Take It Into Your Hearts

For 10/30/2011
All Scriptures are from The Message Version

This post is intended to help the reader personalize the words and thoughts in the scriptures.  It works best if shared between two or more people as a topic of discussion but there is much to be gained by just considering the questions by yourself.  Commentaries for these scriptures can be found on Textweek through this link http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/matt23.htm

Matthew 23:1-12

Matthew and the other Gospel writers give us many examples of the conflicts that Jesus had with the religious authorities who confronted him and his followers.  In today’s scripture from Matthew 23 he uses the behavior of the Pharisees to teach a broader lesson about the root of a full and meaningful faith life.

Matthew 23:1-3 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.

·       In other teachings Jesus has seemed to completely discredit those who are in a position of Jewish authority or given formal credibility as teachers and judges of behavior.  In this scripture he modifies this apparent blanket judgment.  What should be respected and understand about religious scholars and Pharisees?  What do you think he means when he speaks about God’s Law, what might it consist of?

·       Here are two brief scriptures in which Jesus speaks to the law:

Matthew 5:17 "Don't suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures— either God's Law or the Prophets. I'm not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama.

Matthew 7:24-25"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock.

·       Where should we turn to understand what God’s Law is for followers of Jesus?  How are we to use it and what is it’s benefit?  What makes the Law real and effective for us?  Can our perception of the word law as something to learn and comply with run against the concept of law Jesus is speaking about?  What must we do with the words to live on solid rock?

·       After giving the Pharisees some credit he takes them to task.  What is his problem with them?  Does any of this ring true for you in your experience with religious leaders or fellow believers or yourself?  Isn’t a common criticism of Christians that we are “a bunch of hypocrites”?  How would you respond if someone said that to you?  What is available to us when we fall short?

Back to our scripture:

Matthew 23:4-7 "Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.  Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that.”

·       What results from seeing “God’s Law” as complying with rules?  How have you experienced hearing it as “food and drink”?  What makes our faith real to us in our everyday lives?

·       Does any of the criticism of the Pharisee’s behavior resonate with your experience or observation of religious leaders or fellow Christians?  What do you admire in the lives of leaders and fellow believers, what makes you respect them?

·       Should we expect to find favor in God’s eyes because of meeting others expectations as to how we should behave or practice our faith?

 Continuing with our scripture:

^{8-10 “}You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.

 ^11-12"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

·       Is it important for us to have teachers if we are to grow in our faith life?  What cautions does Jesus give us about teachers? Who have been meaningful teachers for you and what was it that gave them credibility?

·       What are some important experiences that taught you about and grew your faith?  Where does succeeding and failing on our own fit into expanding our understanding what being faithful means?

·       When do you turn to “experts” as you live your daily life?  Do you follow their advice literally or do you interpret it based on your experience?  How might this apply to our faith lives?

·       Jesus finishes with a teaching he repeats all during his ministry – what are we to remember and how should we seek to live?   Can you point to an example that illustrates what he is talking about?

·       What is one thing you have learned as you contemplated these scriptures today?

Closing Litany from Romans 12:1-2

Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.

Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

AMEN

Next Week’s Lectionary Scriptures:  Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25or Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 or Amos 5:18-24, m 78:1-7or Psalm 70, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 25:1-13

Please comment by clicking on the word comments in the sentence “Posted by John at XXXX “ at the bottom of the page

Make God's For Us

For 10/9/2011

All scriptures from The Message Version

This scripture follows the dramatic delivery of the 10 Commandments to Moses on the seemingly volcanic Mount Sinai with the nation of Israel gathered in fear and trembling described in Exodus 19.  The event described in Exodus 32 could be a second telling of the delivery of the Ten Commandments or describes a second meeting with God.  Moses, accompanied by Joshua, climbs up the Mount Sinai for a meeting with God that lasts 40 days and 40 nights.  While he is gone the people understandably get restless and impatient, then led by Aaron they break the very first of the Ten Commandments in a most blatant way:

 ¹ When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, "Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what's happened to him?"

^2-4 So Aaron told them, "Take off the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me." They all did it; they removed the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool. The people responded with enthusiasm: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!"

⁵ Aaron, taking in the situation, built an altar before the calf. Aaron then announced, "Tomorrow is a feast day to God!"

⁶ Early the next morning, the people got up and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings and brought Peace-Offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!

·       What is making the people uneasy?  What do you think Moses represents to them?  Are they confusing Moses with God?  What do they want?  What went amazing experience had they just had at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19)? How long has it been since the parting of the Red Sea?  Is their reaction under the circumstances surprising? 

·       What do you think is at the root of their behavior?  Do you think that the people feel a connection with God?

·       Who is Aaron?  In Moses’ initial meeting with God Aaron’s name comes up when Moses complains that he is a poor speaker:

Exodus 4:14-17 God got angry with Moses: "Don't you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He's good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he's on his way to meet you. When he sees you he's going to be glad. You'll speak to him and tell him what to say. I'll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. He will speak to the people for you. He'll act as your mouth, but you'll decide what comes out of it. Now take this staff in your hand; you'll use it to do the signs."

·       What role is Aaron chosen by God to take on?  How do you think that he felt when the people came to him with a big problem and Moses is away on the mountain?  How much pressure must he have felt when the people clamored crying, “Do something”?  Have you ever had to respond to the pressure of making an important decision you did not feel prepared to make?  How did you resolve it? 

·       What do the people want that Aaron responds to by building the calf?  What is the material for the calf and what does it say about the importance of the idol?   Can building very expensive and grand edifices for worship be in any way equated with the motivation behind casting the calf? 

·       Where are the Israelites located and what might make them very, very insecure at that time?  What alternatives might Aaron have had for a response to their insecurities?  What does his response say about his sense of God’s presence with them?  Did Moses’ absence equate to God’s absence for them?  Can we have difficulty at times in sensing God’s presence?  What are some positive ways to deal with this problem?

·       What does their request say about the basic desires we have a humans to have sense the presence of something or someone greater than ourselves that we can rally around?  In what ways do we as modern day people seek this kind of reassurance in spiritual and secular ways?  Can this basic human need make us vulnerable to misguided decisions about whom or what to trust?

Exodus 4:7-8 God spoke to Moses, "Go! Get down there! Your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to pieces. In no time at all they've turned away from the way I commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped it. They've sacrificed to it and said, 'These are the gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt!'"

^9-10 God said to Moses, "I look at this people—oh! what a stubborn, hard-headed people! Let me alone now, give my anger free reign to burst into flames and incinerate them. But I'll make a great nation out of you."

·       Why do you think that God was so upset?  Is God’s reaction so surprising giving the circumstances? Have you ever felt really let down by someone or a group of people?  What was your reaction, how did you respond?
·       Would your vision of God do what God threatens to do here?  How would your vision of God respond?  Do we miss understanding all that God represents if we downplay judgment and reward and punishment?
·       What role does God promise Moses?  Is the promise to make a great nation out of Moses (Genesis 17 and see below) intended to connect him to the promise made to Abraham to do the same thing?

Exodus 4:11-13 Moses tried to calm his God down. He said, "Why, God, would you lose your temper with your people? Why, you brought them out of Egypt in a tremendous demonstration of power and strength. Why let the Egyptians say, 'He had it in for them—he brought them out so he could kill them in the mountains, wipe them right off the face of the Earth.' Stop your anger. Think twice about bringing evil against your people! Think of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you gave your word, telling them 'I will give you many children, as many as the stars in the sky, and I'll give this land to your children as their land forever.'"

¹⁴ And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.

·       Why do you think that Moses felt that he could argue with God?  Would any of the people in the valley have had the gumption to confront God?  Have you ever argued with or complained to God?  Should we voice our frustrations, confusion and doubts to God? 

·       What was the difference between Moses’ and the people’s relationship with God?  Why is a sense that God is approachable important to us?  What words does Jesus use to describe our relationship with God?  What are some things we can do to approach the type of relationship Moses had with God?

*       What arguments does Moses use to intercede for the Israelites?  What logic does he use? Do you think that we can influence God?  In what ways is this true and how do we go about it? 

·       What do you take away from thinking about these questions and what might you incorporate into you faith life?

Closing Prayer

Lord we seek your guidance and your Spirit as we live our daily lives for we know that your love for us has no bounds.  Forgive us when we ignore your presence and choose to worship our idols.   For we pray in the name of the one who interceded for us, Jesus Christ.  Amen

Next Week’s Scriptures:  Exodus 33:12-23, Psalm 99, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-22