Be Still And Know

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” The battle of words between Jesus and the Jewish leaders had got to fever pitch. They had challenged him about his authority, and the Sadducees had just come up with a really awkward question about the resurrection. Now the Pharisees got together to push Jesus to the limit. They asked him a question they often discussed among themselves: “What is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” If Jesus tripped up on this question, they could label him as a blasphemer. But Jesus gave them the classic Jewish answer: loving God with everything you’ve got is the first commandment, and the second is loving your neighbour as yourself. Loving God should still be our absolute priority, and we

Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” The joyful celebration of Palm Sunday is followed by something completely different. Jesus walked into Jerusalem and was angered by the sight of the Temple precinct crowded with traders. This was nothing new. In order for worshippers to make their sacrifices, there was a rule that they had to purchase their birds or animals in the coinage of Tyre. They therefore needed the money changers to convert their Roman and Greek coins into that currency. This system was developed over many years, but Jesus’ concern was that it totally obscured the real purpose of the Temple. Instead of it being a house of prayer, it had been turned into a noisy shopping mall within which unsc

Matthew 21:8-9 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the centre of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting: “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Praise God in highest heaven!” At the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, we read about the Magi. They were important people from the East who visited Jesus after seeing a star, which showed them that a king had been born. At the time, their belief couldn’t have seemed further from the truth. Born to poor parents in a cattle shed, nothing suggested that Jesus was a king. But now, towards the end of his life, we see him being greeted as royalty. Spreading garments on the road and cutting down tree branches was the way they would welcome a king. The crowd was acknowledging that Jesus stood in the line of King David. But he was no ordinary king. Jesus surprised people throughout his ministry,

Colossians 1:3-4 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. It is unlikely that Paul and Timothy had ever visited the church in Colossae, but Paul and Timothy had heard all about the Colossians and they were constantly in their prayers. They knew they had not only a strong faith in Jesus but also a love for other Christians. This is the calling of every follower of Christ because loving him immediately brings us into relationship with other Christians. When we start following Christ, we are not cured of our natural selfishness, so it is sadly possible for Christians to be extremely self-centred in their discipleship. It is possible for us to focus on our own spiritual life and development and to neglect our responsibility to other Christians. This is deeply sad because we need the enrichment of spending time with our Christian brothers and sisters. We need to be challenged an

Colossians 1:2 [Paul and Timothy wrote:] “We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.” Colossae was not a particularly important town and was overshadowed by its rich and much more illustrious neighbours, Laodicea and Hierapolis. It is unlikely that Paul had ever visited the Colossians. However, in this important letter, he wanted them to know how significant they were. He calls them saints, God’s holy people. What mattered was not how they viewed themselves, or how other people saw them, but their relationship with God. He saw them as a special people, set apart for him. Many people are convinced that they are of no importance, and that it’s the people with gifts, money and influence who really matter in this life, but God would disagree with that. His view is that everyone is important because all of us have been made in his image, and if you have given your life to Christ, then you are a saint

Matthew 20:32-34 When Jesus heard [the blind men], he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” they said, “we want to see!” Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him. Jesus had just informed his disciples that he was on the way to Jerusalem, where he would be handed over to the Romans to be crucified. You would understand if he became preoccupied with these great matters and avoided any distractions. But, as he and his disciples passed through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem, they heard two blind men crying out for attention. Most people would have hurried by, but not Jesus. He stopped and gave them his full attention. This reminds us of how Jesus had time for the little children, even though the disciples assumed that he wouldn’t want to be bothered by them. It’s easy to get so busy that we leave no time to stop and see the needs around us. We are so preoccupied with our own agenda that we have no space for the needs of

Matthew 20:26-28 [Jesus said:] “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Parents always want the best for their children, so we shouldn’t be too surprised that James and John’s mother came to Jesus and asked for them to have the best seats in the new kingdom. Jesus pointed out that she had got it all wrong. In the kingdom of God, the goal is to be the last not the first, and to be a servant rather than a master. And, incredibly, Jesus himself, who had every right to be generously served, came to be a servant. Let’s be honest. We all love to be served. We enjoy the thought of being in a beautiful hotel where our needs are perfectly met and where we have absolutely no work to do. Such experiences are good, but the way of life to which Jesus calls us is the exact opposite. He calls us to pour out our lives for others

Matthew 20:1-2 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.” All of Jesus’ parables are deeply challenging and surprising, and this particular parable is bound to offend anyone who has a natural sense of justice. A landowner hired workers for his vineyard at various times of the day. Some were hired early morning, and then others at 9am, 3pm and 5pm. So far so good. The problem is that the landowner decided to pay them all the full day’s wage. The people who had sweated through the whole day felt that this was profoundly unfair, and I think any trades union official would heartily agree. However, the landowner pointed out that he had every right to do whatever he wanted with his own money. Jesus was saying that everyone was welcome into his kingdom on exactly the same basis. Those who crept in at the last minute were just as welcome as those who had served him all their li

Matthew 19:23-24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were deeply shocked by Jesus’ words. Jews saw wealth as a sign of God’s blessing, so they were confused by the thought that riches could make it more difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven. They would have assumed that money made it easier to gain God’s favour. We meet a number of wealthy followers of Jesus. Nicodemus is a good example, along with Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb after Jesus’ burial. It’s also interesting to note that the first convert in Europe was Lydia, a businesswoman. Jesus wasn’t saying that it was impossible for a wealthy person to enter his kingdom, but it would be extremely difficult. The problem with wealth is that it draws so much attention to itself. Possessions need to be looked after.

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” We are probably all very familiar with this story of Jesus welcoming children. For some reason, the disciples had tried to stop parents from bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed. We are not told why, but it may have been because they felt that Jesus was far too important to be troubled by little children. However, look at the verses which precede this story. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus by asking him some awkward legal questions. In the Old Testament, Moses had allowed for the possibility of divorce for unfaithfulness, but there had been much dispute about this through the centuries. By the time of Jesus, the Rabbinic School of Hillel taught that a husband could divorce his wife for matters as trivial as burning his supper. This was such an area of controversy that the Pharisees felt sure they could trip Jesus up, but they failed miserabl

Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied: “but seventy times seven!” When Peter asked his question, he thought he was being incredibly generous. Tradition told him that you should be ready to forgive another person three times, and then you could unleash your full fury on them. He suggested that the limit should be raised to seven times, but Jesus wasn’t impressed. He told Peter that he should be ready to forgive other people on 70 times seven occasions, effectively saying: “Stop the counting game and just keep on forgiving.” Jesus was introducing Peter to the idea that forgiveness should be a way of life. There should be no limit to it. This is both an incredibly tough and totally liberating teaching. It’s tough because forgiving someone when they have wronged you seems totally unjust. If you have ever been attacked, robbed or violated by another person every instinct in your body

Matthew 18:19-20 [Jesus said:] “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” The Church is not just a gathering of people who respect Jesus. It is infinitely more than that because, when his followers come together, Jesus is actually present. This means that incredibly powerful things can happen when we meet. The key to our meetings is unity. The Greek word that is used here for agreeing ([itals]sumphonesosin[end itals]) gives us the English word ‘symphony’, which means to agree in sound or to be in harmony with one another. God longs to bless us powerfully, but that can only happen when our thinking is in line with one another and with his will. Unity is always of importance to the people of God. By unity we don’t mean uniformity in which everyone thinks and acts in the same way. Uniformity actually militates against true unity, which depends upon

Matthew 18:17 [Jesus said:] “If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.” This might sound rather harsh, but Jesus has just given the best possible advice for how to handle the situation where someone has done you wrong. First, speak to them one to one, and if that fails, take one or two people with you. The aim is to achieve restoration as quickly as possible. If that doesn’t work, the matter needs to go to the Church, and if the person still refuses to listen, Jesus says that they should be treated like a complete outsider. As we hear these strong words, we need to remember that Jesus, of all people, was always reaching out in love to pagans and corrupt tax collectors, so he wasn’t saying they were beyond hope. However, there may sadly come a time when a dispute cannot be resolved and you need to move on. What I love about this teaching is that it shows that Jesus deepl

Matthew 18:15 [Jesus said:] “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offence. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.” Ever since the Garden of Eden, people have fallen out with one another. This is an inevitable part of living in a world of sin. Here, Jesus gives wonderfully straightforward advice about what to do when it happens: if you are wronged, you need to deal with it as speedily and as privately as possible, with the aim to achieve a restored relationship. It amazes me that this simple and clear advice is so often ignored. When we are wronged, it is very tempting to tell other people about it immediately – but that just magnifies the problem. We feel hurt, so we want other people to sympathise with us and come on our side. It is always better to go to the person who has wronged us in the hope that the relationship can be restored. So often, offence is caused by a misunderstanding which is easily set to one side with a simple conve

Matthew 18:12 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?” I suspect that few of us have had experience of being shepherds. However, many of us will have memories of lost pets. I recall the time when our cat Tabitha went missing for days on end. We walked the streets and called out her name, desperately hoping to hear her miaow, but there was no response. Then one day as I was looking down our garden, I saw this poor thin creature dragging herself limply towards the house. She had a broken femur and had presumably been involved in a road accident. To say that we were delighted would hardly begin to describe how it felt to have her back, and over the coming weeks she made a complete recovery. She was just one little cat, but the news of her return home was a moment of incredible joy for our family. I can therefore begin to understand the joy of the shepherd who found his sheep.

Psalm 51:1-2 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. The background to this psalm is well known. King David had committed adultery and had been found out. The penalty for this crime in the Jewish law was death. However, David repented of his sin and God showed him generosity in forgiving his wrongdoing. This psalm is both a celebration of God’s forgiveness and of the new life which opened up for David as a result. The evil one will always seek to persuade us that sin is not actually all that serious. Everyone does it and we really shouldn’t beat ourselves up about it. And, in any event, the sins which other people commit are far worse than anything we would ever think of doing ourselves. Just look at some of the stories in today’s newspapers. We know that we would never do any of the awful things that we read about. In these, and a thousand other ways, we seek to excuse

Psalm 48:1-3 How great is the LORD, how deserving of praise, in the city of our God, which sits on his holy mountain! It is high and magnificent; the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King! God himself is in Jerusalem's towers, revealing himself as its defender. I will never forget my first sight of Old Jerusalem; its golden limestone walls were set against a deep blue sky. It was absolutely beautiful and immediately triggered the memory of psalms like this one, which praise the magnificence and beauty of the city. Jerusalem has a central place in the Bible. It was here that Abraham offered to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. Centuries later David established Jerusalem as his capital city and his son Solomon then built the glorious temple. Although Jesus lived in Galilee in the north of the country, he frequently visited Jerusalem and it was here that he was crucified and rose from death. It was in this city that the Spirit was poured out upon Jesus’

Proverbs 25:12 To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewellery. Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer, said: “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.” All I can say is, “Good for Johannes Kepler!” I suspect I’m not alone with that response, as we all really enjoy people saying nice things about us. Sharp criticism might be very good for us, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy to hear, even if it is as valuable as a gold earring. There are two challenges here. Firstly, how can we become better at sharing valid criticism with others? Every time I have received helpful criticism it is because it has been embedded within encouragement. It has been clear that the person offering the criticism was trying to help and only wanted to make me stronger and better able to use my gifts. It has often been said that if you need to offer criticism, 80 per cent of what you say should be encouragement. This isn’t a c

Proverbs 24:26 An honest answer is like a kiss of friendship. Like most of us, I am sure, I was brought up with the saying that honesty is the best policy. But what I wasn’t taught was that it’s often the most difficult policy. It’s often easier to keep the truth to yourself and not to share it because it might not be well received. Indeed, the hearer might be deeply offended by the truth. And so we can easily end up playing a kindly and courteous game of deceit. We say what other people want to hear and never dare to go anywhere near the sharp edges of truth. Whenever someone asks us how we are, we have to decide what level of truth to share. The customary answer “Fine” often reveals nothing at all and is simply used as a polite way of avoiding conversation. However, at the same time, it would be inappropriate to share everything about your life and feelings. What is vital is that there is a time and a place where we can be entirely honest. Life is full of thrills and spills, joys and sorrows, amazing

Proverbs 24:16 The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked. The big question is not whether we experience failure, but what we do when it happens. The writer is clear that the person who knows God has resilience. We may get knocked many times, but each time we are able to bounce back because we know that God is the one who inspires and strengthens us. The writer says that we may trip seven times but almost certainly he is using the number to represent an unlimited number of times. Nelson Mandela said: “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” The reason that a godly person is resilient is because their confidence is in God rather than their circumstances. This is most powerfully described by Habakkuk who declared: “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the floc