Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 23-24.

In light of what happened in Israel over the weekend, and what is continuing to happen there, I want to start with what Jesus says here in Matthew 24 verse six: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.”  He goes on to tell us that such things are merely the beginning of the birth pangs of the end.  Then a little farther on, Jesus warns us that wickedness will increase and that increase will cause the love of most to grow cold.  Do we not see that around us?  People no longer treat those with whom they disagree with love, and this change is indeed because wickedness has increased.  Let us be on wary of the false prophets and false messiahs whom Jesus warned us about.  They will perform great signs and wonders, deceiving many.

Which brings me back to the beginning of the passage.  I believe that what Jesus says there can help us identify the false prophets and false messiahs.  I want to note that the primary purpose of this teaching by Jesus is a lesson about our own behavior, but it can also help us identify false teachers, and false prophets.  He tells us that we should not take titles for ourselves which imply that we are somehow closer to God than others, nor should we apply such titles to others.  Jesus goes on to warn us about those who concern themselves with appearing righteous.  Our concern should be with doing that which is righteous, not with acting so that others think we are righteous.  I want to be clear.  As I read what Jesus tells us here, He says that if we act righteously it will result in us appearing righteous, but when we get caught up in attempting to look righteous we will fall short of doing that which is true righteousness.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 21-22.

I debated a lot about what I wanted to write today.  There are several different things I thought about writing but none of them flowed into each other.  I finally decided to start with the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree.  I think that this illustrates better than anything else in the Gospels that Jesus was fully human.  The text tells us that He was hungry, so He went over to the fig tree but found no fruit on it.  So, He cursed it to never bear fruit again, and it immediately withered.  Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach about the power of faith, but He cursed the tree because He was disappointed that it had not fruit.  That is a very human thing to do.

I also want to write about the parable of the two sons.  In it Jesus speaks of one son, who rebelliously tells his father that he will not do what his father told him to do, and a second son who obediently agreed to do was his father directed.  Yet, the first son then went and did as instructed, despite telling his father that he would not, while the second did not do as instructed, despite saying that he would.  From the context, the son who said he would do as instructed but did not was the Pharisees and other teachers of the Law of Moses, while the son who rebelled, but di his father’s will was those whom they viewed as sinners.  Today, there are those who verbally reject Jesus, yet love their neighbor.  These are the equivalent of the first son.  We also have people today who verbally exalt Jesus, yet treat others with contempt.  Let us strive to both tell God “yes”, and to do as He asks of us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.