Today's reading went very quickly for me. The narratives of the crucifixion are so engaging that the story just flies by!
- There are a lot of different interpretations and approaches to Matthew 24...it's clear to me that there is intended ambiguity in these passages. Why do I say that? Because of what follows in Matthew 24:36...no one knows the day or hour
- Tough words from Jesus to the five foolish virgins in Matthew 25:1-13...keep watch, be ready
- The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 always challenges me to use my one and only life for God's Kingdom
- The separation of the sheep and the goats is based on behavior not belief in Matthew 25:31-46. Why doesn't Jesus say anything about believing in Him for salvation? Seems from this passage that salvation is based on works and behavior. Ray Vander Laan's site http://www.followtherabbi.com has some helpful thoughts for us to consider...check this out: "Greeks see sin as wrong belief or incorrect thinking. They emphasize what a person knows about faith. Hebrews see sin as wrong behavior. They emphasize what a person does in response to faith. In other words, faith without works is dead (James 2:20).
- You can just see Peter's foot making it's way to his mouth in Matthew 26:33, 35
- I so appreciate the humanity of Jesus as we see in Matthew 26:39. And His great obedience and courage. Where can I be more obedient and courageous as I follow the Father?
- So what are the charges against Jesus? "'Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God?' 'You have said so,' Jesus replied (Matthew 26:63-64).
- There's Peter with his foot in his mouth Matthew 26:69-75. We shouldn't be to hard on the guy. He makes a remarkable comeback in Acts
- Judas does himself in Matthew 27:1-10. Interesting that in our reading today, Acts 1:18-19 gives a variation of this story. So which is it? Did Judas throw the money back in the temple and hang himself, then the chief priests bought the potter's field called the Field of Blood or did Judas buy the field, fall head first on it and now it is called Field of Blood? Either way, we know a couple of things.
- Judas felt remorse to the point of suicide
- The money was used by someone to purchase a field
- This field is called Field of Blood
- Many see this as a contradiction. But a contradiction is when one statement excludes the possibility of the other. It is possible for both statements to be truth.
- Judas money was used to purchase the field by the chief priests without them knowing it was the field Judas would kill himself in
- Judas hung himself and his decomposed body fell to the ground and his guts spilled out
Reading through the book of Matthew in 3 days is exhilarating! I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am! Keep reading!
Grace and peace,Steve
2 comments:
I have to be honest and say I really hate the parables. I need more historical background to understand the customs of the time! HELP!! I'm mad at the 5 wise virgins who had extra oil. When they were all sitting around waiting for the bridegroom, why didn't they say to the foolish ones," you know that's not enough oil to get you through this whole ceremony, maybe you should go get some more oil." Yea, maybe the foolish would have still missed the bridegroom coming, but at least I wouldn't be mad at the "wise" for not helping the foolish. The talents, now that's another whole confusing parable. First of all, the master isn't an upstanding guy to start with, he is a hard man, "harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed" Would the servants have acted differently with the money if the master was an honest, gentle, kind man? It says he "entrusted his property to them". To me, that means, keep it safe. He doesn't instruct them to multiply his money. Was that implied? Why isn't there a servant who looses more money than the master gave him? So far, I have way more questions than I have answers:o)
Hey outinwray,
Thanks for reading and thanks for your thoughts on these passages. First let me encourage you that questions are natural when reading the Scriptures. If you have no questions, are you really reading and thinking? Keep reading and thinking and questioning!
As to the 10 virgins. I agree that the wise virgins aren't very nice for not helping the foolish virgins. But Jesus isn't teaching about being nice. He's teaching about being ready for His coming and for judgment. We can only prepare ourselves for judgment by God. We can't do it for others even if we want to. Each of us will face judgment by God and we must take this very seriously. Check out this link for a great article by New Testament Professor Craig Bloomberg on this parable: http://bit.ly/cY6sAQ.
Second, I preached on the talents a few weeks ago. I hope the sermon was recorded and if it was I need to post it. Perhaps it would answer some of your questions.
Again, the emphasis isn't on the character of the master. It is on the character of the servants. It is implied that they are given an opportunity to invest and use what the master has given and share in the profits.
The point of the parable is that we are to take what God has given us and use it for His kingdom because we will one day give an account for what we do with what he has given us.
It would be interesting to see what God would do with someone who lost money in this parable. Perhaps, because it's all the Masters anyway that we need not concern ourselves with loosing it. Perhaps we need not fear because if we are faithful God will make sure to multiply it.
Maybe Jesus is saying, "if you go out and use your talents for my kingdom, there is nothing to fear. I'll make sure you succeed!"
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