March 25 / Jeremiah 29

Jeremiah 29

Dear RTB’ers,

A number of verses stand out for me today. First, But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (v. 7) Although Jeremiah was writing to the exiles in Babylon to pray for the city of Babylon, I think there’s a message for us when we find ourselves in any unhappy situation. We may not like the job that we have, the house in which we live, the local or national government over us, or any other situation in which we find ourselves. However, the Lord know exactly where we are, exactly what our particular situation is. He allowed us to be exactly where we are. and He has His Holy Spirit indwelling us to make the best of our situation – actually, not to make the best of that situation, but to thrive in it. That is, pray for everything, every situation in which we are unhappy and ask the Lord to give us peace. He may even turn things around. Always our prayer needs to be, “Not my will, but Your will be done.”

The second set of verses follows directly from the first, including a few oft-quoted verses (esp. vv. 11 and 13): For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. (vv. 11-13) He knows the plans that He has for us. He knows where we are and where He wants us to be. It was a long, unhappy road that brought Carol and me to Kentucky. Come join us at our next RTB gathering on April 12 and I’ll tell you about it – a couple of major failures and a glorious deliverance. Thank you, Lord!!

Blessings.

Fred

March 24 / Jeremiah 27-28

Jeremiah 27-28

Dear RTB’ers,

A first comment… I have often suggested that you read the “See also” material. I particularly suggest that you read those items when we are reading these Old Testament prophets. I have never posted comments over most of the Old Testament, but John covered the entire Bible in 2023. His comments are noteworthy, so please read those “See also…” comments.

Yesterday and in previous chapters we have seen Jeremiah predicting doom for Jerusalem and Judah and its leaders and people. In today’s first chapter we see Jeremiah also predicting doom for Judah’s neighbors – Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Presumably these nations had come together with Judah to rebel against Babylon and were trusting in their own power and that of other nations to see Babylon defeated. Jeremiah tells these neighbors that they will also come under the yoke of Babylon and that they should submit to Babylon and remain in their lands. Failing that, they would become servants of the king of Babylon in his lands: For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the LORD. (vv. 27:10-11) The chapter continues with the same message for King Zedekiah and the priests and people of Judah.

Chapter 28 is a stand-alone story of Hananiah, the false prophet. He predicts that Babylon will fall and that all the Temple treasures that had been taken to Babylon would be returned to Jerusalem within two years. Instead he is confronted by Jeremiah and he dies in two months. Bottom line – if you think that you have a word from the Lord, make sure of your source!!

Blessings.

See also:

March 23 / Jeremiah 26

Jeremiah 26

Dear RTB’ers,

Back to Jeremiah. Both the STS editors and my Study Bible suggest that today’s chapter 26 reading is an extension of what we already read in Jeremiah 7. Back then Jeremiah was warning the officials and people of Jerusalem of their certain doom if they did not repent of their evil ways. We read that again today, with Jeremiah speaking words that the Lord gave him: Thus says the LORD: ‘If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of My servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’ (vv. 4b-6) His words inflamed the Jewish leaders and the people, nearly all of whom were ready to kill Jeremiah. He, however, spoke in his own defense (Jer. 27:12-15) and was spared.

No doubt, Jeremiah’s defense was through the Lord providing the words that he spoke. Jesus had given similar advice to His disciples: Now when they bring you before the synagogues and the officials and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. (Luke 12:11-12; see also Matthew 10:18-20 and Mark 13:9-11) We also, in sharing our faith need to pray for wisdom and rely on the Holy Spirit to give us words to share.

Blessings.

See also:

March 22 / Matthew 28:1-20

Matthew 28:1-20

Dear RTB’ers,

Jesus’ Resurrection. Words fail me. The best that I can do is to try to “put myself into the story”. I imagine that I were there, alongside the women meeting the angel or with Jesus’ disciples in Galilee. And even then I am awestruck – that He had done what He had said that He was going to do, to die and rise again! Never in history had that happened – and never again!! We will all meet Him one day and I expect that our response will be similar to the women in today’s reading, And they came up and took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. (v. 9b)

I am sad for the Jewish leaders. After all that they had heard and seen, after their many verbal battles with Him, and now this story from the guards – and the leaders still fought against the truth that Jesus was who He said He was. I want to believe that some of them, possibly many of them came to faith as they heard the apostles preaching and teaching in the temple after Pentecost. Maybe we’ll find out one day.

And now we go back to Jeremiah.

Blessings.

See also:

March 21 / Matthew 27:51-66

Matthew 27:51-66

Dear RTB’ers,

The events immediately following Jesus’ death are striking: And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. (v. 51) I wonder, is this God the Father doing this? Is this His final condemnation of sin, shaking the earth itself, Jesus having accomplished what He had been sent to earth to do? The curtain torn from top to bottom is especially intriguing. Mankind could tear it from the bottom to the top, but only God could tear it from the top. Interesting.

But to me the most interesting item is one that occurs only in Matthew’s gospel: The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (vv. 52-53) Matthew writes that Jesus’ resurrection opened the tombs for others to be raised, with personal accounts that these “saints” had appeared to many. Again, I wonder who these saints were? Isaiah? Jeremiah? Daniel? And why these events are recorded only in Matthew? Again, interesting events…

The timing of our reading is perfect. Yesterday, Friday we read of Jesus’ crucifixion. Today, Saturday He is placed in the tomb. And tomorrow, Sunday we will read of His Resurrection. Today, Saturday is known for its solemnity. We are finished with the horrors of Jesus’ suffering and death, and we await the glorification of His Resurrection. Two millennia down the road we continue to ponder these events. It’s a quiet Saturday for me.

Blessings.

See also: June 21 (2021) / Matt. 27:45-66.

March 20 / Matthew 27:32-50

Matthew 27:32-50

Dear RTB’ers,

Finally, Jesus’ Crucifixion. After all the suffering He had already endured… I guess it’s appropriate that we are reading this on a Friday – for us in our reading, a “Good Friday”.

Jesus’ last words in Matthew’s gospel, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (v. 46b) [NOTE: John’s gospel adds one other final phrase, “It is finished.” (John 19:30b)] Because of Jesus’ death and Resurrection we have never had to repeat Jesus’ words ourselves. God has never ever and will never ever forsake us! His love for us is beyond measure. We can rest in that, with full assurance of that eternal love. Rest in that, in His eternal love.

Blessings.

See also: November 18 (2023) / Matthew 27:32-66; Mark 15:21-47; Luke 23:26-56; John 19:17-42.

March 19 / Matthew 27:15-31

Matthew 27:15-31

Dear RTB’ers,

Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to be crucified. (v. 26) These are only a few words, “having scourged Jesus”, but they leave me almost sick to my stomach every time I read them. The famous “forty lashes less one”… My Study Bible noted that it was not uncommon for prisoners to die from the scourging before they ever got to the crucifixion.

I’m sure that I have said this before, that if Jesus had to die for the sins of the whole world for all time, wouldn’t a simple beheading have been enough? Why did He have to go through all this suffering? I am not a theologian, so I’m certain that my comment, my question must sound trivial. But I do cringe at the suffering that Jesus endured. I can only make sense of it when I read something like Isaiah 53:5, But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

It’s troubling to me, all that Jesus suffered. Nothing brings me closer to Jesus than when I embrace His suffering, His scourging, His crucifixion. For us. For me. For you…

Blessings.

See also: June 17 (2021) / Matt. 27:27-44.

March 18 / Matthew 27:1-14

Matthew 27:1-14

Dear RTB’ers,

So, what to make of Judas? Here is Jesus speaking at the Last Supper: The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. (Matthew 26:24) Is this Jesus’ ultimate condemnation of Judas for his betrayal? What exactly does Jesus mean by this statement? Then, also, what about Judas’ remorse? Then when Judas, His betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. (vv. 27:3-4) Is this confession (I have sinned…), deserving of the same forgiveness that Jesus offers any one of us? Judas leaves me confused. Naturally, I go along with Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, whatever He meant…!

Jesus answers Pilate’s first question (Mt. 27:11), but He fails to answer his second (Mt. 27:13-14). By contrast, Jesus refuses to answer any of the accusations from the chief priests and elders (Mt. 27:12). For Matthew, this is the end of Jesus’ discussions with Pilate. Please see John 18:33-38, 19:10-11 for further discussions between Jesus and Pilate.

We continue Jesus’ Passion for another three reading days.

Blessings.

See also:

March 17 / Matthew 26:57-75

Matthew 26:57-75

Dear RTB’ers,

Today’s first verse, Then those who had seized Jesus led Him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. (v. 57) The scribes and elders had gathered already, very likely through the night and early into the morning, yet they had not been part of the rabble crowd that had arrested Jesus: While He was still speaking, Judas came, … and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. (v. 47, yesterday) A big difference, “from” the chief priests and elders, not “with” the rabble crowd. Cowards!

Caiaphas’ question to Jesus was specific, I adjure You by the living God, tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God. (v. 63b) My Study Bible noted that the form of Caiaphas’ question was such that Jesus was legally bound to answer. And He did, and was summarily accused of blasphemy.

Peter’s denial. And Peter remembered the statement that Jesus had made: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (v. 75) Matthew’s account falls a bit short of Luke’s statement of Peter’s departure, And immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. And then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. (Luke 22:60b-61a) Peter remembering Jesus’ statement (Matthew) is different than Jesus turning and looking at Peter (Luke). When I visualize that scene, Jesus turning to look at Peter, I fully feel Peter’s remorse, for him to have felt Jesus’ eyes on him as he had denied Him. What a sad moment. And he went out and wept bitterly.

Blessings.

See also:

March 16 / Matthew 26:30-56

Matthew 26:30-56

Dear RTB’ers,

Peter said to Him, “Even if I must die with You, I will not deny You!” And all the disciples said the same. (v. 35) I have to put myself on the same page as Peter and “all the disciples”. In my mind, I imagine that I would never deny Jesus. Or, in other words, I ask what would it take for me to deny Jesus? I remember a philosophy class from my undergraduate years where we were reading Soren Kierkegaard’s essay on Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. Our professor asked us to write an essay, “What would it take for you to deny Jesus?” I can remember writing even back then, some fifty years ago, that I would never deny Jesus. But I do have to ask myself again and again, what would it take? Peter and all the disciples were firm – and they all fled. [But, truth be told, in the end we are told that they all, excepting John, suffered martyr’s deaths.]

Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane is super important for all of us in our daily lives. So often we pray Jesus’ words, …not as I will, but as You will. (v. 39b) We repeat, along with Jesus, …Your will be done. (v. 42b) And I know that we mean it, that we want what He wants, and that whatever has happened in our lives is His will being carried out. But as we pray for our future, our plans, our families and friends, we have dreams and desires and we regularly pray, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” And we mean it. Don’t we? Really…?? Yes / No? Your thoughts…??

Blessings.

One more thing… I must confess, all along this morning my mind has been wandering to the Kudzu comic strip preacher, Pastor Will B. Dunn.

See also: