THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 9:9-13 “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” (Matthew 9:13) For the Jews, obeying God’s laws was of topmost importance. God commanded the sacrifices as part of Moses’ Law, therefore they must obey. God commanded separation from sin and sinners also, therefore they must obey. The problem is…
Category: daily meditations
Authority on earth to forgive!?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 9:1-8 “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Matthew 9:2) Is Jesus doing the forgiving, or is He announcing God’s forgiveness? I believe that Jesus is acting as God’s representative. As the Son of Man (Adam), He has been entrusted with God’s authority. But remember, we were also…
Positive witnesses!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 8:28-34 “They pleaded with him to leave.” (Matthew 8:34) The deceiver does whatever he can to keep us from knowing the truth. We will be surprised to discover how weak the deceiver actually is. He specializes in fear and deception, but those are his only powers. If he can get us to…
We shall be like Him!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 8:23-27 “What kind of man is this?” (Matthew 8:27) This was the million dollar question everyone was asking. He defied all categories and definitions. Personally I do not think Jesus was a ‘superman’. Many Christians assume He had His powers because He was God. But the God-ness of Jesus was fully hidden…
Forgetting the helpless?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Psalm 10 “Do not forget the helpless.” (Psalm 10:12) I just read Viktor Frankl’s account of life in Nazi concentration camps. What the guards did to their prisoners… it’s pure evil! They acted exactly like the ‘wicked’ described in this psalm. All of us have sin in our hearts, but not all of…
Holding back on God?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Exodus 4:18-7:7 “The Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.” (Exodus 4:24) This section (4:24-26) is a difficult part to read. Why is the Lord about to kill Moses, and how does circumcising his son help? If circumcision symbolized their bond with God, was Moses holding back his son? Was Moses…
I AM everything you need me to be!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Exodus 1:1-4:17 “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) A name is not just a label, it soon becomes an identity. Everything we know about that something is associated with that name. One way the Nazis depersonalized their prisoners was by giving them numbers. Our names come to characterize…
I will follow You… maybe?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 8:18-22 “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Matthew 8:19) I recall saying things like this many a time in the past. But apart from emotional times of commitment, have I really followed through? I often face times when an immediate situation requires of me a difficult choice. In those moments, the first…
Healing presence!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 8:14-17 “‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”(Matthew 8:17, Isaiah 53:4) Our world is soul-sick, we are infected to the very core of our being. This soul sickness has many symptoms: mental, social, physical, emotional, etc. Billions and billions of dollars are spent to try to find cures… but we’re still sick….
This is surprising grace!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 8:5-13 “But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside…” (Matthew 8:12) We need to let the shock of these words sink in. Imagine if Jesus said many members of the church would be thrown outside. The ones we expect to be in are not, and the ones we expect to…