St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 3; Their works.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 2.  
Jesus has spoken to the Pharisees, now he speaks to his disciples and to the crowd.  He tells them about the burdens that they face from the rules and regulations made by the scribes and the Pharisees.  Moses was their leader and he made judgements from the judgement seat.  But since his death the scribes and the Pharisees have taken over the judgement seat of Moses and declared many new rules and laws.

So Jesus tells the disciples and the crowd to obey the commands given from the judgement seat of Moses because it is a sacred chair.  He tells them:  "All things, therefore, that they command you, observe and do.  But do not act according to their works; for they talk but do nothing."  

What examples do we have today of all talk and no action?  Who gives us instructions on how to do something but no practical examples of how we may go about it?  We try to follow the example but fail to have the success implied.  We do everything that is given us but still without the results that we are shown.  Get rich!  Follow my lead!  Do it this way; I have laid out all the step by step instructions.  Pay this amount and you will get these results.  They have figured out how to do it or at least tell us that it can be done.

Christ was a doer and not a talker.  He came, leaving his high throne and his crown.  He walked among us.  He talked with us, danced with us, drank with us, suffered oppressions with us, and died for us.  He didn't just talk the talk, he walked it also.  He left the disciples with us as witnesses of the truth that he brought.  They saw it all, witnessed it all, and spoke to us about it all.  These books of the testament are not just writings of the disciples about some fictitious events that they saw.  They are the writings of the word of God become man.

He is our example of how we should become in this time and age.  We should be doers and not just talkers.  We should show our faith in the works that we do for others.  If there is love in our hearts for Christ, then there should be love in our hearts for others.  We are children of God, all are the same.  God is our Father who gave us life.  Christ is our Lord who restored us to life.  The Holy Spirit is our guide who leads us through life until we reach our home in the kingdom of heaven.  

Be not like the Pharisees and the Scribes who do nothing.  Live the life of Christ.  Follow his example and spread the love that is so freely given to you.  Let your heart be filled with that which comes from heaven and pass it own to everyone you meet.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that we might have life eternal with him.  Help others to have it also.

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 12, verses: 46 - 50, Family Relationships.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Jesus and His brethren). 

In the midst of his prophecy concerning the Pharisees, Christ is interrupted and  someone said to him, "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren are standing outside, seeking thee."    For while he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brethren were standing outside, seeking to speak to him.   

Christ uses every opportunity to teach.  He uses every opportunity to open eyes and to challenge minds to understand truths.   He has finished taking to task the Pharisees and now he uses this opportunity concerning his relatives to demonstrate that we are all children of God.  We are all family.  We are all brothers and sisters and mothers, belonging to Christ and to God.  For this must have been a shocking expression to the people standing about him that he would not stop what he was doing, give precedence to his family, mother and brothers, to speak with them.  But Christ seized upon the moment to challenge the minds of the people to think beyond the flesh.  He challenged the crowd to expand their minds, their thoughts, their feelings, their understanding of who they were and the family they belonged to.

Christ asked the man who told him of his relatives,  '' Who is my mother and who are my brethren?"   This was a question that must have shocked the man and the crowd for they knew Mary and the relatives of Christ.  Some had spoken with Mary.  Some knew where she was from.  Some knew his brothers.  So for Christ to ask this question must have shocked the crowd that he would not know who they were or that he would ask who they were.  But Christ wanted to teach.  He wanted to inform.  He wanted the people to know who they were and the family they were a part of.

And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said, "Behold my mother and my brethren!"  And this demonstration must have been even more proof that something was wrong.  For Christ had, in the eyes of the crowd, forsaken his natural mother and brothers for the disciples.  He had called and spoken of them as though they gave birth to him, which could imply such dishonor to his natural mother.  But Christ was a teacher.  Christ was a healer.  Christ was the Messiah and he had to shock the people to wake them up from their dream world that they may know who they were and know their heavenly family. 

Christ did not bring dishonor to Mary.  He did not bring slight to his brothers.  But, what he did do is to help the people put in perspective their relationship to each other.  For we are all brothers and sisters and mothers of each other.  For Christ then told the crowd,  "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother."   For who gives birth to Christ?  Who is related to Christ?  Who is the sister of Christ?  He who carries the spirit of Christ within him and does the will of the Father in heaven and on earth is the mother and brother, and sister of Christ.


And Christ taught.  He showed the people that he should spend no less time with those who are his natural mother and brothers than with those who are his spiritual brothers and sisters and mothers.  For spiritual mothers give birth to the spirit of Christ in their children when they do the will of God.  And spiritual brothers carry the message of Christ within them and spread the good news of the kingdom of heaven.  And spiritual sisters marry and love those who need the love of Christ in their lives that they may in turn bring forth the eternal life of Christ in others.


We all are brothers and sisters and mothers of Christ when we do God's will.  Are you a mother of Christ?  Are you a brother of Christ?  Are you a sister of Christ?  The will of God is the tie that binds us all in one heavenly family.   Do you belong to the family?  

St Matthew, Chapter 11, verses: 16 - 17, This Generation.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The inconsistency of the Jews) Part 1. 

Christ has just finished telling the crowd about the greatness of John the Baptist.  He called to the crowd saying,  "He who has ears to hear, let him hear. "   For he told the crowd that if they can receive it, John the Baptist was Elias who was to come.  It was written in the scriptures that Elias would come again before the Messiah.  And now Christ is reminding the crowd of what was written has come to pass.  But he stops there to talk about the people of this generation.

He says,  "But to what shall I liken this generation?"   He asked, what can he compare this generation to that the people might understand.  The scriptures have spoken of this time.  John came and spoke of this time, but the people do not believe.  They do not hear, they do not read, they do not believe.  They are worse than unbelievers, because in the face of all the evidence they still do not believe what is right before their eyes.  You see, this is a selfish generation.  They want things to happen their way.  And if it does not come, the way that they expect, then they will not turn, they will not understand, they will not see, they will not comprehend, and they will not believe.

Christ compared them to children playing in the market who want everything to follow their plan. Christ says,  "It is like children sitting in the market place, who call to their companions, and say, 'We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have sung dirges, and you have not mourned.' "   This generation is selfish.  They want everything to go according to their plans.  They have played songs and no one has danced.  They have sung dirges and no one has come forth to play funeral with them.  They want everyone to dance their tune and sing to their tribulations.

Will we be the same generation when Christ returns?  For different from those years, we live in a selfish environment.  Everything is about us.  We want more money for us.  We want more cars for us.  We want more house for us.  We want more clothes for us.  We want everything for us and do not consider others.  We want to succeed in this world and to succeed, the world tells us that we have to look out for number one, ourselves. 

For who is going to provide for us if we do not provide for ourselves.  We are raised on the principle that makes us believe that we must be selfish.  It is a cold world out there and if you do not look out for yourself no one else will.  You will be used and abused by the world if you do not provide for yourself, is the principle that we believe.  Yet Christ came and died for all, because we could not save ourselves. 

Are you a selfish person?  Do you have to have things your way?  Must the world dance for you and cry for you when you want it to?  Come, let us not be of that generation that is selfish.  Let us turn our hearts to God and love each other as we love ourselves.  Let us open our minds and open our hearts and open our eyes to see that we are all children of God, created in his image no matter what color, what shape, what hair, what eyes, what background, what income, what ever we use to categorize ourselves that we may segregate and make comparisons.  God is our father and we are his children.  We are all his creations, children of light.  So let us love one another as he loves us.  We are spiritual beings in a physical body that is dying before our eyes.  What we see before us is not who we are, and who we are today is not who we will be in heaven.  Put off the cloak of selfishness and put on the cloak of love and you will understand who you really are.