The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 12:9-13 (day five)

“But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”

The Pharisees witnessed a miracle. They heard prophetic authoritative teaching. They sensed wisdom, holiness, and divinity. Their hearts and souls should have been lifted and encouraged.  They should have worshipped and praised God. They should have repented for their anger and their hypocrisy. But they didn’t. They were a personal witness to the work and ministry of Jesus Christ. Yet, somehow they missed it. Made me wonder about the effects of my own perceptions and priorities. My own sin and disbelief. What have I missed?  What have we witnessed, heard, and sensed that we ignored or discounted?  Forgive our busyness.  Forgive our selfishness.  Forgive our hardened hearts. Lord open our hearts, open our eyes, open our ears, open our souls that we might see and sense more of You at work in and around our lives, that we may praise and glorify You!!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 12:9-13 (day four)

It was a trap…an ambush!  The Jewish religious leaders were trying to catch Jesus into saying something they could use against Him.  It reminds me of Wylie Coyote trying to catch the Roadrunner.  A new plan, a new trick, a new device to help him to outsmart and catch the elusive Roadrunner…but it never worked!  Each scribe, each Pharisee, each lawyer, or each Sadducee…they all had a plan to trip Jesus up…but it never worked!  Jesus always saw through their deception and His wisdom and ability to go directly to the heart or truth of the question never failed to silence His would-be accusers.

Have you ever wondered how someone could come up with such wise responses to today’s problems?  Wisdom comes from spending time in God’s Word.  In Acts 4:13 it says, “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”  So you haven’t been spending time with Jesus?  Do you believe it is too late to start now?  Start now…read Scripture daily…it’s never too late to start!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 12:9-13 (day three)

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

The answer to that question is…no, if God rules the universe arbitrarily. How in the world did the Pharisees get there? The religious establishment Jesus encountered often seemed to regard the law as a set of despotic measures disconnected from any actual good for humankind. If it were God’s aim in history to keep score on humanity, such measures would be just what you could expect. The question would not be whether you seek the good of others, but whether you execute the law’s required duties—not whether you’re righteous but whether you’re right. Eventually one will necessarily value principles over people, the system over souls. If today is the Sabbath, then figuring out what a person with a disability might need plays Sabbath-keeping too close to the edge. Maybe tomorrow you can lend aid.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 12:9-13 (day two)

Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. vs. 9

As we examine the life and ministry of Jesus one thing we should take note of is how much time he spends with people. His ministry is marked by walking, talking, and eating with people-where they are. It is a reminder to us that much, nay most, of what we are called to do happens outside the walls of our church buildings. However, I love this gem of a verse that is tucked in this miracle story. Jesus worshipped. Jesus took the time to be a part of the regular rhythm of worship that God had instructed Moses so many generations before. Worship honors God. He commands us to worship. He deserves our worship. Worship also equips us to do the things we are called to do in the world. This new year let’s be like Jesus. Let’s worship together and see how God grows our calling.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 9:20-22(day seven)

“At once the woman was made well.”

This last phrase “was made well” comes from the Greek word sozo meaning “to save.”

This passage could read, “Immediately the woman was saved.”

The miracle here was just as much spiritual as it was physical. Her faith made her medically healed but it also eternally set her apart. Yesterday, Danny pointed us to the phrase “Daughter.” When Jesus called her His daughter, it gave her belonging. She became a daughter of the King through her faith. She suffered in isolation for 12 years, but now she belongs for eternity. Saved by grace through faith.

Jesus calls us all out of our isolation and suffering and into His family. He calls us into healing. Sometimes it is physical, but always it is spiritual. He calls us to step out in faith and trust Him. He calls us sons and daughters. He saves us by grace through faith.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 9:20-22(day six)

Truth is, she had no intention of being noticed. For all the reasons already offered (Scott and Aaron), the last thing she wanted was for Jesus, much less the crowd, to become aware of her presence. She needed to stop dying, to stop the bleeding, and be made clean. What she didn’t want were glares thrown like stones reminding her of her disconnectedness.

If I could only touch the hem of his prayer shawl, then I would be healed. No one has to know.

But Jesus did take notice.

“Daughter, take courage; your faith has saved you.”

He called me… daughter. 

She had hope for healing, and He healed her. She had hoped to be unnoticed,  but he noticed her. But something else happened that day she did not expect.

Belonging.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 9:20-22(day five) 

“for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” Matthew‬ ‭9:21‬  This woman’s needs were many. Physical. Personal. Social. Spiritual. She had been cutoff, removed, and isolated for so long. To give you perspective, twelve years ago from today, George W Bush was president. Can you imagine how long she had suffered? But there was still a glimmer of hope in her heart.

She had decided that touching Jesus was worth the risk of certain persecution.  She had determined that the very thing she was not “allowed” to do according to society (be in public, interact with a rabbi, touch someone) was what would bring healing and wholeness.  Imagine the reaction when Jesus didn’t rebuke her, but rather encouraged her and in fact healed her. What are you willing to risk (socially, religiously, and personally) in order to be near the presence and power of God?  Is there still hope in your heart?

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 9:20-22 (day four)

There is not one instance in Scripture when Jesus said for something to happen and it didn’t happen.  Whether it was calming a storm, sending out a demon, or healing a sick person, whatever Jesus commanded…happened!  His sovereignty and His power were evident over the physical world and the spiritual world.  The disciples were constantly amazed at His demonstrated authority.  Now, in our passage this week, we see that power flows out of Jesus in response to faith on the part of this woman.  The world had never seen someone like Jesus.

Throughout Scripture we have promises where God (aka Jesus) tells us that He will do something, or heal something, or make something to happen.  Often, the requirement for us is to only believe.  If we have this full and complete message of Scripture that tells us that God will work in our lives, can we believe Him?  Can we believe that He has the power to do it and that He will do it when He says so?  The character qualities of faithfulness, truthfulness, immutability, compassion, and authority find their source in the character of God.  They are some of our greatest gifts!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 9:20-22 (day three)

“Daughter, take courage.”

It turns out that strength isn’t just for the warriors, or the wealthy, or the kings or the commanders, or celebrated, or the storied. Jesus indicates that the hidden and the humble and the marginalized and the minority and the invisible and insignificant may lay claim to the very steadfastness the world has said belongs only to the powerful. That a person who is by society’s reckoning a common peasant of unremarkable lineage is called to courage as a daughter of Abraham – this is new. On that day, Jesus restored this poor woman to a place of strength greater than that of Imperial Rome. One is faced with either relearning how to live in the presence of people or ignoring what has just happened to the human race. May we with Christ call the weak to strength.