Is the Way You Think Getting In Your Way?
Note: in the printed version of the Matthew Part 2 reading guide, we somehow had some errors in the readings for yesterday (10/4) and we omitted today’s reading! The errors are fixed here.
—Andrew
Matthew 11:20-30
20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The Proclamation of Jesus as Messiah to Israel has occurred with words and deeds and yet still Israel rejects him. Jesus points out that pagan nations from the Old Testament would have repented if they had seen the kind of things he was doing.
“Those who depend on human wit and understanding, which reflects the thinking and values of culture unaffected by God’s revelation, will never understand the saving mysteries of the kingdom. But those who, like babes, have no illusion regarding the ultimacy of their own patterns of thinking will find that God reveals to them these mysteries in the proclamation of the gospel.”
—David Bauer, The Gospel of the Son of God
The surest way to make sure your thinking isn’t getting in your way is to read the Bible until it begins to shape how you think.
But the Jesus way is not about information, but about learning to live in light of God’s love. And so he invites everyone to come and take his “yoke”—a Jewish rabbinical term about submitting to teaching—and find that the Jesus way, when we trust him, is actually easy and life-giving.