A Tale of Three Parables, part 1

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Don Merritt

This chapter contains three parables in which Jesus expands on His answer to the question we looked at in the last post:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (24:3)

Remember that Jesus answered the first part of the question in 24:4-35 and began the answer to the second part in 24:36 and that continues through the end of chapter 25. Therefore, all three of the chapter 25 parables were given in answer to this question:

what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? (24:3b)

The three parables in chapter 25 are The Parable of the Ten Virgins (25:1-13), The Parable of the Bags of Gold (25:14-30) and The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (25:31-46). The real point of all three of these parables is that Jesus will return when He returns; there will be no particular sign. He will come back on a day that is like any other day, and when He does, we will all be surprised: So, be ready for His coming at all times.

The Parable of the Virgins is easy to understand: There were ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom to arrive; five had oil for their lamps and five did not, which is to say that half were ready for his coming and half were not prepared for it. When the bridegroom came the five who were ready were able to find their way to the banquet while the other five had to rush off in search of lamp oil. When they finally arrived at the banquet the doors were closed and they were left out: A wonderful day for the first five, but a sad coming for those who were unprepared.

The Parable of the Bags of Gold is also easy to understand: The master is leaving on a long trip and before his departure he gave a certain number of bags of gold to three servants, each according to the servant’s ability. By doing this, the master entrusted gold to each servant with the expectation that they will use it wisely to generate an increase in his money. Upon his return, each of the first two servants had doubled the master’s money, but the third one had simply buried the gold, and when he returned it to his master without an increase the master gave that gold to the first two as a reward, and the lazy servant was tossed out on his ear.

The master’s return was a great day for the first two, but not a happy day for the third servant.

The third parable is a little more revealing, for in it, we deal not so much with metaphors (lamp oil and gold) but with the reality of the way we live our lives; we’ll take a look at that one next time…

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Possibility

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Don Merritt
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The Greater Love

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Don Merritt

This amazing story should give heart to all of us. It begins as Jesus goes to a certain Pharisee’s house for dinner. As they are reclining at table a very sinful woman enters the room. When she sees Jesus there, she begins to weep and her tears fall on Jesus’s feet, which she wipes away with her hair. Jesus’ host, whose name was Simon, begins to wonder how and why Jesus is allowing this woman to continue, since she is a notorious sinner. Knowing exactly what Simon was thinking, Jesus answered him out loud:

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 7:40-48 (full context Luke 7:36-50)

This is truly an amazing story that speaks of a dilemma that we still struggle with today. Just consider, you are at a respectable dinner party at the home of highly regarded religious leader with well-respected people in attendance, when a homeless woman from the street walks in and behaves the way this woman did: What would you be thinking?

Here’s my guess, looking at your watch and thinking, “is it time to leave yet? Where’s the nearest exit”? Come on, admit it, at best this situation would be very awkward.

Yet awkward or not, Jesus used the circumstances to teach a lesson for all of us that should give all of us great encouragement. Yes, the woman was a big-time sinner, but God had not stopped loving her, in fact, if it weren’t for people like that woman, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come to the earth to die for sinners.

That is how much God loved that woman, and tens of millions of other men and women who have sinned and lived lives of excessive sin. Then, Jesus threw Simon a curve: A sinner like that woman will love God all the more (than men like Simon and his friends) because she has been forgiven so much more.

We all have our past. Some involve comparatively few sins, say only one a day. If you live 75 years, that is 27,375 sins you need forgiveness for; is that really such a small number? No matter how many sins we have needed to be forgiven of, when God looks at us, He sees a clean slate for His sacred child, not a list of transgressions cancelled out― that is what grace is all about. So, what do we do with this information?

We do our best as we go through this life. We do our best to serve God and to put others ahead of ourselves; we are intentional about taking care of our relationships, both with others and with God. Finally, we put our faith and trust in God, firm in the knowledge that He keeps His promises, including the promise to forgive our sins and to love us as His own.

What more do we need?

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Saturday

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Don Merritt
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The Day and the Hour

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 24:36-50

Once the transition (24:29-34) is completed, Jesus answers the second question the disciples asked Him, about the sign and time of His coming (24:3).

The short answer is: He will come when He comes, and everyone will be surprised.

This is a hard answer for most people to take; even now there are many who write books with long lists of “signs” and “what must happen” before He comes. I’ve often said that if I wanted to make a million dollars in a hurry, I’d write one of those and make a video series with every last titillating detail, but I fear that I’m not clever enough to make them all up!

24:36-37 makes this point about as clearly as it could possibly be made: Jesus didn’t even know when He would return. He expands on this theme in vv. 38-41: It will be just like the flood in Noah’s time. People were going about their lives, just as on any other day, and then it happened: Surprise!

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (24:42-44)

There it is again; it will be a surprise; enough with the signs already! The real question is not when will He return, it’s “are we ready if He returned today”? Maybe this is unfair of me, but I’ve often wondered if so many people were fascinated about wild speculations, signs and lists simply to avoid having to answer that question…

The last few verses of the chapter (24:45-50) make the point yet again with a servant and returning master, which of course would be us (His servants) and Jesus (our master). If He returned today, what would He find us doing? I haven’t been counting, but Jesus, in this short passage, has told us that His return will be a surprise several times, several different ways; we might think He’s made His point by now. Yet still, even now, people today speculate and invent and write…

What makes this even more amazing, is that the entire next chapter keeps giving the same answer to this question, as Jesus tells the disciples three parables; we’ll begin our look at them next time.

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Ready, Set, Go!

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Don Merritt

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3

We begin chapter 12 with an amazing shift in tone, yet it is a small section that is actually in the position of summing up the previous chapter.  Remember that chapter 11 has been all about active faith, and here in summing that up the author, sounding very much like the Apostle Paul, uses a sports metaphor. We are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” referring to all of those great people of faith who were named in chapter 11, and here they are the spectators at a great race; the stage is set…

The author now urges us to throw off everything that hinders as an athlete would remove all hindering clothing in preparation for a race.  Then, he applies this to our reality when he says “and the sin that so easily entangles.”  If we were athletes in a locker room before a great race, we would change out of our “street clothes” and into the garb of a runner; minimal clothing that allows full freedom of movement, with no extra weight, and nothing to limit our ability to run the race. Likewise, as servants of Jesus who are running the “race” of life, we must get rid of anything that would limit our ability to run our “race.” Sin, distractions and the like must be left behind, lest they should inhibit our efforts.

Then, we run our race that has been “marked out for us” with our eyes fixed on Jesus.  When you run a race, you don’t just make up the course as you go along; it has been fixed by the racing officials. Likewise, the race that is our lives has been marked out by God, so that we run a certain course.  We usually call this our “calling.”  Each of us has been “called” to His service in a certain way, and the author is trying to encourage the people to fix their eyes on Jesus, and run the race we have been called to effectively and without distraction or restraint.

Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith is our model for the race.  Notice that He is author (pioneer); He is the One who has written this tale and marked out our race. He has perfected our faith by His work on the cross. As you read further, we see that Jesus is our model, for in His earthly ministry, He has done exactly what we are to do now in our own rights. He threw off sin and distraction, fixed His eyes upon the will of the Father, and ran His race to win.  We are to throw off all distraction and sin and fix our eyes upon Jesus and run our race to win, just as those great people of faith in chapter 11 did.

Finally, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the throne on high; He reached the finish line.  For just as He reached the finish line and as He sat down on high, so shall we, when we finish the course before us. I’m struck at this moment that the whole concept of this is so simple. It’s really easier to comprehend than it is to describe, which is the mark of a great metaphor. Will we get ready and run that race?

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Jerusalem and the Temple Destroyed

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 24:1-35

Matthew 24:3 contains the question the disciples asked Jesus privately about His remarks in 24:1-2, when overlooking downtown Jerusalem; He told them that the place was going to be destroyed. Their question, as I mentioned last time, was a twofold one: When would “this” happen”, and “what would be the “sign of your coming and the end of the age”. In our text Jesus answers the first part of the question: “When will this happen?”

Verses 4-14 speak of the run up to this time of Jerusalem’s destruction: There will be false Messiahs, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, persecutions, hatred…

His message is that they should not be alarmed or deceived, for these things show us business as usual in this world, not the end.

What? You don’t believe me?

People in our time tend to be unfamiliar with history, but surely no one will claim that war, famine, earthquakes, persecution, hatred, turning away from God and false messianic claims were just invented! No, of course not; these things have been going on since day one, and they will continue until day last…

The next section, in 24:15-28, tells of how they would know that the end has come for Jerusalem: “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel” they are to get themselves out of Judea as quickly as humanly possible. To fully understand this statement, we must first recognize that the word “desolation” means “emptiness”; a “desolate” place is a place that is empty. In this case, Jesus is referring to a pagan Roman army that would arrive at the holy city for the purpose of destroying it and murdering its inhabitants. In the end, the ruins of their once great city were desolate indeed.

24:22-25 tell of an opportunity to escape the siege of the city for those who had been unable to flee earlier, for without any warning, the Romans withdrew from the siege, fell back, joined with another Roman army that had come to reinforce them, and then returned to the siege. When this happened, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Jews celebrated, while the Christians fled. The Christians were saved, the Jews were not.

Finally, we see some transition in 24:26-28 where Jesus once again reinforces that we need never listen to anyone who tells us that He is coming or about to come soon. His coming did not take place when God’s judgment of Jerusalem occurred in 70 AD; that is for certain. When He does come, everyone will know about it.

Remember the context in which this passage falls; Jesus has just completed the conflict with the Jewish authorities (21-22) and has just pronounced God’s judgment on their unbelief in chapter 23, then He tells the disciples Jerusalem will be destroyed; they ask about it, and He gave His answer that we have just surveyed briefly. Next time, we will look at His answer to the other question they asked in 24:3.

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The Spirit God Gave Us

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Don Merritt
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Matthew’s Story Continues

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Don Merritt

As mentioned in the last post, after Jesus completed His final public address with His lament for Jerusalem in 23:37-39, He and the disciples left the Temple area and walked to the Mount of Olives which overlooks the Temple Mount. Their conversation begins along the way as the disciples call His attention to the Temple:

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.  “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (24:1-2)

It is vital that we catch the timing of this: First the lament for Jerusalem, they leave and as they do, the disciples call His attention to the Temple, and He tells them it will be completely destroyed.

You may recall that when Jesus first arrived in Jerusalem, He went to the temple and cleared it in an act of active prophecy, directing our attention to its having been corrupted by the reigning Jewish religious establishment. Then we had that odd little scene the next morning when Jesus cursed the fig tree; another prophetic act that hinted at what would happen in the city. That was followed by the conflict at the temple, which has just ended; Jesus laments the city, and now, only minutes later, after pronouncing judgment against the religious establishment, tells the disciples that the temple will be destroyed. They arrive at the Mount of Olives, and sit down privately; they ask Him a question:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (24:3)

It is important for us to notice that “this” can refer to nothing other than the destruction of the temple, for that is what they have been talking about: it is the context. It is also important that we note that their question contains a premise that the destruction of the temple is going to happen at the same time He returns and the age ends.

As the disciples would soon discover, the premise of their question was false; Jesus answered two different questions in His rather frank response that extends from 24:3 all the way through chapter 25.

This text is a controversial one today; there are many views on it and gallons of ink have been spilled as people record their thoughts. You may have a view that differs from mine, and that’s OK with me. Rather than get into a laborious discussion of the exegetic details, I will continue with Matthew’s larger narrative as we continue, for in my view, the larger narrative is vastly more important than getting lost in the details.

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The Lord will Hear Your Cry

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Don Merritt

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to blot out their name from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:15-18

There are times in every person’s life when they feel crushed in spirit, when there seems to be no way out of their troubles, when they feel that life has beaten them down into a sense of hopelessness.

I don’t know anyone, over a certain age, who hasn’t been there to one degree or another.

Sometimes this happens because of mistakes or poor decisions we’ve made. Sometimes we’ve been victims of crime or dishonesty on the part of someone else, and maybe we’ve just had a string of bad luck. It could even be that we think we’re in a terrible and disastrous bind, only to have it turn out to be nothing at all; I’m guessing most of us have had that happen. Even so, whatever the cause might be, when we are in the middle of one of those really tough times, the feeling of catastrophe is very real indeed.

Even in the worst of situations, God is there, He hears our cries, He is in our corner and He has our back. If there is an evil doer in the picture, He will ensure they get their just desserts: God will make us whole again if we allow Him to do so. He will do that if we will allow Him to be in charge, if we will let go of the situation and the emotions of the situation and turn to Him in humility and submission, and that begins in prayer. The Psalmist conti9nues…

The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalm 34:19-22

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