Monthly Archives: January 2009

standing on the edge, nervously

Posted on by
Reply

Matthew is, according to some scholars, broken into five distinct sections, in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. Each of the five major sections has an historical narrative and a discourse by Jesus.

The first narrative section ends at the end of chapter 4. The discourse starts with chapter 5 and runs through chapter 7. It is a section of the Bible that is known as “The Sermon on the Mount.”

I’ve noticed that I have been spending a lot of time on the verses right before that discourse.

On one hand, the kind of close analysis we have been doing is fine. It is interesting to think about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. On the other hand, if I’m honest, I need to acknowledge that moving ahead is scary. There is a lot of teaching in the next three chapters. There is a lot of teaching about the next three chapters. Many people have spent much time thinking about, explaining, exploring these words of Jesus, this summary of what following looks like.

And I am, I think, a little afraid to move ahead. What if I am challenged? What if I discover that I’m not living up to what Jesus is saying? What if, rather that his words being really complex, they are really simple? What if, as a result, I have little excuse for the choices I make, for the avoidance I live with?

I think that the challenge for all followers of Jesus, for all disciples, is that we have to make regular decisions to take the next step, fully aware that we may find it challenging or convicting but fully convinced that to do otherwise is to part ways with the relationship our souls crave.

I’ll be back on Monday with Matthew five. Pray with me for courage.

word of mouth

Posted on by
1

[Matthew 4:23-25]

I’ve started reading about word of mouth marketing. I think that it’s helpful to understand how to get people talking about what you are offering. If you put up a billboard or run an advertising campaign or mail something to a thousand houses, that is you talking about you. And while talking about yourself can be helpful in providing information, it isn’t nearly as compelling as other people talking about you.

Jesus was teaching and preaching and healing. News about him spread. It went north. It went east. It went south. People were coming from all around to get healed. And to get free.

The news was all by word of mouth. People were talking about what Jesus was doing and saying. And everyone wanted to come to him.

What was the secret? Why did everyone talk about him with such effectiveness that people came from everywhere?

He said and did what people needed.

The people that were coming had no hope for any other solution for their sicknesses. They had no money to afford what care existed. They had no options.

When there aren’t any other options, when there isn’t any reason for hope, the words of Jesus, or more importantly, the actions of Jesus, are incredibly inviting. We go to where we think there will be some healing, some hope.

We often think that our job as Christ followers is to talk other people into thinking that they have holes in their hearts. What was clear from this part of Jesus’s ministry was that people who have holes in their hearts and lives actually go looking for Jesus.

Maybe our job isn’t to convince people of how much they hurt. Maybe it’s to talk about our own story of healing. And that’s word of mouth.

bothandnoteitheror

Posted on by
1

Words or actions.

Saying or doing.

Black or white.

Regular or decaf.

Preach always. If necessary use words.

Do what I say AND what I do.

We are always, it seems, faced with choices, faced with dichotomies, given two choices. If you aren’t this, you must be that.

And it is really hard to choose because sometimes we want both and sometimes we want neither.

A great example is preaching and healing. One we don’t want to do. One we can’t.

We don’t want to come across as preachy. That feels uncomfortable, grating. And there are bad connotations about preaching. It seems judgmental, somehow.

We can’t heal anyone. We can pray, with some confidence, we suppose, but most of us are unable or unwilling to look at a guy begging and tell him that we don’t have any money, but we will give him healing.

And yet, that very combination of activities is what Jesus was doing at the beginning of his work.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 4:23

Five chapters later (9:35), we will read almost exactly the same words, suggesting that these were things that characterized the work of Jesus.

He explained what things meant, the texts that they had been using their whole lives. He proclaimed the good news, that there was good news. He made people well. He worked with bodies and with hearts and with minds. His life was about whole people.

What’s it mean for those of us who are comfortable with one or the other of the things that Jesus did that he was about all of it? Healing’s good, but not enough. Preaching is good, but not enough. Teaching is good, but not enough.

So much easier

Posted on by
1

It would be so much easier to follow Jesus if he called us.

If I were at work one day and he walked by and said, “come on, follow me.”

If I were doing what I’ve spent my life preparing to do and he said, “I’ll show you how to use those skills for something meaningful.”

If I were in the middle of daily life and I looked up and could actually hear his voice with my ears and see his face with my eyes and smell whatever he smelled like.

If his invitation to do something worthwhile with my life were real and tangible.

It would be so much easier if Jesus literally said my name and said “Follow me.”

I mean, if that happened, I would never have any questions at all about what he was saying. It would always be clear.

If that happened, I would always be happy just to be close to him.

If that happened, I would be ready to tell all the people I saw at the grocery store when I was buying supplies

Hey! This food? Jesus is going to eat it. Yep. That Jesus. I know him. I’ve watched him do the most amazing stuff! I mean, paralyzed people walking. People with demons? Poof. Gone. People who are sick? Fever, gone, like that. You name it, he gets rid of it.

Hey, that cough? Come on. Let’s talk to Jesus about that. I mean, I know him. He was walking by one day and called out my name. We’re like this. In fact, we couldn’t be any closer if he lived in me. Yeah, I know. Sounds weird. But it’s like that.

If one day I really believed that Jesus actually wants me? Cared about me?

That would be so amazing.

The main attraction

Posted on by
Reply

[Matthew 4:12-17]

It is so easy to imagine how things might have looked around Jesus.

We read that after John was arrested, Jesus goes back to Galilee. From this time on, Matthew says, Jesus will start preaching exactly the same message that John was preaching: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven in near.

We see this as a scene from a movie. A man is preaching a challenging message. He gets hauled off to jail. There is a moment of silence. Everyone wonders what will happen, who will take up the banner, who will take his place. And then, in the distance, we see one person. Hesitantly, at first, almost timidly, we hear the battle cry of the first man in a squeaky voice.

“Yes,” we think, “someone will do this. It will be tough but there is a new messenger.”

And we would have been captivated by our familarity with one version of hero stories.

And we would be wrong.

When Jesus heads to Galilee and with a strong voice begins to proclaim what John had been saying, we realize that this isn’t the second generation in the family business. This isn’t the timid cousin. This isn’t some guy suddenly thrust into prominence.

Far from it.

This is a guy who willingly had John baptize him, not because of sin but because of identification.

This is a guy who rebuffed the temptations of the enemy of our souls.

This is a guy who had a voice from heaven and a dove and angels.

Here’s the image I have:

There’s a concert. The warmup band is on stage, doing covers of the main band’s anthem. The headliner walks around the back of the hall listening. Getting ready. Gauging the audience.

And when he takes the stage, no one’s confused.