St. Matthew, Chapter 20, verse:29, The Crowd.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The blind men at Jericho) Part 1. 

Humility was the example that Christ wanted his disciples to learn.  He gave them his example.  He showed them that he came to serve.  He told them that he came to give of his life.  He wanted them to know, even though he was the Messiah, even though he was the Son of God, even though he was a king, he relinquished all, that he might come and serve man.  This was not the example of their time.  This was not the way of the present rulers and leaders.  They would not have made such a sacrifice.  But this was the way to being great.

So they left that place and continued on their journey.  They followed him that he might continue to teach them, that he might continue to prepare them for the path that they would follow after he was gone.  For his journey was coming to an end soon.  His path was leading to Jerusalem where he would face death.  They followed and their eyes were slowly opened.  And as they were leaving Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 

He was the leader and they were the followers.  He was the teacher and they were the students.  He was the Messiah and they were to become the Apostles of the new faith.  This was the path they were on.  This was their journey.  This would become their understanding after he had returned to the Father.  They walked with him.  They talked with him.  They eat and slept and breathed the same air with him.  They believed in him and knew not of what was to happen.  He told them of the journey.  He made reference to it often.  But the knowledge of the outcome was not with them.

What made him special?  What caused the crowds to follow?  What was it that caused the crowds to believe and yet did not allow the elders, the rulers, the leaders of the day to believe?  Was it the miracles?  Was it the food that he gave?  Was it the hope that he brought to them that made a difference?  Was it the change that they felt that gave them the courage to believe that something was different?  The people followed him.  The people cried out to him.  The people wanted to be near him, to touch him, to see him with their own eyes.  So they came from near and far.  They came to him.

And so, the crowds followed him.  The crowds believed in him.  The crowds had faith in him that something would change because of him.  And they came.  They came because they heard it in their ears.  They came that they could see it with their eyes.  They came that they could feel it in their hearts and know that he was real.  They came because the Father called them and they heard.  Can you hear?  Can you see that which is the truth within you?  Can you know the truth of who you are in him?  Can you believe that you are different?  Or have you been deceived?  Have you been blinded?  Has your heart been closed to the love that awaits you from the Father?  He calls all his children.  Come!  Hear his call!

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 and 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 20, verse:28b, The Ransom.

Our paragraph topic is: (Humility according to Christ's example) Part 8.

Christ wanted his disciples to understand his humility.  He wanted to give them an example that they could believe in and follow, an example that they could accept.  For he had told them that if they wanted to be great they had to become servants.  He told them that if they wanted to be first then they would have to become slaves.  He told them that even though he was lord and teacher and Messiah, he came that he might serve and not be served.

Christ had power.  He had influence.  He had all that they wanted to become.  They believed that he would take over the existing rulers and establish a new kingdom of which they would become a part.  This is why the mother of James and John came forward and spoke the words of sitting on high at his right hand and his left.  They believed that they would become rulers with him.  But contrary to all that they believed, Christ was a humble man.  He was a meek man.  He was a man with a purpose.  And he told them that he came: "To give his life as a ransom for many."

He knew why he came.  He knew the journey.  He knew the end.  And he understood the sacrifice that had to be made to ransom the many.  How difficult would it be to live your life knowing the outcome?  We all must die, but we expect to die of old age.  To live your life knowing the outcome would be like knowing that you are dying of cancer.  It would be like 
trying to find some purpose to go on living until the end comes.  What purpose is there?  What meaning is there?  What life is there if you know for certain that death waits for you in a month, 6 months or a year?  And you can feel your life slowing slipping away.  Yet this was the life of Christ who came to be the ransom.

He knew the outcome.  He knew of the pain.  He knew of the suffering that he would face.  Yet he marched forward facing the truth of his outcome.  Many make the decisions to give their lives to save others.  In an instant, a man will run into a burning building or a home to save the life of someone trapped in the flames.  They do this even without fully contemplating the loss of their own life.  When an auto accident happens and someone is trapped, we rush to help without thinking that we may risk our own lives in the process.  But who would live their life knowing that they would loose it in the process of helping someone else. 

And this was the life of our Lord Christ Jesus.  He lived.  He loved.  He died knowing that his sacrifice would save the world.  He walked with the disciples and talked with them.  He showed them many miracles where he transformed the lives of many.  Yet he was humble.  He was meek.  He was loving and caring.  He is our example to follow as to how we should live our lives.  He suffered more than we ever will.  He willingly came and lived his life that we would have our life eternally.  And he paid the price for all who would follow that we may not die but be cleansed from sin.

The choice is ours.  The choice is yours.  Find the peace that is within you and seek the knowledge that is yours to have.  You are a child of God.  Your are created in his image and his likeness.  You are not flesh and bone but spirit.  The light of Christ resides in you.  Know the truth of who you are in him and your eyes will be opened, your heart will be filled, and the love of God will guide you on the path that leads to your eternal Father. 

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 and 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 20, verse:28a, To Serve.

Our paragraph topic is: (Humility according to Christ's example) Part 7. 

Whoever wishes to be first shall be your slave is what Christ told his disciples.  Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant.  And they did not understand his meaning.  He spoke in parables.  He spoke in riddles.  He spoke in words that had one meaning on the surface and a different meaning on a deeper level. 

They wanted to be great.  They wanted to be known.  They wanted all the things that they saw exhibited by the leaders of their time and that was their example.  So they assumed that he would follow the example of the day and lead them to be great leaders of the new order.  But his example had one meaning on the surface and another meaning on a deeper level. 

On the surface they were repulsed at the thought of being great with being a servant.  They definitely did not want to become a slave in order to be first.  But on a deeper level Christ was telling his disciples not to be like the leaders of their time.  He was telling them to be humble, to be obedient.  He wanted them to understand that greatness comes from the Father and that it is rewarded through humility.  He told them that even he who is lord of all, came to be a servant:  "Even as the Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve." 

Follow his example.  Listen to his words.  Walk in his footsteps and know the will of the Father.  For we are but his servants, here to spread the good news of our redemption to all who have not heard, to all who do not know, to all who are blinded by the world.  Love is the key to what we do.  For we are all his children.  We are all brothers and sisters.  We all come from the same tree of life that he created.  And we are all created in his likeness and his image.

We are not black or white, Asian or Latin, Native Indian or immigrant.  We all belong to one family.  We are all the same.  Beneath the skin of the flesh, beneath the muscle and bones of the body, we are all living spirits created in his image and likeness.  And we all have one Lord, Jesus Christ, who came to serve and not to be served.  For he loved the life that was in us.  He came to restore that life because it was lost.  And through the knowledge of the spirit within us we can come to know and come to see that which he gave to us.

Follow the example.  Humbly seek that which has been given you.  We all have a purpose.  We all have a place.  And we all are loved by the Father who knows our hearts desires.  He will provide.  He will protect.  He will listen to your needs.  But you must open the heart to believe in him.  You must act on him.  You must know, with everything that is within you, that he will take care of you.  Practice the patience of heaven.  And in that patience is the proof of who you are in him.  Open the mind!  Open the heart!  Seek the truth that is within you and you will know the truth of who you are in Christ.  God, your father loves you.

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 and 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.