The Jesus Pages: Jesus Unhinged

Matthew 23: 23-39 – Jesus Unhinged

Jesus meek and mild? Smiling, soft spoken, mamby-pamby? Wrong Jesus! He’s had enough of the

religious leaders because they are so extremely wrong. Deluded and deluding. They are poison in a

perfume bottle, Chlorox in a toddler’s sippy cup, a fine merlot bottle filled with turpentine. You get it,

right?

He already knows they’re going to kill him so trying to play nice with them won’t change their minds.

They are evil on the inside and playing pretty on the outside doesn’t fool God. They are doomed but what

makes Jesus wild-eyed is that they are determined to take the clueless sheep with them.

Jesus screams, “ENOUGH!” His heart is breaking for Israel, but they seem to have this death wish to

follow the rules and not God’s love. They are stubborn and are headed straight to hell – first in line, the

Pharisees.

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

©2021 Debby Kratovil (kratovil@his.com)    

The Jesus Pages: Pushing God Off His Throne

Matthew 23: 1 - 22 - Pushing God Off His Throne

Watch out for the lawmakers because they are the biggest lawbreakers. What is it about the ruling class? They get a taste of the throne and decide that they are now God. If one law is good, how about ten? And then why not twenty? Or a hundred? Or a thousand? Wow, this is fun – except for the little people bearing the burdens. 

These religious leaders (like today’s politicians) sit in their holy huddles and take pen to paper and make impossible lists to try and keep the unwashed masses from spilling over into their sacred territory. But they are blind to the fetid and putrid condition they themselves live in. They think they are free from contamination, but are really rotten on the inside. Their god is their rulebook. They pretend to be religious . . . but wait – they ARE religious! That’s what religion is: rules, regulations, lists of dos and dont's.

They forgot about faith, love, and mercy. They pushed the God of the universe off His throne and now ask that people look at them up there in His place. They flash their religious clothing and want people to be impressed. Only Jesus isn’t impressed. He voices what the people already know – they are imposters, all dressed up but dead on the inside. Jesus calls them what they are and I think the people were dancing in the streets!

How did things get this way? Somehow they bypassed a heart change. They ignored what God had modeled for them. They thought that their way of burdens of laws was cleaner and neater. That’s why Jesus calls them blind. He asks the little people to turn their attention to the One who will liberate them from such burdens, and you can be sure they were excited to do it!

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

©2021 Debby Kratovil (kratovil@his.com)   

The Jesus Pages: Trapping God

Matthew 22: 23-46 -- Trapping God

Who do we think we are? Do we think we can actually trap God with His own words, like He is senile and forgot the original meaning of what He said or wrote?

“God, you said this . . . but did you realize it could actually mean that?”

We become the ones with the mental problems. God cannot and will not be trapped. We just illustrate how idiotic we really are. The Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection, but they ask Jesus a hypothetical about a thorny issue in the resurrection. The Pharisees don’t believe in Jesus’ power, but want Him to solve a mystery.

Jesus sees through the puny traps we lay down, sidesteps them and watches as we fall into them ourselves. Snap! The snare only hurts us.

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

©2021 Debby Kratovil (kratovil@his.com)   

The Jesus Pages: Party Time

Matthew 22: 1 - 22 - Party Time

I’ve put together two wedding receptions. A lot of work and money. Would have been a bummer if no

one showed. God did the same thing, but those He invited got uppity. They turned their noses up –

probably vegans who didn’t want to be around all that meat! Actually, He was talking about the Jews and

their refusal to see God for who He was.

They preferred their own rules and perverted way of seeing religion. They couldn’t see that walking with

God was a celebration. A celebration? No, no!! People might actually have fun and enjoy their relationship with Him – we can’t have that! 

He got tired of appealing to the ingrates and extended His party invitation to those outside of His family. How radical! He searched high and low and brought everyone in – especially those “undeserving” of His generosity.

Outrageous! Preposterous! Well, whatever you think, you better hurry up because the food is getting

cold.

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

©2021 Debby Kratovil (kratovil@his.com)   

The Jesus Pages: Clueless Leaders

Matthew 21:23 - 46 - Clueless Leaders

Sounds so familiar: leaders working only for themselves, feverishly trying to stay on top, saving their tails

at the expense of the body of little people who get the picture right. They are supposed to be leaders but they follow what the opinion of the people is regarding Jesus. 

They are trying to catch Jesus in a “gotcha” moment, but they show what juvenile idiots they really are. They’ve spent their whole lives filling up on knowledge of laws and regulations but have not one speck of wisdom. And here the little people – the ones they think are stupid, clueless sheep – see the better picture of Jesus and recognize Him as a prophet. 

They are consumed with rage that their gig is up, knocked down by the simple things. They

would rather die trying to kill Jesus than follow Him. Now who really are the clueless ones?

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

©2021 Debby Kratovil (kratovil@his.com)     

The Jesus Pages: Honoring Donkeys

Matthew 21: 1 - 22: Honoring Donkeys

They were just nobodies waiting for somebody to give them a purpose. A donkey has no other thought than to be available for what humans want. Jesus had known before the dawn of time that this mother and child would be His partners in the Hosannah parade. 

Do you think they understood that their Creator was honoring them with His use? Maybe. Can you imagine their little donkey hearts so excited?! But they were just doing what He asked of them, humble, lowly donkeys. Without them Jesus would have just walked into town. But they elevated Him for all to see. 

I think Jesus loves especially to use the common, simple and lowly among us. He says that all His creatures have value. All beings can participate with Him to bring glory to God

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

©2021 Debby Kratovil (kratovil@his.com)    

The Jesus Pages: Be Careful What You Ask For

Matthew 20: 17-34 – Be Careful What You Ask For

 

I can understand the audacity of the mother. She wanted the “best” for her sons and asked that they get to rule with Jesus in the afterlife. Gee, I wish I had thought of that for my girls (but they will be there, and that’s enough.) 

She came to Jesus. He asked her, “What do you want?” and she blurted out her outrageous request! How many of my requests are outrageous? Am I seeking power? Control? Do I want freedom from inconvenience or pain or bothersome people? Or am I like the two blind men? They weren’t seeking power. Their lives were totally controlled by their disability and were relegated by their society to lives of begging. 

For them, Jesus had compassion. He asked them, “What do YOU want?” Excuse me!! Say that again! What do we want?! They wanted to SEE, and to be set free! And Jesus found great joy in granting that request.

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

©2021 Debby Kratovil (kratovil@his.com)