Matthew 4

Continuing to go through the book of Matthew one chapter a day with one thought for the day. Today is Matthew chapter 4.

4:17
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Jesus, first words proclaimed are an echo of what John’s first words were. They mean something like “Here comes God’s new world: Turn around and face it”. Frederick Buechner says this about the kingdom of heaven as Jesus announces it:

“The kingdom of God? Time after time Jesus tries to drum into our heads what he means by it. He heaps parable upon parable like a madman. He tries shouting it. He tries whispering it…What he seems to be saying is that the kingdom of God is the time, or a time beyond time, when it will no longer be humans in their lunacy who are in charge of the world but God in his mercy who will be in charge of the world. It’s the time above all else for wild rejoicing—like getting out of jail, like being cured of cancer, like finally, at long last coming home. And it is at hand, Jesus says.”

Matthew 2

Continuing going through the book of Matthew one chapter a day with one thought for the day. Today is Matthew chapter 2.

2:13When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

What songs did Mary sing to this child while they were on the run? Check out Luke 1:46-55 to get an idea.

46And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”

Walter Brueggeman says, “No wonder Jesus was a radical. His mother sang him protest songs for lullabies.”

Matthew 1

So Ecclesia, the church where I teach at is going through the book of Matthew…for about 3 years. One of the things we are doing is reading through the book of Matthew once a month until we finish it as a community. That means that we’ll read Matthew approximately 36x’s over the next three years.

That can be a bit daunting if you get behind so we’ve just been saying that because Matthew is 28 chapters long and every month has at least 28 days that even if you get behind just read the chapter that corresponds with the date of the month so you don’t get overwhelmed. Something I’ll try to do on this blog…and we’ll see how successful I am at doing this…is post one thought or quote or question or prayer in regards to the chapter that I’m reading through.

So today we’ll start with chapter 1.
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”-which means, “God with us.” Matthew 1:22-23

“There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation.”-Madeleine L’Engle