Matthew Chapter 9
Welcome CHOSEN and LOVED by God! I hope you are having the best day. Have you ever had Holy Spirit speak softly to you and you ignored what was said? Me too. Yesterday I was in a hurry to walk out the door to meet a friend. I grabbed the garbage to through it in the can at the end of the driveway on my way. I also grabbed one of my favorite necklaces to put on in the car. I heard, “slow down.” When I closed the hatch of the vehicle I noticed the necklace was not in my hand. Again, I heard, “Go get it now.” Nope, I kept on going thinking I would get it at the end of the driveway before I threw out the garbage. Sadly, I did not remember and I heard it clank into the trash. This morning, I not only had to go through the kitchen garbage bag, but I also had to go into the large garbage receptacle. My leather chain was not going back on my neck, but I was able to pull these two out of the trash.
Isn’t that just like Holy Spirit? Right before you do something such as say something you shouldn’t, go somewhere you shouldn’t, or don’t slow down He gives a warning. Too many times I have rushed ahead and done the very thing I heard not to do. I am getting better, but apparently, I am still a work in progress. How about you? Do you heed the warnings you hear? Do you pay attention to the ones God sends into your life to speak Truth? Once again, I am getting better at this.
Although I have read this chapter in Matthew multiple times, I noticed something very interesting in today’s reading. Look how many times Jesus is called out, disparaged, and ridiculed by the “Church,” of that time. The religious and the religious leaders were the ones pointing their fingers and questioning the actions of Jesus, a known Rabbi.
Matthew 9:3 “3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”
Matthew 9:10-11 “10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Matthew 9:14 “Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast [c]often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
Matthew 9:34 “34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
As I am writing this afternoon I am thinking of the times that I questioned someone’s actions without knowing the reasons why. I am thinking of the times when I looked upon others with a plank sticking out of me eye. It makes me sad, knowing that I have hurt people. It makes me even sadder to know I probably will again.
I have a post I started and will put out when the LORD gives me the go ahead titled, When the Church Hurts.” It deals with what is happening in churches that is causing people to flee. My Pastor said it best, “The Church is the only group that kills its people when they need help the most. If someone is crying out for help, the Church turns around and shoots its own.
Jesus was disparaged. Jesus was ridiculed. Jesus was called out for being different. You know what, He did not waver in who He was. He did not conform to what the people wanted Him to be. Here is the thing, God made us ALL different. Hallelujah, for that! If we were all the same life would be boring at best. When someone is different than we are it is not the time to point fingers, talk about, or disparage. When someone does those things to us it is not the time to flee. Jesus did not flee when the “Church” questioned and disparaged Him. He stood His ground. We know we will be persecuted for His name sake and we have to do better in not persecuting others that are different than we are. I am not talking about calling out sin. I am talking about not shooting our own because they are different. I am talking about not fleeing when things become hard. I am talking about standing firm in what we know to be true.
