Month: March 2024

Mark 12:35 – Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David? ³⁶ For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’

³⁷ Since David himself called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with great delight.

³⁸ Jesus also taught: “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. ³⁹ And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. ⁴⁰ Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.” (NLT)

Shortly before this reading took place, Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem.  As he entered into the city, he was hailed as the ‘Son of David’ by the crowds (Matthew 21:9).  This was a title for the Messiah, and it caused quite a stir among the religious and civil leaders.  Jesus quotes from Psalm 110, and asks how David’s Lord could also be David’s son.  Because Jesus silenced the teachers, the crowd was pleased!  Several theories have been offered as to why they did not answer Jesus, but it basically comes down to the fact that they did not understand the nature of the Messiah.  They looked for a political and military messiah, Jesus was/is a divine messiah – sent from God, indeed, God in the flesh!

Immediately following this short story, we have another story about the religious teachers.  It is not by accident that these two short stories are given together in this passage.  The first story teaches us that our Lord is above all others.  None come above Jesus.  The second story, of the religious leaders parading around, teaches us that many people like to appear as if they are above others.  Jesus, who truly was above all others, lived humbly and never used his true position for any worldly gain.  The religious leaders, who were just people like anyone else, used their positions for any gain they could receive. 

This teaches us that we must strive for humility.  Jesus had no need to appear more important than anyone else because Jesus was secure in who he was, and he was secure in his place in eternity.  We were created for much more than life here and now.  When we find security in who we are, and in whose we are, the need to appear to be more than what we are will disappear.

Today, let us celebrate whose we are, and what we were created for! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Romans 1:8 – Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. ⁹ God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.

¹⁰ One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. ¹¹ For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. ¹² When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

¹³ I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. ¹⁴ For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. ¹⁵ So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. (NLT) 

In today’s reading, we encounter the burning desire that the Apostle Paul has to reach all people with the message of Jesus Christ.  In verse thirteen, Paul states that he had wanted to visit the church in Rome so that he could work among them.  The work that he had planned was to reach out to those who did not know Jesus.  This becomes clear in verse fourteen, where Paul writes that he has an obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world.  As in some translations, and in the original Greek, Paul writes: I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians (NKJV).  To the Greeks, anyone who was not a Greek was a barbarian.  So, Paul is not implying that any people were inferior, rather he is simply using the language of that day.  Nonetheless, we can see that Paul was willing to share the Gospel message with anyone, and everyone. 

Paul also states in verse thirteen that he had been prevented from visiting the church in Rome.  Paul was not saying that people or governments prevented this, but that he was divinely prevented.  We catch more of this thought in Acts 16:6 – “Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. ⁷ Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. ⁸ So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.” Paul shared the Gospel message with all that he could, but he followed the Holy Spirit’s guidance as to where and with whom.  Likewise, when we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, we will be led right to the person(s) with whom God wants us to share the message of Jesus.

I pray that each of us will allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.  As with Paul, it may not where we had planned.  I pray that we would be willing to set our plans aside when they are outside of God’s plan.  If we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit, there is someone this very day that we will have the opportunity to share the message of God’s love through Jesus Christ.   

Let’s be willing to follow the Spirit’s lead!   

Posted by Ramón Torres 

Romans 10:5 – For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. ⁶ But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven’ (to bring Christ down to earth). ⁷ And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” ⁸ In fact, it says,

“The message is very close at hand;
it is on your lips and in your heart.”

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: ⁹ If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. ¹¹ As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” ¹² Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. ¹³ For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? ¹⁵ And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” (NLT)

In this passage, Paul writes about saving faith – a faith that makes us right with God.  We should note that in this letter, Paul has already stated that it was impossible to be made right with God by keeping the law, because it was impossible to keep the law.  Romans 4:15 – “For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!”  So, that pretty much leaves out the keeping law as a way of being right with God! 

In verses six through eight, Paul is referring to Deuteronomy 30:11-14, and he adds his own commentary, which may be in parentheses in your Bible.  Romans 10:6 – “But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven’ (to bring Christ down to earth). ⁷ And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” Paul was stating that it should be obvious that we cannot go up to heaven, or go to the place of the dead, and return. The point here is that human works cannot obtain salvation. 

Paul then makes it clear that it is faith in what Jesus has done for us that makes us right with God.  Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”  We must understand that Paul is not separating believing and confessing.  Translating the Greek syntax makes it appear so to us – but we could also translate verse ten as: “For one believes with their heart and confesses with their lips and is justified and saved.”  We don’t have a two step process here.  Believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth need to go hand in hand. 

The message of salvation, of being made right with God, is Good News, but it is too good of news to keep to ourselves!  Because it is too good to keep to ourselves, Paul ends this passage with a call to being a witness.  No one can believe and be right with God if they have not heard, and they will not hear unless someone tells them.  Many Christians live under the assumption that everyone in our country knows this good news, but that is not the case.  Many people believe that Christians worship a God that wants to condemn people.  We need to share that God is loving, and that God does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent (2 Peter 3:9). 

Today, let us share this Good News so that others may know and come to believe! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Mark 12:13 – Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  And they were amazed at him. (NLT)

In today’s passage, we have two groups that opposed each other coming together to confront Jesus. The Pharisees generally opposed Roman rule, while the Herodians, a political group, cooperated with Rome.  Perhaps they wanted Jesus to settle their disagreement.  We don’t know for sure, but the word ‘catch’ in verse thirteen implied an attempt by both groups to trap Jesus.

What I find to be so powerful about Jesus’ answer has nothing to do with paying taxes, and everything with being a Christian.  Jesus said to give to God what is God’s.  What exactly belongs to God? Everything!  Most importantly, for we who call God ‘our God’, our very lives belong to God.  God’s Word tells us: “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

As Christians, we are not to live for ourselves.  Indeed, Jesus told us that if we try to live for ourselves, we will only lose our life.  Only in giving up living for ourselves can we discover life. (John 12:25).

Chris Tomlin had a popular song a few years back entitled, “You Are My King.”  A beautiful song!  In this song we find these words: “It’s my joy to honor you. In all I do I honor you.”  Today, let us honor God in all that we do, in all that we say, in all that we think.  Let us give back to God what belongs to God. 

Posted by Ramón Torres