Blessed Are those Humbled (Matthew 15:30-31)
Gary McManus, 02/21/2021Part of the Life With Jesus is Better series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
February 21, 2021 The First Sunday in Lent
Matthew 15:30-31
Jesus said (Matthew 5:5):
Blessed are the meek—blessed are the humbled.
Have you ever been humbled?
Usually, sickness is humbling.
However, some seem to refuse to be humbled
by sickness (many American males).
Is there a reason married men live longer?
Have you been humbled by the pandemic?
The Bible uses two words for an epidemic:
pestilence (56 times) and plague (74 times).
These are two different words in Hebrew.
An infection running rampant through a population. . .
the Bible knows all about that.
We can take heart, our God knows our situation.
The Bile tells us that our God has used plagues
against certain groups of people. (See Leviticus 26:21,
KJV)
Today, God is not punishing and God is not
preventing the pandemic anywhere.
King Ahab was humbled by his sin (1 Kings 21:29).
However, this is NOT the first pestilence or plague to
come to America. Americans WERE HUMBLED
by the diseases that afflicted them.
Even in here in our town.
The people Jesus healed were humbled by their illness.
In the ancient world, many disabilities and sickness
made you unable to work. One so afflicted often had to beg.
Tucked in between the two great miracle feedings
in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 14:13-21 and Matthew 15:29-39),
we focus on the Messiah healing.
Matthew might have quoted Isaiah 35:3-6.
Matthew used four different Greek words
to describe the afflicted.
Then Matthew even increases the range of
afflicted stating “many others” –all afflicted.
These were all brought to Jesus, Immanuel,
God with us and Jesus healed them.
It is necessary to point this out.
Because the belief persists, even among the faithful,
that God is punishing people with sickness.
Even the disciples get carried away.
( See John 9:2, Luke 9:53-54, Luke 13:4).
JESUS corrects the disciples every time.
God has come (Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 35:4)
TO the afflicted.
It is important for today’s DIY generation. . .
an independent spirit needs to be tempered with wisdom.
The sick and disabled in Matthew Ch 15 turned to God and sought Jesus.
Has this pandemic humbled you enough to seek God?
See Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:12.
Pastor knows these are not the American way.
These are the ways of the Kingdom.
You, believer, your citizenship is in heaven as
well as the United States.
2 Corinthians 5:20: being an ambassador is not
for your privileges. Being an ambassador is a mission!
We do what the sons of God do. (Matthew 5:3)
Amen.
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