Thursday, November 7, 2013

Bible Challenge - Who do you say that I am - What are we supposed to do

We have the second half of the book of Matthew in this week's Gospel.  The first part of this week was parables:

The Parable of the Sower, of the Weeds among the wheat of the mustard seed of the yeast and three more parables - The point of these parables is to teach the disciples (and us) about God and God's kingdom.  The major points seem to be that God uses even the smallest things and that we are to keep working to bring about the will of God even when we don't see much in the ways of results.

Then the story takes a turn for the dark - Jesus is rejected by his home town and John the Baptist is put to death - keep going even when things seem bad?

The 5,000 are fed, Jesus walks on water and heals the sick and this still isn't enough for the Pharisees - so Jesus lashes out at them.

Peter finally comes to the point - Jesus asks who they think he is and Peter says, "The Christ, the Son of the Living God"  - Peter gets it right sometimes.

From here to the end the story gathers steam - Jesus spends a lot of time teaching the people that God really has two requirements - love God and love neighbor and all the rest is getting in the way - this doesn't make the religious leaders happy and so Jesus is arrested and executed.

Look at the verses at the very end of Matthew - these are known as the Great Commission and they sum up what it is that Jesus asks of his disciples and what he asks of us:  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember that I am with you always, to the end of the age."

That sums it up - Jesus is with us - so we are to go and teach and obey.

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