Letting Go
Read: Luke 1:5-23 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard . . .” (v. 13) As I write this devotional series themed “Letting Go, and Letting God,” the world continues to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. How fitting this call to action […]
Pray to the Lord of the Harvest
Read: Matthew 9:35-38 The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray . . . (v. 37) The 20th-century evangelical leader John Stott said that the world’s great tragedy was that so many people who were made by God and like God were nevertheless living apart from God. When Jesus spoke of the […]
Two Last Miracles
Read: Matthew 9:27-34 Never was anything like this seen in Israel. (v. 33) Opening the eyes of the two blind men and loosening the tongue of the deaf-mute are the ninth and tenth healing miracles that Matthew records in chapters 8 and 9. Jesus cleansed the lepers, healed the sick, delivered the storm-tossed and the […]
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman
Read: Matt. 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43 Little girl . . . arise. (Mark 5:41) This section of Matthew recounts two intertwined miracles. In both cases Jesus is not contaminated by contact with the unclean (a bleeding woman and a corpse), but instead is the source of healing and life. Mark describes the scene at Jairus’s home […]
Follow Me
Read: Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus passed on from there . . . he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth. (v. 9) The only thing Matthew tells us about himself is his occupation, but that says it all. Matthew was a tax collector. The Romans farmed out the tax collection to locals […]
The Forgiveness of Sins
Read: Matthew 9:1-8 Take heart . . . your sins are forgiven. (v. 2) Every time we recite the Apostles’ Creed we say, “I believe in . . . the forgiveness of sins.” But do we? Really? Most everyone thinks there are some sins that couldn’t and shouldn’t be forgiven (Human trafficking? Sexual abuse of […]
The In-breaking Kingdom
Read: Matthew 8:28-34 What have you to do with us, O Son of God? (v. 29) C. S. Lewis described our world as enemy-occupied territory. This story in Matthew 8 offers a clear sign of what happens when the kingdom of God invades it. In the person of Jesus, God’s rule has arrived in the […]
Stilling the Storm
Read: Matthew 8:23-27 Then he . . . rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (v. 26) With the disciples panicking and screaming for him to save them, Jesus calmly rebuked them for their lack of faith. After that he proceeded to rebuke—that’s Matthew’s word—the storm on the lake. Jesus […]
Would-Be Followers
Read: Matthew 8:18-20 I will follow you wherever you go. (v. 19) During his public ministry, Jesus attracted large crowds but few followers. So when a man came up to him and declared boldly, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go,” you might think Jesus would accept such an eager volunteer gladly and be […]