Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
I had to read this a few time to make sure I did not miss something. Jesus tells us that we are to "be careful to do everything " that the Pharisees tell you but "do not do what they do." This makes me wonder about all the denominations and sects we have today. I am taking away the fact that the teachers of the law should be listened too, but not set as a role model or put on a pedestal. This seems like a DUH statement but it took me a bit to catch this and realize that this is Jesus saying focus on me and my word not those who preach it.
You hypocrites! This was said several times and I get the feeling that the Pharisees did not get or understand what Jesus was saying. They feared what Jesus said without understanding it. I pray that I can avoid the traps of pride and religion.
Chapter 24
2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
This is the statement that gets Jesus crucified. I don't know why this is interesting to me but I envision people spying on Jesus and his group but could it have been one of his own followers who shared the information to the authorities?
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
The above scripture was in response to being asked for signs of the time and Jesus's coming back. We have been seeing most all of these signs. If I understand scripture then the only other events we are waiting on are the preaching the good news to the whole world...
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
Who will be handed over to be persecuted? Is this for Christians or who??? What does it mean to be hated by all nations. Is it possible to live life while being hated by people. How can we be peacemakers and share lover with people who hate us. We are told to love and pray for these people aren't we??? It says in verse 13 that we are to stand firm even when all the chaos of the world is swirling around us. How do we fix our eyes and grow our faith to not be tempted to be led away by the false prophets.
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
I try to image this in my mind and I can not even begin to understand. The elect being gathered by angels, what a site that must me and I wonder at the fear the non-elect will be experiencing during this process... The chapter is ended with the day and hour unknown but that we are to be ready at any time. Am I living my life in a way that I am ready? I really need to check my priories and question my motives because the things of this world seem so important but with eternity approaching at any moment, it makes me wonder why I get so caught up in the cares of the world. God help me to have and keep an eternal perspective!
Now that he's publicly schooled the teachers and they've left with tails between legs, Jesus addresses everyone else (the crowds and his disciples). He talks about the Pharisees. I guess sometimes it is ok to judge people or warn others about them? Or is that only if you are God?
ReplyDelete" They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. "
Sometimes I feel so Heavy. It is of my own making, this heavy load. Because I put all my focus on Doing Right and Obeying Rules and Shoulds and Oughts. Because I care too much about what other people think. Because I want to be good, to be noticed, to be understood. When I forget myself in worship, I float, I fly.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
For the second half of Matt 23, my main thought is: for those of you who think Christianity is not for you because you hate the hypocrites, Jesus beat you to it. Jesus is not the white robed martyr that you might think, poster boy for a bunch of judgmental people who think they are perfect and want to dictate to the rest of the world what they should and shouldn't do.
ReplyDeleteJesus is a little bit wild, sometimes angry (he's very angry and verbal with his anger in this section), sometimes tender, sometimes cool and intelligent (like the last chapter), always Jesus was/is GOD. In this section, I feel like Jesus has truly for a moment stepped outside of the human man he is at this moment and is speaking straight from heaven with the Voice of God the Father, a voice of Power. I don't know why he seems just a little bit different to me here. Like he's channeling God in a different way than he often does, but Jesus is Always God and always spoke with power and authority.
Matthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
To me the two most poignant verses in this section are "13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces."
and "37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."
Even in his anger at the blind guides who make it so hard for the people to truly SEE God and at the people who did hear the truth but were stubborn and unwilling and violent, even then it is impossible to not see the pure love of Christ penetrating his passionate rebukes. Deep Love hurts even Christ, not just symbolically on the cross, but in everyday interactions with people. But Jesus continues to be who he is, and to love, and to speak boldly, and to invite people to reject the way of hypocritical religion and embrace a different way: love, humility, justice, mercy and faithfulness.
May we be ashamed that we ever shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. God help us to see others as you do.
Chapter 24
ReplyDeleteI don’t usually get into eschatology. I usually avoid all things that seem to cause arguments that are not easily resolved. Even though, at one point I was convinced by a pastor that the way we expect the future of this world to unfold effects the way we live today in tangible ways, I still don’t even think about it much. But here’s a huge section of the bible, straight from Jesus, about it, so for today, I’ll go there.
Right off the bat I noticed two things that seemed strange:
v.34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. (Whaaaaa? I don’t understand. Obviously many many generations have passed away and the second coming is still on the horizon.)
v. 36 No one knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (There is something God knows but Jesus doesn’t? This is hard for me to understand. How is this possible if they are the same—completely One. Perhaps their oneness is not quite the way I’ve always imagined. Perhaps it is more the way we are One with God, he doesn’t reveal everything to us at once. Perhaps it is more the way we are One with our spouse, we still share separate wills and thoughts, but we are bound together and cannot be separated. The only other quick reference to this that I can think of is Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Not my will, but yours be done. Seriously, this is big and more than I can comprehend right now. I pray that if this is something significantly wrong in my theology, God you will right my thinking. I am willing to be changed.)
Next, not that I’ve ever really been convinced that the Left Behind theology is biblically sound, this chapter really seems to me to debunk it. And I think this is the chapter where most of those ideas actually come from. To me, the fact that the scriptures about one in the field being taken and the other left, comes after so much discussion about the false christs and persecution, the fearful flea to the mountains, and reassurance that when Christ comes it will be the real deal. Big and Powerful. make the scriptures about people being swept away while others left behind seem more like a reiteration of the fact that you cannot wait until the last minute to decide, you cannot assume you have plenty of time, when he comes it will happen all of the sudden and it will be too late for those who were not ready. It doesn’t seem to imply that there will be this long life for those who were “left behind” but to be about the fact that they have missed their chance and should have been ready (v.44). Perhaps there are other scriptures on this subject but I’m not going to look them up now. I don’t plan to choose which Millennialism I follow or whatever.
My favorite verses from this section (they are so striking!)
ReplyDeleteV27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… v30 coming on the clouds in the sky, with power and glory
They remind me of some of my other favorite bible verses:
Psalm 18
6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.