Skip to main content

It is Time to Get Up!

   

               Patterns in scripture are important. Here is one that I came across in Matthew 9.

                The chapter begins with Jesus healing a paralyzed man.  During this event, the phrase “get up” is used twice (verses 5 and 6) and the story ends by stating, “The man got up and went home” (verse 7).

                Next, Jesus sees Matthew the tax collector and says, “Follow me”.  We are told that “Matthew got up and followed him” (verse 9). 

                Later, a man comes to Jesus because his little girl is sick.  Immediately, “Jesus got up and went with him” (verse 19).  By the time Jesus arrived at the man’s house, the little girl was dead, but Jesus went in, took the girl by the hand and “she got up” (verse 25).

                I do not think that it is a coincidence that the phrase “get up” or “got up” is six times in twenty-five verses.  I believe this pattern is there to remind us that faith is not just about what you believe or think, it is about what you do.  Faith is an action. 

                The chapter concludes with Jesus saying, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (verse 38).  In other words, the problem is not the field.  The field is ready.  The problem is the lack of harvesters.  Jesus’ point is that someone needs to get up and go.  The next chapter starts with Jesus sending his disciples out to share the good news (Matthew 10:1-42).

                It is easy to feel like we have done something because we have talked about it, but that is only half of the story.  We must go!  We must live and share the good news.  We must get up!

                 “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Terrible Trade

            I used to have a Wayne Gretzky rookie card.               However, when I was 12 years old I did not like Wayne Gretzky, so I traded the card to my brother.   A few years ago, I remembered that incident, so I went looking for the card. Sure enough, there is was in a box in my mom’s basement.   Now here is the thing:   even in bad shape, Gretzky rookie cards sell for around $250.   Needless to say, that was not a good trade on my part.   I simply did not recognize what I had and so I traded away something valuable for something with almost no value at all.             With that in mind, notice how the letter to the Galatians starts: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Good Funeral

As I write this article, it is Monday morning and I am getting ready to go to a funeral. As I think about the day ahead, I am not anticipating a sad day. There will be sadness in it, some tears will be shed for sure, but this will be a day of celebration. For as long as I have known them, and for many years before that, George and his wife Doris have been faithful followers of Christ. Their faith was not just something that they talked about or something that they had in name only. Rather, it was something that influenced how they lived, what they valued and how they saw their entire lives. George was not a very vocal man, but he was influential. His home was always open to anyone who needed a meal or a place to stay. In fact, that is how I first met them. When I was an intern, preaching in the town of Wawota , I stayed with George and Doris. When our Bible camp needed a place to go for a hayride, George and Doris were the first ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don’t Be a Tourist

                  From the moment that God told Abraham to leave his home and follow him (Genesis 12:1-3), God’s people have understood that they are on a journey.                 That being true, the essential question becomes, “How are you making that journey?”   T here are two options: You can be a tourist or you can be a pilgrim.                   Tourists leave their real life behind for a little while so that they can visit another place.   Generally, they travel in groups and do not mix much with the local people.   They hit the highlights of various regions, but they do not really experience what it is like to live in that part of t...
Post a Comment
Read more