Author: Norm

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 22:15-22 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)The religious leaders are setting Jesus up, baiting him to defy Rome.Jesus’s response avoids their trap, but what is Jesus actually saying?The religious leaders implicate…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 22:1-14 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “Gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good.” (Matthew 22:10)I was taught that we are all equally bad, that none of us are good.Yet does this theology fit with what Jesus says?Here Jesus…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 22:1-14 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.” (Matthew 22:8)Jesus speaks of the guests not deserving to come.They weren’t invited because they deserved it but because the king wanted them there.Their refusal of…

This week (May 12-18, 2025) I am focusing on Matthew 22. There are five sections in this reading:1) The parable of the wedding banquet.2) Paying the imperial tax to Caesar.3) Marriage at the Resurrection.4) The Greatest Commandment.5) Whose Son is the Messiah?The stage is being set in this section for the collision between Jesus and the…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 21:33-45 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “The kingdom of God will be… given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43)Jesus challenges the religious leaders for failing to produce good fruit.What is this kingdom fruit that the religious leaders are not producing? This…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 21:28-32 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “You did not repent and believe!” (Matthew 21:32)John called people to repent and be immersed in God’s gracious love.The tax collectors and prostitutes knew they needed help, and did so.But the religious leaders were confident in their own righteousness…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 21:23-27 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” (Matthew 21:27)Most of us have questions for God, but are we prepared to hear the truth?The religious leaders wanted answers, but they did not want to…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 21:18-22 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22)At first glance, Jesus seems to lose His temper when He curses this fig tree.Yet I wonder, does He recognize that this is a permanently fruitless…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 21:12-17 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves… The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.” (Matthew 21:12,14)I am noticing the contrast in how Jesus…

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 21:1-11 What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage? “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey” (Matthew 21:5)Matthew says that Jesus’s arrival on a donkey fulfills what Zechariah said.In Zechariah 9, he promises that the Lord will come to save the people.He will come…