Reading the Gospels in 2026 (11/6): Matthew 15:21-39.

Nov6

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” Matthew 15:28

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REVIEW – Once again, the Jewish religious leaders from Jerusalem came to wrangle with Jesus about points in their “traditions.” They followed these more closely and faithfully than they did the very Mosaic Law. (And Jesus pointed that out plainly and firmly, calling them hypocrites.)

After that, Jesus plainly told them that it was what came OUT of their mouths (sins originating in their hearts) that defiled them, not any possibly “dirty” food that went INTO their mouths from improperly (to them) washed hands. Heart attitudes matter to God. HE can see them. People can only see the outside actions and pious words…but that’s what the Pharisees cared about most.

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(NOTE: This reminded me of David’s prayer in Psalm 19:14. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”)

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Matthew 15:21-28.

Jesus was probably so disgusted with the Jewish leaders’ “man-pleasing” ways, and their growing animosity towards Him, that He decided to “leave the country” for a while. He and the disciples traveled northwest from the Sea of Galilee to the coast and north into Syro-Phoenicia.

Verse 21 says that He “withdrew” to that area, which usually meant Jesus wanted “alone time” with His Father, or with His disciples. (In this case, it also meant that Jesus was withdrawing from His ministry in Galilee.)

But quiet time was not to be so, for “Behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and followed Him, crying, ‘O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon!'”

This gentile woman knew who Jesus was. Calling Him “the Son of David” meant she was calling Him “Messiah.” Okay, now, lest you think Jesus was rude, or worse, cruel, understand that He was teaching his disciples something while also drawing out this woman’s faith.

(Often our prayers seem rebuked or to fall on deaf ears, but take heart from this woman, and persist.)

Jesus did not answer her a word. He seemed to ignore her, even turning His back on her.

“Send her away,” begged the disciples, “for she is crying out after us.”

Jesus replied as if to them, but so that the woman could hear, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The disciples were about to take that as a “Yes” and send her away when the woman came, knelt before Jesus, and spoke to Him directly. “Lord, help me.”

Jesus answered, perhaps still speaking over her head to the men standing around, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Wow! That seems harsh, but watch how this determined woman persists.

“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table…” (Was there a light in her eyes? Did a small smile play on her lips as, with her head bowed, she waited for His answer?)

Then Jesus turns fully to her, “O woman, GREAT is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”

And as the woman would discover minutes later, her daughter was healed instantly.

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How is it that the two people whom Jesus exclaimed over for their “great faith” were a Roman Centurion and a Canaanite woman? Both Gentiles. And both of them accepted the authority of Jesus’ WORD to heal from a distance.

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Matthew 15:29-31.

Later, Jesus and the disciples traveled north from Tyre to Sidon, and then cut a wide path around the eastern shore of Galilee to the southern area of the Greek Decapolis (Mark 7:31). (This is where the demoniac was freed and pigs went off cliffs into the sea.)

That southeastern side of the Sea rose into mountains, and Jesus went up into one of them and “sat down.” (A sign of a teacher ready to teach.) Great crowds came to Him from this area. And He also healed the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others who were brought to Him. The crowd was filled with wonder, and they glorified “the God of Israel.”

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Matthew 15:32-39.

Then comes a story so familiar we might think that Matthew is repeating himself. But no, this miraculous feeding of a great crowd is a different occasion. (See Mark 8:1-10)

These folks sat on “the ground,” whereas the people sat on “green grass” in the feeding of the 5000. (This was later in the year.)

Here the disciples collected SEVEN (not five) loaves, and A FEW (not two) small fish for Jesus to bless, break, and pass to the people.

And finally, the disciples collected seven LARGE baskets of leftovers after everyone ate their fill. In the feeding of the 5,000, the disciples collected twelve LUNCHBOX-SIZED baskets.

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(Later, in tomorrow’s reading, we’ll see that Jesus quizzes the disciples on the TWO feedings of crowds, getting the details exactly right, and admonishing them for having “little faith.”)

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For now, after sending the full and physically healed crowd away, both HE and the disciples got into the boat and crossed the Sea of Galilee. This time, they came ashore even further south than Gennesaret, at Magadan (or Magdala), the town where Mary Magdaline was from, although we don’t learn any of her details.

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Jesus ended His ministry in Galilee with that feeding of the 5,000. Now he’s ended his ministry in the Gentile regions with the feeding of the 4,000. After this (Peter’s confession and the transfiguration), Jesus will set His face “like a flint” toward what awaited Him … in Jerusalem.

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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (11/5): Matthew 15:1-20.

Nov5

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth: THIS defiles a person.” Matthew 15:10

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REVIEW – After feeding 5,000+ people, praying most of the night, and walking on water to help His disciples in trouble on the Lake, Jesus encourages Peter to have great faith, then scolds him for exhibiting “little” faith when he tries to walk on water as well. The disciples are again “wowed” at Jesus’ majesty. Then it’s back to ministry work in Gennesaret, when crowds bring their sick to Jesus for healing, hoping only to touch the hem of His garment.

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Matthew 15:1-2.

Soon the religious leaders from Jerusalem are snapping at Jesus’ heels again with their accusations of law-breaking.

“Why do YOUR disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat?”

First, this is not Mommy telling little Johnny to wash the mud or Play-Doh from his hands before he comes to the dinner table. This is not about physical dirt and grime. This is not about a Law in the Torah.

This is about “the traditions of the elders,” revered rabbis who thought they could make themselves more holy through a ritual of washing their hands. (Using an eggshell of water to pour over their hands from wrists to fingertips, then doing the same from the fingertips to wrists with hands held high) A ritual. Not even a physically cleansing act. It was simply a “show of piety” to impress man (certainly not God).

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Matthew 15:3-9. You can almost feel Jesus’ exasperation with these critical-minded men. He turns to them and asks directly,

“Why do YOU break the COMMANDMENT OF GOD for the sake of your traditions?”

“For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die,’ but YOU say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, ‘What you would have gained from me is given to God,’ he need not honor his father!”

“SO… for the sake of your traditions you have made void the WORD OF GOD!”

Whoa! THAT’s telling them, Jesus. But what was Jesus talking about?

This was to dishonor one’s parents in a cleverly devised way. The fifth commandment is clear: “Honor your father and mother.” But to get around giving your money to help your parents and keep it for yourself, you might “dedicate” your money to God, who was, of course, greater than your parents. However, “dedicating” the money and actually giving it to God are two different things, and these “godly men” could then keep using that money for themselves. “Sorry, Mom and Dad!”

This was despicable to Jesus, and a blatant disregard of the Ten Commandments. He told these hypocrites that Isaiah, their prophet, had written about them,

“This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Isaiah 29:13)

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Matthew 15:10-14.

Then Jesus turns to the crowd that had been gathering around this altercation with the Pharisees and scribes.

“Hear and understand,” He said, raising His voice. “It is not what goes INTO the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes OUT OF the mouth; this defiles a person.”

The disciples, perhaps afraid of what these Jerusalem officials might do, came close to Jesus and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

Jesus: “Every plant that My heavenly Father has NOT planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

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Matthew 15:15-20.

Peter, speaking for the disciples, said to Jesus, “Explain the parable to us.”

Jesus turned and “looked” at Peter for a moment before saying,

“Are YOU also still without understanding? Do you not SEE that whatever goes INTO the mouth (food) passes into the stomach and is expelled?

But what comes OUT of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (All the things covered in the Law).

THESE are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

(“Ohhhhh….” Peter might have said.)

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Next, we will see Jesus leave Israel for a time and go up the coast into Syro-Phoenicia, to the area of Tyre and Sidon.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (11/4): Matthew 14:22-36.

Nov4

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Matthew 14:27b

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REVIEW – After hearing about John the Baptist’s death, Jesus withdrew in a boat to a desolate place. But the needy crowds found Him there and came with their sick, lame, and possessed. Jesus set aside His grief for John and, with a compassionate heart, met the people’s needs. As evening neared, His disciples suggested sending the crowd away to get food in nearby villages. But Jesus miraculously fed them with one boy’s lunch.

Five thousand plus people were fed with only five barley loaves and two small fish, with enough leftovers for the disciples. Jesus sensed the groundswell of decision – to make Him king right then and hastily sent the disciples away in the boat while firmly dismissing the crowd.

THEN He went up into the hills for a time of prayer… until 3:00 in the morning, to be exact.

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Matthew 14:22-25.

Meanwhile, the disciples had been struggling against that always-contrary Sea of Galilee. After hours, they were barely halfway home, and tired of rowing “in place.”

Jesus finished praying, refreshed in His spirit, and “saw” them miles away, tired and discouraged. And like He does for us today, He went to them.

He just walked down that mountain, across the beach, onto the water, and out to their boat!

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Matthew 14:26-32.

As the disciples rowed against the wind and waves, with the bow of the boat behind them facing their destination, they faced the land where they’d left Jesus.

Who, I wonder, first saw “something” upright on the waves approaching them in the dark?

Who pointed and called out, “A GHOST!!!!”

Did they freeze in fear, or row faster in panic?

Jesus did not leave them to their terror. Immediately He called out, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid!”

Perhaps they believed; perhaps not. That VOICE! But… walking ON THE WATER???

Compulsive Peter called out, “Lord, if it IS You, command me to come to You on the water.”

“Come.”

Peter had asked, dared even, that the Lord, if it WAS the Lord, to bid him go to Him. Now it was up to Peter. Without much thought (as usual), Peter swung a leg over the side of the boat, transferred his weight outward, swung his other leg out and … stood on the water.

On top of the water.

Staring at Jesus, whose welcoming hand was outstretched toward His impulsive disciple, Peter took a step. Then two, three, five.

He was walking on the… WATER??? Peter looked down at the transparent path and began to sink.

“LORD, save me!”

The faith to dare, and the faith to call for help. A good example to us in our faith endeavors.

Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and took hold of Peter, saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Together, they walked on the water back to the boat, which was filled with men whose mouths were agape in wonder. As soon as Jesus touched the side of the craft, the wind ceased and the water stilled. Peter scrambled in, and Jesus lightly sat and swung His legs inside with His men.

All who were in the boat turned and worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

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Matthew 14:34-36.

They came to shore at Gennesaret, at the widest point of the Sea on the west, about five miles south of Capernaum.

Nevertheless, the men of that place recognized Jesus and spread the news around the area. Soon all who were sick came and implored Him to but touch the fringe of His prayer shawl.

And as many who did so were made well.

What faith! Compare theirs to that of His hometown of Nazareth….

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (11/3): Matthew 14:13-21.

Nov3

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“We have only five loaves here and two fish.” Matthew 14:17

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REVIEW – Sin and guilt will drive a person crazy. That’s what happened to Herod Antipas. Involved in great sin, he arrested the outspoken John the Baptist to please his adulterous wife. But that wasn’t enough; she wanted the baptizer dead, so Herod had John executed – a “holy” man, in Herod’s own estimation, a “prophet” to the people – for speaking the truth. And how Herod regretted it. Now he was haunted by stories of another “prophet,” a “messiah” who performed miracles too. Surely this was the Baptizer come back to life to haunt him!!

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Matthew 14:13-14.

After burying John’s body, his disciples came to Jesus and told Him what happened. When Jesus heard this, He “withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself.”

John was Jesus’ cousin, but more than that, he was the prophesied “forerunner” of the Messiah. He prepared the way for Jesus by warning the people, preaching repentance and baptizing them as they confessed sin and repented, and then finally by identifying Jesus as “the Lamb of God” who would take away the sins of the world.

John had served God well. He had been faithful. He had graciously and without jealousy pointed his followers to “One greater.” And he had been martyred. Jesus couldn’t help but be reminded of His own death in the not-too-distant future. And so, He went alone to a quiet place to mourn John and pray.

But, as always, the crowds eventually found Jesus. They poured from nearby towns, bringing their sick and needy. Jesus “had compassion on them” and healed their sick.

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Matthew 14:16-20.

Towards evening, Jesus’s disciples came to him and (as if Jesus did not know) told Him, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

Jesus answered calmly, “They don’t need to go away; YOU give them something to eat.”

Silence.

Finally, one of them said, “We have only five loaves (rolls) and two fish.”

“Bring them here to me.”

Jesus had the disciples sit the crowd down on the grass. (in groups of 50 and 100, Luke 6:40)

When all were seated and quiet, Jesus looked to heaven and blessed the food.

Then He broke it and gave it to the disciples to distribute. He kept breaking and handing it out. They kept going through the crowd and feeding the people.

They all ate UNTIL THEY WERE FULL.

Then the disciples collected up the leftovers and found they had twelve baskets full. (These were small baskets, holding just the amount for the disciples’ own dinner.)

Five small loaves and two tiny fish (a boy’s lunch, John 6:9) fed 5,000 men plus women and children until they were FULL, and were enough for the disciples’ meal as well.

A miracle, indeed.

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(John 6:14-15 tells us the crowd was so amazed by this miracle that they decided to make Jesus king so he could feed them always for free. Jesus, perceiving this, immediately sent the disciples away in a boat, firmly dismissed the crowd, and went up the mountain (finally alone) to pray and possibly to grieve John’s passing.)

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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (11/2): Matthew 14:1-12.

Nov2

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“The king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he commanded it to be done.” Matthew 14:9

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REVIEW – Jesus finished up in Capernaum by telling His disciples three short parables about His kingdom. It was as precious as treasure and as valuable as a fine pearl to those whose hearts were open and seeking. It was also like a net gathering in many true seekers, as well as the charlatans. The end-of-the-age judgment would reveal who the genuine righteous were.

Then Jesus made a disheartening trip to His hometown of Nazareth, only to be rebuffed as “that kid who grew up among us.” Sadly, He could do very few miracles there because of their unbelief.

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Matthew 14:1-2.

“At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus (His miracles) and said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.'”

Why would Herod say this? Why did he now think that Jesus was John the Baptist returned from the dead?

A GUILTY CONSCIENCE, plain and simple.

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Matthew 14:3-5.

Why had Herod arrested the Baptizer? He didn’t like John preaching about his incestuous, adulterous marriage to his sister-in-law.

Herod had stolen Herodius from his brother Philip. And, by the way, she was actually a niece to both of them (daughter of their half-brother Aristobolus). John’s accusations and condemnation constantly irritated the “happy couple.” Herod also feared that John “could” cause a rebellion among the Jews because of his marriage.

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“King” Herod Antipas (one of Herod the Great’s sons) was given by his father the territories of Galilee (west of the Sea of Galilee), and Perea (east of the Jordan River beginning about 30 miles south of the Sea of Galilee, and extending nearly halfway down the eastern side of the Dead Sea.

He had two palaces: one in the north, closer to Galilee, where he probably first heard of John, who had been baptizing there. Herod’s other massive fortress, palace, and citadel was at Machaerus, perched on an impenetrable conical mountain on a cliff overlooking the Dead Sea.

It was probably here, in a deep dungeon carved into the rock summit, that they kept the imprisoned John the Baptist after his arrest.

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“Out of sight, out of mind,” may have been Herod’s idea in arresting John and sending him to Machaerus. His acid accusations were silenced, but he was still alive. Herod even had conversations with John now and then. He feared killing John because the people believed (rightly) that he was a prophet.

But Herodius simmered inside, carrying a huge grudge over John’s accusations.

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Matthew 14:6-11.

Matthew describes briefly what happened to John. (Mark and Luke give the same accounts.) It seems that life in a deep, dank hole was not enough for the wicked, scheming Herodius. She wanted him dead and sought every opportunity to have him killed. Her opportunity came finally at Herod’s birthday bash.

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After a day or so of feasting and drinking by Herod and his guests, Herodius had her beautiful, sexy daughter “dance” before the king. Salome knew what to do and did it well, as seductive eyes and movements mesmerized her stepfather.

Finally, the music stopped, and the limpid Salome slowly moved away from Herod, long fingers traveling along his arm or knee…. She slowly made her way back to her mother’s table and received a wicked smile and nod.

The male guests at Herod’s birthday party went wild, begging for more, but Herodias wisely demurred on her daughter’s behalf.

The guests howled in protest, and finally Herod spoke.

“Whatever you ask me,” he vowed to Salome, “I will give you – up to half my kingdom.”

The crowd roared. Salome conferred with her mother, then announced loudly and clearly, 

“Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

Herod had turned icy cold, his face as white as a sheet. John the Baptist? The prophet? They wanted him to behead John? And… bring the bloody evidence here as proof?

“The king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to break his word to her. Immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.” (Mark 6:26-28)

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John’s disciples learned of the atrocity, took John’s body and buried it. Then they went to Jesus and told Him what had happened. Matthew 14:13 says, “When Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself.”

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And now Herod had nightmares, thinking John, the holy man he had killed, had returned from the grave in the form of this miracle worker, Jesus.

After that, Herod tried hard to hear Jesus for himself and see some miracle by Him. But even when Pilate sent Jesus to Herod in a 3rd mock trial, Jesus remained absolutely silent and motionless, though Herod dressed Him up as a mock-king and taunted him.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/30): Matthew 13:53-58.

Oct30

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” Matthew 13:58.

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REVIEW – Jesus reviewed the meaning of the wheat/weeds parable for His disciples, and then spoke three more short parables to them alone. His kingdom of heaven will be found by those who seek it and truly want it, like the man who found treasure in a field and the merchant who found the best pearl ever. Both sold ALL they had to buy that most valuable thing.

(Compare that to those men who wanted to follow Jesus (Matthew 8): Both turned back after one discovered Jesus had “no place to lay His head,” and the other wanted to receive his inheritance first.) No, Jesus’ kingdom (our salvation) has to be more precious than anything else.

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Matthew 13:53-58.

After talking in word-pictures to the crowds and then to His own disciples, Jesus seems to have wanted “some space.” He and the Twelve walked the 20 miles to Jesus’ own hometown of Nazareth.

Once there, He went into the synagogue (so familiar to him since He was a boy) and taught the people from that day’s scripture reading. They were astonished!

Then came the questions and the unbelief.

“Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?”

“Is this not the carpenter’s son?”

“Is not his mother called Mary?”

“Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

“Are not all his sisters with us?”

“Where then did this man get all these things?”

And these people, who were only a few minutes earlier “astonished” at Jesus’ teaching, are now “offended” by Him.

How sad this must have made Jesus. Isn’t it our family and close friends that we want most to hear the Gospel and believe unto salvation? The people who knew Jesus the best rejected Him as a charlatan, a kid playing games.

Sadly, the proverb Jesus quoted was true: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

And Jesus did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Some of the sick, possessed, lame, blind, and at death’s door … STAYED that way when Jesus left. How sad!

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(LORD, increase our faith! We know that faith comes by reading Your Word, so stir our hearts to delve deep into the truths and depths of our Bible reading, seeking YOU, seeking wisdom, guidance, and help. We DO believe … help our unbelief!)

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/29): Matthew 13:44-52.

Oct29

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Have you understood all these things?” Matthew 13:51

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REVIEW – Jesus told the parable of the weeds sown in a good farmer’s field, then later explained to His disciples that it pictured the end of the age, when the true and false inhabitants of the kingdom would be sorted out. The parable confused the crowds, for how could evil exist in the Messiah’s Kingdom?

In the two parables of growth, the mustard seed and the leaven, Jesus pictured His kingdom beginning small but growing to include the other nations of the world. The disciples “kind of” got the stories, but the crowds were clueless. Jesus said this was because they had closed their minds to the things of God.

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Matthew 13:44-52.

Jesus now tells three short parables to His disciples.

First: The Kingdom of heaven is like TREASURE hidden in a field. A man comes by, discovers the treasure, hurriedly re-buries it, and then buys the field with all the money he can get together… to possess the TREASURE.

Second: The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls who, when he finds a rare PEARL of great value, sells everything he has to buy that one magnificent PEARL.

Third: The kingdom of heaven is like a NET in this parable, thrown into the sea and then gathered back in. It is full of all kinds of fish and stuff. The fishermen sort the good fish from the trash, throwing the latter into the furnace to be burned up… much like how the unbeliever spends eternity.

So, “Do you understand all these things?” Jesus asks His disciples and us.

“Yes,” they answer.

Um, no, I answer.

But I “think” I get the first two. The treasure and pearl picture salvation as something hidden from most people, but so valuable that people who have it revealed to them are willing to give up ALL THEY HAVE to possess it.

Hebrews 2:3 – “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him”.

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The third short parable seems to point to the visible kingdom of heaven, with true believers and those who only claim to be believers. At the end time, at the judgment, God’s ministering angels will separate these two: the righteous to their reward, and the charlatans to the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Then Jesus tells His disciples that if they truly understand what He’s teaching them, they will be like trained scribes who bring out what is new and what is old from their treasure. They are not to forsake the OLD (Law and Testament), but to understand the NEW teachings by laying them alongside the Old and gaining wisdom.

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This concludes this time of teaching through parables. I bet the disciples wiped their brows and muttered, “whew!” as they headed to Nazareth.

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/28): Matthew 13:24-43.

Oct28

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“.” Matthew

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REVIEW – Jesus began a season of speaking parables to the crowds instead of straight kingdom preaching. His reason? Israel did not WANT to hear, believe, and receive the kingdom of heaven that Jesus was offering. They wanted His physical healings, but weren’t interested in spiritual wholeness. They saw His miracles, but didn’t accept Him as their Messiah.

So, like the seed falling on hard-packed ground in the first parable, eaten by the birds before it could take root, Jesus’ clear preaching was taken away and replaced with parables to “tickle” their ears. Jesus told His disciples this was prophesied in Isaiah 6:9-10 as a judgment on Israel.

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The scary thing is that the Holy Spirit will only strive with people for so long; then a person’s heart will be TOO hardened to turn. (Genesis 6:3) God’s Spirit patiently convicts, warns, and pulls people toward repentance, but God does not let people persist in rebellion forever without consequence.

If you feel a heavy conviction or fear that God has stopped working in your life, the fact that you still care, feel a tug on your heart, or desire truth often shows the Spirit is still active and inviting you to turn to Him. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6)

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(In 13:16, Jesus tells His disciples that THEIR eyes “see” and their ears “hear,” so THEY are blessed! “Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what YOU see and did not see it, and to hear what YOU hear and did not hear it.” I would say that YOU and I are among those blessed like the disciples.)

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Matthew 13:24-30.

Then Jesus speaks another parable to the crowd, which He later explains to His disciples.

“The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

While his men were sleeping (normal rest, not negligence), the farmer’s enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat (then went away).

All the plants came up and began to form heads of grain. (Wheat heads stand tall pointing towards the sky, while the “darnel” (weed) heads angle downward.)

The workers immediately saw the problem and went to the farmer. “Didn’t you sow good seeds? How then does the field also have weeds?”

“AN ENEMY HAS DONE THIS!”

“Should we go through and pull out the weeds and burn them?”

“No,” said the farmer, “for then the wheat will be rooted up too. Allow both to grow until harvest. Then go through, pull up the weeds first, and burn them. Then gather the wheat into my barn.”

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This parable also made no sense to the crowd, many of whom were farmers. They couldn’t believe that “the enemy” was “in” the kingdom of heaven. No, the Messiah would rule supreme. There would be no enemy in the true Messiah’s kingdom. (This Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about…)

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Matthew 13:31-35.

Then Jesus told two quick parables, again about things familiar to the people, but deceptively hard for them to understand.

First, His kingdom was like a tiny mustard seed. (Mustard seeds in the Middle East are black and about the size of grains of salt, not like the ones we see in our pickle jars.) When these seeds are planted in a garden, they grow very big, seeming like a tree compared to the garden herbs around it. The tree-plant is so large that “birds of the air” come and make nests in its branches.

Okay, the people “kind of” nodded. They’d seen how big the tiny mustard grows, and they’d probably seen how birds come and nest in it. (After all, mustard seed was often mixed with other grains and fed to pigeons!) But how does this “picture” the Messiah’s kingdom?

(Jesus is prophesying that His kingdom will grow from a small beginning and spread far, so Gentiles will be part of it. The term “birds of the air” often spoke of other nations around Israel. They would come into the kingdom and find security and sustenance too.

Nope, these Jews did NOT picture that!

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Second (and similar) is the parable about a portion of leaven that a woman worked into flour.

They’d all seen the result of that in their own kitchens. That bit of leaven caused the whole batch of dough to rise into many loaves of delicious bread.

So, duh, what’s the rest of the story? They are bewildered. And they disperse, scratching their heads. “What does He mean?”

Jesus did NOT mean for the leaven in this parable to represent sin, as it often does in the Bible. Like the other parables, it represents the kingdom of heaven and shows how it will start small and (eventually) spread from … Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria … to the uttermost parts of the world.

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Matthew 13:36-43.

Later, after Jesus left the crowds, He and the disciples went into the house where they were staying.

“Explain to us the parable of the seeds of the field,” they asked. And Jesus did.

“Once again, the farmer (sower) is Jesus, and the field is the world.

But this time, the good seed is “the sons of the kingdom,” while the weeds are “the sons of the evil one.” The enemy who sowed the weeds is the devil.

The harvest is the close of the age; the reapers are angels.

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather all who cause sin and all lawbreakers out of His kingdom and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.”

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“He who has ears, let him hear.”

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Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/27): Matthew 13:1-23.

Oct27

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Why do You speak to them in parables?” Matthew 13:10

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REVIEW – Jesus confronted His adversaries with harsh teaching. The Pharisees’ hearts had hardened like stone, and now they only wanted to declare Him a fraud, even attributing His miracles to Beelzebul’s power. Jesus exposed the evil in their hearts, and they immediately demanded a sign of His authority. After all, they were the “Israel’s Teachers of the Law!

Jesus gave them the signs they should have known as teachers of the O.T.: the signs of Jonah, Nineveh, and the Queen of Sheba.

Then Jesus told the parable of a person freed of an unclean spirit, only to have seven worse spirits return to occupy him… because, after cleaning out the old, he had failed to fill it with “good.” Idolatry had been cleaned out of Israel in the exile, but now, the temple & worship of the LORD had been twisted by these self-righteous keepers of the law, who put weights of rules on the people that God never intended.

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Matthew 13:1-3.

Later that same day, after confronting the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, Jesus went to the Sea and sat down. (Can’t you almost see him take a deep breath of the cool sea breeze and enjoy a few minutes with his disciples around Him, with only the regular sounds of boatyard business.)

But soon the crowds came again, and pressed in to hear Him or touch Him, so that He had to commandeer one of the boats to put some space between them. Then Jesus sat in the boat (perhaps with an anchor holding it a short way from the shore), while the great crowd stood along the beach. Imagine Jesus’ compassionate heart as he looked at all those expectant faces, each wanting something from Him.

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Matthew 13:4-9.

Jesus then began to tell them the first of many parables of the kingdom of heaven. The parable of the Sower is perhaps the best known. Maybe Jesus was inspired by the hillside behind the standing crowd, light green with new shoots of barley or wheat. Lots of promise, but what would the harvest be?

“A sower went out to sow.

As he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground where there was little soil, and they sprang up immediately because they had no depth to push through, but when the sun rose they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. ”

Then Jesus concluded this parable with, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

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Skipping down to Matthew 12:18-23.

Here Jesus tells the meaning of that first parable of His kingdom, which the disciples didn’t even understand.

(The “sower” is the Lord Jesus, see 13:37, and the “seed” is the good Word of God, see Mark 4:14. The soil represents the hearts of those who hear the Word.)

The first hard-packed “path” soil represents those who hear the word of the kingdom but do not understand it (or do not want to). The devil comes along and snatches away even that little bit they heard.

The thin layer of soil atop rocks represents those who hear the “sweet” parts of the message and accept it with joy. But when tribulation or persecution comes (the hot sun, dry wind), they fall away because they have no “root” in the truth.

The thorny, weedy soil represents those who hear the message of the kingdom, but whose lives are so full of the ‘cares of the world’ and the ‘deceitfulness of riches’ that they pay no attention to the things of God. “I’ll look into that another day,” they think, but never do.

The good, fertile soil represents hearts open to the message and ready to receive it. They nurture, feed, and grow good grain, ready for abundant harvests.

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Matthew 13:10-17.

“Yeah, okay, we knew that!” (cough, cough) said the disciples after Jesus explained the parable of the sower and the soil. (NOW they did!)

But they were curious. Jesus had taught the crowds plainly up until then. And He had taught them even more so, privately. So why was He talking in “riddles” now?

Turns out, the parables – those sweet stories we love to tell and illustrate in children’s books – were a JUDGMENT on the people. People, like the first soils who listened to Jesus because it was pleasant and because He healed them, weren’t interested in changed, fruitful lives.

The people “heard” Jesus speak but didn’t want to “hear” His message. These people “saw” His miracles, but didn’t “recognize” Him as their Messiah. And so, even Jesus’ clear preaching would be “taken away” and replaced with parables.

Then Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10,

“You will indeed hear but never understand,

and you will indeed see but never perceive.

For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and with their ears they can barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

and TURN,

and I would heal them.”

Then Jesus turns to His own disciples (and to us who are reading this with love for Him in our hearts) and says,

“Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

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How blessed we are!!

Reading the Gospels in 2026 (10/26): Matthew 12:38-50.

Oct26

Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” Matthew 12:38

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REVIEW – Last time, the Pharisees, who were already trying to find a reason to “destroy” Jesus because He showed them up for the pious frauds they were, now claimed that Jesus used the power of Satan (Beelzebul) to free a man who was tormented by demons. Jesus fired back that anyone who attributed the power of the precious Holy Spirit to Satan would not be forgiven here or in the world to come. That sin was the “unforgivable sin.”

“Out of the abundance of the HEART the mouth speaks,” Jesus told them. Good people speak good from the good treasure of their hearts, but evil people can’t help but speak evil from the dark depths of their evil hearts.

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Matthew 12: 38-39.

Brushing off that serious rebuke and warning from Jesus, the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law, demanded that Jesus “show them a sign” to “prove” His authority to speak that way to them.

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.” Jesus fires back, and then continues. ‘NO SIGN will be given except the sign of Jonah.”

Jesus meant two things by “the sign of Jonah.”

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Matthew 12:40-42.

First, and obvious, Jesus compared Jonah’s 3 days inside the “great fish” to the 3 days He would be in the tomb before His resurrection. This was future, however, and meant nothing to the religious leaders at the time. (After Jesus arose, they spent a lot of time bribing and lying to cover it up.)

The teachers of the law would have known the second “sign” of Jonah very well.

Jonah was one of their prophets. His story is in four chapters in the book named after him. Yes, he disobeyed God and ran from the mission to preach to Nineveh (the capital city of their dreaded enemies), got tossed out of a boat, and was swallowed by that fish.

THEN, after being coughed up, he did what God called him to do in the first place: he went to Nineveh, preached to them, and… lo, and behold, the whole city repented in sackcloth and ashes!

Jesus said that the repenting people of Nineveh would rise up to judge these current “religious” leaders of the people on the day of judgment for their rejecting one greater than the prophet – their own Messiah.

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To drive the point home, so these teachers of Old Testament law would understand, Jesus said they would be judged against the Queen of Sheba too. She traveled long and hard on a sincere quest into the truth of Solomon’s wisdom. THESE Pharisees had Jesus right there, so much greater than Solomon, and yet they rejected, scorned, and even plotted to kill Him.

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Matthew 12:43-45.

Then Jesus tells a parable that is difficult to understand at first glance. But He was still talking to the religious leaders who had demanded a sign so they would believe.

In this story, there is a “person,” an “unclean spirit,” a “house,” an “unnamed housecleaner,” and “seven other more evil spirits.”

The story tells of Israel’s past and the many false idols they came to worship and even set up in the temple. God punished them with an exile to Babylon and the destruction of their magnificent temple.

This was the sweeping out of the “unclean spirit” among God’s people. In His mercy, the people returned and rebuilt the Temple, having learned their lesson about idols. And yet, a greater evil now inhabited the Temple: sacrifices, religious services, and teaching; the proud, self-sufficient Teachers of the Law, who bound the people with their minute rules more than the idols had.

The “last state” with the religious leaders sinning and binding the people in more and more rules, and keeping them away from their Messiah, was worse than the first condition.

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The religious leaders probably “got” what Jesus was saying, if the crowds did not. They simmered and plotted His destruction … instead of recognizing their error and turning to Him.

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Matthew 12:46-50.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the crowd, Jesus’ earthly family stood asking to speak to Him. His mother, Mary, and his brothers (two or more of James, Joseph, Simon & Jude). Someone called out to Jesus to alert Him.

Now you might think He would turn and signal a path for His mom and brothers, and hug Mary when she came near. But no. He announced what seems to us like rudeness.

“Who is my mothers, and who are my brothers?”

And gesturing towards His disciples, added, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whosoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus did not put down His earthly family; after all, THEY needed Him as their Savior as well. In His mission and destination on the cross, those who believed in Him as the saving Messiah were “doing the will of His Father in heaven.”

(Mary would do just that, and at least two of His 1/2 brothers did as well: James and Jude).