St Matthew, Chapter 14, verses: 1 - 2, Jesus' fame causes fear in Herod

Our paragraph topic is:  (Herod fears that Christ is John the Baptist)   

And the word spread.  It spread from the mouth of one person to the ear of another.  It spread from the market of one town to the  market of another.  It spread from the village of one town to the village of another.  It spread from the town of one district to the towns of other districts.  And Christ was known by many.  His works were spoken of by many who had seen, many who had heard, many who had witnessed his miracles and those who were recipients of his works.  He was the latest news.  He was the latest talk.  He was the latest whisperings of the people of the towns through the kingdom.  And the word came to Herod.  The word was spoken to Herod.  The word was received by Herod from his news keepers in the streets.

The news keepers were the eyes and ears of Herod.  He paid them well to keep him informed of what the people were talking about.  He planned his life around the people.  He planned his policy around the people, and he planned his lies and deceit around the people to keep them in line.  For Herod was the King.  He was the ruler of the people, appointed by the Roman Emperor.  It was his responsibility to keep his people calm and to have them follow the rules of the Romans.  Herod had to know.  He had to hear.  He had to see what was going on in his towns, in his villages, and in his kingdom.  So he put people on the streets to listen to the latest news.  And he heard of Jesus.  At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus.

Herod heard the news.  Herod heard the whisperings.  Herod listened to the stories that were told of Christ.  And Herod could not believe.  Herod could not understand.  Herod could not make sense of what the people were talking about because Herod was full of John the Baptist.  John had spoken to the heart of Herod.  John had spoken to the people of the evil in Herod.  John the Baptist had brought forth the truth in the relationship of Herod and Herodias, his wife.  And Herod wanted him dead.  Herod wanted to kill John the Baptist and that is what he did.  Herod created an elaborate plot to murder John the Baptist and he was full of himself when he carried it out.  He gloated over the sweetness of the plan that he carried out in the face of the public that allowed him to murder a prophet.  And now comes Jesus, another prophet, another man of God.   And he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are working through him."

Herod was fearful.  He was fearful of what he had done to John the Baptist.  He loved his elaborate scheme to murder John the Baptist, but he was fearful that John would come back and exact revenge upon him.  Herod was the ruler and no man was supposed to have more fame than he.  No man was supposed to be talked about by the common people more than he.  No common man was supposed to be more loved by the people than he.  And jealousy came to him.  Vanity came also.  Then hatred, and fear and doubt came.  And finally came larceny who helped him create a plan to murder John the Baptist.  For John was loved by the people.  John was revered by the people.  John was spoken of by the people more than Herod.  And John was number one with the people over Herod.   Herod wanted to be number one so he sought a way to remove John.

Satan seeks a way to remove Christ from our lives today.  He wants to murder Christ.  He wants to get rid of Christ.  He wants the people to talk about him and not Christ.  He wants to be number one in our lives today.  So he creates schemes to rid us of Christ.  He makes plans to turn us away from Christ and to turn us to him.  He builds worlds around us to blind us to the light of Christ that we may not see.  He creates playgrounds for us to have fun so that we will forget about Christ.  He fills our eyes and our ears with pleasures that compel us to enjoy and he fills our bodies with passions that make us want.  He does all this to distract us from Christ, to turn us from God, to hide us from the truth.  We were made for God and he is our father.  He is our satisfaction and our pleasure.  Nothing else can replace him in our lives. 

But Satan wants us to believe that we can be happy and have joy and peace if we turn from Christ and from God our Father.  Just as Herod feared that Christ was John the Baptist resurrected, Satan fears the resurrected man in Christ.  For in Christ we have power.  In Christ we are miracles.  In Christ we are the light of the world that he cannot turn off.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Hear the message of the kingdom.  Become new life in Christ.  Seek the Holy Spirit and you will know true life in Christ.  Seek the Holy Spirit and you will become the miracle.  Seek the Holy Spirit and you will know the truth of the kingdom of heaven here on earth.

St Matthew, Chapter 12, verses: 9-10, The Battle begins: The traps are set.

Our paragraph topic is:  (A man with a withered hand) Part 1. 

The battle begins with the Pharisees, the enforcers, the power rulers.  Christ has refuted the Pharisees.  He has given them instructions in the face of the public.  He has put them down and told them of their errors.  And now Christ has told them who they are faced with, one greater than the temple and one Lord of the Sabbath.  The gates of hell are thrown open and all the demons turn focus upon Christ.  The battle begins.  

Christ has cast out demons.  He has cured the sick.  He has made the lame walk and raised the dead.  But he now confronts the demons of the rulers.  And the true battle begins.  For they are the ones who are the enforcers.  They are the ones who possess the power.  They are the ones who rule the people.  And they are the ones who are ruled by the biggest demons of all.   Christ spoke to the Pharisees, but in truth he spoke to the demons of the Pharisees.  For he spoke to arrogance.  He spoke to ignorance.  He spoke to pride.  He spoke to vanity.  And he spoke to hatred.  These are the spirits that ruled the land and the people.  They are the ones who sent suggestions in and out of their minds to make them feel what they felt for Christ.

Christ had finished his work with the crowds and moved on to other towns.  As it happened, he was in a synaggogue and there came a man with a withered hand into their midst and one could hear the traps being set.  For the Pharisees asked him a trick question.  They asked him,  "Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?"   They wanted to trap him in his words.  They wanted to have him speak words before the people in the synagogue so that his words would bring him to ruin where they could accuse him and bring him to punishment according to the law.  So they questioned him.

Often times we find ourselves in the same position as Christ, being questioned.  We live in a world that constantly questions us about our beliefs.  It questions us about our actions.  It questions us about our morals.  It questions us about our God.  For the world is not outside of us.  It sits on our shoulders and speaks to us.  It resides in our minds and talks with us.  It lives in our hearts and becomes us, if we do not take action and clean house.  For each action that we seek to do according to the will of God, the world will have a different opinion.  Often times the world will tell us what to do.  The world will direct us and our actions.  The world will tell us to relax when we should be on our guard.  The world will tell us that it is OK when we know that it is not OK.  The world within us will have us believe that we are in the world when we are not.  The world will put us to sleep in the matrix and we will not even know it.

Christ came to wake us up.  Christ came to remove the world from us.  Christ came to cast out the world from our hearts so that the true owner may take up residence.  For we are children of God and it is in our hearts that the light of the world should reside.  It is in our minds that the word should remain.  It is in our words that the truth should be spoken and not those of the world.  For from our hearts come the fire of life.  And through our minds we are freed from the world.  And with the words of the sword , we will slash and destroy the enemy.  The battle has begun.  The enemy is relentless.  Be on your guard and remember that you are not of this world but are of the kingdom of heaven.  There, shall your heart be and there, your treasure you will find.