Draw near to God and He will draw near to you

And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.  Matthew 15:26-28

What a cold response this woman received from the Lord when she first approached him, “This gift I have is not for you. You do not belong to the right race, because I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” His words are chilling because the way we have come to know Jesus through the Scriptures is that he is for everyone and anyone. The promise of God is open to “whoever believes in Him” (Jn. 3:16). But in this instance, Jesus ignored the woman because she was a Gentile.

Then what? Continue reading →

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you

Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.  Matthew 15:17-18

In our previous meditation in Matthew, we heard Jesus expose the way Pharisees and scribes neutralized the moral commandments of the law while spiritualizing and meticulously following ceremonial traditions. Jesus broke away from the mind-set of his religious culture so he could help his followers recover the will of God for their lives. Continue reading →

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you

Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread? Matthew 15:1-2

One of the most difficult obstacles to education is a student’s prejudice. The nature of prejudice is such that it is hidden from those who hold it. They do not realize their prejudice is merely a point of view, but take it to be reality. So to be  educated contrary to their prejudice, they must permit their reality to be broken down so it can be rebuilt in a form that is closer to the truth. Continue reading →

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you

Peter said to Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.
Matthew 14:28

What a crazy idea! “Lord, if that is really You out there, tell me to come to You.” What if the figure coming towards them had been a ghost, as the disciples first assumed? Could not a ghost as easily reply, “Sure, come to me”? Peter would have quickly realized the logical weakness of his test–under water. Continue reading →

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you

Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:13-14

John the Baptist was not a political figure, he was a spiritual leader. He did not rally people for a polical cause or spout an ideology. But whenever a person takes a strong and vocal position regarding the impact of God’s righteous will on society, there are inevitable political consequences.

After hearing about John’s execution, Jesus wanted to be alone. He needed, first of all, to deal with the grief he now carried of having lost John to Herod’s axe. Secondly, he had to work through the realization that he was next. John was first on the scene, announcing the coming of Jesus. Now he was also first to be taken out by violence. As Jesus followed John in ministry, so he would follow him to his execution. There was no retirement or death by natural causes for either John or Jesus. Continue reading →