Month: September 2025

Matthew 15:1 – Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, ² “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”

³ Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? ⁴ For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ ⁶ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

⁸ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
⁹ Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”

¹⁰ Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ¹¹ It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”   ¹² Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?”   ¹³ Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, ¹⁴ so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.”   ¹⁶ “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. ¹⁷ “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. ¹⁸ But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. ¹⁹ For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. ²⁰ These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” (NLT)

Today’s passage deals with the subject of legalism.  Legalism is following the letter of the law without regard to the spirit of the law.  The Pharisees and teachers of the law were only concerned with the letter of the law and were ignoring the spirit of the law.  I don’t think that Jesus would counsel us to never wash our hands!  This is not the point of this passage. 

While cleanliness is important, what is even more important is what comes forth from us. Cleanliness can be compared to the letter of the law. Cleanliness is important.  Cleanliness keeps us healthy.  In our modern world, we know that cleanliness keeps us from spreading germs.  What comes forth from us can be compared to the spirit of the law.  What comes forth from us is the goal of the law.  The law was given to keep us right with God – AND to keep us right with others.  When we focus on being right with God without regard to being right with others, we have ignored the spirit of the law.

In the past, I have written of Sabbath laws in this blog.  Sabbath laws help us maintain a healthy relationship with God, but when our efforts to keep the Sabbath laws prohibit us from being compassionate to the human need around us, we have lost the spirit of the law.  We cannot be right with God when we are not right with others.

This is why when the expert in the law asked Jesus what he believed to be the most important law, Jesus answered: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

These two commandments fulfill all of the laws!  Today, let us focus on loving God and loving others.  Let us remember that what comes forth from us (words and actions) speaks of what is inside of us.   

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 14:22 – Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. ²³ After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

²⁴ Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. ²⁵ About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”

²⁷ But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”   ²⁸ Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”   ²⁹ “Yes, come,” Jesus said.  So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.   ³¹ Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

³² When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. ³³ Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed. (NLT)

This week we continue in Matthew 14.  Remember, Jesus had heard of the death of his friend John.  He then tries to go to a remote place to be alone.  He found a large crowd and spends time healing their sick.  Then, when they became hungry, he challenged the disciples to feed them.  They bring to Jesus what they had, and when Jesus blesses the meager meal, they then have more than enough to feed the multitude. 

So, consider that day from the disciples point of view.  They witness Jesus healing many people.  That’s pretty amazing!  They witness Jesus blessing five loaves of bread and two fish, which then feeds thousands!  That’s even more amazing!  Now in this passage, Jesus sends the disciples back across the lake while he remains behind.  Sometime later, when the disciples were caught in a storm on the lake, Jesus comes walking towards them on the water.  What an amazing day it had been!

Now consider Peter.  He had seen so much that day, and now he sees Jesus walking on the water towards him.  He is not sure of what he is seeing, so he asks Jesus to ask him to walk to Jesus on the water.  Jesus does.  Peter does.  When Peter realizes what it was he said, and what it was he was doing, he starts to sink beneath the waves. 

Have you ever felt like Peter?  We get excited about Jesus.  We get excited about a ministry. We jump in and get involved. Then, we see some wind and waves (criticism, financial obstacles, etc.), and we ask ourselves, “Why did I ever jump into this?”  This happens when we, like Peter, take our eyes off of Jesus.  If we involve ourselves in the ministry of Jesus, we have to maintain focus on Jesus.  If we really want to feed them (last week’s post), then we have to stay focused on the one who calls us to feed others. 

Today, let us not only involve ourselves in the ministry of Jesus, but let us also stay focused on Jesus.  Jesus will see us through! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 14:15 – That evening the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”   ¹⁶ But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”   ¹⁷ “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they answered.

¹⁸ “Bring them here,” he said. ¹⁹ Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. ²⁰ They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. ²¹ About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children! (NLT)

Today’s reading picks up where last week’s ended.  Remember, Jesus had just heard of the death of his cousin John, and he had tried to get away to a remote place to be alone.  When he arrived he was met by a large crowd, and we are told that he had compassion for them, and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).

After some time spent healing the sick, the hour was getting late.  Jesus’ disciples wanted Jesus to send the people to their homes so that they would not have a hungry crowd on their hands!  One of my favorite verses of Scripture is also one that I find tremendously challenging.  In verse sixteen Jesus says: “You feed them.”

In my years as a pastor I have often had people ask me something like, “Pastor, what can the Church do about …”  While I answer as diplomatically as possible, what I want to say is, “You do something!”  This is what Jesus tells us through this passage.  We are the ones to feed the hungry.  We are the ones to clothe the poor.  We are the ones to serve the needs of humanity.  This can certainly feel daunting, and like the disciples in this reading, we often feel inadequate for the task.  Like the disciples, however, we must offer up what we do have to Jesus.  If we have little time, we offer it to Jesus.  If we have little money, we offer it to Jesus.  If we each offer up our meager portions to Jesus, together we can reach the needs of the multitudes! 

Today, let us offer what we have to Jesus.  Let us do this knowing that Jesus will bless our efforts. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 14:1 – When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus, ² he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why he can do such miracles.”

³ For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). ⁴ John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.” ⁵ Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.

⁶ But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, ⁷ so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. ⁸ At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” ⁹ Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. ¹⁰ So John was beheaded in the prison, ¹¹ and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ¹² Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.

¹³ As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. ¹⁴ Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (NLT) 

In this passage, Jesus hears some disturbing news.  His cousin and friend has been murdered. We are told that as soon as Jesus heard this disturbing news, he left for a remote area to be alone.  We should notice how his time away went for him.  As soon as Jesus stepped off the boat he notices a large crowd – and he has compassion on them.

As a pastor, sometimes I can log in some long hours in the course of a week.  At my church we have two Sunday services, plus Sunday evening activities.  By the time Sunday night rolls around, I can be very exhausted!  Yet a pastor I have to be ready to answer any calls from church members in need, even when they come on a Sunday night when I am emotionally and physically exhausted. 

I am, however, not unique. We have all been in similar situations.  Maybe you have received a call from a friend in need at a time that was not good for you.  You may have been exhausted, or you may have had other plans.  The lesson we can take from this passage is that being a compassionate Christian can be challenging at times, but we are called to be like Jesus, therefore we should always be ready to be compassionate.  We do need our down time.  We do need time to recharge, but as those who seek to be like Jesus, we must often lay our desires aside, and willingly serve the needs of others.

Today, let us not let our own agendas keep us from being compassionate to others.  Let us seek to be like Jesus, and serve when the need arises. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Matthew 13:53 – When Jesus had finished telling these stories and illustrations, he left that part of the country. ⁵⁴ He returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?” ⁵⁵ Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. ⁵⁶ All his sisters live right here among us. Where did he learn all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” ⁵⁸ And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief. (NLT)

For those who have lived most or all of their lives as part of the Church, this is a familiar story.  Likewise, for those who have lived most or all of their lives as part of the Church, there is a great lesson to be learned from this passage.

First let us consider a historical lesson.  It would appear that Jesus must have grown up in a very normal way, unlike some of the stories that we have in apocryphal books that describe him performing miracles at a young age.  The people of Nazareth knew Jesus, and knew his family.  Because they had not witnessed anything amazing in the past, they were unwilling to see or hear anything credible in Jesus’ ministry. 

Second, let us consider a spiritual lesson. The people of Nazareth had grown so accustomed to Jesus that they were unwilling to see Jesus for who he truly was.  Sometimes we in the church are the same way.  We sing to Jesus, we even pray to Jesus, but are we truly expecting anything from Jesus right here and now?  Do we truly marvel and learn from Jesus’ teaching, or do we simply gloss over the Gospels as if they were some ancient stories that don’t really apply to our lives in our modern world? 

Perhaps, a second spiritual application can be found from what the people said in verses 55-56: “Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. ⁵⁶ All his sisters live right here among us.” Could it be that unbelievers look at Christians and say to themselves: “Can Jesus really be anything of value?”

Let us learn from this passage that we do have the very Word of God.  If we live by it, not only will our lives be noticeably different, people will notice something of Jesus.  Today, let us live as if Jesus really does matter.  Let us live in a way that allows others see a difference in us. 

Posted by Ramón Torres