Matthew 9:18-34

In the last paragraph in the link below I talk about my own lack of healing faith; I need to provide two updates. Yes, my brother, Richard went through surgery and on a follow-up visit his doctor told him that the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes – which to us was a sign of a spreading, aggressive cancer. Now, however, almost two years later, that cancer has not spread. Richard feels no pain, no side effects – effectively, it’s like the cancer is gone. Still, we continue to pray. The second update is one that someone else pushed me on. I said (in the link below) that I had not seen healing miracles myself beyond “normal” medical intervention. However, on one occasion when I was relating the story of the “miraculous” birth of our first child, someone challenged me and said “You told us that you have never seen healing miracles. How is this incident not a healing miracle?” So I was corrected – I have seen a healing miracle!

While He was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” (v. 18) Mark and Luke refer to this “ruler” as a synagogue official. I find it strange that a synagogue official would come to Jesus, given that He has had difficulties in the past with synagogue officials. But a thought just now occurred to me. This synagogue official came to Jesus; they were not in the synagogue at the time. This official might have felt peer pressure from other officials or attendees if he had asked for Jesus’ intervention while they were in the synagogue. But here, on the road outside the synagogue the official was released from that pressure and could ask for Jesus’ help. In addition, this incident is a high tension moment for this synagogue official. His daughter has just died!! He cares not what others may think, his concern is for his daughter’s welfare. And if Jesus can help, so be it! Forget the peer group and public pressure. Go to the source of all healing!!

There was an occasion when I was eighteen years old and in my first year of college when I let peer pressure affect my behavior in an Honors class. I remember going home from that class ashamed of myself, so much so that I dropped the class the next day. I somehow resolved through that incident that I would not let others’ differences of opinion hinder me from speaking my own opinion if I felt strongly enough about the topic at hand. And there have been a number of occasions when I found myself alone on a topic, but satisfied that I was correct in speaking out as I did. Frankly, one such occasion was a direct forerunner to our joining St. Andrew’s Anglican Church. But even as I type this thought, I wonder if I haven’t let my fears of what others might think keep me on occasion from speaking out about Jesus. I have learned to be more bold in speaking of Him, but I do wonder how many lost occasions there have been in my past. Lord, help my unbelief!!

See also: April 26 / Matt. 9:18-34

Luke 8:26-39

The demon speaking: What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? (Luke 8:28b) We often presume that Jesus has moved into Gentile territory, into the region of the Decapolis on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Today this verse “proves” it to me, that Jesus is dealing with Gentiles. The demon referred to Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. Most Gentile religions worshipped a pantheon of gods, only one of which would be the Most High God – Zeus for the Greeks, Jupiter for the Romans. So the demon(s) in this Gentile saw that Jesus had power over all the other gods of this Gerasene region. Small item.

I always try to put myself into the story as one of the disciples or one of the bystanders. Today I was watching the city-folk as they were binding this demon-possessed man with chains and shackles and setting a guard on him. Then I saw him break away from his restraints and overpower the guards and take off for the desert. How scary this must have been! And yet, this man was someone’s son or brother or husband or father. I would think the townspeople would have been more thrilled to see their friend delivered and would have embraced Jesus, yet their collective response was to ask Jesus to leave, for they were seized with great fear. (v. 37b) To me, a strange response…!

As I watched this whole event unfold from my location nearby, I was naturally struck by Jesus’ power – doing what the townspeople could never do for this man. But I was also struck by Jesus’ love for this man – and by the man returning Jesus’ love in kind, …sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind… (v. 35b) But Jesus then sent him back to his home with instructions to proclaim his good news. But would the townspeople accept this “new” man or would their “great fear” leave them bound? I wonder whatever happened to him…

See also: April 25 / Luke 8:26-39

Matthew 8:28-34 and Mark 5:1-20

Demon possession… A scary thought!! I had one encounter with (what I thought was) demon possession. Before we were married Carol and I lived in households a few blocks from each other. Somehow a pair of alcoholics came into our lives – a young man, Bobby, 20’ish, and his female companion, 30’ish. One evening Bobby came to our house, very drunk. My roommates and I had leftovers from our meal together and we set them out on the table for him to eat. Bobby was standing in a corner near our dining table, making strange, unintelligible “gurgling” sounds. I went over to him and put my hand on his shoulder to get him to sit down and eat. He immediately shouted “Thou shalt not touch the son of man!”, and knocked me with his arm into a wall. Once in my construction days my dad had hit me with a backhoe bucket and knocked me into a building about a foot away. Bobby’s arm was less than that force, but it was still a powerful thrust! We immediately called our Bible Study leader (now a well-known “Emerging Church” Christian author) and he came to take Bobby away. I hope I never run into demon-possession again! It’s scary!!

See also: April 22 / Matt. 8:28-34; April 23 / Mark 5:1-10; April 24 / Mark 5:11-20

Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25

And they woke him and said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38b) Mark has one take on what the disciples said to Jesus. Matthew and Luke have the disciples with a very different perspective: And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” (Matthew 8:25) I wonder if we don’t approach God in like manner – probably most often asking God for His help, other times almost demanding that He act on our behalf! I find myself asking impatiently why He has not done this or that. Every Sunday we pray for world peace and I often ask God why He does not intervene in those “enemy” nations that have no faith or whose faith encourages violence against Christians. My prayers most often end with “Your will be done”, but I still wonder why His will has not been according to my world view. At times He has reminded me, especially regarding those peoples who seem to hate us the most, that we have brought it on ourselves. Their perception of our immoral behavior is abhorrent to their faith – we’re the ones who have set this immoral standard before them, before the world, and they are acting with righteous indignation. We are reaping what we have planted. Still, God, how will it end? Come, Holy Spirit!!

See also: April 21 / Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25

Matthew 13:44-52, Mark 4:21-29, and Luke 8:16-18

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous… (Matthew 13:49) It’s worth repeating what Debbie posted a few days ago. At the end of the age it will be the angels sorting the good from the bad. It will not be our job then and it’s certainly not our job now!

Normally I don’t do this, but today I’d like to direct your attention to notes in the links below that I posted in 2019. Many items I picked up in my reading today are some of the same things I saw two years ago. I especially appreciated my observation about the Avanza kids questioning the one man’s unethical behavior! (See below).

See also: April 18 / Matt. 13:44-52; April 19 / Mark 4:21-25; Luke 8:16-18; April 20 / Mark 4:26-29,33-34;

Matthew 13:31-35, Mark 4:30-34, and Luke 13:18-21

He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (Mark 4:34) Mark adds a bit of an explanatory note in verse 34 as to Jesus’ affinity for speaking in parables. Would that we also could sit at His feet as …privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

…the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. (Mt. 13:32) I saw something new today, that this smallest of seeds (the mustard seed) grows to be the largest of the herbs, so large that the birds make nests in its branches. That’s a tree that is both large and strong. Granted, birds’ nests are not that heavy, but with the eggs hatched and the mother and father providing food – landing and taking off – those nests need the support of strong branches. It’s not like a weeping willow tree! But I wondered at the application for us today, and thought of those nests being our own small groups. Diocesan branches grow from the mustard seed that is ACNA, then other parish branches grow out from those diocesan branches – strong enough to host small group nests. And it’s in those small group nests that we are further nurtured. I have thought quite often of those people who left St. Andrew’s in 2019 – of how few there were who left who had been in one of the five small groups that we had at that time. There is something about small groups that is indeed nurturing!!

See also: April 17 / Matt. 13:31-33; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-21; April 20 / Mark 4:26-29,33-34

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Seldom is Jesus so explicit in explaining something to the disciples. But in this case he detailed seven items from the parable: the sower, the field, the good seed, the weeds, the enemy, the harvest, and the reapers. Yes, there are seven elements to the parable, but I’m always fascinated when I see items as seven or twelve.

Let both grow together until the harvest… (v. 30a) I explain in the links below the difference between “row crop” planting and broadcasting seed onto a field. And clearly God has “broadcast” his children into the world. Babies from faithful mothers and unchurched mothers are born side-by-side in today’s hospitals. We are to be “in the world, but not of the world” (John 15:17). And just as the good seed and the bad seed grow together in the field, so we live side-by-side with unbelieving neighbors. So do we become more like them or do they become more like us?

I’m also thinking of good and bad seeds planted in my head. Can’t separate those very easily…!! Wait until the harvest!

See also: April 15 / Matt. 13:24-30; April 16 / Matt. 13:34-43

Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15

Two more Gospel accounts of the Parable of the Sower… I was noticing today the three seed scatterings that had negative outcomes. In the first case, by the wayside, nothing happened – no comment. In the second and third cases, however, seeds sprouted but did not bear fruit. These last two cases are interesting, in effect polar opposites, the rocky soil and the thorny ground. With the rocky soil, tribulation and persecution befall the person receiving the Word and he/she falls away. But the third case, the fertile, thorny ground is just the opposite – this person is extraordinarily blessed with money, wealth, power, whatever! And these “good things” result in the same outcome, failure to receive and act upon the Word. So life’s difficulties (tribulation and persecution) result in the same outcome as wealth and power. The better option – being good soil: But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. (Mark 4:20)

See also: April 12 / Mark 4:1-12; April 13 / Mark 4:13-20; April 14 / Luke 8:4-15

Luke 8:1-3 and Matthew 13:1-23

These three verses in Luke are not likewise covered in any of the other gospels. (For more info, see my first 2019 post below.) Strange that I would be reading this account and my 2019 comments when I have been reflecting on what I might say to the parish tomorrow on our 2020 and 2021 budgets – as I speak to Jesus’ “followers and financial supporters”.

The Parable of the Sower is covered in all three Synoptic gospels; we will cover the other two versions tomorrow. Matthew is the only writer who covers this Isaiah passage in a longer quote; today I particularly noticed it in verse 15: For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. (Isaiah 6:10) I thought of my sitting in church on any given Sunday. While there I clearly see everything. But there are times (probably every Sunday) when my mind drifts and I don’t actually hear what is being said – maybe in the readings or the sermon or even in the ancient and holy words of the liturgy. And if I fail to truly hear what is being said, there’s no way that I can gain that understanding that Jesus wants of us – that changed heart, that healed soul. But if I do see and hear and understand properly, I come away a different person; it changes me. My prayer for all of us in every pew every Sunday – to really, truly see, hear, and understand and be healed.

See also: April 9 / Luke 8:1-3; April 10 / Matt. 13:1-9; April 11 / Matt. 13:10-23

Luke 8:19-21, 11:24-36, 12:10-12

Today, Luke’s writing on a number of items that we have covered the past few days in Matthew and Mark, with a number of my 2019 comments repeated in the links below…

And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. (Luke 12:11-12) Jesus’ prophetic words were realized a few years later when Peter and John found themselves in front of the Sanhedrin, defending themselves from a baseless charge in that they had done a good thing by healing a lame beggar in Jesus’ name (Acts 3). After hearing their testimony, the Jewish leaders were perplexed: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13) These uneducated, common men, filled with the Holy Spirit spoke powerful words, just as Jesus had foretold! But one more item – these last few words from Luke are powerful for us today – do people “out there” recognize that we are living with Jesus? In my comments below I mention people looking into our eyes – what do they see? Do they see a body full of light? Do they see Jesus in us? Again, repeating Archbishop Beach, “If not, why not?”

See also: April 4 / Matt. 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-30; Luke 12:10-12; April 5 / Matt. 12:38-42; Luke 11:29-32; April 6 / Luke 11:33-36; April 7 / Matt. 12:43-45; Luke 11:24-28; April 8 / Matt. 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21