Matthew 24:29-51 As Jesus heads to the cross, he makes a point of instructing his disciples about his return. He wants this final event of human history to transform their lives. The return of Christ is not meant to be an abstract theological concept but a life transforming reality. Jesus gives two specific applications regarding his return. First, we are to be watchful. We are to have our eyes op...

Matthew 24:1-28 What is going to happen? How many times in life have you wished you knew the future? Though we are not given the details of our tomorrow, Jesus does lay out for his disciples a general map of what was to come for them and some of what is still to come for us. As the disciples look around the magnificence of the temple mount, they are stunned that Jesus says it will soon be destroye...

Matthew 23:13-39 Woe! Woe! Woe! This sounds like an antiquated phrase that has probably never been pronounced over you. It is the word of a prophet or judge announcing the consequence of a life of waywardness and wickedness. It is used seven times by Jesus to shock his audience into a response; to move them from apathy and opposition, to draw near to him. There is a common caricature of Jesus that...

Matthew 22:34-23:12 How do you feel about rules? Do you find them confining, restricting, or life giving? Are you a natural rebel, who sees in rules an opportunity to break them; or a rule follower who will follow commands to their full extent? Jesus and the Pharisees have a conversation about two sets of rules in Matthew 22-23. One set of rules are those which come from God. Instructions summariz...

Matthew 22:1-33 To live life well we must know the truth. Life and people throw questions at us that we need to be able to answer well. Towards the end of Jesus’ ministry, he is asked a series of questions. The first question is a political question where the Pharisees attempted to paint him into a corner by forcing him to acknowledge whether his allegiance was to Rome or his Jewish brethren. Yet ...

Matthew 21:23-46 Who has authority to go into your house if you are not there? Who has the authority to go into your fridge and take some food without asking? Authority determines what someone is allowed to do. One of the questions which the Pharisees wrestled with was whether Jesus had the authority to back up his claims. Was he a blasphemer or the Son of God? Jesus revealed his identity in a sub...

Matthew 20:29-21:22 Who is Jesus? The validity of our answer determines our eternal destiny. In Jesus’ day, most of the crowds failed to understand who Jesus was. The crowds proclaimed Jesus to be simply a prophet (a Muslim view of Jesus), the Pharisees thought he was a blasphemer (similar to atheists), and the crowds in Jericho thought he would not care about the plight of blind men (like deists ...

Matthew 20:1-28 What are the priorities of your home? One of my friends, who is a missionary in Taiwan, consistently tells his kids their family does things differently than other families. They have priorities and values that may not be shared by their neighbors, but their family does what they do because it expresses their values―particularly, a love for God. God’s family is also called to live ...

Matthew 19:13-30 If your wildest dreams came true, what would be different in your life? You might wish for a larger bank account, a bigger house, and more stuff, but would these things be helpful? Jesus’ interaction with the young man reveals that the things we value and desire might hinder our relationship with God. We are told the man walked away sad because his great wealth walled him off from...

Matthew 18:21-19:12 How easy is it for you to forgive someone? Jesus spends a lot of time communicating about the kingdom of God and in Matthew 18 he stresses one of the highest values of his kingdom is forgiveness. As you think about the various kingdoms of this world, I do not think that forgiveness would be a high value in any of them. Yet as citizens of God’s kingdom, we are to learn to be peo...

Matthew 18:1-20 Greatness in our culture is often marked by celebrity status. The number of likes you get or how many people retweet your thoughts becomes a signal of greatness. Jesus’ view is very different. He brings a young child in front of his disciples and proclaims this is where true greatness lies. Jesus’ metric of greatness is radically different than the world. He assigns greatness to th...

Matthew 17:10-27 Do you feel weak or powerful? Do you feel like you are able to accomplish your tasks today, or do you feel completely incompetent?The disciples had been ministering alongside Jesus and had seen great success, but suddenly, they were tasked with something they could not grasp how to accomplish. A man brought his demon possessed son to them, but they were unable to cast out the demo...

Matthew 16:13-17:9 In college one of my roommates, a nonbeliever, asked “Why does God let bad things happen to good people? If He has a plan, why does He let bad things happen to his ‘beloved’ children?” Before I realized what I was saying, I responded, “There is no such thing as a good person aside from Jesus. Jesus was perfect and He was killed in the most brutal way imaginable. Every person, no...

Matthew 15:29-16:12 In chapter 14, Jesus fed the crowd of 5,000 men plus additional women and children. At the end of chapter 15, only one chapter later, the disciples find themselves in a similar situation. Yet, once again they fail to understand how feeding such a massive amount of people is possible. They had failed to learn their lesson: with Jesus all things are possible. The God who fed the ...

Matthew 15:1-28 Are you an obedient person? The Pharisees would have claimed to be obedient people, but Jesus points out they are far from truly obedient to God. Jesus first points out that the Pharisees were not obeying God because they had created their own set of traditions rather than being committed to God’s commands. These man-made instructions allowed them to wiggle out of things like honor...

Matthew 14:13-36 How do you respond to people who interrupt your schedule? Do you respond with kindness and patience; or want them to just go away? Both responses are seen in today’s reading. Jesus had just learned that his relative John had been brutally beheaded and he wanted some alone time. Whether it is because of grief, feeling emotionally drained, or just feeling tired, we can all probably ...

Matthew 13:47-14:12 What do you take for granted? What have you become so desensitized to that you have lost your gratitude and awe over that thing? Could this maybe even include God, his grace, salvation, and the work of Jesus? Familiarity breeds contempt. I do not know if this statement is true in all of life, but it was true of the crowds in Nazareth. They knew Jesus’ family and would have know...

Matthew 13:24-46 What is the kingdom of heaven? It is one of Jesus’ most commonly taught ideas, but it can seem like a vague concept in our minds. At minimum a kingdom involves a territory, a ruler, and the ruled. Christ helps to open up the concept of the kingdom of heaven through five parables: the parable of the weeds, the mustard seed, the yeast, the hidden treasure, and the pearl. When we com...

Matthew 12:46-13:23 How much of the Bible do you understand? Do you find yourself reading and comprehending it, or do you find yourself scratching your head in befuddlement? Either way, know that you are in good company. The Bible is meant to be meditation literature; this means that we are meant to read it over and over again and think deeply about its meaning and application to our lives. Look a...

Matthew 12:22-45 One of the most critical questions everyone must answer is, who do you think Jesus is? CS Lewis said there were only three possible answers to this question if you examine the gospel accounts closely. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. Yet often people want to find alternative answers to this question. As Jesus’ ministry continued, there were many different answers to this q...