Old Sandals

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.   Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”

But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”  And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”   Matthew 12:46-50

Many claim this scripture proves that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was nobody special.  For Jesus did not say to the multitudes, “Oh, wait, I need to speak with Mom, and then I’ll be right back!”  How unseemly that would have been!

And yet, when Jesus stretched out His hand toward his disciples, we rightly imagine that Mary was included in that gesture, for she was certainly devout, and had “treasured up these things in her heart” for years and years.

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.   All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.   Matthew 11:26-28

Who are those favored ones, we might ask, to whom the Son wills to reveal His Father?  “To whom the Son wills”  seems to note deliberate, perhaps discriminatory action.  The answer is given in what immediately follows:  “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.”  Praise God for His mercy!

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”   Matthew 10:5-8

Do not go [yet] into the way of the Gentiles.  To the Jew first, for they have been chosen to evangelize the world.  I know they have the slain the prophets who were sent to them, but perhaps now, perhaps now they will take heed…

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”   Matthew 9:35-38

Did Jesus know the hearts of the people?  Does God know our hearts?  Yes, but even so, He was/is moved with compassion.  For God so loved…

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,  that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”   Matthew 8:16-17

He healed all who were sick.  Some of them were undoubtedly elect.  But I presume not all of them.  And yet He healed all who were sick, whether elect or not.  He bore their infirmities.  He died for the sins of the whole world.

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A Declaration of Faith

There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is His subsistent Wisdom and      Power and Eternal Image: perfect Begetter of the perfect Begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son.

There is one Lord, Only of the Only, God of God, Image and Likeness of Deity,  Efficient Word, Wisdom comprehensive of the constitution of all things, and Power formative of the whole creation, true Son of true Father, Invisible of Invisible, and Incorruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal and Eternal of Eternal.

And there is One Holy Spirit, having His subsistence from God, and being made manifest by the Son.  The Son is the Image of the Father, and the Spirit is that of the Son.  Life, the Cause of the living; Holy Fount; Sanctity, the Supplier, or Leader, of Sanctification; in whom is manifested God the Father, who is above all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all.

There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged.  Wherefore there is nothing either created or in servitude in the Trinity.  In the Trinity there is nothing either in servitude or created, or super-induced,  as if at some former period it was non-existent, and at some later period it was introduced.  And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son.  Neither again does the unity grow into duality, nor the duality into trinity; or neither does the condition of the one grow into  the condition of the two, nor that of the two into the condition of the three, but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abides forever.

Gregory Thaumaturgus

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!   Matthew 7:11

Why would it cross my mind to ask my Heavenly Father for a million dollars, when He has something so much greater in mind to give me?

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.   Matthew 6:33

Chew on this verse slowly before you swallow.  It is the very sustenance our Lord referred to when He said to his disciples, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.”

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.   Matthew 5:8

To be pure in heart is to be pursuing one thing.  One thing.  In all your daily tasks—however tedious or difficult—pray to have an attitude expressed by the apostle Paul when he wrote, “This one thing I do…”

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Matthew 4:17

These may or may not have been the exact words that Jesus said, but they undoubtedly convey the two overarching themes in his preaching, namely, that it is incumbent upon us to sincerely repent, and after sincere repentance our eyes will be opened to see the kingdom of God.

Why is it so important to repent?  To repent is to turn around, to do an about face, to recognize that you’ve been on the wrong road.  It is to square-up with reality, acknowledging that the God who made you will someday call you to account.  It is to ask God’s forgiveness out of a heart-felt understanding that things are somehow not right, not right inside you, not right in the world around you.  It is a Holy Spirit-aided desire to make Christ, the Son of God, the center of your life and aspirations.

And what when are eyes are opened to see the kingdom of God?  We see everything in a new glorious light.  We see that there is meaning in everything, even suffering.  We see Death itself as a defeated foe.  We see those we meet each day as men and women loved by God, and for whom Christ died.  We have hope where we didn’t have it before.  We begin to experience that “joy unspeakable and full of glory” the Bible talks about.

And finally, we recognize how we need to go on repenting.  True repentance always leads to more true repentance.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”   Matthew 3:13-14

Are you serious?  You are the Son of God!  You are the Father’s Eternal Word.  By You and out of nothing were all things created.  You made this muddy Jordan river, and would you now be baptized in its waters?