A rebuke and a reminder...

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. (Matthew 19:13-15 ESV) In just the last chapter, Jesus had used a child to illustrate a major faith lesson, and told the disciples to emulate that example. Yet, here, they are still demonstrating the culture of the old Kingdom - the kingdom of this world, that Children are a bother and not a blessing. Our mindset, our worldview, needs constant reminder and remolding. We need to remember that following Jesus is counter-culture - that we are pilgrims on a journey, learning every day what it means to follow Jesus. May we not be thick-skulled or hard-hearted as He speaks to us today, renewing our mind, rebuking our failures, reshaping our lives.

Marriage: Is it worth it???

The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” (Matthew 19:10-12 ESV) Jesus' strong words about divorce startled the disciples and made them wonder if it were best to avoid marriage altogether. That was not Jesus' intention at all. The problem is not with marriage, but the hardness of men's hearts. Marriage is wonderful and best for most; it is God's creative design. What we are called to as His followers is to correct all the corruption of marriage and see His grace at work, and not take the easy way out. Just because man has made marriage bad does not mean marriage itself is bad.

What can I get away with?

Matthew 19:7-9 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” The scribes and Pharisees took every opportunity possible to discredit Jesus. Once again they are trying to pit Him against the Law of Moses, as if He were contradicting him and the Old Testament. Lying beneath the surface was yet another motive: guilt. They were always looking for loopholes, trying to live for themselves, yet look squeaky clean to those around them. This was one area in which they had a poor track record. They had twisted a gracious allowance on God's part to make it a "command", as if God MADE them divorce a wife they did not want. Jesus corrects their vocabulary and their vice. The real issue is our harness of heart.

Any or Every?

Matthew 19:3-6 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” It's amazing how much difference one little word, or emphasis on a word, can make. Are they Pharisees asking if it is lawful before God to divorce one's wife for any reason at all, or are they asking if there is any reason at all for which God permits it? In our culture, we often confuse and interchange "any" for "every". Of course, the reason they ask is not for an answer, becuase they know whatever He says, someone will not agree, because this is such a hot topic. It can be a surefire way to get a preacher fired! Much like our culture, divorce was being accepted for any old reason at all, but back then there was one condition: if you were a man. Jesus rightly answers the question with the Word of God. That is the real issue: do we want to live by man's rules, or God's? Do we want to please ourselves or look out for others? A lax attidute about divorce is simply a symptom of a a deeper issue.

Serious about forgiveness...

Matthew 18:23-35 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Jesus had hit a sore spot: Do I really need to forgive one who offends me? Over and over again? Yes. Forgiveness is one of the overriding characteristics of the Kingdom of God. He has forgiven us everything; why should we forgive only some things, when we want? The parable shows the extreme inconsistency we often show in refusing to forgive. When we fail to forgive, we show that we really don't get it - that we do not take the price of our salvation and forgiveness very seriously.

A poor accounting...

Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. I am a math person - used to teach it, still like to. I like to see things kept in balance, symmetrical. I had to memorize zip codes when I worked for UPS and often memorized lists of phone numbers. But what Jesus is telling Peter here is downright crazy - to keep a tally up to 490. I would never bother memorizing such a list, nor do I think I could. And it would be a bother to keep a tally sheet in my pocket or set up a database on a computer or phone. Yet that is what we often do with people: we make the list of wrongs they have done us which we refuse to forget and to forgive. This is not spiritual accounting; it is violating the spirit of the community of Christ. Peter thought he was being generous. The rabbis taught you had to forgive three times; he made it seven. That falls far short of the glory of God in our relationships.

Accountability first...

Matthew 18:15-20 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” As Jesus is talking to His disciples about how to run the Church, He promises them authority to carry out decisions, much like the Sanhedrin, which included the Scribes and Pharisees, had in their society. But the emphasis was not on the power entrusted to them, but the mutual accountability they had to watch out for one another. The authority was given to keep relationships in order. They were to have a heart for one another which would keep any authority or power from going to their heads and getting out of hand. The community of Christ is not an institution with levels of hierarchy, but a band of believers intimately living in harmony.