Date: 26 January 2009; D – 16 days
Bible (NT/OT):
Matt 21:1-16
The Triumphal Entry
21 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 "Say to the daughter of Zion,
'Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" 11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read,
"'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?"
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" 21 And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" 24 Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 26 But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet." 27 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29 And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
The Parable of the Tenants
33 "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
"'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Ps 22:1-2
u My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer.
Ps 22:7-8
All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 "He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"
Ps 22:16-18
6 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—17 I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Sun Tzu:
“The formation and procedure used by the military should not be divulged beforehand.”
“Attack when they are unprepared and not expecting it, and you will surely win.”
“Securing military victory can certainly not be made uniform—first, see the enemy’s formation, and only then apply the strategy. You cannot say exactly what you will do before the event”
The Intellectual Devotion (Kidder, D. & Oppenheim N. The Intellectual Devotion, Rodale. NY, NY 2006):
The Greenhouse Effect: discovered in 1824 by Joseph Fourier the greenhouse effect describes the mechanism by which water vapor (primarily), carbon dioxide, methane and other gasses trap the sun’s energy that is reflected from earth’s surface. The Greenhouse effect is why earth is a hospitable planet. Venous has a thick atmosphere saturated with Carbon Dioxide making it the hottest planet in the solar system with an average temp of 456 Degrees, while Mars without an atmosphere (no ability to store heat) cools to a frigid -220F at night. It has been hypothesized that humans have caused a runaway greenhouse effect by our pollution as the average temp has raised 1 degree in the last 100 years with the peak average temp’s occurring in 1998.
Events:
Got up yesterday and read, wrote and went to church. After church, Marla and I went out with 6 or 7 other couples to lunch. Lots of fun! The pictures are attached. We have a great church and have made amazing friends. Our pastor is solid; he gave a great sermon out of Exodus yesterday. We picked the church for it’s fellowship potential as there must be >100 couples our age and in a similar lifestage (married with either no kids or young kids). It will be very difficult to find such a great church when we move. Marla has been very involved with the church; but one of my few regrets is that I did not get more involved. Granted, it was hard through residency and difficult this last 6 months of commuting to Fort Hood but there were defiantly opportunities that I did not take to get connected. I will leave with a few great friends, but given the potential to be great friends with nearly any and all of the people at our church, this seems a loss. I also missed out on a great opportunity to seek out a mentor. There are countless Men that I respect within the church that I could have learned a lot from but never took the time. I look forward to finding mentorship both in Iraq and when we move. It has been hard to ask for that sort of help here as by all external opinion, I must seem quite the carnal (immature) Christian; I have rarely been able to get to church/bible study and I’ve got a touch of social anxiety that makes me get to church late to avoid conversation and run out as soon as it’s over again to avoid the big group. Lacey (Marla’s Cousin) came over for dinner last night. Good times.
Thoughts:
The Triumphal Entry
21 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 "Say to the daughter of Zion,
'Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" 11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read,
"'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?"
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" 21 And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" 24 Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 26 But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet." 27 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29 And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
The Parable of the Tenants
33 "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
"'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Ps 22:1-2
u My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer.
Ps 22:7-8
All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 "He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"
Ps 22:16-18
6 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—17 I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Sun Tzu:
“The formation and procedure used by the military should not be divulged beforehand.”
“Attack when they are unprepared and not expecting it, and you will surely win.”
“Securing military victory can certainly not be made uniform—first, see the enemy’s formation, and only then apply the strategy. You cannot say exactly what you will do before the event”
The Intellectual Devotion (Kidder, D. & Oppenheim N. The Intellectual Devotion, Rodale. NY, NY 2006):
The Greenhouse Effect: discovered in 1824 by Joseph Fourier the greenhouse effect describes the mechanism by which water vapor (primarily), carbon dioxide, methane and other gasses trap the sun’s energy that is reflected from earth’s surface. The Greenhouse effect is why earth is a hospitable planet. Venous has a thick atmosphere saturated with Carbon Dioxide making it the hottest planet in the solar system with an average temp of 456 Degrees, while Mars without an atmosphere (no ability to store heat) cools to a frigid -220F at night. It has been hypothesized that humans have caused a runaway greenhouse effect by our pollution as the average temp has raised 1 degree in the last 100 years with the peak average temp’s occurring in 1998.
Events:
Got up yesterday and read, wrote and went to church. After church, Marla and I went out with 6 or 7 other couples to lunch. Lots of fun! The pictures are attached. We have a great church and have made amazing friends. Our pastor is solid; he gave a great sermon out of Exodus yesterday. We picked the church for it’s fellowship potential as there must be >100 couples our age and in a similar lifestage (married with either no kids or young kids). It will be very difficult to find such a great church when we move. Marla has been very involved with the church; but one of my few regrets is that I did not get more involved. Granted, it was hard through residency and difficult this last 6 months of commuting to Fort Hood but there were defiantly opportunities that I did not take to get connected. I will leave with a few great friends, but given the potential to be great friends with nearly any and all of the people at our church, this seems a loss. I also missed out on a great opportunity to seek out a mentor. There are countless Men that I respect within the church that I could have learned a lot from but never took the time. I look forward to finding mentorship both in Iraq and when we move. It has been hard to ask for that sort of help here as by all external opinion, I must seem quite the carnal (immature) Christian; I have rarely been able to get to church/bible study and I’ve got a touch of social anxiety that makes me get to church late to avoid conversation and run out as soon as it’s over again to avoid the big group. Lacey (Marla’s Cousin) came over for dinner last night. Good times.
Thoughts:
1. 12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." In the Old Testament, there are many commanded animal sacrifices. Sacrifice was commanded for everything from having a child, to being cured of an illness to being cleansed from sin (Yom Kippur). The Temple in Jerusalem was the recommended place to make this sacrifice thus people traveled from distant cities to Jerusalem. Due to the difficulty of the journey, people would not bring a lamb or dove to sacrifice; instead they would buy the cow/lamb/dove in Jerusalem. The sale of animals at the temple became a lucrative business as the customers were a subject to whatever outrageous charges the seller demanded. As the sacrifice (before Christ ultimate once and for all blood offering) was fundamental to all cleansing and purification ritual in the Old Testament Temple, these sellers were in effect holding the pilgrims purification for ransom. John Piper gives a great sermon over this verse in which he poses the question, “should we then take the book store out of our church?” His answer is of course no on many levels.
a. First of all, a new testament church is by no means the Old Testament Temple. The New Testament physical Church is merely a building to house God’s people, where as the Old Testament Temple was built as God’s house where God’s presence was to reside. The Old Testament Temple was a Holy place where yearly sacrifice was necessary for the remission of the sin’s of the people. The New Testament Chruch has no such prurpose as we now have a clear understanding from Hebrews 9-11 that the Old Testament Temple and Sacrifice was only a glimpse, a foreshowdoding to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the Cross and now that this “once and for all” sacrifice has been made we are no longer dependent upon the “blood of bulls” for our justification. Heb 10:1-5 “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, (and) said…”"Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
b. Secondly, the purpose of a bookstore is very different than the purpose of a sacrificial animal. While a book (especially one of Piper’s books) can be very sanctifying (maturing) the purpose of the animal was for justification (salvation). An important point because there are those even today who attempt to sell salvation. While the condemnation of this verse does not fall on a book store in a church, it does fall on those such as Tetzel (rightly condemned) who,in order to build Saint Peters Basilica “sold salvation” to the peasants, with his classic quote, “As soon as a coin in the coffer sings, a soul from purgatory sings.” I feel that this condemnation also falls on present day televangelists and revivalists who promise remission from sin’s and favor with god for a small monetary donation.
2. "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" As Jesus claims this verse, he is again claiming his deity. We are left with 3 options as C.S Lewis articulates, Jesus was either a Liar, a lunatic or truly Lord. But let’s stop with this “Great teacher”, “Great Prophet” nonsense.
3. ...found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once. Jesus does not lose his temper here and abuse his power for evil as the Green-peace types have charged. No Jesus uses the Fig Tree much for the same purpose that we take communion each week, as a tangible reminder or Christ’s promise…this just happens to be the promise that most Christians would like to gloss over. We love to quote John 3:16 but forget about 3:17-18... "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Jesus, in this instance, uses the fig tree to illustrate his earlier point that, a tree (person) is judged as either Good or Bad by it’s fruit. The Fig Tree is also a classic symbol of Israel. Christ demonstrates the condemnation that would soon fall on the Jews for their faithlessness.
4. 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29 And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go…, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. This parable attacks the Pharisees yet again for their hypocracy they are those who, “4…tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger”. Matt 23:4. The tax collectors and prostitutes who had not lived under their Heavenly Father’s authority now found the rest and forgiveness they had sought in Jesus, whereas those “whitewashed tombs” the Pharisee’s who claimed to be holy and pious were too proud to realize their own need and cry out for Christ’s salvation.
5. 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." When we truly fall on Christ and realize his incredible love demonstrated in his intolerable suffering we are broken by the immeasurably high ransom that the Father paid for us, sacrificing his only son. But those who deny Christ will be crushed by the wrath of God, justly administered for their sins.
6. Psalms: Great verses that prophesize the death of Christ centuries before his birth.
7. Intellectual Devo: Throw back to an old blog that I wrote about Global warming on 13 Jan 09:
a. I have a couple thoughts on global warming:
i. The pollutants of cars and factories pales in comparison to the natural pollutants of a forest fire or volcano. The world has been adapting fine to the above for billions of years so what is another drop in the bucket if, let’s be honest it’s not hurting anything (best guess maybe a degree warmer over the last 100 yrs and who knows what actually caused this).
ii. My biggest peeve against global climate change is that we are throwing billions of both public and private money towards fixing a theoretic problem when we have real problems that truly need and deserve that money. The fact that the Global warming people could organize a worldwide campaign and raise millions of dollars is great but where did that money go? What could those millions of dollars have done for the troops fighting our nation’s two wars? What could that money have done for the starving and sick around the world? Places where 10 dollars could save a life, not where we throw millions upon millions of dollars at a fictional problem. I don’t fault the good people who are truly concerned about our future on this planet, I fault the media and Al Gore’s of the world that have sensationalized a theoretical problem that even the scientific community cannot agree upon. The theoretical “global warming” needs to be last page news until we have some causal relationship between manmade pollutants and actual warming. It may, in fact, be real but until we have a verifiable diagnosis how can we justify throwing millions of dollars and crazy solutions at it? You would not think me a very good physician if I saw a patient and without any tests or verification, just my hunch not only told the patient that they had Cancer but started them on expensive and extremely dangerous chemotherapy. The treatment that we have attempted for Global Warming is just that, treating a disease without a diagnosis with expensive therapies that are unproven and potentially more dangerous than the original theoretical disease.
