Week 1: Thursday: Matthew 8

8.2       Faced with suffering, two questions: is God willing to intervene, and is God able to intervene?  We tend to question God’s ability or power; Jews tended to question his willingness.

8.4       This secrecy is often said to be a feature of Mark’s Gospel, but it appears in the others also.  Notice, Jesus exhorts the man to obey the Law.

8.6       A centurion would address Caesar (and nobody else) as “Lord”: this word in itself was astonishing.

8.10    Is this the only time we hear that Jesus was astonished?  Usually he knows what is in the heart of man.

8.11    Many Gentiles will come in, many Jews be thrown out.  Will we be stunned if there are vast numbers in heaven from Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, and few from Britain?

8.15    A very useful healing!

8.17    Christ died on the Cross for our sicknesses, as well as for our sins.

8.21    Was this a commonplace excuse, like “the dog ate your invoice” or “the cheque’s in the post”?  This is not a story, but a real disciple, apparently sincere, and the most urgent and moving reason.  Yet Jesus tells him that following Jesus is still more urgent.

8.24    The Sea of Galilee is notorious for sudden changes; but might the suddenness and fury even be demonic, stimulated by Jesus’ presence?  This would mean he is rebuking evil spirits as well as wind and waves.  In v28 the spirits cannot get away from him.  But even this he does as a man (27), not using special privileges as the Creator; otherwise it would have been unfair to chide them (26).  See also Mark 4.35-41.

I love Tom Wright’s comment: “Who does he think he is?” turns into “Who IS he?”

Week 1: Wednesday: Matthew 7

7.2       Selwyn Hughes: It is a scriptural principle to give according to one’s income.  Those whose giving is not according to their income may find that God adjusts their income according to their giving.  “With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

7.3       The best teachers use humorous images: a dirty great plank, a log, a tree-trunk!

7.12    The famous Golden Rule.

7.21    Obedience: Genesis 6.22 and 7.5 give a fine example.  The Builders (7.24) is also about obedience.

7.22    Most Christians would be impressed by these deeds; but Jesus reserves the harshest responses for them.  “I never knew you.”

7.29    Intrinsic authority: no need to cite other sources.  I can speak about Nepal from what I’ve read in books; but Chitra can speak with authority because it’s where he comes from (cf. John 8.23)

Week 1: Tuesday: Matthew 6

6.1          This is not about secrecy, but about whose reward we seek.

6.4          We keep our shameful actions secret, but God sees all; what if it were our good actions we kept secret?

6.6          As with giving, so with prayer.  Do we not all long for secret powers?

6.14        Couldn’t be plainer!  Whom do I need to forgive?

6.21        Jesus’ real target is not your treasure but your heart.

6.22        So, what am I looking at with my eyes?

Tom Wright is helpful here: showing how personal prayer (our relationship with the Father) is at the heart of the Kingdom of heaven arriving on earth – hence the opening lines of the Lord’s Prayer.

Week 1: Monday: Matthew 5

John Pritchard helpfully characterises each Beatitude as a call to let go of a need within us.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven —

Letting go of our need to be somebody

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted —

Letting go of our pain

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth —

Letting go of our need to be right

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled —

Letting go of our concern for ourselves

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will receive mercy —

Letting go of our need for revenge

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God —

Letting go of our need to look good

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called the children of God —

Letting go of our need to win

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven —

Letting go of our “safety first” approach to life

However, Tom Wright wisely warns us against using the Beatitudes as a list of rules (try to be poor in spirit etc).

v17 is a motto that guides us in relating the Old Testament to the New.  But the warning to Christian OT commentators is stern (v19).

v21 begins a lengthy application of “surpasses” in v20.

In this Chapter especially, “The Message” shines (for example, v28 and 48).

Week 1: Sunday: Psalm 32

On the Sundays in Lent, Tom is giving us Psalms for devotional reading.  Psalm 32 feels very up-to-date: v3-4 describe a man who is avoiding God, not wanting to admit he’s done wrong.  But in v5, the relief he feels when he comes clean is overwhelming.  Pray v6 for the Japanese and the Pacific Basin, repairing after the tsunami.  v8-10 describe a change of lifestyle, born of gratitude; and, like all good writing, the end returns to the beginning.

Saturday after Ash Wednesday: Matthew 4.1-11

Back a step, to linger a moment at the archetypal story of Lent, of temptation.  Tom Wright memorably calls them “the flickering impulses, the whispering voices.”  If our faith is going to make a difference to our lives, then this is “where the rubber hits the road.”  Can we really resist evil, and turn to God?  Not purchasing our ticket to heaven (that’s Jesus); but as our thankful response, the outworking of faith in our lives.  How many Christians to change a lightbulb?  The lightbulb has to want to change.

Friday after Ash Wednesday: Matthew 4

I love Tom Wright’s way of standing back from the text and showing you how astonishing it must have been at the time, and how significant it is now.  We’re familiar with the words, but he makes it fresh.

4.15     Did the apostles get tired of the sophisticates of Jerusalem sneering at Galilee?  Isaiah 9.1 points to Galilee’s significance.

4.17     Jesus’ message is the same as John’s in 3.2: did the cousins talk together about the kingdom?

4.24     Severe diseases, not minor ones: today, medical workers fear paralysis and seizures.