Yeast is an image Jesus uses that has both positive and negative meanings.  Last Sunday we listened to yeast as an image of the Kingdom growing within a person.  Here, the yeast is that of the Pharisees and Sadducees—pride and ambition.  

The reading shifts to Peter and the wonderful gift of knowing who Jesus is.  Yet Peter seems to take the gift in a prideful manner, questioning Jesus in the first prediction that Jesus us going to suffer and die.  The name that Peter has just been given, “Rock,” is quickly changed to “Satan” in the hopes that Peter will be shaken into belief and obedience.

  Any yeast of pride in you?

Matthew 16

Check out Study Tools in BibleGateway.
I especially recommend the free resource
in Matthew Henry’s Commentary.‘s Commentary.

In Year A, we continue to read from the Gospel of St. Matthew.

These Firestarters are for families with children. For the Firestarters in the original edition, I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or table! Check the menu options at the site for more information.

Most likely you’ll recall this experience where you were a little child.  Let’s say you received a toy that later you didn’t want to play with.  Your mom or dad says, “Well, if you don’t want it, I’ll give it to the child down the street who will love to have it.” If this happened, did you recall getting very interested in the toy once again?

Verse 11 is Paul’s way of saying something similar with respect to the Jews: “Salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.”

Don’t brag about the gifts God has given you; instead welcome them.  Allow your expressions of wonder and praise for God to increase until your whole being is living the final verse of the reading: “All things are from God and through God and for God.  May the glory be to God forever.  Amen.”

Romans 11

Check out Study Tools in BibleGateway.
I especially recommend the free resource
in Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.

These Firestarters are from a new edition of The Bible Through the Seasons being developed for families with children. For the Firestarters in the original edition, I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or table! Check the menu options at the site for more information.

Have you ever been so happy that you just started jumping up and down, dancing with friends, shouting all the while?  Well you’re in good company with the Hebrew people who found great joy in the power and presence of God.  

As so often happens, the meaning of a word in the original languages of the Bible gives us a boost by the power in the word itself.  This is the case for the word “joy” in Hebrew–rinnah.  It means that the shouting is so strong that it sends people into a whirling dance.

Place the grief over the loss of the Temple in the Book of Lamentations that we read yesterday , against this song attributed to David at the dedication of the Temple.  Sadness and joy are set against each other in this psalm, with its message of ultimate joy for those who trust in the Lord.  Surely, this prayer comes from David’s recollection of the triumph over Goliath, and the sadness of Saul’s destructive jealousy. Whatever emotions you are experiencing as you come to this psalm, they are all present as a collage of verses.  Link the feelings you have as you begin to read, allowing the Spirit to shake your feelings until there is rinnah in God’s presence.

 Psalm 30

Check out Study Tools in BibleGateway.
I especially recommend the free resource
in Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

We read the Psalms in numerical order on Wednesdays.

These Firestarters are from a new edition of The Bible Through the Seasons being developed for families with children. For the Firestarters in the original edition, I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or table! Check the menu options at the site for more information.