Meditate on it

Section 62 HEROD ANTIPAS SUPPOSES JESUS TO BE JOHN MATT 14:1-12 MARK 6:14-29 LUKE 9:7-9  The mission of the twelve probably lasted several weeks, and the beheading of John the Baptist appears to have taken place about the time of their return. Matthew--Herod heard about Jesus and attributed his miracles to John.  John openly criticized Herod for marrying his brother's wife.  Herod wanted to kill Jesus but was afraid of the people's reaction. Prompted by Herodius, his wife, his daughter requested John's head on a platter.  Herod complied. "And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus." Matthew 14:12 "How splendid the action of John’s disciples! Reverent love and grief made them brave the king’s hatred." F.B. Meyer History on this family of Herods: "Herod: This was Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, by Malthace, and tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, which produced a revenue of 200 talents a

Section 61 THIRD CIRCUIT OF GALILEE. THE TWELVE INSTRUCTED AND SENT FORTH MATT. 9:35-38; 10:1, 5-42; 11:1 MARK 6:6-13 LUKE 9:1-6 9:38 The Lord Jesus told the disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Notice here that the need does not constitute a call. Workers should not go until they are sent. "The verb ekballō really means to drive out, to push out, to draw out with violence or without. Prayer is the remedy offered by Jesus in this crisis for a larger ministerial supply. How seldom do we hear prayers for more preachers. Sometimes God literally has to push or force a man into the ministry who resists his known duty." -RWP Sending forth the 12 "How little did these men dream that their names would be engraved on the foundations of the New Jerusalem." -Rev 21:14  -F.B. Meyer "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. " Re

Section 60 JESUS VISITS NAZARETH AND IS REJECTED MATT. 13:54-58 MARK 6:1-6 LUKE 4:16-31 The familiar can blind us to new truths. But he passing through the midst of them went his way. [A simple statement of a marvelous fact. Miracles are not explained in the Bible. -Fourfold 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. -As to this statement that Jesus felt surprised, see page 273. "It should also be borne in mind," says Canon Cook, "that surprise at the obtuseness and unreasonableness of sin is constantly attributed to God by the prophets." The statement, therefore, is perfectly consonant with the divinity of Jesus. -Fourfold Nazareth Mat 13:57  And they took offense at him. "On a previous visit to Nazareth, the populace had rejected His teaching and attempted to throw Him over a cliff (Luk_4:16-29). This time the people were impressed with His powers and teachings, but they rejected Him. They remembered Him as the carpenter’s Son (Mat_13:55)

It's a shame that certain passages become enmeshed with specific occasions--1 Corinthians 13 with marriages and Psalm 23 with funerals.  I can't read this psalm without hearing that strong echo, "Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."  The valley is just one piece of it though. The overarching promise of this psalm is God's provision--the table before our enemies, the anointing of oil, the mercy and goodness following us all the days of our life. God is there for us, not just sustaining, but blessing in abundant ways. I like Matthew Henry here too: More is implied than is expressed, not only, I shall not want, but, “I shall be supplied with whatever I need; and, if I have not every thing I desire, I may conclude it is either not fit for me or not good for me or I shall have it in due time.” -Matthew Henry Life can be long and wide---everything in time but not everything at once is good to remember.  To be thankfu

Section 59 HEALING BLIND MEN AND A DUMB DEMONIAC (Probably Capernaum)  MATT 9:27-34 Jesus restores sight to two blind men and tells them not to tell others about this.  The men do anyway.  Jesus heals a mute man with a demon who is then able to speak. These miracles are presented by Matthew succinctly and without comment. Two things occurred to me after thinking about these miracles  1) blind or disabled people do not always have a spiritual reason for their sickness 2) Jesus just healed people sometimes with no "point" or larger lesson. His impulse to heal is a mystery to me---why are some incidents fleshed out and others not?  Why did he sometimes heal (as he did the two blind men), then tell them not to tell about it.  I know all the pat answers about too many people pressing in on him, the time for that not being right or full, but I still wonder at why these incidents are reported to us. Did he have great compassion on all who were sick or disabled?

Section 58 JAIRUS' DAUGHTER AND THE INVALID WOMAN (Capernaum, same day as last) MATT 9:18-26 MARK 5:22-43 LUKE 8:41-56 This section relates two healing miracles, one embedded within the other.  First, Jairus is desperate for Christ to heal his twelve year old daughter, his only child.  Within his encounter, a woman who has been suffering from bleeding for twelve years. These miracles give you a sense of the pressing nature of the humanity that sought Jesus, the urgency and deep need of these people, and of Christ's own pace and peace within their chaos. "And Jesus arose  and followed him, and so did his disciples " "From Matthew's table. Jesus did not fast for form's sake, but he was ever ready to leave a feast that he might confer a favor."  -Fourfold Gospel In the midst of his response to Jairus, he is interrupted by the actions of this unnamed woman: "The nature of her disease made her unclean (Lev. 15:26). Her consciousness of

Section 57  MATTHEW'S FEAST. DISCOURSE ON FASTING (Capernaum)  MATT. 9:10-17 MARK 2:15-22 LUKE 5:29-39 Jesus eats at Levi's (Matthew "I didn't come to invite good people to turn to God. I came to invite sinners."  Luke 5:32 CEV A clear statement that he was not basing his ministry on people's abilities to do good or be sinless but on the movement of God.  Paul himself was an example of God's "endless patience": "I used to say terrible and insulting things about him, and I was cruel. But he had mercy on me because I didn't know what I was doing, and I had not yet put my faith in him. Christ Jesus our Lord was very kind to me. He has greatly blessed my life with faith and love just like his own. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." This saying is true, and it can be trusted. I was the worst sinner of all! But since I was worse than anyone else, God had mercy on me and let me be an example of the endless

Section 56  JESUS HEALS TWO GERGESENE DEMONIACS Gergesa, now called Khersa MATT. 8:28-34, 9:1 MARK 5:1-21  LUKE 8:26-40 Re location of town: "Jesus and His disciples went to the east side of the lake (Sea of Galilee) into the region of the Gerasenes. Greek manuscripts are divided on the precise location involved, citing three names: Gadarenes (Mat_8:28), Gergesenes (from Origen), and Gerasenes.... Reliable evidence favors the name Gerasenes which probably referred to the small town Gersa (modern Khersa) located on the lake’s eastern shore. Most of its inhabitants were Gentiles (cf. Mar_5:11, Mar_5:19)." -BKC "The country of the Gadarenes (ten chōran tōn Gadarēnōn). This is the correct text in Matthew while in Mar_5:1 and Luk_8:26 it is “the country of the Gerasenes.” Dr. Thomson discovered by the lake the ruins of Khersa (Gerasa). This village is in the district of the city of Gadara some miles southeastward so that it can be called after Gerasa or Gadara

A psalm of David who is discouraged in the face of his enemies--he's making a public statement to trust God, recounting God's faithfulness to him: "Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts."  Psalm 22:9 "For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. "  Psalm 22:24 I made a version of this verse that hung on my mother's bedroom wall at my sister's home.  She suffered from MS for many years, and this verse was (and is) a comfort in face of that. " From you comes my praise in the great congregation. " -Psalm 22:25 Even all praise--something we feel we are gifting to Him--originates in Him.  We are just gifting back the gift at best. "When your people meet, you will fill my heart with your praises, LORD, and everyone will see me keep my promises to you. " Psalm 22:25 CEV

A good summary of the nuts and bolts of what the Bible teaches about demons with references: "Demons are spirits Mat_12:43; Mat_12:45 are Satan’s emissaries; Mat_12:26; Mat_12:27; Mat_25:41 and so numerous as to make Satan’s power practically ubiquitous. Mar_5:9. They are capable of entering and controlling both men and beasts Mar_5:8; Mar_5:11-13 and earnestly seek embodiment, without which, apparently, they are powerless for evil.; Mat_12:43; Mat_12:44; Mar_5:10-12. Demon influence and demon possession are discriminated in the N. T. Instances of the latter are; Mat_4:24; Mat_8:16; Mat_8:28; Mat_8:33; Mat_9:32; Mat_12:22; Mar_1:32; Mar_5:15; Mar_5:16; Mar_5:18; Luk_8:35; Act_8:7; Act_16:16. They are unclean, sullen, violent, and malicious; Mat_8:28; Mat_9:23; Mat_10:1; Mat_12:43; Mar_1:23; Mar_5:3-5; Mar_9:17; Mar_9:20; Luk_6:18; Luk_9:39. They know Jesus Christ as Most High God, and recognize His supreme authority; Mat_8:31; Mat_8:32; Mar_1:24; Act_19:15; Jas_2:19. They kn

Section 55 JESUS STILLS THE STORM  (Sea of Galilee; same day as last section) MATT. 8:18-27 MARK 4:35-41 LUKE 8:22-25 Types of Followers " Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. ” Matthew 8:18-22 If you read the events of Matthew 8:18-22 quickly and woodenly, it can seem that Jesus is issuing difficult directives bluntly.  He is always direct, but also compassionate and thoughtful.  The following commentaries help me to tease out the context of his replies, leaving  me with a view of the text that lines up more consistently with Christ's overarching characte

Section 54 THE FIRST GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES  (Beside the Sea of Galilee)  Subdivision G  PARABLES OF TREASURE, PEARL, AND NET MATT 13:44-53 A miscellany of commentaries of the parables of the treasure, pearl and nets---but first some context on the progression of this gospel: "The previous chapter (Mat_12:1-50) is probably the major turning point in the book. The King had authenticated His power by various miracles. But growing opposition to the King climaxed when Israel’s leaders concluded that Jesus worked not by divine power but by satanic power (Mat_9:34; Mat_12:22-37). While their full rejection of Him did not occur until later, the die was cast. Therefore Jesus turned to His disciples and began to instruct them along different lines. This is one of several major discourses in the Gospel of Matthew (others are in chaps. 5-7; Mat_10:1-42; 23-25)." -BKC Commentary on these parables: "You may say that the treasure is the blessing that comes from Christian