Jesus is teaching me that following him involves a little more giving of myself than what I normally give to him or to others. Perhaps I am being influenced by Dr. deSilva’s Facebook Sunday School class, but a question he asked resonates within this passage for me. In the class he suggested rather than asking, […]
“You whitewashed tombs! You look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” Woah Jesus! Jesus seems to let it fly in Matthew 23. He really gives it to those teachers of the law and Pharisees. I would really hate to be one of […]
In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked question after question after question. All the other leaders wanted to catch him with these testing questions. As a parent, I feel like I can relate. My kids are not asking questions at the same depth as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and lawyers, but they feel just as penetrating. “Can […]
Jesus picks up on a theme from earlier in this chapter. In Matthew 12 Jesus says, “for the tree is known by its fruit” (v33). Jesus is emphasizing the kind of fruit we produce again. The courts of the temple are cleaned out because they are to be a ‘house of prayer, not a den […]
It is quite a difficult task to lay aside our own desires to serve someone else. I realize this quite often in my own house. Any parent knows that at some level, having kids entails service. There are so many things that need to be done to raise children. Lately I have found myself asking […]