St. Matthew, Chapter 21, verse: 32b; Believing.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the two sons) Part 6. 

Where would we be without the law.  For the law sets boundaries that we live and breathe by.  The law gives justice to the people who are aggrieved and oppressed.  The law is the standard by which we live.  One cannot say that the punishment is not just if it has not been spelled out for all to see and believe.  For the law sets those standards by which justice is given.  It is a warning to all that these are the boundaries by which you will be judged and by which justice will be dispensed.

John came in the way of justice.  He came to announce the coming of the kingdom of heaven here on earth.  He came as a precursor to announce the law and give notice to all to repent to avoid the punishment of justice.  Many heard his words and believed.  Many heard and did not believe.  And justice came to those who did not believe for they were given the warning and the opportunity to repent.  Christ told the chief priest and the elders:  "But the publicans
and the harlots believed him." 

What was the difference between the priests, the elders, and the publicans and the harlots?  What allowed one group to believe and another to disbelieve?  What stands in the way of those today who believe and those that do not?  Is it just human nature that separates the two?  Is it complete and utter doubt that prevents one from seeing through the inner being who they are?  One has the choice.  One can believe.  One can decide.  But one does and one does not.  Why is the question?

We are in a world that ultimately makes us question our being, our self-worth, our purpose in life.  This world gives us all the opportunity to achieve the desires of the heart through what it has to offer.  The young see a world of opportunity that allows them to be all that they desire.  The old see either those desires fulfilled or those desires fade.  And it depends from which perspective that we view the desires of the heart that tell us who and what we are in this world. 

We judge our self-worth by what we have achieved in this world.  Yet our Lord and Savior judges us by who we are, who he created in his image and likeness.  Even those who have fulfilled the desires of their heart find themselves still wanting more of what this world has to offer but time runs to completion and death awaits.  God is life.  He is the great I Am!  In him is no death.  And in the life he has given us there is no death, only transition. 

We believe or we do not.  We know or we do not.  We seek the truth or we do not.  We are more than what this world has to offer and the life within us is everlasting.  Believing is the key to open the door to that which is within us.  Believing is the path which will lead us to the truth of the kingdom of heaven.  Believing is a leap from the physical to the spiritual that allows us to know the truth of who we are and that truth is in him.  The desires of the heart are in him.  The desires of peace are in him.  The desires of complete love are with him and no other.  Believe and you will see.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St. Matthew, Chapter 21, verse: 32a; The way of Justice.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the two sons) Part 5. 

The harlots and the publicans were entering the kingdom of heaven before the chief priest and the elders and the scribes.  They were the lowly.  They were the forgotten.  They were the ones who were the scum of the city that everyone hated.  Yet their eyes were being opened.  Their hearts were being filled.  And they were the ones who came to believe and see the light that had come into the world.

They came to Christ indignant of his teachings and questioned his authority to teach.  They were blind and could not see.  All the signs were there, but they refused to believe that the Messiah had come without consulting them first.  The chief priest and the elders were the rulers of the people.  They knew the Law.  They read and studied the Torah.  They knew from the readings that someday the Messiah would come and walk among the people.  They could not believe that he would come in such a lowly fashion.  He told them:  "For John came to you in the way of justice, and you did not believe him." 

John the Baptist was a prophet that all believed.  He wore scant clothing, ate locus and honey, and lived in the dessert away from the cities.  He was a holy man.  His coming was foretold before his arrival.  He was the voice of the one crying in the wilderness making the way for the coming of the Messiah.  His words traveled far and wide and many came to see him.  Even the chief priest and the elders came out to see this man of God.

He was too plain.  He was not clothed in fine linen.  He did not live in a palace and eat fine foods.  He was different.  He spoke of repentance and baptized those who believed in his message.  But many did not come.  Many did not believe.  Many did not know even though they heard of him through the voice of the people who saw him and heard him and believed in him.

Here we are today, living in a different time and place, yet still being the same people.  We have not escaped to a different reality.  We have not transformed into a different people.  We are still human flesh and bone and suffer from the same weaknesses.  We fear the unknown and what will come tomorrow.  We strive to be independent, without the help of anyone.  We believe that we are self sufficient and can provide and protect ourselves.  Yet the darkness of death looms over our every move, our every thought, our very being.  Our life is not of this world.

He offered them the opportunity to believe.  He gave them twice the chance to enter into the kingdom of heaven.  He is patient and loving and forgiving.  Until the completion of time, then will it be too late.  Then will time turn.  Then will human life end and a new spiritual life begins.  John came in the way of justice.  Christ came in the way of fulfillment.  The door is open.  His love awaits his children.  Believe and you will see.  Knock and the door will be opened.  Seek and all will be revealed.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St. Matthew, Chapter 21, verses:31b; The publicans and harlots.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the two sons) Part 4. 

After telling them the parable of the two sons, Christ asks them the question:  "Who did the father's will?"  They answered, the first son.  He gave them the opportunity to understand this simple parable on their a level that they were familiar with.  He wanted them to know.  He wanted them to understand, to have the knowledge and the opportunity for their eyes to be opened that they might be healed.

This parable led them down the path to that knowledge.  They had to open the door.  They had to see.  They had to allow themselves to come to know what was right in front of their eyes.  Could they do this?  Were they open enough?  Could they break through the darkness that blinded them?  So:  Jesus said to them , "Amen I say to you, the
publicans and harlots are entering the kingdom of God before you." 

And there it was, right in front of their faces.  They were so blind that they could not see what was happening.  Others were accepting and entering the kingdom but they were not.  The kingdom of heaven was at hand.  The kingdom of heaven had come to them here on earth.  The kingdom of heaven had come down from heaven and was now here on earth that all might have the opportunity to see and believe.  But the chief priest and the elders could not see.  They could not understand.  They could not hear the truth of the word.  They were blind.

Are we blind today?  Are those with the wisdom and the knowledge unable to see the opportunity?  Has the knowledge of the world so influenced their inner life that it is dimmed and turned to darkness?  Can they not believe?  Can they not see?  Can they not know that we are human beings but more than that we are spiritual beings created in the image and likeness of God himself.

He gave us life.  He created us from dust.  He provided the earth, the air, the water, the sun that we might have the right environment to grow and prosper.  Yet we in our finite wisdom have converted the truth to our own interpretation and liking, that it might make sense to us.  Yet we, not knowing, can not comprehend the knowledge and wisdom of our Father who created us.  Even more we are not supposed to understand but to take a leap beyond our own wisdom and knowledge to exercise the wisdom and knowledge of the spiritual being within us.

Christ came that we would have the truth.  He came that what was lost through deceit could be regained through truth.  We were dead, without a spiritual being, according to God's decree.  Christ came to give us life again.  And that life is open to all who seek it.  It is open to all who want to know the truth.  It is open to the young and the old, the wise and the dumb, the sick and the able, it is open to all.  Let us become like the publicans and the harlots, regain our spiritual light, and enter into the kingdom of heaven, now.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St. Matthew, Chapter 21, verses:31a; The Father's Will.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the two sons) Part 3. 

Christ continues his parable to help open the minds and the hearts of the chief priest and the elders.  He gave them the opportunity to understand but they were filled with deceit.  So he now tells them this parable to give them a second chance to see, to understand, to open their eyes that they might be saved.

The two sons each were told by their father to go to work in the vineyard.  One said that he would not and later regretted his answer and went to work.  The other lied to his father and told him that he would go to work but later did not.  Christ asked them:  "Which of the two did the father's will?" They said "The first." 

The first did the father's will being obedient to his request.  Most of us come of age knowing the authority of a father or a father figure.  It is in his will that we find our own.  It is in his will that we come to know who we are.  It is in his will that we have our example to follow through life.  And it is in his will that we have a model to reshape our own authority in life.

Where does this authority come from?  Who gave it to our fathers and their fathers and their fathers before them throughout history?  Did it just come of its own?  Did it just evolve into itself without the help of anyone or anything?  Or were we given the authority from our Father on high and passed it down from generation to generation?

Fathers are protectors.  Fathers are providers.  They are the rule makers to the young and the givers of love and comfort to the children who do not know for themselves.  Fathers come with mothers and together they make the home in which we grow and develop.  They form us from the womb, give us our character and guidance through life.  They are our patterns, our examples in life.  We carry the genes of generations of learning passed down to us from our mothers and fathers.  They have gone before us, experienced life that we have not, and survived with a knowledge that we can inherit.

Do the Father's will for he was here before us.  He knows that which we do not.  He teaches that which we have yet to learn.  His is the love that filled his heart from the day we came into this world.  He knew us in the womb.  He rejoiced with our every kick, our every turn, our every move.  He is the ultimate love and protection that comes to us, if we accept him.  He comes to those who had an earthly father and for those who did not.  God is our Father and the authority is with him.  Do the Father's will and all will be well. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.