October 17 / Matthew 12:15-21, 5:1-48; Mark 3:7-19; Luke 6:12-36

Matthew 12:15-21; Mark 3:7-19; Luke 6:12-19;
Matthew 5:1-48; Luke 6:20-36

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 5:43-44

But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.

Luke 6:27-29

Who is not challenged by these words of Jesus? When we as individuals are hurt, offended, or abused by another, our natural reaction is not to love. Even when we manage to let some offense go and to turn the other cheek, we have a hard time really forgiving one who continues to do us harm. We have an even harder time actively loving such a person. But as challenging as these words are, we know that we cannot just ignore them. This is, after all, Jesus speaking. So we (hopefully) try to live accordingly in our interpersonal relationships.

But how do these words apply when there is real violence involved? Or what about larger conflicts that go beyond personal, one-on-one relationships? Some would argue that Jesus is here advocating full-bore pacifism, that forceful resistance to aggression is never appropriate, but is that really what He is saying? Let’s imagine “turning the other cheek” in a school shooting. Is Jesus saying that schools should adopt an “anti-lockdown” policy when there is an active shooter on campus — just open the doors and line the kids up as targets? (Probably not…) Or how about the very real scenario playing out right now in Israel? Are the Jews supposed to simply let Hamas kill every last one of them, which is Hamas’ stated objective? (Probably not…)

If we reason through such scenarios and consider the broader context of Scripture (including, for example, exhortations to seek justice and to defend the weak), it becomes clear that Jesus cannot mean complete pacifism. But neither can we simply toss His words aside as naïve idealism. We must wrestle with these words. We must reckon with the challenges they pose. We must see that Jesus calls us to do what He does. (If God didn’t love His enemies, we would all be lost…)

So take some time and meditate on what these words of Jesus mean, not just theoretically “out there,” but for you personally. Who is your enemy? How might you love that person? How might you pray for them? Are you going to listen to Jesus or ignore Him?

See also:

October 16 / Matthew 9:1-17, 12:1-14; Mark 2:1-3:6; Luke 5:17-6:11

Matthew 9:1-17; Mark 2:1-22; Luke 5:17-39;
Matthew 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-3:6; Luke 6:1-11

Matthew tells us that on at least two separate occasions, Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 to the Pharisees: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” The first time is in Matthew 9:13, where Jesus is responding to the Pharisees’ questioning of Jesus’ association with tax collectors and sinners when dining in Matthew’s (Levi’s) house. The second time is in Matthew 12:7, where Jesus answers the Pharisees’ criticism of the disciples’ plucking of a few heads of grain on the Sabbath. Maybe we should pay attention…

The gist of Hosea 6:6 is that God is far more interested in relationship than in ritual, much more concerned with how we treat one another than with “religious” observance. Given that Jesus is quoting the prophet Hosea, who lived more than 700 years earlier, it is clear that this is not a new idea, springing up out of nowhere with Jesus. Nor is Jesus picking up some obscure thought unique to Hosea. We see similar sentiments elsewhere in the Old Testament, like in I Samuel 15:22, Proverbs 21:3, and Micah 6:6-8. Yet the Pharisees — focused on rules, regulations, and their own self-righteousness — seem to miss the higher calling of love and mercy.

Does Jesus then mean that ritual is of no value or that the Sabbath is to be ignored? Not at all; He would have to dispense with whole swaths of the Old Testament to mean that — the same Old Testament that He consistently affirms. Rather, He puts ritual and Sabbath in proper perspective, showing us that people are more important than rules and that love is the overriding principle to follow.

So what about us? How might we need to hear Hosea 6:6 in our own lives? How might we be like the Pharisees, ostensibly concerned with things of God, but failing to love either Him or our neighbor?

I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.

See also:

One more thing…

I find it ironic that the Pharisees find fault with the disciples for plucking a bit of grain on the Sabbath and with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath while they themselves are spending a tremendous amount of energy on the Sabbath doing the dirty work of that very fault-finding.

October 15 / Matthew 8:14-17; 4:23-25; 8:1-4; Mark 1:21-45; Luke 4:31-5:16

Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37;
Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-41;
Matthew 4:23-25; Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-5:11;
Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16

That evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 8:16-17

Remember the four “Servant Songs” of Isaiah? The last of those “Servant Songs” is found in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. (See the August 23 post.) Here Matthew cites Isaiah 53:4 from that “Song”, applying it directly to Jesus and His healing ministry. The physical healings Jesus performs provide strong evidence that Jesus is, in fact, the promised Servant spoken of by Isaiah. But looking back at the rest of that passage in Isaiah, we can see that the Servant’s mission goes far beyond the physical and on to the spiritual — and that it is to cost Him dearly.

See also:

October 14 / John 4:1-45; Matthew 4:12-22; Mark 1:14-20; Luke 4:14-30

John 4:1-45;
Matthew 4:12-22; Mark 1:14-20; Luke 4:14-30

Today Jesus passes through the region of Samaria and stops at Jacob’s well to rest and get a drink of water. There Jesus interacts with a woman who is surprised (or, I daresay, shocked) to find that this Jew would have anything to do with a Samaritan. (For some brief background on the hostility between Jews and Samaritans, see my comments on the January 21, 2021 post, especially if you missed our journey through the Old Testament.) We might note that Jacob’s well sits deep inside what is now the Palestinian-controlled territory of the West Bank, so we might imagine a modern-day Jesus in the same place facing similar challenges encountering a Palestinian…

Aside from Jesus’ prophetic knowledge of the woman’s marital status, nothing in the text suggests that Jesus does anything miraculous among the Samaritans, yet many in that city come to faith, fully convinced that Jesus is the Messiah (that is, the Christ, the Anointed One), the Savior of the world. They come to believe based on words, first the words of the woman about Jesus, and then because of His own words. (John 4:39-43) Maybe we, too, should pay attention to what He says.

See also:

One more thing…

If you have not previously spent much time reading through the Gospels, you might be surprised at how different the Gospel of John is from the other three. These other three — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — are called the “Synoptic Gospels“. If you pick “synoptic” apart into “syn” (meaning “together” or “same”, as in “synonym” or “synthesize”) and “optic” (meaning “seeing”, as in “optics” or “optician”), we can see why that is a good descriptor. These three Gospels all present a similar (though not identical) perspective, with a lot of overlapping content. The Gospel of John, on the other hand, stands apart: most of its material (like today’s reading) is not found in the other three, and most of their material is not found in John. As we move forward, it may be helpful to bear this distinction in mind.

October 13 / John 1:35-3:36

John 1:35-3:36

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

I’m guessing that this is the most well-known verse in the entire Bible, and rightly so. Here Jesus declares God’s love for the world, the giving of His Son, and the reason for that Gift: to rescue those who believe in Him from self-destruction and to bring them to eternal life. That’s Good News!

Less well-known is the next verse:

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

John 3:17

That’s also Good News! But, as a Pharisee, Nicodemus is probably astonished at this, expecting plenty of condemnation from the Son for those who do not strictly adhere to the Law of Moses and assorted additional rules and regulations.

Jesus goes on with an even less familiar verse:

Whoever believes in Him [i.e., the Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 3:18

Here we see the utter centrality of believing in the Son. The same idea is there in John 3:16, too, with “whoever believes in Him”, but this verse leaves us no room for ambiguity regarding unbelief. Neither is there any ambiguity regarding the Object of that belief. One either believes in the Son of God and is not condemned, or one does not believe in the Son and is condemned. Why, then, would anyone choose not to believe in the Son of God?

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

John 3:19-20

And there’s the bad news. Some (or, rather, most) people prefer the darkness over the light. Fortunately, some come to the light (though “fortune” has nothing to do with it!):

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

John 3:21

We would all do well to think long and hard about what Jesus says here. Don’t stop at John 3:16, as tremendous as that verse is. Recognize that we all have some tendency to prefer darkness, to lurk in the shadows where we can hide, but recognize also that truth and life are found in the light — the Light of Jesus Christ.

See also:

October 12 / Matthew 3:13-4:11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 3:21-4:13; John 1:29-34

Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34;
Luke 3:23-38;
Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13

John the Baptist preaches baptism for the forgiveness of sins, yet Jesus — Who has no sin and needs no forgiveness — insists on being baptized by John, even when John says it ought to be the other way round, that he himself should instead be baptized by Jesus. So why is Jesus baptized? Jesus answers the question with, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt. 3:15)

We don’t have space here to fully expound what Jesus means by this statement, but from ancient times the church has understood that Jesus is here sanctifying the waters of baptism, initiating the Sacrament by which we are buried with Him into His death and raised with Him into new life. (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12) The church has also always recognized that Jesus’ baptism serves to confirm His Messiahship, first to John the Baptist and then to everyone else by the descent of the Spirit like a dove and by the voice from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)

Jesus’ baptism foreshadows His death. In taking on baptism, Jesus is accepting that death. He is actively identifying Himself with us, putting Himself in our shoes, and taking upon Himself the death that we deserve. In so doing, He provides the vehicle by which we might then identify with Him. So as we consider Jesus’ baptism, we might want to reflect on our own baptism, joining Him in His death and rising with Him to new life.

See also:

One more thing…

With regard to the chronology of events, I am of the opinion that The Chronological Study Bible leads us slightly astray today. It seems clear to me that John 1:1:29-34 (where the Baptist sees Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God…”) describes an encounter that occurs well after Jesus’ baptism. When the Baptist talks about his seeing the Spirit descend like a dove, he is reflecting back on that baptism that occurred earlier. How much earlier is impossible to say, but if we are going to make chronological sense of the rest of the chapter (John 1:35-51 — which starts off, “The next day…”), I think we need to at least allow time for Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness — and potentially quite a lot more time.

No, I don’t have some big theological point to make here. It is just an observation. But it goes to say that we need to hold the chronological guesswork loosely and not rely too heavily on how things might be presented to us.

October 11 / Matthew 2:22-3:12; Luke 2:39-3:18; Mark 1:1-8; John 1:19-28

Matthew 2:22-23; Luke 2:39-52; Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-18; John 1:19-28

All four Gospel writers speak of John the Baptist. All four identify him as fulfilling Isaiah 40:3: The voice of one crying in the wilderness… John does not come to be the star of the show. He comes to prepare the way for Another, the strap of Whose sandals [he is] not worthy to untie. (John 1:27; cf,. Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16)

So what does John say to prepare the way? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! Note that he does not say, “Repent so that the kingdom of heaven might maybe eventually come along.” No. His message is, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” We might also note that John is not at all namby-pamby in his call for repentance. He lays it right on the line, and he does so most forcefully toward the religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees, warning them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matt. 3:8)

So where are we with regard to repentance? Are we, like the crowd, asking what we need to do differently? And is there some way in which we need to take John’s advice? Or are we like the Pharisees, asking questions, but not really interested in the answers?

And insofar as we now stand in John’s place, pointing others to Jesus, are we willing to be as plainspoken as he? Do we call a spade a spade? Or do we pander to the world around us?

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

See also:

October 10 / Matthew 1:18-2:21; Luke 2:1-38

Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-38; Matthew 2:1-21

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:20-21

I am struck by that last clause: for He will save His people from their sins. We should note that the angel does not announce that Jesus would save His people from the Romans — or from Hamas, for that matter. Jesus’ life on earth is not to be that of an earthly military “conquering hero”. I think we can all recognize that, even if it takes a while for Jesus’ eventual disciples to arrive at that understanding. What, then, does it mean to save His people from their sins?

I expect our most immediate response to that question is that Jesus works things out so that His people avoid the eternal fires of hell and instead get to go to heavenly bliss when they die. And, yes, as we’ll see as we go through the New Testament, that is certainly one aspect of what is meant here. But doesn’t that sound more like He will save his people from the consequences of their sins? It seems to me that being saved from sins is much more than avoiding penalties, as nice as that might be.

Here’s an example to illustrate what I mean. Consider an alcoholic who gets himself drunk but drives anyway and gets pulled over on a DUI charge. He comes before the judge who takes a liking to the alcoholic and decides to dismiss the charge. “You’re free to go,” he says. No fine. No jail time. No loss of driver’s license. “Great! Thanks!” says the alcoholic, “That calls for a celebration! Let me buy you a drink.” The alcoholic here is penalty-free, but he is certainly not “saved” from alcoholism. That requires something much, much deeper.

So, what does it mean for Jesus to save His people from their sins? Further, what does it mean for you personally in the here and now, day to day? I think it’s worth giving that some serious consideration over the coming weeks. Let’s see what the New Testament might have to say.

See also:

October 9 / John 1:1-18; Luke 1; Matthew 1:1-17

John 1:1-18; Luke 1; Matthew 1:1-17

The Gospel of John opens with words that remind us of the opening line of Genesis, the first book of the Bible: In the beginning… So here we are, back at the beginning, with nothing at all in existence but God alone.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5,14

Back on January 1 I said, “If you accept the truth of Genesis 1:1, then nothing else in the Bible should be beyond belief.” On the flip side, if you do not accept the truth of these early verses in John, then nothing in the New Testament is of any real consequence. That is, everything hinges on the reality of the Incarnation.

Do you really believe in the Incarnation, that in Jesus God takes on flesh?

See also:

Welcome to the New Testament

For those who are just now joining us here at RTB, welcome! For those who have been with us since the beginning of the year, congratulations on getting through the entire Old Testament! Take a moment and catch your breath, because now we start a new leg of our journey, racing through the New Testament in just 12 weeks. I say “racing” because we will certainly be covering a lot of theological ground each day — far more than we can possibly comment on here in our little discussion forum. On the other hand, though, the actual amount of daily reading is not at all that much — only about 10-15 minutes of reading, plus whatever additional time you might want to spend in prayer and contemplation (which I strongly encourage).

If you are new to RTB, you should know that for this year we are not going straight through the Bible, beginning to end. Rather, we are taking things in chronological order, following the path laid out by the Thomas Nelson Chronological Study Bible. That means, for instance, that we’ll be reading all the Gospels at once, interweaving these parallel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry together. Then we’ll proceed with the book of Acts, with detours into the Epistles wherever those letters may fit in the historical timeline. One look at our October Reading Schedule should give you a good idea of how that plays out, at least for the Gospels. (By the way, please remember that there is a fair amount of guesswork involved in piecing together a 2,000-year-old timeline, particularly in the Gospels. The path our guide follows is probably reasonable, but so might be any number of other possible paths.)

Most of us are probably more familiar with the New Testament than the Old. On the one hand, such familiarity is good because, as we read one passage, we may anticipate other, later passages and connect the dots more easily. On the other hand, familiarity can also lure us into thinking that we already know all there is to know, so we stop paying attention. So I pray that, each and every day, we look into the Scriptures afresh, guarding against “over-familiarity” and seeking the Lord with our whole hearts.

Our goal here is not simply to read words on a page each day and to collect a gold star on December 31 for reading a whole lot of words on a whole lot of pages. Our goal is to come to know Jesus Christ — and to know Him more and more deeply. I am glad you all are with me on this journey. Let’s get started.