St. Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 17-18a, Behold: The Prediction of Death.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The third prediction of the passion) Part 1. 

We now begin a new paragraph topic where Christ speaks to his disciples about the future.  He has told them many things in confidence over the past years.  But now he speaks to them about what is going to happen in the future.  He wants them to know.  He wants them to understand.  He wants them to see the plan of the Father.  But they do not understand because they have not yet received the Advocate that will open their eyes to all that he has spoken.

The disciples are followers.  Soon they will become leaders after all that they have learned from Christ.  His journey is coming to an end and theirs is about to begin.  So Christ is preparing his disciples for what is about to happen.  They will be shocked.  They will be terrified at what will happen.  But for now they are being told of the future to come.  And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them,  "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem." 

Behold we are going up to the place where things will happen.  They were going up to the place where all will be revealed, where all will take place, where the end will happen and the beginning will be revealed.  He wanted them to know.  He wanted them to understand what will transpire so that they will understand and not fear.  Christ has taught his disciples through the years.  He has performed miracles, healed the sick, cast out demons, made the lame walk, the blind see, brought back those who were dead.  He completed all these miracles to demonstrate to his disciples that the power of God his Father was with him and that he was the Messiah.

They followed him because they believed.  They knew that he was the Chosen One who had come to save the people.  Yet they did not know how he would save them.  They did not know what had to be done.  They did not know that he would have to die to complete his mission.  And they did not know that he would come back to them from the dead after having been crucified on the cross.

But this was their legacy.  This was their proof.  This was their evidence of who they believed him to be.  We read about this in the witness that has been left for us in the Bible.  We were not witnesses as they were.  We were not there to see with out own eyes, to feel with our own hearts and hands.  Yet we are given this legacy from those who were there, from those who did see, from those who were a part of the truth.  Can we believe?  Can we know?  Can we become a part of their witness, today? 

The truth lies within you.  The proof of who we are has been given us through the legacy left behind by those who were there.  And the witness is that which will come to reside within us.  The Spirit will testify.  The Spirit will enlighten us.  The Spirit will guide, light the way, protect, provide and fill us with the love that comes from the Father.  We are all created in his likeness.  We are all his children.  We all belong to him, if we choose.  We have a choice.  We can choose.  But the proof lies within us if we seek to know.  The truth lies within us if we desire to find.  The truth lies within us if we knock and open the door to the all fulfilling love of the Father.  We are going up to Jerusalem.  Will you come and 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 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: 16b, Those that are called and those that are chosen.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard)
Part 25. 

We started this chapter with Christ teaching his disciples about the kingdom of heaven.  He uses parables to get his message across to those who have ears to hear, those who have open minds, those who have not been influenced.  This particular parable is about laborers.  It is about the need for workers.  It is about agreements, and wages or rewards.  It is about generosity, and rights, about influence and anger and disagreements with the one who has the right to make a decision.

God made man and decided to be generous with his grace.  He created the angels and the principalities first before man.  Man does not have the same power and majesty as the angels but God our Father still loves us as he does all his creations.  Christ told his disciples that the kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder who went out to hire laborers to work in his vineyard.  He had a right to do so.  He had a need to do so.  He has the resources to do so.  Yet at the end of the day others decided that he was wrong in the way that he dispensed his generosity.  As the parable ends Christ says that:  "For many are called, but few are chosen."

What does it mean to be chosen?  Who are they who are called and for what?  Does God have a special purpose for each of us?  What is his plan and who are the participants?  These are questions that may come to mind as we think about this parable.  For the words of Christ are living words that have meaning and purpose.  They are written for our direction, for our understanding, for our knowledge and our wisdom.  If we seek to know, to understand, to believe, to trust then we must seek the meanings of these words.  Those meanings will not come from outside.  They will not come from others.  They will only come from the light Christ has given us within the will guide us and teach us on a daily basis.

For we are the children of the living God.  He gave each of us life.  At some point in each of our lives we have contemplated why we are here.  We have asked the question: "Why was I born?"  And we have sought to give meaning to that question that we may live our lives.  For we were born out of love.  We were given life out of grace.  And we were restore to life out of passion.  And yet we live not know the inner self, the inner life, the inner light that comes from the Father.  He is our purpose.  He is our passion.  He is our meaning of life.

And life has no meaning without him.  We can strive for all physical life has to offer.  We can reach the mountain top and live high above all the rest.  We can achieve lofty goals in life only to find that nothing has meaning in the physical.  And if we choose not to recognize, not to understand, we choose to die without meaning, without purpose, without love.  For it is the love of the Father that overcomes all.  It is the love of the Father that fulfills all.  It is the love of the Father that is all to the life that we have.  And without that love nothing has meaning. 

We live and we die and darkness takes the rest.  But with the Father, life continues.  With the Father, love abides.  With the Father, physical life is but a shell that is shed upon death and the doors to the kingdom are open that we may know ourselves as we truly are known, spiritual beings who belong to the Father.  Awaken to the truth of who you are within.  Christ has given us the key.  He has told us how to see.  All we have to do is open our eyes and behold what is within us.  The joy, the peace, the love awaits your awakening.  Come!  Open your eye and 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 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: 16a, The Order of things: The Last, first and the First, last.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard)
Part 24.

We have been writing about this parable for some time now and we come to its end.  The house-holder had the right to choose to do as he pleased with his generosity to pay all the laborers the same amount and the laborers had the right to feel slighted.  The first hired laborers agreed to the payment for a days labor in the beginning.  They understood that they would work an entire day for a denarius.  They believed that this was a fair and just payment for their labor.  They were the first to come and the last to leave, the last to get paid.

It was in their payment that they turned, they changed, they felt slighted.  They saw that the other laborers who came after them were paid the same amount.  It was in this seeing, in this believing that their minds were changed, their hearts were bittered, their anger began to boil.  But that was the decision of the house-holder and not the decision of the laborers.  He decided to pay all the same.  He decided to make all equal in terms of their pay.  He decided to be generous.  And that had no bearing on the laborers.  As he told the laborers:  "Even so the last shall be first, and the first last." 

This is a famous quote in religious teachings, but what does it mean for those who follow the teachings of Christ today.  Christ was the first of all creations.  And he is the begotten son of God our Father.  He was there from the beginning of all creation.  Before the heavens were created and the principalities came into being, he was there with the Father.  He saw it all, he knows it all,  he was a part of it all in the love of God our Father.  Who will be the last?  Who will be the last soul to enter into the kingdom of heaven before the doors are closed and no more enter into the kingdom.

God our Father is a generous God.  He is a loving God and a protective Father who watches over his children.  Out of the generosity of his love he gave us life .  But there will come a point when time is fulfilled and all things are completed and the judgment will come forth.  There is a time when the heavens will shake and the tree of life will no longer give of its fruit.  There will come a time when our savior Jesus Christ will come forth with all his angels and demonstrate his power and majesty to the world that all will know his name.  When will that time come?  No one knows but the Father.

Will you be the last?  Will you know the truth of who you are in Christ?  You have, within you, the life of the Father.  You have, within you, the instructions given you through the Word.  You can have, within you, the path laid out by the Advocate each day.  The choice is yours to make.  Will you be the last?  The Father awaits you with open arms.  He seeks to embrace you with his love.  He desires that you come home to him instead of the place built for the outcast angels.  The choice is so simple and so easy to make.  The choice is a thousand times better than anything the world has to offer.  Come!  Take his hand and follow the path given you from the life within.  You will know the truth.  You will know the love.  You will know 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 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.