Matthew - The Park Forum

April 10, 2025April 8, 2025

Testify to Ultimate Healing

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 14 Listen: (8:11) Read: Acts 10 Listen: (5:49)

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 14.2-7

2 “These are the regulations for any diseased person at the time of their ceremonial cleansing, when they are brought to the priest: 3 The priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease, 4 the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6 He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean. After that, he is to release the live bird in the open fields.

Matthew 8.4

4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Reflection: Testify to Ultimate Healing

By John Tillman

Ritual uncleanness was ceremonial, not medical. It had little to no effect on individual or communal health. However, some Levitical regulations protected physical health. “Defiling” infections and contagious conditions required quarantines that separated affected people or property from others.

These conditions were not caused by individual sin but were part of living in a sin-defiled world, suffering the death and decay sin set in motion. However, from Job’s day until now, people often assume a spiritual or moral deficiency when sickness or trouble touches people’s lives.

When such conditions were cured, priests first acted as “health inspectors,” confirming the absence of the sickness or condition. Then priests shifted into spiritual mode, enacting a ceremony that celebrated a victory over death, defilement, and disease and honored God for the cleansing.

When Jesus healed the leper, he commanded him to make the sacrifice described in Leviticus 14. (Matthew 8.1-4; Mark 1.40-45; Luke 5.12-15) Jesus was directing attention away from himself as the source of the miracle, but the elements of the sacrifice point right back to Jesus. They represent Christ’s removal of all defilement and disease by defeating their source in sin and death.

The priest brings the sacrifice to the person outside the camp, just as Jesus came to us and was killed outside the city. Christ is the hyssop for cleansing the unclean. Christ is the red cord, marking those saved, like Rahab, from destruction. Christ is the bird that dies in our place. We are the living bird, baptized into water and Christ’s blood and then set free. Even if the leper had simply carried out the ceremony, he would still have testified about Jesus.

Christ bears our sicknesses, and every sickness (mental, physical, and spiritual) will be healed—if not now, then in the future. Sin and death are dying. Their power is already broken. We live in the days before the final victory when these defeated enemies lash out in vain, but the heel is coming that will crush their head and bring ultimate healing.

Unlike the priest, Jesus touches the unclean before they are healed, because his purity is more contagious than the world’s impurity. Christ touches us before we are healed, while we are sinners, while we are his enemies. He does not inspect us for righteousness, but imputes it to us.

Celebrate whatever healing you experience as a testimony to the world and testify to the ultimate healing to come.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. — Psalm 95.6-7

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Jesus Is as Serious as Leviticus

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 6 Listen: (4:17) Read: Acts 3 Listen: (3:33)

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 6.1-7

1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 “If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, 3 or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit—4 when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, 5 or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. 6 And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”

Matthew 5.23-24

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

Reflection: Jesus Is as Serious as Leviticus

By John Tillman

Leviticus treats sin both as an issue between God and the worshiper and between the worshiper and other humans, not as one or the other.

Sins toward God are dealt with solely through the priest, the sacrifices, and worship. But not all sins are solely toward God and not all sacrifices or actions required for worship are directed towards God.

Jesus reinforced this teaching. He taught that wrongs between humans should be reconciled before reconciling oneself to God. “First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5.24)

Think for a moment how impractical this was. You travel several days to Jerusalem and purchase an overpriced goat from the money changers. Right before the sacrifice, you remember that your neighbor is angry about a lost mule they loaned to you. To follow Jesus’ command, you leave the goat with the priest, travel several days home, make restitution to your neighbor (consistent with the instruction in today’s passage), and then return to Jerusalem to deal with your sin before God. Is Jesus being serious here?

Perhaps Jesus was engaging in some hyperbole. Perhaps the point would be to make sure you restore relationships with humans before coming before God. Even if we think Jesus was being metaphorically exaggerative, it is clear that in the New Testament and the Old, restitution is part of the process of forgiveness. When it comes to restitution, Jesus is as serious as Leviticus.

It is an abuse of the Christian concept of forgiveness for people to say to their victims, “Jesus forgave me. Why can’t you?” A victim may grant forgiveness as part of their act of worship. Those who do harm must make restitution as part of theirs.

It is not possible to restore every kind of damage. Even the value of a lost mule could be debated. And what if the wrong we have done transcends a financial cost? How do we calculate the cost of someone’s broken heart, hurt feelings, depression, anxiety, or rage?

We need the Holy Spirit’s help in making or receiving restitution. But if we try to dodge our responsibility to at least attempt to restore wrongs, it shows that we have not truly repented of our sin.

Ask God to guide you in necessary restitution and to desire wholeness for your victims more than you desire forgiveness for yourself.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church

Be, Lord, my helper and forsake me not. Do not despise me, O God, my savior. — The Short Breviary

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

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February 21, 2025February 20, 2025

Detecting Defiled Hearts

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 4 Listen: (4:17), Read: Matthew 15 Listen: (4:23)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Exodus 5 Listen: (3:15) Read: Matthew 16 Listen: (3:43)

Read: Exodus 6 Listen: (3:56) Read: Matthew 17 Listen: (3:46)

Scripture Focus: Matthew 15.10-20

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” 12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” 13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Reflection: Detecting Defiled Hearts

By John Tillman

Jesus says what comes out of us shows what is in us. Words we say or endorse can detect or diagnose defiled hearts.

This is true individually and collectively. Jesus affirms this when he tells his disciples to abandon the “blind guides.”

First we host defiling sin in our hearts, allowing it space and comfort. This sin could be anything—hatred for the “other,” lust for pleasures, or greed for gain or power. Letting sins linger, protecting them from the light of scripture, the revelation of conviction, and the purifying fire of repentance, allows sin to root itself in our thinking.

With sin-rooted thoughts, we justify and build logical defenses of sin. We explain it away as “my choice” or “I have no choice.” We defend it as “a strategic necessity.” We claim it as “part of my identity” or “how I was raised” or “how I was born.”

We spread seeds of our sin-rooted thoughts in speech. We manifest it in language or images. We share it in insults, inappropriate comments, memes, slander, lies, half-truths, manipulations of the truth, and dehumanizing declarations against our enemies.

Next we, or sometimes others, move our words into actions. Ponzi schemes are pitched. Corruption becomes the cost of doing business. Riots get started. Churches get burned. Protesters get shot. Victims are sexually assaulted. Police get attacked. Laws get passed.

Wicked actions are the fruit of wicked words, from the branch of wicked thinking, connected to the vine of wicked hearts, growing from the root of sin. And the seeds are all around us.

How can we live undefiled in a defiled world with defiled systems and leaders spewing defiled thinking, slogans, and logic? We need to remember that we have a different root and vine to tap into.

Your root determines your fruit. Righteous actions are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, growing through unworthy, grafted-in branches, drawing on the true vine of Jesus Christ, rooted in the Father’s unquenchable love for us.

Whose words guide you? Whose words do you repeat? Are you trusting “blind guides” whose defiled language reveals a defiled heart? Are you justifying and defending language which reveals the defilement of sin? Are you hosting sin in your heart, protected from the fire of repentance?

Abandon blind guides with defiled speech. Follow Jesus. Judge with sober judgment the words you say or endorse. Words reveal the condition of your heart.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Jesus taught us saying: “It is someone who is forgiven little who shows little love.” — Luke 7.47

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Jesus’ Family Tree — Joy of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Nehemiah 2 Listen: (3:42)
Read: Revelation 11 Listen: (3:24)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Nehemiah 3 Listen: (5:43), Read: Revelation 12 Listen: (2:58)
Read: Nehemiah 4 Listen: (3:38), Read: Revelation 13 Listen: (3:20)

Scripture Focus: Matthew 1:1, 17

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Nehemiah 2:3-5

3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

Reflection: Jesus’ Family Tree — Joy of Advent

By Jon Polk

You may have never read the first seventeen verses of Matthew 1. You should, after all, it’s Jesus’ family tree. If you pay attention, you might even recognize a few names.

So go ahead. Here it is. I’ll wait.

In the old King James, Matthew 1 is the “begat” section. So-and-so begat so-and-so and one hard to pronounce name begat another funny sounding name. It’s the passage to be feared if called upon to read aloud in church.

Ancient genealogies were written with a purpose in mind. Names can obviously refer to a specific person, but they can also reference a family name. The phrase “the son of” can mean literally “direct offspring of” or it can mean more generally “descendent of.”

Matthew carefully shapes Jesus’ ancestry with a goal in mind. Matthew traces Jesus’ lineage back to Abraham and outlines three sets of fourteen generations: Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the exile to the Messiah.

Do the math and this equals six sets of seven generations, making Jesus the beginning of the seventh. Seven is a biblical number representing completion. Therefore, Jesus inaugurates the fulfillment of God’s plan for the world.

As expected, there are prominent names in Jesus’ lineage that anyone would love to have in their family tree: Abraham, faithful father of many nations; Judah, the royal tribe through which the Messiah would come; David, a man after God’s own heart; and Zerubbabel, who led exiles back from Babylonian captivity.

Not a bad pedigree.

But wait, there’s more!

Surprisingly, there are a few scoundrels on the list as well: Jacob, who tricked his father out of the family blessing; Rehoboam, son of Solomon who brought about the divided kingdom; and even David, who committed adultery and murder.

Everyone has a few stories in their family history that they would like to keep secret. Even Jesus.

And you thought there were interesting characters in your family?

As we draw near to the holiday break, maybe you’re dreading interactions with your crazy uncle or your weirdo cousin. Perhaps there is tension between members of your extended family. You might be preparing to tread lightly if certain topics come up in conversation.

Somehow there is an odd comfort in knowing that even Jesus’ earthly family history was less than perfect. So go easy on your family this year. Allow the grace of God to saturate every conversation, every interaction.

Because you never know, to someone else, you may be the weirdo cousin.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Now his mother and his brothers arrived, and standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, “Look, your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.” He replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers? Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.” — Mark 3.31-35

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

What Did You Get Jesus for Christmas? — Joy of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezra 9 Listen: (3:19)
Read: Revelation 8 Listen: (2:15)

Scripture Focus: Matthew 2:9-12

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Revelation 8:3-4

3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense and the prayers of God’s people went up before God from the angel’s hand.

Reflection: What Did You Get Jesus for Christmas? — Joy of Advent

By Jon Polk

Ask any four-year-old what Christmas is all about and what do you think they’ll tell you?

Presents.

We like to say that exchanging gifts is inspired by the wise men from the east who visit the child Jesus and give him gifts.

There’s no evidence early Christians gave gifts to celebrate Jesus’ birth, in fact, gift-giving did not become a focus of the celebration until the 1800s. In 1820, Christmas-themed ads first appeared in newspapers and it wasn’t until 1867 that Macy’s department store stayed open until midnight on Christmas Eve for last-minute purchases.

Today, we have Black Friday and Cyber Monday and regular delivery trucks in our neighborhoods, and it may seem like gift-giving has gotten out of hand.

The wise men from the east traveled from as far away as Persia. Jesus was probably at least one, maybe two years old when they arrived bearing gifts.

The gifts they brought with them from their homelands — gold, frankincense and myrrh — were three expensive substances, not native to Israel, often imported at great expense.

You may have heard of the traditional interpretation of the three gifts: gold represents Jesus’ kingship, frankincense represents his priesthood, and myrrh pertains to Jesus’ death.

Throughout history, church leaders have further spiritualized the three gifts. For Gregory the Great, they corresponded to wisdom, prayer and the humiliation of the flesh. Martin Luther connected them with faith, love and hope. Others compared them to mercy, prayer and purity.

Most importantly, the three gifts indicate the high esteem with which the wise men revered the child and the honor they bestowed upon him as a King. These wise men from Persia had likely originally heard messianic prophecies from the descendants of Jews in captivity in Babylonia. Clearly, they came to worship and give honor to Jesus as King and Messiah.

If we were going to give Jesus a gift for Christmas this year, what would it be? If we follow the example of the wise men, it would need to be sacrificial. It will probably require our time, energy, or money. It should be prompted by our relationship with Jesus and rooted in worship.

Maybe more time in prayer, Bible study, or fellowship? Or kicking some habit that is holding back your spiritual growth? Perhaps being more attentive to your family or others around you? How about developing an attitude of gratitude and generosity?

What present will you give Jesus for Christmas this year?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

My lips will sing with joy when I play to you, and so will my soul, which you have redeemed. — Psalm 71.23

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 14.2-7

Matthew 8.4

Reflection: Testify to Ultimate Healing

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Read more: He Is Willing

Read more: Knocking on Heaven’s Door

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 6.1-7

Matthew 5.23-24

Reflection: Jesus Is as Serious as Leviticus

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church

Read more: Waiting at the Beautiful Gate

Consider Supporting Our Work

Links for today’s readings:

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Matthew 15.10-20

Reflection: Detecting Defiled Hearts

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Read more: Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel

Read more: Killing With our Hearts

Links for today’s readings:

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Matthew 1:1, 17

Nehemiah 2:3-5

Reflection: Jesus’ Family Tree — Joy of Advent

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Read more about Bathsheba’s Story — Love of Advent

Read more about Supporting Our Work

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Matthew 2:9-12

Revelation 8:3-4

Reflection: What Did You Get Jesus for Christmas? — Joy of Advent

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

Read more about Saccharine Joy — Joy of Advent

Read more about Supporting Our Work