MaxLucado.com: He Dismissed the Crowd
A world of insight is hidden in four words in Matthew 14:22: “He dismissed the crowd.” This wasn’t just any crowd that Jesus dismissed. This was a multitude with a mission. They’d followed Jesus around the sea. They’d heard Him teach. They’d seen Him heal. And they were ready to make Him King.
No one would turn down an opportunity to minister to thousands of people—right? Jesus did. He dismissed the crowd! Why?
Matthew 14:23 says, “After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray.”
Jesus said no to the important in order to say yes to the vital! It wasn’t a selfish decision. It was a deliberate choice to honor priorities.
If Jesus thought it necessary to say no to the demands of the crowds in order to pray—don’t you think you and I should to?
From In the Eye of the Storm
Mark 9:1-29
Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!”
The Transfiguration
2 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. 4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.
5 Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials[a]—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified.
7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.” 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.
9 As they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man[b] had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by “rising from the dead.”
11 Then they asked him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?[c]”
12 Jesus responded, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be treated with utter contempt? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.”
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.
16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.
17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.[d] So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
19 Jesus said to them,[e] “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil[f] spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”
26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”
29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.[g]”
Footnotes:
9:5 Greek three tabernacles.
9:9 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
9:11 Greek that Elijah must come first?
9:18 Or becomes weak.
9:19 Or said to his disciples.
9:25 Greek unclean.
9:29 Some manuscripts read by prayer and fasting.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Read: Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus’ Prayer of Thanksgiving
At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. 26 Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!
27 “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Insight
A yoke is a wooden harness that joins two animals (usually oxen or donkeys) so they can work together to pull heavy loads. In the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah used it as a metaphor for God’s laws (Jer. 5:5) and as a symbol of submission and enslavement (27:8).
The Jews had been wearied and enslaved by the heavy yoke of legalistic Judaism that the Pharisees had strenuously imposed on them (Matt. 23:4). "Come to Me" (v.28) is Jesus' invitation to put their trust in Him for salvation and deliverance. Jesus' yoke is "easy and light" (v.30) because it comes from His mercy and love, rooted in who He is—"gentle and lowly in heart" (v.29). Jesus extends that same invitation to us today. Because of our new birth, His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3-4).
A Sanctuary
By Bill Crowder
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. —Matthew 11:28
Entering a church in Klang, Malaysia, I was intrigued by the sign welcoming us into the building. It declared the place to be “A Sanctuary for the Heavy Laden.”
Few things better reflect the heart of Christ than for His church to be a place where burdens are lifted and the weary find rest. This was vital in Jesus’ ministry, for He said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
Jesus promised to take our burdens and exchange them for His light load. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (vv.29-30).
This promise is backed by His great strength. Whatever burdens we may carry, in Christ we find the strong shoulders of the Son of God, who promises to take our heavy burdens and exchange them for His light load.
Christ, who loves us with an everlasting love, understands our struggles, and can be trusted to provide us with a rest we can never find on our own. His strength is enough for our weakness, making Him our “sanctuary for the heavy laden.”
“Let not your heart be troubled,”
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears. —Martin
God calls the restless ones to find their rest in Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Getting into God’s Stride
Enoch walked with God . . . —Genesis 5:24
The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (seeJohn 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.
It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus— “He will not fail nor be discouraged . . .” (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.