St. Matthew, Chapter 24, verse: 16; Flee to the mountains.

 Our paragraph topic is:  (The destruction of Jerusalem) Part 2. 

Time was an important factor in those days.  Where you lived, and worked, meant a great deal in terms of status and well being.  Yet for the coming destruction, location was also important.  It meant whether you had time to escape the oncoming slaughter.  It meant whether you had time to outrun the danger that was coming.  It meant whether you would live or die.

The farther away you were from the center of destruction meant that you had the time to get away from it all, to outrun death itself before it came knocking at your door.  This is what Christ was telling his disciples.  Do not hesitate.  Do not stop to take worldly belongings.  Run for your lives because death was coming and it would be swift.  He told them:  "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."

Jerusalem, the sacred place for the Jews, was not a place to flee from but a place to go to, a place of sanctity.  The Israelites did not believe that their city would be destroyed.  They believed that they were protected by their god.  They were a sacred people delivered by the hand of God from the bondage of Egypt to the sacred land of Jerusalem.  Why would their city be destroyed?   Why would their temple be torn down?  Why would death ravage their land when God  himself had protected them for all these years?

This is what Christ was telling his disciples, warning them of the destruction to come.  He was the Messiah.  He was the word of God come down from heaven to walk among the people as an example of the one true God.  He came to redeem the people, to show the way to the kingdom of heaven.  He came to pay the price for the sins of all that all might have new life eternal if they believed in him.  He is the key.  He is the gate keeper, the shepherd, the Lord of all.  

God the Father made him human that he might be with us, teach us, show us how to live, how to love, how to follow the commandments that we may be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Let him who reads understand.  The knowledge is here for those who seek to know.  The door is open for those who wish to find it.  His love is fulfilling for those who need.  For there is everlasting peace in the knowledge of his wisdom and love.  Come!  Peace awaits your finding.

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: 39; They killed the Son.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The vine-dressers kill the master's son) Part 2. 

This is a special time of year when Christians come together to celebrate the three days of the passion of Christ.  He came to Jerusalem knowing full well the outcome.  Yet he completed the Father's will, not his own, even to the point of death.  He died on the cross sacrificing his life for the life of many throughout the world and throughout all time.  He conquered death and gave life anew to all who would believe.

This parable is about that death.  It is about the opportunity that Christ Jesus extends to all.  The vine-dressers were given that opportunity to change from their greed, to change from their passion, to turn away from temptation.  Yet they could not see.  They could not understand what was being offered.  They did not accept it.  They could only see the greed and passion of their wants and desires.  "So they seized him, cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him."

They were vine-dressers.  They were workers in the vineyard.  They did not own it, but they laid claim to it.  The owner sent messengers.  He sent servants to them.  He sent his own son thinking that they would respect him as the official representative of the owner.  They did not.  They cast him out and killed him, thinking that his death would end the claim on the vineyard.  The opportunity was theirs to take.  The reward was theirs to receive.  But greed had consumed them and they could not see beyond their false claim.

Christ came into this world to bring the word to all who would listen.  He came so that we could know and believe in the Father.  He cast out demons.  He healed the sick, cured the lame, opened the eyes of the blind, made the lepers whole, even raised the dead to give signs of the power given him from the Father.  Yet even this was not enough to convince that he was the Messiah, the chosen one.  Evil had taken hold of Israel.  Power and influence were challenged.  He came to break those bonds to set the people free and give them new life.

We celebrate Easter on this day, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We celebrate with joy and gladness the gift that he has given to all, the gift of life.  Though he paid a horrific price for our freedom, he accomplished the will of God our Father through the passion of love.  His love is fulfilling.  His love is all encompassing.  His love is for all peoples throughout the entire
world.  His love is eternal throughout all time.  We are his people, his creation; he is our Father.  Let us be glad this day that it is finished. 

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: 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:19a; The Tree of Nothing.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Jesus curses a fig tree) Part 2. 

The Earth Made Fruitful:  Genesis: Chapter1, verse: 9-12.

Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear."  And so it was.  God called the dry land earth and the assembled waters Seas.  And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and all kinds of fruit trees that bear fruit containing their seed."  And so it was.  The earth brought forth vegetation, every kind of seed-bearing plant and all kinds of trees that bear fruit containing seed.  God saw that it was good.

And that was how it was in the beginning.  Everything had a purpose and there was a purpose for everything.  The earth brought forth vegetation with fruit and the fruit had seeds that bore fruit.  And there was nothing that was without a purpose.  For God said it was good.  And yet there were trees of a different kind that came to be.  Trees that did not bear fruit but only leaves.  And seeing a tree by the wayside, he came up to it, and found nothing on it but leaves.

Was this tree not according to the purpose of God?  Did it not serve a purpose in his plan?  How did it come to be that this tree did not have fruit and seeds in fruit?  Christ came upon it.  He felt hungry and a need to feed himself.  But the tree of nothing had no fruit.  It had nothing to give to the Son of God, the Lord of the universe.  What purpose did it serve?  Of what good was it to be in existence? 

All creation has a purpose, be it good or bad.  We acknowledge the good that is within us and we accept the evil that can come from us.  Yet there is more than that.  We are spiritual beings held within a clay shell.  We have a purpose, to recognize that which has given us life, to rejoice in the knowledge of who we are, and to know that there is one above that gave us the life that we own.

The choice is ours to see, ours to believe, ours to know, ours to accept.  Some will and some will not.  Some will accept their human reasoning as a hindrance to allowing themselves to believe.  It is that step beyond reasoning that allows those who believe to see, to know, and to understand that they are more than just the physical.  It is that step beyond reasoning that allows us to open the door of the physical and see the spiritual that is within us, the light of life.  And with that giant step beyond reasoning one begins to transform into the living spirit.

It is the light within that transforms.  It is the light within that grows.  It is the light within that shines through the physical and transforms the world.  Death cannot hold it.  Time cannot define it.  Chaos cannot move it.  Love is the force that gives it life.  For within the spirit is the love of God our Father and the passion of Jesus Christ our savior and nothing can separate us from that love.  We have a purpose.  We belong.  We are loved.  We are at peace.

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.