A Terrifying Verse
This has got to be among the most terrifying verses in the entire Bible. After he teaches his disciples how to pray what we call "The Lord's Prayer," Jesus says this:
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:14-15
The context is the closing part of the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." (The language is old-fashioned. What Jesus literally says is "debts," but the sense is more like "sins" or "wrongs, etc. I personally like "trespasses," which always makes me think of someone deliberately transgressing on someone else's property.) I don't totally understand, but Jesus clearly implies that there is some spiritual connection between our willingness to forgive others and our capacity to receive forgiveness from God.
Terrifying. Who do you need to forgive today?
Don't wait.
Today's Scripture
What Kind of Person Would Do That?
Read today's passage from the Sermon on the Mount and then ask yourself, "What kind of person would be able to do the things that Jesus is talking about?"
That's exactly the point. God's desire is to remake a person from the inside out so that he or she is actually capable of fulfilling the promise of the Sermon on the Mount. Courage, fidelity, peace, honesty, reconciliation--these are what result in a person who decides to follow Jesus and learn from him.
Are you willing?
Today's Scripture
How to Make Salt
Salt has two uses in the kitchen:
- It enhances (brings out the flavor);
- It preserves (keeps from rotting).
Jesus tells his followers that they are like salt: they are to make society better, and they are to keep society from going bad.
What about if the Church loses its saltiness, what if it loses what makes it distinct? Jesus says that then
"It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."
Matthew 5:13b
We can all cite multiple examples over these last 2,000 years when the Church abandoned what made it distinct and went along with the wider culture--it's always disaster and ruin, both for the Church and the world. (Think of slavery in the New World, e.g.)
So, it is crucial that we stay salty and thereby have something to offer the world. But how? Here's one quick thought.
The Sermon on the Mount is a seamless garment, all woven together, and so I think part of the way that the Church keeps its saltiness is to pay attention to what Jesus says later on in today's passage:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
Matthew 5:17
In other words, the message of Jesus is connected to the Scriptures. I think one of the ways we can ensure our saltiness is by doing exactly what we're doing: reading and poring over the Scriptures.
May God use his Word to make you salty today.
Today's Scripture
How to Understand the Beatitudes
The opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount are among the most famous words of Jesus, and the most difficult to understand.
"When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'"Matthew 5:1-12
What does that mean? Am I supposed to be poor in spirit? Does Jesus want me to be in mourning?
The Key to Understanding the Beatitudes
It's always important to pay attention to context, and I heard Tim Mackie say something about this passage's context that has completely changed my understanding of the Beatitudes. He made the point that the crowds Matthew mentions in v.1 are described in the previous verses at the end of chapter 4:
"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan."
Matthew 4:23-25
The crowd to which Jesus is speaking the Beatitudes is made up of the sick, the broken, the down-trodden, the unimportant, etc. And it is to those people that Jesus says, "you are blessed." Why? Because Jesus has brought the Kingdom to them!
That insight has made all the difference to me. All of those people--the poor in spirit, the mourning, the ones who hunger for righteousness--all of those people find the answer in Jesus, who is ushering in the Kingdom.
And you know what? It's still the same today.
Today's Scripture
"Immediately"
I've always thought that the calling of Andrew and Peter, James and John was a strange story, but recently I read something somewhere that made a lot of sense to me. Twice, Matthew tells us that the brothers left their nets "immediately," i.e., when Jesus calls, they respond totally: they don't hedge their bets or halfway follow him. What's Matthew trying to tell us?
Either we follow Jesus, or we don't: there is no place for a half-hearted discipleship.3
Jesus says, "Follow me." In response, what do you need to "immediately" leave, drop, or do today?
Today's Scripture
There Is No Shortcut Through Suffering
The essence of the devil's testing of Jesus in the Wilderness in Matthew 4 is about suffering. The crucial question: is there a shortcut through suffering for Jesus?
Jesus and the devil are in agreement: Jesus will reign in the end. The question is, can he receive his glory without going through suffering? Look carefully and see that the temptations are all about a shortcut through suffering: food instead of fasting, safety instead of danger, the crown without the cross.
The temptation for Jesus to avoid suffering must have been nearly irresistible.
Nearly irresistible, but not ultimately so. Jesus resists. He knows that, for whatever reason, there is no shortcut through suffering in this life. For whatever reason, the cross comes before the crown.
I wish I could tell you that it is possible to live life without difficulty, but that would be a lie. The good news, though, is that there is nothing unusual about your difficulties--everyone has trials. The even better news is that God redeems all that he allows, and that our "present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).
So, there's no shortcut through suffering. It's just one foot in front of the other. But, be hopeful: the Lord has something amazing planned at the end.
Today's Scripture
Which Jesus?
I just read today's reading to my 8 year-old son, and this is what he said:
"I don't think John the Baptist did a good job telling the people about who Jesus would be because Jesus didn't come with fire...he was gracious to the people, and John kinda gave people the wrong idea."
Is that right? John is certainly a fiery fellow. See how he addresses the Pharisees (a conservative Jewish group who believed that the Jews needed to come back to the Torah and be obedient) and the Sadducees (the ruling group of priests who collaborated with the Romans):
"You brood of vipers....
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
John the Baptist, Matthew 3:11-12
That image of a wrathful judge doesn't fit with our typical picture of Jesus, meek and mild. And, in Matthew's Gospel Jesus does seem gracious and kind in many situations. In that way, my son was right.
But on the other hand, there are elements of the wrathful judge in Matthew's description of Jesus. (To cite one example among many, see the famous parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25.)
As we read Matthew's Gospel, we'll see that Jesus doesn't fit preconceived notions, in his time or in our own. Yes, he is gracious and merciful (particularly towards the weak and downtrodden), but he is also forthright and condemning (particularly towards the religious and arrogant).
Jesus doesn't conform to our expectations, and that's the point:
We don't fit Jesus into what we already think. Rather, we need to fit what we think into Jesus. That's much harder, and much more important.
Today's Scripture
Herod Was Right
Today's reading contains the evil story of the Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem, in which King Herod orders all little boys in Bethlehem's vicinity two years-old and younger to be murdered. Matthew then quotes from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah (who was himself alluding to the Book of Genesis):
"Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
'A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.'"Matthew 2:17-18
It's a miserable story, an Herod was an evil man. But he was right.
Herod wasn't right because he had those boys murdered; Herod was right because he rightly understood that this Jesus is a threat to all dictators and demons. Even today, the Chinese totalitarians are using the vast resources of their hellish surveillance state to stamp out peaceful followers of Jesus. Why? Because if Jesus is the true King, then the powers of this world will be held to account; if Jesus is the true King, then one day his Kingdom will come fully, on earth as it already is in heaven.
Don't be fooled: all the rival powers are mere pretenders, and will one day be finally overthrown.
What would it look like for you to worship the true King today?
Today's Scripture
By Another Route
"They returned to their country by another route."
Matthew 2:12b
I think the Magi are among the most interesting characters in the Bible. Probably some kind of Persian or Babylonian stargazers--"wise men"--they saw something in the heavens so compelling that they left their homes and temples and libraries miles away to the East, and journeyed toward Bethlehem. And when they got there, what did they see?
Whatever it was, it changed them. I love how T.S. Eliot imagines them on their return home:
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.from "The Journey of the Magi," by T.S. Eliot
Matthew is more matter-of-fact: "They returned to their country by another route." See, here's the truth: encounters with Jesus are always like that. You can't meet Jesus and continue on as before, unchanged.
What different route or path do you need to take today?
Today's Scripture
The Quiet Divorce
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly”
Matthew 1:18-19
I’ve always found that to be a quietly moving line: “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” That decision of Joseph’s was a small, selfless act of kindness on which the fate of the world turned.
Don’t underestimate the importance of a small, unnoticed act of selfless kindness today. Who knows what hangs in the balance?
Today's Scripture
Jewish Jesus
The first page of the New Testament--which is the first page of Matthew's Gospel--begins with what seems the most boring way possible: a genealogy (!). The problem is (and I mean no offense) that we are too illiterate to know the stories behind the names. Matthew's first readers were probably Jewish, and to them each name was a hyperlink to an amazing story from their history. (To cite just one example, read the truly scandalous story about Tamar, mentioned in Matthew 1:3 as one of the foremothers of Jesus.) What this genealogy does is something very important: it shows that Jesus came from a particular people in a particular part of the world. Jesus was Jewish, a son of Abraham, an Israelite.This point cannot be overstated: God chose one particular family to be his means to save the world, and when the time was right, God came as a baby in a particular manger in Bethlehem. God uses the ordinary realities of everyday life as part of his ultimate plan.This means that God wants to use your ordinary decisions today as part of his plan. Either you can be working with God, or against him. Which will it be today?
Today's Scripture
Additional Resources
I wrote about this passage in August 2018. Also, the Bible Project has a truly excellent post on Matthew's Genealogy.