Tag: amazed!
Trapping Jesus!
Scripture reading for January 30th: Matthew 22
Towards the end, the Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to trap Jesus so that they could charge Him with religious error and do away with Him once and for all. They were jealous of His authority and the crowds of people that followed Him. One such effort was recorded by Matthew. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (Matthew 22:16-17)
Jesus was immediately aware of their evil intent. He called them what they were–hypocrites! He then asked them to show Him a coin of that day and asked whose inscription was on the coin. They answered that it was Caesar’s. “Then He said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”” (Matthew 22:21)
There are those today that argue that Christians should refuse to pay taxes because of the evil things that are done with the money by the government. Others argue that the tithe is an Old Testament law that doesn’t need to be obeyed because we are under grace. Jesus would not be trapped. The human mind reasons to find loopholes for selfish reasons and takes the Word of God out of context. Jesus spoke truth in a simple manner! Taxes are due to Caesar! He and His own disciples paid them! (Matthew 17:27) The tithe is owed to God because of who He is: Lord of heaven and earth! Let’s be sure we are not seeking to “trap” God by twisting His own holy Word!
Healing techniques!
Scripture reading for February 25th: Mark 7:24-8:9, Psalms 41:1-13, Proverbs 10:15-16
Jesus came to preach the Good News and bring healing to people who were oppressed by the devil. Mark records some accounts of Jesus working with various people to bring healing to their bodies and family members. When we study this with a desire to find out how He did it, we find a variety of techniques being used.
The first woman mentioned in this passage was a Greek lady who was born in Syrian Phoenicia. She had a daughter who was under the control of an evil spirit and came to Jesus begging for help. Jesus responded to her in a way that could have brought offense. “First let the children eat all they want,” He told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” (Mark 7:27) He was telling her that He came to bring healing to the Jews first, for the Gentiles were called “dogs” in that culture. This woman pressed through by telling Jesus that even the “dogs” under the table eat the children’s crumbs. Jesus was so impressed by her faith that He told her to go and her daughter would be healed!
Next, Jesus traveled to the Decapolis near the Sea of Galilee. Here a man who was deaf and could barely talk was brought to Jesus. Jesus took him away from the crowd and put His fingers into the man’s ears. He then spit and touched the man’s tongue. Jesus looked up to heaven and said one word of command, “Ephphatha!” (which means “be opened”.) (Mark 7:34) This man was healed and he could speak again!
We ponder these two incidents and try to learn how to bring healing to those we find. We see that Jesus responded to faith. The first woman came to Jesus begging for help for her daughter. She was not deterred by Jesus’ comment, but pressed Him for help. Jesus responded! In the second incident, the man was brought to Jesus by friends who begged Jesus for help. The man was deaf and could not speak plainly for himself. Jesus took him aside and privately ministered to him. He physically put his fingers in the man’s ears and spit and placed his finger on the tongue. The prayer was a simple command. Jesus always did things well in response to faith!