Matthew 21:33-45

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Post by Amy Whiting

“R. E. S. P. E. C. T., find out what it means to me.”

I dare you to go back and read this whole chapter again with the filter: how Jesus found the religious people operating – the people who were meant to be representing God to the world around them. You see a tale of people who abuse their power to put up barriers, alienate and profit themselves.

In this final story Jesus reminds them (the chief priests and Pharisees– see vs 45 – they knew it was aimed at them) but also us of the serious nature of our life calling – to be ones who work in his field. We work in it...but it is not ours...it is His field, His resources, His profit, His glory.

The haunting line – “Surely they will respect my son”

Respect (transitive verb) [respects, respecting, respected]

1. Esteem somebody or something
to feel or show admiration and deference towards somebody or something

2. Not go against or violate something
to pay due attention to and refrain from violating something

3. Be considerate towards somebody or something
to show consideration or thoughtfulness in relation to somebody or something

“Surely they will respect my Son.”

God resources and entrusts us with His field – with showing others what it means to love God in the way we live - we are His representation in the world and we will be held accountable for it. Are we living like that?

"This is the way it is with you. God's kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life.”

Matthew 21:1-17

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Post by James Russell.

Do I know you Jesus?

It seems from the blogs I've followed that there is a theme of Jesus being someone quite different from who the people of his day thought he was going to be, and possibly who we think he is.

The question I want to wrestle with in this blog is if we truly know Jesus.

As a kid growing up in a Christian community, I always knew that Jesus was my saviour. I had kind of heard of him being my Lord, but didn't really know what a Lord was except it being another name for him. Instead of Mr Jesus, it was Lord Jesus.

Matt 21:1-17 is about Jesus asserting his authority over Jerusalem as their King. Jesus rides into the city on a donkey, and clears the temple of the commerce going on inside it. This seems quite tame until we look into it a bit more.

In Luke's account of the triumphal entry, Jesus weeps over the city as he is approaching it and pronounces judgement on it by prophesying its destruction (which commonly held was fulfilled in AD 70 in the Roman Siege of Jerusalem) saying it was "..because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." Luke 19:41-44

This was not just a "symbolic spiritual" Judgement, this was the real deal. After 5 months of Siege, Jerusalem's walls were battered down by the Roman army. Over 1million Jews were slaughtered and 95,000 captives were taken as prisoners to Caesarea. From 70AD to 1948, Israel was wiped off the map.

Jesus was talking about the temple in Matt 24:2 and said.."I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down".

How intense is that? Jesus pronounces judgement on Jerusalem and 1 million people die.

Now I am no theologian, this is what my study bible and a few bible helps say. But how radical is this when we look at who the bible teaches Jesus to be? Isn't the good news of the gospel that we have been saved from the righteous wrath of God, which was poured out on Jesus instead of us? That we are judged right before God because we receive Jesus' righteousness. And that He paid for us the penalty of death and eternal torment in hell that we all deserve.

I have been studying the attributes of God this year, and have discovered how low my view of God has been. I have realised that Jesus, as shown in Matt 21:1-17, is very much a King.

I do not want to be the angry judgement guy that completely neglects the fact that Jesus was weeping as he pronounced this judgement. He wept over the city and after pronouncing the 7 woes He says ..how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.." Matt 23:37

I do however want to ask this question: are we still wrestling to love all of Jesus?

After all he is a man of incredible diversity in his attributes and emotions.

Here are some attributes of his as an example.

· Infinite highness and infinite condescension.

· Infinite justice and infinite grace.

· Infinite glory and lowest humility.

When I ponder these qualities of my Lord Jesus, I begin to wonder how much I really know him. This lent may we come humbly before God acknowledging our lack. That we might by grace become what God is by nature.

Matthew 20:1-16

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Post by Amy Whiting

William Shakespeare coined a phrase in 1610 that captures something we as humans seek and are outraged when we don’t experience – “fair play”. You only have to mention the bowling of a certain ball in a certain cricket match over 25 years ago to make most Kiwis jump up and down! I’ve observed that as early as 2 my kids have a strong sense of whether something is fair or not (I have never felt so observed as when cutting the last piece of chocolate cake)

And we have invented phrases that we as adults use to express this sentiment... It’s all “fair & square”, or the judges’ ruling was “fair & impartial” that is what we are fiercely committed to. And we live by those rules...until it suits us to just bend those rules a little bit and suddenly... “all’s fair in love and war” and then when we just want our own way we adopt “life’s not fair”.

It seems that maybe we are only committed to everything being fair when it suits us. And this is the heart of this story... do we want God to treat us fairly or generously? Generously of course! But what happens when He treats us fairly and others generously? Hmmm...what’s the phrase for that?

Matthew 19:16-26

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Jesus tells this rich young man to give away his possessions to the poor so that he may have treasure in heaven. Jesus warns the man that riches can make it harder to enter the kingdom of God… Wow. Really? Apparently so.

However at the same time, Jesus does not idealize poverty. Jesus does not tell the rich young ruler to give away his possessions because to be poor is the ideal. Poverty is obviously not ideal and feeding the hungry and clothing the naked is a basic Christian calling. In Luke 4 Jesus says he has come to proclaim good news to the poor! So we cannot idealize either having little or having a lot.

At the heart of the issue it is important to remember this: Wealth comes with danger and responsibility. Danger in that the pursuit of money can blind us from what it means to truly live, our priorities and the importance of relationship with God and others…and Responsibility in that our financial decisions are important. Just like every other decision we make, God holds us accountable. We are called to use our money wisely according to how God would see us use it.

For the rich young ruler, this was what had a grip on his heart. He wasn’t willing to give everything over to God. I think that the cartoon above is timely for our society. Perhaps one of the false God’s or golden calf’s in ours society is consumerism. (see Exodus 32 for the story of the Golden Calf) T.V, billboards and radio all try and sell us this dream. This dream tells us that to be human is to own as much stuff as possible. This will give us meaning. Really? It seems that Jesus warns us that wealth and possessions come with danger and responsibility.

This Lent may we learn to hand over all we have to God. After all, isn’t life itself a gift?

Psalm 23

post by Liam Cadigan

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This would be one of my favourite pieces of scripture. David gives us beautiful insight, imagery and understanding of God and the life we have in him.

He begins with a statement that contains two contrasting words ‘Lord’ and ‘Shepherd’. Firstly ‘Lord’ in its original language in this passage is translated to ‘Jehovah’ and this is linked with the verb ‘to be’. This suggests that God was, is and will always be with his people. Then we are drawn to ‘Shepherd’ which in David’s time was very common, and connected with everyday life. This brings in an understanding of a personal, imminent God. Ian Barclay states, from his book ‘He is Everything to Me’, “Jehovah, the great I am, had suddenly become personal.”

In this Psalm we can see reference to the surrounding presence of God (read with the Psalm):

• Underneath us – green pastures
• Beside us – still waters
• With us
• Before us – prepare a table
• Behind us – goodness and love (will follow)

Before all this David states “… I shall not be in want.”

Take a moment to think about that in light of the surrounding presence of God.

I believe one key insight we can understand from this Psalm is that, in the ‘Lord’ (great, transcendent, infinite, powerful, almighty, awesome etc) our ‘Shepherd’ (good, imminent, close, loving, relational, personal etc) we have everything we need, but even more than just what we need, in the Lord our Shepherd we are completely satisfied and fulfilled.

Finally we see that finding our complete satisfaction and fulfilment in God (and the fullness and perfection of who he is) is not something that can ever be taken away. “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

As you listen to this song consider where or what you get your satisfaction and fulfilment from.

Matthew 18.21-35

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Post by Jo De Vocht

Forgiveness

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much” – Oscar Wilde

We read this passage and immediately feel outraged on behalf of the colleague and the master. How could someone be so selfish and heartless straight after they have been shown so much mercy?!

Unfortunately, we all also recognise that Jesus is pointing out the blatant hypocrisy that we show towards other people’s sins after we are given (and come to expect) so much grace from our God.

We all find it difficult to forgive, some more than others (I am definitely a some) but the truth is creating a culture of forgiveness is the only way to live a good and happy life in relationship with God.

There is often I think a confusion about what forgiveness means. Forgiving someone for what they have done is not an expression of your belief that they have committed no wrong, rather that you are willing to let it go.

The truth is in most cases ‘Forgive and forget’ doesn’t really work in reality and forgiving doesn’t imply a sudden amnesia. I believe when Jesus says “seventy times seven” he doesn’t mean walk into the same mistake with someone over and over again, instead don’t allow their wrong to take the power of hate in your life.

When we get down to it, Jesus is saying we cannot be in relationship with him and disharmony in our spirit with others. That means carrying hate or unforgiveness towards someone around with us. I don’t think we can forgive instantly in all cases but we always need to commit to the process of forgiveness, which begins by praying for help and banishing the negative thoughts about someone from our mind.

As a wise woman told me recently “you can’t help the bird flying over your head but you can stop it nesting in your hair.” Deal with your hurt but don’t dwell on negative feelings towards the person who hurt you, work on letting it go.

Check out this amazing story of a woman who survived through captivity in the horrific civil war in the Democratic of Congo and forgave her captors and prison guards.

You can listen to it (8mins) - click this link: Story of Woman in Congo

Matthew 17:14-20

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This is such a human story. We read about the disciples failing to do what Jesus had instructed them to do. I am sure each one of us can relate to that.

One minute they seem to get who Jesus is, the next they misunderstand him.

Do you remember earlier in Matthew 12 when the Pharisees demand that Jesus give a sign for his authority? There seems to be a connection here. The disciples may have thought that the power Jesus gave them is to impress others as a sign of God’s strength and power. Rather, faith even as small as a mustard seed is what is required. This is a faith that trusts that God works through even the seemingly weak and small things of this world. Jesus in chapter 12 rebukes the Pharisees for always looking for a sign of God’ strength and power on their own terms. Here God reminds the disciples that humble faith is what is required.

Tom Wright reflects on this passage and gives this beautiful reflection on faith:

“Faith is like a small window through which you can see a vast landscape, and the landscape in question is the sovereign power of the creator God and the overwhelming glory of Jesus himself. We stand at that window, doing our best to wipe it clean from the condensation of our own unbelieving breath, and holding on, as we do so, to those for whom we want to pray.”

(Excerpt from Tom Wright, Lent For Everyone: Matthew, Year A. London: SPCK, 2011, 67.)

So often we just wish that God would make himself so clear to us by giving us a sign and overwhelming us. But the mystery is that God chooses to work in the little things, the weak things, and the powerless things. May we have faith in this God, may we pray for others with faith that God will hear our prayers and we will see glimpses of his kingdom on earth as in heaven.