St Matthew, Chapter 9, verse: 36, The Apprenticeship.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The mission of the Apostles) Part 2.  

Christ is traveling throughout the villages and towns, preaching the gospel of the kingdom.  The disciples are in their apprenticeship, learning first hand how Christ preaches and teaches.  They  are able to take in his every word, his every deed, all the small details that are not written by St Matthew in this gospel.  They are the next generation who must come after the work of Christ is finished on earth.

Everywhere Christ goes he draws a crowd.  The people have heard of his miracles and as soon as the word comes that he is in their village, or their town, a crowd gathers.  They are waiting to see him they are waiting to be near him.  They are waiting to hear his words, to touch him, to be healed.  They have no one else to lead them.  No one else to guide them.  No one else to teach them.  They are like lost sheep, wondering in the wilderness.  Christ sees the crowds gathered to see him.  He is moved with compassion for them because he sees that they are bewildered and dejected like sheep without a shepherd.

Christ has come to lead.  He has come to show the way.  He has come to lift the hearts of the people, to give them hope.  For their current situation is hopeless.  They are downtrodden.  They are dejected.  They are lost.  They are in need of direction and Christ is the way, the truth, and the light.  This was the message to his disciples, to his apprentices.  See the masses of people.  See the hearts of those who have no hope.  See the crowds that gather that are dejected.  See the great need for leadership.  See your mission.

Today as in times past, we live in a world that is cold, a world that is without care and without compassion.  We are filled with ideas of happiness and joy and love through our media outlets.  We come to believe that if we have the right job, the right car, the right clothes, the right amount of money in the bank, then we will be alright.  We reach those goals, live a life of party, enjoy our pleasures, and come to find that there is something missing in our lives.  We want more so that we can do more.  We want more money.  We want more clothes.  We want more cars.  We want more women or men in our lives.  We want more fame.  We want more honor.  We want more, and more and more.  Yet the desire for more only leads us down the road of destruction.  Some are able to continue others burn out along the way.  And then comes the dejection, the heartache, the pain, the suffering, the longing, and the depression.  The field is then ripe for the planting of evil in our hearts.

Christ came to uplift.  Christ came to give life.  Christ came to shed light in the darkness.  Christ came to give hope.  We do not have to live on the merry-go-round of life's ups and downs.  We can get off and live a life with Christ.  We can have hope.  We can have joy.  We can have peace.  We can have everlasting life.  Christ saw the needs of the people and he came to satisfy that need.   He came to heal.  He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly.   If you are dejected and bewildered, will you allow the compassion of Christ to lift you up?

St Matthew, Chapter 9, verse: 35, The Apprenticeship.

Our paragraph topic is: (The mission of the Apostles) Part 1.  

Christ leaves the area and travels throughout the towns and villages teaching and preaching.  He preaches in the villages.  He teaches in the synagogues.  He teaches in the market places.  He teaches in the fields.  He teaches the good news of the kingdom of heaven.  And all the people where he preaches bring to him the infirmed.  They bring to him the lame.  They bring to him the sick.  They bring to him the cripple.  And he cures them all.   

The disciples walk with Christ.  They are at his side.  They hear the gospel of the good news.  They learn the messages of the preachings.  They explain to others the meanings of the lessons.  They are Christ's helpers.  They are his apprentices.  Did they know what they were in training for?  Did they understand the reason that they were there?  Did they accept their role in the the spread of the kingdom of heaven?  This was their apprenticeship.  This was their training period.  This was their time to practice the teachings that they heard Christ preaching to the people.  This was their time to learn from him the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom.  For the time would come when the master would no longer be among them.  The time would come when they would be tested.  The time would come for them to stand or fall upon what was being given to them by Christ.  This was their apprenticeship.

Christ calls today to those who hear his voice.  Christ calls for workers.  Christ calls for preachers, teachers, laborers, lawyers, doctors, moms and dads, children, and lay people,  administrators, and presidents, ceo's and secretaries, garbage workers and sanitation workers,  assemblymen and street walkers, pimps, and hustlers, murderers and thieves, and all the children of God who seek forgiveness and a new way of life.  He washes anew.  He cleanses the body and the soul and gives a new heart.   He wants testimonies.  He wants soldiers.  He wants believers.  He wants souls filled with his light to carry that light throughout the world so that all may see his goodness.

Come my brothers and sisters.  Let us seek the Lord.  Let us open our hearts to the Holy Spirit that he may teach us the ways of the Lord.  Let us become new creatures in Christ and live by the precepts that he has given us. 

St Matthew, Chapter 9, verses: 34, The Dumb Speak.

Our paragraph topic is:  (A dumb demoniac) Part 2. 

Christ has cast out the devil in the dumb man who was then able to speak.  He did not speak before.  But the removal of the demon gave him his speech.  Many of the onlookers were in awe.  Many did not know what to make, of what they saw.  Never before has this been told of in all of Israel.  Never before has such a miracle been seen.  But then there are the wise Pharisees who are learned in the scriptures.   But then there are the Pharisees who had an explanation for this miracle.  They said,  "By the prince of devils he casts out devils."  

The Pharisees were not like the ordinary.  They were educated.  They had learning.  They were above the people.  They ruled the people.  They handed down the laws to the people.  So their statement about how Christ performed this miracle was a statement of knowledge.  It was a statement of insight.  It was a statement of understanding.  This statement assumed that there was a relationship between Christ and the prince of devils.  It implies that Christ obtained  his
power from the prince of devils and that the prince gave him the authority to cast out devils.  

The Pharisees saw what had happened with the man possessed by the demon.  They understood within themselves that Jesus had power to cast out demons but they could not accept that the 
authority came from God.  This was their reasoning.  If that power did come from God then this Christ could place himself above them.  If this power that Christ possessed did come from God then the people would no longer believe in them.  The people would no longer follow them.  The people would no longer provide for them as they had in the past. 

Christ had just previously spoken to the Pharisees and told them to learn about mercy instead of sacrifice.  He had just publicly spoken to the scribes and told them about the evil that was in their hearts.  He had indicated to the followers of John the Baptist that his disciples were different and did not follow the same precepts as they and the Pharisees.  So on three public occasions Christ had rebuked the Pharisees and the Scribes.  They were beginning to find him irritating.  So their explanation of this miracle stated that Christ had a relationship with the devil who gave him the power to cast out demons.  They could not accept him as the Messiah.  They could not believe that he was sent by God.  They could not allow the people to believe that they knew who he was.  So they conceived of this statement so that others would believe in them and follow their explanation.  They provided a basis to preserve their authority.  They decided to mislead the people with a statement of falsehood.

St Matthew gives us this statement here to show us how the separation began.  He demonstrates to us that a rift is taking place and the devil is working on the people around Christ.  The crowd is amazed at his miracles and the demons are finding ways to undermine those miracles.  There is a need for a physician to help the injured.  There is a need for a physician to heal the sick.  There is a need for a physician to cure the ills of society, and the demons are retaliating.  They are deceiving the minds of the Pharisees.  They are bringing about strife.  They are causing false statements to be spoken.  The battle has begun.  The sides are being drawn.  And the players are taking position.  Which side will you take, the side of Christ or the side of the Pharisees and the prince of the devils?