Heads Up

We said last week that it is not the angels who are important in Matthew 18.10-14. They may be interceding on behalf of weak or wandering Christians, an encouraging thing to know. But what is really important here is that God is compared to the shepherd who seeks and finds the lost sheep.

Bunnies, easter eggs and baskets? Many images in the Bible convey the protecting care of God for His people, but probably no image is more greatly loved than that of the shepherd and His sheep. What Christian can consider God as a shepherd without thinking of the Twenty-third Psalm: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I…

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than…

In the first three verses of Matthew 18, Jesus uses children as examples of humility, which He demands of those who would be saved. In the next two verses, however, He seems to think of children not in terms of their humility but as those who are weak or helpless. He is not thinking of…

What was it that Shakespeare wrote? “Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Pity the disciples! They were with true greatness in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was great as only God is great. They were not. They had…

In Matthew 17, Peter was asked if Jesus pays the tax. Some commentators point out the fact that this tax was for the support of the temple in Jerusalem, and therefore was a matter of nationalistic pride, while taxes leveled by the Romans were resented by most of the conquered peoples, including Jews. But Jesus’…