Matthew 21
Our short sharing from today’s chapter is based on a miracle of Jesus as He embarked on the last stretch of His earthly ministry.
As He drew nearer to the day of His suffering, we see that He did not slacken in teaching the people around Him although He was about to leave them soon but instead cherished whatever little time He had left to teach them as He had always done – in word as well as deed.
Bible Passage: Matthew 21
Appearance versus Reality
The lesson that jumped out at me was that which Jesus taught using the fig tree. I remember writing about this the last time we read the gospels and there was some discussion about why Jesus cursed the fig tree, was He being too harsh etcetera etcetera.
However, we will not be focusing on this today. The simple fact is that Jesus cursed the fig tree because He ‘found nothing on it but leaves’. What lesson can we learn from it?
Evidently, the question that comes to mind is if we are like the fig tree that Jesus caused to wither away.
Many a believer (including myself) are guilty of displaying this ‘leafy’ syndrome. We are involved in many areas of church work; we are seen and heard as ‘capable, talented workers’. But are these really fruit?
Galatians tells us clearly what the fruit of the Spirit is. When Jesus looks at the fruit we bear for Him, is He really going to count how many sermons we have spoken? How many Bible Study sessions we have led? How many meetings we have chaired? Or is He going to be looking for something else?
Therefore, let us not fool ourselves into complacency with the *appearance* of being fruitful but instead, look at ourselves as Christ would, to see how much actual fruit we are bearing.
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PS
Who did the people reckon Lord Jesus was when they welcomed Him into Jerusalem? “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:11 and 46)
Who was Lord Jesus to Peter? “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)
Although there was much pomp in the people’s reception of Lord Jesus, they did not know Him. (Matthew 21:8-10)
“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”(Matthew 21:27)
“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” ( Matthew 13:11)
How many bibles do you have? One. More. And even if a person has only one, he can read the bible over and over again.
Compared to them, we are much more blessed. It is liken to we have the compilation book of past years exam questions and we can do them over and over again till we get the hang of them.
And in Singapore, we can comfortably attend as many services as we want.
More importantly, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into His truth.
Without a doubt, we are more blessed than the people. Are we better than them?
(May i take John 2:13-16 and Matthew 21:12 as 2 separate occasions which Lord Jesus did the same action to cleanse the temple?
If i were Lord Jesus, i would have been “angry to the point of explosion”. Boom!)