Matthew 20:26-28

[Jesus said:] “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Parents always want the best for their children, so we shouldn’t be too surprised that James and John’s mother came to Jesus and asked for them to have the best seats in the new kingdom. Jesus pointed out that she had got it all wrong. In the kingdom of God, the goal is to be the last not the first, and to be a servant rather than a master. And, incredibly, Jesus himself, who had every right to be generously served, came to be a servant.

Let’s be honest. We all love to be served. We enjoy the thought of being in a beautiful hotel where our needs are perfectly met and where we have absolutely no work to do. Such experiences are good, but the way of life to which Jesus calls us is the exact opposite. He calls us to pour out our lives for others as he did. In every church and community, there are innumerable volunteer roles that need to be filled. Our society would not operate without hundreds of thousands of willing volunteers.

Volunteering can sound at times like a big burden, but Jesus is offering us a completely different perspective. He presents service as the way to find purpose and fulfilment. That is not to say that serving others is always easy – far from it. It is often costly and difficult, but through pouring ourselves out for others, we find true fulfilment and walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

Question

In what ways have you found fulfilment in your service?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that Jesus came to be a servant. Thank you for every opportunity you give me for serving those around me. Amen

Matthew 20:1-2

“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.”

All of Jesus’ parables are deeply challenging and surprising, and this particular parable is bound to offend anyone who has a natural sense of justice. A landowner hired workers for his vineyard at various times of the day. Some were hired early morning, and then others at 9am, 3pm and 5pm. So far so good. The problem is that the landowner decided to pay them all the full day’s wage. The people who had sweated through the whole day felt that this was profoundly unfair, and I think any trades union official would heartily agree. However, the landowner pointed out that he had every right to do whatever he wanted with his own money.

Jesus was saying that everyone was welcome into his kingdom on exactly the same basis. Those who crept in at the last minute were just as welcome as those who had served him all their lives. God doesn’t deal with us on the basis of justice. If he did so, none of us would deserve anything. He deals with us on the basis of grace – sheer gift and generosity. When Jesus said to the thief on the cross beside him: “Today you will be with me in Paradise”, I am sure many people found this profoundly unfair. Why should he be blessed in the same way as those who had faithfully served God for years? But that’s grace! That’s the overwhelming generosity of God, who gladly welcomes every kind of person into his kingdom.

For the Pharisees who assumed that their long adherence to the Jewish law gave them a secure place in God’s kingdom, this was all very confusing. The idea that God would welcome Gentiles, who had come very late to the party, was totally baffling to them. But that’s grace, and we need to thank God that his arms are outstretched to welcome us and all who are willing to come to him in faith.

Question

How do you respond to the fact that God treats you with grace and not justice?

Prayer

Loving God, thank you for your perfect love and grace. Amen

Matthew 19:23-24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

The disciples were deeply shocked by Jesus’ words. Jews saw wealth as a sign of God’s blessing, so they were confused by the thought that riches could make it more difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven. They would have assumed that money made it easier to gain God’s favour. We meet a number of wealthy followers of Jesus. Nicodemus is a good example, along with Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb after Jesus’ burial. It’s also interesting to note that the first convert in Europe was Lydia, a businesswoman. Jesus wasn’t saying that it was impossible for a wealthy person to enter his kingdom, but it would be extremely difficult.

The problem with wealth is that it draws so much attention to itself. Possessions need to be looked after. In an uncertain world, they are always vulnerable. Things which are valuable one moment can become valueless the next, so they need to be insured and protected, which takes time and energy. The flip side of this is that great wealth can do immense good. It can bring help, hope and happiness to people. In the right hands, there is no doubt that money can be an enormous blessing.

Jesus’ words of warning need to be heard in our money-mad society in which many people assume, just like the disciples, that money is only ever a blessing. We need to listen carefully to Tertullian, the early Church Father who lived in North Africa in the second century. He wrote: “Nothing that is God’s can be obtained with money.” All the most wonderful and valuable things in life are free! Whether you are a multi-millionaire or wondering whether you will get through to pay day, the way to find eternal wealth is by opening your life to the Holy Spirit and allowing God to guide you.

Question

Has money ever got in the way of your Christian life?

Prayer

Lord God, help me to seek your kingdom before anything else. Amen

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”

We are probably all very familiar with this story of Jesus welcoming children. For some reason, the disciples had tried to stop parents from bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed. We are not told why, but it may have been because they felt that Jesus was far too important to be troubled by little children. However, look at the verses which precede this story. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus by asking him some awkward legal questions.

In the Old Testament, Moses had allowed for the possibility of divorce for unfaithfulness, but there had been much dispute about this through the centuries. By the time of Jesus, the Rabbinic School of Hillel taught that a husband could divorce his wife for matters as trivial as burning his supper. This was such an area of controversy that the Pharisees felt sure they could trip Jesus up, but they failed miserably. He reminded them of how God had given the wonderful gift of marriage in Genesis and that divorce had been granted as a concession to their hard hearts.

I believe that Jesus was telling his hearers not to make things too complicated. The Pharisees were trying to tie him up in knots through their sophisticated arguments, but Jesus would have none of it. He challenged his followers then, and challenges us today, to come to him like children. That doesn’t mean we should dodge the difficult issues, but we need to ensure that we are always coming to him with childlike trust.

Question

In what ways can you be guilty of making things too complicated?

Prayer

Loving Father, help me to come to you with childlike trust. Amen

Matthew 18:21-22

Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied: “but seventy times seven!”

When Peter asked his question, he thought he was being incredibly generous. Tradition told him that you should be ready to forgive another person three times, and then you could unleash your full fury on them. He suggested that the limit should be raised to seven times, but Jesus wasn’t impressed. He told Peter that he should be ready to forgive other people on 70 times seven occasions, effectively saying: “Stop the counting game and just keep on forgiving.”

Jesus was introducing Peter to the idea that forgiveness should be a way of life. There should be no limit to it. This is both an incredibly tough and totally liberating teaching. It’s tough because forgiving someone when they have wronged you seems totally unjust. If you have ever been attacked, robbed or violated by another person every instinct in your body will cry out for justice. But Jesus calls us to forgive our attackers and, as we do so, we will be set free from the destructive emotions of bitterness, anger and resentment.

On 8 November 1987, Gordon Wilson attended the Remembrance Day Parade in Enniskillen along with his daughter, Marie, who was a nurse. The Provisional IRA set off a bomb at the town’s war memorial which killed eleven people, including Marie. That same evening, Gordon was interviewed by the BBC and said this about Marie: “She held my hand tightly, and gripped me as hard as she could. She said: ‘Daddy, I love you very much.’ Those were her exact words to me, and those were the last words I ever heard her say.” And then he added: “But I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge. Dirty sort of talk is not going to bring her back to life. She was a great wee lassie. She loved her profession. She was a pet. She’s dead. She’s in heaven and we shall meet again. I will pray for these men tonight and every night.”

Forgiveness is never easy, but it is always God’s loving way forward for us.

Question

What is your most recent experience of forgiving another person?

Prayer

Loving Father, thank you that you are willing to forgive all my failings. Help me to always be ready to pass on that forgiveness to others. Amen

Matthew 18:19-20

[Jesus said:] “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

The Church is not just a gathering of people who respect Jesus. It is infinitely more than that because, when his followers come together, Jesus is actually present. This means that incredibly powerful things can happen when we meet. The key to our meetings is unity. The Greek word that is used here for agreeing ([itals]sumphonesosin[end itals]) gives us the English word ‘symphony’, which means to agree in sound or to be in harmony with one another. God longs to bless us powerfully, but that can only happen when our thinking is in line with one another and with his will.

Unity is always of importance to the people of God. By unity we don’t mean uniformity in which everyone thinks and acts in the same way. Uniformity actually militates against true unity, which depends upon each individual bringing their different gifts and perspectives. Unity occurs when we all look to God together and find our place of meeting in him. Psalm 133 describes the desirability of this kind of unity in a beautiful way: “How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe. Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the LORD has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.” These words would have been sung by pilgrims as they made their way up to worship God in Jerusalem.

As we meet in unity with other Christians, whatever the context, and however many people are present, Jesus is with us in the power of his Spirit. We should be really excited about what he will do among us.

Question

When have you experienced the power of Christian unity?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for the gift of unity. Please give me the determination and strength to maintain it. Amen

Matthew 18:17

[Jesus said:] “If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.”

This might sound rather harsh, but Jesus has just given the best possible advice for how to handle the situation where someone has done you wrong. First, speak to them one to one, and if that fails, take one or two people with you. The aim is to achieve restoration as quickly as possible. If that doesn’t work, the matter needs to go to the Church, and if the person still refuses to listen, Jesus says that they should be treated like a complete outsider. As we hear these strong words, we need to remember that Jesus, of all people, was always reaching out in love to pagans and corrupt tax collectors, so he wasn’t saying they were beyond hope. However, there may sadly come a time when a dispute cannot be resolved and you need to move on.

What I love about this teaching is that it shows that Jesus deeply understood normal human life. He understood that things can sometimes go wrong, even among his followers. Because he was perfect and the Son of God, you might have thought that that he wouldn’t understand the rough and tumble of normal life. But he did! We should always give the best of our energies to living at peace with people and seeking to bring restoration wherever possible. Sadly, there are some occasions when we can do no more and need to move on. This was clearly the case with Paul and Barnabas. They had a deep disagreement over whether to take John Mark with them on their second missionary journey and they resolved the matter by parting company (see Acts 15:36-41). I always read that passage with sadness but it seems to have been the right decision for everyone concerned.

Question

Have you ever had to move on from a situation that couldn’t be resolved? What did you learn from the experience?

Prayer

Loving God, thank you that you are with me as I face up to difficult situations and that your Spirit gives me the strength and wisdom that I need. Amen

Matthew 18:15

[Jesus said:] “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offence. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.”

Ever since the Garden of Eden, people have fallen out with one another. This is an inevitable part of living in a world of sin. Here, Jesus gives wonderfully straightforward advice about what to do when it happens: if you are wronged, you need to deal with it as speedily and as privately as possible, with the aim to achieve a restored relationship. It amazes me that this simple and clear advice is so often ignored.

When we are wronged, it is very tempting to tell other people about it immediately – but that just magnifies the problem. We feel hurt, so we want other people to sympathise with us and come on our side. It is always better to go to the person who has wronged us in the hope that the relationship can be restored. So often, offence is caused by a misunderstanding which is easily set to one side with a simple conversation. But the longer we leave it, the greater the chance of the offence growing and causing more hurt.

When speaking to the person who has offended us, we hope they will hear where we are coming from and seek to restore the relationship. Of course, that won’t always happen. Sometimes they fully intended to cause us hurt and are completely unrepentant. In that case, we do need to involve someone else, but the aim is to bring about restoration. None of this is easy, but I love the way this verse shows Jesus’ profound understanding of everyday life and his desire to lead us in the path of healing and harmony in all our relationships.

Question

In what way have you tried to follow Jesus’ advice in repairing relationships?

Prayer

Lord God, I thank you that you understand the tangles that I get into in my relationships. Help me to be a peacemaker today. Amen

Matthew 18:12

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?”

I suspect that few of us have had experience of being shepherds. However, many of us will have memories of lost pets. I recall the time when our cat Tabitha went missing for days on end. We walked the streets and called out her name, desperately hoping to hear her miaow, but there was no response. Then one day as I was looking down our garden, I saw this poor thin creature dragging herself limply towards the house. She had a broken femur and had presumably been involved in a road accident. To say that we were delighted would hardly begin to describe how it felt to have her back, and over the coming weeks she made a complete recovery. She was just one little cat, but the news of her return home was a moment of incredible joy for our family.

I can therefore begin to understand the joy of the shepherd who found his sheep. It might surprise us that he noticed he was one sheep short amid the large flock, but he knew those sheep well. He knew their personalities. He knew the ones that were always out in front and he knew the stragglers. He knew the sick ones and those who were always vigorous and strong. He knew so much because he loved them. He risked his life every day as he cared for them in the harsh terrain, and as he protected them from sheep rustlers and wild animals. Every single sheep mattered.

In our local churches, we need to continually remind ourselves of the importance of every single person. We will be close to some people and understand them well. Others will be very different from us, and we might find some people quite awkward. But every single person matters intensely, and if they wander away, we need to long for their return and do all that we can to make it happen. And then, whoever they are, if they return, there should be a great celebration.

Question

In what way does this parable challenge the life of your church?

Prayer

Loving God, help me to treasure every single person in the way that you treasure me. Amen

Psalm 51:1-2

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.

The background to this psalm is well known. King David had committed adultery and had been found out. The penalty for this crime in the Jewish law was death. However, David repented of his sin and God showed him generosity in forgiving his wrongdoing. This psalm is both a celebration of God’s forgiveness and of the new life which opened up for David as a result.

The evil one will always seek to persuade us that sin is not actually all that serious. Everyone does it and we really shouldn’t beat ourselves up about it. And, in any event, the sins which other people commit are far worse than anything we would ever think of doing ourselves. Just look at some of the stories in today’s newspapers. We know that we would never do any of the awful things that we read about. In these, and a thousand other ways, we seek to excuse our sins. But the truth is that sin always destroys. And there is no such thing as a little sin, or an excusable sin, just sin. All sin damages us and blocks our relationship with God.

You might read about David’s sins in 2 Samuel 11 and feel good about yourself because you have never sunk to the depths of committing adultery and then organising the murder of your lover’s husband. However, the truth is that we have all sinned and as the apostle Paul wrote: “we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). We should recognise that today’s psalm is directly relevant to our own lives, as each one of us needs God’s gift of forgiveness. Let us come to God and ask him to create in us a pure heart and then spread the word about God’s forgiveness, because everyone needs it.

Question

What has been your own experience of God’s forgiveness?

Prayer

Lord God, I confess that I have sinned against you. Help me to receive your gift of forgiveness with joy and, in the power of your Spirit, to live a new life. Amen