Be Still And Know

Matthew 21.8-9 NLT Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the centre of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel we read about the Magi, important people from the east who came to visit Jesus. They came because they had seen a star which made it clear to them that a king had been born. At the time, their belief couldn’t have seemed further from the truth. Born to poor parents in a cattle shed, nothing gave the appearance of Jesus belonging to royalty. And now, towards the end of Jesus’ life, we see him being greeted as royalty. Spreading garments on the road and cutting down tree branches was the way in which you would welcome a king and the crowd acknowledged that here was the one who stood in the line of King David. But here w

Matthew 20.32-34 NLT 'When Jesus heard the blind men, he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” they said, “we want to see!” Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him.' Jesus has just informed his disciples that he is on the way to Jerusalem, where he will be handed over to the Romans to be crucified. You would understand if he became preoccupied with these great matters and avoided any distractions. But, as he and his disciples passed through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem, they heard two blind men crying out for attention. Most people would have hurried by, but not Jesus. He stopped and gave them his full attention. This reminds us of the way in which Jesus had time for the little children, even though the disciples assumed that he wouldn’t want to be bothered by them. It’s easy for all of us to get so busy in life that we leave no time to stop and see the needs around us. We are so preoccupied with our own agenda that we

Matthew 20.26-28 NLT Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Parents always want the best for their children. So we shouldn’t be too surprised that James and John’s mother came to Jesus and asked for them to have the best seats in the new kingdom. Jesus pointed out that she had got it all wrong. In the Kingdom of God, the goal was to be the last not the first, and to be a servant rather than a master. And, incredibly, Jesus himself – who had every right to be generously served – came in order to be a servant. Let’s be honest. We all love to be served. We enjoy the thought of being in a beautiful hotel where our needs are perfectly met and where we have absolutely no work to do. Such experiences are right and good, but the way of life to which Jesus calls us is the exact opposite. He calls us to po

Matthew 20.1-2 NLT “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.” All of Jesus’ parables make us sit up. In their very different ways they are deeply challenging and surprising and this particular parable is bound to offend anyone who has a natural sense of justice. A landowner hired workers for his vineyard at various times of the day. Some were hired early morning and then others at 9 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 5 o’clock. So far so good. The problem is that the landowner decided to pay them all exactly the same amount. They all received the full day’s wage. The people who had sweated through the whole day felt that this was profoundly unfair and I think any trades union official would heartily agree. However, the landowner pointed out that he had every right to do whatever he wanted with his own money. It’s not hard to understand what Jesus was saying. He was saying that ever

Matthew 19.23-24 NLT Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were deeply shocked by Jesus’ words. Jews saw wealth as a sign of God’s blessing and so they were confused by the thought that riches could make it more difficult to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. They would have assumed that money made it easier to gain God’s favour. But notice that Jesus wasn’t saying that wealth made it impossible for someone to enter the Kingdom, just more difficult. We meet a number of wealthy followers of Jesus. Nicodemus is a good example, along with Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb after Jesus’ burial. It’s also interesting to note that the first convert in Europe was Lydia, a business woman. Jesus wasn’t saying that it was impossible for a wealthy person to enter his kingdom, but it would

Matthew 19.14 NLT Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” In these devotionals, I often only select one verse and rarely more than three. However, whenever possible, I would always encourage you to have your Bible open so that you can see the setting of the chosen verses. We are probably all very familiar with this story of Jesus welcoming children. For some reason, the disciples had tried to stop parents from bringing their children to Jesus for him to bless them. We are not told why they did so, but it may well have been simply because they felt that Jesus was far too important a person to be troubled by little children. However, look at the verses which precede this story. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus by asking him some awkward legal questions. In the Old Testament, Moses had allowed for the possibility of divorce for unfaithfulness but, through the centuries, there had been much dispute about thi

Matthew 18.21-22 NLT Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!” When Peter asked his question, he thought he was being incredibly generous. Tradition told him that you should be ready to forgive another person three times, and then you could unleash your full fury on them. However, Peter suggested that the limit should be raised to seven times. But Jesus isn’t impressed. He tells Peter that he should be ready to forgive other people on seventy times seven occasions. Jesus was effectively saying, “Stop the counting game and just keep on forgiving.” Jesus was introducing Peter to the idea that forgiveness should be a way of life. There should be no limit to it because it should never come to an end. This is both an incredibly tough and totally liberating teaching. It’s tough because forgiving someone when they have wronged you seems totally unjust. If you have ever bee

Matthew 18.19-20 NLT Jesus said, “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” The Church is not just a gathering of people who respect Jesus, like a Jesus appreciation society where people meet to say how much he means to them. It is infinitely more than that because, when his followers come together, Jesus is actually present. That means incredibly powerful things can happen when we meet. The key to our meetings is unity. The Greek word used here for agreeing (sumphonesosin) gives us the English word symphony, which means to agree in sound, or to be in harmony with one another. God longs to bless us powerfully but that can only happen when our thinking is in line with one another and with his will. Unity is always of crucial importance for the people of God. By unity we don’t mean uniformity, in which everyone thinks and acts in the same way. Uni

Matthew 18.17 NLT Jesus said, “If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.” On the face of it this might sound rather harsh, but Jesus has just given the best possible advice for how to handle the situation where someone has done you wrong. First, speak to them one to one and, if that fails, take one or two people with you. The aim is to achieve restoration as quickly as possible. But if that doesn’t work then the matter needs to go to the church. If the person still refuses to listen then Jesus says that they should be treated like a complete outsider. As we hear these strong words, we need to remember that Jesus, of all people, was always reaching out in love to pagans and corrupt tax collectors, so he wasn’t saying that they were beyond hope. However, there may sadly come a time when a dispute cannot be resolved and you need to move on. What I love about this teaching

Matthew 18.15 NLT Jesus said, “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offence. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.” Ever since the Garden of Eden, people have fallen out with one another. It’s very sad but it has always happened, and still does. It is an inevitable part of living in a world of sin. The question is: what you do when it happens? Here, Jesus gives wonderfully straightforward advice which is useful to every single person. If you are wronged, then you need to deal with it as speedily and as privately as possible, with the aim of achieving a restored relationship. It amazes me that this simple and clear advice is so often ignored. When we are wronged, it is very tempting to tell other people about it immediately, but that just magnifies the problem. We feel hurt and so we want other people to sympathise with us and take our side. It would always be better to go to the person who has wronged us in the hope that the relationsh

Matthew 18.12 NLT “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety- nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?” I suspect that few of us have had any experience of being shepherds, however many of us will have memories of lost pets. I recall the time when our cat Tabitha went missing for days on end. We walked the streets in the hope that we might see her and called out her name in the hope that we would hear her miaow. But there was no response. And then one day as I was looking down our garden I saw this poor thin creature dragging herself limply towards the house. She had a broken femur and had presumably been involved in a road accident. To say that we were delighted to see her would hardly begin to describe our absolute delight and over the coming weeks she made a complete recovery. Just one little cat, but the news of her return home was a moment of incredible joy for our family. I, therefore, can begin to understand

Matthew 18.6 NLT Jesus said,“ If you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.” If your picture of Jesus is of “gentle Jesus meek and mild” you need to listen carefully to this verse. However, you look at it this is very strong language, and it certainly isn’t remotely gentle. He was furious at the thought of anyone causing one of his followers to trip up, and especially those who were young in the faith. Their child-like faith needed to be carefully encouraged and nurtured and anyone who deliberately caused them to stumble was worthy of the most terrible punishment. In a world in which there are endless temptations we need to look at our own churches and ask the question how we protect those who have recently found faith. Friendliness and kindness go a long way, but new Christians need more than that. They need to be carefully instructed in the faith so that they bui

Matthew 18.3-4 NLT Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” These words would have sounded very different to the disciples from how they sound to us these days. Happily children have a very important and protected place in our society. We rightly pour enormous energies and resources into ensuring that children are given every opportunity to thrive and that they are brought up in a safe environment. The situation could hardly have been more different in Jesus’ day when children had no status or protection in law, and were seen as no more than potential adults. They were to be seen but certainly not heard. For the disciples to be told that the only way into the Kingdom of Heaven was by becoming like a child would probably have sounded insulting and certainly deeply shocking. The disciples were desperately conc

Matthew 17.20 NLT “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Having just had the mountain top experience of the Transfiguration the disciples go back down to earth with a bump. A father brought his very ill son to the disciples and they were completely unable to heal him. Jesus healed him immediately and then reflected on the appalling lack of faith of his disciples. All they needed was the tiniest amount of faith and they would then be able to perform miracles in Jesus’ name. The imagery of the mustard seed is one that we have met in other places. The seed is very tiny but can grow up into a huge shrub as high as twelve feet. Jesus’ message was clear. Faith in God is so powerful that it can make incredible miracles happen. It can even move mountains. I don’t happen to believe that God is calling us to rearrange mountain ranges around the world! That would be incredibly dis

Matthew 17.4 NLT Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials— one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” The transfiguration of Jesus was clearly an amazing moment. Jesus had taken three of his disciples up to a high mountain and suddenly he was totally transformed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white. As if that wasn’t enough, they then saw that Jesus had been joined by Moses and Elijah. Wow! Everyone was lost for words apart from Peter! Peter had a word for every occasion and in he blundered with both left feet firmly in place, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials —one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” It was a touching suggestion. He was recognising the importance of the moment and he thought how nice it would be to make it permanent, by erecting shelters. But this was not the plan. Then God spoke from heaven, “This is my dearly lo

Matthew 16.21 NLT 'From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.' The events leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection are so familiar to us that we need to stop for a moment and imagine how it was for the disciples at the time. They were thunderstruck by the news that their Lord, their Master and their friend was just about to die. Peter, as ever, was the first to respond. He used the strongest possible words to indicate his shock and his determination to stop these awful things from happening. He said, “Heaven forbid. This will never happen to you!” His words reveal his love for Jesus and his absolute commitment to support him, but he also completely missed the point because Jesus had to die. Jesus’ response couldn’t have been stronger. “Get

Matthew 16.18 NLT 'Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.' Peter is a fascinating character. We know little about most of the disciples, but that’s not true of Peter who we get to know extremely well. Time and again he is the one who speaks first and on many occasions he gets things seriously wrong. It was Peter who tried to walk on water on the Sea of Galilee and sank, and he who denied ever knowing Jesus on three occasions. We wouldn’t have been surprised if Jesus had compared him with jelly, but instead Jesus declares that, just like his name, he is a rock. Having declared the true nature of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, he declared Peter to be the rock on which the church would be based and that not even the powers of hell would be able to conquer it. And the wonderful fact is that that is precisely what happened. Peter became the leader of the church in Jerusalem and played a pivotal rol

Matthew 16.15-16 NLT Then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Caesarea Philippi is located at the base of Mount Hermon in Northern Israel and, for centuries, had been associated with the worship of various gods. At first it had been a centre for the worship of Baal, but in the time of Jesus it was associated with the worship of the Greek fertility gods and of Caesar. It was, therefore, an absolutely natural place for Jesus to ask questions about his own identity. He enquired of the disciples who people were saying that he was and he got a wide range of responses. Some thought that he was a revived form of John the Baptist. Others thought that he was Elijah, believing that this great prophet of the Old Testament would return before the coming of the Messiah. And yet others thought that Jesus was Jeremiah or one of the other great prophets. Basically, there were lots of different theories and no general agreement about who Jesus wa

Matthew 15.35-36 NLT 'So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.' This was the second time that Jesus had fed a huge number of people. On the first occasion more than 5,000 were fed, and on this day more than 4,000 received a good meal. Lots of things were different about this second feeding miracle. It seems to have happened in an area where there were many non-Jews and we sense that Jesus was starting to make it clear that he hadn’t just come for the Jews, but for the whole world. The people had already been with him for three days in the desert and they must have been longing to have something to eat. Jesus took the tiny little supply of food that was available to him and then gave thanks and broke the bread into pieces. As he did so there was more than enough food for everyone to be fully satisfied. Giving thanks to God lies at the

Matthew 15.7-9 NLT Jesus said, ”You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” If you talk to non-Christians about their criticisms of the church, time and again they will point to hypocrisy as being the most off-putting factor. They see Christians saying one thing and then living completely differently and it gives Christianity a bad name. Jesus would have completely agreed with them. He was vitriolic in his condemnation of hypocrisy whenever he saw it. On this particular day the Pharisees and teachers of the law were criticising the disciples for not complying with the age-old regulations for ceremonial hand washing before meals. In response, Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees had come up with a way of getting round people’s duty to honour their parents. Instead of giving something to their parents they were simply able to