Matthew 11:20-24 - We must respond

Jesus had told John's disciples to remind John of the miracles. The people in the towns Jesus had visited had seen the miracles first hand, yet they had failed to learn the lesson.

Note that the primary lesson was the need to repent. It was not "Jesus can heal", it was "I need to repent". Miracles and healings should be a part of the church's ministry, but the goal is that people repent. Any man or woman's greatest need is to repent and turn to Christ.

So how should miracles help lead someone to repentance? Miracles and healings demonstrate very clearly that Jesus is greater than anyone or anything else. They demonstrate that we do not understand or control everything. They demonstrate that we need God. They demonstrate God's love  and compassion for us. So they should cause is to realise how foolish we have been in living life on our own terms instead of on God's terms. 

Tyre, Sidon, and especially Sodom, were places that in the Old Testament were regularly associated with severe judgement. Jesus tells the people in no uncertain terms that they are in a worse position than these places because of their failure to respond properly to Jesus. 

When God does anything He is looking for a response from us. This applies to miracles, it also applies to less dramatic events. We might hear an excellent sermon, but whether or not we liked the sermon, found it interesting or amusing, or thought provoking, really is neither here nor there. What matters is how or if we respond to what God is saying.

Matthew 11:7-19 - Beware of always finding fault

Maybe the crowd thought that Jesus was just talking about John the Baptist, and maybe felt some strange kind of comfort in that John was being rebuked. We can often feel better when others get in trouble! However, things tend not to work that way with Jesus, and He now turns to the crowds. In fact He does this on a number of occasions, the focus will be on one person, then He will turn the matter on to the crowd.

John knew what he was doing, what he was hoping for, believing for. The crowd, for the most part, were just onlookers, not really knowing what they wanted, not wanting to commit to anything. Those who commit themselves to Jesus and to following His plan will fail and struggle from time to time. In those times we may need to receive discipline from the Lord, but we will not receive rejection. And we had better be careful about our reaction to others when they stumble, making sure there is no gloating on our part.

The crowd had gone to see a prophet, they knew John was a prophet. So they should treat His words as they would those of a prophet. John came proclaiming the king and the kingdom. They needed to get into the kingdom. We can always find all sorts of excuses and reasons for not doing something. 

Instead of heeding the word, the people found fault. John was very austere, and so they complained that he was too strict, too severe. Jesus was very different, so they complained that He was too keen on enjoying life. In neither case did they listen to the message. 

We really do need to beware when we find ourselves always finding fault in others. It is rarely a sign of true wisdom.

Matthew 11:1-6 - Proof of the pudding

Jesus had sent the disciples out, and continues to do His own teaching and preaching, this time in the towns of Galilee. So while the disciples were out working, so was the Lord. We do well to remember this, for we easily get so obsessed with what we are doing, forgetting that God is doing a whole host of other things as well. Isaiah 9 tells us that God would honour Galilee, and we see an example of that here. Indeed Jesus did much of His work in Galilee, an area counted as second rate by many Jews because of the high Gentile population.

John the Baptist had been put in prison by Herod. When we are in difficult circumstances because of our faith we can easily begin to doubt, as John did here. He needed reassurance that Jesus was indeed the Christ, and that his efforts were not in vain. 

Jesus sends John disciples back, not with a theological argument, but with the evidence of what He was doing. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had said that you can recognise a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:20), and He applies this to Himself. 

Often when a sportsman or sportswoman is out of form there are all sorts of silly debates about whether they are good enough or not, or should be back in the team. Most of these debates are pointless. Alastair Cook demonstrated this winter in Australia the best way to answer an argument about whether or not he is good enough. Similarly, there is only one way for Andy Murray to answer the question about whether or not he will win a grand slam event. So it is with the gospel. We need to produce fruit. So Jesus pointed to the miracles that He was doing, and also that the good news was preached to the poor. The evidence of God at work is that those in need are hearing and receiving the Good News.

Things do not always work out the way we expect, God does not always work in the way we expect. We need to make sure that in those times we do not blame God, saying that He is doing things the wrong way!

Matthew 10:34-43 - Friend and Foe

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He did not come to bring an easy or superficial peace. The ultimate conflict is between man and God, true peace only comes when man repents and submits to God. Jesus quotes from Micah 7:6.

Jesus has come to reclaim what belongs to God, to bring the Kingdom of God. Now if we welcome this kingdom then all is well, but if those who are in rebellion insist on remaining in rebellion then there will be conflict. And this conflict will involve even families. For the most fundamental relationship is that between a man and God. If we are in right relationship with God, then other relationships will function better. If we are in rebellion against God, then all sorts of things will go wrong.

Moreover we must love God more than even our closest relatives. Now we need to be fully aware that the most common failing is not loving our relatives enough, and there are numerous commands to love our wives, children, parents. But if push comes to shove, then we must love God more than all others. When faced with such a conflict we can fear losing our life. Not in the literal sense, but in the sense of losing something so precious. The temptation can then be to hold on to it. The result of this will be to lose our life, we end up losing what we sought to save. If, however, we are prepared to lose something for Christ's sake, then we will find that we gain so much more, even what we thought we would lose.

We need to remember the context of all this teaching. It is Jesus preparing us for extreme difficulties, and it needs to be understood in that context.

The passage closes on a happier note. While there will be those who oppose us, there will also be those who help us. For just as those who oppose Jesus will oppose us, those who welcome Jesus will welcome us. And such people will receive a reward for all the help they give to Christ,  no matter how small it may seem to be.

Matthew 10:32-33 - Acknowledging and Denying Christ

The greatest privilege is to be acknowledged by the Lord of All, and of we acknowledge Him, then He will acknowledge us. But if we disown Him, He will disown us. 

The first of these takes faith, and demonstrates the reality of our faith. For to acknowledge Jesus in the world means we believe that He is indeed the Son of God and the One with all authority, more authority than whatever or whoever would seek to put fear in our heart. 

Peter, of course, did disown Jesus. So this poses a question, what does Jesus really mean here? Is He saying that our salvation depends upon whether or not we acknowledge Him before men? Or is He saying something else? Given the example of Peter I am inclined to rule out the first suggestion. This passage is on how to cope in the midst of fierce opposition. In such circumstances the temptation is to deny Christ, but if we do this we will find that we are then without God's help in the situation, and this is indeed what Peter found to be the case. If instead we acknowledge Christ, then we will find that we receive direct help from God. This does not necessarily mean we will be rescued. In Acts there were times when Peter was rescued. Stephen, on the other hand, was killed, but he received a vision of God in the midst of his suffering. 

Matthew 10:24-31 - Being Christians in a hostile environment

We should expect to experience the same things that Jesus experienced. Jesus is the head of the church, and so if He is accused of being Beelzebub, then we should expect no different. In fact Jesus says it is even more likely that we will be accused of such things.

"So do not be afraid". This is an interesting instruction. All that Jesus has said is "these things will happen", and "they will happen because of Me". So we are to accept them as normal and are not to be afraid. What it means is that these attacks are not things that cannot be dealt with, we can overcome them.

"There is nothing concealed.." As well as not being afraid we are to openly declare the truth. The things that Jesus reveals to us are not to remain hidden, they are to be preached to the world. In the West the world is doing its best to try and shut the mouth of the church. We should resist all this and shout all the louder.

"Do not be afraid". Another injunction not to be afraid again making no bones about the matter that we will be in danger. But those who attack cannot destroy the soul, there is a limit to their power. In Nazi Germany they killed Dietrich Bonhoffer, but could not destroy his soul. Moreover, our Father in heaven is looking after us. This does not mean we will never suffer, but He is aware of absolutely everything, and if we walk with the Spirit, then when we do suffer we suffer with Christ. 

Matthew 10:21-23 - Facing opposition

The theme of things being far from easy continues. There will be rebellions within families with siblings betraying each other, parents their children, and children their parents. Now we again see an important point in understanding the Bible here. Jesus is not giving a law saying that this will happen in all families! There are often arguments about taking the Bible literally or not. A lot of these arguments (both from atheists and some Christians) are stupid. The Bible is absolutely true in what it intends to say, not in what it does not intend to say. So here Jesus is warning that these sorts of things can happen and sometimes will happen. He is not saying they always will happen. For there is much else in the Bible that talks about harmony and unity within families, and examples of this in practice. 

"Everyone will hate you". Again this does not "literally" mean everyone (for that would mean there were no other Christians!), but we will be subject to hatred. There are places in the world where this means severe persecution.  In the West there is an increasing hatred of Christians by new atheists, though this has not yet reached the level of serious persecution for the most part.

This hatred will happen because of Jesus. Jesus is Lord, and He is in the business of extending His kingdom (Isaiah 9:6,7), so the kingdom of this age is objecting violently. In the midst of opposition we must stand firm, and if we do we will be saved.

So there will be opposition, sometimes horrendous opposition, and we have to face up to this, but this does not mean that we suffer for the sake of suffering. Jesus tells them to flee from one place to another. As before, this is not an absolute law, there are times when you cannot flee, there are times to stay in the place. But fleeing is a perfectly legitimate option and a sensible thing to do in many cases, because Jesus said so!

No one knows exactly what the last bit of verse 23 means. Some take it as referring to the second coming,  others as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Here is a thought (and it is just a thought). Perhaps Jesus is saying that when we embark on a task at some point it seems incredibly difficult, even impossible, facing apparently insurmountable opposition. Our tendency is to give up, thinking it impossible. Perhaps Jesus is saying that we should carry on, because we can be sure that Jesus will "show up" before we have time to complete the task, and that will change everything. As I say, just a thought.