April 9-Our Advasaries

Good Tuesday to you and we have a

new NCAA Basketball Champions. I know watched the game last night and the overtime. Several times the game was tied and I think it is safe to say that the teams gave it everything they had. A call or two here or there, a missed shot, or a stop and it would have been a different outcome. But when it was all over, they shook hands. 

In the book of Matthew we see that Jesus brought together two men who, under other circumstances, would have been not just rivals but bitter adversaries: Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector.

Zealots were revolutionaries who took up arms against the Romans and they were willing to kill or be killed. Tax collectors, on the other hand, were viewed as traitors, collecting money for the Romans and they were notorious for getting rich in the process.

We can only imagine the odd scene when Simon and Matthew first met and both now following Jesus. Over the next three years of Jesus’ ministry, and then to their own death, these former rivals became friends, working together to advance the Kingdom. They were united in the name of Jesus, and that devotion superseded their differences.

Yet Jesus’ disciples struggled to grasp how this new loyalty ought to change them. In Mark 9, the disciples argue about who is the greatest. In the next chapter of Mark, James and John asked Jesus if they could sit at his right and left hand in the Kingdom. They wanted a place of power for themselves and when the other disciples found out, they were justifiably indignant. In both instances, Jesus gently reminds the disciples that His Kingdom is like nothing they have seen before. 

“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:42-45‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God used a Zealot and a tax collector, cowards and doubters, the selfish and the unseeing to take His message to all of the world. That same God invites us to lay aside our own agendas in pursuit of this higher calling. Fans and fanatics, activists and academics, ministers and managers, Jesus is still what unites us all. 


Jesus thank you for being the great unifier—you bring us together like no one nor anything else can. Thank you Lord for being everything we need and providing a way for us to come together with our adversaries as well as our friends. We ask for your guidance and protection this day and for your healing hand of mercy for our friends and family who are suffering with cancer and other illness that claim the body. We worship and praise you, Jehovah Jirah. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear one, 

Pam 

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