Chris

 

From Bible Alive

 

Matthew 18:15–20

 

We do not have to learn how to sin and to hurt other people.  For most of us, the ability comes all too naturally.  The number of ways that we can sin against others and they can sin against us is so great that a web of suffering is created.  Yet we are called to live in the world relating to one another as brothers and sisters. There is plenty of opportunity for disharmony.  Jesus knew this and gave practical advice on how to resolve conflict and maintain discipline in the church.

Firstly, he tells us to deal with problems individually if possible.  This course of action could be described as ‘speaking the truth in love’.  But there are pitfalls even at this stage.  Resentments that we harbour against others may be due more to our pride, jealousy and sensitivity than to the faults of others.  Sometimes we can find ourselves being irritated easily.  It is said that we should make a list of things about other people that irritate us and then study that list, because it contains all the features in our own character that we most despise about ourselves.  Still, other people do sometimes hurt us, and the remedy that Jesus prescribes is not a display of intimidating anger or an attempt to manipulate or retaliate, but simply to speak the truth.

Next, Jesus describes situations where the offender is unrepentant.  Once again it is the truth, supported by witnesses, that underpins the course of action to be taken.  If the offender is ultimately recalcitrant, he or she is to be shunned as if a ‘tax collector’.

Finally, Jesus makes promises that speak of his closeness to his disciples through the ages.  Any group of people meeting together in his name have the assurance that God will listen to and grant their requests.  And Jesus himself will be present among them.  It is a truth that we should remember when we struggle, as we may so often, with distractions in prayer and feel that our prayers go unheard by a God who seems to be far away from us.  The Lord is always with us.  He is always listening.

Lord, you call as to love one another.  Help me to be more aware of my own faults than those of others.  But give me the courage and the love to speak the truth to others when I need to do so.

 

Chris

 

From Bible Alive

Matthew 17:14–20

 

 

After glimpsing Jesus’s glory in his Transfiguration, the disciples had to come down from the mountain. They were truly brought back to earth by the failure of others to exorcise a demon. Though they had seen the glory of God, they still had to operate, as we all do, in a world where Satan has power because of human sin. Our encounters with God in prayer can give us the faith to be able to combat evil in our daily lives.

Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. Unlike them, the father of the possessed boy was a model of faith: he knelt before Jesus and addressed him as Lord. He knew who Jesus was and that he had the power to set his son free. The disciples had some faith, but it was weak and needed strengthening. Jesus stressed the power of faith in a vivid way in his statement that even faith the size of a mustard seed could move a mountain. In the world’s perspective faith is something insignificant and powerless; yet it can achieve amazing results. If we only believe, God can do great things through us, and bring about what we think impossible.

Most of us would say we have faith and believe in God, but our challenge is to apply this faith in our daily lives. It is in times of trial and suffering that we are called to live by faith, and it is then that our faith can grow most. We need to exercise our faith, and work to make it grow — otherwise it may wither away and fail to reach its potential. We can nourish our faith by regular prayer, Scripture reading and celebrating the Eucharist. In these ways we allow God to speak to us and strengthen us with his grace.

We should not be content with a wavering faith. If we expect great things from God, he can do great things for us. Jesus’s saying about the grain of faith should not depress us and make us think ourselves inadequate, but inspire us with a vision of the wonderful work God can do if we truly have a firm faith in him and try to live it out every day.

Lord Jesus, I believe in you, but my faith is often weak. Strengthen my faith so that I may allow you to work through me in ways more wonderful than I can imagine.

 

Matthew 14:13—21

 

This is a familiar story from the gospels, but it is well not to become blasé about it, not to switch off because we have heard it many times before.  There is much to learn from the story.

 

First we see Jesus's very human reaction to the news of his cousin's death, withdrawing to a lonely place to ponder and grieve. However, even before he can reach this lonely place, the crowds have got there first. Of course, he responds at once to their needs and heals the sick.

The main focus is Matthew's version of the feeding miracle — or rather his first version, as another occurs in 15:32-39. A number of key points emerge. As is so often the case, the ever-human disciples do not respond fully to the challenge that confronts them, and therefore Jesus instructs them: ‘you give them something to eat’ (v. 16). In so doing, he trains them to be more confident, to become the leaders they will have to be after he has gone.

Next Jesus blesses, breaks and gives out the bread. lrnplicitly, Matthew evokes for his contemporary readers and listeners the ritual of the Jewish meal.  At the same time, the formula anticipates the Last Supper, and therefore the Eucharist of the New Covenant. We should also pay close attention to the words ‘five thousand men, besides women and children’ (v. 21). This addition raises the total of people fed by Jesus to between 20,000 and 30,000 — a very sizeable portion of the Jewish population of Palestine at that time, estimated to have been about half a million.

We see, then, a precise chain reaction. Jesus, for all his own personal loss, is touched by the needs of the people. He reaches out to touch them, to heal and to feed them. These same actions anticipate the Eucharist. Today, through that very feast we too can join in spirit the tens of thousands of people we have heard about in today’s Gospel: we too Will be fed by the Good Shepherd. So we do well not to drift away!

And from the first reading of today, Isaiah 55: 1–3, we have the lesson that God will provide us with what we need: