Mt 9:2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Among human desires, perhaps one of the strongest is the desire to be accepted. Unfortunately this is often thwarted by the awareness that our behaviour has been lacking in some way and there are things between us and others that prevent them accepting us. It is at such a point that we also desire forgiveness for, as we've just observed, its absence can be a hindrance to acceptance.

We don't know what the cause was, in our verse today, of this man's paralysis, but there is perhaps an implication in Jesus' words that the man at least believes his state is linked to his sin. Jesus wants to heal him and sees that before faith can be released any barriers to it must be removed. He sees that this man believes that he has sinned and therefore his paralysis has come. Now there is an important lesson hidden in all this. It is that unbelief can hinder or reject God's healing and in this case, it would be of little use Jesus telling him he was healed if his mind is saying, but that can't happen because my sin has brought this on. The sin, or its apparent power, needs removing here before faith can be released.

Now there is another aspect of all of this which needs noting in passing. God forgives when there is repentance and indeed doesn't forgive where there is no repentance. The fact that the man is willing to come and face Jesus, implies that he is also willing to face the possibility of his past coming to light and he wants it dealt with. This is tantamount to him acknowledging and confessing his past sin. There is therefore, an openness in this man, so that now Jesus merely has to declare God's forgiveness, and having done that relief is brought to the man over his past failure, and his thankfulness towards Jesus, opens him to Jesus words, so that when Jesus tells him to get up and walk, he receives that and jumps up and walks.

In these considerations we have, so far, taken one thing for granted: Jesus' ability to forgive sins. However, the observing teachers of the law (v.3) weren't so careless. They saw instantly what was implied here. “This fellow is blaspheming,” they said. Why? Because only God can forgive sins, surely? In doing this, Jesus reveals his divine mantle and the religious onlookers weren't happy about that.

Let's see the bigger picture. All sins are sins against God (that is what a sin is). How can God merely say words and forgive people? Surely justice demands that wrong doing be punished. If God says, don't worry about it, then it doesn't matter who does what. But God doesn't do that. He says, your sin has been dealt with and your punishment taken by my Son, on the Cross. Your sin has been punished, justice has been observed, which means that when we come in confession, God can now forgive us without justice being offended. Thus when Jesus granted forgiveness to any sinner coming to him in repentance, he did it on the basis of what he was about to achieve on the Cross. This wasn't just casting the sin aside saying it didn't matter. It did matter and it would shortly be dealt with on the Cross. Jesus was thus able to speak forgiveness because he was about to bring about the means for forgiveness to be granted. Even as he spoke it to this man, perhaps he was thinking, and here's another sin I'll have to carry shortly. For him, speaking these words was no easy or casual thing. They pointed towards Calvary .

Mt 9:3,4 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

The number of times that I've been walking down a road with my wife and she comes out with what I had just been thinking, makes me wonder about the ability to read minds. When it's someone you love, it's comforting; it creates a sense of togetherness. If it is someone hostile to you that can be scary.

A number of times in the Gospels, we find that Jesus knew their thoughts. Now whether that means he actually knew exactly the thoughts they were thinking, or he simply knew the sort of thoughts they were having, I don't think matters. I'm sure he could have seen the exact thoughts they had, because he is the Son of God, and God sees all things. Yet I think Jesus was an expert at ‘reading people'. This is a skill that can be learnt. You learn to observe body language, the way people are standing or sitting. You observe tenseness or states of relaxation. You learn to read eyes, the face that can be smiling but the eyes are hard. There are myriads of tell-tale signs that give away what is going on in someone's mind, and Jesus knew all these and knew the responses of people to him. In this case he knew exactly what the teachers of the Law were thinking, and it wasn't merely an understanding of what he was saying, it was a hostility to it.

Here is the central lesson of this verse: Jesus knew people. When someone comes to you, you can hear their words and understand what they are wishing you to hear. Then you can observe their body language and suddenly you realise that there is a tension in them that suggests everything is not quite as it seems at first sight. Then, if you are a sensitive Christian, you catch something of the spirit within them and you recoil as you realise the darkness that is there, that is seeking to come against you. The words say one thing, the body language another, and the spirit can reveal the truth of this person. It's not something many Christians are good at, but Jesus was. Jesus operated at the level of the spirit, so men would come to him asking the apparently most harmless of questions, but as he read them he knew they were against him, out to get him. Being able to read people at this level is a great security, a means of protection.

But then there are other people (Zacchaeus – Lk 19 was a good example) who are apparently bold, or arrogant, or brash on the outside, and indeed their body language confirms this, but inside their spirit is crying out. Inside there is a little person crying out, won't some one love me and help me and care for me? The Pharisees and other religious people of Jesus' day didn't see this, but Jesus did, which was why he was quite happy to go to the ‘sinners', because he read them and knew just what they were like on the inside.

The Pharisees and the priests looked at people and saw people who were sinners, people who were involved in sin, and wrote them off. Jesus looked at them, read them and saw the yearnings to be free, to be clean, to be forgiven, and so forgave them. We saw that yesterday. So what are you like on the inside? Your thoughts and feelings that others don't see? Jesus looks at you, reads you and knows you, just like you really are, and he understands and loves you and accepts you and grants you the forgiveness you yearn for. He knows your past, and the scars you are left with, and he's here to bring healing with acceptance. He knows you and, in his case, that is a good thing!

Mt 9:9-11 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and `sinners'?"

Depending on how you feel about God and about yourself, you will either find this a beautiful little cameo in Jesus' life, or something quite upsetting. Religious people like nice people. Jesus liked sinners! Religious people feel uncomfortable in the presence of sinners and talk to their friends about their terrible language or their awful morals, or rather their absence of morals! Jesus didn't have such problems. Yesterday we saw how Jesus ‘read' people, how he knew what they were really like. Jesus knew something that many of us have never grasped, that blatant, outright sinners often have a hunger inside to know God and to be changed, which is often more than can be said for ‘nice' people who feel self confident and in no need of help from God. ‘Nice' people want to treat God as an equal. They feel they are ‘all right'. They don't have any need for all this silly talk about ‘repentance'! Actually, yes they do!

But the people, like Matthew the tax collector and all his friends, other tax collectors and other disreputable members of society, these people had no pretensions. They knew what they were like. They knew they needed help, but could find no one in the religious groups who could reach out to them and show them the love they needed. And then along came Jesus and suddenly everything changed. Here was someone who was utterly unlike them and yet who accepted them just as they were and didn't make them feel awkward. This man seemed to understand them. He wasn't under any illusion about them; he knew exactly what they were like, and yet he still took them just as they were and it wasn't a problem.

In fact, when you watched Jesus, he seemed to delight in collecting such people around him. Yesterday we briefly mentioned Zacchaeus, another tax collector from Jericho . The same thing happened with him. Jesus invites himself to lunch with him, and who also turn up? All Zacchaeus's friends – and they too are tax collectors and the undesirables of society. When the religious people start complaining about Jesus now eating with Matthew and his undesirable friends, Jesus says, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (v.12,13). What was he saying in that? The Jews were good on doing the sacrifice bit. It's easy to do religious ritual; it costs nothing, but to have a merciful attitude towards the lower echelons of society, that is something else!

You think you're righteous? Then you have a wrong idea about yourself. See yourself as a sinner? Then you're in the same group as the great apostle Paul (1 Tim 1:16 ). Outside of Christ's mercy we are all in dire straights! However, once we recognize that, we become one of Jesus' ‘collectors' pieces'. He came for us. It doesn't matter how bad you are, how terrible the things you've done, Jesus came for you, to love you and accept you as you are. But he also loves you too much to leave you like that, so you also become one of his restoration pieces. Nothing less than a new transformed life in Jesus' company!

Mt 9:15 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

Do you ever have times when a few words from someone or a few words of text, stand out and impact you, so that you are left wondering and pondering over what was meant? I think it was often like that with Jesus. The Pharisees had just complained about him eating with sinners, and now the disciples of John the Baptist come and ask why his disciples aren't fasting like they are. Why aren't Jesus' followers being as serious minded, is really what they are saying. I wish the Gospel writers had captured Jesus' feelings more than they did for it's difficult to gauge how he said the words in our verse today. I suspect they were said lightly, with a smile or even a laugh. He uses this simple illustration that seems so enigmatic and then moves on with a couple more word pictures, so that they could be forgiven for thinking, whatever was that about?

Let's look at it. The discussion has been about his disciples' behaviour. He likens them to guests of a bridegroom, wedding guests but, hold on, the emphasis is not on the guests but upon the bridegroom. The behaviour of the guests is dictated by the bridegroom and so surely the bridegroom has got to be Jesus himself. In what ways is he a bridegroom? What do we know about a bridegroom?

Well first of all he's marrying a bride, one that he has wooed and won. And then? No, no and then, that's it! Jesus role is to woo a bride, those who become the church, all the believers. Paul caught a hint of this when he was talking to the church at Ephesus about husbands and wives, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church.” (Eph 5:31,32). There is a mystery here, he says, of Christ and his bride becoming one like a husband and wife becoming one (much more that simple physical unity!). This perhaps is one of the most profound truths of the Gospel, that Jesus wins a church and becomes one with it, by the presence of his own Holy Spirit making us one with him.

The apostle John also had a revelation of this: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear" (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, "Write:`Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' (Rev 19:7-9). From this is would appear that all the years that constitute church history are simply years of the wooing of the bridegroom until the church is complete in his plans. When he finally returns and history is wound up, then there is a coming together in glorious celebration of the bridegroom and his bride brought into being through the millennia, a celebration called the wedding of the Lamb, a final bringing together to live in unity for eternity. Do you catch something of the awesomeness of this purpose, to bring together God the Son, with those he has wooed throughout the centuries, to live in unity in the Spirit for evermore. This goes way beyond out limited day by day, year by year, concept of Christian life. This lifts us up into another dimension of life in eternity, the goal of the work of God, planned from before all things to last into eternity, a concept that denies our finite understanding! Wow!

Mt 9:20,21 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."

Contact can be pleasant, needful, or dangerous. When we come in from a cold and icy day, we stand next to a radiator and its heat warms us. A young child needs the closeness and touch of its mother. There is something communicated to it by her warmth and her smell. These are good contacts, but consider what happens when you touch bare live wires from a wall socket. Suddenly there is a power that convulses your body and throws it all over the place. In each case there is energy to be imparted.

Now despite all we have said about Jesus speaking out his Father's will and the power of heaven then being released, we have this one instance that shows us something else about this healing power. Matthew doesn't pick up on this but in Mark's Gospel we find the following: “At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?'” (Mk 5:30). What is amazing about this incident is that it is one of the few instances where healing was brought without a word being spoken. According to what we read in Mark, “Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (Mk 5:29). The moment she reached out in faith and touched Jesus, the healing occurred. Matthew has Jesus speak to her and confirm the healing but the accounts seem to indicate that it was as she touched Jesus that the healing came.

Now why are we emphasising this? Because John wrote, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (Jn 1:4). So often we take that to mean that Jesus brought life by his death and resurrection, but actually we receive eternal life when we receive Jesus, for that “eternal life” is God Himself, the presence of His Holy Spirit who comes and lives within us and brings life to our spirit. God Himself is the source of all life energy. Where He is, there is life, thus when this woman touches the very vessel holding this life energy on earth, she receives that life. Do you see this amazing picture? It is like THE life energy that is God is contained, either in another dimension, heaven, or in this single body walking on earth at that time. No doubt the closest disciples rubbed shoulders with Jesus constantly so what was it that allowed contact with this life energy that bring instant healing? Faith!

Mt 9:24,25 he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

We learn through life how the world works. We know, because we've learnt the hard way, that you cannot drive a car through a brick wall. We know that on our own we cannot fly. We know that when it comes to sickness we are quite often very limited. When it comes to death we are helpless. We may have seen hospital series' on TV and grown used to seeing a ‘crash team' resuscitate a dying person when their heart stops, but after some twenty minutes or so, even they give up. Once it has happened, we know that death is irreversible. It's the one thing we have absolutely no power over.

Thus it is that stories such as this one covered by our two verses today come as such a challenge. This crowd of people know this little girl is dead. Various of them had no doubt been around dead people enough to know what death looks like, but Jesus has another perspective on the situation. As far as he's concerned she is merely asleep and so he's going to wake her up, because yes, death is irreversible but he has the power to bring her back, so he views it merely as sleep. (The apostle Paul similarly referred to death as sleep for the same reason – he saw it wasn't the end – 1 Cor 15:51).

If we know such passages as this, it is very easy to take for granted the things that Jesus did, as impossible as they were. However, there is a link here with what we have been considering in recent meditations: Jesus has the power and authority to bring about changes on earth because he perfectly exercised his Father's will and thus released the power from heaven to bring about those changes. Similarly we saw that within himself was this life power, this energy of life, that sometimes was just released to counteract the power of sickness or death. Here it seems so easy; he just reaches out a hand and takes hers and life flows to her and she gets up. How apparently effortless! Yet we have also considered that it was only so because Jesus was going to earn the right to counteract the effects of sin on the earth by his death on the Cross. Thus the work of the Cross was also retroactive and could work now. Physical death was no hindrance to Jesus when that was part of his Father's will.

While meditating on Jesus' ability to overcome and reverse death, we should also ponder on the even bigger issue of his ability to save us from spiritual or eternal death. That of course is the position of every one of us before we meet Christ. The apostle Paul said, “you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1) referring to our state in our old lives, and then later repeated it with, “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Eph 2:4,5). This same analogy of us being dead and then being raised to new life is a common on in the New Testament (e.g. Rom 6:3-5, Col 2:13 ).

Mt 9:29,30 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored.

Scientists talk on about light being energy waves, but without light there would be no life, and so that makes light critical to us. We take it for granted. If you are reading these words you are doing so because of light. But there is also something else equally amazing in this equation, the receptors in the eye that picks up light and translates it for the mind. Thus we see. For those of us with good sight, we almost certainly take it for granted. For those of us who wear glasses, we're a little more aware of the wonder of sight. For those of us with failing sight, we realise when we look back how much we've taken it for granted. Sight is what enables us to interact with this wonderful world. Sight enables us to see the wonders of Spring, and the colours of Autumn. Sight allows us to see staggering mountains and gasp in awe. Sight allows us to watch modern TV programmes that show the wonders of this world. Sight enables us freedom to travel unfettered, sight enables us to play freely, sight enables us to enjoy creative arts. Oh yes, without sight we would be very limited.

Is it any wonder therefore, that among the catalogue of things that Jesus did to bless mankind while he was on earth, we find restoring of sight? Included in the Messianic manifesto of Isaiah 61, quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:18 , is “ recovery of sight for the blind.” All illnesses, sicknesses and infirmities are bad news, when you see them in the light of Jesus' activity, but blindness, for the reasons we've given above, must come very high on the list of things resulting ultimately from sin in the world, that spoil our enjoyment of being human beings. Thus when the blind present themselves before Jesus, the compassion and power and authority that we have considered previously come into play and he restores their sight. How wonderful!

But there is another sort of sight that crops up in the New Testament. We have touched on this previously. In Mt 13:13,14 we find, “This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see…. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” This ‘seeing' is an insightful understanding. Paul understood this when he said, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor 4:4). There he was referring to Satan's activity of stirring up self-centredness to become godlessness through materialistic atheism.

These people, who we hear of, or read about regularly, are people who seem literally blind to the truth. It seems to be something they just cannot understand. There was an element of this when Paul said, “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23 ). The whole thought of us needing salvation and that salvation coming through an historical figure being crucified, seems absolutely crazy to these people, so they deride us, not realizing that they are the blind ones, the ones to be pitied. Paul knew that Christians can still struggle with spiritual sight which is why he said, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Eph 1:18,19). He realized that for us to truly comprehend these things, for us to be able to ‘see' them, we needed God's help. Jesus brings sight to the blind!

Mt 10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness

Christians fluctuate between two extremes when it comes to serving the Lord. The one extreme is saying, “I can do anything Jesus did because I'm now his disciple” and the other is “I can just be a witness by word but his power isn't expressed today.” Neither is correct. If you have read and taken in the meditations in the last few weeks you will know we covered Jesus as a man of authority, and the reason he is a man of authority is because he is God's Son, perfectly fulfilling God's will. As the Son of God he perfectly expresses all those expressions of the Spirit that Paul in 1 Cor 12 calls the ‘gifts' or ‘manifestations' of the Spirit. Specifically as he responds to the prompting of his Father in heaven, he receives the power of heaven and is the very embodiment of that power on earth, to bring about healing and deliverance.

Now in our verse today, we find him imparting that same authority to his twelve disciples. The message he is passing on, is that you can do what I've been doing, because I've said so. Now is that a freedom for all Christians? Can we all do this? Well in Jn 14:12 we find Jesus making a more general statement: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.” Anyone? Yes, anyone! Is it that simple? Well, not quite because faith is a gift, faith is simply the ability to respond to what God says. Paul said, “think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Rom 12:3) and then “ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.” (12:6) Do you catch what happens here?

Faith, if we accept that it is responding to what God says, first needs God to speak, before we can respond. Do you see how this links in with what we said about Jesus' authority before? God speaks or prompts and Jesus responds and the power of heaven is released to do it. For us it is the same. God speaks or prompts, we respond and the power of heaven is released to do it.

Do you see something else in all this? It takes the emphasis away from us and puts it where it should be, on God. Instead of it being, what can I do, what authority do I have (which lends itself to pride), it is more, what is God doing, what does He want me to do, what does He want to achieve.

Now how does it work in practice? It comes by the prompting of the Spirit. Sometimes it may be that we are reading His word and His Spirit brings within us a sense that the Scripture we are reading is for us, it describes what God wants or what God can do through me – now! We catch a sense of possibility that turns into strong probability. All we have to do is do it. So we do it, heaven ratifies it and power is released and the thing is done – healing, deliverance or miracle is achieved. Perhaps it is simply His prompting, the prompting of His Spirit within. We see something before us, and something within us rises up – is that Him saying, “That's it, son, daughter, go for it”? As we respond He ratifies it and power flows. It's that simple; it's Him not us. Yes, there probably will be times when we listen to the enemy or pride and get it wrong and step out in presumption and nothing happens. Just move gently with people if you are not cast-iron sure, move tentatively and if it is faith not presumption, you don't have to shout, God will be there, ‘it' will happen. This is Jesus imparting his authority. Hallelujah!

Mt 10:17,18 Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.

We all like to be liked, and so any talk in Christian circles about opposition or persecution is disliked – despite the fact that across the world today, in the early part of the twenty first century there are large numbers of Christians being persecuted, and church history is littered with martyrs. We prefer to remind ourselves that at times when God is moving He often grants favour to His people (e.g. Joseph, Gen 39:4, the early church, Acts 2:47). Oh yes, there are times in history when the church seems to have God's blessing in such a way that the world cannot help but look on and be blessed.

Yet the bigger picture is that, exactly as Jesus warned, there will be opposition that brings us into a clash with the law, or with authorities or with people generally. All of the things that Jesus mentioned in these two verses occurred in the period of the early church. Why was that so? Because darkness doesn't like light and so tries of overcome it, but of course always fails. Ungodly people get upset by godly people, because they remind them of the One they are sinfully trying to forget. Unrighteous people get upset by righteous people because they challenge their consciences. Followers of other beliefs, other religions, other ideologies, other creeds, all get upset at the suggestion that Jesus is God's Son who came to die for our sins, because this belief clashes with their man-centred beliefs. Yet in all of these ways there come a clash of beliefs, and other beliefs may not be gentle. As we said above, Christian history is littered with martyrs.

The Christian faith alone stands confident that it does not need to violently oppose those with contradictory views. Yes, there are plenty of examples of those who were inspired by only partially taught beliefs, mixed with worldly attitudes - the Crusades, the Inquisition, conflicts in the Middle East and in Ireland – but all of these are mixed in with nationalism of various kinds, and none of them genuinely represents the one who said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Mt 5:9) and “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44). No, true Christian faith can stand in the face of the lies and accusations and false teachings of all others, and know that it stands as The Truth that does not need to resort to violence to support it. The violence and anger will come from those who challenge it. In a world that purports to be pluralistic today, that says that all beliefs are acceptable – what you believe for yourself is all right by us – it is remarkable that Christianity alone becomes the butt of their rejection, their hostility and their violent opposition that still tries to remove it from the world.

Paul told Timothy, “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12). So while we are in peaceful times, rejoice in that and pray for those around the world who are suffering opposition for their faith from oppressive powers, whether it be in the Middle East or the Far East. We may, by God's grace, live in peaceful days, but it is unlikely that they will last. While we keep our heads low and say little we will attract little attention, but the more we share around us the good news of Jesus Christ, the more there will be rising hostility, opposition, violence and persecution generally. Jesus suffered it and died, all his twelve except one died violently, and many others have followed. God's grace was there for them, and will be for us.

Mt 10:21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

Great novels have been written about families that have been divided and the tragedy that ensues. When there is division and upset in a family, it is truly an unpleasant situation. Under-statement! Peace and harmony within a family is truly something to be cherished, yet here in Jesus' teaching we have a warning that family division WILL come and it will come because of him.

Why is that? It is because of what we were saying yesterday. When there is a Christian and a non-Christian, the non-Christian so often becomes upset because the light in the Christian shows up the dark in the non-Christian. Sadly there are stories of new and young Christians who have just turned to Christ and who are basking in the wonder of their new found faith, and who are not wise in the way they express it. Thus parents, brothers or sisters become hostile. Joseph in the Old Testament was a classic example of this, a young man who received revelation and shared it insensitively with his family (Gen 37). There are ways of sharing what has happened without making those close to us defensive, but often enthusiasm isn't matched with grace. It should be!

However, even where there has been sensitivity and grace in sharing what has happened, it is quite probable that those close to us will still not understand and, as upsetting as it may be, John declares that they are under the enemy's control, and so we may therefore expect them act in a hostile way. (the whole world is under the control of the evil one – 1 Jn 5:19 – but still not an excuse for us to be insensitive!)

In families where there is already ‘another faith', finding that a member of the family has taken up another faith and, apparently, rejected the family's faith, is particularly difficult, which is why stories of Jews becoming Christians and being rejected by their family are not uncommon. It is also why accounts come from around the world why Muslims converting to Christianity receive the harshest of rejection and persecution. It is sad, but not surprising.

In this passage on persecution, which also speaks of family division, Jesus also gives two bits of advice. The first was about what to say when you are called to account by those around you who do not like the stand you have taken: “do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Mt 10:19,20). It's all right, he says, the Holy Spirit will give you the words you'll need. The second piece of advice is quite simple: “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.” (Mt 10:23). This may seem quite surprising. He doesn't say stand and defend your position, for he knows that angry people, people being prodded on by the enemy, are not open to rational persuasion. This was particularly true of the Middle Eastern temperament. Watch the crowds so easily stirred to emotional, mindless fervour. This had to happen to Paul on one occasion (Acts 9:25 ). Know when it is right to persuade and when it is right to remain quiet and leave, is the lesson of persecution. Bear in mind, in thoughts of persecution, that God promises that His grace will always be sufficient for us to cope with whatever He allows to come our way – 2 Cor 12:9, 2Cor 9:8, Phil 4:19 – so we do not have to fear about these things coming, or when they do come.

Mt 10:37-39 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

We live in a world where values are confused. We show what we value by how we spend our time and energy. We may say one thing but our activities may show another. For instance, a large majority ‘say' they believe in God, but their materialistic lifestyles indicate that that ‘God' is either imaginary or so inconsequential as to be ignored for 99% of the time. Turning up at a church for a wedding or funeral or christening is not an indication of belief, or if it is, it is of very low belief.

Looking at Jesus' words in our verses today you might be excused if, at first sight you thought they were a little severe – but that is because it was only at first sight! Perhaps this will be clarified by reference to one of Jesus' micro-parables: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Mt 13:45,46) Here was a merchant who traded in fine pearls who one day found one of great value, so valuable that he sold absolutely everything else he had to buy it. That's the worth of this particular pearl. If we think Jesus' words in our verses today are rather harsh or extreme, it is simply that we haven't seen Jesus for who he is – a pearl worth everything you have!

Our verses today are life-transforming. They show us Jesus as he really is. One of the strongest loves we have is for our parents. Jesus warrants an even stronger love. Another very strong love we have is for our children. Jesus warrants an even stronger love. Our love for our parents is born out of their love, care and sacrifice in bringing us up. Our love for Jesus, when we see him as he is, is born out of his love, care and sacrifice for us: “We love because he first loved us.” (1 Jn 4:19). Our love for our children is because they are precious to us and because they are vulnerable. Our love for Jesus, when we see him as he is, is because he is precious and because his name is vulnerable to abuse from the world.

Take up your cross? That means anyone who is not willing to lay down his life for Jesus (for if you are carrying a cross you are on your way to your death), hasn't realized the value or wonder of Jesus. The merchant knew the value of the pearl and was willing to give up everything to get it. While we are hanging on to our life for all we are worth, we're actually losing it, we're losing what we could be, what we're designed to be; we remain little self-centred beings of little consequence. When we give up our claims to ourselves, when we see that Jesus is both our Saviour and our Lord, then suddenly we enter into a life where we find we are flowing in a river of God's destiny for us, where we are being carried along by Him and being led by Him, empowered by Him, motivated by Him in Life! Suddenly we are alive in a new way.

This is not a case of rules laid down by a man two thousand years ago, but the reality of response by those who are wise. They have seen Jesus for who he is and come to realise that being with him, following him, is worth more than anything else in the world – including the relationships of those closest to us. It's not that we're to abandon them, but that in comparison, our love for them is little compared with our love for Jesus.

Mt 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."

In the mid-part of the twentieth century, at least, Christianity became associated with middle-class values and middle-class people. Christians were nice people, people who did good, who didn't do wrong. Christians associated with Christians and so, near the end of that century, as many in the West rejected this style of piety, the church largely became marginalised and considered by the mainstream of society as irrelevant. Church was seen as a minority carrying out religious ritual on a Sunday and living in a ghetto for the rest of the week. It has only really been in the early part of the twenty first century that the church has started moving back into the community doing the things Jesus did.

How different Jesus was from this picture of the church we've just considered. Church so often says, “Come to us.” Jesus went to people. Church says, “Repent and change and be nice, and then we'll accept you.” Jesus went to people and loved and accepted them as they were.

So here in today's verse we have Jesus quoting what his antagonists were saying of him. They were complaining that he was a man of ill-reputation. He spends time eating and drinking – and that sometimes excessively – with the undesirables of society. We have considered this previously but we need to think about it again, because so many in the church still haven't got the message. Jesus came and spent a lot of his time with these people. He didn't come to take Bible Studies or lead prayer meetings or worship meetings, he came to go and get alongside those who needed his help to have their lives changed.

Yes, it is right to want to see people's lives changed for the good, but Jesus shows us that the way to do that is not to stand on a platform and look down on them and preach at them, but to get alongside them and befriend them. Once they realised he could be a friend their lives were transformed. Yes, it is important to maintain a strong relationship with the Father, but that doesn't mean we fill our lives with church or the world. It's not either, but both. If we truly have a genuine relationship with the Father, then again and again we will find our eyes being turned outward to the people in the community around us who don't know Him but who desperately need His help.

Was Jesus afraid that his contact with the world would contaminate him? No, he was sufficiently strong in knowing who he was and why he was there, that he could remain himself in the midst of the bad language, bad ideas, bad behaviour and so on. So many of us, if we are honest, are fearful of going ‘into the world' because we are insecure and unsure of the strength of our faith, and fear we will degenerate into some ‘worldly' Christian who cannot be distinguished from the rest of the world. Jesus was not like this. He remained pure and holy and sinless and was loved and accepted by those to whom he went. Why? Because he loved and accepted them just as they were!

The religious people, who had separated themselves off from the undesirables of society, looked at him and looked at who he was meeting with and assumed he was just like those he ate and drank with. In their blindness they could not see that he was remaining completely unchanged, but the people around him were being transformed by his love and acceptance. Tax collectors, prostitutes and others found they no longer wanted to prey off others. Suddenly they were changed – because Jesus was with them!

Mt 11:20,21 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida ! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon , they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

“The good news is I won the lottery today. The bad news is that I lost my ticket.”

We're used to these ‘good news – bad news' jokes. We almost expect there to be a downside to good news. The bad news in that sort of humour actually takes away the good news. With the Gospel it is exactly the opposite. “The bad news is that I am a lost sinner. The Good News is that Jesus has found me and saved me.” The Good News here, the Gospel (for that's what ‘gospel' means), completely reverses the bad news.

Now we need to say all this because we are referring in this meditation to Jesus being the bringer of bad news – and it is BAD news! The bad news is that judgement IS coming upon unbelief, ungodliness and unrighteousness. We emphasise time and time again that Jesus came and died for all our sins and at first sight you could assume that that means that everyone is saved. That, however, is called universalism, and it's not true. The work of Jesus is the means for every person being able to be put right with God, but each and every person has to appropriate that means for themselves, by coming in repentance to God, seeking His forgiveness and seeking this means of salvation. WHEN we do that, then the work of the Cross is immediately there for us and we are forgiven, we are cleansed, we are adopted, we are empowered by His Holy Spirit, and we do have eternal life. All of those things are ours immediately, but only when we have come in genuine repentance to God, believing in Jesus!

People make excuses and say or think, well God didn't tell me. But He did! Paul points out that the Creation itself is a pointer to God (Rom 1:20). Jesus speaks here in our verses today of all the miraculous things that he did in these towns which really gave the occupants of those towns no room to be able to say, “But we didn't know.” They did! They saw what Jesus did and still refused to respond to him. For that they would be held accountable to God. Today the Bible is still the world's best seller and therefore millions and millions of people have it on their shelves and have no excuse for not opening it and reading the wonderful good news of Jesus. They are without excuse.

This is the bad news of these verses, that Jesus does come bringing bad news. It is simply that God WILL hold you accountable for your unbelief, and your ungodliness and your unrighteousness (your ‘lack of perfection', if you trying rationalising how good you are!) and you will be judged for it. This truly is bad news, for God doesn't accept excuses, for there are none. There will be judgement, both now and eternally on all these things. We can't say it strongly enough – this is really genuine bad news. So many people think God will turn a blind eye, or that He will relent at the last moment and excuse you, but that is NOT what the Bible says. It says He is unchanging and He WILL hold each of us accountable. Hell is the ultimate destination! THAT is BAD news.

Which is when the Good News kicks in, for we don't HAVE to go down the bad news path. We can read of Jesus, realise who he is and what he has done – for me – and can respond gratefully and gladly, receiving him and receiving all God's salvation through him – and suddenly, all the bad news has gone; it is only good news left. Hallelujah!

Mt 11:27 All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

There are children who are ashamed of their parents and parents who are ashamed of their children. Neither should be so, but it happens. There are parents who never speak to their children and children who never speak to their parents. It should not be so, but it happens. The relationship of father and son is potentially one of great blessing, but it can also be one of great struggles. The very obvious fact of fathers being men, means there are potential difficulties. Perhaps that's why the apostle Paul said, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children.” (Eph 6:4). When it comes to God the Father and God the Son, we see something quite different.

Jesus often spoke about his Father in heaven. There was no mistaking what he meant. When he spoke of his ‘Father' he meant God in heaven. Two verses earlier he had declared, “ I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth ”. Now, i n our verse today, he speaks of the particular closeness or intimacy that he alone has with the Father. He is his Father's son and not ashamed of it. He makes an amazing claim: “All things have been committed to me (or handed over to me) by my Father.” Not just some things, but all things. He does not explain what he means by ‘things' but seeing it in the context of the verses before and after it, it would seem to suggest that he means everything necessary to fulfil his ministry of revealing God and bringing His love and goodness into the world, prior to his work on the Cross – and the outcomes of all he does. He has been given all he need to do the Father's will, and the Father has trusted him to achieve the required outcome. When we are raising children, do we fathers give our sons (in this case) all they need to fulfil their destiny? Have we taught them, trained them, and built into them all they need to walk out life well? When they leave home do we have a sense that we trust them with the resources we've given them, to walk it well and achieve their destiny? Do we even ever think of these things?

But Jesus makes a further bold claim: no one really know him except His Father in heaven. Well all right, we might say, only God really knows us, but Jesus doesn't stop there. He adds, “no one knows the Father except the Son”, i.e. he Jesus has such a relationship with God the Father, that he alone on the earth really knows the Father. That is an exclusive claim. It says that no other person or no other religious leader knows God except he, Jesus. How could he make such a claim? Because of what we find John recording of him when Jesus refers again and again, in John chapter 6, to having come down from heaven. John, writing many years after the other three Gospel writers had had time to think about these things and realized the significance of a whole lot of things that the others hadn't picked up on and so had left out. In Jn 17:5 we find, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” This is the Son who has existed in eternity with the Father, the Son who has come to earth to do his Father's will (Heb 10:5-7), the Son who had come to reveal the Father (Jn 12:45, 14:9). The apostles also came to see this: “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15) and “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being” (Heb 1:3). Herein is another reason why knowing Jesus is so important.

Mt 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Around the world there are many ‘religions' that make great demands on their followers, certain rites to be performed, levels of perfection to be aspired to. They require effort and struggle and achievement and endeavour. These are religions for those who are strong, or who are driven to strength by fear. We live in a world that praises achievement and yet so many of us feel we are failures. Where is there someone who will understand, someone who will come alongside with care and compassion and say, “Let me help”?

The answer is in our verse today. Jesus comes to those who are weary, those who feel they are burdened, and promises rest. Rest is a ceasing from activity, and Jesus knows that we wear ourselves out with our endeavours, which sometimes include the endeavours we spoke about above, the endeavours to achieve goodness, to aspire to piety. We need to come to a place of stillness in life where we realise we cannot do it, whatever the ‘it' of striving is. It is a place of surrender to Jesus, where we say, Lord, I can't do it anymore. I can't struggle, I can't strive, I can't do this thing!

Jesus' gentle answer is to give us a picture, common to those days, of an animal yoked to a farm instrument. I've heard sermons in the past that suggest that this is a double yoke for two animals, and Jesus is one of them and we are to be the other, but I believe it is more simple than this. Jesus says, here, take the yoke I am carrying, you wear it now. It's an easy one to wear.

The moment we see it as Jesus' yoke, we see something else, something from the context. Jesus has just been speaking about how the Father has put all things into Jesus' hands, has given him all the resources he needs to achieve a specific task. The ‘yoke' that Jesus carries is the task he has been given by the Father together with the resources that the Father has provided. With God, the resources always match the task. The task for Jesus at that moment was simply to share the good news of God's love, and respond to the prompting of the Father from heaven by the Spirit, and then let the Father bring the results. It was that easy. It wasn't a struggle.

There are some of us who feel we have to be tough, to stand against the wiles of the enemy, or to fight through the enemy opposition to have victory. Yes, there is an element of truth there, but that's a message that comes from strong people. The bigger truth is that we have to simply get to know Jesus and his Father, respond to them as they prompt by the Spirit, and watch them bring the fruit. Look what Jesus then said: learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. You want to know how to live this Christian life? Let him work two particular characteristics into you. First gentleness, which is a calm, benign kindness towards others. Like love it is not rude or self-seeking or easily angered (1 Cor 13:5). Let this approach to people fill you and, submitting to the Father's will, life suddenly becomes easier. Second humility, which is the ability to see yourself as you really are. This avoids envy, boastfulness or pride (1 Cor 13:4) and ever stirs a reliance upon the Father. This attitude towards life is Jesus' attitude and it takes away all the stress and strain. The work is the Father's, the resources are the Father's. Rest in it, know Him, and let Him do it through you. Amen.

Mt 12:8    “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Ever since I was a small child, Sunday was a strange day. For a short time as a child I was dragged into becoming a choir boy and so Sunday had the unwanted interruption of this strange unwanted role. When I ceased doing that, Sunday still had an odd feel to it. When I became a Christian later in life, I found Sunday was expected to be a day when you attended two church services and otherwise didn't enjoy yourself. It was frequently a hectic day doing religious things. How far from Jesus approach to it!

First of all we have to go back to the history of the Sabbath. “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Gen 2:2,3). “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work” (Ex 20:8,9) So the seventh day was a day that the Lord instituted for His people to remember His work of creation, a day that was special, a day of rest.

By the time when Jesus walked the earth the Pharisees had turned this ‘law' into a heavy legalistic thing and has formulated a whole load of things that constituted ‘work' and which, therefore, should not be done. Picking ears of corn even came into the definition of work and so the Pharisees were upset at Jesus allowing them to do this. Shortly after this incident, Jesus went into a synagogue and healed a man with a shrivelled hand, again upsetting the religious authorities.

To counter the opposition of those two incidents, Jesus first referred back to David eating the consecrated bread to satisfy his hunger, and then asked if it was lawful to rescue animals (which it was!). If it was, then how much more lawful must it be to heal lost people. He shows by his teaching that it was lawful to do things on the Sabbath that satisfied natural needs and indeed helped other people. As Mark records Jesus saying, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mk 2:27). In other words, this day of rest was supposed to bless man, not be a bane!

But Jesus, in our verse above, says something far more outrageous: “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”. The term ‘Son of Man' was an Old Testament prophetic term referring to the coming Messiah, which Jesus many times applied to himself. But here he declares he is Lord of the Sabbath, the One who decides how the Sabbath will be used. Now that is an incredible claim because the Sabbath, as we've seen, was instituted by God, to honour God, and only God can decree any changes to it. However, when we look more closely we realise that Jesus is not bringing changes to the institution of the Sabbath, but only to the Pharisees right to make rules about it.

The Pharisees and other teachers of the Law had gone to great lengths to decide what was and what was not lawful to do on the Sabbath. They had taken over God's law. Now Jesus is taking back what they have done. He is rejecting the entire Judaistic system of deciding law and replacing himself as the arbiter of the Law. He alone, as the representative of heaven can be the one who decides how the law is properly interpreted. In this declaration he lifts himself clearly above the whole religious system of the day and puts himself next to God. No wonder the religious authorities were upset!

Mt 12:18-20 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight;  I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.”

Justice is bringing about what is right in respect of reward or punishment for good or bad behaviour. Most of us have a sense of justice. It starts when a child sees its brother or sister being let off when it was punished and cries, “It's not fair!” It is seen when angry parents turn up at court to see the man who murdered their child, and they declare, “We've come to see him get his just deserts!” Oh yes, we all know about justice, especially when it's in respect of others.

The Isaiah 42 prophecy quoted here in Matthew's Gospel speaks of the Messiah and justice twice. The first reference says, he will proclaim justice to the nations . Justice we just said is bringing about what is right, but the verses that follow show a different picture from the one we might envisage. When we think of someone bringing justice, perhaps we see them as coming and proclaiming what is right and wrong in a loud prophetic voice so that all hear, and then they sweep through the land administering judgment on every person who falls short of the divine standard. Jesus doesn't come in an argumentative, confrontational way and in fact no one hears that in the streets where he is. In fact, quite to the contrary, he goes about his business in a quiet manner encountering and loving those who might fit the description of a bruised reed , one who is battered by life, or a smouldering wick , one who feels like giving up. As we've seen in these meditations, Jesus knew people, knew what they were really like and therefore responded to them accordingly. THAT was justice. By his very lifestyle and the way he accepted people that others thought were write-offs, he declares to the world what is right.

But then it says that he will carry on doing this until he leads justice to victory or, as the Isaiah passages says, till he establishes justice on earth (Isa 42:4). How could Jesus establish justice on the whole earth? By his work on the Cross! Justice demands that wrong doing is punished. It's unfair that bad people ‘get away with it'. Well of course they won't. When it comes to the end of their lives they will be punished in hell. But who are the ‘bad people'? The moment we start trying to assess who is good and who is not, we realize that none of us is ‘squeaky clean', there is no one who can say, I have never had a wrong thought, never done a wrong thing.

In fact if we were really honest, if we were able to look back on every minute of our lives with total honesty, we would realize that we would have pages and pages and pages and pages of things for which we would be ashamed, things we would not wish being brought out for public display. Yes, suddenly we realize we have a massive account of things which individually and collectively justice demands something be done about. No wonder people are fearful of death, for beyond death is the time of accounting. Into this scenario of hopelessness, steps Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who went to the Cross to take every sin and every ounce of punishment you and I deserve. Only he, as God's eternal Son, was big enough to do that. But it is done; justice has been seen to be done. Every wrong has been dealt with; justice has been established on the earth. All that is left today is for us to receive that work, and as we do so we are transformed. He has declared and established justice. Let's rejoice in it!

Mt 12:23   "All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

Ancestry for some people is a big thing, plotting the family tree as far back as possible, perhaps linking to some famous name in the past. King David was a significant person in Israel's history. You can tell that by the number of times his names crops up in the Bible – over a thousand times. Compare that with his father, Solomon, who is only mentioned nearly 250 times, Abraham, the father of the faith, 230 times, and Moses the greater deliverer and law giver, nearly 850 times.

Messianic prophecy spoke of the Messiah as being the seed of a woman (Gen 3:15), of Abraham (Gen 22:18 ), of Judah (Gen 49:10) and of David (2 Sam 7:12,13). Matthew in his Gospel refers to David 17 times as against Luke 13, Mark 7 and John only once – “Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem , the town where David lived?" (Jn 7:42). John in one verse sums up the main point the others make – the Messiah comes from David's line. Hence Matthew starts his Gospel, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1). So what is the point about David? Well Abraham was known as a man of faith, but David was referred to as a man after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14 /Acts 13:22) which indicates closeness to God, and of course he was also a king, a ruler. The coming Messiah will thus be a man close to God and a ruler. As we saw in earlier meditations, Jesus came bringing the kingdom or rule of God.

To see why the people wondered about Jesus being “the Son of David” we need to go back to 2 Sam 7:12,13 “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” The word from God to David through Nathan was that the Lord would raise up someone from the family of David who would a) build a house for God's name and b) establish his rule for ever. Now the reference to ‘a house' may mean, rather than a physical temple, a household, a family, a people. Thus Paul would later say, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor 3:16) and “ you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household” (Eph 2:19). Part of Jesus role was to raise up a people and that he has done – all the Christians of the world!

But then he would also establish an eternal throne, a place of rule where he triumphs over the enemies of God and of God's people. As he came exercising the power of God, there were those who began to understand this. Hence there had been the two blind men who had cried out, " Have mercy on us, Son of David!" (Mt 9:27). Amazingly these two men, who had obviously heard what Jesus had been doing, understood that his rule included over physical disabilities. Something in them told them that this was the Messiah and his rule included bringing back literal sight! Similarly a Canaanite woman came crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." (Mt 15:22). She saw the Messiah as one who delivered from Satan's power. The Jerusalem crowd (Mt 21:9) saw Jesus as the delivering king. Here is the significance of ‘Son of David' – a deliverer from God who will reign over infirmity, demons and even nations, and that Jesus did, and does! Hallelujah!

Mt 12:39    He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

When someone you know well and respect or love, speaks harshly, it is like a double whiplash. If we have read the Gospels a number of times we perhaps take for granted some of the things we read, yet this verse is like a whiplash from Jesus' mouth. Consider his condemnation of the people of his time, what he refers to as the present ‘generation', the present people in the land. He describes them first of all as ‘wicked'. ‘Wicked' speaks of purposeful moral wrong. This once holy nation who knew their God, has degenerated into a people who are largely godless and therefore unrighteous. But he also calls them ‘adulterous'. Whenever God spoke to the nation about adultery, it was in reference to their turning from Him and turning to idols. Now there is no mention of idols in the Gospels but the people have clearly given their minds over to godless living. Even their ‘religion' is man-centred and there are few examples of godly people encountered.

Now why does he say this? He says it because they are sounding spiritual by saying, well just give us a sign and we'll believe. The truth is that their hearts are far from God and therefore all the miracles and healings that Jesus does, count for nothing with them. In the previous chapter Jesus had said, “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon , they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (11:21). The awful truth is that people whose hearts are opposed to God will not be moved by such things. So what will they be left with? They will be left with ‘the sign of Jonah'!

Whatever is he talking about, they must have thought. What do we know about Jonah, the thing most Sunday School children can tell us? That Jonah was swallowed by a big fish and for three days he was as good as dead until the fish spat him out, alive but transformed. OK, says Jesus, you won't believe the miracles and the healings, so let's see how you'll react when the same thing happens to me as happened to Jonah.

Herein is the challenge. You can write Jesus off as just a great miracle worker, but when you examine the evidence, his death and resurrection is the one thing that marks him out as different from any and every other human being who has walked this earth. What is more we find a number of times Jesus telling his disciples that this would happen: “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life .” (Mt 16:21 ), “Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (Mt 17:9), “They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life” (Mt 17:23 & 20:19). No, his death and resurrection were key parts of his plan. No, you can't plan to do that unless you have the power over death, and only God has that! Don't come up with any foolish talk about, “Well, he obviously wasn't dead”, because that flies in the face of all the evidence.

No, the truth is that Jesus purposefully allowed himself to be put to death and then he was raised from the dead on the third day, just like he said, and just like happened figuratively at least to Jonah. Reject the healings and reject the miracles, but you can't reject the resurrection, the evidence is too strong, this sign of Jonah. Believe!

Mt 12:48-50 He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Today, in the U.K., it is a fairly rare thing for someone to feel proud of their family. We have so many divided families that the idea of being proud of being a member of a particular family is usually quite alien to us. However, around the word, there are still strong family units and people are proud to be part of their unit. We use the word ‘proud' here simply to mean they feel really good about being part of this family. It is a natural thing and a good thing. We speak of family ties and family loyalty and they are things which, although sadly lost in our nation today, are actually good things that built strength, confidence and security.

When we look at these three verses before us today, it comes as rather a shock to find Jesus almost casting off his family. We find in the previous verses: While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” (Mt 12:46,47). It is then we find Jesus replying with this strange question, “ Who is my mother, and who are my brothers ?” It is like he is saying, are these really my true family? Now a family is a unit or relationship of people who are united by blood ties, but of course that wasn't true of Jesus. Yes, Mary was his mother in the sense that she had carried him, but the Holy Spirit has been the source of life that formed him in her womb. Strictly speaking there were no blood ties with his brothers or sisters. But isn't it a bit unkind to separate off and abandon this family unit that had been the source of support and comfort for about thirty years?

The reason Jesus does that is to make a bigger point. The Father is creating a bigger family unit that is beyond their current dreams. The apostle John was later to write: “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (Jn 1:12,13). What are the criteria for being part of this family? They are twofold. In Jesus' words, in our verses today, they are first to do the will of the Father. In John's words they are to receive Jesus. Of course these are one and the same thing. It is the Father's will that we receive His Son as our Lord and Saviour. When we do that, when we come to the end of ourselves and come to God to receive His salvation through His Son, He then places His own Holy Spirit within us and we are ‘born again' and are adopted into God's family. This is the bigger family that Jesus refers to.

There are simple and obvious but vital truths here. It may be that we don't have a strong family. We might be orphans, or we might have grown up without a father, we might have grown up with no family that we feel proud about, yet when we come to God through Jesus, we are made members of a much bigger family that can have all the functions of the family you never knew. Think on that. Conversely you may come from a strong family of which you are proud. That is good but it must never make you feel so secure you feel you do not need anything else. You are still in need of God's salvation through Jesus, and you still need to become a member of this bigger family. That was why Jesus came.