Father Abraham: High Ground Reclaimed

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Don Merritt

Genesis 13

After leaving Egypt Abram and his party returned eventually to Canaan where they settled and tended to their herds of livestock; Abram became quite wealthy. After some time, it became clear that the herds had grown to the point where Abram and Lot needed to go their separate ways, for the land could only support so many animals. Abram, now showing a great deal more humility than he had in Egypt, allowed Lot to have his pick of lands, and being a smart young man, Lot took the best locations for himself, leaving Abram to find another place.

Lot had chosen for himself the entire plain of the Jordan, rich indeed, but not quite in Canaan, where he lived near the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram, mindful of God’s promise, remained in Canaan (13:1-13). That’s where things get interesting…

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord. (13:14-18)

Let’s pause and think about this: After the shameful episode in Egypt, Abram and the clan went back into Canaan and prospered. Their prosperity was such that Abram and Lot needed to separate their respective herds, and by all rights Abram, as head of the clan, should have claimed the very best lands for himself, but instead, he deferred to Lot’s choice. In doing so, he also remained in the land God had taken him to and had previously promised. To me, it would appear that Lot chose his financial advantage over God’s promise, and Abram chose God’s promise over financial advantage… and God responded to Abram’s wise choice by reiterating His promises to Abram for both the land and his offspring.

For us today, I think there is also a message, and that is that God will remain faithful to us, will keep His promises to us, when we choose to remain within His will, even though we might stumble and fall from time to time. That’s quite a word of encouragement, don’t you agree?

God had a message for Lot also, but we’ll have to wait until next time for that.

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The Pace Picks Up

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 26:1-16

We have now begun the final section of Matthew’s Gospel. I don’t want to interrupt the narrative of Matthew’s story, so I will compile a Bonus Post with the background on this section, which is quite interesting. I will say that you will notice that Matthew really picks up the pace from this point forward…

This text has three parts that flow in rapid succession. By arranging the narrative in this way, Matthew shows us that there is quite a lot going on behind the scenes at or about the same time. We begin with Jesus and the disciples (26:1-2) which is set in time as “When Jesus had finished saying all these things…” (26:1). From this transition we come to see that they are all sitting there where Jesus has been giving the Olivet Discourse; Jesus finished the Parable of the Sheep and Goats… and then said…

That He was about to be crucified.

Isn’t it interesting that He has told them everything we have seen in 24-25, and then brings them right back to His messianic mission:

He must die?

Matthew immediately follows this statement by shifting to the Jewish leaders behind closed doors plotting His secret arrest and His murder (26:3-5).

Next, in verse 6 we have a scene change; now Jesus and the disciples have left the Mount of Olives and walked the few miles to Bethany where they are in the home of Simon the Leper. Nothing more is said about Simon, and thus we can’t be quite sure of who he was, or if he was even present. The scene centers on an unidentified woman who anoints Jesus with “a very expensive perfume”. The disciples object, saying that the ointment could have been sold for a lot of money, and then the money given to the poor; apparently they had been listening to Jesus’ story of the sheep and goats. Yet Jesus tells them something else that should bring them back to His messianic mission: she was preparing His body for burial!

Is It just me, or are those disciples just not hearing Him when He tells them that He is about to be killed?

Then Judas slips out and goes back into Jerusalem and makes his deal with the chief priests to deliver Jesus into their hands so they can kill Him.

Yes, momentous events are moving quickly now.

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Father Abraham: Abram’s Travel Adventures

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Don Merritt

Genesis 12:10-20

After God called Abram, he packed up everything and everyone in his rather considerable household and set off for a destination God would show him, and as we discussed in the last section, this is one of the great examples of faith in the Scriptures. They set out and God leads the party right through Canaan and into Egypt because of a famine in Canaan. When they approached Egypt, Abram became concerned about his wife Sarai, for she was a beautiful woman: He devised a plan:

As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” (12:11-13)

Was Abram having a crisis of faith or did he just not quite comprehend what God had promised him? Of course, we have no way to know for sure what was going on in Abram’s head; we can only note that he had fallen from his high ground of extraordinary faith into a very deep valley at that moment. One might even expect that God might inform him that their deal was now off.

Yet God didn’t do that.

God did take notice of the fact that Sarai had been taken into Pharaoh’s household as his wife, and He intervened in a rather interesting way; He sent sickness into the household and made Pharaoh aware of the real relationship between Abram and Sarai and Pharaoh was horrified at the deception. Here we might expect Pharaoh to kill Abram, and yet once again God intervenes, and rather than kill Abram he shames him when he takes the position of being the righteous one and expresses his disgust at Abram’s behavior. Then he returns Sarai to Abram and has the two and their entire household, including the gifts Pharaoh had given them, escorted out of the country.

What an adventure!

It’s even more interesting when we take note that in Old Testament prophecy Egypt represents this world. Taking an apocalyptic view, we could say that before God fulfilled His promise to give the Land to Abram, he led Abram into this world where Abram fell into sin, and then God redeemed him out of it, a theme that will be repeated throughout Scripture.

That theme also plays a big role in the “Christmas Story”, for through Christ we have all been redeemed, and received God’s promises, yet in this world, we continue to stumble around in our sin; yet God remains faithful to His promises even when we are so very weak.

When you come right down to it, isn’t that the whole point of the “Christmas Story”?

Abram’s adventures aren’t nearly over yet and in the next chapter he will once again manage to find the high ground; see you next time!

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 A Tale of Three Parables, part 2

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 25: 31-46

The Parable of the Sheep and Goats answers the question asked in 24:3b another way, for here we are not dealing with virgins awaiting the bridegroom or servants awaiting the master’s return but instead, with judgement day.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Matthew 25:31-33

The parable begins with Jesus sitting in judgment of the Nations where His followers (sheep) are at His right and His non-followers on the left. Then His judgment begins:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (25:34-36)

The righteous want to know when they did those things… and Jesus answers:

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (25:40)

No doubt you will recall that Jesus spoke of “the least of these” several times in Matthew’s account already− what we are seeing here is what being “ready” for His return looks like. Those who took care of “the least of these” went into the Kingdom that was prepared for them, but the others went elsewhere (24:46).

How do we live our lives− are we kind, generous and attentive to the needs of others? Do we put others ahead of ourselves? Are we willing to give to those in need?

Or do we prefer to let others get their hands dirty… or reach for their checkbooks?

I remember how old Ebenezer Scrooge answered that question: “Are there no prisons, are there no workhouses… Surely the taxes I pay to support these institutions are enough…”

For a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, that is clearly not enough, for Jesus has made it crystal clear that the way we each live our lives is the determining factor in whether or not we are “ready” for His return… which could happen Today.

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Father Abraham: God’s Call

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Don Merritt

Maybe I’m crazy, but I think Abraham is someone we should remember when we consider the “Christmas Story”. Oh, I realize that the birth of Christ came some 2,000 years after he died, so I’m not suggesting he’s a character in that part of the story. No, where I’m going with this is that Jesus didn’t just come along for no reason; there was a definite reason for His birth and ministry: He came to fulfill God’s covenant with Abraham.

They don’t tell you that in Sunday School, do they?

All right fine; they usually don’t tell you that.

Anyway, not only did Jesus come to fulfill God’s covenant with Abraham, but Abraham is a prime role model for our Christian walk as evidenced by the fact that he is named more than once in the New Testament as such. Consequently, I thought it might be fun to survey his career. Please note that my emphasis is on survey; this isn’t a biography or a commentary on each verse… not even on each scene, just the most important points for an understanding of his role as covenant partner and role model.

We begin our story as Genesis 12 opens; God’s Call of Abraham:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 12:1-3

So, there is God’s call, coupled with promises, and thus began a remarkable journey for the 75-year=old Abram. Personally, I think that the most remarkable part of the entire story is contained in the very next line:

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him (12:4a)

Did you see it? God told Abram to pack up everything and go… and so he did it. Abram actually took God at His word, and took action. It wasn’t any small action, he put everything on the line and set off somewhere and trusted God to keep His promises.

Who actually does that?

Our answer should be that we all do… but would that be a truthful answer?

In any case, we’re off to a quick start. Next time, we’ll join Abram and Company out on the road; see you there!

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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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