Bible in a Year… Day 13 (Matthew 3-4)

It’s Friday, so it’s back to the gospels… Matthew 3-4.

Today’s notes:

Matthew 3:4-5 (NIV)
⁴John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.

You know, if you just read verses 4 and 5 in Matthew 3, you’d probably think something along the lines of, “well… the circus must have been in town.” John the Baptist sure sounds like someone you’d see in a sideshow act.

And you think your pastor dresses odd… 🙂

Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV)
¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

How awesome would it have been to be present during Jesus’s baptism, and actually hear God speak?

Matthew 4: (NIV)
¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

And you think you know what it’s like to be tempted. Imagine fasting for forty days, then being tempted with food.

Matthew 4:7 (NIV)
⁷Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

I’ve always wondered about the concept of “putting God to the test”. Does asking God for a sign fall into that category?

I don’t know the right answer, but it’s not uncommon for Christians to say something along the line of, “if God does this, I’ll know I’m supposed to do this.” Kind of like Gideon and the fleece (at the end of Judges 6?

Are we crossing a line with God when we ask Him to do certain things to prove something to us?

Matthew 4:18-22 (NIV)
¹⁸As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Don’t you often wonder if there was more to the calling of the first disciples than this? I get the impression Jesus just walks up and says, “ya’ll come with me”, and they just up and leave. I know Christ’s calling is powerful, but isn’t the disciples response so counter-intuitive to our experience that it’s hard to believe?

Don’t get me wrong… I’d LOVE to have faith like that… but I know my reaction would be to question Christ’s calling to the point He’d probably say, “You know, I’ll do fine without you.”

Anyway, that’s it for today’s readings.

Does anyone have any thoughts they’d like to share?