The Three Cs

The setting of the Gospel of Saint Matthew is unlike the other three Gospels: It resounds with the proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah. Matthew moves quickly through the birth and infancy narratives of chapters one and two into the adult ministry of Jesus. But along the way Matthew sets the stage by showing how prophecies from Isaiah, Malachi, Zechariah, Hosea, and Jeremiah, in particular, effectively link Jesus to the Torah (Matt. 1:1-17), the virgin birth (Isa. 7:23) in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and as a survivor of a slaughter of innocents (Jer. 31:15) who comes out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). As chapter three opens, John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-80) has begun his ministry as the one calling in the desert to turn the hearts of the fathers. Textual Notes 1 Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις -- The expression “in those days” rings throughout prophetic scripture, serving as an important marker that something big is about to happen: Elijah has arrived to “...

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives  forgiveness of sins through his name. Today's passage reminds me, you can't hear this message enough. Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name. You caught that, right? Everyone! Not some believers. Everyone! As Peter reminds us through Luke's account of the early years after Pentecost, God has promised. He didn't just promise here. He promised Abraham (Gen. 15:6). More than that, Jesus himself promised.  Don't be afraid, just believe. Mark 5:36 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. Mark 9:41 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one an...

And Saul approved of their killing him. There are certain passages of Scripture that just cut to the heart. Today, Day 2 of my reading of Acts, this line hit pretty hard, probably because of some recent conversations I have been having about calling sin sin. Saul, I was reminded, is a murderer. This devout Hellenistic Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, someone who is supposed to be one of the Good Guys, conspired in the arrest, trial, conviction, and punishment of Christians. Saul was excellent at persecution. And here, he led the charge in stoning Stephen to death. Saul is a murderer. You understand what that means don't you? Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him (1 John 3:15). For out of the heart come evil thoughts — murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person (Matt. 15:19-20). Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the k...

The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Acts 13:27 I can't imagine that if I had been alive 2,000 years ago I would have recognized Jesus either. He was, after all, a man, right? And God is, after all, the creator of the Universe, which today we understand is so big that we can't even begin to comprehend how big it really is. Think about this for a second. There is a website called Scale of the Universe that does a good job helping you begin to understand. Neptune is only 4.5 billion kilometers away. We are only 2 million light years from the Andromeda Galaxy. The known radius of the universe is only 14 gigaparsecs, which in simpler terms is only 14 times 3.3 billion light years, or 3.3 x 10 25 meters. And God came to us. And the Jews didn't recognize him. Honestly, that doesn't surprise me. Jesus looked like a regular guy. The God of the Univers...