Sunday, March 26, 2006
March 27 Matthew 15
Go ahead and look first at Matthew 15 . See how God speaks to you individually. Then come back, if you wish, and see what God has put in my mind/heart.
Key Verse(s): Matthew 15:27
"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
Title: Crumbs of Grace
Observation: Jesus encounters three main sets of people in this chapter. The first is are the Pharisees who are so insistent on their version of the Law that they miss the spirit of God’s commands; an intent mother looking for crumbs of Grace; and a desperate people hungering for healing. Jesus deals with the latter two with great compassion and healing. The former is treated with stern words for ritualizing the path to God and not honoring God himself.
It is very easy for those in professional ministry to act like the Pharisees. We like order- especially when it gives us power. Sometimes we unconsciously take on the role of God, we think if we give our people a little bit stricter understanding of scripture they will be safer from the edge of breaking God’s rules. Yet we lose our way when we begin to see ourselves as the mediators of grace. That is the role of the Holy Spirit. We must be more like John the Baptist- He must increase, I must decrease. Pointing people to Jesus isn’t the way to power or prestige- but it is the calling to which I have been called.
I get in my own way when I want the whole loaf of grace, or what I perceive to be the whole loaf of grace instead of being content with what I have been given. I must wait on God, trust in him, and be content with the smallest morsels of the experience of God’s goodness. Otherwise I might choke on the enormity of the responsibility. God is the one who gives to each according to his faith; I need to wait on God’s timing and not on my own visions of grandeur.
Application: I must be like my master- showing great compassion and mercy. I need to be willing to follow His example of caring for the hurting, feeding the hungry, and loving the alien. I may not be able to cure the blind (but Lord I am willing if you give me faith!) but I can feed the hungry. Help me to be unafraid to do my part and unashamed to admit my boundries.
Prayer: Lord God, help me to live a life of mercy. Help me not to be judgmental, but living in hope that faith brings. Lord I want to be your witness in the places where I am put. The crumbs of your grace are more than sufficient for me. Thank you for the overwhelming blessings of my family and my church, the people you have given me to love.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
