Good morning friends! We continue on today with our reading of Matthew's gospel. This section continues heavy on the theme of healing but adds in the question of "theologically" is healing okay alll of the time? In other words, the Pharisee's begin to question Jesus' interpretations of things as they believe he is breaking church law and tradition. Rev. Joyce this past weekend preached a powerful message for Mother's Day about how Jesus often bent church laws and traditions in order to better serve and care for God's people. How might that inspire you today? Let's jump into our reading today and see how God speaks to you.
Scripture to Read
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What does this teach me about God? What does God expect of us?
What does sabbath me to you? When is the last time you've taken a true sabbath? (complete day off)
Why do you think Jesus wanted to remain anonymous after his healings? Why do you think people were scared of him and claimed him to be in leagues with the devil?
- My Thoughts -
This whole section is a human version of Jesus to me....I mean that he just seems frustrated in every one of these teachings. He seems frustrated that people don't quite get his messages the same way they do John the Baptist's, he seems frustrated that people are more worried about what is ok and not ok when it comes to peoples well being on the sabbath, and he seems frustrated enough to deny his own family who are probably struggling with his wild nature and new following. I'm writing this the day after Mother's Day and it hits me different than it usually does to hear Jesus say "who is my mother?" when looking right at her. I don't quite like this Jesus as much as the more familiar Jesus, but I also suspect his mother didn't either. I'm comforted to know that she was at the cross when he died implying that they not only reconciled at some point but that she joined the "the way" and they had a rich life together.
If you are a parent, how do you balance between your children risk taking and being conservative with their safety? To what degree do you let them experiment and when do you hold back? If you are not a parent but have a parent alive, how have you handled the balance between independence of thought and still being tied to your roots?
Praying the Hymns
Our prayer today is hymn 241 in our United Methodist Hymnal - That Boy Child of Mary. (again this is oddly fitting considering the context of the final words of our reading today.) As you join in praying this hymn I invite you to give thanks not only for Mary, mother of Jesus, but also your own mothers to who once held you with the same glory Mary held Jesus.
Refrain
That boy-child of Mary was born in a stable,
a manger his cradle in Bethlehem.
1 What shall we call him, child of the manger?
What name is given in Bethlehem? (Refrain)
2 His name is Jesus, God ever with us,
God given for us in Bethlehem. (Refrain)
3 How can he save us, how can he help us,
born here among us in Bethlehem? (Refrain)
4 Gift of the Father, to human mother,
makes him our brother of Bethlehem. (Refrain)
5 One with the Father, he is our Savior,
heaven-sent helper of Bethlehem. (Refrain)
6 Gladly we praise him, love and adore him, give ourselves to him of Bethlehem. (Refrain)
You “don’t quite like this Jesus”? thats Interesting pastor
As a former teacher and coach, I relate to this version of Jesus. I would teach a student something, or give advice on the track and be ignored, and then a teacher from a previous year, or coach they knew better than me would say the EXACT SAME THING, and suddenly it was a revelation to the student. I know familiarity is helpful when teaching, but if we only listened to people we knew, our depth of knowledge would be pretty shallow. I get his frustration. I've been on the other side when students/youth I'm working with listen to me over someone else, but I try to remind them (the kids) that they need to listen to the other person…