Day 33 Bible Reading

Job 25-27, Matthew 21: 33-46, Psalm 16-24

Matthew 21: 45-46 (ESV)

“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.”

Verses 45-46 from Matthew 21 made me reflect how these verses from the Bible are reflecting what we sometimes go through in life today. There seems to be a parallel between “chief priests and Pharisees” and mainstream media. Do we rely on mainstream media to tell us who to believe and who to not believe? Or do we as Christians rely on The Bible and our relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit to guide us? If Christ were to show up today, would he be ridiculed and persecuted in the news because he did not follow their narrative? Who would we believe if we had personally experienced the teachings of Christ or had seen a YouTube video of him of one of his parables? Is our relationship with Christ strong enough to ignore what the mainstream media or the so-called “experts” are telling us? In my case, I try to first rely on my own discernment and then I pray to Christ and the Holy Spirit to guide me for more guidance. Christ has guided me my whole life and I have years of seeing and knowing that his plan for my life has always been correct. Christ is the only standard that I know I can trust because I know he has never failed me. And yes, sometimes it does feel like that I have been swimming upstream these last few years as I have relied on Christ to make decisions for my life. But I can only do that because I have many years of experience of relying on God’s guidance and seeing how better my life has been because of it.

Day 31 Bible Reading

Job 18-21, Matthew 21: 1-17, Psalm 18: 1-6

Matthew 21: 12-13 (ESV)

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.””

I am pretty sure Verses 12-13 from Matthew 21 are lines that are the subject of many pastor sermons. I had always thought this was Jesus’ way of letting everyone know that a church shouldn’t be a place of business. But over the years, I found out I was wrong. Only people of Jewish descent could go into the Temple in Jerusalem at the time. Non-Jews including the blind, handicapped, and others could only worship outside of the temple. Having the money-changers outside of the temple disrupted the prayer place for non-Jews. I always think of this verse when I am in a church service and people start talking during the sermon. I know these folks think they are whispering, but for me their voices are loud because everyone else is listening or taking notes. And it angers me so much when people talk during the sermon. The sermon is the best part of a church service, and why I go to church and how I choose a church. If the pastor cannot deliver good sermons, I will not stay in that church. I grew up Catholic, but childhood priests gave amazing sermons. I know from listening to other folks that great sermons is not normal in a Catholic church, but it was in my childhood experience. Sometimes I wish Christ would appear and shush the people who want talk during the sermons and tell them “my house is a  house of prayer, and you are an attention-robber!”