Dig In:
Dig Deeper:
v1-19 - The frustration is evident as Jesus speaks in this chapter.
First, His cousin, John the Baptist, sends his disciples to go and ask Jesus if He's actually the Messiah or if there will be somebody else who actually looks like a Messiah.
After all of the miracles Jesus has performed and scriptures that He's quoted, nobody, not even His own cousin (or His immediate family, as we see in other parts of the gospels), really believes He's the Messiah at this point.
Jesus doesn't look like what people were expecting a Messiah to look like, so they were incredulous.
In what ways do you miss God acting plainly in front of you because it doesn't look like how you expected God to act?
v20-24 - Jesus did NOT come to heal sick people, give sight to the blind, or perform any other sort of miracle or simply give warm, fuzzy advice. Jesus DID those things, for sure, but His primary mission was to announce the Kingdom of Heaven had come near, and to call people to enter into it through repentance.
Jesus "denounces (v20)" the towns He had performed so many miracles in because they were missing the point.
They wanted a miracle-man, not a Savior.
Jesus goes on to compare this rejection to the utterly pagan cities of Tyre & Sidon (Gentile cities north of Israel) and Sodom (Sodom is of course the ancient city known for rampant homosexualism that God destroyed with fire & brimstone because it was so audaciously evil).
So when the Son of God indicates that the towns who have rejected Him as the Messiah and Savior will face a fate worse than Sodom, it demonstrates just how evil and reprehensible it for people to purposefully turn their back upon Christ.
Are you missing Jesus as Savior because you're too distracted by looking to Jesus as a miracle-man or advice giver?
v25-27 - After expression His frustration that so many people were cluelessly missing the point about who He was and why He came, Jesus turns to His Father in prayer.
Notice how in this short prayer (all of Jesus' recorded prayers are short), Jesus simply Acknowledges who His Father is and Aligns His life with the Father's will. It's important for us to Ask for what we need, if for no other reason than Jesus commands us to, but be sure that the emphasis of your prayers is always acknowledging who God is and aligning your life with His will.
VERSE OF THE DAY (v28-30):
Come to me,
all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For
my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
Notice that this invitation is only for those who truly realize that they're weary and burdened. All people are certainly physically worn out, but Jesus' invitation comes in the context of Jesus' frustration that these tired people just wanted Jesus to make their current life a little better with a miracle or pithy teaching.
This invitation is made to people who recognize the burden sin places on their life and who long to regain the true rest that God promised to Adam & Eve on the seventh day.
Jesus offers you the rest you need. Repent of your sin, put yourself under Christ's yoke and learn from Him, and you will find rest for your soul.
OLD TESTAMENT REFERENCE:
Psalm 116:7–9 (NIV)
Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
Discuss:
Use the comment box below to discuss one or more of these questions:
EYE FOR DETAIL—From what you recall seeing in this chapter, try answering the following question without looking at your Bible: In this chapter, Jesus offers all of His listeners a specific gift. What is that gift? (See verse 28.)
Questions taken from The Complete Bible Discussion Guide: New Testament
Follow the AAA Prayer Pattern:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Father, Lord of heaven & earth, thank you for revealing yourself to us through Jesus.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Make us accepting of your salvation in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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