For a full description of the (Y3) reading plan, see the “About” page.
- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Matt. 9:18-10:42
Matthew’s narrative follows an interesting sequence here. He gave multiple examples, with a summary, of Jesus’ traveling to towns and villages, teaching, preaching, and healing. He followed this with Jesus’ statement to His disciples. “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:37b-38). Immediately after noting that comment, Matthew wrote about Jesus’ sending twelve of His disciples out to do exactly what Jesus had been doing – teaching, preaching, and healing. He called these twelve His apostles which means, “those who are sent off”. So Jesus sent these twelve out as workers into His harvest. Thus, the one worker became thirteen. That’s a pretty prompt answer to prayer!
What’s my point in this? It sparks a vague thought in my head that I’ll try to put into words. It has to do with what Jesus sent the twelve out to do. Yes, He sent them out as workers. More than that, though, I think He sent them out to find more workers; workers they prayed for God to provide. That gives me a somewhat different perspective on the work of bringing in God’s harvest. Obviously, the idea is to point people to Jesus. But instead of working to convince people, we are actually working to find them. We do what Jesus did, revealing Him as God’s truth to whomever will listen. God then shows us the workers He provides in how they respond to that truth. When someone responds positively, then we point them to Jesus and teach them to do the same for others.
Matt. 13
Note to self: The kingdom of heaven – belonging to God – is a treasure worth giving up EVERYTHING I have for.
Luke 8
After Jesus’ telling of the Parable of the Sower, both Matthew and Luke note something Jesus said to His disciples. He said, “For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.” (Lk. 8:18b). My question – “has” what? Each writer presents this statement from a slightly different context. Both, however, relate it to knowing the secrets of the kingdom of God. Luke expands on the connection by preceding Jesus’ statement with His comments on light that reveals and the statement, “Therefore take care how you listen.” (Lk. 9:18b). Secrets…light…listening. That sounds like a formula for understanding. That seems like a fit. “For whoever has understanding, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have understanding, even what he thinks he has well be taken away from him.”
So what was Jesus trying to say, then? What did He mean by, “take care how you listen”? And what does that have to do with hiding a lamp and concealed things being revealed? Perhaps He was saying that when we ‘hear’ with pride-filled hearts we don’t take in the truth. However, if our hearts are honest and good, the truth we hear lights a lamp in us to give us understanding. We know the truth took root because that understanding leads to more understanding, just like that lamp reveals hidden things. For the one whose ears are stopped up with pride, however, the understanding he thought he had will eventually be revealed as the foolishness that it is. We must take care, then, that we listen to God’s truth with receptive, humble hearts.