Author: Jim Cantelon

Read Matthew 12

Key Verse: Matthew 12:8 “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” This is the first of what are known as the Sabbath controversies in the gospels. On this occasion, Jesus’ disciples were picking some heads of grain and eating them as they walked through some grain fields on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees, who were always looking for a chance to accuse Jesus of unlawful behaviour, pointed out that the disciples were doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. Jesus responded by referring to an historical event when David entered the house of the Lord with his companions and...

September 16, 2020

Matthew 5 The New Law vv. 17-20 (Part 2) Jesus proclaimed the “springtime” of God’s dealings with Israel after a four hundred year drought of hearing from the Lord. His “green leaf” message had full regard fro the ancient stock and vine of the Law and the Prophets. Indeed, as he put it, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (v.17). His words were to bring photosynthetic new life to the great principles of old Sinai. Indeed, he presents a “New Sinai”, in bursting...

Read Matthew 11

Key Verse: Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” In this chapter, we have two contrasting sides of Jesus’ ministry portrayed. First of all, He very bluntly and directly condemns Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, cities that were not repenting of their sin, not listening to His message of the kingdom. He’s telling them that Tyre and Sidon would have been much more responsive to the gospel message than these cities; that is, the Gentile cities would have heard Him, whereas the Jewish cities seemed to ignore Him. He...

Read Matthew 10

Key Verse: Matthew 10:34 “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” In this chapter, Jesus sends out His twelve disciples. It’s the first time He has invested them with a ministry responsibility and it’s not difficult to see that He recognizes their greenness, their newness at this huge task of world evangelization. This is nowhere more evident than in the very first things He says to them, “Do not got among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Rather, go to the lost sheep of Israel.” Jesus recognized that the challenge of the kingdom was to...

Read Matthew 9

Key Verse: Matthew 9:11 “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Matthew, as we all know, was one of Jesus’ disciples. In fact, he is the writer of the book we’re now studying. But Matthew was one of the undesirables in Israelite society. He was a Jew, yes, but he was a tax collector for the Romans. In this position, he could demand whatever he thought a person was capable of paying, give the Romans whatever percentage they wanted, and keep the rest for himself. A tax collector was seen as getting rich from the sorrow and oppression of his own people....

Read Matthew 7

Key Verse: Matthew 7:2 “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged…” He knows that it’s as natural for humans to judge one another as it is to breathe. And every one of us is guilty. Every one of us is making judgments of others, as hard as it may be sometimes for us to admit it. Jesus simply reminds us that when we are judging others we are, in a very interesting way, judging ourselves. Or at least He suggests that the intensity, the zeal, the inflexibility of our judgements will somehow be used against us. He is also suggesting that we often judge people for...

Read Matthew 5

Key Verse: Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” This beatitude not only sets the tone for Jesus’ “sermon on the mount”, but it’s also the bedrock of Jesus’ ministry. He came to bring men and women into the kingdom. It wasn’t just a case of coming and announcing the kingdom; the hearers of that announcement had to willingly embrace the kingdom. There were requirements, repentances, commitments and obediences which were part and parcel of the meaning of embracing the kingdom. So, when Jesus says, “blessed...

Read Matthew 3 & 4

Key Verse: Matthew 4:17 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” After successfully dealing with Satan’s temptations in the the wilderness, Jesus began his ministry. His message was very straight-forward, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” I think we need to be clear about this subject of repentance. Confession of sin is not repentance from sin. Confession demands honesty — in many cases, brutal honesty. And hope lies in that honesty. But the fact is that one can be honest about one’s sinfulness again and again and again. This is a problem...

September 9, 2020

Matthew 5 The New Law vv. 17-20 (Part 1) Later in his writing about Jesus, Matthew (9:17) recalls Jesus saying, “Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Radical leaders often use this saying as a rationale for destroying all vestiges of a former era. They see their scorched-earth privy as the only way to effecting change. And, many of these revolutionaries have seen their actions as divinely ordained. Jesus would...

September 7, 2020

History has shown us that short term crises eventually run up against long term habits and values. A case in point is the increasingly cavalier approach on the part of many to the ever surging Covid 19 pandemic. Social needs are trumping social distancing. People need each other. Just a day or so ago my wife and I passed a huge lineup of a certain make of sports cars parked on the side of a secondary road. Their owners were gathered at a roadside house for a car rally. No masks, no “distancing”, just a lot of happy drivers comparing notes with hamburgers and hotdogs in hand. This was...