March 29, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city (meaning the leadership both of the Temple and of Rome) was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’”

(Matthew 21.10-11)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

So why Matthew? Why, in the dialogue with scripture, had I been led to Matthew being called as a disciple of Jesus Christ? Matthew, his Jewish name was Levi, was a tax collector and looked down upon in the same category as prostitutes. He lived off the profit of collecting taxes from those who at one point in his life had been family, friends and acquaintances. We dare not allow ourselves to get lost in thinking Matthew was a mature man of a mature age. In Judaism, a boy is said to become a man at the age of 12 turning 13. His bar mitzvah was a celebration of that transition in which he demonstrates his expected “manly” duties as a leader of a family and household. He must teach, preach, model prayer, the leading of holy rituals associated with the high holy days of Israel, engage in the study of the word and lead his family in faith. It is quite a responsibility to take on. Hard to imagine that at 12 becoming 13 such a boy was actually prepared to be “a man.” In fact, he wasn’t. He was declaring his path, his journey, his expectation and his commitment to follow in the ways “of his father.” What if his father, as sadly were so many fathers before and have been since, not as prepared to be a father of Israel. What if their legacy was broken by generational sin, desperate circumstances, weakened faith and just downright selfishness and poor judgement? What if they had lived by the axiom “Love one another as you have been loved”? Do we really stop to embrace the struggle of that reality? If they had not been loved well, then that is the model they passed on to their children. I fear we see too many examples of people loving others in the way they have been loved. They are physically, mentally, emotionally, culturally, financially, socially and spiritually limping along through life because they have been loved as those before them had been loved. The struggle to survive hearing the echo deep inside of “it can be better than this” and facing the dire circumstances of “no it cannot” has been and is overwhelming. It is emblematic of that very first serpentine proposal in the Garden of Eden when God was calling His people into being for the sake of the world. God, Jesus’ Abba, the truly holy Father, so loved the world that…. Have we really thought about the story of creation in a way that throws us thousands of years into the future. Whether you believe, as some do, that the story is allegorical and scientifically untenable or that it is literally and substantively true doesn’t matter at this point. The point is God’s why! God created a place where people can share with the world the hope of living full and complete lives. It became a story of trial, tribulation and reconciliation which followed an act of redemption. Whether in Eden or in Jerusalem or by the seaside or in lonely place, the story of Creation remains the same. The Enemy asks “You know it can be better than this” and we somehow by some manner of experience learn “It can’t get better than this.” Who better than Matthew to relate that story rising up out of his own life experience. We do not know his past. We experience his desperate and tragic circumstance and can imagine his story with our own. We do know his story after that. It has become a part of our faith tradition whose influence has challenged the world’s truth and the denial of it. It speaks to a people who were called to be the people of God and not simply God’s people. It speaks to a people who were not ever intended to merely exist but to be a people who declared the truth about our existence. Yes, “our” existence based solely on the fact that we live. The gospel of Jesus was not bound by maleness or femaleness, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, rich or poor, sick or well. The gospel is presented to us all from the nearest to the furthest that they might all come to the banquet table of love. That very table David sang about which was established in the presence of our enemies. It was set there not to exclude but to include. It was set so that those who were far off could be brought close and told the truth of their lives. What is that truth? The truth is “nothing can separate us from the love of God.”

This is Matthew’s story and he lived it out loving others as he was loved. Not loved by his earthly father who we do not know. He was loved by Jesus who was loved by His Father, who we do know and have seen because we have believed in Him. We are that Matthew! The walls of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of God’s word and expectation came tumbling down. It was as if the tax collector’s plaza covered by a pergola or was it a small mobile booth that was set in place chosen to be the most convenient or was it a house well established to show it was not going to change came tumbling down just as surely as the walls of Jericho. It did not happen literally but figuratively. The passing of Jesus eroded away the facade of the lie until the truth was revealed. Levi needed Jesus! We need Jesus. Those in Jerusalem needed Jesus but what they wanted was “their” messiah. They accepted a vision of His coming (that upon a donkey) as the sign of a military revolution and a political coup. They had placed their hopes into a nationalism instead of a true theocracy. They were ready for battle against both Rome and the Temple but wanted for their champion to be like David of old against the Goliaths (for there were many) of the present and battle for them. They lifted palms and laid out cloaks. They celebrated His coming but were ill-prepared for His Father’s purpose. They cried out “It can’t get better than this” and failed to hear “Oh, yes it can.” Matthew knew it. Years later he would record the story of “how good it can be.” It would be an enduring gospel misunderstood by the disciples themselves as the road led up to Jerusalem on the first day of the week. Their misunderstanding would be proven as they remained shrouded on the first day a week later. The Triumphant Entry ended in a funeral dirge. Those who declared became those who despaired. Those who said “It can’t get better than this” wept “no it cannot.” Yet, redemption’s story could not, would not and cannot be silenced. “Weeping in the mourning” became “Joy in the morning.” Matthew recovered the resonance of the Old becoming New and the New being born of the Old in power and glory as it always should be. He listened for the prophets’ words and saw them fulfilled. It didn’t happen as expected. It happened as it was meant to be. His was a lesson we all must learn! Jesus is Lord on His Father’s terms and not our own. God’s Way is not just the better way. It is the best way. We do not have to understand it. We do have to believe it.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.