Month: February 2025

Matthew 8:18 – When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.  ¹⁹ Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”   ²⁰ But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”   ²¹ Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”  ²² But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.”

²³ Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. ²⁴ Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”  ²⁶ Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.  ²⁷ The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!” (NLT)

In today’s passage we have two stories back to back.  I am always amazed at the brilliance of the Gospel writers, and the way they often used seemingly unrelated stories to connect to one another.  In the first story, we find several people giving Jesus excuses as to why they cannot follow Jesus at that moment.  In verse twenty-one a man tells Jesus that he must return home to bury his father.  In those day this was a saying that meant one had to care for an elderly parent.  On the surface, Jesus’ answer seems harsh.  Older translations simply have Jesus responding with, “Let the dead bury their own dead”.  More modern translations add ‘spiritually dead’.  The word is νεκρός, which often meant spiritually dead, but generally meant ‘lifeless’.  I don’t believe Jesus was being harsh.  I believed that he knew the man’s answer to be what it was – an excuse for not changing his life to follow Jesus. 

In the second story, Jesus calms a storm.  The disciples asked, “Who is this man?”  This question connects the two stories.  We must each ask ourselves who is this Jesus?  Is this man so important that we need to change our very lives?  Is this man so important that we change our schedules, even our daily activities? Even seemingly good things can become an excuse for not following Jesus.  Even seemingly good things can prevent us from the fullness of discipleship to which Jesus calls.  However, we can be ‘lifeless’ and ‘spiritually dead’ even as we go about doing what appear to be good things. 

Today, let us answer the question – who is this Jesus?  Let us examine our daily activities.  Are there things that are preventing us from truly following Jesus?  Are we spiritually alive?  Will we follow? 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Luke 5:1 – One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. ² He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³ Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

⁵ “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” ⁶ And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! ⁷ A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

⁸ When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.”⁹ For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. ¹⁰ His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” ¹¹ And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. (NLT)

I love this story!  I love the interaction between Jesus and Simon Peter.  Let’s consider Simon Peter, often just ‘Peter’ in the New Testament.  Peter was a fisherman.  He was a hard-working man, a ‘salt of the earth’ kind of guy.  He most likely hung out with some pretty salty folk, as well.  Up to this point, he had probably seen a bit of Jesus as Jesus taught and healed around Peter’s hometown of Capernaum.  Jesus even went to Peter’s home and healed Peter’s mother-in-law.  At this time, however, Peter was not yet called into Jesus’ inner circle, and I believe it would have been beyond Peter’s wildest dreams to even consider that Jesus would call him to be Jesus’ disciple.

Jesus does, however, call Peter, and Peter answers the call!  As a disciple, did Peter always ‘get it’?  Of course not!  We read in the gospels of a number of accounts where Peter doesn’t quite understand what Jesus is about, but Peter hangs in there.  Peter would even end up denying he even knew Jesus, but Jesus never gave up on Peter, and Peter goes on to be one of the great founders of the Christian faith.  Peter even preached a sermon that was so powerful that thousands become believers in one day! (Acts 2).  We even read that Peter went on to have a ministry of healing and even raises a woman from the dead! (Acts 9)  All of this from the humble beginnings of a salty fisherman! 

I’ve had people tell me that they believed in Jesus but were not ready to be baptized because they were not yet good enough.  Friends, left on our own, who is?  In the passage above, Peter leaves his old life behind and follows Jesus.  Jesus asks the same of us.  Are we good enough on our own?  No, and we never will be, but Jesus calls us and never gives up on us.  That’s the Good in the Good News! 

Today, let us strive to leave behind what we need to leave behind.  Let us strive to follow Jesus, knowing that when our actions deny Jesus, Jesus offers to us the same grace that he offered to Peter.  As with Peter, Jesus will never give up on us.  That’s Good Stuff! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 7:22 – On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ ²³ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

²⁴ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. (NLT) 

I sometimes find Jesus’ teachings striking not for what he says, but who he says it too.  Consider this passage, Jesus is not telling us that all those heathen sinners out there better straighten up, he’s telling us that all those folks who claim to know Jesus better straighten up.  Yes, this passage is just for all us good church folk!

This passage begins with Jesus telling us that not everyone who claims to know Jesus really know him. There is a big difference in knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus.  James tells us we may say that we have faith because we believe in God, then he tells us that even the demons believe (James 2:19).  Believing in Jesus is not the same as faith in Jesus.  Faith in Jesus changes things about us.  Faith in Jesus changes the world through us.

Jesus then tells us the parable of the house built on the solid foundation and the house built on the sand.  Those Christians who follow Jesus’ teaching are on the solid foundation, while those Christians who don’t follow Jesus’ teachings are on the sand.  The interesting thing about these verses is the word we translate as follow or obey.  The Greek word is ποιέω, which literally means to produce something, or to bear fruit. The word that we translate as foolish (μωρός), was also the word for godless.

If we follow Jesus’ teachings, we will be producing fruit. Likewise, if we know of Jesus but do not have the faith to follow Jesus’ teachings, we are godless!  A powerful and challenging teaching.

Today, let us inspect some fruit!  Let us ask ourselves what are we producing? Let us strive to be more than a believer in Jesus, and endeavor to have the faith to truly change what needs to be changed.

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 7:1 – “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. ² For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

³ “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴ How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

⁶ “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you. (NLT)

In today’s passage we have a couple of well known sayings of Jesus, but many have found it difficult to understand why verse six would come immediately following the first five verses.  Some feel that they seemingly contradict one another.  The first five verses speak of the danger of judging others, while verse six implies that a judgment must be made!  If we are not to waste what is holy on the unholy, as verse six tells us, then we must make a judgment as to what is holy and unholy. 

There are two schools of thought about why these seemingly contradictory verses are included together.  First, some claim that the Gospel writer was simply writing down the collected sayings of Jesus, and not necessarily putting them in any order.  If this is so, then we would have a very difficult time understanding the context of anything written in the Gospel.

The second thought concerning these verses is that Jesus was talking about the interaction of his followers with people in general.  There was no need to be telling people about how sinful and wrong they were when his followers had issues of their own (verses 1-5), and there was no need to waste their time trying to convince anyone of anything if they were not receptive to listen (verse 6). 

This is good advice for Christians today. Christians are becoming known for what they are against instead of the Good News.  There is no need for us to go around telling others, and in particular telling non-believers, how sinful they are when we have our own issues with which to deal.  Additionally, there is no need for Christians to endlessly argue with non-believers about Jesus if they are not receptive to the message.  There are some things – and people – that we must leave up to God.  When we have done our part, we move on, trusting that God may send someone else to that person. 

Today, let’s refrain from being too critical of others.  Also, let us remember that Jesus said that the harvest fields are ready (Matthew 9:37), there are plenty of people who are willing to listen to the Good News, so let’s share the Good News with those who will listen.

Posted by Ramón Torres