Slices
Prepare
What is your attitude when it comes to serving God? Is it the dread of endless rotas? Wondering what else you could do on Sunday? Feeling guilty at not doing more?
Bible passage
Woe on unrepentant towns
20 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For 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. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.’
The Father revealed in the Son
25 At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
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.
28 ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
Explore
As I asked a couple of days ago, how dare Jesus say these things? He was making some bold claims. Do they fit your view of Jesus?
First, Jesus denounced towns in Galilee, saying that rejecting him made them worse off than Tyre and Sidon – cities attacked by Isaiah and Ezekiel for their arrogance and rejection of God (vs 21,22) – and even Sodom – a byword for wickedness and God’s judgement (v 24).
Secondly, although God is ‘Father’ in the Old Testament (eg Deuteronomy 32:6), Jesus used it here not as one of God’s people, but in an exclusive way, claiming only he knows the Father (v 27).
Thirdly, at the same time Jesus claimed a unique authority: he had been given ‘all things’ by the Father, and he alone could reveal who God is (v 27). No one has the right to know God; such knowledge is a gift, the gift of Jesus alone.
Fourthly, with well-known and precious words (vs 28–30) Jesus echoed one of God’s own promises (see Jeremiah 6:16). How dare he?! Unless... unless something greater is here.
Respond
Picture yourself wearing Jesus’ yoke, carefully crafted to fit over your shoulders to make moving heavy burdens easier. Who is standing next to you, sharing the load?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Kings 22; Psalms 60,61
Pray for Scripture Union
Praise God that even in the smallest rural churches, he is present and able to do more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work in us (Ephesians 3:20).(This week's prayers relate to this article. )
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