St Matthew, Chapter 15, verse: 14, The Lesson: Blind Guides

Our paragraph topic is:  (Disciples warned to shun the Pharisees) Part 4.  
    

Christ had spoken and the Pharisees heard and took offense.  Christ called the people to himself.  He called their attention to what he was to say.  He told them to hear and understand, and his words opened the eyes and the hearts of the people.  For he told them that what goes into the mouth does not defile a man as had been preached by the Pharisees.  He told the people that it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man.  It is what is spoken that indicates that a man is defiled and unclean.  And the Pharisees had taken offense for this was against their teachings.

And the disciples heard the murmurings of the Pharisees.  The disciples listened to the Pharisees and they were upset that the Pharisees were upset.  The disciples were concerned that the Pharisees had taken offense to the words of Christ for they did not know the evil that possessed the Pharisees.  And Christ calmed their minds.  Christ spoke to his disciples and reminded them of the power and majesty of his father who did not plant seeds in the Pharisees.  He reminded them of outcome of those seeds that were planted by evil and what will happen to them in the final days.  They would be rooted up and thrown into the fire to burn.  And finally he spoke to his disciples in a way to let them know that the Pharisees were blind.   Let them alone; they are blind guides of blind men.  But if a blind man guide a blind man, both fall into a pit."

And so it was spoken that the disciples could understand.  And so it is written that we, today, may understand.  Who is blind and who is sighted?  How do we know who we follow?  Are we being led by blind men, the blind guide?  Or are we being lead by the teacher, the Advocate, that Christ promised?  We go to church, we perform our religious duties, we pray, we fast, we do all the things that we are taught to do.  But who is teaching?  Who is leading?  Who is our guide?  Christ has given us instructions.  He has left us his words.  He has provided us a path to follow that we may not be misled.  Hear and understand, he commanded us, that we may know.  Every plant that the heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

Will you continue to follow an uprooted plant?  Will you continue to believe in the words that come from the seed not planted by the Father?  Will you continue to follow the blind guide that will lead you into the pit?  Seek and you shall find the true guide that leads to the Father.  Knock and it shall be opened to you that you may have sight beyond your earthly vision.  Ask and it shall be given to you that you may have the wisdom of heaven to understand that which is given you.   For those who seek will find, those who knock will have doors opened to them.  And those who ask the Father, it will be given to them that they may see.  The true teacher seeks to teach you.  The true guide seeks to lead you.  The true spirit of Christ seeks to dwell within you that you may know your Father in heaven and yield fruit a hundred fold. 

St Matthew, Chapter 15, verse: 13, The Lesson: Plants to be uprooted.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Disciples warned to shun the Pharisees)
Part 3.  

Christ called the crowd to himself.  He spoke to them concerning what makes them clean and what makes them unclean.  For the Pharisees had taught the people that they were unclean when they did not wash before eating.  And many followed the teachings of the Pharisees.  Many believed that if they did not wash before eating then they were unclean.  So everyone made an effort to wash in order to practice the teachings of the Pharisees.  But the disciples did not follow that teaching.  They were the disciples of Christ.  They were the disciples of the Messiah.  And Christ did not teach them that they were unclean when they eat before washing.  And the Pharisees saw this.

They saw the teaching of Christ.  They saw the actions of the disciples.  And they were not pleased.  Here was a teacher, a Rabbi, who did not follow the traditions and the teachings of the Pharisees.  So they questioned him about his teachings.  Christ in turn questioned them about their authority to change the commandments of God.  Who gave them the authority?  Who made them greater than God?  Who told them that they could make changes to the laws of God, handed down to Moses?  And yet, in their arrogance, they made changes and taught the people to follow the changes that they made to God's Laws.  And now they questioned Christ about his teaching against the traditions they had made and instituted to the people.  

They took offense to Christ.  They took offense to his teachings.  They took offense to his popularity.  They took offense to his miracles.  They took offense to everything that Christ did for the people.  And the evil within them brought them to anger.  The evil within them made them mad.  The evil within them had them conspire against Christ.  And the evil seed within them made them speak out against the actions of Christ.  But Christ instructed his disciples against the Pharisees.   But he answered and said "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up."

The disciples did not know.  The disciples did not understand that within each of us there is a seed planted.  There are two types of seeds, a seed for good and a seed for evil.  There is no in between.  There is either one or the other.  The two do not exist within us together.  We may not believe that we are evil but the seed is there in a small way.  And the seed grows.  It starts to germinate from its shell and pushes outward.  It expands and branches out into our soul and our mind and our heart.  And the result of a full grown seed of evil is to become a tree with evil fruit.  Christ has said that we know a person by their fruit.  The parable of the weeds tells us the state of the world we live in.  It tells us the nature of the people in the world.  And it gives us an understanding of the environment we live in.  What seed do you have?  Do you know?  Do you care what seed grows within you?

Most of us are so in the world that we do not concern ourselves with the good seed or the bad seed.  We only concern ourselves with the day to day issues we face in living our lives.  We put aside the long term issues as to our spiritual nature and growth.  Yet the seed grows, without our knowledge and our effort.  It is only with the knowledge of who we are and the daily and hourly maintenance of our seed that we are able to separate ourselves from the world that would have us sleep in the knowledge of who we are.  Wake up! Christ's seed is within each and every one of us.  But evil will come and take the good seed away.  Evil will come and choke and kill the good seed planted by Christ.  The decision is yours.  Choose the seed of Christ.  Nurture the seed of Christ.  Water the seed of Christ and watch over its growth.  For your seed will grow.  Your seed will flourish.  Your seed will blossom and produce fruit that will be pleasing to God.