Spring Rains (cont'd)--by Andy

I opened to Matthew 8 and picked up from where I had left off the day before, the end of the sermon on the mount. After reading to chapter 11, I then went back and read through the first 7 chapters again. Having an extremely poor memory, I had to read and re-read these 11 chapters many times quickly just so that I could see all of them at one time. I also tried to recall what I've recently read from Sinclair Ferguson's The Sermon on the Mount. I was looking for what Matthew was trying to say, the point of it all, why He even wrote this book the way he did. God spoke to me in several places:

1. Jesus' response to John the Baptist's disciples in 11:5-6, "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." This sounded like Jesus was referring to an OT prophecy (Isa 42:7) that John would have recognized, and Matthew made sure to record this in his account because he seemed to be obsessed about the OT and would go out of his way to point out these OT prophecies that he thought Jesus was fulfilling (the geneology in chapter 1; 1:22-23; 2:5-6, 15, 17-18, 23; 3:3; the temptation in chapter 4; 4:14-16; the sermon on the mount, 8:17, 9:13). But one other thing that stood out was how Jesus said that the good news is preached to the poor. I was asking myself, "Why the poor, who were the poor, and what about those who were not poor?" Who did the Jews consider "poor", and why was to good news preached to them especially, and not the others? This then also reminded me of all the miracle healings recounted by Matthew in these chapters, as proofs that what Jesus said in 11:5-6 was really true.

2. Jesus' response to the pharisees in 9:12-13, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." These two verses got me thinking for a long time. Jesus seemed to come for the "sick" and the "sinners" only. I was touched by this verse tonight especially because I felt that I fit both of these two labels exactly. It was the reflection upon my many sins that made me so sick that I had to go look for God in the bible. As I was reading through the accounts of the miracle healings, I felt I was in a worse condition than these lames, blinds, and deafs. I needed as much if not more healing from Jesus. I also felt poor, in all aspects, and I needed the good news preached to me. I needed mercy from Jesus, and it was comforting to read that mercy was what Jesus came to give and thus demanded the same of the pharisees. If He had wanted sacrifice, I would have become even more hopeless since I really had none to offer. I came to the bible tonight with nothing to offer but my many sins. I came as a beggar, so I paid special attention to how Jesus treated those who came to him. And as I re-read those passages the next observation came.

3. I noticed three different interactions between Jesus and the people. One interaction was that between Him and His disciples: Jesus called and sent them. The second interaction was that between Him and the sick: they came/followed/touched/knelt before Him. The third was that between Him and the pharisees and teachers of the law: they never came/followed, they just happened to be there and saw and observed and said things to Jesus. Jesus always taught His disciples, always had compassion and was gentle toward the sick, but always rebuked and reprimanded the pharisees. The words "come/came/followed" were everywhere in these chapters. Jesus never turned away anyone who came to Him, and those who came to Him were either sick or had some needs to ask of Him.

4. Finally, at the end of chapter 11, Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." He really came to me through these verses.

Matthew's point seemed to be that Jesus was truly the one whom God spoke about in the OT who would come to usher in a kingdom, the characteristics of which were described in the sermon on the mount, and the people whom it would call into were those who were sick and needy and were invited to come through mercy and not sacrifice. Matthew seemed to have made his case, and I was comforted to know I could come.

Lastly, the quote "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" took me to Hosea, which talks about how Israel had deserted God and had no faithfulness, no love, and no acknowledgment of Him in the land. They have rejected God and committed prostitution with idols, and therefore have brought about God's anger against them. The prophet Hosea called Israel to return to God. He said in 14:1-2,

Return, O Israel to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!
Take words with you and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
"Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips."

And in 6:1-3,

Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.

These words were very reassuring to me. Though I was weary and trodden by my own sins, sins of rejecting God and following my own desires, He has appeared to me as surely as the sun rises each morning. Though my sins beat hard on my soul just as the spring rains outside the window are pounding down hard on the roof, I was comforted that God has come and watered me as surely as He sent Israel the spring rains to water the earth.