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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds Bible Verse:Matthew 4:23-25 (ESV) "And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. " Message:
The first 3 1/2 chapters of Matthew describe occurrences that are important, but introductory: His birth, early life, baptism, temptation, etc. At 4:23 we see a shift, as Matthew plunges us into the actual ministry of Jesus. This is the bulk of the book and will continue until it gradually shifts focus to His preparations for the crucifixion.
Matthew’s great strength lay in recording Jesus’ words. Without him, we would live in a different world, for a majority of Jesus’ teachings would be lost, especially his direct instructions on how we should live. But as a history of the life of Jesus, it lacks some of the details of the other gospels.
In today’s lesson, we are given no details at all. The passage must cover a goodly period of time and distance, for enough time passed that word of Christ spread at least as far south as Jerusalem, east into the Greek cities on the other side of the Jordan (the “Decapolis”), and north into Syria. (See Map.) This would have taken time in an era when both travel and communications were primitive.
Apostle Matthew by Van Dyck
Matthew
(A. van Dyck, 1620)
Also, Matthew was called as a disciple fairly late, possibly last among the twelve apostles. Matthew describes his call in Ch. 9, but Luke and Mark seem to put it earlier. Harmonizing the chronology of the four gospels is beyond the scope of our study, but Mark and Luke seem more interested in putting the events of Jesus’ life in correct order; while Matthew arranges his gospel in teaching modules. (If this interests you, a good starting point is Luke 6.)
Three activities are named. First, Jesus taught in synagogues. These were numerous, for it took only ten Jewish men to form a synagogue. Sacrifices were made only at the Temple in Jerusalem, so synagogues were strictly educational in nature. They were almost like Quaker meeting-houses, for there was no designated preacher. At a meeting, a portion of the Torah would be read, prayers would be said, and educated members of the congregation would teach. Learned visitors were most welcome to speak, since they would bring new knowledge and fresh viewpoints.
As we will see in later chapters, Jesus might have had a fresher viewpoint than most synagogues had counted on; he would, in fact, cause a furor with his revolutionary and even heretical teachings.
Secondly, he “proclaimed the gospel.” That is, he told them the good news, that the Kingdom of God had arrived. Whether he lay claim to divinity during this period, we do not know. But he surely attacked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and laid the foundation for the new covenant: that salvation would require a change within, not simply compliance with the law of Moses.
Third, he healed. Generally, healing by Christ and his apostles would occur only in a person who had faith in him and his word. This was not some reward, not a method to manipulate people into outward protestations of faith. It was rather a sign that Christ could remit sin, and not just personal sin, but the sin of Adam which had engendered all human misery.
Meditation : Prayer : May God the Father bless us; may Christ take care of us; the Holy Ghost enlighten us all the days of our life. The Lord be our defender and keeper of body and soul, both now and for ever, to the ages of ages.....Amen |
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