Teach Your Children Well

Do you remember the song “Teach Your Children” from Crosby, Stills and Nash?

You, who are on the road
Must have a code
That you can live by
And so
Become yourself
Because the past
Is just a good-bye

What is your code to live by?  

I hope you enjoyed reading Mark last week and learned something new about Jesus.  This week your assignment is the Gospel Matthew.  Rather than speed read - take a few days with it.

Matthew, one of the original twelve disciples, is its author.  Some of what you read will be familiar because much of Matthew is a repetition of Mark’s Gospel.  Matthew draws on Mark for what Jesus did, but adds a lot about what Jesus said.

If you are looking for a code to live by, consider what Jesus taught.  Jesus is the voice of God teaching us about God and how God wants us to live.  If your Bible shows Jesus’ words in red-letters, Matthew is quite colorful!

As you read, imagine being in the crowd listening to what Jesus was saying.  Bear in mind, Jesus repeated many these words over and over in different settings and different ways.  It is much like how parents have to teach their children!  Matthew doesn’t repeat each lesson, but if you don’t catch it the first time, read it again.  Here are some highlights:

In Chapters 5, 6, and 7 you will read the famous Sermon on the Mount.  I think of this as Christianity 101.  It was Jesus’ initial orientation to his disciples about what following Him entails.

In Chapter 10, Jesus commissions the disciples to heal and teach and how they should go about it.

Chapter 13 is a collection of parables.  These are stories Jesus uses to explain things to us limited humans.  Here the parables are about the Kingdom of God, or what Matthew calls the Kingdom of Heaven.  There are also parables on other topics scattered throughout all the Gospels.

In Chapter 18, Jesus shares some radical ideas about being humble, about sin and about forgiveness.  

I am also rather fond of Chapter 23 when Jesus lays down a resounding denunciation of hypocrisy and the Pharisees.    No meek and mild Jesus here.

In Chapters 24-25 Jesus talks about what I call “Last Things.”  Here you will read about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and a series of parables about how God will judge our behavior and the consequences.

You may have noticed in reading Mark that Jesus told His followers three times about His death and resurrection  (Mark 8:31-32; 9:30-32; 10:32-34).   As you delve deeper into Jesus’ teaching this week, think about what I’ve heard Andy Stanley say:  “If a man can predict his own death and resurrection, and pull it off, I just go with whatever that man says.”  Think about that as you read the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1&version=NLT

Blessed Lord Jesus, help us hear Your words spoken so long ago.  Make them new and alive to us today.  Help us take them to heart.  In Your Name we pray.  Amen.