Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” 

Matthew 13:1 – 3

In a flurry of healings, Jesus pauses, so to speak, and teaches some fundamental truths of the Kingdom of God.  He employed simple stories or observations that everyone shared.  We call them parables.

It appears that the crowds were first drawn by the miracles of Jesus, one amazing healing after the other.  They were drawn to this amazing “miracle worker,” who did unbelievable things.

The time has come for Jesus to reveal who he is, in fact, and what is the nature of the Kingdom he has come to establish.  So, Jesus turns the attention of his followers from miraculous deeds to the most fundamental, life-changing teaching that is basic to all his ministries.

The crowds that were excited by his abilities to heal rushed to Jesus.  Then, Jesus changed the setting dramatically.  He moved away from the people who followed him to the lakeside by getting on to a boat that was there and taught from a common boat.

He must have realized that people need to understand, not how miracles work, but how the Kingdom of God is built on the earth.  It appears to me that Jesus used healings, etc., to attract people to the Kingdom, but the Kingdom was not only a healing place.  It is where we human beings peer into the heart of God to understand what He is about on the earth.

Dramatic healings opened the minds of people to consider Jesus.  That was a good thing.  But how was Jesus going to reveal who he is?  And the nature of the Kingdom that he came to establish?

He did not take the approach of the Jewish rabbis who were caught up by obedience to laws that they formulated. That is what they taught.  Contrast that to Jesus’ little story that opened this way – “A farmer went out to sow his seed.”  There is nothing very dramatic in that.  It is what the people knew very well, quite ordinary behavior, and at first glance, was not necessarily miraculous.  No Jewish rabbi would teach like this.  Jesus did.

As I think about it, Jesus did not announce the coming of his Kingdom in ways the people were accustomed to, by pressing the Law.  This must have confused the hearers on the lake-side.  Jesus described a familiar sight – a person sowing seed.  Who is this, Jesus?  What is he saying?

We had in some special friends last night, Chad and Cathy Hess.  They blessed us with this marvelous bouquet of roses!

He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?  How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. 

Matthew 12:11 – 14

The Jews who were most fastidious about keeping the Law viewed Jesus as a law-breaker.  For them, this showed that he could not possibly be the person that his followers claimed him to be, the promised Messiah.  The fact that Jesus did not conform to the practices and laws that the Jewish Pharisees held to raised a wall of fear and hatred between them and Jesus.

For example, the Pharisees had dozens of laws that determined what they could and could not do on the Sabbath.  For Jesus, this indicated that they had no idea at all about observing the Sabbath as the law of Moses instructed them.  The teaching of Moses simply said that the Jews should rest from their labors on the Sabbath and they should keep it holy.  That was not enough for the most committed Jews, like the Pharisees, who spelled out in detail how to rest and how to make the day holy.

Jesus exploded their essential belief that they earned God’s favor by obedience to the law, which meant, for them, the many, many restrictions on Sabbath activity.  By concentrating on keeping the day holy, they developed a view of God that prohibited any work on the Sabbath at all, even good deeds and works of mercy.

I grew up with a detailed understanding what we could do and what we could not do on Sunday (our Sabbath).   As a family, we all understood that and fit in. The idea of a Sabbath rest is hugely beneficial but when it becomes a battlefield of what is permissible and what is not, that is where the problem lies.  It seems like many variations of Christianity have more to do with obeying a law set by people than the real meaning which is to worship God and be refreshed.

Jesus loved the Sabbath, no doubt, but he taught its real meaning.  I need to keep this in mind when it comes to judging how my fellow believers look at the Sabbath.

This little encounter that Jesus had with the Pharisees seems pleasant enough, in my mind.  So why did they go “out and plotted how they might kill Jesus?”  That is serious!  So it goes. I have to think about that, and invite you to do the same.  Little has changed.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:25 – 26, 28 – 30

I am convinced of one thing, it is impossible to be a disciple of Jesus Christ without the presence and aid of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit speaks the truth.

This passage is imbedded in Jesus’ first general sending of the disciples, to minister among the people without Jesus actually being with them. We recall his words as he sent them out.  “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.  Matthew 10:16 – 18

That sounds somber, does it not?  Weak sheep among ravenous wolves.  Being flogged by “good” people in the synagogues.  Standing before powerful rulers who hate them.  Welcome to the call of God!  I suppose I would have expected a less arduous promise.

When I opened my heart, in desperation, for Jesus to reach out and save me I had only one thing in mind – to find peace with God and rest for my soul.  As I look back, I am thankful that Jesus received me just like I was, penitent and broken.  His peace flooded my soul.  That was simply marvelous.

But that is not the end of the story.  For the past 72 years, in a bewildering variety of challenges, the Lord led me into situations that I find it difficult, now, to believe.  But even more wonderful was that He was there in me to meet those challenges. I was not always pliable and obedient, but my love for Jesus never wavered.

So, the promises he made to his disciples in this passage came true for me and Anna Ruth.    “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  The call to follow Christ is a challenge, but the promise that Jesus wants to come into our lives to comfort us is what it is all about!  Jesus promised, “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”  Matthew 10:19, 20

The secret is revealed, the Spirit of God who is in us speaks.  Can there be a better promise?  I think not.

As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

Matthew 11:7 – 10

Jesus held John the Baptist in highest regard. Listen to Jesus, ^“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…”  John had the awesome privilege and task of authenticating Jesus as the Lamb of God.  John was not that Lamb. He was called to identify the Lamb, which he did without hesitation.  It is Jesus. It was only as time passed, when Jesus led a life unlike John, that John had problems.   Thus, our meditation for the day.

Jesus asks, “Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’”

John had a special place in the redemption story, but he himself needed to be redeemed like everyone else.  Jesus reminded his hearers, “Whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Each of us brings who we are to our task of lifting up Jesus as the Savior of all.  Our gifts are as varied as our personalities.  But we all do the same thing, exalt Christ. We love our Johns, our Pauls, our Matthews, that is for sure.  Each person makes a profound contribution.  In the Kingdom that Jesus established the greatest calling is to glorify Jesus.  John the Baptist did so.  Then  slowly began to doubt.  We need not doubt for we know because Jesus was raised from the dead and is now at the right hand of his Father in glory. Our job is to let the world know that one who is “more than a prophet” came to save us.

I believe that when John’s disciples returned with this news, John, the prisoner, rejoiced with joy unspeakable. Jesus is the Messiah, the Lamb of God! I do believe John died that horrible death with this song in his heart.

Not sure, either Jack or Ben.  Whoever, he catches the spirit of the day, flinging dry leaves.

“Are You the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Matthew 11:4

Having sent out the Twelve into Galilee to heal and evangelize, their first such mass ministry, Jesus followed by preaching here and there in that area as well.  It was then that some of the disciples of John the Baptist approached Jesus with a question that John, now a prisoner of Rome and the Jews, was asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”   

Evidently John was having a problem with Jesus.  He must have recalled that memorable day not too many months before this Jesus went to the Jordan where John was baptizing and there requested that John baptize him as well.  God spoke, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”   John certainly heard this loud and clear. By baptism he had made a disciple of his cousin, Jesus.  A great day for John the Baptist!

Imagine how troubled John was, then, that Jesus did not act at all like one of his own trained disciples who led austere lives, ate strange food, never touched alcoholic drinks, did not mix with “ordinary Jews” of the time, but, rather stood outside the culture as a witness to that culture.  They were not given to the healing of the sick and delivering the demonized.  At least they were not known for that.  They were a very strict sect, followers of John who himself was not only in trouble with the Jews but with the Romans as well, who was now in a Roman prison cell.  It was while John was in jail that he needed to know, desperately, if Jesus was the promised Messiah or not.  I do not wonder why John was confused.

Even though Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist he did not become a follower of John.  This troubled John, because it seems that he was convinced that what he taught and preached was the highest form of Jewish piety. On the other hand, Jesus was found in the homes of prostitutes, despised tax collectors and at parties!  Horrors.  John’s disciples would never do such things.

This should give us some pause, especially those of us who are in churches that try not to be conformed to this world so we flake off and live with those like us.  The Scripture teaches us not to be conformed to this world, but it also teaches us to relate to sinners to win some, as Jesus did.

Matthew, the tax collector probed this ministry of Jesus.  He was the result of Jesus acting, not like John the Baptist but like Jesus Christ the friend of sinners.