jesus is talking about the self-righteous.  He had talked about the need for mercy which ultimately comes from seeing that I could be in their situation, but for the grace of God. Sacrifice is what I do for God and others and even these selfless actions can make me feel good and even proud!

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7

Jesus is only relevant to those who realise how spiritually sick they are.

2.  They believe in and follow Jesus, God’s only Son.

The opening theme of Jesus teaching was about himself:

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17

Jesus is God’s Messiah, His authoritative king, God’s Son.  The kingdom is his.  He has been given all power over the world and us and he longs for people to return to live under his authority so he can forgive them and put them right with God by forgiving their sin..  The self-righteous will never do this because they cannot see the need!

I remember a lady who came to the clinic because a barium enema had shown that she had a cancer of the transverse colon.  However when we met she said her symptoms had much improved so she did not want an operation.  We tried to persuade her and later the nurse tried to persuade her but she remained adamant.

“I feel alright now so I don’t need anything doing.”

Her symptoms hadn’t all gone but she felt alright.   She did have to pay for this foolishness with her life later. Just as the only way to get rid of her cancer was an operation so the only way to be right with God is to accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers us.  He alone is the Saviour of the world.

The Purpose of God’s Law

This is very important.  The purpose of God’s Law is to show us how far short we all fall of God’s holiness.  

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:17-18

God’s law, his standard of holiness, remains.  Jesus came to satisfy the requirements of the Law by becoming the ultimate sacrifice for sin that the Law demands.  What a disaster it is that God’s holy standards are not a frequent theme of church sermons today.  Only when people see how far short they fall from what God requires will we hunger for Jesus.  Notice how Jesus emphasises the need for God’s Law to be taught:

“Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:19

To teach this must be the role of church leaders, and indeed for all of us who love the Lord to be teaching others what God longs for his creation to be.

Jesus now gives six examples of how people can twist the truth about how God wants people to live.  It is all to do with living by God’s standards and not those of society, even if it is a religious society.  The Pharisees gave the impression of being a holy group of people and doubtless many felt they were righteous, but Jesus saw through their pretence.  These six sections are sandwiched between two key verses:

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

This puts the bar incredibly high.  The majority of Jesus’ listeners would have been taught by the Pharisees and teachers of the law but Jesus is saying that they have missed the point, we must be  perfect to be part of God’s kingdom because God is perfect!  The outward righteousness of the Pharisees is nowhere good enough for God.  Their system of religion, that was based on keeping the rules, allowed them to flirt with sin but at the same time appear outwardly pure.  They were not overtly wicked, they did keep the letter of the law, but they flouted the principle.  The Bible insists that God is pure and righteous so any in his Kingdom must be the same.  If God hates sin, so should we, his people.

It is easy for us to be critical of the Pharisees but the important question is ‘How pure are we?’  A recent study has shown that Christians today can also put up a semblance of godliness when all is not well.  A report was released in 2024 by 'Barna' and 'Pure Desire', a ministry for people with pornography addictions, which found that 61 percent of American Christians, who had attended services within the previous month, say they view porn at least occasionally.  This was up from 55 per cent in Barna’s 2015 survey on the topic. More women are viewing porn than in the past (44% versus 39% nine before). Church pastors also reported a personal history of using pornography (67% versus 57% nine years ago). Nearly one in five pastors say they currently struggle with porn. The report said,

“Porn consumption is no longer confined to a specific demographic or subculture. It touches all segments of society (from young to old) with no regard to gender, social status or religious beliefs.”

Yet pornography is ‘virtual prostitution’ and Christians must not toy with sin.  We must beware of a form of phoney righteousness which ticks the boxes but really ignores perfection.  It is so easy for us to say, 

‘We have the cross of Jesus as our insurance so we don’t need to bother about sinning.’

God hates all sin and has called a people to himself to be righteous.

Six examples of how people sin

Each of these six examples Jesus gives is introduced with the words, ‘You have heard it was said’ followed by an Old Testament passage.  This was how the Pharisees taught, they did use the words of Scripture but they managed to demean the holiness of God.

Isaiah had a vision of God that affected his whole life, and this understanding is what Jesus says was missing in his day:

“I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:1-5

Isn’t  this vision what we need to see today? Until people see how great and how holy the Lord God really is, people will tend to try to satisfy him with their religion and good works.  The Pharisees had their 613 rules which, if kept, they thought should satisfy God. Jesus is saying that all our efforts fall woefully short of God’s perfection.

Jesus shows the emptiness of these rules.  He stresses that nothing less than perfection can satisfy God,  Isaiah saw this and came to the conclusion:

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

The six examples are:

Murder.  v.21-26  God sees that anger is just as bad as murder

Adultery. v.27-30. God sees what we are thinking about people of the opposite sex

Divorce. v.31-32. God wants marriages between one man and one woman to be worked at

Oaths. v.33-37   God hates all lies, he is a God of truth

Retribution. v.38-42  God sees when we are treated badly by others but wants us to show his grace

Enemies v. 43-47. God wants loving others, even our enemies to be the norm

Superficial righteousness is not what God is after, our heavenly Father is pure so we must be too.  This section ends with:

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

When God spoke to the ninety-nine year old Abraham, he had the same message.

“I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” Genesis 17:1

Abraham was to be blameless because he was to walk before God, the God who is, ‘El Shaddai’, God Almighty.  Nothing has changed for God’s people!

The Fulfilment of God’s Law

Jesus said something that seems strange just before he explained how we should understand the purpose of God’s law

““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” Matthew 5:17

What did he mean by this?  It must mean that Jesus has completed their purpose, embodies their requirements, and accomplishes all prophetic predictions. He has brought the Scriptures to their intended goal and in this sense he has fulfilled them.

Understanding fulfilled by Jesus

We have seen that Jesus brought new light to understanding the Law.  The Law was meant to show our need for forgiveness and could never be the way of satisfying God.  It is tragic that there are many today who think they have achieved an acceptable standard.  They are the self-righteous.  The Bible scholar, Don Carson, has said,

“Just as the Beatitudes make ‘poverty of spirit’ a necessary condition for entry into the kingdom, so Matthew 5-7 end up by demanding a kind of righteousness which must have left Jesus’ hearers gasping in dismay and conscious of their own spiritual bankruptcy.  You cannot meditate long on Matthew 5-7 and remain unashamed. The Sermon on the Mount remains a crushing blow to self-righteousness.”

The New Testament teaches us that the Law is like a mirror, it shows us what we are really like and should lead us back to God seeking his mercy.  James, the brother of Jesus wrote:

“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.” James 1:23-25: 

Just as a mirror shows up the dirt or flaws, the law reveals areas where we fall short of God’s standard.   Paul explains that the law functions as a diagnostic tool, not as a cleaning agent.

“. . . through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20

He refers to the Law as a ‘ministry of death’ or ‘condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:7-9) that reveals the need for a greater ministry, one of grace. 

Covenant fulfilled by Jesus

Some of Jesus' critics claimed He was teaching people to ignore the law of Mose.

“When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.’” Matthew 12:2

These hostile religious leaders began to falsely say he was teaching a new or different law from what God gave to the nation of Israel and he was eventually accused of blasphemy, primarily because he claimed to be the God’s son.

"“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”At this, they picked up stones to stone him.” John 8:58–59

"Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Matthew 26:63–65

Jesus counters the lie that He is calling for the law of Moses to be ‘abolished.’ He tells those listening that he has no intention to discard the law or the Prophets. The book of Hebrews explains how God always intended the old covenant to lead to a new covenant:

“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah." Hebrews 8:6–8

This transition was not to eradicate what God has spoken, but to complete its intended purpose. As the God who gave the law to Moses and gave the prophecies to the prophets, Jesus would have no desire to wipe out those messages. Instead, Jesus declares that He has come ‘to fulfil’ them.

Everything in the Jewish Scriptures, that we now call the Old Testament. has been pointing forward to the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah. The law described a life of perfect, sinless righteousness, which no Israelite had been able to fulfil.  When Jesus arrived, he was the first and last to accomplish this. 

Sacrifices fulfilled by Jesus

In addition, the sacrificial system given to Israel by God in the law required the killing of animals, blood sacrifices, to pay for human sin. They were symbolic, effective only temporarily, and only until new sins were committed, when more blood had to be spilled. Jesus, though, as the perfect, sinless human sacrifice for sin fulfilled the need for that blood sacrifice once and for all.

 "Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Hebrews 10:11–14

Prophecies fulfilled by Jesus

Matthew also demonstrates throughout his book how Jesus' life fulfilled one prophecy about the Messiah after another. Jesus did not discard the words of these prophets; He fulfilled them with every word and action of His life.

Application

We can imagine the shock of those listening to Jesus on that mountain but Matthew wrote this to help us understand Jesus’ message.  We can go to church, recite the creeds and liturgy, join in the worship songs and look like good Christians.  We can see the imperfections in others but the question we are asked is ‘Are you really followers of Jesus?’  Jesus says to good religious people:

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20

The religious give the appearance but have no heart for pleasing God.  Look at Jesus’ examples:

Not actually murdered but is there hatred in my heart?

Not actually committed adultery but have I lusted in my imagination?

Not actually divorced but have I loved my spouse as I ought?

Have I lied and forgotten that God’s currency is truth?

Do I insist on my rights?

Jesus was willing to suffer rather than go against what is right.  There is no limit to God’s love, he even sent his Son into this world to die for us who have rebelled against him.

Our tendency is to trifle with sin but Jesus warns us that there are dire consequences if we fail to learn about the danger we are in and turn to him for help. To those who look down on others God says

“And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Matthew 5:22

To those who succumb to sexual temptations God says:

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Matthew 5:29

Jesus repeats this warning in case people do not take him seriously

“It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:30

This is serious teaching, my eternal destiny is at stake.  The issue is which family do I belong to.  There are only two choices:

1. The Kingdom of God and His Son where we live to please him out of gratefulness for the salvation he has won for us.

2. The Kingdom of this world which will lead to God’s judgment, condemnation and hell.

Our society is profoundly self-righteous.  The majority think:

“I know I’m not perfect but I am a decent enough person and better than many.  I hope god will accept me in the end.  After all, I have never knowingly done anyone any harm.”

The symptoms of being self-righteous are all to easy to see.  When we hear the news or read a paper are we pleased that we are not like them?  Isaiah began his book with a description of what God saw when he looked at his people:

“Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken:

“I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.”  Isaiah 1:1-5

The Sermon on the Mount is not an essay on ethics but a wake-up call to those who have failed to understand what God made us for.

BVP

Matthew 9:9-13 Jesus only came for Sinners

A lady in her 50’s was referred to my surgical clinic with intermittent abdominal pains.  She returned to the clinic to learn the result of a Barium enema she had recently had.  This had showed she had a carcinoma of the transverse colon.  However when there problem was explained and that she needed an operation she flatly refused.

“I don’t feel bad enough for that.  I would prefer to try ‘natural remedies’.”

My nurse and I did our best to persuade her but she was adamant.  I saw her again six months later when she was admitted with intestinal obstruction.  Her remedies had certainly not helped.

This story that Matthew shares with us makes it clear who Jesus came for - only those who see their need.

A sinner follows Jesus

Jesus had returned to Galilee and was now in Capernaum, his home town at the north end of the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus had just healed a paralysed man after first telling him that his sins had been forgiven.  After this event Jesus was walking with his disciples when he saw a taxman in his booth.

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.” Matthew 9:9

In the 1st century in Israel tax collectors were despised outcasts.  They were Jews who did the dirty work for the Romans and collected taxes for them.  They regularly overcharged, that was how they made their money, and sometimes used non-friendly means to ensure the money was paid.  It is no wonder they were a hated group of people.

Who is it that people dislike today?  In some areas it is immigrants from overseas, for some it is politicians, for others the police.  More likely it is that nasty person at work, that unkind neighbour, the loan sharks, or those fraudsters preying on others through the internet.

You can imagine what the onlookers would be thinking as they saw Jesus talking with this despised man, Matthew.  Would he tell him in no uncertain terms how despicable and disloyal his way if life was?  Jesus instead does something very different.  I suspect he smiled kindly at him before he said:

“‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” Matthew 9:9

Again we are not told what Matthew knew about Jesus but when someone of his reputation asks a person like him to join his group the appeal must have been attractive, even if costly.  He immediately  follows Jesus.

Why does Matthew insert this short biographical detail?  He has already told us about the calming of the storm, how a wild demoniac had been saved and how a paralytic had walked.  These were all very dramatic but this event seems at first sight so insignificant.  We will see that the reason for its inclusion is very important.  In chapter 8 Matthew tells us what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  They may be worldly insecurity and our priorities in life will  be different:

“Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’” Matthew 8:19-22

Matthew wants us all to understand this change in what matters most - pleasing Jesus becomes our priority because he is God.  Christians have left their old life because this is what Jesus insists on.  We now follow him.  Paul said the same:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

In the opening story of chapter 9 we learn that Jesus has the authority that only God has, to forgive a person’s sin and then enable him to walk.  Matthew records:

“Then the man got up and went home.” Matthew 9:7

When he heard Jesus call him to become one of his followers, Matthew records

“Matthew got up and followed him.”

The next event we read occurs in Matthew’s home which he uses to introduce others to his lord and Saviour.  These are not insignificant events, they are the most important event anyone can have in life.  To follow Jesus is utterly life-changing.

To be healed by Jesus of a physical infirmity must have been thrilling but then other problems will come along, they will become ill later and then have to die.  To be healed spiritually is much greater.  This benefits a person into eternity.  To have helped people surgically is a great thrill, their life can be extended and have a better quality, but again nothing matters so much as helping people spiritually so that they put their trust in him.  Christian doctors and nurses need to learn this from Jesus.

This short story is amazing.  A person who is hated by many in society is accepted by Jesus and asked to start a new life following him.  This rogue is accepted by God and empowered to life a new life.

This gospel wants us to understand that if we are following Jesus we have been forgiven all our sin and have been accepted into God’s eternal kingdom and family.

Matthew longs for his friends to meet Jesus

The first thing we read that Matthew does is to organise a meal to which he invites those friends he has.  These would undoubtedly be other tax-collectors and those respectable society had rejected.  He wants them to meet Jesus too.

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” Matthew 9:10-11

The Pharisees pointedly said ‘your teacher’, they profoundly disliked what he was teaching.  

Wanting to serve Jesus is always a mark of those who love him. Jesus said

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last . . ..This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:17

Loving people and sharing the news about Jesus is a dynamic combination.

“. . . the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father - he will testify about me.And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27

This is the Great Commission Jesus has given to us, his church:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

In the 5th chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he keeps stressing that this is a major reason we have been chosen:

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

The Messianic Banquet

In South Africa and in many countries of the world there are certain areas that no sensible person would wander into.  Even police stay away.

In Israel in Jesus’ time no respectable Jew would mix with the unholy or with Gentiles because they would become ‘unclean’. Yet these are the actions Jesus repeatedly does, he touches lepers, cares for a centurion’s servant, goes out of his way to meet a Samaritan woman and forgives an adulteress.  This is another example, Jesus accepts the invitation to  meet the ‘degenerates of society’, Matthew’s friends.

Why is this being emphasised?  To lie down and eat a meal with people is one of the best ways to show you want to associate with them.  The gift of hospitality is a prerequisite for those who are church leaders but it is the best way to help people come to Christ.  Our homes show people what we really value.  Twice in this short section we read that Jesus ‘ate with them’.

There, in Capernaum, in Matthew’s home we have a glimpse of the Messianic banquet that is frequently talked about in Scripture.  At this banquet God’s people will relax and eat in the presence of God. The Messianic banquet is a central theme in Scripture representing ultimate communion with God. It is introduced in the Old Testament as a feast of victory and is expanded in the New Testament as the heavenly wedding supper. 

Old Testament

Isaiah gives us a foundational passage that describes the Lord preparing a rich feast on Mount Zion for people of all nations who have trusted him, where He will swallow up death forever and wipe away all tears

"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.

In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:6-9

In Exodus we read that the elders of Israel ascended the mountain and saw God, and this culminated in a covenant meal together in His presence.  

"Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank." Exodus 24:9-11

New Testament

In the New Testament Jesus tells several parables about this feast:

Luke 14:15-24: Jesus tells the Parable of the Great Banquet in response to someone exclaiming, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." 

Matthew 22:1-14: The Parable of the Wedding Banquet further illustrates the kingdom of God as a celebration open to all who accept the invitation. 

Matthew 8:11: Jesus speaks of many coming from the east and west to "take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." 

Revelation 3:20: Those who respond to the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus into their life will be rewarded with Jesus dining with us.

Revelation 19:6-9: The ultimate fulfilment of this concept is described as the "wedding supper of the Lamb," where the righteous are invited to celebrate the eternal union of Christ and the Church.

The Physician’s role

Jesus mixed with all people, including the outcasts of society in order to help them.  Jesus is dining with these renegades of society, together with some disciples.  This meal might have been in the open air as some Pharisees saw what was going on:

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” Matthew 9:10-11

Remember the Pharisees were not moral baddies, that was Matthew.  The Pharisees loved the Bible, they were morally upstanding.  In contrast the tax collectors were an immoral, money grabbing, greedy people who like to rip people off.  So their question about why Jesus would want to mix with such a crowd is valid.  They were really asking:

“Don’t you realise what sort of people these are?”

The reply of Jesus is beautiful:

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Matthew 9:12

Why does Jesus reply with such an obvious answer?  In chapters 8 and 9 Jesus healed a leper, two paralytics and a woman with a high fever, that is the physically sick.  We read that people brought large numbers of ill people to Jesus to be healed.  Jesus wants us all to learn that the root problem is our sin, our wilful independence from God and the way he wants us to live.  Jesus came to deal with both our sicknesses and our sin by taking them on himself on that cross.

What does verse 12 mean by the ‘healthy’?  He is not talking about those he has healed.  He is referring to those who don’t think they need a doctor because they regard themselves as being healthy.  God sees what is in the heart of each of us.

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”   Matthew 9:13

The Christian gospel can only appeal to those who recognise the problem they have.  The ‘righteous’ are those who think they are alright but have not seen themselves as God sees them.  We all need to ask ourselves,

“Do I need Jesus?”

Many of us in British churches have a background and upbringing that means we have not done what are outwardly very bad things.  Few of us are murderers, robbers, rapists, adulterers and the like.  From the way we talk about others we often think of ourselves as having moral and social standards that are slightly above the mass of society.  It is so easy to like having Jesus and being a member of a pleasant caring church and as a result it is easy for us to think, deep down, that we do not really need him.  Yet Jesus came for us.  We are the sick, even if we can’t see this. If Jesus is not the focus of our whole lives we have a major problem.

If we think that we are alright, then Jesus has nothing for us.

Sometimes preachers will be heard saying:

“Jesus is for everyone!”

This is true but only those who see their need will respond to his love and forgiveness.  Jesus came to help the lost.  He told another tax-collector Zacchaeus, when he had a meal with him in his home precisely why he had come to earth:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

Jesus wants us all to re-examine our own hearts to see if I have this problem of which he speaks.  

We tend to divide people into two groups, the righteous and the sinners.  What is even worse is that we can regard the ‘religious’ as the righteous.  There was a church in London that had a notice over line of books which said:

“Prayer books for the religious!”

We must all be clear, there are not two categories, ‘the righteous’ and ‘the sinners’ - there is only one category - we are all in ‘the sinners’ group.  Jesus is like the specialist who can only help us if we come to him in need.

‍ ‍

Our problem

The way Jesus speaks to these Bible scholars is humiliating:

“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Matthew 9:13

Jesus is quoting from the prophet Hosea reminding us of a profound biblical principle. 

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.As with Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.” Hosea 6:5-6

The context of this prophecy is a condemnation of the nominal faith that was prevalent at that time, just as it is today.  This statement means God values genuine relationship with him which will then result in compassion, love, and a changed heart. Empty religious rituals, legalism, or forced sacrifices mean nothing to God without that underlying love for him. 

Samuel said something similar to King Saul after he had disobeyed the orders of God:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” 1 Samuel 15:22-23

This phrase highlights the core of God's character. God desires that we show kindness and love to others rather than just going through the motions of religious tradition or observing strict religious rules.  It emphasises a desire for ‘steadfast love’ (the Hebrew word hesed) and a personal relationship with Him. 

Jesus reminded the Pharisees of this passage when He was criticised for eating with outcasts and sinners. He essentially stated that mercy is meant to heal the broken, not condemn them.

The Old Testament takes the need for sacrifices very seriously.  They were necessary for forgiveness.  But a religious observance that merely kept the outward rituals, without the love for God that should be key, misses the point.  Such religion is a mere empty shell.  It may look impressive but there is no life.

This lesson is important for church-goers to hear today:

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than religious rituals.”

The character of those who are filled with God’s Spirit will demonstrate God’s character.  God defined this to Moses on Mount Sinai:

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. . . “ Exodus 34:6-7

Jesus demonstrated exactly the same grace and love of his father for repentant sinners:

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36

When the religious come to Jesus  and see how much he loves people of dubious character, will they display this same love to others?  If I have grasped that I too am a sinner and that God has shown his mercy to me, then I must also have the priority of showing this love to others.  Jesus’ followers should also be able to say”

“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”   Matthew 9:13

How do we treat those we are tempted to look down on?  How do we treat those society looks down on?  How do we treat those who have wronged us.?  Do we organise our lives so we only spend time with nice people or do we care for the spiritually sick?  The Spirit of God is seen in Jesus.  If we think like the Pharisees and think, deep down, that we are better than most, we are really saying we don’t need Jesus.  The effect of thinking this way will be that we don’t prioritise sharing the good news about Jesus with others.

The reality, however, is that we are all sick sinners who need God’s constant help.  We need Jesus.  God has called us to be very different to those around us, we are here to demonstrate his love and compassion to all so that they can be saved.

BVP

This article has been posted on the wrist www.bvpslmer.com where there are many other articles on a wide range of topics from a Christian perspective.

Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching, gospel centred, local church.  More details can be found on its website.  It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock

Bernard can be contacted at berniepalmer1@sky.com

Matthew 9:1-8 Can Jesus Forgive Sin?

The festival of Easter used to be the highlight of the year in Britain.  Now it tends to be known for its Bank holiday.

When someone receives good news such as a new job, a marriage proposal, being given an honour it is unusual not to be jubilant for a short while.  Yet the events that took place that first Easter have fantastic implications and should thrill everybody.  The crucifixion of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection means that we can be forgiven by God and accepted into his family.  This raises two issues

1.   Do I need forgiveness?

If I don’t then the message of the cross has nothing to say to me.

2.   How can I be forgiven?

Can Jesus forgive me whatever I have done and how can this forgiveness be received?

1. Do I need forgiveness?

In the previous chapter Matthew has given us snapshots about the extraordinary power of Jesus.  He is presented as God’s Promised King, his Messiah, who has power over sickness and nature.  Although God has always had supernatural power such that he can create the universe and raise the dead, he has only chosen to exhibit this power occasionally through a few of his chosen people.  Thus Moses, Elijah and Elisha performed occasional miracles as did Jesus’ apostles in the early days but no-one has ever matched the miraculous power of Jesus.  His power was to prove who he is. Beware those healers who claim to have supernatural powers todays.  Their claims, when investigated have been shown to be false and dependant on psychological manipulation and theatre.  Long term healings of organic disease such as death, amputations, paralysis, blindness and dementia are lacking.  

But what did Jesus actually come to do?  We are first given evidence for who Jesus is and now we are being told about his purpose. He primarily came to forgive our sin, to both teach us who he is as he is the only person who can forgive sin against God and then to die as the final sacrifice to pay for our sin.  Jesus told the selfish tax-collector Zacchaeus:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

Early in Mark’s record of the gospel he tells how Jesus become inundated with people wanting healing of their diseases.  He went off to pray and then told his disciples:

“Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Mark 1:38

Jesus repeatedly told his disciples why he had come to earth:

“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this . . .” Mark 8:31-32

The wonders of Matthew chapter 8 act as a trailer for what all of God’s people will experience in the next life.  It is a mistake if we think we can  claim such things now.

If Jesus is going to return in glory to establish his rule, why did he come earlier.  Matthew chapter 9 answers this.  He came so that people of all nations can be forgiven and so can become members of his kingdom.

A paralysed man is forgiven

Jesus returned to his home town of Capernaum.  He had done many miracles there and undoubtedly news about him had spread:

“Some men brought to him a paralysed man, lying on a mat.” Matthew 9:2

The crowds would know what to expect.  In the previous chapter the Centurions servant who was paralysed had been healed.  Here another man with paralysis is brought to Jesus.  It is striking how leprosy and paralysis are the healings emphasised.  They both indicate man’s helplessness and dependance signifying the problem of sin.  What Jesus said next must have stunned his listeners:

“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2

What was this all about?  Have Jesus overlooked why the man had been brought to him?  The man surely needed healing, he would love to be able to walk.

In those days sick people tended to be shunned because it was thought that sickness was the result of a person’s sin.  Jesus robustly opposed this view.  One one occasion Jesus and his disciples met a man who had been born blind:

“His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:2-3

We live in a world full of disease and natural disasters and the Bible is clear that this is the result of sin, our rebellion against God.  However we must understand this correctly.  It does not mean that an individual’s illness is usually the effect of their own sin but just that illness is the result of our corporate sin.  None of us are blameless, we have all turned away from the rule of our creator and have failed to establish a close relationship with him.  For this reason we all need to be forgive.  This paralytic was also a sinful man whose prime problem in god’s eyes is his personal sin.  What Jesus said to the man is thrilling, it was so encouraging:

“Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2

Today we all face a wide variety of pressures and problems but can so easily overlook that the deepest problem is our sin that separates us from God.  This is a constant theme of Scripture.

“There is no one righteous, not even one;there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.All have turned away . . .”   Romans 3:11-12

Have we all recognised that the greatest need we have is to be forgiven by God?

How can I be forgiven?

Jesus said that the paralysed man’s sins were forgiven but this caused a strong reaction among the religious authorities.

“At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, ‘This fellow is blaspheming!’” Matthew 9:3

Blasphemy is not just swearing but claiming to do what only God can do.  The authorities were right, only God can forgive sin against God.  Who was this man who claimed this right?  They had forgotten Psalm 2, Daniel 7 and Isiah 53, that God will have a son who will pay for our sin.

Jesus asks which is harder - to forgive or to heal?  The whole of the Old Testament shows how difficult forgiveness is.  But note that Jesus adds ‘to say’.  The issue is what can be verified.  It is easy for a priest to say someone is forgiven their sin but is that true.  Martin Luther’s 95 theses that he posted on the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg in Germany to highlight how the sale of indulgences for the forgiveness of sins was invalid.  It is very difficult to know if someone has indeed been forgiven.  In contrast, if a paralytic is told ‘Rise’, people will know straight away whether that word is effective.

Both the forgiveness of sin and the healing of a paralytic are humanly impossible, they both need god’s intervention.  Jesus wants us to grasp that he can do both.  God alone can heal the paralytic and God alone can forgive his sin.  

“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralysed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Matthew 9:6

We again see a clear demonstration of Jesus’ power.  The reason he can heal is because he has the authority to forgive sins.  Everything depends on who Jesus is, a man can only forgive sins if he is both the Son of Man and the Son of God.

In a similar way Jesus could say to the thief crucified next to him, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise’.  We know that is true because of who Jesus is and because he rose from the dead three days later.

Isn’t God in heaven?

That is how Jesus began the prayer he taught:

“Our Father in heaven . . .” Matthew 6:9-13

In Israel God’s presence on earth was symbolised by the tabernacle and then by the temple.  In this story God is in Capernaum in person.  Here is the person who can meet our deepest needs.  Jesus calls himself the temple.  When the Jewish leaders challenge His authority after He clears the temple, Jesus says, 

"Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days". John 2:19-21

The Apostle John later clarifies that Jesus was speaking about His own body.  Jesus is now the place where God and people can meet.  He has the authority to meet our deepest needs, he can forgive our sin.

How must we respond?

1. The healed man

The man’s response was immediate:

“Then the man got up and went home.” Matthew 9:7

Why was his first response to go home?  Surely he wanted his family and friends to see that he was a new man, a new creation.  Do you think he could fail to mention how he had been saved?  This is the response of all who have experience the forgiveness of our sins and the empowerment to live a new godly life, walking with Jesus.

The next story tells us how Matthew himself had become a follower of Jesus.  His immediate reaction was to long for others to understand who Jesus is and to meet him:

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.” Matthew 9:10

This is the response God wants to see in all those he calls to himself.

2.  The crowd

The effect on the crowd was dramatic:

“When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.” Matthew 9:8

When we see the effect God has had on others and the change in their lives for good, we too can be filled with a sense of awe.  Matthew says simply, ‘They praised God”, but what does this mean.  For many it meant they praised God who entered his world as Jesus.  Worship is a life turned round, a life spent all the time living for the glory of Jesus.

3.   The deniers

There always have been and always will be people who refuse to accept the claims of Jesus:

“Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?” Matthew 9:4

To call such people ‘evil’ is a strong claim but to reject God and his son and put ourselves in the centre is the height of treason against God.  We all know who is on the throne in our lives.

It is thrilling to read that many Pharisees and Scribes did change their minds and became followers of Jesus.  So today there are many Jews who have recognised that Jesus is their Messiah

In the 21st century there are many who dismiss Jesus quickly, often with superficial reasons without investigating the evidence for his claims.  Rejecting Jesus is more serious than the world thinks.  Instinctively we all recognise that that what Jesus embodies is the ideal, he is honest, loving, fair and what he says resonates with our innermost selves.  Matthew’s point is that who Jesus is is obvious to any who will take note of him.  His words, his miracles, his resurrection can all be investigated.  To refuse to take not of Jesus and to deny him is to think evil in our hearts.

The religious need forgiveness.  Can’t they see this?  There is Jesus next to them doing wonder things. What they need to do is to humbly come to him and ask for his forgiveness and help.

The centurion in the previous chapter tells us of the right response to Jesus.  Faith is bringing our needs to Jesus, whatever they are.  But remember, out greatest need that must first be addressed is our need for forgiveness.  If we come to Jesus we will find that this is utterly life-changing, but it starts with:

“Your sins are forgiven.”

This is the primary reason Jesus came into this world. Do you remember what the angel said to Joseph about the unborn Jesus at the beginning of this book?

“She will give birth to ason, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

Jesus means ‘the Lord saves’.

BVP

This article has been posted on the website www.bvpalmer.com where there are many other helpful articles and videos.

Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching gospel centred local church.  More details can be found on its website.  It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock

Bernard can be contacted at berniepalmer1@sky.com

Matthew 8:28-34 God’s Authority, accepted and refused

A battleship and was on exercises as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities. Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, 

“Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”

“Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out. 

“Steady, Captain,” the lookout replied, 

This meant they were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, 

“Signal that ship: ‘We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.’”

Back came the signal, 

“Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."

The captain said, 

“Send: ‘I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.’”

“I'm a seaman second-class,” came the reply. “You had better change course twenty degrees.” 

By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, 

“Send: ‘I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.’’"

Back came the flashing light, 

“I'm a lighthouse.”"

The battleship changed course.  It was a matter of which light had the greater authority!

This account of Jesus dealing with two very deranged men gives us a glimpse of the life of Jesus and his priorities.  It also portrays what the human heart is like and the difference Jesus can make if people are willing.

1. The world is damaged

We read of two demon-possessed men who live amongst the tombs.  It reads like a horror movie.  Today we would probably diagnose these two as having a severe form of schizophrenia, with deranged minds and severe antisocial behaviour.  Presumably they were not always like this, as babies they were probably cute and cuddly and their proud parents liked to show them off.  Then, for whatever reason - perhaps they mixed with a bad crowd or couldn’t mix with normal people - they became more and more deranged.  As people criticised them it is easy to imagine how they became even more angry and violent and this resulted in further exclusion.  What is interesting is that the two had an empathy because of their common problems so they teamed up.  Their fierce, violent and destructive behaviour were the result of evil at work, probably both in them and in their society.  

The concept of devil possession is much debated today.  The Bible clearly teaches that there is a spiritual realm.  When a child loses his temper, hurts people, says untrue, cruel things about parents and cannot relate sensibly to anyone this is surely a form of the devil’s work.  Fortunately this is usually temporary.

In Genesis chapter 3, Satan tempts Adam and Eve to disobey their creator and do what pleases them instead.  Satan is still just as active today.  If God stepped into our world today you can be certain that Satan would attack him in some way or another.  It was into this scene that Jesus came:

“When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.” Matthew 8:28

People felt powerless in the presence of these sick men.  Their society tried to cope by expelling them from their society, just as they expelled lepers or anyone else they considered unacceptable.  This doesn’t solve the problem, it just sends it elsewhere, yet in this story there is someone who can really solve it.

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2. Jesus has authority

Somehow these men recognised who Jesus really was:

“‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted.” Matthew 8:29

Shouting may be because of distance but it can also be because of anger.  When sin confronts righteousness it often results in anger.  This outburst is ironic.  The previous story is the calming of a violent storm that Jesus achieved simply by his word.  The disciples naturally asked questions about him:

“Who is this?”

Yet these two deranged men recognise who Jesus is, What led them to understand this?  Perhaps there was the usual gossip going around questioning who this gracious teacher and miracle worker was, but this was a new Gentile area, the region of the Gadarenes. Gadara was one of the cities of the Decapolis, a group of ten influential Hellenistic cities east of the Jordan River. Its ruins can be visited today at Umm Qais in Jordan. Would Jesus reputation have preceded him to this area and reached two exiled deranged men?  Certainly Satan does recognise and fears God and this may be the source of these men understanding that Jesus was indeed the ‘Son of God’.

This is not all they say - the possessed men continue:

“Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Matthew 8:29

They have recognised that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’ but they also know that he will also be the judge of all mankind, determining our eternal fate.   They know that a final judgment by God is coming.  The scene gives us a glimpse into the mouth of hell.  Those in hell will be alienated from God and all the good things he gives us.  They know that the hell they were already experiencing, ostracised by society, living in a graveyard, is little compared to what is to come for those who remain unforgiven.  There will be a judgment when we will all receive from God what they deserve because of our rebellion against God.  

If Jesus is their future judge, why had he come to visit these two?  Can the God of love help them our of their desperate plight that is the result of sin in the world.

Matthew chapter 8 centres on the authority of Jesus.  He exercises this by his words which have extraordinary power.  The paralysed centurion’s servant was healed by the word of Jesus, the terrifying storm on the sea of Galilee instantly abated at the word of Jesus.  With a word the demons were cast out of these men and entered into a large herd of pigs that were grazing nearby.

“Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.” Matthew 8:30-32

In Mark’s version of this story we read that about 2,000 pigs died (Mark 5:1-17)

Poor pigs!

Today this is a common reaction to the story, even from people who enjoy bacon for breakfast..  Why did the pigs have to die?  This part of the story is clearly meant to shock us but also to teach us an important fact.

Some people take the high moral ground in defence of pigs.  Bertrand Russell, the famous atheist philosopher in the early 20th century gave a lecture titled, ‘Why I am not a Christian’.  In this he highlighted the pig problem, saying:

“There is the instance of the Gadarene swine where it certainly was not very kind to the pigs to put devils into them and make them rush down the hill to the sea. You must remember that He was omnipotent, and He could have made the devils simply go away; but he chooses to send them into the pigs.”

The question is ‘Could he?’  We will respond to this question later.

We have seen that the region of the Gadarenes was outside of Israel.  No Jew could farm pigs as they were unclean animals.  But so were the Gentiles in Gadar and Jesus wanted to go and teach there. One lesson we must learn from this story is that the authority of Jesus extends outside of Jewish territory and extends to the whole world.  This is the message of the whole Bible.  When Solomon commissioned the temple he had built, he reminded the sons of Abraham what God’s intention has always been:

“. . . that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.” 1 Kings 8:59-60

The ‘servant king’ was not only Solomon but, as Isaiah repeatedly taught, a new Servant King was to come into the world. It is he who would lead his people eternally after giving his life to pay for their sin.  This is what Jesus was doing for these two men.

But why did the pigs have to die?  This act does confirm the seriousness of sin.  It is a destructive force and not a plaything, something to be dabbled with.  So often we like to indulge it a bit, confident that we will not go too far.  But isn’t this how most drug addicts start?  Evil is not fun.  The devil’s aim is to take hold of us and destroy us.  Jesus came for the very purpose of doing something about the sin in each of us.  This transfer of the evil spirits into the pigs certainly teaches us that a human is worth much more than a thousand pigs! 

In Marks record of this healing  one of these men said:

“My name is Legion, for we are many”. Mark 5:9

While an exact number isn't specified, because the word ‘legion’ represents an entire Roman army division.  This could range from 3,000 to 6,000 soldiers and was enough to possess a herd of about 2,000 pigs, it signifies thousands of possessing spirits.

Jesus brings hope to a world that is facing problems we cannot solve.  Nothing is beyond him.  When we face desperate problems there is someone who can help us.  No-one is beyond his reach and when we are under his protection he has given us a promise:

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

3.  The demand to leave

The news about the healing of these two men travelled fast:

“Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.” Matthew 8:33-34

Everyone must have known about these two violent men and heard how Jesus had said a word and the power of evil had left them.  Jesus had done what no mere human could do.  You would expect verse 34 to read:

“Everyone was overjoyed that this miracle had been performed in their land, that two people had been saved at Jesus’ command, and they pleaded with him to stay amongst them!”

However the opposite reaction occurred.  Matthew actually says:

“And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.” Matthew 8:34

They wanted nothing to do with this amazing righteous man who can give life to people.  Instead they reject him and demand that he leave them alone.  Isn’t this just what our society says to this same Jesus today?

Why were they so hostile?  Surely it was because of the pigs!  The pigs meant more to them than anything else.  Farming pigs was their living.  Pigs were a valuable commodity.  The people only looked at the cost and not at the benefit.

Ask people if they would like to live in a world without suffering, without evil, without disorder, without illness and death and the majority would reply, 

‘Of course I would!’  

Well, here is a man who has promised us just that.  Jesus is not a myth or fairy tale.  He really lived and many were drawn to him but they only want to be partially involved with him.  They don’t like parts of what Jesus teaches.  Yet Jesus rejects half-hearted devotion. He says that we will only be blessed by God if we start a new life, living for his world and not our own.  The Sermon on the mount started’

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6

The Christian life starts when we see our need and turn to him to be the centre of our life, when his righteousness becomes our goal.  When Jesus calls us he changes everything.  He becomes Lord of all.  We cannot have a little bit of Jesus just as he does not want a little bit of us.

Later Jesus says:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32=33 

Jesus is either all or he is nothing.  If a person comes to Jesus he will transform life, but it will be infinitely for the better.  Earlier in this chapter Jesus discussed the cost of following him:

“Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:19-22

When we follow Jesus our priorities change to his priorities.  I visited a church member who was in hospital after a major operation.  They were most unhappy, complaining about almost everything.  The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ kept being repeated.  This is understandable but he had forgotten what he was on earth for - to give glory to our Saviour.  

When Jesus was dying on the cross his concern was for the thief crucified next to him who both recognised his sin and also recognised who Jesus was.  Jesus promised him that he would soon be with him in paradise.  He was also concerned that his mother was cared for.  Such selflessness is surely the spirit of Jesus. When Paul was chained in Rome on capital charges he could still write:

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. . . . For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.” Philippians 1:21-29

Jesus’ Response

The people demanded that Jesus leave the area.  This was a blatant rebellion against their creator and Saviour.

“Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.” Matthew 8:34

What is striking is the absence of verse 35.  Where is God’s judgment at such rejection.  There were no lightning strikes, heavy hail storms or locust invasion.  There appears to be no response from Jesus at all.  Isn’t this the same today.  People reject Jesus in spite of all he has done and continues to do, and he simply walks away.  However there is a time coming when he will act in judgment.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” Matthew 25:31-33

The writer of the book to the Hebrews put this very succinctly but adds a reminder that there is one answer:

“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27-28

Let us now return to the question Bertrand Russell posed.  Could Jesus have just waved a magic wand and made evil disappear?  This passage and later passages in Matthew answer this question.  Sin is so serious that it must be paid for.  Evil cannot just evaporate into thin air.  To free those men from sin, the sin had to go somewhere. Just before this section in Matthew 8, Matthew reminded us what Isaiah had said about sin having to be paid for.  We read:

“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Matthew 8:16-17

Jesus bore the sin and its consequences on himself when he died on that cross.  What do you think Jesus felt like when the people of Gadara sent him away.  Did he have tears in his eyes?  He went there to help them and share the good news of salvation with them, and they said ’No’.

It is the same today.  The only way we can experience the forgiveness of our sin and the power to live a new godly life is to turn to Jesus for his salvation and help.

The next verse tells us what happened next.  Jesus did not waste his time with this people, they had made their decision:

“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.” Matthew 9:1

There, in Capernaum, he heals another paralysed man after pointedly first forgiving his sin, so openly claiming to be God. The religious onlookers recognised this and thought it was blasphemy.  If he is not God he could not miraculously heal the paralysed man.  If he is God he can and he alone can forgive us our sin against God.

Matthew is making the gospel very clear.  Jesus is full of love for all people from all nations and longs to be allowed to both forgive us our sin and to change us into becoming the sort of people God wants.  The decision is ours.  He alone has the authority to defeat the evil in us.  If we accept and follow Jesus we will live with him in the now and we will be with him in eternity where there is no sin or suffering.  The price for us has been paid.  The lesson is clear, sin and God cannot coexist.

BVP

This article has been posted on the website www.bvpalmer.com where there are many other helpful articles and videos.

Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching gospel centred local church.  More details can be found on its website.  It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock  

Bernard can be contacted at berniepalmer1@sky.com

Matthew 8:23-27 A Word from Jesus for the Anxious

Ernest Gordon was a captain in the 2nd Battalion of the 93 highlanders in Malaya when the Japanese descended on Singapore in World War II. By the time Singapore fell only 30 men remained out of the 1000 in the battalion.  Ernest had been shot in the shoulder.  He was captured and eventually sent to help build the 258 mile long railway through the jungles of Thailand and Burma. The prisoners of war were beaten and tortured and only given minimal portions of rice to eat.  Ernest nearly died but some friends, who were Christians. including a man called Dusty Miller sacrificially rescued him.  One Christian soldier, Angus McGillvray, gave all his own food ration to save a sick friend who did recover, but Angus then died of starvation. Dusty reminded Ernest Gordon of the Bible verse,

“My command is this.  Love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

The Christians became known for their self-sacrifice in helping others and this began to have an effect on the camp.  Ernest Gordon was not convinced that the Bible was true arguing against Dusty’s faith, asking, 

“Twenty young men are dying every day. Why doesn’t God do something, instead of just sitting on his big white throne in heaven?”  

Ernest was scared and saw no answer.

Then, one day, the wretched prisoners passed through a village where the villagers, instead of shunning them, gave them food, money and medicines.  They learned that those villagers had become Christians out of Buddhism through the influence of a missionary.  Ernest began to ponder whether there was more to Christianity than he had understood.  Then, out of the blue, an Australian sergeant asked Ernest if he would lead a Bible study with the object of finding out whether what the Bible taught was true.  To do this he had to understand what the gospels taught.  Over the following months Ernest, and many others, committed themselves to following the Lord Jesus.  The whole attitude of the camp began to change.  On Christmas Day 1943 over 2,000 men attended a Christian service.  Ernest was freed at the end of the war and later was ordained.  He wrote the best-seller ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’ describing much of what happened to him and others.  Those prisoners were terrified but God changed that.

This section in Matthew is a passage where God asks,

“What are you afraid of?”

So much of what people face in the world can be scaring.  Look at the earthquakes, the tsunamis and the devastation of war shown every day on television.  There are some who cannot even watch the news as it reminds them of what they may have to face.  When one of these problems face us we are powerless.  Some can close their minds to such disasters affecting others but then they hear of a friend or relative or themselves in whom nature has gone awry. Some rogue cells have lost control and a cancer has started or a car-driver loses control of his vehicle and it crashes into a crowd of people: such things do happen.

We try to keep out of harm’s way.  We think the best but even the some issue, such as the death of someone close to us, will remind us all too clearly of our own fragility and the precarious path we are all on.

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Matthew 8 so far

In chapters 5-7 we heard of Jesus’s authority in his teaching here it is obvious for all to see his supernatural power. In Matthew 8 we read of the remarkable authority of Jesus in action.   He healed a man of leprosy, which represents our sin, he has healed a man of paralysis simply by his word, and he has healed sickness and demon possession which were understood to be related.  It is not surprising that the crowds flock to him.  It is not difficult to fill an arena or church if you offer people what they would like to see.

However Jesus then pointed out what it really means to follow him.

“The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”   Matthew 8:20

Jesus suggests that his followers will face similar problems

“Let the dead bury their own dead”.      Matthew 8:21

Jesus wants followers whose first commitment is to him even before their family.

Such radical commands seem so foolish.  If we throw in our lot with Jesus it seems there will be even more to fear than before.  Is it really worth the risk?

The disciples face a deadly problem

The theme of discipleship is still being discussed:

“Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.” Matthew 8:23 

Jesus is leading his disciples into a tough experience. So often, in the gospels, there is a deeper meaning than the obvious.  The disciples ‘followed him’.  To follow Jesus is always to live a life of service and obedience to him.  Jesus said to his disciples elsewhere:

“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.” John 12:26

Suddenly a great storm arose.  The Sea of Galilee is notorious for such storms.  As the disciples did their best to keep the boat afloat, Jesus was fast asleep:

“Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.” Matthew 8:27

Those disciples were not casual day-trippers, they were well-trained, hardened fisherman who knew the Sea of Galilee well and yet this storm really worried them.

On 25th October 1859 it began to rain in Pembrokeshire in Wales.  By mid-afternoon the rain and wind became much heavier.  By evening the whole coast was facing a ferocious storm.  The intensity of the wind and waves increased even further during the night - they were unrelenting in their intensity.  A steamer called ‘Royal Charter’ was returning to Liverpool from the Australian goldfields with an estimated 450–460 passengers and crew and this ship was battered by a Force 12 hurricane. Her anchors snapped, and she was driven onto the rocks of Porth Alerth (near Moelfre), where she eventually broke in two.  At least 459 people perished. Many passengers, returning miners, drowned under the weight of gold in their belts and pockets. All women and children aboard died.  Only 39 people (21 passengers and 18 crew members, all men) made it to shore. The loss of the ‘Royal Charter’ sparked widespread public shock. Charles Dickens famously traveled to Anglesey to report on the catastrophe. The disaster is also historically significant because the scale of the storm (which wrecked around 200 ships in total) led to the development of the UK's first gale warning service by the Meteorology Office.

The disciples were similarly terrified, they thought they would die. But there was Jesus - fast asleep.  He was obviously not worried.  We can imagine the disciples shaking him in desperation,

“The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” Matthew 8:25

The first thing Jesus does is to ask his disciples a question.  His priority was always to teach his disciples God’s concerns and about the way he wants his people to live.  He longs for us all to know the purpose of our lives. You can imagine the disciples questioning Jesus’ priorities:

“Jesus, this is not the time for one of your riddles or a teaching session.  Can’t you see that we are in dire peril?  Can’t you see the wind and the waves?”

Jesus, however, knew what really mattered:

“He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”   Matthew 12:26

Fear

Jesus often addresses this issue of fear as it can paralyse people from living as he wants.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus has had much to say on worrying about what might happen in the future: 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? . . . So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-34

This is in line with other passages in Scripture:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” Psalm 34:4 

“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” Proverbs 29:25 

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18

The disciples problem is that they had ‘little faith’ (Matthew 8:26).  This is striking.  They had left their homes to follow Jesus and had cried out to him, ‘Save us’. They had witnessed his power. They knew he was their only hope but this knowledge was shallow, he still was not much of a hope!.  Did they really think that Jesus could do much about this terrifying storm?  Jesus responded to their fear:

“Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.” Matthew 8:26 

Whether or not the disciples understood all Jesus had said is questionable, but the winds and waves certainly did.  What a lesson - the forces of nature are under the control of God.  This is yet another a staggering display of Jesus’ authority.  The effect on the disciples should be one that everybody asks:

“The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” Matthew 8:27

Who is Jesus?

No mere man could do such a miracle.  Mere humans are powerless in such a situation, but not Jesus.  He was much more than a man.  Can you imagine the discussion later when the disciples sought out an answer to their own question, ‘What kind of man is this?’ (Matthew 8:27)

When the world was created, God said to the land and seas. It is a recurrent theme in Scripture that God only has to say a word for things to happen:

“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:9-10

God told the waters where it was to go and they obeyed.  On the Sea of Galilee, God told the waters what to do and they again obeyed.

Psalm 107 describes the plight of four groups of people.  The first group were lost in a wilderness, another were chained in a prison dungeon, the third group were rebels and suffering as a result and the fourth group were sailors on a turbulent sea.  Each group recognised that they desperately needed the Lord’s help.  Four times in this psalm we read:

“Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” Psalm 107:6, 13, 19, 28

The wording of the fourth group parallels what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples then and ourselves now.  We will similarly face all sorts of problems in life but the remedy is always to turn back to God and trust him.  This psalm reads:

“Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters.They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away.They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.He stilled the storm to a whisper: the waves of the sea were hushed.

They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.”   Psalm 107:23-31

We will all face storms in life - it is the Lord God and we alone can trust  and now we are asked by Jesus to trust him in the same way.  If Jesus is the embodiment of God then all that is needed to bring nature back under control is his word.

The disciples are being taught that if they believe Jesus to be God’s eternal king then they need not be afraid.  Clearly a mere life-threatening storm could never threaten God’s son, his Messiah, his chosen king, who not only created the universe but has authority over it.  The Bible contains several direct references that attribute the creation of the earth and the universe to Jesus:

“. . . but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”  Hebrews 1:2

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:16

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3

If the disciples were trusting Jesus, they would know that there is no safer place to be than alongside Jesus.  Matthew recorded this account for us so we can learn the same lesson.

An important question is whether we accept that this story is true. It is recorded by all three synoptic gospel writers.  Do we believe that there was life-threatening storm in full force on Galilee and that Jesus stood up and said, ‘Peace, be still’.  Were the disciples subsequently convinced enough to give their lives in the service of Jesus?  The next question then is ‘Are we  convinced?’

If we believe this about Jesus it will transform our lives. This story has a practical spiritual message too.  All around us are people who are terrified about what the world is or might throw at them.  Jesus is not promising us an easy life, plain sailing.  Storms will come, health concerns, strained relationships at home, in church and at work.  There will be opposition - if we take following Jesus seriously.  Such problems can seem overwhelming and beyond our control but Jesus remains in control.  He wants us to trust him and follow him wherever this leads.  Nothing threatens him.

This is why we pray.  God may not seem to do what we ask for but he has a plan that is more important in mind.  Jesus came to earth to do God’s work and to save a people for himself, and even a life-threatening storm is powerless to prevent his completing what he came to complete.  The same should be true for us.

Today Jesus is still gathering his own people, training them, bringing them safely home and nothing will prevent this.  All of us can be included.  The only thing that prevents our inclusion is our refusal to align ourselves with him.

BVP

Matthew 8:14-22. Jesus Challenges Us

Our hospitals are full, our wards are full, Casualty waiting times are far too long and now the corridors are full.  The reason is simple, there are too many patients and too many are going to the hospitals.  In Jesus’ time there were hardly any hospitals and healthcare was limited.  The ‘Basileias’ was an ancient multi-functional philanthropic and monastic institution in Caesarea Mazaka in Cappadocia, founded in the late fourth century by Basil of Caesarea, after whom it was named. It may have been the first hospital that provided comprehensive services to the wider public in one place, marking a major advance in medical care.

The United Kingdom allocates approximately 11.4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to total health expenditure, compared to 2.3% to 2.4% of GDP spent on defence and the armed forces. Over the long term, these two figures have shifted significantly. In the mid-1950s, the UK spent around 7.6% of its GDP on defence and just 2.8% on health. Today, health has become the largest single item of public expenditure.

We are pouring money into the black hole of health services but it is still and never will be enough.  Yet all too often we face further seemingly impossible problems.  Alzheimer's and similar forms of dementia are definitively on the rise in the UK. Driven by an ageing population and better diagnosis, dementia is currently the leading cause of death in the UK, accounting for roughly 1 in 10 deaths. It now claims more lives that heart disease and strokes.  More than 980,000 people are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK today.  This figure is expected to rise to approximately 1.4 million people by 2040.

We long for someone to do something but no-one seems to be able to help us.

Peter’s mother-in-law has a high fever

Such a scene of hopelessness has always been present.  Matthew now records a typical problem:

“When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.” Matthew 8:14-15 

Malaria was endemic to the marshy regions near the Sea of Galilee (where Capernaum was located) so this was a possible cause.  Because a high fever (referred to as a ‘burning fever’ in the original Greek) was often a debilitating and potentially fatal condition in the ancient world, the sudden nature of the healing underscores the miraculous nature of this healing.  What Matthew wants us all to learn is that when a person has been healed by Jesus a response of living for him is always required. Matthew adds:

“. . . and she got up and began to wait on him.” Matthew 8:14

In the Sermon on the Mount, described in the previous three chapters, Jesus taught the people with ‘great authority’.  In chapter 8 this authority is shown in practice with Jesus preforming supernatural miracles, a man with leprosy is healed both physically and spiritually, the paralysed centurion’s servant was was healed when the Roman centurion trusted in Jesus.  The centurion knew that it is the Word of God that matters:

“But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8

Here Peter’s mother-in law was healed of a dangerously high fever.  Note also that Peter was married as most men in those days were.

Many demon possessed came to Jesus

As so often happens, news spreads fast:

“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” Matthew 8:16

This sounds strange to our ears but in those days they associated illness with the power of Satan.  Kyphoscoliosis is a disease of the spine yet Dr Luke writes that she had been ‘crippled by a spirit’:

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” Luke 13:10-13

The wording Jesus used is interesting, he suggests she has been ‘bound by Satan’ and that he is freeing her.

There were many witnesses to these remarkable miracles.  How different this is to modern healers who are extremely reticent to reveal their longterm results to public scrutiny.  When this has been done the results are a great disappointment. Doctors and medical researchers analysing the results of spiritual healers generally find that, while they can provide psychosocial comfort or help relieve mild psychological distress, their objective efficacy is poor. Clinical trials and reviews show a lack of measurable, verifiable cures for physical and severe mental illnesses.  

Yet even Jesus’ enemies accepted that he was performing verifiable miracles.  Thus the raising of Lazarus back to life after he had been in a tomb for 4 days was an astounding miracle that convinced many. Here was someone who entered our world who can make such a difference to what can blight our lives.  

Ernest Gordon’s book, ‘Miracle on the River Kwai’ is a remarkable true story of what happened to prisoners of war held by the Japanese in the Second World War who became followers of Jesus after reading the Bible together.

This teaching about the power of Jesus should give rise to important questions.  To what extent should we expect to see the same power demonstrated today?  Jesus performed these extraordinary miracles to prove that he was the Messiah.  For some years the apostles did perform some miracles but never to the extent or degree of Jesus.  It is noticeable that in none of the later New Testament letters written after the ones to the troubled church at Corinth are miracles ever mentioned.

Can we expect Christians to suffer and die today?  As we read on in Matthews account, answers are given.  Even Jesus, the Son of God, suffered and died but then he rose again.  This is what will happen to those who are in Christ.  Christians may suffer and we will die but those who belong to Christ will have a glorious future with God.  The apostles all suffered and they all died; at least eleven of them were killed, either executed by the authorities and slain by mobs.  Jesus has promised that such people who serve him will be honoured by God:

“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.”   John 12:25-26

Matthew wants us to understand why Jesus can do what no-one else can do.  His death to pay for sin can open the door to a new perfect world.  Matthew teaches that the Old Testament Scriptures looked forward to God’s King, His Messiah, coming into his world.  He will be obvious.  He will open the eyes of the blind, the lame will walk.

The prophet Isaiah, teaching around 720 BC says that the Messiah will take our sicknesses but then goes on to say that he does this by paying the price for our sin:

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 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.” Isaiah 53:4-5

Some translations use the word ‘sickness’ instead of ‘suffering’.  However Isaiah 53 is all about the death of the Messiah and what this will achieve.  Why does Matthew point us to this verse and not others that foretell his miracles more obviously.  He knew what he was doing.  Sin is the ultimate cause of sickness.  There will be no sickness or death in heaven.  We suffer as humanity because humanity has rejected the rule of God.  This is why we will all die.  Our world is under God’s judgment.  In Isaiah 53 the cross is central, it is there that everything was potentially put right.  Sin, sickness and Satan were there condemned.

Matthew wants to ask us all one vital question:

“Will you follow and serve God’s Messiah?”

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Many people were following Jesus, probably because they were impressed by the miracles but for some it may have been his teaching ‘with authority’.

“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” John 2:23-25

When large crowds sought Him out after the miracle of feeding the 5,000, Jesus explicitly exposed their self-serving motivations. He knew they were following Him for physical comfort and free food rather than spiritual truth.

“Jesus answered, 'Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.’”  John 6:2

Have you noticed how much easier it is to attach people to church events when free food is offered?

Matthew here highlights two issues that prevent true discipleship.

Comfort

A Scribe approaches Jesus and he sounds so positive. 

“Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” Matthew 8:19-20

Jesus relatedly asks us to count the cost before turning to serve him.  What did this Scribe think following Jesus would mean.  Did he think he was joining a political band-wagon that would result in glory in this life?  

This is the first of many times in Matthew that the title ‘Son of Man’ is used.  It comes fro a prophecy in Daniel when a glorious figure, the ‘Son of Man’ is led into the presence of Almighty God and is then worshipped as God:

““In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14

Jesus is saying:

“That person, that ‘Son of Man’ is me!”

Yet this divine human being will have nowhere to lay his head, he will suffer and die.  The birds are better off - are you still willing to follow me? If you are I will accept you into my eternal kingdom.

What do we think following Jesus will be like.  We must be clear that he will nt bring us comfort and ease, earthly security, riches and respect.  This is so counterintuitive.  Politicians appeal to us by promising benefits in this life, Jesus does the opposite. He wants his followers to focus on the next life.  If we are never uncomfortable in our lives because we are following him we should question who we are really following.

Commitment

“Another disciple said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’” Matthew 8:21

It could mean that this man’s father had just died but in those days, because of the temperatures in Israel the dead were buried on the day they died.  It is therefore probable that he ants to go and look after his elderly father until he dies.

“But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’” Matthew 8:22

Procrastination is a dangerous road to go down.  It usually means that nothing is done.  When Joshua was making his final appeal to the Israelites after they had invaded the Promised Land and asked them to decide who is to be in charge of their lives:

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15

When we hear God speak to our consciences, determine to act straight away.  Determine to seek and follow the truth from now on.  Jesus said this person, just as he says to all of us:

“Follow me.” Matthew 8:22

What did Jesus mean by saying:

“. . . and let the dead bury their own dead.’” Matthew 8:22

Obviously the physical dead cannot bury others.  Jesus, as he often does is speaking spiritually.  He is emphasising that people are either alive or dead spiritually.  We are either in the light or in the dark, we are either sheep or goats, wheat or tares.  In God’s eyes there is no third alternative, the are no ‘Don’t knows’.  We have all made a decision about who rules and God knows what decision we have made.  Jesus is reminding us that to be alive in him by trusting what he says and following what he teaches is what matters.

Obviously Jesus is not saying, ‘Don’t attend your parents funeral’ or ‘Don’t care for you elderly parents.’  These remain priorities for God’s people but we do such things in our service of Christ.

Notice that this apparent disciple address Jesus as ‘Lord’ yet he wanted to follow his own priorities.  Jesus wants him to recognise that that he is Lord of all and that this is why all must follow and serve him.

Today it is so often family pressure that prevents people from following Jesus wholeheartedly.  Parents don’t want their children to give everything to Christ. 

C. T. Studd (1860-1931) was raised in a privileged family.  His father had become a Christian during a Mission led by D.L.Moody.  He went to Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.  He captained the university at cricket and became an opening batsman for England.  He also became a Christian and gave all his wealth and comforts to Christ to fulfil the Great Commission. The English cricket star turned missionary believed, 

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him”. 

This core conviction drove him to live radically. His biography ‘C.T.Studd’ by Norman Grubb is inspiring and well worth reading.

esus has the authority of God not just to heal but to call people to wholeheartedly follow him.  He never tries to trick us by putting the difficult bits in very small print.  He calls us to count the cost.

In Luke 14, Jesus lays out the terms of discipleship. There were great crowds following Him. Everyone loved the miracles, healing, and free food. Jesus was cool, the talk of the town, and the latest star. But He knew their hearts. He knew they desired the benefits of what He did rather than an understanding of who He was. They loved His gifts, not the life He was calling them to. So He explained what it takes to be one of His followers:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26-33

Jesus said a lot in those simple illustrations. He quickly put an end to the idea that He offered some kind of welfare program. The gift of eternal life is free to anyone who asks:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

However this belief requires a transfer of ownership:

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24

‘Counting the cost’ means recognising and agreeing to God’s terms first. In following Christ, we can no longer simply follow our own inclinations. We cannot follow Him and the world’s way at the same time.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

Following Him may mean we lose relationships, dreams, material things, or even our lives but no-one will lose out in the long run - in eternity.

Those who are following Jesus simply for what they can get out of it won’t remain involved when the going gets tough. When God’s way conflicts with our way, if we have not counted the cost of being his servant, we will turn away at the threat of sacrifice and find something else to gratify our selfish desires.  He repeats this warning in the parable of the sower:

“Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.” Mark 4:16-17

In Jesus’ earthly ministry, there came a time when the free food stopped and public opinion turned ugly. The cheering crowds became jeering crowds. And Jesus knew ahead of time that would happen.

Jesus ended His description of the cost of discipleship with a breathtaking statement: 

“Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33

‘Renouncing’ may mean we give up something physically, but more often it means we let go emotionally so that what we possess no longer possesses us. When we become one of His, we cannot continue to belong to this world:

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, butwhoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

We must make a choice, for we cannot serve both God and Mammon, the is the World

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24

Matthew 8 teaches us that Jesus has astonishing authority that he uses for ur benefit.  He can put right all that is going wrong, there is no-one else who an do this.

This is very challenging but could the refusal to take what Jesus says seriously be the reason why so many churches are so weak today.  Rituals and lively praise cannot change people’s hearts, what we need is to hear the word of God and determine to obey it from now on.  Jesus went all the way, willingly, to die on that cross for each of us.  His love is greater that we can ever understand. He has our best interests at heart when he took our sin, our illnesses and gave us the hope of eternity.

What a wonderful king he is, he can put us right with God and then empower us, by empowering us with his Holy Spirit, to live as his servants in his world.

BVP

If you would like to discuss further, please get in touch with me on - berniepalmer1@sky.com

This website, www.bvpalmer.com, contains many interesting articles on a variety of important subjects, as well as videos and details of my books . 

‘Christchurch Baldock’ meets at 10.30 am every Sunday in Knights Templar School, Baldock.

Matthew 8:28-34 God’s Authority, accepted and refused

A battleship and was on exercises as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities. Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, 

“Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”
“Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.  “Steady, Captain,” the lookout replied, 

This meant they were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, 

“Signal that ship: ‘We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.’”

Back came the signal, 

“Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."

The captain said, 

“Send: ‘I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.’”

“I'm a seaman second-class,” came the reply. “You had better change course twenty degrees.” 

By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, 

“Send: ‘I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.’’"

Back came the flashing light, 

“I'm a lighthouse.”"

The battleship changed course!  It was a matter of which light had the greater authority!

This account of Jesus dealing with two very deranged men gives us a glimpse of the life of Jesus and his priorities.  It also portrays what the human heart is like and the difference Jesus can make if people are willing.

1.  The world is damaged

We read of two demon-possessed men who live amongst the tombs.  It reads like a horror movie.  Today we would probably diagnose these two as having a severe form of schizophrenia, with deranged minds and severe antisocial behaviour.  Presumably they were not always like this, as babies they were probably cute and cuddly and their proud parents liked to show them off.  Then, for whatever reason - perhaps they mixed with a bad crowd or couldn’t mix with normal people - they became more and more deranged.  As people criticised them it is easy to imagine how they became even more angry and violent and this resulted in further exclusion.  What is interesting is that the two had an empathy because of their common problems so they teamed up.  Their fierce, violent and destructive behaviour were the result of evil at work, probably both in them and in their society.  

The concept of devil possession is much debated today.  The Bible clearly teaches that there is a spiritual realm.  When a child loses his temper, hurts people, says untrue, cruel things about parents and cannot relate sensibly to anyone this is surely a form of the devil’s work.  Fortunately this is usually temporary.

In Genesis chapter 3, Satan tempts Adam and Eve to disobey their creator and do what pleases them instead.  Satan is still just as active today.  If God stepped into our world today you can be certain that Satan would attack him in some way or another.  It was into this scene that Jesus came:

“When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.” Matthew 8:28

People felt powerless in the presence of these sick men.  Their society tried to cope by expelling them from their society, just as they expelled lepers or anyone else they considered unacceptable.  This doesn’t solve the problem, it just sends it elsewhere, yet in this story there is someone who can really solve it.

2. Jesus has authority

Somehow these men recognised who Jesus really was:

“‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted.” Matthew 8:29

Shouting may be because of distance but it can also be because of anger.  When sin confronts righteousness it often results in anger.  This outburst is ironic.  The previous story is the calming of a violent storm that Jesus achieved simply by his word.  The disciples naturally asked questions about him:

“Who is this?”

Yet these two deranged men recognise who Jesus is, What led them to understand this?  Perhaps there was the usual gossip going around questioning who this gracious teacher and miracle worker was, but this was a new Gentile area, the region of the Gadarenes. Gadara was one of the cities of the Decapolis, a group of ten influential Hellenistic cities east of the Jordan River. Its ruins can be visited today at Umm Qais in Jordan. Would Jesus reputation have preceded him to this area and reached two exiled deranged men?  Certainly Satan does recognise and fears God and this may be the source of these men understanding that Jesus was indeed the ‘Son of God’.

This is not all they say - the possessed men continue:

“Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Matthew 8:29

They have recognised that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’ but they also know that he will also be the judge of all mankind, determining our eternal fate.   They know that a final judgment by God is coming.  The scene gives us a glimpse into the mouth of hell.  Those in hell will be alienated from God and all the good things he gives us.  They know that the hell they were already experiencing, ostracised by society, living in a graveyard, is little compared to what is to come for those who remain unforgiven.  There will be a judgment when we will all receive from God what they deserve because of our rebellion against God.  

If Jesus is their future judge, why had he come to visit these two?  Can the God of love help them our of their desperate plight that is the result of sin in the world.

Matthew chapter 8 centres on the authority of Jesus.  He exercises this by his words which have extraordinary power.  The paralysed centurion’s servant was healed by the word of Jesus, the terrifying storm on the sea of Galilee instantly abated at the word of Jesus.  With a word the demons were cast out of these men and entered into a large herd of pigs that were grazing nearby.

“Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.” Matthew 8:30-32

In Mark’s version of this story we read that about 2,000 pigs died (Mark 5:1-17)

Poor pigs!

Today this is a common reaction to the story, even from people who enjoy bacon for breakfast..  Why did the pigs have to die?  This part of the story is clearly meant to shock us but also to teach us an important fact.

Some people take the high moral ground in defence of pigs.  Bertrand Russell, the famous atheist philosopher in the early 20th century gave a lecture titled, ‘Why I am not a Christian’.  In this he highlighted the pig problem, saying:

“There is the instance of the Gadarene swine where it certainly was not very kind to the pigs to put devils into them and make them rush down the hill to the sea. You must remember that He was omnipotent, and He could have made the devils simply go away; but he chooses to send them into the pigs.”

The question is ‘Could he?’  We will respond to this question later.

We have seen that the region of the Gadarenes was outside of Israel.  No Jew could farm pigs as they were unclean animals.  But so were the Gentiles in Gadar and Jesus wanted to go and teach there. One lesson we must learn from this story is that the authority of Jesus extends outside of Jewish territory and extends to the whole world.  This is the message of the whole Bible.  When Solomon commissioned the temple he had built, he reminded the sons of Abraham what God’s intention has always been:

“. . . that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.” 1 Kings 8:59-60

The ‘servant king’ was not only Solomon but, as Isaiah repeatedly taught, a new Servant King was to come into the world. It is he who would lead his people eternally after giving his life to pay for their sin.  This is what Jesus was doing for these two men.

But why did the pigs have to die.  This act does confirm the seriousness of sin.  It is a destructive force and not a plaything, something to be dabbled with.  So often we like to indulge it a bit, confident that we will not go too far.  But isn’t this how most drug addicts start?  Evil is not fun.  The devil’s aim is to take hold of us and destroy us.  Jesus came for the very purpose of doing something about the sin in each of us.  This transfer of the evil spirits into the pigs certainly teaches us that a human is worth much more than a thousand pigs! 

In Marks record of this healing  one of these men said:

“My name is Legion, for we are many”. Mark 5:9

While an exact number isn't specified, because the word ‘legion’ represents an entire Roman army division.  This could range from 3,000 to 6,000 soldiers and was enough to possess a herd of about 2,000 pigs, it signifies thousands of possessing spirits.

Jesus brings hope to a world that is facing problems we cannot solve.  Nothing is beyond him.  When we face desperate problems there is someone who can help us.  No-one is beyond his reach and when we are under his protection he has given us a promise:

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

3.  The demand to leave

The news about the healing of these two men travelled fast:

“Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.” Matthew 8:33-34

Everyone must have known about these two violent men and heard how Jesus had said a word and the power of evil had left them.  Jesus had done what no mere human could do.  You would expect verse 34 to read:

“Everyone was overjoyed that this miracle had been performed in their land, that two people had been saved at Jesus’ command, and they pleaded with him to stay amongst them!”

However the opposite reaction occurred.  Matthew actually says:

“And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.” Matthew 8:34

They wanted nothing to do with this amazing righteous man who can give life to people.  Instead they reject him and demand that he leave them alone.  Isn’t this just what our society says to this same Jesus today?

Why were they so hostile?  Surely it was because of the pigs!  The pigs meant more to them than anything else.  Farming pigs was their living.  Pigs were a valuable commodity.  The people only looked at the cost and not at the benefit.

Ask people if they would like to live in a world without suffering, without evil, without disorder, without illness and death and the majority would reply, 

‘Of course I would!’  

Well, here is a man who has promised us just that.  Jesus is not a myth or fairy tale.  He really lived and many were drawn to him but they only want to be partially involved with him.  They don’t like parts of what Jesus teaches.  Yet Jesus rejects half-hearted devotion. He says that we will only be blessed by God if we start a new life, living for his world and not our own.  The Sermon on the mount started’

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6

The Christian life starts when we see our need and turn to him to be the centre of our life, when his righteousness becomes our goal.  When Jesus calls us he changes everything.  He becomes Lord of all.  We cannot have a little bit of Jesus just as he does not want a little bit of us.

Later Jesus says:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32=33 

Jesus is either all or he is nothing.  If a person comes to Jesus he will transform life, but it will be infinitely for the better.  Earlier in this chapter Jesus discussed the cost of following him:

“Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:19-22

When we follow Jesus our priorities change to his priorities.  I visited a church member who was in hospital after a major operation.  They were most unhappy, complaining about almost everything.  The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ kept being repeated.  This is understandable but he had forgotten what he was on earth for - to give glory to our Saviour.  

When Jesus was dying on the cross his concern was for the thief crucified next to him who both recognised his sin and also recognised who Jesus was.  Jesus promised him that he would soon be with him in paradise.  He was also concerned that his mother was cared for.  Such selflessness is surely the spirit of Jesus. When Paul was chained in Rome on capital charges he could still write:

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. . . . For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.” Philippians 1:21-29

Jesus’ Response

The people demanded that Jesus leave the area.  This was a blatant rebellion against their creator and Saviour.

“Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.” Matthew 8:34

What is striking is the absence of verse 35.  Where is God’s judgment at such rejection.  There were no lightning strikes, heavy hail storms or locust invasion.  There appears to be no response from Jesus at all.  Isn’t this the same today.  People reject Jesus in spite of all he has done and continues to do, and he simply walks away.  However there is a time coming when he will act in judgment.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” Matthew 25:31-33

The writer of the book to the Hebrews put this very succinctly but adds a reminder that there is one answer:

“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27-28

Let us now return to the question Bertrand Russell posed.  Could Jesus have just waved a magic wand and made evil disappear?  This passage and later passages in Matthew answer this question.  Sin is so serious that it must be paid for.  Evil cannot just evaporate into thin air.  To free those men from sin, the sin had to go somewhere. Just before this section in Matthew 8, Matthew reminded us what Isaiah had said about sin having to be paid for.  We read:

“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Matthew 8:16-17

Jesus bore the sin and its consequences on himself when he died on that cross.  What do you think Jesus felt like when the people of Gadara sent him away.  Did he have tears in his eyes?  He went there to help them and share the good news of salvation with them, and they said ’No’.

It is the same today.  The only way we can experience the forgiveness of our sin and the power to live a new godly life is to turn to Jesus for his salvation and help.

The next verse tells us what happened next.  Jesus did not waste his time with this people, they had made their decision:

“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.” Matthew 9:1

There, in Capernaum, he heals another paralysed man after pointedly first forgiving his sin, so openly claiming to be God. The religious onlookers recognised this and thought it was blasphemy.  If he is not God he could not miraculously heal the paralysed man.  If he is God he can and he alone can forgive us our sin against God.

Matthew is making the Christian gospel very clear.  Jesus is full of love for all people from all nations and longs to be allowed to both forgive us our sin and to change us into becoming the sort of people God wants.  The decision is ours.  He alone has the authority to defeat the evil in us.  If we accept and follow Jesus we will live with him in the now and we will be with him in eternity where there is no sin or suffering.  The price for us has been paid.  The lesson is clear, sin and God cannot coexist.

BVP

Matthew 8:5-13 A Word of Authority

Have you noticed how many Welsh people are particularly proud to be Welsh?  Nigel Owens the retired international rugby referee published an article entitled ‘What it means being Welsh to me.’  He described what he thought the Welsh can take pride in:

“The language, our humour, our caring natures, our togetherness, our awe-inspiring sense of community, our anthem, our flag, our heritage and our passion.”

He could also have added ‘our Welsh cakes, our rugby and our leeks’.  The leeks are traditionally associated with St. David who was the bishop of the area who advised their soldiers to wear leeks as a means of identification.  Hide died in 589AD.   

He and his monks followed an extremely strict, austere routine. They refrained from eating meat or drinking beer, and ploughed fields by hand rather than using oxen.  He was a highly active missionary, founding an estimated 12 monasteries across Wales, southwest England, and Brittany, including the monastery on the River Alun that is now the site of St Davids Cathedral.   In his final sermon before his death, he urged his followers with these iconic words: 

“Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things you have seen me do.”

What are the features of a Christian?  Matthew describes these in the remarkable encounter of a Roman centurion who came to Jesus for help.  He is a most unlikely Christian as he was not from Israel, he represented Israel’s enemy.  Simply put, he was an outsider.  To Jesus’ listeners this must have come as a great shock.  This story is surely included because demonstrates the four marks of a true saving faith, the sort of faith that God is looking for in us.

1. He has a need

The centurion’s servant had a severe problem.  Paralysis associated with severe pain suggests that he may have had a fall and broken his back or have an infection that compresses the spinal cord.  Everybody knew then, as they know today, that paralysis due to a damaged spinal cord is incurable.  This centurion obviously cared for his servant and went out of his way to try and help him.

“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly.’” Matthew 8:5-6

No details are given, all we know is that the problem was serious.

There are many today who think that they don’t have any real problems, they and their family don’t have health or other issues.  They are swimming happily through life so they think they do not need Jesus.  The Pharisees could not understand why Jesus tried to help non-religious people.  In the next chapter we read::

“When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.’      Matthew 9:11-12

There are those who recognise the value of trying to help the down and out, the drug addicts, those suffering from domestic abuse and the like.  They know this is helpful to society and is up-lifting.  However Matthew wants us all to learn that a true saving faith only starts when we recognise the real need we all have in our relationship with our creator.

Physical health checks are on offer widely today to try to pick up problems before they become too advanced.  Surely, we need to encourage everybody to have a spiritual heath check, to examine our motives, ambitions and loves to check whether we have a problem.  Remember how Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6

It is only those who have a real spiritual need that Jesus will help.

2.  He admits his own unworthiness

When a person wants the help of an expert they will often think of ways to demonstrate how worthy they are to be helped. They will often say, ‘We deserve it because . . .” or ‘My friends are  . . .” or ‘What can I give you in return?’.  So much of life works on a ‘Quid pro quo’ basis.  This literally means ‘Something for something’.

Why should Jesus help this centurion - he was part of the occupying army?  Jesus asks him a question:

“Shall I come and heal him?” Matthew 8:7

Asking questions is by far the best way to understand other people.  The reply was not one that would be expected, the centurion comes to Jesus with these humbling words:

“Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.” Matthew 8:8

These words are striking.  Most of us would leap at the opportunity of going to a successful man’s home and enjoying his hospitality.  It would also be a great privilege for the centurion to have a famous person, such a s Jesus, visit his home.  Society gives medals and awards to those it deems to have deserved them through their service.  This centurion’s need and his understanding are much deeper that such superficial niceties.  There was no pretence in him, he simply wanted help and he knew that Jesus could do the impossible.

3.  He recognises Jesus’ authority

He starts the conversation with Jesus using the words:

“Lord, my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly.”

Perhaps he had heard Jesus miracles and teaching, what he had said about who he is, or possibly he had heard of the other remarkable miracles Jesus had performed.  He recognised the authority of Jesus as coming from God and came with a plea for his help.  The centurion was an influential man and could doubtless have organised the help of the best doctors around.  Yet he comes to Jesus for help.  He recognised that Jesus, the Word of God, is sufficient for all needs, even the impossible.  What he said next is astounding:

“But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8

He recognised that if Jesus said something it was a s good as done.  This was a question of authority and the centurion emphasises this point:  

“For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Matthew 8:9

He had authority over his soldiers and hence many other people around but he recognised that Jesus authority was much wider, it included an authority over the so-called ‘Laws of Nature’.  Of course ‘nature’ can never make laws on how the world will work, the Laws of Science or Nature really should be called ‘Laws of God’ since God’s mind and his word instituted them.  The centurion knew that if Jesus said something it would be done, he had such confidence in Jesus.

“But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8

Bible students will remember from Genesis chapter 1 that it was by the ‘Word of God’ that the world was created.

We have a problem today with the surfeit of so-called spiritual healers, many claiming to be Christians.  Their real motives can be seen in the houses, cars and aeroplanes they own and their luxurious lifestyles.  Jesus was not like them.  He was the Servant King.  Such pseudo-gospel leaders can cause many to be sceptical about the power of God.  

The centurion was acting on the evidence.  Jesus had been in Galilee healing every type of affliction and the evidence was there for all to see. Only God could do that. A word from Jesus was enough. This is so different to most spiritual healers today. Too often they need the emotional theatrical atmosphere to influence people and they never present their long-term results of their healings.  Jesus did these miracles to prove he was the Son of God, God’s Messiah, his suffering servant.  It is significant that even his enemies acknowledged that his miracles were real.

In today’s society Jesus is widely considered to be an irrelevance and utterly ineffective.  It is as if he had remained dead.  The default position is that he doesn’t matter, he doesn’t make any difference.  This is totally untrue.  There are many people who can testify that Jesus has utterly changed their lives after they accepted him and what he had said.  His word is powerful.

Today many people don’t care what the centurion thought about both himself or about Jesus.  They may say,

“It is nice if he finds his faith helpful, but I don’t need that.”

Jesus warns people that they trifle with himself at their peril:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24

When people realise that their thoughts and actions are going to be judged by God, then we are much more likely to turn to Jesus as the only person who can help us when we face God’s judgment.  It is Jesus who the Father has delegated to be our judge.

“And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voiceand come out - those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” John 5:27-29

What does it mean to ‘do good’ and ‘do evil’?  Judgment, as always in Scripture, is based on our ‘works’, ‘works’  that reflect our love for Jesus.  Jesus says in the next chapter that it is our love for Jesus that saves us:

“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:39-40

Salvation is by faith alone and is not related to our ‘good works’, but our lives will act as a test of the faith we have.  The Reformer John Calvin said about John 5:29:

“He marks out believers by their good works, just as elsewhere He says that a tree is known by its fruit. . . The Papist’s inference from these passages, that eternal life repays the merits of works, may be refuted without any difficulty.  For Christ is not here treating of the cause of salvation, but only distinguishing the elect from the reprobate by their own mark.”

Paul made this very clear:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -  not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

It is Jesus alone who has the authority to save us.  Without a relationship with him we have no hope.

4.  The centurion experiences Jesus’ rescue

The centurion’s faith in Jesus is then shown to be reasonable.  Jesus does have remarkable authority and his paralysed servant was back walking again.

Again a listener may add:  

“That is very nice for the centurion and the paralysed man but I am not them.  I don’t need help.”

This story is in Scripture because its message is relevant to us all.  Most of us are not paralysed and don’t have a servant in agony.  We have missed out two verses that are very relevant to us all - the issue of faith in Jesus matters profoundly.  Jesus said:

“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” John 8:10-11 

The centurion was a Gentile, not one of God’s original Chosen People, the Jews.  God’s Kingdom is now extended to include both Jews and Gentiles from east and west who put their faith in and follow the Lord Jesus.  Many born into Judaism will find themselves excluded because they have rejected the rule of their Messiah:

“But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” John 8:12

Jesus was more emphatic than anyone that there is a real hell for those rejecting his rule.  However what comfort this is for those who have lived for Christ and in whom this faith this has been reflected by the way they have lived.

At Billy Graham’s funeral we were told that just before he died he said:

“I have read the last page of the Bible.  It is going to turn out alright.”

The Bible speaks of the future, a new world free from paralysis, illness and sin with its consequences.  The resurrection of Jesus guarantees this for us.  Jesus described this new world as a banquet held in the presence of Jesus and all who believe in him.

This passage is reminding us that there is a guest list to this reception.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are on that list.  So will many from distant lands who have turned to Jesus for salvation from their sins.  This centurion will be there but some religious people, who consider themselves ‘sons of the Kingdom’, will not be invited.  Jesus does not ‘know them’ and he is the judge and the inviter.  Such people have never submitted themselves to Jesus, have never accepted the salvation he won on that cross and have never accepted that his Word should control how they think and behave.  These words of Jesus should be terrifying to many so they bear repeating:

“But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” John 8:12

This centurion would tell us that to reject Jesus is to reject God with the awful consequences of this.  This story is included to wake us all up.  He wants us all to demonstrate the same faith in him that the centurion had.

If we have such a saving faith we will have seen our need and will have come to Jesus as unworthy people who need the help that only he can give us.  We will have recognised his authority and we will then experience how God meets our needs.  We have been rescued from the consequences of sin to enjoy an eternal security that starts now.

Jesus is indeed the answer we all need and that our world desperately needs.

BVP

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This article has been posted on the website www.bvpalmer.com where there are many other helpful articles and videos.

Christchurch Baldock is a Bible teaching gospel centred local church.  More details can be found on its website.  It meets every Sunday morning at 10.30 am in Knights Templar School, Baldock

Bernard can be contacted at berniepalmer1@sky.com

Matthew 8:1-4 A Leper is Healed

President Ronald Reagan's said that he felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are,

'I’m from the government, and I'm here to help.'"

Yet there are times when a problem is so massive that a massive solution is needed.  When Hitler invaded Poland and persecuted the Jews something massive had to be done.  When the unions had too much power and were paralysing Britain, something radical was needed.

In Jesus’ day there we’re many Jews who also thought that their greatest problem was political, they were a country occupied by the Romans and they longed to be free.  Political Zealots were everywhere saying that revolution was the only answer.  Jesus appeared with a better solution:

“Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Matthew 22:31

Leprosy is a picture of sin

The healing of this man of his leprosy is not only a demonstration of Jesus’ power but is also a description of the massive problem affecting society and shows that a massive answer is available.  Leprosy is mentioned over 40 times in the Bible.  In those days the term was used to include many chronic diseases that affected the skin and body but would include infections with Mycobacterium leprae (also known as Hansen's disease or leprosy).  These are chronic bacterial infections affecting the skin, peripheral nerves, nose and mucous membranes. The disease progresses very slowly, with an incubation period that can range from 1 to 20 years.  Eventually, as the disease progresses, people develop skin nodules, and slowly lose fingers, toes noses and feeling as the bacteria infiltrates the tissues.

Ancient Jewish Law listed 61 defilements and leprosy was second only to the contact with a dead body in seriousness.  Those whose disease was confirmed were prohibited from coming with 6 feet of other people and this was extended to 150 feet when the wind was blowing.  Sufferers were excluded from family and friends and were forced to live in leper communities.

There are several parallels between having leprosy and being soiled by sin.

1. It is an internal disease affecting nerves and soft tissues that has chronic devastating effects.  It takes a long time for its symptoms show.  Sin similarly is a disease of the ‘heart’ which becomes hardened and numbs the conscience.  Jesus said:

“What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come - sexual immorality, theft, murder,adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” Mark 7:20-22

2. The consequences are loathsome and unattractive.  The feet and hands become numbed as the nerves are damaged.  The body aches. Ulcers appear on the hands, feet and face that will not heal.  In the same way sin stupefies us and we become blind to the severity of the problem.  Sufferers with advanced disease gave off an awful odour.  Their voice can became rasping as the vocal cords become damaged.  Sin also influences the way we talk.

3 Leprosy results in separation from friends and loved ones.  Most breakdowns of marriage are the result of sinful behaviour of many kinds.  Primarily sin results in a permanent separation from the God who created and loves us.

4. Leprosy was then considered incurable.  Sin is also a disease that leads to physical and spiritual death.  However now leprosy is curable, just as a remedy for sin is now available.

5. One of the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians was the plague of boils that afflicted the whole land of Egypt.  Recurrent boils were a feature of leprosy.  Later, God’s people were warned that they must remain faithful to God as otherwise they will be afflicted just as the Egyptians were:

“The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumours, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.” Deuteronomy 28:27

6. Miriam, Aaron’s sister and a prophetess, together with Aaron himself, complained about Moses’ privileged status because they thought that God also spoke through them. The Lord was angry at their presumptuous sin and afflicted her with leprosy.

“And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.”     Numbers 12:10-11

5. Naaman was the Army Commander of the king of Aram who developed leprosy.  He was sent to the King of Israel to be cured but he answered:

“Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy?” 2 Kings 5:7

Elisha told him to bathe in the river Jordan 7 times and, when eventually he did this, he was cured.  He then realised that only the Lord God could cure his leprosy and he said:

“Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. . . . for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.”  2 Kings 5:15-17

6. When a person was to be certified as healed they had to go through a ceremony involving ‘blood and water’.  This was a reminder that God had delivered them from captivity in Egypt through the blood of the Passover lamb and by the miraculous division of the waters of the Red Sea so they could escape from the enemy.  Leviticus 14 gives a detailed description of this ceremonial cleansing which involved sacrificial blood and water, the water being sprinkled on him seven times.  Although the sufferer was already healed physically this passage reads,

“The person to be cleansed must wash his clothes . . .”    Leviticus 14:8

After eight days two lambs had to be sacrificed, one as a sin offering and the other as a guilt offering.

There is no suggestion that an individual with the disease was more sinful than others.  This was showing that sin has consequences but that God can heal his people, but only through the shedding of blood.

The cleansed leper had sacrificial blood applied to their right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe. This symbolic ritual served as a physical consecration, representing that their whole life, actions, and daily walk were redeemed, cleansed, and fully dedicated to God.  The specific body parts represent total holistic restoration:

Right Ear: Symbolises that they will listen to and obey God's Word.

Right Thumb: Symbolises that their work, service, and actions are dedicated to holy purposes.

Right Big Toe: Symbolises that their path, lifestyle, and where they walk are directed by God's ways.

Culturally and ceremonially, this ritual (Leviticus 14:14) mirrored the ordination of the priests (Leviticus 8:23), essentially indicating that the healed individual was fully restored to the community and commissioned to live a completely new, consecrated life. After the blood was applied, the priest would also place holy oil over those same areas, symbolising the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

It is therefore clear that leprosy was intended by God to be a picture of sin affecting people.

The Leper in Matthew

Matthew chapters 8 and 9 contains the accounts of 10 miracles, half of the miracles described in the whole book.  They are undoubtedly put together for a reason.  Matthew has just given us three chapters describing in detail Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where his authoritative words defines mankind greatest problem, our sin.  He now explains who Jesus is and what he came to do.

This story about a leper being cleansed comes immediately after the teaching of this remarkable sermon. It is a parable as well as a miracle.

These miracles make it clear that Jesus is no ordinary preacher but reveal that Jesus is the Messiah who came to deal with our sin and its devastating consequences.  Today there are many who think that society’s greatest problems are political.  Jesus says that sin is even more serious.

This healing of a leper is recorded in all three synoptic gospels.  In Matthew’s version the leper asks Jesus,

“Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

He doesn’t just want to be healed, he wants cleansing.  This is emphasised even more in Mark’s version where the focus is obviously on cleansing and not healing, the word ‘clean’ or ‘cleanse’ coming four times in five verses (Mark 1:40-45).  The leper recognised that he had a deeper disease that God alone can save him from.

1. The Devastating Effect of Sin

There is no suggestion that the leper suffered from this disease as a punishment for personal sin. There has often been a popular idea that suffering is somehow the result of karma.  Broadly, karma is the principle of cause and effect: one's actions, intentions, and thoughts shape a person’s future in this world. Good actions lead to positive outcomes, while harmful actions result in suffering. Even after death there is a reincarnation into either a better or a worse situation, dependant on how a person has lived - but this is still in this world.

The Bible teaches that, though sometimes a person’s actions may directly have consequences in this life, there is a corporate effect of sin.  A person’s suffering is often not the direct effect of their sin but because they are part of a sinful community.  We are all ‘sons of Adam’ and like him have collectively rebelled against the rule of our maker.  We live in a cursed world with its death and decay.

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:19

The leper represents a visible, walking picture of man’s greatest problem.  Sin means we are going to die, we are outcasts from God’s people and we cannot even worship God in a way that pleases him, just as lepers could not go to the temple.  Families were broken.  They had to cry out,

“Unclean, unclean.”

This is the state of each of us in God’s eyes.  The world does not have an answer for our sin.  An abundance of increasingly stringent rules may restrict some of the outward actions but do not change people’s hearts and strong rules inevitably lead to rebellion.  Medical discoveries, scientific advances and political innovations only delay the inevitable.  Death and decay is still our lot.

The atheist Todd May has written a book called ‘Death’. He argues that, since death is the inevitable cessation of our existence and there is no afterlife, the most rational response is to embrace our fragility, live in the present, and engage deeply in meaningful, satisfying projects.  This is no great solution for those who are suffering or facing death and decay directly.  We all need a solution to death and its consequences.

This is a big problem and it does need a radical solution.  For us to have a wonderful, bright eternal future needs more than clever politicians.  They cannot resolve the problem of death and judgment.

A youth worker in Liverpool in the 1980s said:

“I was shocked by the povery I saw.  Two things struck me.  The people who wanted to change things were powerless to do so and whoever did have real power seemed to have little inclination to listen or care.”

Little changes!  However Jesus says he can help each of us.

2.  What does the leper do?

He comes to Jesus for the help that only he can give:

“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Matthew 8:1-2

He must have had to pass through the crowd.  Whether he called out ‘Unclean, Unclean’ we are not told.  He was, however, willing to break all social rules to come to Jesus.  He was convinced that Jesus was able to help him so he let nothing get in his way.  What faith!

What gives him that confidence?  Note he calls Jesus ‘Lord’.  Does this mean he recognised who Jesus really is?  He certainly recognised that he could do the impossible.  He then ‘knelt’ before Jesus.  In the Greek, this is the same word used of the Wise Men who knelt before the baby Jesus and worshipped him.  Both the leper and the wise men treated Jesus like a divine king, acknowledging Jesus’ authority.

How did he know this about Jesus?  He had probably heard of the other miracles Jesus had performed.  Perhaps he knew the Scriptures that the Messiah would be a healer.  However he recognised who Jesus was and he had the determination to come humbly to Jesus, saying:

“Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Matthew 8:2

What a lesson this is for all of us.  We also need to acknowledge our sin before God, acknowledge that Jesus alone has the power and authority to both forgive us and empower us to defeat the sin that lurks in all of us and ask him to save us.

Unfortunately there are many who either don’t think their problem is that bad or who don’t realise who Jesus is, and so they say:

“No thanks, I will try to solve the problem myself.”

In May 1940, King George VI recognised the desperate situation Britain was in and called the British nation to observe a National Day of Prayer. The Allied troops were in a desperate situation, stranded on the beaches at Dunkirk, and the King lead the country to an unprecedented nationwide response. As the British Expeditionary Force faced imminent annihilation, the King asked the nation to pray for deliverance.  He and many like him recognised that God’s help was desperately needed.  Millions packed into churches across the UK. Observers at the time later cited an extraordinary change in the weather and a calm English Channel as the answer to these prayers, allowing the ‘little ships’ to successfully evacuate over 335,000 Allied troops.  King George VI subsequently called seven National Days of Prayer throughout the course of World War II, typically coinciding with major military crises, such as the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and the D-Day landings.

It is striking that many turn to prayer when they are desperate but, when everything is on an even keel, God is forgotten.  I well remember picking up a hitch-hiker who had been a soldier in the Falklands War.  He had been in the Battle of Tumbledown Hill.  His company were descending the hill down towards Port Stanley when they suddenly came under intense machine gun fire from the Argentinian army.  His friend next to him was shot in the head and died immediately.  They rapidly tried to dig in but then he added:

“We all prayed”

“Even the atheists?” I asked.

“Oh yes, we all prayed.”

“Do you still pray now?”

“No, I don’t need to now!”

He hadn’t realised the danger he is still in and has not realised that Jesus can help him.  We look to ourselves or to human leaders but the deepest problems are beyond us.  Only God can help the problem of our sin:

“You can make me clean.”

He recognised Jesus power but the leper did have one query.  He started,

“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Is Jesus willing to help?  Does he care about the immensity of the problem we face.  We need to know the answer to this query.  The answer is clear.  If anyone truly recognises their problem and turns to Jesus for help, then he is always ready and willing to save us.  Our greatest problem is death and judgment.  Jesus is the answer to both major problems.  He says that death is just a doorway to the next life, which is either heaven or hell.

Jesus says to the leper:

“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” Matthew 8:3

Jesus was full of compassion for this man in need, he touched the leper and instead of Jesus becoming unclean, it was the leper who instead received God’s cleansing.

That however was just the beginning of his becoming one of God’s cleansed people.  He now had to obey what God had said in the Scriptures,

“Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Matthew 8:4

Doing what Scripture says is always evidence that a cleansing by the Spirit has taken place.

A real cleansing

The leper was not only healed of his disease, he was also cleansed of his sin because he had come to trust and follow Jesus.  In this miracle Jesus demonstrated that he has the authority and power to solve the greatest problems we face, death and decay and judgment.  It is Jesus who brings hope to humanity.

How can Jesus do this for humanity?  The purpose of Matthew’s gospel is to show that Jesus achieved this by dying on that cross as our substitute to pay the price for our sin.

When will this deliverance be experienced?  We still suffer disease and death and Christians are certainly not immune from this.  The rest of this chapter gives the answers but briefly our future is beyond this world.  Jesus is very clear that those who trust and follow him will be received into God’s heaven.  Those who reject his rule will be excluded from his kingdom, heaven.

The decision is ours.  Firstly, will we acknowledge that our greatest problem is our rebellion against the rule of God?  Secondly, will we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God who has been given his Father’s complete authority and that he came to save our greatest problem.  If we come to Jesus he is more than willing to accept us, he longs to help all who come to him.

Jesus is willing and able to save everyone who comes humbly to him asking for his mercy.

BVP

Matthew 7:24-29. Building Your House

When we took our family to Florida on holiday, we hired a car.  One day we were driving along a motorway when suddenly there was a gigantic downpour, it was the heaviest rain we have ever seen.  The wipers couldn’t cope.  We were all scared, we couldn’t see anything so had to pull over.

In 1859 the Great Welsh Storm occurred.  This was wild and ferocious, many people dying.

Yet these storms are relatively insignificant compared to the harrowing storm we read about in this passage.  This storm will be the end of all storms.  We have now come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is saying that it is now the time for decision.  He has explained that there are two possible roads we can travel along in life, the broad, easy road or the hard, narrow way.  The narrow way leads to life, to heaven, but the broad way leads to destruction.  He is calling on all his listeners to make a choice.  Jesus knows that there are some who pay lip service to him, say the right words and even do good things but in their hearts they are not really his servants.

Jesus has just warned us to beware of the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ who seems to be a loving pastor but in fact leads his followers away from relying on Jesus and so leads them to destruction.

So this is the climax of the sermon.  Jesus is challenging us all to hear what he has to say and make a decision to either follow him and what he teaches or go our own way and ignore him.  There is no middle way. As in any countdown  we hear 3,2,1, blast off.  Jesus gives us three similarities, two differences and one choice.

Three similarities

His first point is that all those in the crowd listening to him have much in common, they all hear what Jesus has to say and all are building their lives.

a. We all hear the same words:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine. . . “ Matthew 7:24

“But everyone who hears these words of mine . . .” Matthew 8:26

There were many people listening to Jesus’ sermon, they all heard his words.  They heard that he had come to fulfil the law and the prophets, they heard that God calls them to be as perfect as the Father, and they all heard that they should enter through the narrow gate.  The problem wasn’t that they hadn’t heard.  Today there are many who have heard what Jesus taught.

b.  We all build similar houses.

A casual observer would not see major differences in the two types of houses.  The build quality is similar.  This is so important.  Jesus is saying that those he doesn’t know can have very attractive lives.  They are pleasant people, they mingle with Christians, they may go to church, they may treat others with kindness, they may even say their prayers, although seldom will they mean ‘Your will be done’.  They don’t appear to be the scum of the earth but are lovely people so why does it matter that they built their lives on a different foundation?

c.  We will all face this storm

Jesus says it does matter very much for this reason.  All people will eventually face the same horrendous storm.  It is not if, but when.  The same rain and the same wind will beat upon that house.  This warning is relevant for us all.  None of us, however godly we are, are able to avoid this storm.  We will all have a foretaste of it during our lives with the various problems we face but this ultimate storm is coming to us all.

Jesus’ teaching about not being angry, not lustful, not given to worry and learning to share, do help us face the problems of this life but Jesus is warning us about the final judgment:

“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment . . . “ Hebrews 9:27

This has been an underlying theme of all this sermon:

“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged,” Matthew 7:2

“. . . broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13

“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 7:19

“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:23

It would be very odd for Jesus to suddenly changed the thrust of what he is saying.

Earlier in Genesis we read of a deluge that brought judgment on all people when only Noah and his family were saved.  According to the Genesis account, God brought the global flood to judge humanity because the earth had become consumed by wickedness and violence.

God said through Ezekiel that he had had enough of their so called spirituality which was an outer whitewash on lives that were utterly self-centred:

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it[a] falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it,” Ezekiel 13:13-15

The storm of God’s judgment will wash away all pretence and our real selves will be laid bare before God!  The Bible demands that we all take this seriously.

Jonathan Edwards

In 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He said God calls us to repent of our sins, and if we fail to do so, we can expect God’s judgment, either in this life or in the life to come. His sermon was so powerful, that people wept as he preached and they shouted out,

“What must I do to escape God’s judgment?”

We seldom hear sermons like that anymore. As a result, some have lost sight of God as holy and just who judges us for our ungodly actions.  Yet the Bible is full of teaching about God’s judgment of hypocritical religious yet godless people.

The last chapter of Isaiah contrasts the judgment of God on those who reject his rule with the glory of those who love and follow him.

“They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread.  For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened.  They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” Isaiah 66:3-4

The author of Psalm 99 invites us to celebrate God’s holiness and majesty. He wrote,

“The LORD is king! Let the nations tremble! He sits on his throne between the cherubim. Let the whole earth quake! The LORD sits in majesty in Jerusalem, exalted above all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name. Your name is holy! Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established fairness.”

The Bible is clear that God expects us to live righteously and to treat others with fairness. We all fall short of this ideal, and the only way to find acceptance by God is by putting our faith in Jesus the Christ who bore our sins in his own body on the cross. God gladly forgives all who come to Him in faith. Once He has redeemed us, he calls on all his people to spend our lives living for Him, sharing the Gospel, and working for peace, justice, and righteousness.

Two differences

1. Very different foundations

The faith that we build our lives on affects everything else.  There are two possibilities, the rock or sand.  When children in Sunday School are asked:

“What does the rock represent?”

The usual response is:

“Jesus, of course.”

But look at what Jesus actually says:

“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.”

“But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” Matthew 7:24,26

This is so important.  If we say ‘Jesus’ we can reinvent the Jesus we want to follow and in practice follow our own homemade faith.  To follow God always means to obey his word. The final chapter of the book of Isaiah emphasises this:

“These are the ones I look on with favour: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” Isaiah 66:2

“Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word.” Isaiah 66:5

Psalm 19 emphasises that God speaks to us through his word and that this is utterly reliable:

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.  The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7

The Bible gives understanding:

“The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.  The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” Psalm 19:8

God’s word gives us joy and wisdom:

“The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.  The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.” Psalm 19:9

Fearing God always results in following Scripture which reliably teaches us how God thinks:

“They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;  they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:10

No wonder God’s words are so precious, yet also so encouraging to God’s people:

“By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm:19:11

God’s people are warned not to be hypocrites but to live as God teaches.  Incidentally Psalm 19 also teaches us that God’s word is never in conflict with the world he has made.  God’s world also speaks to us:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” Psalm 19:1-2

The foundation Jesus expects us to build our lives upon is what he has taught us in his Word.  We  must build our lives on the rock.

The Isles of Scilly are infamous for shipwrecks.  Bishop Rock Lighthouse, built in 1858, is a famous and extremely remote lighthouse located 4 miles west of the Isles of Scilly in Cornwall, England. Known by the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest island with a building on it, it stands in the path of heavy Atlantic swells. It is 50 meters tall.  It has withstood countless storms yet stands there to be a light to guide ships in the area.  It would have been much cheaper and simpler to have built it on the sandy beach but that would have been stupid.  It would not have remained standing and would have been much less use as a guide to others in trouble.

Jesus is clearly asking us to determine what the foundation of our lives is - is it my ideas, or even my church or is it what Jesus teaches us in his word and that we are committed to obey?Am I relying on the promises of God or on my activities and my beliefs?

Very different outcomes

Those who have built their lives on Christ are utterly secure:

“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Matthew 7:25

What God promises we can rely on.  We are safe because we have been saved.  This is the promise of God.  The verse from Hebrews that reminds us that we all face judgment continues:

“. . . so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:28

No wonder the crowds were so amazed at the end of the Sermon.  They had never heard teaching like this:

“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” Matthew 7:28-29

Those who turn to live under the authority of Jesus are already safe from God’s judgment.  Jesus took our judgment on himself on that cross.  We therefore have nothing to fear about our acceptance by God although there is still a judgment we will face which is on how we have lived for our Lord.

Those who have refused to build their lives on God’s rock but opted for ‘shifting sands’ will eventually face disaster.

“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:27

What a catastrophic crash that will be.  God’s judgment is final.  There will be no appeal and he judges fairly, knowing all the facts.  That house that we built on the sand seemed so attractive but it will fall.

This warning is for all of us.  There are many stories of people claiming to follow Christ but whose private lives reveal the very opposite, with fraud, sexual scandal, anger and dishonesty.  Jesus is warning us all not to rely on an outward religiosity but only on our genuine relationship with Christ which will be seen in our obedience to his Word.

This is a loving warning - it does matter how we respond to the Word of God.

One Vital Choice

When we stand before God at the end of time he will ask each of us:

“What did you do with my words, with what I told you?”

Jesus talks about God with great authority being in a unique position to do so.  His challenge is unique.  He doesn’t ask us if we regularly gather to listen to his Word but whether we have lived as he teaches, with his priorities.  He wants followers who produce fruit for him.

What does this mean, to produce fruit?  Have I taken seriously what he says about hateful thoughts, lust, skin-deep, outward religion that I practice for others to see?  Am I laying up treasure in heaven?  Am I doing good to others so they also may give glory to God?

If all we have learned from this sermon is that we need to pull our socks up as Christians and be more diligent and distinctive, then we have missed the point.  Jesus is saying that no-one has reached God’s standard righteousness.

“Be perfect . . .”

The bar is far higher than we can dream.  God wants us to understand how dependant we are on him and on his grace.  Who does God bless?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit . . .”

When we see our desperate need for forgiveness we will come on bended knee before our Saviour and beg for his mercy.  Only then will we fall into line behind him and start living for his glory.

To ‘do my words’ cannot mean that it is only by obeying every command and by living completely righteously, as none of us have done this, even though it is now the Christian’s desire.  The only choice we have is to take refuge in Christ and come to him empty handed.  Our good deeds offer nothing to our salvation, this depends solely on God’s mercy that we have to ask for.  Our only contribution to our salvation is to admit our short-comings, our sin.

The narrow road is not easy, we may be scoffed at and overlooked, but travelling on Jesus’ path is the only sure foundation.  Our only hope is to keep relying on him for the righteousness we need to be acceptable to God.  We are clothed with his righteous robe, given as a gift. The apostle John keeps reminding us that the key to salvation is to love Jesus, that is to love God.  This is what ‘belief' in Jesus originally meant - it is much more than an intellectual assent to certain doctrines.  .  To believe in Jesus means to love him.  Such love will be shown by obedience to his word.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:1-5

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” John 14:21

There were so-called disciples then, and who still exist today, who are happy to listen to Jesus and think he is admirable but feel it is a bit extreme to say that we are helpless.  Such people will talk the talk and even seem to walk the walk.  They may even be Christian preachers but inwardly they have not submitted to Christ’s rule.  They have not come to him ‘poor in spirit’.

After the Great Storm in Wales in 1859 a historian wrote these words:

“Throughout the night of the 25th of October, waves and wind battered with unrelenting fury against the coast, assuming near hurricane proportions. Nearly 150 ships were wrecked that night. Well over 800 people died in the storm, over half of them on the Royal Charter steamer that was driven onto the rocks at Anglesey after returning from Australia. The next year, 1860, the Met. office brought in a gale warning system. It did not prevent storms battering against the Welsh Coast, but it did at least warn people to take shelter.”

Jesus has given us his loving warning about the coming crisis of judgment and is urging us to build our lives on him alone.  There is no hope other than the death of Jesus, he has become the substitute for our sin.  He was the ultimate sacrifice for sin; animal and another sacrifices are no longer needed for us to be forgiven.  Jesus is the authority of God and not to comply with what he says is surely the height of folly.

However if we do decide to build our lives on Jesus and rely on him alone, we are assured that we are safe and need have no fear for our eternal security. The psalmist had this confidence:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Psalm 46:1-3

This is indeed ‘good news’, this is the gospel.

BVP

Matthew 8:5-13 A Word of Authority

Have you noticed how many Welsh people are particularly proud to be Welsh?  Nigel Owens the retired international rugby referee published an article entitled ‘What it means being Welsh to mo me.’  Her described what he thought the Welsh can take pride in:

“The language, our humour, our caring natures, our togetherness, our awe-inspiring sense of community, our anthem, our flag, our heritage and our passion.”

He could also have added ‘our Welsh cakes, our rugby and our leeks’.  The leeks are traditionally associated with St. David who was the bishop of the area who advised their soldiers to wear leeks as a means of identification   

David and his monks followed an extremely strict, austere routine. They refrained from eating meat or drinking beer, and ploughed fields by hand rather than using oxen.  He was a highly active missionary, founding an estimated 12 monasteries across Wales, southwest England, and Brittany, including the monastery on the River Alun that is now the site of St Davids Cathedral.   In his final sermon before his death, he urged his followers with the iconic words: 

“Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things you have seen me do.”

What are the features that describe a Christian?  Matthew describes these in the remarkable encounter of a Roman centurion who came to Jesus for help.  He is a most unlikely subject as he was not from Israel, he represented Israel’s enemy.  Simply put, he was an outsider.  To Jesus’ listeners this must have come as a great shock.  This story is surely included because demonstrates the four marks of a true saving faith, the sort of faith that God is looking for.

1. He has a need

The centurion’s servant had a severe problem.  Paralysis associated with severe pain suggests that he may have had a fall and broken his back.  Everybody knew then, as they know today, that paralysis due to a damaged spinal cord is incurable.  This centurion obviously cared for his servant and went out of his way to try and help him.

“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly.’” Matthew 8:5-6

No details are given, all we know is that the problem was serious.

There are many today who think that they don’t have any real problems, they and their family don’t have health or other problems.  They are swimming through life so think they do not need Jesus.  The Pharisees could not understand why Jesus tried to help non-religious people.  In the next chapter we read::

“When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.’      Matthew 9:11-12

There are those who recognise the value of trying to help the down and out, the drug addicts, those suffering from domestic abuse and the like.  They think this is helpful to society and is up-lifting.

However Matthew wants us all to learn that a true saving faith only starts when we recognise the real need we all have.

Physical health checks are on offer widely today to try to pick up problems before they become too advanced.  Surely, we need to encourage everybody to have a spiritual heath check, to examine our motives, ambitions and loves to check whether there is a problem.  Remember how Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6

It is only those who have a real spiritual need that Jesus will help.

2.  He admits his own unworthiness

When a person wants the help of an expert they will often think of ways to demonstrate how worthy they are to be helped. They will often say, ‘We deserve it because . . .” or ‘My friends are  . . .” or ‘What can I give you in return?’.  So much of life works on a ‘Quid pro quo’ basis.  This literally means ‘Something for something’.

Why should Jesus help this centurion?  He was part of the occupying army.  Jesus asks him a question:

“Shall I come and heal him?” Matthew 8:7

Asking questions is by far the best way to understand other people.  The reply was not one that would be expected, he comes to Jesus with these humbling words:

“Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.” Matthew 8:8

These words are striking.  Most of us would leap at the opportunity of going to a successful man’s home and enjoying his hospitality.  It would also be a great privilege for the centurion to have a famous person, such a s Jesus, visit his home.  Society gives medals and awards to those it deems to have deserved them through their service.  This centurion’s need and his understanding are much deeper that such superficial niceties.  There was no pretence in him, he simply wanted help and he knew that Jesus could do the impossible.

3.  He recognises Jesus’ authority

The centurion starts the conversation with Jesus using these words:

“Lord, my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly.”

Perhaps he had heard Jesus teaching, what he had said about who he is or possibly he had heard of the other remarkable miracles Jesus had performed.  He recognised the authority of Jesus as coming from God and came with a plea for his help.  The centurion was an influential man and could doubtless have organised the help of the best doctors around.  Yet he comes to Jesus for help.  He recognised that Jesus, the Word of God, is sufficient for all needs, even the impossible.  What he said next is astounding:

“But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8

He recognised that if Jesus said something it was a s good as done.  This was a question of authority and the centurion emphasises this point:  

“For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Matthew 8:9

He had authority over his soldiers and hence many other people around but he recognised that Jesus authority was much wider, it included an authority over the so-called ‘Laws of Nature’.  Of course ‘nature’ can never make laws on how the world will work, the Laws of Science or Nature really should be called ‘Laws of God’ since God’s mind and his word instituted them.  The centurion knew that if Jesus said something it would be done, he had such confidence in Jesus.

““But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8

We have a problem today with a surfeit of so-called spiritual healers, many claiming to be Christians.  Their real motives can be seen in the houses, cars and aeroplanes they own and their luxurious lifestyles.  Jesus was not like them.  He was the Servant King.  Such pseudo-gospel leaders can cause many to be sceptical about the power of God.  

The centurion was acting on the evidence.  Jesus had been in Galilee healing every type of affliction and the evidence was there for all to see. Only God could do that. A word from Jesus was enough. This is so different to most spiritual healers today. Too often they need the emotional theatrical atmosphere to influence people and they never present their long-term results of their healings.  Jesus did these miracles to prove he was the Son of God, God’s Messiah, his suffering servant.  It is significant that even his enemies acknowledged that his miracles were real.

In today’s society Jesus is widely considered to be an irrelevance and utterly ineffective.  It is as if he had remained dead.  The default position is that he doesn’t matter, he doesn’t make any difference.  This is totally untrue.  There are many people who can testify that he has utterly changed their lives after they accepted him and what he had said.  His word is powerful.

Today many people don’t care what the centurion thought about both himself or about Jesus.  They may say,

“It is nice if he finds his faith helpful, but I don’t need that.”

Jesus warns people that they trifle with himself at their peril:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24

When people realise that their thoughts and actions are going to be judged by God, then we are much more likely to turn to Jesus as the only person who can help us when we face God’s judgment.  It is Jesus who the Father has delegated to be our judge.

“And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” John 5:27-29

What does it mean to ‘do good’ and ‘do evil’?  Judgment, as always in Scripture, is based on our ‘works’, ‘works’  that reflect our love for Jesus.  Jesus says in the next chapter that it is our love for Jesus that saves us:

“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:39-40

Salvation is by faith alone and is not related to our ‘good works’, but our lives will act as a test of the faith we have.  The Reformer John Calvin said about John 5:29:

“He marks out believers by their good works, just as elsewhere He says that a tree is known by its fruit. . . The Papist’s inference from these passages, that eternal life repays the merits of works, may be refuted without any difficulty.  For christ is not here treating of the cause of salvation, but only distinguishing the elect from the reprobate by their own mark.”

Paul made this very clear:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -  not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

It is Jesus alone who has the authority to save us.  Without a relationship with him we have no hope.

4.  The centurion experiences Jesus’ rescue

The centurions faith in Jesus is then shown to be reasonable.  Jesus does have remarkable authority and his paralysed servant was back walking again.

Again a listener may add:  

“That is very nice for the centurion and the paralysed man but I am not them.  I don’t need help.”

This story is in Scripture because its message is relevant to us all.  Most of us are not paralysed and don’t have a servant in agony.  We have missed out two verses that are very relevant to us all - the issue of faith in Jesus matters profoundly.  Jesus said:

“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” John 8:10-11 

The centurion was a Gentile, not one of God’s original Chosen People, the Jews.  God’s Kingdom is now extended to include both Jews and Gentiles from east and west who put their faith in and follow the Lord Jesus.  Many born into Judaism will find themselves excluded because they have rejected the rule of their Messiah:

“But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” John 8:12

Jesus was more emphatic than anyone that there is a real hell for those rejecting his rule.  However what comfort this is for those who have lived for Christ and in whom this faith this has been reflected by the way they have lived.

At Billy Graham’s funeral we were told that just before he died he said:

“I have read the last page of the Bible.  It is going to turn out alright.”

The Bible speaks of the future, a new world free from paralysis, illness and sin with its consequences.  The resurrection of Jesus guarantees this for us.  Jesus described this new world as a banquet held in the presence of Jesus and all who believe in him.

This passage is reminding us that there is a select guest list for this reception.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are on that list.  So will may from distant lands who have turned to Jesus for salvation from their sins.  This centurion will be there but some religious people who consider themselves ‘sons of the Kingdom’ will not be invited.  Jesus does not ‘know them’ and he is the judge and the inviter.  Such people have never submitted themselves to Jesus, have never accepted the salvation he won on that cross and have never accepted that his Word should control how they think and behave.  These words of Jesus should be terrifying to many so they bear repeating:

“But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” John 8:12

This centurion would tell us that to reject Jesus is to reject God with the awful consequences of this.  This story is included to wake us all up.  He wants us all to demonstrate the same faith in him that the centurion had.

If we have such a saving faith we will have seen our need and will have come to Jesus as unworthy people who need the help that only he can give us.  We will have recognised his authority and we will then experience how God meets our needs.  We have been rescued from the consequences of sin to enjoy an eternal security that starts now.

Jesus is indeed the answer we all need and that our world desperately needs.

BVP

Matthew 5:17-20 The Fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets

Every August the news programmes and newspapers are full of criticisms about how the standard of our national exams, whether GCSE, A levels or university degrees are lower than in ‘our generation’.

Yet nearly everyone expects God to remain fair, pure and righteous.  There are many people today, who although not Christians, recognise that there has to be a mind behind our creation. They recognise that this God must be concerned about right and wrong.  How many try to justify their own decisions by saying:

“How can God allow such evil things to occur?”

By asking this question people assume that God is good.  The problem of evil is only a problem if God is good.  If God were fickle, capricious or if his moral standards were constantly changing we would never know what is right, or in other words, what he likes or dislikes.  Any relationship with a fickle god, much as the gods of ancient Greece and Rome were, would be uncertain.  A god who changes his standards according to the pressures or temptations exerted on him would not be the absolute creator God who can demand our obedience.

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The Law and the Prophets are fulfilled

It is often said that Jesus came to fulfil the Law.  He did much more than that.   He is not just saying that he has kept the Law.  To ‘fulfil’ means to ‘fill it to the full’. 

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” Matthew 5:17

‘The Law and the Prophets’ was a traditional phrase that refers to the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament.  How does Jesus fulfil the Scriptures?

Firstly, Jesus ‘fills to the full’ the message of the Scriptures by being the last piece of the jig-saw.  The Law and the Prophets look forward to a time when God would send his Messiah into his world and would draw people of every nation to himself.  Matthew recognised that Jesus completes the Law and the Prophets by being God’s chosen king, God’s Messiah.

Secondly, He fulfils the 330 or so prophecies about God’s Messiah in the Old Testament.  He will be the Son of God, the descendent of king David, he will be born in Bethlehem, he will perform remarkable miracles, he will visit the temple in Jerusalem, he will die by crucifixion to pay for the sin that separates us from God and then he will rise from the dead.

Thirdly he fulfils the parables in the Old Testament. These literal stories have a figurative interpretation in Jesus’ ministry. In the Garden of Eden man turned his back on living as God wants and is expelled from the garden and God’s presence. Just as Pharaoh of Egypt ordered the execution of male infants of the Jews so King Herod’s jealousy drove him to murder the male babies in the area of Bethlehem. Just as Moses had to return from exile to lead God’s people out of Egypt so Jesus came out of exile in Egypt where he and his parents had had to flee to deliver God’s people.  Moses was given God’s law on tablets of stone Jesus came as the Word of God to write his commands in his people’s hearts. The people of Israel were tested in the 40 years they spent in the wilderness and they repeatedly failed.  God wanted to see that they kept trusting and obeying him.  Moses wrote about this:

“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 8:2

Jesus was similarly tested for 40 days when he was in the desert. Moses tried to lead God’s people back to the Promised Land but their sin prevented this. Jesus however came to solve the problem of our sin separating us from God so that we can enter God’s Promised Land, heaven. God’s people were led through the divided waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan so Jesus insisted on being baptised in the river Jordan. The reason Jesus gave to an objecting John the Baptist are significant,

“It is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Matthew 3:15

These and many other parallels given in the Old Testament strongly point to Jesus being the fulfilment of the prophecies about the Messiah but also confirm that the Scriptures are the Word of God.

Jesus demands perfection

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is reminding everyone how far short we fall of the glory of God - the character of man is tarnished. This was the message of the Old Testament:

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2

The Psalms describe the ‘fool’ as someone who denies God.  This is followed by the realisation that this is a universal problem:

“They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Psalm 14:1-3 (and Psalm 53:1-3)

“Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins”, Ecclesiastes 7:20

The Old Testament Scriptures also contains glorious truths about the character of God.  He is pure and unchanging.  When Moses confronted God on Mount Sinai, the Lord described himself and his character:

“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6-7

Some like the idea of the first half of this description but object to God’s unchanging holiness which eventually will lead to judgment.  He hates sin and no sinner can ever enter his presence.

The message of the Old Testament is uncompromising, there is only one God and he will not be trifled with:

‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked:before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, “In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.”’ All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.” Isaiah 45:22-35

Note that God speaks to us through his word.

The words used in verse 17 is very important.  

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” Matthew 5:17

Up to this point, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has taught that heaven is for those who know how far short they have fallen from God’s standards and who long for God to do something and save them.  The word ‘abolish’ literally means ‘to throw out’ or ‘destroy’.  It is a word used for the destruction of the temple building.  Jesus is saying he has not come to tear down the Law and the Prophets.  Their teaching that God is holy and demands perfection still stands.  The ethical teachings in the Old Testament are  to teach God’s people how they should live when they are in a relationship with him.  They show that when a person enters into a relationship with the one true holy God through God accepting the animal sacrifices and their having faith in the promises of God, then God demands a new way of living.  It is exactly the same for God’s people today:

“ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Be holy as I am holy" is a direct Biblical command from God, found in Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7.  Moses was told:

‘Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Leviticus 19:2

This is echoed in the New Testament:

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15-16

It means that Christians set apart to be pure, and reflect God's perfect character in all aspects of life, not just specific rituals, by living very differently from worldly patterns through an inner transformation and obedience.  Jesus has certainly not come to abolish the demands of the Law and the Prophets but to fill their message to the full.  When we have entered into a relationship with this holy God through Christ we must be the sort of people God made us to be.  It bears saying again, Jesus has not come to overthrow the demands of the Old Testament.  This demand for perfection that the Old testament teaches is repeated later in the Sermon:

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

This is why our churches must teach the Old Testament alongside the New.  The essential message is the same.  Jesus goes on to say:

“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:18

Don’t forget, Jesus is talking to people who have come to follow him.  They are already members of God’s kingdom, they are the salt and the light.  But those followers needed to be reminded, much as we do, that the demands of God’s perfect character is unchanged.  When Jesus says, ‘I tell you the truth’ it is always to emphasise a point.  The Law and the Prophets are just as relevant to us today.  The smallest letter in Greek is ‘iota’ and the smallest  sign in Hebrew is ‘yod’, the mark used to distinguish different letters.  It has great significance in Hebrew as the name of God, Jahweh, begins with a ‘yod’.

Far from overcoming the Old Testament, Jesus came to drive home the demand for perfection amongst God’s people.  If we are to be in a living relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we have to realise that God will not lower his standards so we can casually strolling on our terms.  His demands are still perfection.

God is not interested in ritual, he wants our hearts.  Jesus goes on to say:

“Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

This is a major difference between the God of the Bible and that of the Qur’an.  The Qur'an identifies ‘marriageable age’ as being linked to the capacity for sound judgment, particularly regarding financial and personal responsibilities. 

“Test the orphans until they reach (the age of) marriage. If you perceive right judgment in them, hand over their property to them. Do not consume it wantonly or hastily before they are grown up.” Surah 4:6

Islamic scholars interpret this verse as requiring both physical (puberty) and intellectual maturity for marriage, as the same standard is used to entrust orphans with their wealth.

The Qur’an describes the purpose of marriage as finding ‘comfort,’’affection,’ and ‘mercy’ between spouses, which modern scholars argue requires two consenting adults capable of forming such a bond. 

“(Another) of His signs is that He created spouses for you for yourselves, so that you may live with them, and he has established love and mercy between you.” Surah 30:21 

In view of this teaching many have puzzled why Muhammad went against this teaching in his personal life.  Al-Bukhari tells us in his Hadith about his marriage to Aisha:

“. . . that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that `Aisha remained with the Prophet for nine years (i.e. till his death).” Al-Bukhari 67:70

This inconsistency is a real concern.

The Old Testament teaches us about the character, the holiness of God and this is what Jesus emphasised both in his teaching and in the way he himself embodied this.  The Old Testament teaches us about the demands of God and Jesus emphasises that these have not changed.  A pure perfect God demands purity from his people.

Jesus exposes pretence

Jesus recognises that all people are morally flawed and can never be good enough for God.  Matthew 5:20-48 stress this.  There always have been religious people who try their hardest to be godly,  The Pharisees were such people, as were the ascetic monks in the early church.

“ For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20

Even such costly religiosity that the Pharisees demonstrated is not good enough for God.  The Pharisees were renowned for their meticulous observance of the minutiae of Old Testament rituals, to the extent that they had built fence around the Old Testament laws with 613 rules of their own.  These additional were to ensure they did not inadvertently break the Law.  They had 248 positive extra rules, ‘Thou shalt . . .’ and 365 negative rules, ‘Thou shalt not . . .”. But they had missed the point, God wants people’s hearts not just rule-keeping. The foundational statement of Judaism, the ‘Shema’ stresses this:

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” Deuteronomy 6:4-6

The Pharisees had an external righteousness.  Their dress identified them as being a holy group, they assiduously attended religious services and functions, they tithed everything, even the weeds in their gardens.  They were widely respected and were able to rise up in the religious establishment.  But Jesus teaches:

“. . . unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees . . , you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20

These religious people have not entered into the Kingdom of God but there are some who have.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10

What qualifies them to be accepted into God’s kingdom, it is their relationship with Jesus.  Remember how this goes on:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11

Those who love Jesus and are devoted to living with and for him are the salt of the earth, but we must remain in this relationship with Christ if we are to be saved.  Outside of Christ there is no salvation.

Jesus realises that many religious people are phoney on the inside.  This hypocrisy often overflows into immoral or other wrong actions.  Jesus later elaborated on what he saw in the Pharisees hearts:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” Matthew 23:13

This shows us, contrary to what the Pharisees taught, and contrary to what many modern theologians teach,

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” Matthew 23:23-24

There is only one way to be acceptable to God, to be a member of his kingdom and that is to become a devotee of Jesus, God’s son.  Such people will be changed from the inside, he puts a new heart into his people.  It is possible to be an active church person but for god to see us as hypocrites.  We need the new heart that christ alone can give us.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Matthew 23:25

This warning is relevant to clergy and other senior people in the church.  It is easy to assume that because we are recognised by church authorities, spend time preparing talks and services and even spend hours in prayer that this will induce God to accept us.  Our attempts at being righteous all fall far short, our only hope is to receive the righteousness that only Christ can give.

John Berridge

John Berridge became the Vicar of Everton in Bedfordshire between 1755-1793.  He also was a sincere man but he had not understood the Bible’s message.  His tombstone in the Everton churchyard carries the epitaph that he himself wrote:

The story goes that Berridge had spent 8 years labouring in church ministry in various places and was totally ineffective yet still somehow managed to rely “proudly on faith and works for salvation”.  At that time he thought that human merit and virtue was adequate to obtain salvation and his lively sermons exhorted his congregations to a life of good works. This is what he later wrote:

“ It was a doctrine every man will naturally hold while he continues in an unregenerate state, viz, that we are to be justified partly by faith and partly by works of our own. . . . It was some secret reliance on my own works for salvation.” 

It wasn’t until he was 50 years old that he understood what the apostles taught, that it is Jesus alone who has won salvation for us.  He now understood,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5

This doctrine that we can only be put right with God if he gives us the gift of being righteous is throughout Scripture:

“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17

The religious people in Jesus day, the Pharisees, also thought that God was satisfied firstly by their being admitted to Judaism through circumcision and then, by their keeping God’s laws.  They thought is was by a combination of being admitted to God’s people by rite and then by trying to keep God’s rules that a person becomes acceptable to God.  

This is very similar to much churchmanship today.  Jesus however totally rejected this.  The thief on the cross was saved simply because he believed in Jesus.  Salvation is only given to those who have a personal faith in Jesus, to those who are committed to Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.  It is this personal relationship with Jesus that is the door to being given the status of being righteous as a free gift.

Today it is possible to be a very intelligent theologian who knows much about Jesus and the Bible yet remain outside God’s kingdom.  John Stott was a great Bible teacher who helped many come to faith in Jesus.  He attended a conference at which there was radical theologian who disagreed with what the Bible teaches.  As they were walking to breakfast together John wanted to get to the root issue so he asked the theologian a simple but far reaching question,

“May I ask you, do you worship Jesus.”

The is the purpose of Matthews gospel, to show us that our own efforts to please God are sure to fail unless we truly belong to Jesus.  God is utterly consistent.  He demands integrity in his people, he has given his people his standing of being righteous but he then expects us to devotedly follow him and become righteous.  Remember that the angel of the Lord had appeared to Joseph and told him what his step son would become:

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[a] because he will save his people from their sins.’  All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’[b] (which means ‘God with us’).” Matthew 1:21-22

The word ‘fulfil’ (or ‘fulfilled’) appears about 16 times in Matthew’s gospel, sixteen times with a specific formula like ‘that it might be fulfilled’ to link Jesus's life and actions directly to Old Testament prophecies.  The Law and the prophets took people so far, but Jesus came so ‘our cup can be overflowing.

BVP

Matthew 5:13-16. Salt and Light

This short passage about salt and light immediately follows the beatitudes that describe the benefits and characteristics of those who belong to the kingdom of the gracious generous God and his Son.  They emphasise that to be in God’s kingdom we must both recognise how far short we fall from what God wants and have fallen in line behind Jesus as our Saviour and our Lord.

Jesus now uses two metaphors to help us all think what life is this kingdom is all about.  Jesus often used metaphors which are really shortened parables. Thus he said about himself:

“I am the gate”

“I am the good shepherd’

“I am the vine”

“I am the light of the world’

He also used metaphors to describe his people:

“You are the branches’

“You are the salt”

“You are the light”

These are clearly not literal descriptions.  When Jesus says he is ‘the gate’, he means he is the gate to eternal life, to heaven, to God’s kingdom.  To understand what Jesus meant we must both look at the context and see how the idea is used elsewhere in Scripture.

You are the salt of the earth

What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘You are the salt of the earth’?

Salt had many uses, it was used for flavouring, preserving, sacrificing, destroying, and fertilising. It is significant that Jesus does not explain exactly what he had in mind.  Whenever Jesus uses a phrase or metaphor that is not fully explained we should look at how is used elsewhere in the New Testament or what the Old Testament use is. 

Followers of Jesus are like salt: although we’re ordinary we still get involved in much that goes on in society, whether we’re noticed or not. We also have a variety of roles to play as God’s kingdom comes on earth.

There are five purposes of salt which all have bearings on the Christian life:

1. Flavour

Bland food has its flavour enhanced by salt.  This is its main use in the west today.  Christians are meant to enhance our families and societies.  Paul tells us, when discussing how we can promote the gospel in our societies to ensure that our speech is: 

“. . . seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” Colossians 4:6

Our speech is to be gracious but have a bit of bite in what we say.  The gospel does matter.

2.   Preserve

In the ancient world salt was used widely to preserve meats and fish.  For this reason salt was valuable and a highly prized commodity..  Our word "salary" comes from Latin salarium (‘salt money’), derived from sal (‘salt’), referring to the salt given to Roman soldiers who were sometimes partially paid in salt.  Christians should benefit our societies and prevent them from becoming corrupt and go into decay.

3.  Sacrifice

Moses was told by God that salt had to be added to every grain and burnt offering. 

“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt” Leviticus 2:13

The salt here is the message of the Covenant.  All God’s people do should remind us of the Covenant God has made with us.  Christians offer ourselves in obedient, suffering self-sacrifice, with Christ at the centre of all we do and this is pleasing to God. 

Similarly we read:

“You are to offer them before the Lord, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the Lord.” Ezekiel 43:24

4.   Destruction

In the Old Testament there are many references to salt being associated with judgment and destruction.  Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at Sodom.  Jesus alluded to this story with the warning:

“Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” Luke 17:32-33

Moses warned the Israelites that if they break God’s covenant, their land will be:

“. . . burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout” Deuteronomy 29:23

When Abimelech, Gideon’s son, tried to set himself up as king of Israel, the men of Shechem rebelled against him, and he responded by destroying the city and sowing it with salt.

“Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.” Judges 9:45

The psalmist describes God turning 

“. . . a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants” Psalm 107:34

Jesus connects salt with the fire of judgment and sacrifice. Jesus connects salt with fire and with living at peace together:

“Everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if salt loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another,” Mark 9:49-50

This does take us back to the Old Testament sacrifices.  As Christian lives with this understanding there will be peace in God’s church.  

The church, preaching and living out the gospel, does warn people of the coming judgment against those who oppose God.  Paul calls this:

“. . . a clear sign to them of their destruction.” Philippians 1:28

This may explain why Jesus says we are ‘the salt of the earth’ immediately after describing the persecution we will face if we follow him.

5. Fertilise

In low doses salt was used to help fertilise the fields, to break uptake soil, deter weeds and increase yields of crops.  Christians are meant to be in challenging places to enrich barren lands, and stimulate growth so that when the seed is scattered life springs up in unexpected places. Barren lands become fruitful.

Is Jesus meaning that ‘salty’ people will preserve society from rotting.  It is apparent that, whatever liberal humanists say, education has a very limited effect is stopping people from degenerating into selfish creatures, the educated are just selfish in a more sophisticated way.

It is striking that Jesus does not elaborate of what he meant by being salt, but look at the context.  The ‘You’ must be the same people that he has described in the beatitudes, people who mourn over their spiritual poverty, who are meekly waiting for God to come and rescue them, who hunger and thirst for the righteousness that can come from God alone.  The ‘You’ must be those to whom Jesus said:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12

Jesus is always pointing to himself as God’s Lord and Saviour.  Jesus is saying that it is the Christians and only the Christians who are the salt of society.  These are those who responded to him when he said:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17

Those who are the ‘salt’ are not the morally superior.people seen in all religious groups, they are the people who see their need. Jesus is saying that only his people are the ‘salt of the earth’. 

More than this, he is saying that, whether we like it or not, all of us, his people, are ‘the salt of the earth’.  His people have all been changed from those who needed cleansing and who needed flavour in their lives, into those who cleanse the societies we live in and preserve flavour.  This is extraordinary. We, helpless, hopeless, spiritually corrupt people turn to Jesus and he then forgives us, offers us real hope for the future as well as a fresh incentive to live for God.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit who is given to all who turn to Christ.  Conversely, if anyone has not turned to Jesus they are not ‘the salt of the earth’.  They may be great politicians, social changers or popular leaders but they cannot be ‘the salt’ God is looking for.

Again we return to the question why Jesus does not elaborate or what he means by ‘salt’.  Instead he emphasises something different, the danger of ‘losing saltiness’.  This is a warning.

“But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13

Jesus has just said that his people will be insulted, persecuted and slandered so the natural temptation will be to withdraw from Jesus and not openly align ourselves with him and his people.  Unrefined rock salt was common in ancient Palestine.  Often it had become contaminated with minerals such as gypsum. (Gypsum is a soft, naturally occurring calcium sulphate mineral found in sedimentary rock, that is used in construction as plaster, and cement additive, due to its fire resistance, sound insulation, and ability to set hard when heated and re-mixed with water. It is the constituent of Plaster of Paris).  If the salt, sodium chloride, is leached out of the rock and replaced by gypsum, only a totally tasteless residue remains, the sort of residue that is used to create paths, only fit ‘to be trodden underfoot’.

Jesus is surely warning us not to withdraw from him. So often people, whether humanists or religious people, are happy to emphasise Christian morals but overlook the fact that these have come from God.  You cannot have an authoritative morality derived from primordial soup!  Morality does not make person salty, it just makes people self-righteous.  They won’t be rescued because they cannot see themselves as poor in spirit.  They do not mourn over their sins or seek for someone who can make them righteous.

So this metaphor is a warning, if we lose our saltiness, if we drift from Christ, we will lose the very purpose for which he called a people to himself, to be the salt of the earth.  Any who leave Christ leave salvation, they will be ejected from his Kingdom and trampled underfoot.

What a grim warning this is.  So often our media and schools teach that the answer to a stable society is morality, but they usually omit to stress that this inward change only comes when we submit to the rule of the Lord Jesus.

So this metaphor stresses that we must not withdraw from Jesus.

You are the light of the world

This next directive is that we must not withdraw from the world.  

“You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14

How often in church history this has been a tendency.  The ascetics, the closed religious orders and denominations and inward looking congregations who are more concerned about themselves than the world their Lord made.  So often you hear of fellowships where people say that their priority is to strengthen the group before looking outwards to help others. What a disaster such thinking is.

As so often is the case, the concept of being ‘the light of the world’ comes from the Old Testament. 

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.” Isaiah 62:1-2

When God’s people are walking closely with him, they cannot keep quiet about Jesus and the salvation he brings.  The glory of the city or people of God will be seen.  The ‘blazing torch’ is the message of salvation.  Everyone must see that it is God alone who can rescue us.

Jesus later emphasised that he is the real light of the world that all people need.  When people were disputing Jesus’ testimony about himself he said,

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

He then went on to say:

“While I am in theworld, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5

His message is clear, he is the light of the world but he would soon be leaving this world.  Where is the light for people then.  It is to be seen in the people of God, the Christians, who become the ‘light of the world’.

Don’t forget that in those days ‘lights’ were flames. It is easy to determine when something is alight. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church or people who have no interest in evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction. 

The sun is the source of our light but there is also a moon that reflects the sun’s light to us on earth.  In the same way Christians are only a light when we reflect the light of Jesus to the world.

Jesus makes it abundantly clear what it means for us to be ‘the light of the world’.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

We, the selfish people who God has rescued, are being created into a people who shine with the gospel to those around us.  This is not an option.  Just as God’s people are salt, so, whether we want to or not, we are light.  The light of Jesus cannot be hidden by his people.  We do not hide our commitment to Jesus, as it were to ‘put it under a bowl’.

This is another mark of Christians, we long that others may come to know the Saviour of the world and that they may have a real hope and power for the future.  How else will they hear the glorious message about Jesus if we, his people don’t tell others about him.  They certainly won’t read much about the gospel in our newspapers, on television shows, or in programmes such as‘Moral Maze’.  If Jesus was recognised there would no moral maze.

A Christian working in an office wanted his colleagues to hear the gospel so he asked his godly grandfather to come and interest them in Christian things.  His grandfather’s response was clear:

“What do you think God put you there for?”

The apostle Paul later stresses what Jesus had taught.  He recognised this need for all Christians to talk about Jesus and the gospel saying that this is a mark of being a real Christian:

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

At one Friday Group Bible study the question was asked:

“What about those in foreign countries who have never heard about Jesus and the gospel, how can they be saved?”

God alone is the judge and he is justice himself. However Paul continued after saying that our salvation depends on us speaking to others about Jesus to answering this question.  His answer is that all Christians are to be ambassadors for Christ.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Romans 10:14-15

Didn’t we all become Christians when someone explained the gospel to us or took us to hear it explained?  Yet too many today are afraid to talk about this new life that everybody needs. 

Many years ago in St. Louis, Missouri, a lawyer visited a Christian to transact some business. Before the two parted, his client said to him, 

"I've often wanted to ask you a question, but I've been afraid to do so." 

"What do you want to know?" asked the lawyer. The man replied, "I've wondered why you're not a Christian." 

The man hung his head, 

"I know enough about the Bible to realize that it says no drunkard can enter the kingdom of God; and you know my weakness!" 

"You're avoiding my questions," continued the believer. 

"Well, truthfully, I can't recall anyone ever explaining how to become a Christian." 

Picking up a Bible, the client read some passages showing that all are under condemnation, but that Christ came to save the lost by dying on the cross for their sins. 

"By receiving Him as your Substitute and Redeemer," he said, "you can be forgiven. If you're willing to receive Jesus, let's pray together." 

The lawyer agreed, and when it was his turn he exclaimed, 

"O Jesus, I am a slave to drink. One of your servants has shown me how to be saved. O God, forgive my sins and help me overcome the power of this terrible habit in my life." 

Right there he was converted. That lawyer was C.I. Scofield, who later edited the reference Bible that bears his name.

D.L. Moody, when a young man and much before he became a world-famous evangelist, made an covenant with God that he would witness for Christ to at least one person each day. One night, about ten o’clock, he realised that he had not yet spoken that day to anyone about Jesus; so he went out in to the street and saw a man standing by a lamppost.  He went up to him and said, 

“Excuse me but may I ask you a question.  Are you a Christian?”

The man flew into a violent rage and threatened to knock Moody into the gutter. Later, that same man went to an elder in the church and complained that Moody was ‘doing more harm in Chicago than ten men were doing good.’ The elder begged Moody to temper his zeal with knowledge. Three months later, Moody was awakened at the YMCA by a man knocking at the door. It was the man he had witnessed to. 

“I want to talk to you about my soul,” he said to Moody. 

He apologised for the way he had treated Moody and said that he had had no peace ever since that night on Lake Street when Moody witnessed to him. Moody led the man to Christ and he became a zealous worker in the Sunday school. 

On another occasion he asked a man whether he was a Christian.  The reply came back,

“Mind you own business!”

“But sir this is my business.  I long that people should come to know the Lord Jesus.”

Early the next morning, the day after I had written this article, I was pondering what Jesus really meant when he talked about ‘salt’.  Then it dawned, he was talking about himself.  When salt was added to the temple sacrifices it was a symbol that later Jesus would become the ultimate sacrifice.  To lose our saltiness is to drift away from Jesus.  Just as Jesus is the light of the world, so salt also represents him.  Salt and light are both Jesus.  How we need to find ways to talk about him to others.

BVP

Matthew 5:1-12. More than Morality

The Sermon on the Mount has had a great influence on English language even if it now has little influence on English speaking people.  It has given us such phrases as:

“Turn the other cheek”

“Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’”

“You are the salt of the earth”

“Do not judge”

“Love your neighbour”

“An eye for an eye”

“The sun rises on the just and on the unjust”

“Do to others what you would have them do to you”

The difficulty many have when reading this is sermon is to take it out of context and as a result its meaning is frequently misunderstood.  It can simply become a textbook of morality.  Ask most people what they think this sermon is about and most will say something like, 

‘It is about being good’.  

They think that Jesus came as a great teacher and here he is giving people a helpful code of conduct.  Even churchmen can teach it is this way.  One Headmaster who regarded this sermon in such a way said:

“Professional Integrity is something I pride myself on. I am an ethical, moralistic person. I work hard for our community, I strive hard for our learners.  As a Headteacher, I do the right thing, I make the hard decisions, I stand up for what is right.”

In such schools the sermon could be taught as part of the curriculum of moral or social studies but its whole point would be missed. To teach this sermon as just a moral code is very dangerous.  Notice how this passage starts:

“Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.” Matthew 5:1-2

This sermon is for those who have become disciples of Jesus and teaches what will distinguish Christians from the crowds of other people.  Jesus has separated the crowds from his disciples.  He is sharing with them essentially two ideas:

The Blessings of those who belong to God

The Characteristics of those who belong to God

The first four chapters of Matthews gospel have taught that Jesus is God’s one and only Son and that those who belong to God are the followers of Jesus.  This sermon is for those who claim to be followers of Christ and are going to have a rough time because of this.  At the end of these beatitudes Jesus again puts himself in the centre:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11

To miss this, to leave Jesus out, is to miss the whole point of the sermon.  This sermon demonstrates how we can know who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’ of God’s kingdom.

Note the tenses Jesus uses in the first and last of the beatitudes:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

““Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12

He is talking about the features of those people who are already members of his kingdom.  In contrast he blessings of the central six beatitudes will all be experienced in the future:

“. . . they will be comforted. . . . for they will inherit the earth. . . . for they will be filled with righteousness. . . .  for they will be shown mercy. . . . for they will see God. . . . for they will be called children of God.”

When will God’s people be filled with righteousness, when will we be shown mercy, when will we see God face to face?  These promises will only be fully fulfilled in the future.  Jesus’ wants us, his people, to keep focusing on what is ours in eternity.  We do see these blessings dimly now but then they will be abundantly clear and we will be fully satisfied. Paul used the phrase "we see things dimly as in a mirror" when writing to a church who were being taught to expect all of God’s blessings now:

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12, 

This verse also teaches that our current understanding of spiritual realities is incomplete and unclear, like looking at a blurred reflection, but in the future, we will see and know God and truth "face to face" with perfect clarity, just as we are fully known by Him now. What a disaster it is when churches advertise themselves by promoting and often exagerating blessings in this life.  We have been chosen to live for Christ and sometimes that will lead to difficulties.

To  be blessed by God does not mean that Christians will not face similar problems and illnesses as other people.  Neither does it mean ‘Oh the bliss now’, that is a sentimental ‘gooey’ doctrine that is far from what the Bible teaches.  To be ‘blessed’ is all to do with being favoured and approved by him - to be part of his kingdom.  For such people there is no doubt or uncertainty, there’s is the Kingdom of Heaven.  

How do I know if I am a member of God’s kingdom, am approved by God?  It is because we are members of the group who have submitted to his rule and dominion.  There is not doubt, God has promised that ‘There’s is the kingdom’.

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The Nature of God

This sermon speaks of a rich and generous God who bestows favour on his people.  

Some are uncertain about their relationship with god, sometimes they think they are alright and at other times they feel out of favour.  They are uncertain.  It is a bit like the relationship of Members of Parliament or the Cabinet with the Prime Minister.  They try hard to stay in favour but some lapse or disagreement can change everything.  In Alan Clarke’s book ‘Westminster’ he described how people are always unsure where they stand.  

Most religions have a form of acceptance ceremony and then their members are expected to be devoted enough to be acceptable to God but however committed they are, they can never be certain.   ‘Have I done enough?’, ‘Have I worked hard enough?’, ‘Have I given enough?’  Even in Christian circles people can think in such ways, presuming that God’s generosity is a transient thing, something that somehow can be earned by long service and good conduct.

The God of the beatitudes is completely different to this.  It is he who has qualified us to be members of his Kingdom.  Our judgment took place on Jesus’ cross.  We are saved for eternity because of him.  When we turn to him we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit who changes us and makes us want to live in a way that pleases God.  The Sermon on the mount speaks of Blessings that God gives to his people.  It is God himself who guarantees our future.

Who are the favoured ones?

The natural question is an important one,

“Who are the favoured people?”

In Jesus’ day there were many Pharisees who felt that they were acceptable to God because of their strict adherence to God’s law.  They were single-minded in their devotion to keeping these laws yet it was largely outward.  Jesus said about the Pharisees:

“Everything they do is done for people to see.” Matthew 23:5

Towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says to some religious people who did not have a personal relationship with himself:

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:22-23

This sermon’s answer on what will qualify people for heaven is surprising to many.  It teaches:

1. You must realise how bad you are.

2. You must be followers of Jesus

1. You must realise how bad you are

God’s blessings are only given to those who see how needy they are:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

To be ‘poor in spirit’ or ‘poor in heart’ is an inward and not an outward feature.  It is God who knows our hearts, and what is in our hearts controls everything else we do.  To be poor in spirit is to be honest with ourselves and to realise how inadequate we are compared to Jesus. 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Being ‘broken hearted’  has nothing to do with personal bereavement or being sad because of our lot in life, it is all to do with being sad because of the state of ourselves and of God’s people

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

The meek are those who, like a stallion, have been broken in to do their master’s wishes. The same word is used in Greek for such horses.  The world or earth they will inherit will be the new world.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Such people realise how unrighteous they are and they long to experience the fulness of God’s presence.  In the gospel we are given the status of being made righteous but in heaven we will experience this to the full.  No-one ‘hungers and thirst’ if they have already eaten and are satisfied.  Elsewhere Jesus teaches that he is the ‘bread of life’ (John 6:35).  In John 4:14 Jesus says that it is he who gives water that ‘springs up to eternal life’ and in John 7:37-38 he says ‘Come to Him and drink’. Revelation 21:6 and Revelation 22:1 describe Jesus as the ‘fountain of the water of life’ in the New Jerusalem, representing the life and salvation Jesus alone offers. The only way for this desire for righteousness can be met is through Jesus.

In essence Jesus is saying that the first qualification for being blessed is to realise had bad and weak we really are.

Jesus has taken these ideas from what is taught in the Old Testament - as he so often does.  Isaiah 61:1-2 reads:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,   because the Lord has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,  to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour. Isaiah 61:1-3

This was written about God’s people who were in exile, away from God.  Isaiah was preaching the same message of the Sovereign Lord.  Then those of God’s people who looked back to what the Lord had called them to be now realised how poor they were.  They mourned just as all God people mourn about being captives to sin.  Yet it is to such people that there is a message of hope from God.  There is a crown ahead, yes it is in the future but the crown is definitely there for those who are waiting for him.  There is a future where we will not be captives to sin.

Jesus is asking whether we all realise that, before a holy, pure and generous God we have no merit to earn his kindness.  We are dependant on grace alone.  Do I realise how God sees me and do I long for God to do something about this?

The phrase, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth’ is taken from Psalm 34.  This psalm is all about how those who belong to God live grateful lives because they realise that everything have we have comes from God.  David wrote this when he was in dire trouble but his hope remained in his Lord.  This psalm also talks about who is blessed by God.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8

This is what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount about the effect that taking refuge in and following him will have on his people.  Jesus says:

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8

Jesus went on to say:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

In the Old Testament one of the marks of God’s people was the way they were peacemakers. the concept of peacemaking and being God's people is rooted in the Old Testament, with figures like Abraham & Lot (Genesis 13) (yielding land for peace), Moses & Aaron (interceding for Israel), David (2 Samuel 19) (showing mercy to enemies), and Nehemiah & Ezra (rebuilding and restoring covenant) embodying peacemaking by promoting harmony, resolving disputes, and fostering right relationships with God and others, reflecting the Hebrew Shalom (wholeness).   Churchill once said:

“The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next elections, while the statesman thinks about the next generation”. 

It could be added that Christians are peacemakers because we think about the next life.

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Good News

This sermon is good news for those who recognise that all is not well between them and God and who long to change.  We see the holiness and love of god and know how far short we fall.  We long for mercy.  At the end of chapter 4 we see thousands coming to Jesus to have their needs met.

In Judaism being imperfect disqualified people from going to God’s presence in the temple.  Having leprosy, a symbol of sin, excluded people. Only perfect animals could be offered sacrifices.  This was to stress that God is holy and nothing perfect is acceptable to him.  Here however Jesus is welcoming the far from perfect.  This is a picture of the gospel.  In Christ the imperfect can be reckoned to be righteous and by the work of his Spirit a process of change begins.  

So those who have messed up in the past, had a criminal record, had affairs, had anger problems, broken marriages, taken drugs, called ourselves atheists and behaved accordingly, or whatever, can rejoice because in Christ the past can be forgiven and forgotten.  We start again.  Paul wrote:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

So the first feature of those who can become God’s people is that we must recognise how bad we are!

There are also great benefits from living by faith in the love of God in this life. The ability to handle life's blows without blame or bitterness does helps people to be content. These are the conclusions of a study of 173 men who have been followed since they graduated from Harvard University in the early 1940s. The study noted that one potent predictor of well-being was the ability to handle emotional crisis maturely. Having a real faith contributes to this.

‍ ‍

Bad news

This sermon as well as the rest of the Bible is really bad news for those who think they are quite good.  The self-righteous won’t come to Jesus to be helped.  They think they can cope off their own, they will try to muddle through.  Some such people may be brought to their senses when problems such as bereavements, bad health or disappointments come along but this is surprisingly uncommon.  People who have repeated said ‘No’ to God throughout their life find it hard to recognise their need for him later.

There was an obnoxious character in the television show, Eastenders called Dot Cotton.  In one episode she sat in ‘the Albert’ pontificating  about this that and the other as a religious prig.  She clearly thought she was morally superior to everyone in the square.  There seemed to be no mourning over her own condition.  There was no longing for a change, just a long stream of self-righteous judgments passed on government ministers and anyone else she disapproved of.  She spoke as a self-satisfied, morally superior person.

Jesus says that someone who thinks they are good, better than average, will not enter heaven.  This is why Jesus made it clear that many religious people, such as the Pharisees, will be rejected on the day of judgment.

The first qualification for heaven is to see how bad we are!

2.  We must be followers of Jesus

The Bible is clear that the only way to be pure in heart, to be righteous is to be given this status and power to live a new life by Christ himself.  Without Christ no-one is pure in heart and only those who are in Christ will see God.  There are many church people who have rejected what the apostles teach about this even though Jesus and the apostles are clear:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” John 3:36

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:6-9

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

This is what Jesus is teaching in this sermon.  Those who are followers of Jesus both will be blessed and are blessed by God even though there may be problems now because we follow him.  The ninth beatitude reminds us of this:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11

Our eternal security and peace in this life are given to us because we belong to Christ.

This ties in with the prophecy in Isaiah 61 which describes what Jesus came to do.  Jesus himself applied this passage to himself when it read it in the Nazareth synagogue.  They were furious with him because they understood what he was saying about himself:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,  because the Lord has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor.” Isaiah 61:1

“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,  to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God.” Isaiah 61:1-2

Jesus is the way to receive the Lord’s favour but those who reject him will face God’s anger or vengeance. Any who refuse to turn to Jesus almost certainly do this because we are not ‘poor in spirit’, they think they will cope without Christ, they have forgotten God.  In a similar way such people do not ‘mourn’ over their own sin, they are not hungering and thirsting for a relationship with God that Jesus can give.

This is why it is so dangerous to teach this sermon as if it is advocating a good moral code for society, those who, like the Pharisees think they are OK will find out soon enough that they are not OK in God’s eyes.  Their eyes are focused on the wrong person.

There can be no better news to share with people.  This is what people need to hear.  Anyone can be forgiven and become a member of God’s kingdom by turning to follow Christ.

Teaching morality will not bring people to god and it does not have the power to change people into being godly.  A headmaster wrote the following in his autobiography,

“I was happy in conversation with boys always to tell them what ideal behaviour was and where selfishness, cruelty and exploitation lay, but unwilling to talk of the very centre of Christianity, the meaning of the cross, because I found it at times repugnant and in part beyond belief.  With this semi religion I was able to live with some contentment, but I knew well that it was ‘non-infectious’.  That if what I believed was all Christianity amounted to, it would attract few.  I knew that our Lord did not walk about Palestine beginning a world revolution, by saying,

“Come along everyone, be nice to everybody, be truthful, be honest.  No, he spoke of repentance, of salvation from sin, of conversion.”

How right this headmaster is.  People need to know that our root problem is our natural rebellion against God and that the solution lies with Jesus Christ.  This is what the Sermon on the Mount is teaching.

BVP

Matthew 4:17-25 The Response to an Evidence Based Faith”

Matthew is keen to confront everyone with the evidence that Jesus is the only son of God.  On either side of the challenge, ‘Come, follow me’, the evidence is summarised.  Many times he emphasises that Jesus fulfils what was written in the Word of God by repeatedly saying, ‘This was fulfilled’, thus in this section we read:

“ . . . to fulfil what was said through the prophet Isaiah:” Matthew 4:14

After his challenge, ‘Come follow me’, Matthew gives us some contemporary evidence to support the claims of Jesus.  He did miracles that only God could do.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed; and he healed them.” Matthew 4:23-24

He healed the physical illnesses of many people.  It is interesting that Matthew stresses that people came from Syria, a vast first century Roman province, so stressing that Jesus came to open his Kingdom to all people including non-Jews.  Great crowds came from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and Perea, the region west of the river Jordan. Jesus made radical claims that he substantiated.  He had every right to do so because he really is who he claimed to be.  The ultimate proof was his own resurrection three days after being executed by crucifixion. He convinced the disciples who lived closely to him.  They gave their lives to share the news that Jesus is the risen Messiah.

The response of faith

In the West a casual, laid-back version of so-called Christianity is very common.  This is not what ‘belief’ in the Bible means.  Notice the response of the first four disciples when they were approached by Jesus.  Jesus said ‘Come, follow me’, and their response was dramatic.  We read about Peter and Andrew who were fishing:

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”  At once they left their nets and followed him.” Matthew 4:18-20

Then he called James and John:

“Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him”. Matthew 4:21-22

We have read in John’s gospel that Andrew and Peter had been followers of John the Baptist but he had passed them on to become disciples of Jesus:

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).” John 1:40-41

There was an immediacy about the decision to follow Jesus that came from the realisation that Jesus really was the Messiah of God.  They left everything to follow him immediately.

It is obvious therefore that to teach the Sermon on the Mount that follows without emphasising who is teaching this sublime material is totally wrong.  People first need a Saviour, someone who can put them right with God and empower them to live a very different life.  Only when people have received this new life by accepting the rule of Jesus in their life will they be concerned to live in a way that pleases him.  To teach the Sermon on the Mount as rules or an ethical code divorced from the authority of Jesus and his majestic claims would totally miss the point.  Political parties may try to claim the high moral ground by quoting from the Sermon but they also have missed the point that this Sermon is part of the evidence that Jesus has come from God.    

The Christian manifesto is all about Jesus.  He is the God who created our universe and entered into it as a human being.

1. He is Lord of all and rules his universe.  Consequently to preach a political ‘Back to Basics’ can be preaching a Christian ethic without Jesus Christ and is really just moralising.

2. Jesus demands a radical personal commitment to himself if people are to be saved and admitted into God’s Kingdom.  When Jesus says ‘Come, follow me’, it literally means ‘come behind me’.  Christians allow Jesus to lead.  That is what repentance means.  Without allowing Jesus to control me, there is no salvation.  Jesus said,

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” John 4:17

This radical manifesto is actually attractive to people.  Large crowds followed Jesus (Matthew 4:25).

This does not mean that God wants every Christian to give up their job and go into full time Christian service.  In the New Testament most Christians continue living normal lives with their families and jobs.  Slaves who became Christians had no option but to continue where they were, serving their masters.  What does change is that in everything Jesus is recognised as being in charge of our lives.  Serving Jesus becomes much more than another interest that we try to squeeze into our busy jobs, relationships, families, shopping, hobbies and sports.  What does change is that serving Jesus immediately becomes our highest priority.

A Christian asked his friend who had come to several Christian events:

“What holds you back from following Christ?”

“I have so many other things that already crowd out my diary.”

He then went on to list these, his girlfriend, his gym, his high-flying career and the DIY in his new house.

“I don’t know what I would have to give up if I was to take on being a Christian as well.”

This man has completely missed the point.  It is God himself who calls him.  He doesn’t want us to squeeze him in alongside other activities and our plans, he comes instead with a radical plan,

“Follow me”, God says to each of us.

He comes with so much evidence to support his claims.  These are summarised in Matthews gospel as well as in the book ‘Stepping Stones’.

Jesus demands that everyone turns away from living for themselves to living with him in control.  It means we will do better jobs as we are now living as God prioritises.  Our families will benefit as he wants our families to be a major priority, they come under his rule. This is all so liberating.  We do not serve a draconian God but one who loves us deeply and what he wants is always for our eternal benefit.  Far from cramping us or narrowing our interests we find his Lordship leads into new exciting areas.

There is a third side to the Christian manifesto:

‍ ‍3.   “I will send you out to be fishers of people”. Matthew 4:19

This can be misunderstood.  A man who had recently become a Christian said,

“When I first read this verse a wave of terror swept over me.”

It does not mean

‘I will compel you, I will force you against your will’.

What Jesus is saying is that he will teach and guide us how to continue the work he came to do in verses 18-22.  He longs to give us and train us in the privilege of acting as the Lord’s own people who will attract people back to God.  Jesus entered this world for this purpose and he has put his Spirit into his men and women to continue this task of calling others to belong to God.

When people respond to Jesus and asked to be forgiven and changed into his people he promises to train us so we enjoy being fishers of men.  The Lord never makes his people do anything against their will - he loves us deeply.

Some are fearful that they might have to behave in a way that is totally false to themselves and contrary to their personality, others are fearful of becoming clones of some Christian they know.  This is not what God wants.  His objective is to use all his people with our different gifts in different ways.  Some may love teaching the truths winsomely to others in public, others are good at befriending people and can say, ‘Would you like to come with me to hear . . . ‘  We all have different roles in our Lord’s service and he will ensure that we are satisfied with the role.  Some fishermen may fish in trawlers, they are the evangelists like Peter or Billy Graham, but not many of them are needed in a local church.

When Mathew first became a follower of Jesus he put on a supper in his home and invited Jesus as the after-dinner speaker (Matthew 9:9-13).  When the demon-possessed man Legion experienced the new life God offers, Jesus sent him back to his home town to share with people what had happened to him (Mark 5:1-20).

How we become ‘fishers of men’ will vary immensely, but Jesus wants to encourage us and train us into having this ambition.

In the final commission he gave to his disciples he said to them:

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 29:18-20

Some have suggested that this role was only for the special few but look at what the disciples were to teach the new Christians:

“ . . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 29:20

That ‘everything’ must include becoming ‘fishers of men’.  The book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament makes this very clear, all Christians are called to be ‘fishers of men’.

But note how Jesus finishes, it is so encouraging.  As we set our hearts and minds to find ways to be effective for him he promises that His Spirit will be at work alongside each of us.

Could it be that because some have determined not to let the Lord lead them that they do not love the business of winning others for Christ.  A West Indian preacher was giving a sermon on this Great Commission, using the Authorised Version of the Bible.  He stressed the words ‘Go’ and ‘Lo, I am with you always’ finishing with the catchphrase:

“No ‘Go’, no ‘Lo’!

To enjoy God’s presence we must be about his business.  Could this be why some church people do not seem to love being Christians?

Some people will say, ‘But that is not my gift!’  They have forgotten that God gives his Holy Spirit to all his people to empower us to promote the Lord Jesus.  The Spirit of God always points to Jesus.  We will do this in many different ways but all christians will be involved.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church:

“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” 2 Corinthians 5:19-20

One person, trying to excuse his lack of involvement suggested that the ‘we’ and ‘us’ in this passage might be restricted to the apostolic group around Paul.  The final verse of this section makes it clear who he means when he uses the words ‘us’ and ‘we’.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

This paragraph is clearly about every true Christian who has been forgiven and has entered the service of Jesus Christ.     

Nabeel Qureshi was an ardent Muslim who after several years of questioning committed his life to Christ.  From that time on his life changed.  He began to see the world as Jesus did.  When he saw someone walking across the road he realised:

“That is someone Jesus was willing.to die for.”

If we want to enjoy the presence of the Lord we must find ways to satisfy his wishes and be used to draw people to put their faith in Jesus.  Paul recognised that those who love finding ways to effectively share the news about Jesus are so often the ones who enjoy his presence:

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” Philemon 6     NIV 84

“I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we[a] may do for Christ.” Philemon 6 RSV

BVP