Gospel. What is it?

DAILY BIBLE READING
Sunday 11 August
Matthew 14

COMMENT:
We’re now halfway through Matthew, first of the 4 gospels in the Bible.

The beginning of this chapter records a very significant event in the gospel story; another one will come soon after this (16:13-19).

Jesus was closely linked with John the Baptist. John was the forerunner, the herald, specially prepared and commissioned by God to “prepare the way for the Lord” (3:3), to announce the imminent arrival of Jesus and his revelation to the world, and for the world.

Now, John the Baptist was dead, his life ended in a violent way. His life’s work had finished, he’d completed his mission.
From here, it’s all over to Jesus.

The horrible murder that ended John’s life was a sign, yet another sign, of what lay ahead for Jesus. He knew, he knew all along that he was born to die, to die for the sins of the world, to experience God’s righteous wrath for those sins - so that we might be free.

Jesus heard the news about John’s end (14:13) and intended that he and his 12 apostles retreat to a solitary place for a time of consolation - a breather, so to speak.

A parallel gospel account provides us with another reason for this desire for a restful time.
Mark records that, just prior to this, Jesus had sent the 12 off on a teaching and healing mission which was successful, but physically and mentally demanding (Mark 6:6b-13).

Their return to Jesus coincided with the news of the death of John the Baptist, so there was a double reason for a break from the crowds (Mark 6:30-32). It was intended also for their recuperation.

We can see that Mark’s gospel account adds to that of Matthew and provides us with a fuller understanding of what happened. We’ll benefit greatly from reading all 4 gospel accounts and carefully comparing them.

But the desired restful time was not to be. The excited crowds followed them and Jesus responded to their needs (Mark 6:33,34; Matthew 14:13b, 14).

As always, Jesus always put the needs of others above his own. That’s love in action, a love we can depend on.

“The king of love my Shepherd is
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine for ever”.

DAILY BIBLE READING
Wednesday 7 August
Matthew 13

COMMENT:
Jesus was renown for using parables, more than any other Bible character, maybe more than anyone at all. Why did he use parables, which are stories - long or short, with a hidden meaning?

Matthew records that “he told (the crowd) many things in parables” (13:3) and that “he did not say anything to them without using a parable” (13:34). This may refer to this particular stage of his ministry, but it was so notable that his disciples asked him the reason (13:10).

Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah (13:13-15, quoting Isaiah 6:9,10; go on, have a look at it) so highlighting the authority of the Old Testament to himself and his followers - and to us too. This is a fascinating text.

Some people (or did the prophet mean all people) would look and see - they’d see many things, they’d see all their lives, but they’d never see. How paradoxical! They’d hear with their ears, but never hear. How strange! Why is this?

It’s all about conversion and God’s healing of them, which implies that they needed conversion and spiritual healing. They didn’t want that, so they’d deny that they saw, that they heard, that they understood. It’s like that today too.

But Jesus said that his disciples, those who responded positively to his call and followed him, they were blessed. They did see and hear and understand (13:16, 11) and so came into (or would come into) right relationship with God and his Son. Furthermore, look at 13:12.

Is this action of closing eyes and blocking ears God’s doing, or is it up to us - you and me? The answer is: Yes.

May you, dear reader, and I be numbered among the “blessed”.

DAILY BIBLE READING

Advance notice of cessation of my daily comment on the Bible reading of that day.

I’m intending to stop, at least temporarily, my daily posts soon.

I intend to post 3 more comments: on Matthew 13 on Wednesday 7 August (tomorrow), then on Genesis 49, 50 on Thursday 8 August, and finally on Matthew 14 on Sunday 11 August.

That means we’ll have completed the book of Genesis and got exactly halfway through the gospel according to Matthew.

I hope you’ve found my comments helpful; I’d appreciate hearing from you. I’ve certainly liked preparing them.
I also hope that you’ve found the pattern of Bible readings helpful.

I may take this project up again, or possibly find another way of engaging with others about reading and discussing the Bible.
Blessings to all my readers.

DAILY BIBLE READINGS
Here’s the list of daily Bible readings for the coming week:

Monday 5 August: Genesis 45-46
Tuesday 6:Genesis 47-48
Wednesday 7: Matthew 13
Thursday 8:Genesis 49-50
Friday 9: Exodus 1
Saturday 10: Exodus 2-3
Sunday 11: Matthew 14

May you be blessed as you read these portions.

Each day, I’m continuing to post a comment or two on my page about the daily Bible reading.

DAILY BIBLE READING
Saturday 3 August
Matthew 12

COMMENT:
Elsewhere (e.g. Romans 2:6) we learn that God will judge every person he created - that’s everyone including you and me, “according to their works”. He will scrutinise every single action for sin, which will count against us. Ahh! That’s a terrifying thought.

Here Jesus tells us that God’s judgment of everyone goes deeper than that. It includes every word, even “every empty word”, spoken (Matthew 12:36,37). This should make us tremble - or, far better, flee to Jesus our merciful Saviour pleading for his forgiveness and his covering of us.

Notice again Jesus’ insistence on the necessity of repentance by everyone (12:41); he’s speaking to you and me too.

Allied with that teaching is the example of the Queen of Sheba (12:42), who made strenuous and costly effort to hear Solomon’s wisdom. How much more should we want to hear the ultimate wisdom from Jesus? What effort do we make? Are we really listening to his words? How well do we know his words?

DAILY BIBLE READING
Thursday 1 August
Matthew 11

COMMENT:
We see how important teaching and preaching was, and is, to Jesus - “instructing his … disciples”, continuing “to preach and teach” in many places (11:1). How well do we know the content of what Jesus preached and taught?
If you’ve got ears, he wants you to hear! (11:15 and many other times Jesus said this)
Well, do you have ears? Have you heard? What have you heard?

What was the aim of Jesus’ teaching and preaching? It was to draw all people to himself, that they would know truly who he was, and is: Son of God, Lord and Master, Saviour and Deliverer, King of the world for all time.
And what’s the first step in coming to right relationship with Jesus? Always, it’s to repent. We see this in his denouncing the people of some towns of Galilee “because they did not repent” (11:20-24).

In the state of repentance to which Jesus calls us, what should be our attitude towards what we eat and drink and many such things of this life?

Jesus said of his great forerunner, John the Baptist, that “he came neither eating nor drinking” (11:18). Of course, that can’t be meant literally. It means he was frugal and austere; we might say he followed a bread and water diet (We’re told what he ate as he lived in the desert in Matthew 3:4b, but let’s not get diverted). He lived so simply that people said he was crazy (11:18).

By contrast, Jesus “came eating and drinking” and his detractors accused him of gluttony and drunkenness (11:19). Of course, that was a big exaggeration, but Jesus was obviously quite different from John the Baptist in his eating and drinking.

So how should we eat and drink? Does our repentance and discipleship of the Lord have anything to do with the way we eat and drink? What do you think?

The final verses are truly wonderful. Jesus calls us to come to him and to enter relationship with him and so receive rest and peace.
We treat these words of Jesus as an invitation, which they are. But they’re also commands, imperatives.
He says: “Come … take … learn” (11:28,29).
Let’s do that, and continue to do that as long as we live!

DAILY BIBLE READING
Sunday 28 July
Matthew 10

COMMENT:
It's easy to get wrongly focused in this chapter, and many do, many Christians. People focus on the authority that Jesus gave his 12 apostles to heal (10:1,8).

There are 2 reasons for miraculous healing events. (1) They show God's compassionate love for those who suffer - God's compassion, Jesus' compassion, the apostles' compassion; (2) they draw attention to the message preached, authenticating that message. It's the message preached which is so important, much more significant than any healing performed, no matter how dramatic it appears.

The brief words, "The kingdom of heaven is near" (10:7) are code for the preaching of the gospel, the whole of Jesus' teaching. We've already noted that the very first word in Jesus' preaching was "Repent" (4:17), as it was for John the Baptist before Jesus (3:1). So what the 12 did in line with what Jesus their Master had done (see 4:23).
So don't get sidetracked by healing miracles.

Almost the whole chapter relates, not to healing miracles, but to the preaching of the gospel (even though, at this stage, the gospel was not complete, and the 12 did not understand that the gospel focused on the self-sacrificial death of Jesus for us all).

Jesus says much to prepare the 12 for a negative response from people, even an extreme negative response, like "arrest" (10:19), "persecut(ion)" (10:23), hatred, abuse, flogging, etc. (10:22, 25, 17). He tells his 12: "Do not be afraid" (10:26), but to "be shrewd ... innocent ... on your guard ... do not worry" (10:16, 17, 19).

Who on earth would do any of these evil things against Peter, for healing a person's sick child? Who would abuse Andrew when he'd raised to life some-one's dead wife and mother? Wouldn't James or John be thanked and honoured for doing things like this?

But it's a different matter altogether when people are called to repent, to leave immoral ways of conduct, to live righteously and to submit to the coming King Jesus.

It's the same for us today. None of us are going to be attacked for doing a charitable act. But preaching the gospel, pointing sinners to Jesus our Saviour is an entirely different matter, isn't it?

We need to be prepared, braced for the likely result, comforted and strengthened by our Lord, as did the 12 in this chapter.

DAILY BIBLE READ
Wednesday 24 July
Matthew 9

COMMENT 1:
Chapter 9 continues from the previous chapter with more of the miracles performed by Jesus. Altogether, in this section of Matthew’s gospel account, there are 10. See if you can identify the 10 in Matthew 8 & 9. All but one (the 4th) are healings; what’s Jesus’ other miracle?

It’s important to see that Jesus is not just about miracles, as we learn from 9:35. In fact, the miracles were primarily to authenticate Jesus in his other far greater work. Which is … ?

COMMENT 2:
Jesus used irony in his teaching; a good example is in the incident of 9:10-12.
It’s clear that the “tax collectors and ‘sinners’” were the “sick” ones, the “sinners” who came to Jesus the “doctor” for healing.

But, did Jesus think that the Pharisees were “the healthy”, “the righteous”? No, they were in just as much need of doctor Jesus as anyone else, but they didn’t recognise their need. They thought that they were healthy, having no need for a doctor. Sadly, in their fatal error, they chose not to come to Jesus for healing.
Don’t be like them! Don’t hold back from acknowledging your need and going to the doctor, the greatest and indeed the only doctor.

COMMENT 3:
There’s a tiny indication in 9:10 that Matthew was the author of this gospel account, which is anonymous. After Matthew is called by Jesus to follow him, his joyful state of mind is shown by him having a dinner at his home which many of his friends attended.

In 9:19, we read that this dinner occurred “at Matthew’s house” (NIV), but the original Greek words say “the house”. The NIV puts it that way to read better in English - and it certainly was Matthew’s house. The old KJV and the RSV both have “the house”, following more strictly the original Greek.

Now this incident is also recorded in 2 other gospel accounts, where Matthew is named Levi, his other name. There’s no doubt though that it’s the very same incident in Mark2:14-17 and Luke 5:27-32. The other 2 accounts both say “his house” rather than “the house“.

Does that sound like a fine point? Yes, it is. But it fits with the earliest Christian tradition that Matthew did write the account that we know as “the gospel according to Matthew”.

DAILY BIBLE READING
Saturday 20 July
Matthew 8

COMMENT:
There’s a sad ending to this chapter, a chapter full of miraculous healings by Jesus and the miraculous stilling of the storm on the Sea of Galilee. In view of all these miracles, you’d anticipate a happy ending, but instead it’s sad.

The first and last healings that Jesus performed were situations that we’d think were impossible, hopeless, depressing.

The first was a l***r, a man who because of his condition had had to live isolated from human society, shunned by everyone. We don’t know for how long he’d endured his misery.

There’s a lovely touch to this story. “Touch” is the appropriate word, because that is what Jesus did; he “touched the man” as he healed him (8:3). More than just by a word of command - though Jesus easily could have healed that way, the healing was preceded by physical touch, Jesus’ touch. Isn’t that lovely?!

The last healing recorded in this chapter is the healing of “two demon-possessed men” (9:28). We learn more about their terrible affliction in a parallel gospel account, in Mark 5:1-20; we learn of superhuman strength, long term isolation, loud mournful cries day and night and self inflicted injuries. It was a horrible situation, especially for the two men, but also for the entire neighbourhood of men, women and children. But Jesus healed the men!

So what could possibly be sad about that? The people were in no doubt that the men had been healed and that it was Jesus who had healed them. But they then “pleaded with him to leave their region” (8:34).

Why did they do that? What do you think?

DAILY BIBLE READING
Thursday 18 July
Matthew 7

COMMENT 1:
There’s so much to comment on in this concluding chapter of Jesus’ wonderful Sermon on the Mount. I’ll make just 2 comments, one re the beginning of the chapter, one on its end.

The beginning:
“Do not judge …” (7:1). I’ve heard that these are among the most quoted words of Jesus, but they’re generally misunderstood and misapplied. In the rest of this chapter, Jesus several times tells us to exercise discernment, make a judgment.

Who are the “dogs” to whom we must “not give … what is sacred”? Who are the “pigs” before whom we are not to “throw our pearls”? (7:6)

How do we distinguish the “narrow gate” with its “narrow … road that leads to life” from the “wide … gate and broad … road that leads to destruction” without exercising discernment? How do we align ourselves with the “few” and dissociate ourselves from the “many” without judging? (7:13,14)

Then there’s Jesus’ warning about “false prophets” and advice - given twice, about how to recognise them. (7:15-20)

In view of the rest of Jesus’ teaching, we should take his instruction in 7:1 to mean that we must judge carefully and with humility and perhaps tentatively and hopefully, leaving ultimate judgment to God and the one he has appointed as Judge of all, namely Jesus himself.

COMMENT 2:
The end:
Why were the crowds “amazed”? It was because Jesus taught them - as he teaches us, “with authority”. (7:29).

It’s vital that we not only see and appreciate this fact, but that we come under his authority. All his words, his instructions and commands, come to us with the authority of God. He is “God with us”.

If we do not come under his authority, there’s no “life” for us (7:14), but only “destruction“ (7:13).
It’s a matter of life and death.

DAILY BIBLE READING
Sunday 14 July
Matthew 6

How well do we know the teaching of Jesus?
Matthew 5-7, known as his ‘Sermon on the Mount’, is the first long record of the Teacher’s teaching, and we’re now in the middle of it.

Jesus often used hyperbole (pronounced: high-per-boll-ee) in his teaching to make his point; that means: a deliberate and obvious exaggeration. It’s a good teaching technique which helps listeners remember the saying and the point.

Jesus said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” (6:25, NIV). The old KJV translates the original Greek words as, “Take no thought for (these things)”. What are we to make of this? It’s hyperbole!

Of course, we must put some thought and effort into these things - for ourselves and for those who depend on us, like children. But it’s a matter of our life’s priorities. We need to keep these things in their right (and low) place in our lives and in our minds.

In this matter, and in other matters covered by Jesus’ teaching, let’s keep in our mind the principle Jesus stated: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (6:21).

What is our treasure? Where are our hearts and minds focused? What gives us joy and hope?

If you are concerned about this, bring your concern to Jesus in prayer. He knows you better than you know yourself, and he loves you.
Yes, he loves you.

DAILY BIBLE READING
Wednesday 10 July
Matthew 5

This is the first of 3 chapters of intensive teaching by Jesus, popularly called the Sermon on the Mount.

It’s striking how upside down are the values Jesus put forward as those which are “blessed”. Surely no other religious teacher or philosopher outside the Judeo-Christian faith says anything equivalent. This is particularly noticeable in the Beatitudes (5:3-12), the 8 (or is it 9?) sayings, each of which begins with: “Blessed are …”

Another surprise is Jesus’ attitude to the Old Testament, which he refers to as “the Law” and “the Prophets” (5:17). He has the highest regard for these writings - and so should we. He said of himself that he’s come to fulfil all these writings.

He promotes obedience to them; he promotes the teaching of all people from their pages.
He said, “Whoever practises and teaches these commands (i.e. those written in the Old Testament) will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (5:19).

This strongly contrasts with modern thinking, even in many Christian churches. People who regard the Old Testament as primitive, irrelevant and superseded should listen to Jesus and follow his lead.

Jesus gives us all a strong incentive to read the whole Bible, including the Old Testament, carefully and reverently, to study it, to seek to understand it and to put it into practice.
So let’s keep going with our DAILY BIBLE READING.