SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2022 9:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 13:53-58”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
13:53-58
Message of the verses: “53 And it came about that when Jesus had finished these
parables, He departed from there. 54 And coming to His home town He began
teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said,
"Where did this man get this wisdom, and these
miraculous powers? 55 “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother
called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 “And
His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get
all these things?" 57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to
them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own
household." 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their
unbelief.”
We begin by looking at what I believe is the outline
of what we will be looking at as we go through these verses. “Beginning with 13:53 and continuing through
the first part of chapter 16, Matthew records eight incidents in the life of
the Lord that correspond to and demonstrate the truths presented in the two
parables just mentioned.” Now I realize
that this is a repeat of what I ended our last SD with but I think that it is
important not to disrupt the flow of what we are studying as far as the
introduction to these verses. The two
parables that were mentioned were the wheat and tares and the sower.
In
verses 54-58 we see the first incident which involves the problem with Jesus
and His hometown people that He grew up with.
To those people Jesus was a stumbling block, and the soil of their
hearts was obviously hard.
Now
the second incident involved Herod which is seen in Matthew 14:1-12, and his
heart was also hard but who rejected the Lord more out of indifference than
hatred.
Now
the third incident had two parts to it and centered first on the large
multitude whom Jesus miraculously fed and then around the people of Gennesaret
as seen in 14:13-21, 34-36. Now in both
instances, the initial fascination with Jesus was positive but
superficial. We see that the first group
followed Jesus because they were fed, and the second group because they were
healed. Their interest eventually
withered, just like the plants in the shallow soil when the sun comes out.
We
move onto the fourth incident which occurred between the two parts of the third
and it involved the twelve disciples, whose “good soil” was evidenced by their
worshiping Jesus after He walked on the water and calmed the storm as seen in
14:22-33.
Next
the sixth incident and it centered on the Canaanite woman who immediately
confessed Jesus as Lord and begged Him to deliver her demon-possessed daughter and
this is seen in 15:21-28. Now the soil
of her heart was soft and fertile, and the seed of the Word too firm root.
The
seventh incident involved the Galileans who brought their sick and afflicted to
Jesus for healing but they made no genuine commitment as seen in 15:29-39. Here we see a mixture of shallow and thorny
soils, in which the gospel was partially but not permanently received.
The
eight incident is the last one and so we will look at it and then, Lord
willing, we will talk more about these eight accounts in our next SD. This eight and last incident involved the
Pharisees and Sadducees who sought to test and entrap Jesus by asking for a
special sign (16:1-4). The soil of their
hearts was obviously hard.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful that the soil of my heart was
ready to receive the Savior back on the 26th of January in 1974. Jesus had prepared my heart even when I did
not realize that He was doing so, and for that I will be eternally thankful.
My Steps of Faith for today: Trust the Lord to fill me with His Holy
Spirit and to put on the armor and use it to battle the forces of evil that are
against me as a believer in Jesus Christ.
5/18/2022 10:06 AM
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