Tag Archives: Matthew

Yeah, I Doubt It…..

The book of Matthew comes to an end in chapter 28, verses 16-20 with Jesus risen from the grave.  I would love to know what Jesus tells His disciples during the time after the resurrection, before He leaves for Heaven.  I assume it’s the stuff in the Gospels, since so much of the books are things they couldn’t have known.

Today, as I read through it, the one thing that hit me was in verse 17.  “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, bu some doubted.”  Really?  Even at this point, some doubted?  You see Him die.  You know He was buried.  Know He is talking to you.  But you doubt. 

It’s logic.  Their brains are telling them that this is not possible.  The grave was a fake.  He didn’t really die.  People today call it the “swoon theory”.  Jesus didn’t die, He just passed out, and then came out of the grave a few days later. 

Why include that detail?  It’s embarrassing to the new movement.  Here is the start of the church, and at it’s core are some guys who doubt themselves.  I personally would bury that little by-line so deep that no one would ever know.  I would have painted the picture of a huge party where everyone was so sure, that no one was surprised He was there.   But Matthew doesn’t.  He comes clean.  Some doubted.  I don’t get it.

Until I doubt Jesus myself.

He’s been so good to me, proven Himself daily for 35 years in my own life, and then I do it.  I doubt Him.  He calls me to believe something that doesn’t line up with how I experience life, and I doubt it.  I doubt Him. 

What is His response?

“I have all authority on heaven and earth, and I am telling you to go.  Make disciples out of people.  Teach them to obey everything I’ve said.  Baptize them, but do it in the name of my Father, Me, and the Holy Spirit.  I will be with you forever.  I promise.  Now go.”

Our doubt doesn’t slow Him down.  At all. 

So, yeah, you doubt Him.  Ok.  We all do.  That’s not the end of the story.  Matthew 28 doesn’t end with “but some doubted, so He gave up and went to Heaven, leaving us on our own.”  It ends with a promise that no matter how much we doubt, He is with us.

That’s a great ending.


And beginning.

The Early Bird Gets the Lightning Angel

The story comes to an end with Jesus’ resurrection.  As I was reading it today, something hit me I hadn’t really focused on much before.  Look at the beginning of Matthew 28.  Mary Magdalene and another Mary (Jesus mom or someone else?) get up at dawn to go see the tomb of Jesus.  Now, chapter 27 ended with them sitting at the tomb of Jesus, watching it get sealed up.  Here, early the next day, they are up, together, and heading for the tomb again.  Why this obsession with the tomb?

They took Jesus at His word.  He had told them He would rise after three days.  They have enough faith to go and watch.  So, they are up early, walking to the graveyard.  Who else is with them? 

No one.

Not Peter, the Rock on which Jesus will build His church.

Not John, the one Jesus loved the most.

Not Thomas, who wanted physical proof to believe.

None of Jesus’ brothers or sisters.

No one.

Except them.

They are the only ones who see the miracle.  An angel comes with so much power that there is a violent earthquake, he is wearing lightning for clothing, and he is so powerful he terrifies the Roman guards to the point that they pass out.  Mary and Mary are there to see it.  No one else. 

This angel of gigantic power and majesty looks them in the eye, and talks to them.  He gives them a message, straight from God.  They become the first people in history to know that Jesus is alive.  No one else is with them.  They are the only ones.

As you read it, it feels like the angel is waiting for them to come, before he starts the show.  They are his audience, and he makes it well worth their time.  They get this amazing front row pair of seats to history being split in two, all because they took some crazy statement of Jesus at face value, and didn’t want to risk missing out on it.

This is the type of faith you and I need.  Jesus tells us that He wants to save everyone.  We all have that person who we don’t believe is really on the list, the one too far gone.  Jesus tells us He wants to resurrect their life, to give them a new start, to make them new.  But we doubt it.  Today, let’s be like Mary, not Peter.  He was home asleep, she was at a graveyard, meeting with an angel.  Yeah, we will be just like them, filled with joy and fear if we obey.  But some one’s life is hanging in the balance. 

Do you really believe in resurrection?  Put feet to your faith, and go.

The Story In Each of Us

Jesus dies. It’s the darkest day in the Bible. The saddest story ever told. It’s the model of every story we cry over, the basis for all truth that moves us to our core. It is what breaks our heart, no matter how many times we read it. It is the story of history splitting in two. Jesus dies.

Matthew 27 follows Jesus through the crucifixion. But it only gets 18 verses (vs. 32-50) Have you ever wondered why? Shouldn’t this, the very cornerstone of our faith, be laid out in verse after verse, consuming chapters of the Bible? Honestly, shouldn’t the crucifixion have it’s own book, giving us minute by minute details in real time? If this is what our belief system revolves around, why does it get so little attention in the story?

I think it would, if it was the end of the story. If it was the climax, where the story ran to, it would take pages to cover. But it isn’t. It is only a tool, a step, a phase to get to God’s plan. But don’t miss what all is going on in this short story.

Get your Bible out and read Matthew 27 today. Picture it in your mind. Listen to the emotions, the pain, the loss, the fear. Imagine all of the players in the story, where they are, what they are feeling. And understand it was all a gift. It was a gift for all of us, one that did not have to be given, but was given in love. It is your story. It is what defines you. Read it today, and ask God what He wants you to see in it. Read it several times, and let it soak in.

It is the story in all of our hearts, whether we realize it or not.

Playing with a Pair of Kings

Over and over in the Passion story at the end of Matthew, there are these comparisons between two people.  Today, in Matthew 27:11-26, it’s the tale of two Kings; Jesus and Pilate.  Jesus is falsely accused in court, again.  It’s the second time He has had a false trial against Him in one day.  And again, He doesn’t defend Himself against the lies and accusations.  Why?  I think part of it is that He is on a mission, and the lies are necessary to get Him where He is going.  If He is going to die on the cross, it will take lies and hatred to get Him to it.  Nothing else can kill the Son of God.  Truth never could.  So, He embraces the lying and hatred as part of the process to get to where God wants Him to be.  This ability to embrace the hurt, the ugliness, the pain in life so that you can get to your goal is seen in virtually every great leader on the planet.  Jesus is the supreme example of it, on a scale never seen before this story, or after it. 

Then there is Pilate.  A territorial governor desperate to hold on to his little plot of power.  He is impressed with Jesus, and knows He is innocent.  By law, He must be let go.  But to maintain favor with the power brokers around him, he can’t let Jesus go.  Pilate is stuck in a swamp of indecision.  His wife tries to point him in the right direction, as most wives do.  He ignores her, and later pays dearly for it, as most husbands do.  He tries so feebly to ride the fence, with a non-decision.  That blows up in his face.  Now he has to sentence an innocent man of incredible character and worth to death, and he has to release an enemy of the state who is out to bring down Pilate’s kingdom.  Double fail.  Trying to walk your own path to get to your own good at all costs will always bring this level of destruction.  Pilate had been governing this way for a long time.  He was hated by everyone, because he tried to keep everyone happy.  It never works long term.

Obviously, we are not kings, ruling over kingdoms.  But, we are all people with choices and great influence on others.  Today, tomorrow, this week and month, we will each be faced with choices.  We can pursue our own gain, which will lead to us kissing up to people we don’t like to win friends we don’t want, or we can pursue God’s plans.  When we follow God, He promises to give us strength to face anything, peace to withstand any storm, and wisdom to work through any problem.  But it will require embracing some level of pain.

So, whatever pain you are facing, it is a crossroads for you today.  You can turn towards God’s plans, and embrace it all as part of the process to get to the goal.  The way to heaven always has a cross on the path.  Or you can try and ride the fence, and avoid the pain.  But that direction is just a savings account for pain.  You can deposit it today, and get rid of it.  But soon, it will come back on you with interest.  Never a good option.

Which way will you go today?

Abandoned by All. Trusted by a Few.

Ever made a decision that you knew was bad, but you did it anyway?  And then, when the decision is carried out, you’re hit with total heart break over it?  Yeah?  Well, Judas did too.  He sold Jesus out for money, and then regretted it.

The problem is, He still didn’t understand Jesus, even in his sadness and guilt.

Peter denied Jesus three times, but later Jesus offers him the chance to be forgiven, and he goes on to lead the church.

Judas would have been offered the same forgiveness, had he been willing to face the pain.  But he took the quick way out, and missed out on redemption.  His shortcut ended any chance of forgiveness and joy.

So, what will you and I do today?  We will make mistakes.  We always do.  But what we do after those mistakes is the crucial part.  Do we run from them, create shortcuts, deny God, and ultimately let our mistakes destroy us and kill us?  Or, like Peter, will we be broken by our mistakes, and give God the chance to redeem us and offer us forgiveness?

Mistakes are universal.  We all blow it.  We all wander off on our own, sell God out, and deny Him at times.  It’s called sin.  It is going to happen to each of us today, at some point.  But how we respond is what tells the world Who we belong to.  Judas was sad for selling out Jesus, but He still didn’t trust Him.  Peter did.

When you blow it today, will you turn towards Jesus, or away from Him?  It makes all the difference between life and death.

Is the Sting Worse If You Form the Fingers?

I’ve got to be honest, I absolutely hate the story at the end of Matthew.  I fully recognize that Jesus’ death and resurrection are what make life possible for me, and am grateful beyond words for it.  But what He endured is so painful for me to picture.  Matthew 26:57-68 breaks my heart on several levels.

We have Jesus arrested and taken to a bogus trial by the pastors of the day.  The whole thing is illegal and a sham, and a total set up.  How do people who work so hard to follow God ever get to this point?  How do they get to where they are this desperate?  They bring in lying witnesses to tell false stories, and even then can’t come up with enough to convict Jesus.  Why didn’t someone, anyone, stand up and say “This is wrong?”  It scares me to think about it.  These guys were so enamored with THEIR power, THEIR plans, THEIR dreams that they missed the One they claimed to follow.  Jesus was there, in the flesh, and they missed Him.  Beyond that, they spit in His face and slapped Him and made fun of Him.  They’ve lost it.  A Pharisee should NEVER have acted like this, no matter what it was that made them so mad.  They went over the edge.  What in my life is something I am so passionate about, so worried about, so desperate to hold on to, that it could take me over the brink like this?

Secondly, you’ve got Peter.  He has run from Jesus, like a coward.  He has screwed up again.  His thoughts are swirling in his head, and his world is coming apart.  He can only follow from a distance, too cowardly to take a stand with Jesus.  So he sits in the shadows with his enemies and watches God’s plan unfold, too far away to be of any use, but close enough to suffer in his heart as it happens.  So often I play the coward and pull myself out of God’s plans, effectively neutralizing myself and being completely useless.  My sin and fear can take me down so fast, and unless I take a stand with Jesus publicly, I won’t get it back.  Unfortunately, the story gets worse for Peter before it gets better.  More on that part tomorrow.

Finally, there is Jesus.  My Hero.  My Savior.  The One who loves me all the time.  Being falsely accused.  Being made fun of by people who are far beneath Him.  Being misquoted, misunderstood, and mistreated.  He is slapped by hands He created, and spit on by mouths He formed decades earlier.  These tongues that are so quick with hate were created by Him to speak love.  His creation has turned on Him, and He must take it.  My heart breaks for Him in love and sympathy, until I realize that I am just as guilty of all these things.  And He sits in my office now with me, quietly loving me just as He loved them.  His strength in these times is unbelievable and beyond my comprehension.

What an amazing God we serve!  To weave such a complex story, and bring such joy and beauty from it.  He is amazing and powerful!  Spend some time today worshiping this God, because He is so incredibly worth it!

Abandoned

Jesus’ story of arrest and desertion is one of the most heart wrenching scenes in the Bible.  Jesus has been praying all night, and has steeled Himself for what is coming.  He is betrayed by a student He has poured three years into.  (I wonder at what point He knew Judas would betray Him?)  That alone is enough to kill a person.  But then, Judas does it by embracing Him and kissing Him.  To turn your back on someone with a false act of love must have been so painful.  The crowd that comes for Him, people He has created and loves, come with swords and clubs.  Jesus has never been violent towards others, except with the whip in the Temple.  This shows how little they understood Him, and how they were reacting to rumors and stories, not the truth.  One of His own, Peter, fights back with a sword, totally denying all that Jesus had been teaching Him.  And to top it all off, when Jesus is arrested, all of His friend run.  In this five minute scene, He is abandoned at least four different ways.

The heartbreak He must have felt, plus the weight of what was coming.  I do not know how He did it.  I have went through things that were no where near this, and caved.  I’ve been broken by so much less.  One friend abandoning me.  A student totally turning their back on their faith and our relationship.  A parent or a church member talking about me behind my back.  A youth leader criticizing me without confronting me.  These things are tiny, and partially my fault.  Neither of those are true about Jesus.  He was innocent, and completely abandoned.

Yet, He is faithful.  No pointing to the sky and telling God that this is bogus and that He is done.  No quitting, whining, or giving up.  He moves forward, resigned to obey to the very end.

May I live a live of obedience that reflects some of this.  May I be able to say, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” -  Psalms 18:2

Sleeping It Off

Outside of Jerusalem there was a public park called Gethsemane (Geth-si-muh-nee).  Jesus liked to hang out there and rest there.  So, the night before He is crucified, that’s where He heads to, so that He can pray (Matthew 26:36-46).  His disciples go with Him, and He asks them to pray because He is feeling overwhelmed and wants their help. 

They fall asleep.

So, He goes and prays, asking for God to find some other way to get the job done.  He knows what is coming, and it is burying Him.  But, He relents that whatever His Father wants to do, He will do.  He goes back to check on his friends.

They are asleep.  He wakes them up, gets on them a little, asks them to pray, and goes off to pray again.

He prays the same prayer as before.  After a while, He heads back to check on His friends.

They are asleep.  Again.  This time He doesn’t wake them up.

He goes back, and prays the same thing, for a third time.  Please God, find some other way, but if there is no other way, then I will do Your will.

When He returns this time, his friends are still asleep.  He wakes them up, just as Judas and the soldiers show up.

A couple of things hit me here.  Jesus spends quite a bit of time praying (the whole night passes), and He repeatedly asks God to find another way.  Each time, He concedes that He will do what His Father wants, but He keeps asking for another way.  He is struggling, He is overwhelmed, He is scared, and He keeps asking for help.  He wrestles with this plan, and finally gives in.  I am so encouraged that God allows us to wrestle with issues.  I’m not saying we should make it a habit, by any means.  But sometimes God is going to ask us to do things that are so difficult, so tough, it may take us awhile to come around.  I am grateful for a God of grace and patience with those who want to follow Him.

Secondly, the disciples fell asleep.  They were supposed to be praying, but they fell asleep.  And they pay for it.  Jesus encourages them to pray so that they wouldn’t fall into temptation.  They didn’t (pray) and they did (fall).  We are told over and over to pray.  Are we?  Or are we just too tired in life to pray?  If so, we shouldn’t be surprised that our faith is weak and we constantly are struggling with the same temptations over and over and over.

It’s interesting the difference in the characters.  Jesus prays, the disciples don’t.  Jesus wins, the disciples fail and run.  What do you need to be praying about today?  What is stopping you from praying right now? 

Don’t Point, People Will Stare!

We read one of the accounts of the last time Jesus sits down and eats with His disciples in Matthew 26:17-35.  It’s such a tough scene.  He tells them someone would betray Him.  Judas speaks up and says “It’s not me, is it Teacher?”  Jesus answers, basically, “If that’s what you say”.  Judas seems to be testing Jesus.  Does He know?  Am I busted?  Jesus won’t really answer him, but gives him a chance to fess up.  He doesn’t.

Then Jesus warns the rest that all of them will abandon Him that night.  He knows.  He doesn’t say they might, but that they would.  They all deny it.  There is no way they could abandon Jesus.  But He knows.

It is so hard when Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves, and He calls out things in us we don’t want to hear.  He points things out in our life, and we look the other way.  We can try to skirt around it, cover it up, or deny it.  But He steadily tells us the truth.  And it hurts.  I hate it when He tells me things about myself that I am working hard to be in denial of, and He won’t let it go.  It burns deep inside my heart, until I come clean and deal with the sin that is there.

By the end of the night, the disciples will run, Jesus will be arrested and beaten, and Judas will be preparing for his own suicide.  Denial is such a completely destructive tool in our lives.  It kills.

What if they had all listened and agreed?  What if they had fessed up? 

What if we do?

I’ve Heard Some Bad Nicknames in My Time, But Geesh……..

As Matthew 26 opens, we are heading for the end of Jesus’ life.  The crucifixion is looming, and the scary oboe music from every drama is playing in the background.  You can just feel the coming storm.  At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus tells His disciples in plain language that in two days He will be arrested to be crucified.  In verses 14-16, Judas slinks off to sell Jesus for a few dollars, and sets in motion the wheels of deceit and destruction.

But wedged in the middle is an interesting story.  A woman comes and pours perfume on Jesus while He is in the home of Simon the Leper (what a horrible nickname). There is so much wrong in this picture.  It’s Passover week.  Every Jew in the country was working hard to keep themselves spiritually pure so they could celebrate Passover.  Jesus goes into a leper’s home (big no-no), eats dinner there (bigger no-no) and a woman is rather inappropriate in public with her affection (big, big no-no).  In John 12, he says the woman is Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ sister.  You have this contrast with the religious leaders threatened by Jesus, who want to kill Him; and Judas, who wants the money.  They both know Jesus, and reject Him.  Mary knows Jesus, and worships Him.  All in the same situation, the same setting.

What causes this canyon of a divide in their reactions?  A lot, to be honest.  The religious leader’s goals, as well as Judas, are advancement and self-preservation.  They want power, prestige, and money, and they want it on their terms.  Mary has abandoned those things, and just wants God.  One leads to murder, the other to a gift.  One leads to grabbing for all they can take, the other to giving a very expensive gift from very little.  One leads to bitterness and suicide, the other to worship and joy.

Today, you and I face the same choices.  Power or passion?  Self-advancement or self-sacrifice?  Lust or love?  One always leads to death, the other to life.  Which route do you want?