ResponsiveReiding

From Matthew 2:1-6 / Seeking The King – Matthew writes His Gospel mainly for a Jewish audience. He is bound and determined to prove to his readers who Jesus is in the light of the Old Testament. He has been conquered by the love of the King. Once a “tax-collector” himself, Matthew wants us to know what a forgiving, gracious, merciful Savior Jesus is to the worst of humanity. No one is too wicked for Jesus Christ to save. Sin may have abounded, but in Christ Jesus, grace has abounded infinitely more. No less than 12 times he will tell us that Jesus directly fulfilled Scripture prophecies. Jesus’ lineage establishes Him as a rightful heir to David’s throne. His fulfillment of Scripture establishes Him as the promised Messiah. His resurrection, is to His enthronement. This Gospel, is all about His kingdom. Matthew exposes us to Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom more than any the Gospel writer. And of course, the final charge Jesus has against Him will be “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” And this is who the “wise men” came seeking. This is all who are wise seek. And they did not come seeking Him as if He were the means to something else. They didn’t come seeking healing, miracles, prosperity, position, power or to fulfill some earthly goal. As foreigners, they could have but one interest in Him – that He is God’s appointed King. To wonder at Him. They came seeking to acknowledge, worship and serve – God’s King. Oh might this be the heart in all of us. Might we seek Him for His Lordship over us. For only when we are His slaves, can we know true freedom. As the saying goes “wise men still seek Him.” Indeed.

From Matthew 1:18-25 / The Birth of The King – Very little beyond what we have in this short portion is said about Joseph. But what we do know sheds light on how the Savior was raised. Who are these the Father chose to shepherd His own Son in His early years? As for Mary, we know mainly she was a willing servant of the Lord for His purposes, no matter the cost. Joseph, as we see here was a “just” upright man. Gentle and kind in his unwillingness to see his pregnant betrothed shamed, even before his angelic encounter. He is brave in taking Mary as his wife, knowing full well the stigma which will be attached to her untimely pregnancy. He is self-controlled, waiting Jesus’ birth before “knowing” his wife. Obedient to his divine commission. And for both of them, just kids. All of this is good. But nothing extraordinary. But more importantly it tells us so much about the eternal Son. So committed was He to the Father’s will and purposes, so trusting in His Father’s providence, that He is willing to be born to a couple of teenage parents, under the shadow of a suspicious birth, in a Judean backwater, under Roman occupation at a time when the spiritual state of God’s people was anything but spiritually alive. But He comes. He comes not into a world of technology, conveniences, affluence, natural advantages and hopeful prospects. He comes, helpless. Entrusted to the care of young, inexperienced, everyday, 1st century folk. And in the Father, submits Himself to them. And I can’t seem to trust Him with tomorrow’s newspaper. Father, forgive me. Make me more like The Son.

From Matthew 1:1-17 / The Glory of Genealogy – At first blush, we are tempted to skip over portions like these opening verses to Matthew’s Gospel. They don’t seem to contain anything truly important. But we’d be wrong. In the first case, Matthew is establishing Jesus’ authentic Jewishness. In the 2nd place, Jesus’ lineage makes Him fit to sit on the throne of David, to be King of The Jews should they recognized Him as such. So Matthew’s aim in this entire 1st chapter is to answer the question – Who is Jesus? vs. 1 / a. The King of Israel. God’s perfect ruler. b. The Fullness of the promise given to Abraham in person. vss. 2-16 / In every way a partaker of our humanity. And yet without sin. vs. 17 / a. The Promise of the Father. b. God’s Presence with us in our exile. c. The Accomplish-er of our Salvation – our Messiah. vs. 18 A participant in our shame, without sin or shame of His own. vs. 19 / Undesired. vs. 20 / Unaccepted apart from divine revelation. vs. 21 / Savior. In the third place, we see Jesus as descended from Kings, Scoundrels, Nobodies, Men, Women, Jews, Gentiles, Faithful, Faithless, A Prostitute, Nomads, Warriors, Prophets, Farmers, Those who lived in ease, Those who lived in poverty, Those who accomplished much, Those who left nothing behind but their names, The shunned and the accepted, The steadfast and the mercurial, The creative and the dull, Intellectuals and uneducated commoners, Christ Jesus came in the likeness and lineage of fallen, broken, sin-cursed humankind. There are none who cannot be touched by Him, nor reconciled to the Father through Him. The miracle of the incarnation. What a Savior!

From Mark 16:9-20 / The heart of unbelief – Most scholarship today agrees that verses 9-20 are not part of Mark’s original account. It seems that Mark ends his gospel as abruptly in vs. 8, as he began it in Ch. 1. His clipped style pervades the book. Even though the 2 oldest manuscripts we have do not contain 9-20, many others do. In any event, virtually all contained in these verses, can be found elsewhere in the Gospels, and thus reiterate facts already accepted as genuine. Who made this addition remains a mystery. But what is clear, is that he makes no heroes out of the Disciples. This is no way to make them look like power-brokers looking to hold sway over the masses. In vs. 10, they did not believe Mary Magdalene. In 13, they did not believe the 2 on the road to Emmaus. Thus in 14, Jesus appears and rebukes them soundly for their hardness of heart and failure to believe. Luke gives us even more examples of their unbelief. And yet, it is these very ones Jesus ends up commissioning to take His Gospel into the whole world to make disciples. And so it is that everyone who professes Christ once walked in unbelief and in the hardness of their hearts. And we who are believers now, are called to make His gospel of saving grace known. And by means of the example here, we ought neither to be surprised nor discouraged when those we tell the Good News to don’t believe either. Our call is to go and proclaim. And it is His job, by the Spirit, to open the hearts and minds of those who hear. We pray, we communicate the Gospel, we point men to Christ, and we trust the Spirit to overcome unbelieving hearts. We do not seek, nor do we have magic-bullet arguments to convert them. But we have a sovereign God, whom we know by personal experience has overcome our hardness. And I don’t know about you, but I know this – if He could overcome my wicked heart – no one is beyond His reach. No one. And if you not yet His – even you.

From Mark 16:1-8 / Seeking Jesus – When the three women in our text came to the tomb, they came expecting to see a corpse. And even today, many depictions of Jesus in Churches show Him dead on the Cross. But the angel’s words are significant here. Yes, they were seeking Jesus, but a Jesus they assumed was dead. His memory would be wonderful. Legends might grow up around His life and works. But they had no concept that a resurrected Jesus was whom they needed to seek. They were seeking a memory. Vivid. Powerful. Wonderful. But oh so incomplete. And so it is with many yet today. Absent the reality of Jesus’ cross-work consummated in His resurrection and ascension, they seek a snippet of Jesus. Some fixate on the inoffensive baby in a manger. They like the Jesus who doesn’t claim kingship over their lives. Some seek the healing, miracle working Jesus. They want His blessings, but not Him. Others seek Jesus on the cross. Dead for them, but having no claim over them now. But we much seek the complete Jesus – all of Him. Incarnate as a Babe. Manifesting the kingdom in miracles. Confronting sin. Calling men to repentance. Showing Himself to be God. Bearing the wrath of God against human sin on the cross. Buried in having fulfilled the wages of sin. But risen! Ascended. Seated at the right hand of the Father in glory – and waiting His return to rule and reign. Sending the Holy Spirit to indwell us. Continually interceding for His own. Jesus awaiting the day when all His enemies are put under His feet. The Jesus who will return to judge the world and everyone in it in righteousness. The last enemy of all to be conquered – death – vanquished forever. This is the Jesus we must seek. The whole Jesus. Do not try to cut Him up into the parts you like, while discarding the rest. Take Him as Savior, Lord and your all. For all of fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him. No wonder the universal by-line of the early Church was “Jesus is Lord!” Not Jesus is dead. But risen. And we as believers, are the sheep of this risen Lord’s pasture. I pray you know and seek THIS Jesus, today.

From Mark 15:42-47 / He Descended into Hell – The Apostle’s Creed as it is most often cited contains the phrase “he descended into hell.” Historian and theologian W. G. T. Shedd notes that this phrase was not in the original. Irrespective of the complexities of how it came to be, there is no question as to why it come to be. It was meant to assert that Jesus had really and truly died. Died so as to be buried. Died so as to be truly dead. Not swooning. Not merely nearly dead. Not faking anything. But dead. Life had left His body. He had taken “the wages of sin”, our sin, completely. He left nothing undone in His sacrifice. We cannot, we dare not try to add anything to it. Sometimes when we fail we imagine we need to add some sort of personal suffering to His to deal with our sin. But it is not so. Our faith must be grounded in His finished work in this matter, and not in just having made some sort of entrance that we must then somehow fill up ourselves. As though He wiped the slate clean, but when we sin, we have to wipe it clean again ourselves by some form of penance and personal suffering. The words of Elvina Hall’s grand hymn say it so clearly. Trust Christ and His finished work – alone.

1. I hear the Savior say,
   “Thy strength indeed is small;
   Child of weakness, watch and pray,
   Find in Me thine all in all.”Refrain:
2. For nothing good have I
   Whereby Thy grace to claim;
   I’ll wash my garments white
   In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
3. And now complete in Him,
   My robe, His righteousness,
   Close sheltered ’neath His side,
   I am divinely blest.
4. Lord, now indeed I find
   Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
   Can change the *leopard’s spots [*leper’s]
   And melt the heart of stone.
5. When from my dying bed
   My ransomed soul shall rise,
   “Jesus died my soul to save,”
   Shall rend the vaulted skies.
6. And when before the throne
   I stand in Him complete,
   I’ll lay my trophies down,
   All down at Jesus’ feet.
   • Jesus paid it all,
     All to Him I owe;
     Sin had left a crimson stain,
     He washed it white as snow.

From Mark 15:33-41 / Undoing The Fall – Volumes could be written about these few verses, and the wonder and spectacle of Christ’s death on the cross could never, will never be fully mined. Its depths lay only in the deep heart of our triune God. And we are unable to bear the sight of such glory without something to shield us. Redeemed, born again, indwelt by the Spirit, and even in glorification – we will still not be divine. His infinitude, and the unsearchable riches of His grace will no doubt keep our souls and minds occupied in discovery throughout eternity. As 2 Cor. 5:18-20 reads: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” In the rending of the veil in the Temple which separated the holy place from the holy of holies – it is as if, in Christ, God took the angel with the flaming sword out of the way to the Tree of Life – and then in the Gospel, calls all men to come and return to Him – believing the message that Christ has made atonement for sin, and they might come and be reconciled. If they believe in the finished work of Christ, they can come and have fullness of restoration to the Father. But if they do not believe, or in wickedness do not care because they’ve no desire to be restored and reconciled to the Father – then their blood is on their own heads. He opened the gate. Who will enter in? Have you? Will you?

From Mark 15:21-32 / Unfathomable Love – Rather than give you my thoughts here, I give you those of J. C. Ryle: “The passage we have now read, is one of those which show us the infinite love of Christ towards sinners. The sufferings described in it would fill our minds with mingled horror and compassion, if they had been inflicted on one who was only a man like ourselves. But when we reflect that the sufferer was the eternal Son of God, we are lost in wonder and amazement. And when we reflect further that these sufferings were voluntarily endured to deliver sinful men and women like ourselves from hell, we may see something of St. Paul’s meaning when he says, “The love of Christ passeth knowledge.” “God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Ephes. 3:19; Rom. 5:8.)…Let us leave the passage with a deep sense of the enormous debt which all believers owe to Christ. All that they have, and are, and hope for, may be traced up to the doing and dying of the Son of God. Through His condemnation, they have acquittal,—through His sufferings, peace,—through His shame, glory,—through His death, life. Their sins were imputed to Him. His righteousness is imputed to them. No wonder that St. Paul says, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” (2 Cor. 9:15.)

From Mark 15:16-20 / King of the Jews – Jesus is referred to by this title no less than 18 times in the Gospels, but more often in Mark than any other. In fact, He is so called 5 times in this 15th chapter alone. He is asked if He is King of the Jews by Pilate in vs. 2. In vs. 9, Pilate asks the crowd whom they would have released, Barabbas, or the King of the Jews? In vs. 12 Pilate asks what he should do with the King of the Jews – to which they answer “crucify Him”. In today’s text, Jesus is mocked as the King of the Jews by his Roman torturers. And at last in vs. 26, this was the great charge leveled against Him and affixed above His head: “The King of the Jews”. This, in Latin, Greek and Aramaic. All 4 Gospel writers note this fact. Nothing it seems, in all the world, could be lower or more deserving of contempt than to be the King of the Jews. The Jews rejected Him as their King. Pilate disregarded His kingship. Barabbas the murderer was desired above Him as King. The crowd wanted Him executed under the title King of the Jews. The Roman soldiers mocked Him as King of the Jews. And in the end, that is all they could think to write as the charge against Him deserving death – He was, the King of the Jews. And so it is in salvation, the thing which must be recognized and embraced, is His kingship over us. “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col 1:13–14. He cannot be your Savior and not also your King, any more than I can be Reid but not Ferguson, or Ferguson but not Reid. The two cannot be separated. Won’t you come to Him today? For He is the sweetest, gentlest, most lovely, just, holy, righteous, forgiving and justifying King. He died for sin, that we might be freed from being its slaves, to be rightly brought under His dear Kingship. Come.

From Mark 15:6-15 / Poison Polls – It is the preoccupation with news gatherers to take polls. To try and get a handle on what the masses are saying. And while there is nothing wrong in that in and of itself, majority opinion alone can never be the final arbiter of right and wrong. Nor can that be left solely to those in power. We see this so graphically in this passage. The public outcry was 100% evil, and needed to be overturned. But Pilate the politician, “wishing to satisfy the crowd” had no means of determining right or wrong beyond himself, and the crowd. If we have no authority above ourselves, all morality and all justice are up for grabs – whatever the whims of the people dictate, and whatever winds move the politicians at the moment. As Steve Brown once quipped, the incarnation teaches us that given the opportunity, man will always murder God. For as in the Garden, we still want to be god – we want to determine right and wrong for ourselves. What grace then that Jesus died according to God’s unchanging justice. That unmoved by fallen human whims, He sent His Son to satisfy all justice on behalf of all who would believe. And contrary to our fallen desires, grants us in the Gospel, what we only come by His grace to see – that eternal satisfaction, for Him and us, is only in the Cross.