This brings us to our new testament reading. Jesus teaches the disciples a lesson on humility. The disciples ask Jesus: “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus gives them an answer I personally don’t think they were ready for. I say this because if they were they would not have asked such a question. Jesus tells them that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself as a child. My question to day is: How are you looking in this area? Are you still persuing greatness by man’s standard, by constantly trying to do more than you did yesterday, or more than you neighbor or have you humbled youself as a child before the Father, knowing that He controls all and supplies all according to His will, realizing that it was He and not our good deeds that called us out of darkness into the marvelous light of His son Jesus Christ 1Peter 2:9? I don’t know how you will answer this question but ask yourself,be honest with yourself, take a minute and ponder on it.

In a book that is very free and honest in its portrayal of the weaknesses and sins of its characters and hero’s, Joseph stands as a unique individual. We cannot come to the conclusion that Joseph was sinless as all men have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but for some purpose we are not told of any of Joseph’s sins and short-comings. Joseph was his father’s beloved or favorite son who was given prophetic dreams and the ability to interpret dreams. ..Dreams that were fulfilled in his person and work. Joseph was despised by his brothers and who in their jealousy betrayed him and sold him for the price of a slave. Joseph was placed in the ground and then lifted up, when his distraught father learned many years later that he was still alive; Joseph was received back to Israel as if back from the dead. He was numbered as and treated as a criminal and in whatever unfair or unjust situation Joseph found himself in, he was always promoted due to his high integrity and ability. He literally fled temptation and sin. In fulfillment of prophecies regarding his life and work, he was elevated to the position of a savior and king over his people and they bowed the knee to him. He not only became a savior and ruler to the circumcised but he also became a ruler and savior of a pagan and uncircumcised people! Joseph had a generous ability to extend forgiveness to those who had sinned against him grievously and to see his life as being used by God for a greater purpose.

Hmmm…does any of this sound familiar?

Now that we are done with reviewing a bit of type teaching, let’s visit a few other things we can learn from Chapters 46-48 of Genesis:

In chapter 46 God speaks to Jacob/Israel in a dream and reassures Jacob that going down to Egypt is all a part of His plan and that Israel should not be afraid despite his and his families dubious past history with Egypt. God comforts Israel with the information that God will bring Israel back up from Egypt and that Joseph would himself close Israel eyes. When all things look grim and we wonder if we are outside of God’s will, God will speak to His children love and encouragement and confirm his plan and commitment to them.

In Genesis 47 we see that as the famine continued to ravage the land that Joseph indicates that he had bought the Egyptians for the one that he served Genesis 47:23. And the people exclaim, “You have saved our lives!”

Thank God that Christ has bought us in our desperate condition to be servants of the Father!

In consternation to Patriarchy People everywhere and in all generations, God in chapter 48 once again sovereignly promotes the younger over the older regarding Josephs sons, this will play out within the OT narrative and redemptive history in interesting ways.

Thank God that in Christ the weak and foolish are used by God to shame the strong and the wise, that’s good news for me! 1 Corinthians 1:25-27.

In our Matthew passage, I will focus on the account of Christ walking on the water:

It is interesting that Jesus had to “make”/constrained his disciples to get into a ship. Perhaps they were afraid to return into the jurisdiction of Herod, or they were unwilling to embark without their Lord and Protector, and would not enter their boat till Christ had commanded them to embark.

Regarding our Lord’s conduct, spirit and practice of prayer, we can observe that He frequently withdrew from the world, elevated His heart to God and sought solitude, I hope and pray that this activity can become a bigger part of my life as it expresses my dependence upon God for strength and His direction for my life and activity.

Meanwhile His disciples are being “Tossed with waves” and “grievously agitated”.  Perhaps the proper meaning was that they where being, plunged under the waves, frequently covered with them; the waves often breaking over the vessel.

Could it be that our Savior is interceding and making petition for us even as we are going through different struggle and difficulties in our lives? Even when it looks like the boat is going to sink?

As the disciples struggle in a situation they cannot control, between the hours of three and six in the morning Jesus makes his appearance to his disciples.

I want us to be careful to see more than just a lesson on personal faith and belief that God will pull us through in this passage, even though God will most certainly come through for His children. I think there is much more here.

Jesus suspending the laws of gravity as a proper manifestation of unlimited power, Though at a distance from his disciples, he knew their distress, He found them out on the lake, and probably in the midst of darkness and He walked upon the water. Job, speaking of those things whereby the omnipotence of God was demonstrated, says this:  He walks upon the waves of the sea: indicating that this was impossible to anything but Omnipotence.

It is I; be not afraid. Nothing but this voice of Christ could, in such circumstances, have given courage and comfort to his disciples: those who are grievously tossed with difficulties and temptations require a similar manifestation of his power and goodness.

Peter is his usual intrepid way says to Jesus, “Tell me to come to you on the water”.  Christ commands Peter to come and however impossible the thing commanded by Christ may appear, it is certain he will give power to accomplish it to those who receive his word by faith. Peter starts out well but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. It was not the violence of the winds, nor the raging of the waves, which endangered his life, nor is the temptations and difficulties that swamp our boat that endangers our lives it our habit of taking our eyes off of Christ and focusing on our circumstances that pose us the biggest threat.

Is this just a lesson on the failure or the littleness of Peter’s faith? I think not. Can we see that each circumstance and difficulty in our lives is being used by God to increase our faith and dependency upon Christ? Can we see that even when we fail, as His child he we are only sustained by His mercy as He puts His hand forth and grabs a hold of us to keep us from going under. Are we not saved and sustained in that salvation only by the strong hand of our gracious and merciful God?

In Christ, the Prince of peace is peace and calm where He condescends to enter and abide.

The Lord God used Joseph to preserve a remnant and save the lives of the very men that betrayed him. Let me say that again. By divine intention Joseph was rejected (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:11), falsely accused (Matthew 27:11-26), and bore the punishment of sins he did not commit so that a remnant could be saved (1 Peter 2:24)!

Joseph realized that it was the Lord’s doing that he should suffer separation from his beloved father and the rest of his family so that he could bring deliverance (a salvation of sorts) when the time was right (Romans 5:6). So, when he met up with his brothers again, he did not make them suffer for their former sins. He was so overwhelmed with joy that they would be saved; he wept and hugged them and immediately began making provision for them.

When I see these glimpses of the Savior throughout redemptive history and cannot help but rejoice because I see Him more clearly and love God more deeply.

So Jacob sends 10 of his sons to get food from Egypt, and when they get there Joseph immediately recognizes them yet they don’t recognized him (there are quite a few years in between these two events).

What is heart warming about this text is the recognition of sin in the lives of the 10. They realize that they are wrong. They realize that God will not let their sin go unnoticed, but what they have not realized is that God has already provided a substitute for them. Joseph being innocent has already suffered and has been elevated to highest office possible in Egypt. God as always has provided a ram for Himself. His promises to Abraham will not prevented, even in adverse circumstances.

After hearing their repentance Joseph weeps. He is broken by his brothers sins and excited that he has been reconciled. He must have thought throughout these years what was his purpose. Was he only their to pepetuate the Egyptian dynasty and go to his grave alone as an Egyptian? No, he is has provided a way of provision for his family, although through hardship.

We see reconciliation and repentance. But to make this practical, we need to think about our lives. If we are in Christ we have repented and have been reconciled and God has also provided Himself a lamb a sacrifice who was also innocent and this was His Son. The one He loves. He bears the suffering on our behalf and we get the provision that only He can make possible. But even more we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. God did not place Joseph in the high position of Pharaohs right hand so that he can eat, drink and be merry. God used Jacob to fulfill His purpose and plan to bring His promise to His people. Joseph could have easily gave them the food and not compromise His position and person. But He didn’t. And neither should we. God has given us a ministry of reconciliation. We are now ambassadors for Christ ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).  And we too can be used to reconcile our friends and family to the one true God.

However, Joseph’s position came by his uprightness in his moral character and his integrity. When presented with opportunities to get over, he did not. When presented with sexual immorality he fled, when given the opportunity to use his gifts to get out of prison he passed them along to the his fellow prisoners and they got free and even when they were free he never yelled about how unfair that was. He entrusted himself to God and God gave him the ultimate victory. We will have to do the same if we are to present the ministry of reconciliation. We will have to have upright moral character and integrity. This may cause us to be falsely accused, ridiculed or even persecuted at some length, but Jesus says ” a servant is not above His master…”. Jesus experienced this and so will we from time to time.

As we transition into our New Testament reading Jesus is speaking of the value of the Kingdom of Heaven. He uses the simile literary style.  We see from yesterday that the Kingdom is a seed that is thrown but only a few will bear fruit. It is also like leaven that permeates, a valuable item in which all is sold to pursue and finally it is like a net which may catch a lot of things  yet only some of them will be good, while the others will be discarded. The Kingdom of Heaven in these instances is the Good News. We are to sow it like seed, and let God deal with the soil, we are to let it permeate our lives, it (He) is to be valuable enough to sale everything we have and we are to cast it out and God will do the work of separation (we are not to choose which people get the message, it is God’s kingdom He will decide who gets in and who does not).

Again this is the ministry of reconciliation. The Good News of Jesus Christ. We are the sowers, we are the person who found the treasure it is the leaven in our lives which permeates every part and we are to be fisher of men.

I don’t want to explain the next parable here because it will be discussed tomorrow.

The OT reading today starts with Pharaoh dreaming not once but twice. The problem is he can’t get the dreams out of his mind for the scriptures say: Gen. 41:8 in the  morning when Pharaoh awakened from sleep his spirit is troubled. To add the his torment of not being able to shake the dreams, he has no idea of what the dreams mean. He calls everyone he thinks should know and none of them do him any good. The cupbearer remembers Joseph and brings it to Pharaoh. What I love most is the reverence, respect, and humility Joseph has towards God. When Pharaoh tells Joseph what he has heard about Joseph’s interpreting abilities, Joseph could have easily taken credit, even if it wasn’t in a way that seemed haughty or proud. What I mean is this: Pharaoh says to Joseph Gen.41:15 ” I have a dream, but no one can interpret it; and I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph, at this point could have answered like this: He could have said: “I do”, ” It is true what you have heard” or  anything similar, but he doesn’t. He does not take an opportunity to gratify the flesh even a little. His response to Pharaoh is the response we should have to all that we meet. Joseph says: Gen. 41:16  ” It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” Just as Joseph did not cease an opportunity to pat himself on the back because of the good deeds he had done, neither should we. Joseph understood that with out the power of God he would not be possible to do anything. We should remember that nothing we’ve done that seems good or righteous,( whether we are good husbands, or wives, good preachers, teachers, give to the poor, take care of orphans and widows)   is done in our own power, None of it could be done outside of the power of God working in us. Therefore we should give honor to whom honor is do.(Rom. 13:7) In this case it would be God, for Phil.2:13 tells us that it is God who is at work in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

I hope it isn’t sacrilegious to say this, but the Genesis saga is better than any reality television show I have ever watched! I mean I’ve read or heard all these stories at one point or another in my life, but never have I read them straight through as one large narrative. I am starting to fill in some mental gaps and the Old Testament, which was once so scary to me, is actually turning out to be quite intriguing.

The story makes a clean break from the narrative and gives us Esau’s lineage. Why is that important? I think we’ll find out as we keep reading because I noticed some names that I remember from my childhood Sunday school class in that heritage that will reappear much later (i.e. Amalek=Amalekites, and the land of Edom, which is named after Esau). Also, we find that physical lineage has been a very important part of the story this far and will continue to be until the birth of Jesus…and then…we see an even more important lineage granted to those who would believe, namely the sonship/heir/adoption that we have received in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I think everyone is pretty familiar with the Joseph story so I won’t beat the dead horse by retelling it. However, here are some things that I noticed:

• Israel loved Joseph more than any other son because he was born in his old age, yet Benjamin is the youngest (which means he was really born in Israel’s old age) and he doesn’t receive that beloved affection.
• Joseph’s dream bears striking similarity to what God told Rebekah, “The younger will serve the older.” We never really see Esau “serve” Jacob (in fact we see the inverse sometimes in Jacob’s language toward Esau and the gifts that he gives), so could God have beeen speaking prophetically in this case to mean future generations?
• I was very surprised at Reuben’s grace toward his brother even though he hated him.

Much can be said about our NT reading concerning Jesus and the Sabbath, but I think Lionel poignantly pointed out that great truth in yesterday’s post: Jesus Christ IS the Sabbath; we find our rest IN Him. However, I hope it’s appropriate for me to focus a bit on the endorsement of Jesus Christ by God, through the words of Isaiah (vv.18-21). “He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles,” “he brings justice to victory,” and “In His name the Gentiles will hope.” Justice. Justice. Justice. It is at the heart of God, and He used His own Son as a conduit. Not only is He the means through which justice is available on the earth, HE IS ALSO THE MERCY (v. 7) BY WHICH JUSTICE IS EVEN POSSIBLE! That, my friends, is good news! Because of the mercy of Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, we can hope in His name, and justice is served. In light of the Haitian tragedy, that is good news!

My heart is burdened for Haiti (as I assume yours is, too. If not pray right now and ask Jesus to come into your heart ). Please pray earnestly for the Haitian people. And if you have a few extra dollars to spare, please donate. My husband and I donated to Compassion International https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/disasterrelief.htm?referer=105910

Desiring God has compiled a list of organizations here. http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2188_11_charities_collecting_donations_for_haiti/

Well, Jacob finally finds rest. He can no longer run, his deception, lies, and trickery have finally come to an end, he has been afflicted by YAWEH and now is the time of reconciliation, he must face his past. What a picture of God’s grace.  We see Jacob meeting up with Esau and there is reconciliation, we see him meeting up with Isaac and there is reconciliation and now we see Jacob back in the land of his fathers, the place God has told him to go. We even see a picture of intercession as Jacob buries the false gods of his loved ones and builds an alter to the Most High. Jacob has finally found rest for his feet, his household and his soul!

In our New Testament reading we see another rest. Jesus says “come to me… and I will give you rest”.  What is odd about Jesus’ statement is the paradoxical nature of it. You see He says “take my yoke… for it is easy and light”. Now if you know what a yoke is, niether a picture of rest oreasy and light will ever cross your mind. Seeing a mule or an ox yoked up has never produced a picture of rest in my mind. Not to mention when we think of rest we usually don’t think of  being “controlled” we think of freedom.  A yoke is for the sole purpose of directing and controlling and subduing for the benefit  of the person who has control of the yoke.

However, Jesus says putting on His yoke yields the fruit of rest! Often times we hear “I will come to God when I am ready” (usually that means the commands of Jesus are taxing, hard or laboring) people think they have rest or freedom, yet they have bondage and are constantly running from person to person, thing to thing, drug to drug only to never find “rest”.

Jesus is our rest. In Christ we are even told “we rest from all of our works” (Hebrews 4:10), outside of Christ there is no rest and no freedom once we take on His yoke only then can we rest and we can be assured that wherever He takes us will be for our own good.

But there is one more rest I want to remind us who know Christ about. That is the rest from legalism. Many of us today are busy, we are running, we are working hard to please God, yet we never feel at peace, we never feel secure and we never feel rested. It is always improve, try harder, dig deeper, obey more, and then and only then will God be satisfied, yet we ache with condemnation, a sense of failure, an unworthiness. However, Jesus gives us a different picture. When we come to Christ and yield to Him it produces the fruit of rest (rest embodies, peace, serenity, joy, comfort). We can rest from our effort and trust that God’s wrath has been satisfied and that He loves us because of His Son. To be even more frank apart from resting in Christ, we can’t satisfy the Father, Jesus tells us “unless you become like one of these little ones, you can not enter the Kingdom of God”. So today if you are in Christ find rest in His work, if you are outside of Christ find rest in Christ. Don’t be crippled like Jacob for trying to run. He  walked with a sign of God’s sovereignty until he was buried with his fathers, let experience be the wisdom of fools.

A fascinating juxtaposition, we have with today’s reading from Gen. 31-32 and Matt. 10:24-42. We first find Jacob preparing to leave Laban in order to return back to the land with his family. (Gen. 31:3) Jacob ceases the moment to proclaim his manhood in his home and truly stand upon his faith. In so doing he wins the support of his wives and they support his efforts to leave. While leaving Rachel bags the “gods” or the religious artifacts and takes them with her.  According to Stuart West, the customs of that time promoted the fact that whoever had the artifacts were considered the true heirs. So Rachael was in a way trying to solidify her stance when Laban dies.

Laban finds out that the stuff has been stolen and then follows Jacob and his clan. Upon meeting them he rushes in and accuses Jacob of stealing.  You begin to see Jacob’s character illuminate from this moment on…His tone is one of hurt and anguish because he was such an honest worker for Laban but Laban makes accusations. Traditions displays that when one shepherds a flock his payment was to receive a part of that very same flock. Jacob always made sure that if something was lost while he was shepherding the flock that he took the loss from his portion without Laban knowing. (Gen: 39-40)

Gen. 32 shows the battle of the angel and Jacob as he prepares to meet his brother Esau. Jacob wrestles with the angel until daybreak. The angel places his hip out of joint and then proceeds to ask him a question, “What is your name?” Interestingly enough Jacob gets Socratic and asks the angel his name. The angel only answers with,” Why do you ask me my name.” Did Jacob’s questioning open an insight to the New Testament or was it rhetorical?

Matthew 10:24-42 highlights the character of a disciple or one who follows after Christ.  Though encamp in the midst of trouble Jesus was trying to show the disciple that he had their back. He was showing them that no matter how small people viewed them, he still had their back.  He hits home the fact that regardless of the situation he was in control.

What we then find in the reading is that God builds up the believer to handle situation with the main point being that he can be glorified. In the end his primary objective is to be glorified by our lifestyle in the midst of others. Jacob was put in a place where he could have overreacted but god had already dealt with Laban concerning his interactions with Jacob. (Gen 31:29)  What we can take away from the two passages is God will maintain his sovereignty in our lives but can we main our character in his sovereignty.

Jacob (whose name means “deceiver”) continues to prove that he was named correctly. And, his father-in-law and wives join in. Laban deceives Jacob concerning his daughters (Genesis 29:21-25). The daughters react to one another’s children with jealousy (Genesis 30:1; Genesis 30:9). Then Jacob took steps to make sure that his flock increased while his father-in-law’s did not (Genesis 39:40).

Doesn’t sound like a great family, does it? It sounds like living in the middle of a den of wolves. In reality, they were simply living as the world around them, by watching out for themselves regardless of the hurt caused to others.

Yet, somehow, God worked his plan through (and in spite of) their self-destructive and family-destructive activities.

This leads us to our New Testament reading for today. At the end of this passage, Jesus tells his disciples that he is sending them out “as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”  (Matthew 10:16). Jesus expected his followers to understand the ways of the world, but to live in a way that was drastically different. They were to live with God and others as the focus of their lives.

To understand this, we have to begin in the previous chapter, where Jesus points out to his followers (disciples) that there are many people in need of a shepherd. He then tells them to pray that God would provide “workers” to go to those people (Matthew 9:36-38).

Imagine the surprise (shock-and-awe) on the face of those same disciples when Jesus then tells them that THEY are the answers to their own prayers (Matthew 10:5). Jesus sends them out to those in need of a shepherd. He tells them to proclaim the good news of the kingdom and to heal the sick, the same work that they had seen him doing since they began following him (for example, see Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 9:35 for summaries).

But, they were not going on their own initiative or by their own authority. They were being sent by Jesus and by his authority. He called them out, he gave them authority, and then he sent them (Matthew 10:1-5). He sent them to proclaim the good news that Jesus is the Messiah and the kingdom of God is here, to teach one another how to live as citizens of that new kingdom, and to care for another through healing, serving, or whatever else is necessary.

Jesus still calls us out of the world, gives us authority, and send us back into the world, not to live as the world does (like Jacob and his family) but to be a different kind of kingdom – to understand the ways of the world, but live in the ways of God. (For further reading, see Matthew 28:19-20, John 20:21, Acts 1:8)

A Little Greek

πορευόμενοι δὲ κηρύσσετε λέγοντες ὅτι Ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. ἀσθενοῦντας θεραπεύετε, νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε, λεπροὺς καθαρίζετε, δαιμόνια ἐκβάλλετε: δωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε. (Matthew 10:7-8)

There are five commands (imperatives) in this sentence. The first four commands are given without explanation: proclaim, heal, raise, make clean, and cast out.

However, the last command is given with an explanation: “You received freely; give freely.” Certainly, the idea of “freely” includes the concept of receiving and giving without requiring a fee. But, it goes beyond that. But, this word also carries the connotation of “without cause or without reason”. (For example, see John 15:25.)

Jesus was telling the disciples to serve those who could not pay them and, even more, who did not deserve to be served.

In the new testament reading we see Jesus restoring people’s lives. He is asked to restore the life of the synagogue official’s daughter, on the way to the officials house He restores the health of the woman who hemorrhaged for twelve years, but also restored her life because during her hemorrhaging she would have been deemed unclean and shunned by the people, so now after her healing she can enter society once again.

Jesus comes into contact with two blind guys, restores their sight and then says to them “See that know one knows about this.” But they could not contain that news and the word spread throughout the land. He also cast demons out of man who was mute, and gave him speech again.

What I loved most about this passage is that even after doing all of the physical healing of disease and sickness; verse 36 says: Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus knew that more important than healing the flesh is the healing of the spirit, restoring people back to the Father. When He saw so many people without that connection He was moved with compassion. We too my friends should be moved when we look out into the world and see so many dispirited and distressed people. We should fall on our knees and pray without ceasing to the God of heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who is able to restore lives and give grace and mercy.