OUR FATHER WHO DESIRES OBEDIENCE OVER SACRIFICE

Matthew chapter 15 starts with the religious and academic leaders of the day, having traveled north from Jerusalem to assess what the Lord Jesus was doing in the Samarian territory, observed that the disciples of Jesus did not observe the traditions that were laid down by men.

They approached Jesus with an objection to the fact that his disciples did not wash their hands before they ate bread. The washing of hands before eating was not a legal requirement but had been established as a cultural tradition and the religious leaders were  enforcing the tradition as though it were law.

The passage in Mathew chapter 15 from verse 1 to verse 9 records the confrontation between Jesus and the pharisees on this point.

1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 

3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 

7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 

8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.  

9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

The Lord Jesus turned the hyper-sensitity of the religious leaders to their traditions back on them. Jesus told them that they venerated the man-made cultural norms so highly that they displaced the actual commands of God with their traditions.

He gave an example of a tradition had been set up where a person could say to his parents that whatever they were going to receive from him was a gift to God and by saying this, that person was no longer obilgated to honor his parents with support and thus the law of God that required a person to honor his parents was nullified by a artificial custom.

The Lord, incensed by the scribesˋ and phariseesˋ disregard for the holy law of God, quoted the prophet Isaiah in chapter 29 verse 13 which foretold of the teachers of the law who made a public showing of their peity but were insincere and preferred their own mandates over what God actually required.

“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips,

But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

Amen.

18

OUR FATHER WHO HEALS THE BROKEN HEARTED AND BINDS UP THEIR WOUNDS

Matthew chapter 14 ends with verses 34 - 36 where Jesus and His disciples arrived at Gennesaret on the east side of the sea of Galilee.

34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

The Lord was known by people even in this part of the territory and they brought those who were sick to Him. Having heard that even touching the hem of His clothes would heal people, the people asked him for permission to do so and and those who touched the hem of His garment were fully healed.

As Psalm 147 verse 2 says;

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO IS PLEASED WHEN WE WALK IN FAITH

The Lord Jesus instructed His disiciples to get in a  boat and cross to the other side of the Sea of Galillee as He released the crowds.  He then went to up a mountain alone to pray. 

Out on the water, the winds kicked up and the boat was being tossed by the waves.

Matthew chapter 14 verses 22 - 33 tells the events on the sea of Galillee.

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Jesus, having prayed into the night, set out after the disciples who had left nine or more hours before in the boat. 

In the darkness of between 3:00 am and 6:00 am, they spotted a figure walking towards them on the water and they concluded that a ghost was coming after them and they exclaimed in terror.

Jesus called out to them and reassured them that it was He and Peter, wanting proof of His identity, asked that if it was Jesus they were seeing, He should command that Peter get out of the boat and walk on the water too.

Peter was summoned and so he stepped out of the boat and began to tread on the surface of the water. He was successfully walking towards Jesus until the violent wind gusts caught his attention and his confidence faltered and he began to sink.

Jesus walked up to him as he descended into the water and grabbed his arm and said, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" . 

With these words, Jesus revealed the primary dynamic of walking in faith. 

If we have stepped out in faith and are now treading on the surface of the water, we must keep our nerves calm and keep moving forward. As we walk, there will be threats and dangers presented on either side of us by the kingdom of darkness that are designed to make us second-guess what we heard and what we are doing. If we take the bait and consider the harm that surrounds us and question the wisdom of being out on the open water following the Lordˋs commands, our faith will disolve and we will sink.

The Lord had to intervene to save Peter and once they were in the boat, the storm calmed down and the disciples who wittnessed these things from the boat worshiped Jesus and acknowledged that He was who He had been saying He was; The Son of God.

Amen.

8

 OUR FATHER WHO GIVES US OUR DAILY BREAD

The Lord Jesus, hearing about what happened to John the Baptist at the hands of king Herod, went to a deserted area to seek seclusion and to lower His political profile but word got around where He was and huge crowds travelled to the territory.

Even though it was not a good time for Him to be with so many, He was moved with compassion for all the convoys of people and their sick family members who they brought and so He overode His own comfort and ministered to them and healed the sick. Matthew chapter 14 verses 13 - 21 recorded this interaction between Jesus and crowd that went late into the evening and the disciples advised Jesus to send the crowd away to buy food for themselves before it was too late. 

It was at this time that the Lord famously charged His disciples with feeding the large crowd. 

13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself 21. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

18 He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The disciples, looking at the crowd of perhaps up to 10,000 people, were at a loss as to how to feed them as the Lord had commanded them since they only had five loaves of bread and two fishes so they pointed out their connundrum to Jesus.

Asking for the small ration that they had, Jesus looked up to heaven, blessed the food and broke it apart and gave it to the disciples to distribute to the multitudes.

The bread and fish were materially multiplied as they were divided and distributed so that they were able to feed all the people till they were full and had  twelve baskets of bread and fish fragments remaining.

The Lord is able to provide.

Amen.

2

OUR FATHER WHO SENT A MESSENGER TO MAKE STRAIGHT THE ROAD FOR THE MESSIAH

Reports coming back to the polical leaders spoke of spiritual stirring and miraculous events occuring at the hands of Jesus and King Herod was concerned because he thought that the one doing these miracles was perhap John the Baptist whom he had executed but had somehow come back to life.

John the Baptist, the prophet who had identified the Messiah at the river Jordan, had been languishing in prison because he had challenged the king Herod for taking the wife of his own brother.

It was from prison that he sent messengers to Jesus to ask if He was indeed the one Israel had been waiting for come or if they should expect another. The people of Israel held many preconcieved notions of what the awaited Messiah was going to be doing and John the Baptist felt that if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, he would have been in prison for asserting rightous standards.

Jesus sent back a message to John in prison to assure him that the marker of the Messiah was not political triumph or vanquishing foreign invaders but rather that:

The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Matthew 11 verse 5)

Herodias, king Herodˋs wife, became Johnˋs enemy because he had challenged her legitimacy as the kingˋs wife and so she opportunistically moved to have him executed. Matthew chapter 14 verses 1 - 12 records the circumstances that led to Johnˋs death.

1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4 Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

6 But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. 7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

8 So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.”

9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. 10 So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

King Herod had not wanted to harm the prophet John but his confidence and pride were exploited to force his hand and he ordered the execution of John.

12

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS ONLY SON TO HIS OWN PEOPLE BUT HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT

Reaching the end of the teaching of parables, the Lord Jesus travelled back to His hometown and began teaching and ministering there. The end of Matthew chapter 13, going from verses 53 - 58, records that people were astonished at His wise understanding of the scriptures and the supernatural signs that followed Him.

It was incongruous to the people because they knew His family and He was not from an exotic foreign country but rather, He and His humble family lived among them and were well know to them and as a result, they were offended at what Jesus was presuming to do in their midst.

53 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. 54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So they were offended at Him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

The Lord explained to them the phenomenon of people tending to treat prophets with honor as long as they were not familiar members of their own communities. 

The sad effect of this was that the people, because of their familiarity with the Lordˋs family, had little faith and their unbelief resisted the occurence of miracles and so only a few supernatural works happened there.

4

OUR FATHER WHO HAS SET A DAY OF JUDGEMENT

The Lord Jesus, in Matthew chapter 13 verses 47 - 52,  reiterated the lesson of the separation unto judgement that would occur at the end of the age where the angels of the kingdom of heaven will sort through those who have associated themselves with the kingdom of God.

Using a fishing-themed parable to illustrate this filtering process, the Lord described a dragnet that pulled up all manner of creatures from the sea. Once in the boats, the good fish, representing the genuine sons of the kingdom, are gathered into vessels while the bad fish, representing imposters who are the sons of wickedness, are discarded into the fire.

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

The Lord checked with His followers to see if they were able to interprete the meaning of what he was teaching them. They said they understood and the Lord then told them another parable of a houseowner and his treasures.

The houseowner, representing those who were immersed heavily in the word of God pertaining to the kingdom of Israel and were also able to gain an understanding of the kingdom of heaven, brought out his old and new treasures to showcase.

This represents how the understanding of the kingdom of  Israel is preserved as a valuable treasure even as it is added to by the understanding of the incoming kingdom of heaven.

Knowledge of the old testament remains a treasure even as the new testament adds to it and even amplifies it.

Together, these two testaments are brought out of the storehouse for display to the whole world as a testimony of the Lord's mighty work of salvation.

Whereas the old treasure was confined to the storehouse of the nation of Israel, when the new treasure is uncovered, the old treasure is brought out into the open to be available to all for wisdom.

Matthew chapter 13 verse 52 out of the NIV says it this way;

52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Amen.

4