Daily Blast - The Book of Matthew: Chapter 11
Scripture
“4 Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— 5 the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”
Reflection
Today I’m only going to pick out a small section of Matthew 11 but I do encourage you to read all of the chapter.
A bit of background before we get started, John the Baptist, you remember him right? The crazy man who wore camel hair clothing and ate locusts and honey? Well, he has been arrested and is in prison. Even though he was in prison he was hearing about Jesus and the great things He was doing but needed to just be certain so he sends some of his followers to ask Jesus if He was the one John has been waiting for.
When Johns’ followers arrived, they ask the question. Jesus answers with an extensive list of miracles which He had been doing; helping the blind to see, the lame walk, leprosy cured, deaf to hear, the dead raised to life and the Good News had been preached to all. What a list!! Imagine seeing these things happen, how incredible would it be!
After Jesus finishes, John’s followers go back to report what they have seen and heard. As they’re leaving, Jesus starts talking to the crowds. He decides to talk about John the Baptist. Jesus asks the people what they expected when they went to see John in the wilderness. He then informs them all that John is the man that is spoken about in Malachi (3:1) about a messenger coming before Jesus to prepare the way.
At youth, I quite often say that the Bible all points in one direction. The Old Testament points in one direction going “look Jesus is coming”, then the first bit of the New Testament is pointing going “look Jesus is here” and then the second half of the New Testament is pointing saying “look what Jesus has done and what are you going to do with it?”. In verses 13-15, Jesus is saying look what the scriptures are saying and they are pointing to this moment in time!
Challenge
Verse 15 says that “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”.
I know that we are nearly 2000 years down the road and are in a very strange time with this pandemic, but are we still willing to listen? God wants us to take the things we learn from scripture, the theology, all the stuff that we live in our day to day lives, but He doesn’t want you to just know it. He wants to call you to live it! He wants you to let it sink from your head to your heart and walk in a relationship with Him.
Jesus has been (and is still relevant) but the Holy Spirit is still here today and wants a relationship with you. So my challenge is to let the Spirit help you let the things you know sink from your head to your heart and allow you to live in a greater understanding of who He is.