July 23:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS BOLDNESS.
"Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."--Mark 11:21

When I was a little girl, my family lived in Buenos Aires, behind an Adventist Publishing House.  In spite of living in the city, we had the unusual blessing of having a backyard with fruit trees.  Among them, we had a huge fig tree, which bore hundreds of sweet and large figs each year.  We monitored the tree closely, looking for the early figs which we called brebas, that would appear much earlier than the rest of the crop.  They were so sweet!

Coming back to Jerusalem from Bethany, Jesus became hungry (Mark 11:12).  "Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs" (verse 13).  We are clearly told that it was not the season for figs, but this particular tree had the appearance of fruit; sometimes early figs were found along with the leaves.  All of a sudden, "Jesus, meek and mild" seems to turn into "Jesus mean and wild," * right in front of our eyes!  And He makes a disturbing pronouncement "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" (verse 14).  Jesus appears irrationally angry, but in fact He is using the fig-less tree to enact a parable, to teach something really important to the disciples.  In the prophetic utterances of the Jewish Scriptures, the fig tree represented Israel.  But when Israel was not fulfilling its purpose to represent Him to the nations, God spoke against them in terms of a dried-up fig tree: "I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.  But...their root is dried up, They will bear no fruit (Hosea 9:10, 16).  The cursing of the fig-less tree was an enacted parable of judgment on the system's fruitlessness and hypocrisy.  After this, Jesus cleansed the temple (Mark 11:15-18), judging what they had done with it.  The following day, as they passed by, Peter said "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered" (verse 21), thus completing the enacted parable.  The temple had become like the barren fig tree, a fruitless institution.  In this way, Jesus announced that God will not tolerate exclusivity, religious pride, and hypocrisy among His people.

My Response:_________________________________________________________
* Mark Galli uses this phrase as the title of his book that studies troubling passages in the Gospel of Mark.

July 22:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS ACCEPTANCE.
"I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."--Matthew 9:13

A pastor shared quite an impactful story with me.  One morning, he happened to step outside the church during the service and ran into one of his young adults and smelled a strong scent on his breath.  The young man was hesitant to come back into the church because the smell betrayed one of his unhealthy habits.  The pastor encouraged him to come in anyway, explaining that we are all sinners in need of a Savior.  "If all our sins had a smell, the church would be a pretty smelly place," he said.  What a true statement!

After Jesus had called Levi Matthew to follow Him (Matthew 9:9), Matthew organized a big celebration in his house, and "many tax collectors and sinners came" (Matthew 9:10; see Luke 5:29).  These were probably Matthew's former coworkers and acquaintances who are now sharing a meal with Jesus and His disciples.  I am sure they were more than curious to meet the One who had accepted a person like Levi Matthew as His disciple.  In Greek the word "sinners" denotes people who disregard the Jewish scribal law, even though it can also carry a moral connotation.  This crowd of "sinners" was in stark contrast to the Pharisees, who voiced their objections to the disciples of Jesus: "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?" (verse 11).  Sharing a meal was a sign of acceptance and community, and these guardians of the ritual law resented this outrageous acceptance of "sinners" and had to point it out.  Jesus heard them and answered with a symbolic saying about a doctor being needed by those who are physically sick and not by the healthy ones (verse 12), meaning that He had come for those with spiritual illness.  Then He quotes (unique to Matthew) Hosea 6:6: "I desire compassion [mercy], and not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13; see also 12:7).  Afterwards, Jesus goes on to proclaim His mission: "for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:13). He was exposing the type of legalistic, pharisaical "righteousness" in which purity trumps mercy.  Paradoxically, only those who know they are unworthy/smelly (21:31) receive Jesus' outrageous acceptance.

My Response:_________________________________________________________

July 21:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS CHOICE.
As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth; and He said to him, "Follow Me!"--Matthew 9:9

Rejection takes many forms.  You might send out invitations to a party and no one shows up, or you might not get picked for either of the two teams being formed in a school PE class until the very end.  I have vivid memories of being rejected when I was twelve years old.  Having just come to the United States with my family, I distinctly remember the most popular girl in the class and the way she looked down on me because of my accent, skin color, or the hand-me-down clothes I wore.  But all of that changed the day when another girl befriended me.

Matthew (called Levi in Mark and Luke) is the perfect example of a rejected person.  He was a tax collector (Greek telones) and therefore was despised by his fellow countrymen for at least three reasons.  First, tax collectors were viewed as traitors because they collected tax for the hated Roman government.  Second, the tax collectors were known to abuse their authority for personal gain because the amount of tax was at the collector's discretion.  Extortion was the norm for these people, thus making them rich at the expense of the needy and destitute.  Third, Jews viewed tax collectors as ritually unclean, as they often compromised the purity laws by dealing with Gentiles and handling their money.  Therefore, for socio-religious-political reasons, tax collectors were despised and rejected.  That Jesus would choose a tax collector as His disciple (see Matthew 10:3) is more shocking than we can understand.  And perhaps just as startling is the fact that Matthew left everything and followed Him (Matthew 9:9).  The next scene happens at Matthew's house with a big celebration at which Jesus and His disciples, as well as "many tax collectors and sinners," are guests (Matthew 9:10; see also Luke 5:29).  If you have ever been rejected by a religious person or group, you must know that this is not the way Jesus treats you.  Furthermore, Jesus invites the rejects, the despised, and the marginalized to follow Him.  He has a special interest in the captives and the lost.  Yes, He has come for all of us, the least of these.

My Response:_________________________________________________________

July 20:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS REALITY.
After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."--Matthew 9:33

As I was studying organizational behavior, I learned that we all evaluate and interpret reality through our perception, and that we can be quite obstinate about arguing that our interpretive filters are the right ones.  In my family, we often allude to a joke about two men involved in an animated argument about an item in the store.  One of them believed it was a bar of soap, while the other insisted it was a piece of cheese.  They continued to argue until the cheese proponent decided to take a bite to prove his perspective.  "It tastes like soap, but it's definitely cheese," he insisted.  This is how stubborn we can be.

The miracle of Jesus in Matthew 9:32-34 is the tenth miracle within two chapters.  However, it elicits two opposite responses.  A man who was mute due to demon possession was brought to Jesus (verse 32).  Just as blindness turned to sight in the preceding miracle (9:27-30), the deaf-mute being able to hear and speak was an expectation to be fulfilled by the long-awaited Messiah (see Matthew 11:5; Isaiah 35:5, 6).  The double miracle of exorcism and healing is implied in the introduction to the crowd's response to the miracle: "After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed" (verse 33).  The first response is excitement and amazement, as had been the case with those who witnessed the calming of the storm on the lake (8:27), with an important addition about the newness of Jesus' ministry; "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel" (9:33).  On the opposite side, there was the shocking response of the antagonistic Pharisees, who issued their most public attack against Jesus so far in this Gospel, stating that "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons" (verse 34; see also 12:24-29).  We should always ask God to give us a heavenly perspective.  Even today, many are amazed and rejoice when confronted with the grace of God in Jesus, while others react negatively, calling it a license to sin.  The grace of God is outrageous and scandalous.  Let's ask God to give us humility and joy to accept it.

My Response:_________________________________________________________

July 19:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS OVERFLOW.
"Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?"--Matthew 18:33

On our ministry's website, www.Jesus101.tv, you can watch a video entitled "Challenged," * which is part of our TV series "After God's Heart," a study in brokenness from the life of David.  In this show, pastor Mike Tucker and I discuss forgiveness: what it is and what it is not.  Forgiveness is not denial; it is not saying that it didn't hurt or that it didn't matter.  It is not justification or condonement of the wrong, and it's not a lack of boundaries, which means that forgiveness does not always lead to reconciliation.  Forgiveness is cancelling the debt, releasing the person who has committed the offense, and not holding resentment.

In the second part of Jesus' parable on forgiveness (we studied the first part yesterday), the forgiven slave finds a fellow slave who owes him money; the amount of the debt is about four months' wages (Matthew 18:28).  The slave, who had just been forgiven an unfathomable debt, now seizes and starts choking a man who owes him a small debt (verse 28).  The fellow slave pleads for patience in almost identical words to those used by the first slave when pleading with the king (verse 29, compare with verse 26), yet the first slave refuses to have patience with his colleague (verse 30).  He can't sell a fellow slave but imprisons him for non-payment.  He treats his fellow debtor with contempt, refusing to become a conduit of the king's mercy.  His fellow slaves were baffled by his lack of compassion and reported him to the master, who revokes the previous debt-cancellation and sends him to prison.  "Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?"  (Matthew 18:33).  God was willing to forgive the debt but would not stand for an unforgiving forgiven servant.  By his lack of compassion, the forgiven slave revealed that he had not understood the magnitude of God's mercy towards him.  The forgiveness principles of the kingdom of heaven are to produce a chain reaction, in which the mercy we have received overflows through us to our fellow humans.  Merciful Jesus, make us true instruments of Your grace!

My Response:_________________________________________________________
* After God's Heart--Challenged," Jesus 101, accessed May 2, 2019, https://jesus101.tv/watch/?media=5969.

July 18:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS FORGIVENESS.
"And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt."--Matthew 18:27

The man was Oskar Groening, the former SS Sergeant known as the book-keeper of Auschwitz, who was accused (and later found guilty) of being complicit in the murder of 300,000 people.  She was Eva Kor, an 81-year-old Hungarian Jew and survivor of the camp where her mother, father, and two older sisters were all gassed to death."  She explains why, despite protest from other Holocaust survivors, she has decided to forgive him.  "Why survive at all if [all] you want to be is sad, angry and hurting?" she says.  'That is so foreign to who I am.' " * she forgave him a debt that he couldn't possibly pay.

In the discourse about the kingdom's community (Matthew 18), Peter comes to Jesus to find out how many times to forgive "Up to seven times?" he asked (verse 21).  The rabbis advocated for a "generous" three times.  Jesus answered: "Up to seventy times seven" (verse 22).  The point of Jesus is not to count four hundred ninety times but to propose an unlimited, exuberant forgiveness.  Then He tells a parable in two parts, the second of which we will examine tomorrow.  Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who called his slaves to settle accounts with them.  One of the servants owed ten thousand talents (the Greek word murion can also mean "beyond count").  This was an insurmountable debt, equivalent to billions of dollars today.  How could a slave get into such debt?  It is believed that this is consistent with servants who collected the taxes of the land and were to bring those proceeds to the king.  This man doesn't have the astronomical amount to pay.  But instead of mercy, he asks the king for patience, having a completely unrealistic view of himself and his ability to pay (see verse 26).  Nevertheless, "the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt" (verse 27).  Instead of patience, the man found forgiveness of an immeasurably huge debt.  Christianity is not a debt payment system.  On the topic of forgiveness, the first indispensable part is to understand that we have been forgiven a debt that we could never have been able to pay!

My Response:_________________________________________________________
* Joe Shute, "Why I Forgive the Nazis Who Murdered My Family, Telegraph, January 20, 2016, 5:45 P.M. GMT, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/12111155/Why-I-forgive-the-Nazis-who-murdered-my-family.html.

July 17:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS PREROGATIVE.
"I wish to give to this last man the same as to you."--Matthew 20:14

An intriguing video clip, entitled "The Good-O-Meter," offers a great illustration about salvation.  On Judgment Day, people are lined up, their "life-files" in hand, waiting to step on the scale of the Good-O-Meter to be determined to be either good or bad.  Even the person with the most impressive record of good accomplishments is declined "not good enough" and gets quite angry with self-righteous indignation.  Finally, one who is obviously unworthy is about to step on the scale when Jesus appears and stands on the scale in his place.  Immediately, the Good-O-Meter points to "good enough" and the unworthy one is elevated with Jesus.  The rest of the group shout out indignantly, "It's not fair!"  The angel in the final scene responds: "That's why it's called grace!" *

The parable of the generous landowner (Matthew 20:1-16) focuses on God's grace towards those who entered the vineyard at the last hour of the workday and received the same wages as the rest. But when those who started first see that the last ones receive one denarius for their one hour of work, they feel that they deserve more than the originally agreed amount (see Verses 9, 10), yet they too receive one denarius.  They start grumbling about the unfairness of the situation (verses 11, 12), just like the older brother in the parable found in Luke 15, who got angry with his father because of his graceful treatment of the prodigal son.  The grumblers speak to the landowner with an air of entitlement: "These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day" (Matthew 20:12).  The owner explains to them that he has not violated their agreement and that he can do as he wishes with the undeserving ones; grace is His prerogative.  The kingdom's mathematics are not based on fairness, but on grace.  None of us deserve salvation.  Terms of entitlement or contract are not part of the equation.  There are no shorter or longer versions of eternity; we are all saved by grace.  Let's treat each other as fellow undeserving-yet-saved citizens of God's gracious kingdom!

My Response:_________________________________________________________
* The Good-O-Meter," Central Films, May 12, 2007, https://www,youtube.com/watch?v=XrLzYw6ULYw.

July 16:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS GENEROSITY.
"When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius."--Matthew 20:9

Many years ago, I got a new job.  I clearly remember that I started working in the middle of the last quarter of the year.  I was very thankful to have this new job, especially because it filled me with purpose and meaning.  And I was extremely surprised when my boss announced that I would be getting paid from the beginning of the quarter.  I was amazed at his generosity.

There is a surprising parable, found only in the Gospel of Matthew, that highlights God's outrageous generosity.  The story is placed between two framing sayings of Jesus about the first becoming last, and the last becoming first" (Matthew 19:30; 20:16).  Explaining these sayings, Matthew records the parable of Jesus about the landowner who hired laborers for his vineyard.  "The kingdom of heaven is like" a man who hires workers in the morning and agrees to pay them one denarius for the day and send them to his vineyard (Matthew 20:1, 2).  Then he keeps going back to the marketplace throughout the day, at 9:00 a.m., at noon, at 3:00 p.m., to get more workers, agreeing to pay "whatever is right" (verse 4).  We are not told why he needs more and more workers all through the day, yet this was a typical scene during the harvest.  But it is surprising that the landowner goes out again to hire at 5:00 p.m., with only one hour left to work.  When he asks those workers why they are still there, they answer that no one has hired them (verse 7).  It is possible that these were rejected, less desirable laborers, but he still hires them.  The law of Moses required employers to pay day laborers at the end of each day (Deuteronomy 24:14, 15).  The shocking ending of the parable shows how the last group gets called first and gets paid full wages!  (Matthew 20:9).  They each received one denarius even though they had worked only for one hour!  Can you imagine their joy?  Do you, or someone you know, feel like a reject or less desirable?  God invites you into the kingdom, and it's not too late!  We are all recipients of God's generous salvation!  Eternal life is for all who accept, for "some are not more saved than others." *

My Response:_________________________________________________________
* France, Gospel of Matthew, 751.

July 15:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS APPEAL.
"Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you."--Matthew 21:31

There are true followers of Jesus in the most unexpected places.  Our ministry, Jesus 101, recently received a wonderful letter from a prisoner describing his response after reading our booklet, "Luke: Salvation for ALL."  "Even though I am incarcerated," he wrote, "my soul has been set free!"  He ended his letter with an excited "Woo-hoo!"  As I was reading it, it occurred to me that some people in jail are feeling free, while some others in the church pews may actually feel incarcerated.  Quite a paradox, isn't it?

Matthew 21:31 is one of the most shocking verses in the New Testament.  It's part of the parable of the two sons that Jesus used to respond to the chief priests and elders who questioned His authority (see Matthew 21:23).  In the parable, a man appeals to his two sons to go work in the vineyard.  The first son responds negatively but later regrets his answer and goes (verse 29).  The second responds positively but then changes his mind and doesn't go (verse30).  Jesus asked them: "Which of the two did the will of his father?" and they answered, "the first" (verse 31).  Jesus gave the shocking interpretation: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you" (verse 31).  The most unlikely ones had believed, but the chief priests and elders had not (verse 32).  Tax collectors and prostitutes, despised by the religious leaders (see Luke 18:11), were getting to the kingdom ahead of the law-abiding, Sabbath-keeping priests and elders.  Those who had religious ancestry and pedigree were in peril of being excluded from the kingdom (see Matthew 8:11, 12).  In the most literal sense, the last were first, and the first were last.  The appeal of Jesus is meant for each one of us, whether we consider ourselves religious or unlikely followers.  In the Gospels, the religious folk are always in the gravest danger because they don't recognize their need.  Let's respond faithfully to the appeal of Jesus by examining our own hearts and accepting His grace, which none of us deserve.

My Response:_________________________________________________________

July 14:  Affirming His Grace.

HIS ACQUITTAL.
"I do not condemn you....Go.  From now on sin no more."--John 8:11

I was acquitted, not because I was innocent, but because the police officer didn't show up.  I had been coming down the mountain into a construction zone.  There were many trucks coming and going on the road, and I planned to follow the orange cones that were placed on the road to create a temporary lane.  A highway patrol officer thought I was not doing it right, so he pulled me over and gave me a ticket.  I decided to challenge this violation in court.  But when my name was called, the officer wasn't there, and I was acquitted by default, due to his absence.

When an adulterous woman was brought to Jesus, her accusers came with their Bibles in hand.  She had been clearly caught in adultery (John 8:4), and this was their opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: to condemn her and to test Jesus, in order to accuse Him (verse 6).  "In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" (John 8:5).  The trap was cleverly set.  Their dilemma was that under the Roman law, the Jews had no power to carry out a death sentence (see John 18:31).   So, if Jesus had said, "Go ahead!  Stone her!" they could go to the Roman authorities and make a charge against Him.  If He had said, "Leave her alone!" they could charge Him with breaking the Law of Moses and discredit Him as a rabbi.  It was a clever trap.  "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her," He said (John 8:7).  She was guilty, and Jesus was the only One qualified to throw the stone.  But He aborted the stoning because a few days later He Himself would take the punishment that she deserved.  When He was left alone with her, He said: " 'Woman....Did no one condemn you?'  She said, 'No one, Lord.'  And Jesus said, 'I do not condemn you, either.  Go.  From now on sin no more' " (verses 10, 11).  Jesus always speaks in the same order.  First, "I do not condemn you," then, "Go...sin no more."  God desires for us to live healthier, more abundant lives, for His glory and for our happiness, yet He never reverses the order.  His bidding is always preceded by the good news of acquittal (see Romans 8:1), because He paid the price!  Thank You, Jesus!

My Response:_________________________________________________________