March 5 / Matt. 5:13-20

Matthew 5:13-20 “Notice what you notice.” For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (v. 20). I’ve always read this verse with a bit of trepidation for my own soul, with questions of “What does righteousness mean?” or “What is the …

March 4 / Matt. 5:1-12

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 …

March 3 / Luke 6:12-19

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 …

March 2 / Mark 3:7-19

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 …

March 1 / Matthew 12:15-22

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 …

March 2019 Readings

Date Reading(s) Verses 01-Mar Matt. 12:15-21 7 02-Mar Mark 3:7-19 13 03-Mar Luke 6:12-19 8 04-Mar Matt. 5:1-12 12 05-Mar Matt. 5:13-20 8 06-Mar Matt. 5:21-26 6 07-Mar Matt. 5:27-32 6 08-Mar Matt. 5:33-42 10 09-Mar Matt. 5:43-48 6 10-Mar Luke 6:20-36 17 11-Mar Matt. 6:1-15 15 12-Mar Matt. 6:16-24 9 13-Mar Matt. 6:25-34 10 …

February 28 / Luke 6:1-11

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…”. …

February 27 / Mark 2:23-3:6

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 …

February 26 / Matthew 12:1-14

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 …

February 25 / Luke 5:33-39

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 …