Can Salt lose its saltiness?

A new basis to be blessed.

Matthew 5:1-3 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” One of the saddest realities in Christianity today is to think the…

Finding meaning in the poverty in the spirit.

Matthew 5:2-3 The Beatitudes And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. One of the reasons I love Rich Mullins is his vagabond spirit and how he looked at himself as a Ragamuffin. He was rich but gave his wealth away….

“Fishing for men” is all about grace!

We are really messed up. We read the words of Jesus as works, when we fail to realize, he was being Jewish. Making someone a “fisher of men” has nothing to do with evangelism or getting people out of hell. Jesus was quoting Jeremiah. Jeremiah 16:16 “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the…

A walk by the sea shore.

There are so many fascinating things that is recorded in Matthew 4 which had made it so hard to pen down. Just read these words. Matthew 4:13-16 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet…

The duel in the desert.

Having shown us who the Branch of Jesse is, Matthew brings us back to the thoughts on chapter one. He is going to establish that Jesus as the very son His Father takes delight in. Unlike Luke he doesn’t trace Jesus’s ancestry back to Adam but to David. David was a king who succeeded. Adam…

He shall be called “a Nazarene”.

Matthew thus closes the chapter on Herod’s part in the history of the Gospel by these words. Matthew 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. It seems strange that he suddenly points to a…

The things Matthew left behind.

Matthew 2:16 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. There are different records on this…

And it was fulfilled…

One of the most beautiful things about Matthew’s gospel is how he would narrate an incident and then shows us how the scriptures had been fulfilled. Here are some examples. Matthew 2:23 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be…

Wise men, mad king and blind guides

As I study Matthew’s account of Christmas I am amazed by 3 things. Firstly we must understand that Magis are people who study world religions and embrace the truths they teach. Yet they seek Jesus. Secondly Herod has killed relatives family and any opposition to his throne. He had built a blockade at the east…