Matthew 5:1-12

“Notice what you notice.” First thoughts… I always imagined the Sermon on the Mount as being a sermon to a crowd below, a crowd like in the “Feeding of the 5000”. In fact the end of the sermon notes that the crowds were astonished at his teaching (Mt.7:28). However, today’s first two verses have Jesus teaching only his disciples. Not a big item.

There has long been controversy among scholars as to whether there was in fact one long sermon or whether this Sermon on the Mount was a compilation of Jesus’ teachings. I lean toward the latter – in my earthly self, I wonder how Matthew could have captured that entire sermon (110 verses) without having Jesus’ handwritten notes! Perfect recall…??!!

I’m trying somehow to break down the rewards for these blessings. So here’s a shot. First, three “short-term” rewards: they shall be comforted (v. 4), they shall be satisfied (v. 6), they shall receive mercy (v. 7). Then there are three longer term: they shall inherit the earth (v. 5), they shall see God (v. 8), they shall be called sons of God (v. 9). Finally there are three related to our heavenly reward: theirs is the kingdom of heaven (v. 3, 10) and your reward is great in heaven (v. 12). But if you were to ask me whether the rewards line up “equitably” with the blessedness condition, I’m at a loss to say! Except that the greatest rewards lie with the poor in spirit (v. 3) and those who are persecuted for Jesus’ sake (vv. 10-12).

Be thankful for the blessings. Later we get the woes!!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 6:12-19

“Notice what you notice.” Two things struck me this morning and they are strikingly interconnected. At the beginning of our reading we see that …all night He continued in prayer to God (v. 12). Then at the end of this section we read that power came out from Him and He healed them all (v. 19). Prayer in, power out. A really good combination to follow!

I recall a time years ago, probably within the first ten years of our marriage, when we felt like we were no longer growing spiritually. We had left a powerful church in Virginia and moved to Texas – to a good church, but not nearly as strong. Plus we had left behind a strong “cell group” from the University of Maryland that had been strength and nourishment for us for years. So naturally we figured that our spiritual growth might be lacking. Then I realized something else: we had young children, the oldest maybe six years old. It dawned on me that we were pouring so much of ourselves into our kids that we were feeling ourselves being drained. I don’t recall much of what we did in particular to “grow” out of that condition; the one thing that I do recall was Carol joining what became a three-year study of Mark’s Gospel. Eventually the kids did their own growing and we moved on. I’m guessing that a major prayer effort on our part back then could have made a big difference in that spiritual downturn. Prayer in, power out!

Slava Bohu!

Mark 3:7-19

“Notice what you notice.” Sorry folks, but I’m really loving the geography! Recent readings have had Jesus and His followers in Capernaum and none of our readings have moved them on to another location, so we can imagine that they are still in Capernaum – which is a seaside city at the very top of the Sea of Galilee. Today’s reading has a horde of people pressing in on Jesus, such that He finds it necessary to preach with His back to the sea and with a boat ready to rescue Him from the crowd should it become an unruly situation (vv. 7, 9). Just because of my infatuation with geography, I am so much more enmeshed in the story – I can be in that crowd pressing in on Jesus or with His disciples ready to rescue Him and take Him out to sea. What a feeling! GLORY!

But beyond that little bit of micro-geography, look at the bigger picture, at where the crowds are coming from. Galilee and “beyond the Jordan” are probably nearby, but Jerusalem and other locations, as we already know, are in Judea, some 60-100 miles distant. Tyre and Sidon are northwest of Capernaum, maybe 30-40 miles “as the crow flies”. Idumea is a region even further south of Judea, just below Hebron (one of David’s host cities when he was on the run), so that distance could be well over 100 miles! What a fame He is getting!

But it seems like a fame that He does not want: And he strictly ordered them not to make him known (v. 12). What He does want from the crowd and from us today is not our fascination with His healings but our faithfulness to His teachings. He loves us more for that “still small Spirit” within us than for all the glory and praise we could ever get from those around us. Let’s not press in on Jesus for our needs, but humbly seek Him for His love.

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 12:15-22

“Notice what you notice.” Two items today… First, …many followed Him and He healed them all (v. 15). There were already a few earlier accounts of Jesus healing “all” who were following Him. One wonders what the healings were, and if many were being healed, why is it that particular healings are covered in more detail? I can understand highlighting the issue of the paralytic, both the lowering through the roof and the connection between Jesus’ healing and forgiving sins. I can also see something special in the leper’s plea, “Lord, if you are willing…”. But what of the “many” who were healed?

Today’s second item is more intriguing. I’m used to Matthew quoting the OT prophets, especially Isaiah, and Jesus fulfilling those prophecies. So normally I would have read through today’s last four verses without pause. But today I heard that first verse differently, … my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased (v. 18), and I remembered a “voice from heaven” speaking almost the same identical words at Jesus’ Baptism. Way back when, forever, I have never known that the Father was quoting Isaiah when those words were spoken. Only looking back through today’s verses and seeing that Isaiah passage (Isaiah 42:1-4) did I make that connection. MOREOVER, we will hear similar words again at Jesus’ Transfiguration: This is my Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased; hear Him (Matthew 17:5, Mark 9:7, Luke 9:35). Three occasions – maybe more…?

GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 6:1-11

“Notice what you notice.” Right away in today’s first verse, my NKJV reads Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grain fields, citing “some manuscripts” as their source for this particular translation. The other two translations that I looked at said simply “On a Sabbath…”. Still, (in the NKJV wording) it is unusual for Luke to be so chronologically specific, essentially placing Jesus still in the nearby area. Small matter, but intriguing.

Of more interest is today’s final verse, But they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus (NKJV). Other translations use fury or folly instead of rage. Here we have Luke reflecting more emotion on the part of the Pharisees than either of the other two writers. All three have the Pharisees, scribes, Herodians plotting about destroying Jesus, or what they might do with Him. But the thought of rage when a withered man’s hand had been restored… That’s “over the top”. I suspect that their reaction was more intense, in part, because this event happened in a Synagogue on the Sabbath.

Still, why this enormous fixation on the Sabbath? Especially with a small item like plucking grain… Unfortunately, it won’t be the last time that we see Jesus confronted about His Sabbath behavior.

Slava Bohu!

Mark 2:23-3:6

“Notice what you notice.” And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart… (Mark 3:5). I remember commenting back on January 17 how Mark was the only writer who noted that Jesus was “moved with compassion…” over the plight of the leper (Mark 1:41). Now we see the opposite extreme of His emotion, anger at the Pharisees’ hardness of heart. Again, Mark is the only writer to note Jesus’ emotional reaction. I find I’ll be watching for that more often in Mark.

A second item, in the next verse and associated with this same event… The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him (verse 6). Actually, two items hit me here. The first is something known as the “Passover Plot” (John 11:45-53). It comes after Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead, when Caiaphas, the High Priest suggests that it would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish. Then John’s very next chapter is Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of His march to the Cross. But John records this item at the very end of Jesus’ earthly life. Mark records this “counsel with the Herodians” during Jesus’ first year of ministry. We really do not know the chronology of Jesus’ life, especially whether He was ministering for one, two, or three years. But if we go with the 2-3 years that is commonly accepted (i.e., three trips to Jerusalem), then this plotting has taken quite some time. I will have to wonder when John covers Jesus’ second trip to Jerusalem whether or not there is continuing talk of Jesus’ destruction during that second visit.

One other item that never jumped out at me in the previous paragraph was the Pharisees plotting with the Herodians. That’s not surprising, in that the Herodians’ hostility toward Jesus is mentioned only on one other occasion, in Jerusalem during Holy Week, when the Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus so as to trap Him on something he might say (https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/herodians.html) (Mark 12:13; Matthew 22:16). So I won’t have to keep watching for this event to repeat! Again, Mark’s precision is to be lauded here – he is the only writer to mention the Herodians’ activity against Jesus while in Galilee.

This stuff has been there all these years, folks. I just haven’t seen it!!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 12:1-14

“Notice what you notice.” ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice…’ (Matthew: 12:7). As soon as I read Jesus quoting Hosea 6:6 it struck me that we had read this verse not long ago. And sure enough, just one week ago today we saw this quote in Matthew 9:13, when Jesus was eating in Levi’s house with tax collectors and sinners. And those are the only two citations in the Old or New Testament where Hosea 6:6 is quoted – although Isaiah, Amos, and other writers certainly speak the Lord’s thoughts on this phrase, but in slightly different language.

It’s easy for us on the other side of the Cross to nod in agreement, for we know that … it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). But as I pointed out yesterday, Jesus is someone drastically new to these Pharisees and scribes – even something of a revolutionary! He is referencing Hosea while eating in a tax collector’s house with “sinners”, then essentially equating Himself with David in eating the consecrated bread, which only the priests were allowed to eat. He certainly made Himself an easy target for the Jewish leaders. Yet when challenged, He rebuts their charges with completely reasonable responses comparing the “spirit of the Law” with the “letter of the Law”. I find that his responses would still have me suspicious of Him; I would want to see more. Then He heals the man with the withered hand. I think that turns the corner for me!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 5:33-39

“Notice what you notice.” Even in my pain-med fog…! And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ (Luke 5:39, ESV) Other translations say “The old is good enough” (NASB) and even “The old is better” (NKJV). Which translation we use is not so crucial. Even the weakest, “The old is good enough”, makes Jesus’ point. The Pharisees and scribes were not looking for some new teaching or some new doctrine – and certainly they were not looking for a new leader! What they had in Jerusalem was “good enough”.

I have often identified with the Pharisees on this item. I am typically suspicious when some new teaching comes along, or even when we change something up at our church. Wasn’t the old “good enough”? I can imagine many Episcopalians are suspicious of these new Anglicans and are unwilling to look into it, to move forward. From my perspective, it’s their loss. But I am sympathetic to their situation, especially those we left behind at our old church. They don’t know what we’ve got.

Enough for today…

Blessings!

Mark 2:18-22

“Notice what you notice.” Back home from the hospital and a 5-verse reading from Mark. It turns out that I have something to say about “new wine in old wineskins”.

As many of you know I am a beer homebrewer – over 12,000 bottles capped in 20+ years. So here’s a bit of the process. First I cook a barley malt and water mixture, adding hops during and after the cooking. Then I transfer this mixture to a 5-gallon bucket and cool it by adding ice and cold water to get it to 70-75 degrees. Then I add yeast and “put it to sleep”.

The mixture “wakes up” when alcohol is being generated in a chemical reaction. In that same reaction carbon dioxide is released. The CO2 goes out of the container through an airlock that keeps the beer from being contaminated. If that airlock gets clogged by any internal matter (hops or malt chunks), the mixture continues to ferment and continues to generate CO2. Eventually enough CO2 is generated inside the bucket that the whole airlock blows out, not unlike a pressure cooker. And yes, this happened to a friend of mine, but never to me. But that’s another story…

So, making wine is a similar process, except that the grapes mixture is poured into wineskins. When wineskins are new they expand to accommodate the CO2 gas. But there is a limit to that expansion – the wineskins can only hold so much CO2. So putting new wine into old wineskins will explode the whole mixture.

So Jesus is putting forth an analogy between Himself and the Pharisees and scribes. Jesus is the new wine and the teachings and ritual behaviors of the Pharisees and scribes are the old wineskins. The two do not mix – new wineskins are needed, a seeking of the Kingdom of God through repentance and renewal. Thankfully Jesus has prepared the way and done all we need to seek that Kingdom. Just do it!

Blessings, y’all!