It’s interesting… I’ve enjoyed this Bible in a Year thing quite a bit as a whole, but I really look forward to certain days of the week. I just tend to get SO much more from Friday and Saturday readings, where we focus on the New Testament.
If I use this same reading plan again in the future, I think I’ll shuffle the days a bit. Fridays and Saturdays are generally lower-traffic blog days, so if others tend to get more out of the New Testament readings than other days, it makes more sense to have those readings occur during the week when people generally interact more.
Anyway… enough side commentary… on to discussion of today’s readings.
In today’s passages, you can’t help but notice the way Jesus really starts rocking the boat of the religious leaders of the time. Blinded by false teachings, Jesus really starts opening some eyes.
Check it out:
Matthew 21:6-10 (NIV)
6The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”10When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
The whole city was stirred by Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem. Here comes the Savior… the Christ… the Messiah… the King of all Kings… entering Jerusalem on a donkey. How many of the Jews would have expected their Messiah to come in such a manner? None of them expected Him to look like He did… and their reaction to Jesus is anything but favorable. His next move surely ruffled some feathers….
Matthew 21:12-15 (NIV)
12Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13“It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’ ”14The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
Jesus didn’t play around… he cleared the temple… ridding it of the mockery of God it had become. While you’d think this bold act might open the eyes of blind spiritual leaders, the reaction was a bit different. They were indignant.
Jesus attacked not only their false beliefs and teachings, but their livelihoods. And again, given that they would have never anticipated their Messiah to come in the form of Jesus, I suppose that’s an expected response. Really, it’s simply sad, though. After all, those that rejected Jesus with the most passion were those that should have known the Scriptures well enough to recognize Him as Savior.
So Jesus continues His teaching… tackling head on the false teachings of Israel’s religious elite…
Matthew 21:31-32 (NIV)
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
Matthew 21:42-46 (NIV)
42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:” ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?43“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
One of the most common things you hear about Jesus… one of the false beliefs we hear… is that Jesus was some mild-mannered, nice guy, religious teacher. Kind of a Mr. Rogers of sorts that taught of God.
He’s anything but. While Jesus often exhibited love and tenderness… healing the lame, loving children, providing comfort to the hurting, and yes, even crying… Jesus is a man’s man… unafraid to stand for truth… boldly proclaiming it to those that need it most. I know it’s a crude expression, but His confrontation of the religious elite took some serious stones. Jesus knew standing for truth and confronting the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees would cost Him His life… and He did it anyway.
How many of us… especially us Christian men… truly follow Jesus’s example? How many of us exhibit such courage in following Christ? Taking risks for God when He asks us to… saying the unpopular when it’s necessary… standing for truth when we know it will hurt?
We fear following God’s lead because it might lead to a little bit of difficulty in this life?
How can we do anything but follow where God leads? Our Savior Jesus gave His life that we might experience reconciliation with God… eternal life!
If God loves us that much… and we KNOW this… how can we have such a lack of trust to believe that He won’t see us through whatever difficulties come our way as a result of following?
Having the depth of relationship with Christ that enables this kind of faith is definitely a life-long challenge, but it’s what we all ought to strive towards.
John records Jesus as saying this: Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. John 5:19.
So, I don’t think the answer lies in being a man’s man or passionless – I think the answer is obeying the Father. When He asks us to speak words of truth boldly – then do so. When He asks us to speak words of mercy boldly – then do so. When He asks us to speak words of righteousness meekly – then do so. When He asks us to speak words of grace compassionately – then do so. When He tells us to do works of justice and freedom – do them wholeheartedly. And so forth… Living in complete submission to Him.
I agree, Bryan, and hope that I didn’t convey that being bold for the sake of being bold should be the aim of our walk with Christ. It’s not. The point I intended to make is that God often asks us to do things that are difficult, and we should never shy away from following.
I know it’s a generalization, but it seems that so much of our lives are spent trying to provide safety, stability, financial security… risk mitigation, basically. While none of those are necessarily bad things, I think many men become so wrapped up in this false idol that we lose our ability to follow Christ when He expects us to do something that seems difficult. We end up with an emasculated faith… weak when we need to be strong.
Isn’t it interesting how submission (which is often seen as a sign of weakness by the world), when applied to our relationship with God, actually allows our faith to be strong?
Absolutely – it is fantastically interesting and one of the many ironies of Kingdom living.
I wasn’t meaning to react to what you had written – just add on. I liked the post and was hoping to carry it on a little. But I was responding a bit to others I have read or heard speak about being a man’s man – kind of the it’s ok to spit and curse and scratch yourself cuz you’re a man way of thinking that some want to preach. That is all “ok,” but I’m not thinking it should be glorified. I wasn’t thinking you were saying that, tho’.
I didn’t figure that was the case, but you know me… I always want to be crystal clear where I stand just in case anyone misunderstands.
While much of the “man’s man” preaching and teaching that goes on is a bit ridiculous (I don’t think God is generally pleased with us cursing, spitting, and being rude just because we’re men)… there is validity in the idea that much of modern society, and even modern Christianity, to an extent, focuses on taking the “wild” out of men. Why do so many men feel like they’re dying inside? Because we’ve removed every “battle” from our lives and traded it for a risk-free existence. With no challenges, we’re left unfulfilled.
Christianity offers men exactly what many are looking for… a cause worth fighting. Christians are front-line soldiers in a war of eternal significance… fighting to drive back lostness in this world under the direction of God Himself.
I agree. We must remember the war is a spiritual one. It isn’t one like we want to picture – Braveheart. It is one waged in the Spirit, through prayer and love – through service and character – through humility and submission – through the boldness that must come from Christ alone.