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Days of Fervor
Matthew 21, recounting some of the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, is filled with drama, tension, and excitement. It also reveals, as the Bible often does, the fearful ability of our hearts to deceive us and the power of the evil one to blind our minds to the most obvious truths. It’s easy for us, looking back, to think: How could those leaders have been so hard, so blind, so indignant in the face of all the evidence that Jesus had given them?
Yet, we mustn’t fool ourselves. Is there any reason to think—even as Seventh-day Adventists, living with so much light—that we are much different? Do we not, at times, show a hard and callous indifference to truth, particularly when it interferes with our pet sins and desires and worldliness? Sure, God loves us, Christ died for us, and forgiveness is available to all. But those same words could be said about the folks in this chapter, as well, the ones who not only turned their backs on Jesus but who worked against Him. How careful we need to be, for we deceive ourselves if we think that we can’t be deceived, as well.
Read through Matthew 21, which forms the background for the parable in the next chapter. Though so much is happening there, what is the basic theme of the chapter? That is, if you had to write a summary of it in a few lines, what would it be? More important, what spiritual lessons can we take from it for ourselves?
Perhaps the most fascinating lines in the entire chapter are the last two. No matter how hard the people’s hearts were to Jesus, something of His message must have gotten through, because they knew He had been talking about them. It would have been one thing had they completely missed His point, but they didn’t. That was the problem: they seemed to have understood it, at least well enough to want to get Jesus out of the way. How fascinating, too, that it was the people themselves, the Jewish crowds drawn to Jesus, who restrained the leaders from arresting Him then. How sad—those who should have been teachers of others were the ones who had the most to learn and, in many cases, never learned it. When they finally do, it will be too late (Rom. 14:10).
| SUNDAY | June 5 |
Matthew 21, recounting some of the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, is filled with drama, tension, and excitement. It also reveals, as the Bible often does, the fearful ability of our hearts to deceive us and the power of the evil one to blind our minds to the most obvious truths. It’s easy for us, looking back, to think: How could those leaders have been so hard, so blind, so indignant in the face of all the evidence that Jesus had given them?
Yet, we mustn’t fool ourselves. Is there any reason to think—even as Seventh-day Adventists, living with so much light—that we are much different? Do we not, at times, show a hard and callous indifference to truth, particularly when it interferes with our pet sins and desires and worldliness? Sure, God loves us, Christ died for us, and forgiveness is available to all. But those same words could be said about the folks in this chapter, as well, the ones who not only turned their backs on Jesus but who worked against Him. How careful we need to be, for we deceive ourselves if we think that we can’t be deceived, as well.
Read through Matthew 21, which forms the background for the parable in the next chapter. Though so much is happening there, what is the basic theme of the chapter? That is, if you had to write a summary of it in a few lines, what would it be? More important, what spiritual lessons can we take from it for ourselves?
Perhaps the most fascinating lines in the entire chapter are the last two. No matter how hard the people’s hearts were to Jesus, something of His message must have gotten through, because they knew He had been talking about them. It would have been one thing had they completely missed His point, but they didn’t. That was the problem: they seemed to have understood it, at least well enough to want to get Jesus out of the way. How fascinating, too, that it was the people themselves, the Jewish crowds drawn to Jesus, who restrained the leaders from arresting Him then. How sad—those who should have been teachers of others were the ones who had the most to learn and, in many cases, never learned it. When they finally do, it will be too late (Rom. 14:10).
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