Week 4 summary:
In the readings from this week, Jesus continues “drawing
lines in the sand,” explaining clearly what it means to follow Him. He challenges the religious leaders, His
disciples and the crowds. Jesus also
knows that His mission will end in His crucifixion (although His disciples
don't want to believe it). So knowing
that, Jesus is off to Jerusalem to complete His mission.
Day 1: Matthew 15; Mark 7
There are two interesting passages in today's readings,
recorded both in Matthew and Mark.
1.
In
Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-16, bottom line is that Jesus calls the Jewish
leaders hypocrites. They are following
their own interpretation of God's law instead of following the intent of God's
law. They are more concerned about
externals (washing their hands) than they are about cleansing their heart. They had replaced the true religion of the
heart with a religion of form.
2.
Matthew
15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30 record a Gentile woman coming up to Jesus, wanting
Him to heal her daughter from demon possession.
Jesus responds that He has come only to the lost sheep, the people of
Israel. However, Jesus ministered to
Gentile people and in fact, when this occurred, He was on His mission in a
Gentile area. He was telling the woman
that He came first to the Jewish people so that those that accepted Him could
help in presenting His message to the rest of the world. He might have also been proving a point to
those watching as He tested the faith of the woman (which she proved she had
great faith). Jesus did heal the woman's
daughter from being possessed by a demon.
Day 2: Matthew 16; Mark 8; Luke9:18-27
If you want to follow Jesus, you must “take up your cross,”
and “lose your life” to save it. In
other words, say “no” to yourself and “yes” to Jesus.
A little yeast goes a long way. Jesus refers to the “yeast” of the religious
leaders. Jesus was referring to the
incorrect teachings of the leaders. Be
careful not to let that “evil” spread. A
little “yeast” (evil) will go a long way toward affecting the whole batch.
Day 3: Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke9:28-62
All three readings for today tell us of what is referred to
as the transfiguration. Jesus was
transformed “in front of” Peter, James and John, His closest friends. This occurred shortly after Jesus asks them
who they think He is to which Peter responds, “You are the Christ.” Because this occurred “in front of them,” it
was for their benefit that they saw this, confirming Jesus' identity. Moses and Elijah were there with Jesus. Moses represented the Law (from the Old
Testament) and Elijah represented the prophets and therefore, Moses and Elijah
appearing together confirmed that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the
Prophets (i.e., the Old Testament).
Day 4: Matthew 18
Matthew 18:15-17 are
Jesus' guidelines for dealing with people who sin against us, or in other
words, dealing with conflict in the church.
1) Jesus is talking about using these guidelines within the church, not
the community at large. 2) These are
guidelines for sins or offenses against YOU, not others. These guidelines are to be used to keep
harmony within the Body of Christ (the church).
Therefore, these guidelines are to help us from doing the opposite of
what we sometimes do in these situations:
turn away in hatred; seek revenge, and/or; engage in gossip. In contrast, we should go to the person
first, directly, and attempt to resolve the differences we have. This is the best way to restore a damaged
relationship among believers.
Day 5: John 7-8, Exodus 3:14
Several times in the reading for today we hear Jesus say,
“the time has not come yet.” Jesus was
living by a divine calendar, not by chance.
Another interesting part of today's reading is the end of
John 8. As you read, pay attention to
verse 58. Jesus makes a very strong
statement about who He is and His divine nature. He says that He existed before Abraham who
lived about 2000 years before Jesus. In
this conversation with the Jewish opposition, Jesus even uses the term to refer
to Himself that God used when God told Moses His name – I AM! Obviously, this
made the leaders mad enough to want to stone Jesus right then. After all, the punishment for blasphemy
(which is what the leaders thought Jesus was doing) was death.
Day 6: John 9:1-10:21 (read starting
in chapter 9 verse 1 through chapter 10 stopping after reading verse 21)
More teaching by Jesus and more
confrontations with the Jewish leaders – this time related to healing a blind
man on the Sabbath.
There is an interesting question posed by His disciples at
the beginning of chapter 9. When
encountering the blind man, the disciples asked “who sinned,” the man or his
parents that would have caused the blindness.
During the day, it was a belief that sin was punished by some ailment
(like being blind). Jesus looked at the
blind man as a way to do God's work, not as a punishment for a past sin (of the
man or his parents) or as some irrational chance happening. Through this man's blindness, Jesus was able
to demonstrate the Kingdom of God through a miracle (sign) and making Him
see. (Remember week 2, day 5, we read
Matthew 8 and Luke 7 that both referred to Isaiah 35. God's Kingdom will be represented by “the
blind can see, the lame can walk, the skin diseases have been healed, …” Jesus was demonstrating that God's Kingdom
was breaking into the world.)
Day 7: rest
