Chapter 2. Who are you following?  Matthew Chapter 2-4.

My dog Daisy is a creature of rhythm. She knows when it’s time for a walk, she knows when it’s time to sleep.  Above all she knows that at a certain time in the afternoon it will be a game of fetch with a ball on a piece of elastic.

She will start to fix me with her collie eye (she only has one) from around 3:00pm. I manage to resist her stare for around an hour before I finally give in and play her game. It’s good exercise for her and it gives me a break. 

The road outside our house is around 120 metres from the main road. Our road is narrow and rarely used. I need to throw it in the direction of the main road as another dog who takes great exception to Daisy chasing things lives in the other direction. 

I have learnt how to hurl this toy around 80-90 metres in the direction of the road which enables her to run a lot, stay safe and, more importantly,  me to stand drinking my tea. Unfortunately if your throw deviates to the left slightly the toy ends up on the roofs of the houses lining the street. We now have a collection of them stranded behind the snow beams that line the roofs. They look like a doggy attempt at Christmas decorations. On the right is a cemetery. I’ve made several visits to the graves, not out of deep respect to the departed residents of Les Alberts but to try and retrieve Daisy’s toy, hoping that I’d not broken anything in my misfiring.  

After many failures and many new purchases I’ve learnt that by keeping your eye on a point in the centre of the road 80 metres away, your arm will follow. My throwing has improved. Daisy looks less exasperated and suitably exercised, and I visit the cemetery a great deal less.

A story to say what? It’s this.

If you don’t keep your eye on who you are following you’ll miss your goal. So many Christians miss the purpose of their life because their eye is not on Jesus. Much time is lost chasing goals and ideas that have little to do with his call on you. The opposite is also true. If you keep your eye fixed on him, your life will end up where it should be going. 

Let me tell you about one who is calling. Your life depends on it. 

The Baby

The first clues are  in chapter two of Matthew. People coming from a distant land to fall on their knees before Jesus. Now I think we all know that it is not normal to do this to babies (2:2; 11), especially if they have no obvious royal connection or aren’t born somewhere very posh.  

In fairness they had twigged that he was a king (2:2) but, then again, it’s not normal to be born a king. You’re usually born a prince and have to wait for your father to die. This family didn’t fit the normal bill at all. Something here was very different. Stars, as it turned out, don’t appear in the sky for everyone at birth do they? 

Then there were the gifts.  We’re actually not told the exact meaning of these gifts but we can assume that they were symbolic of Jesus’ life and ministry. This humble family were given gifts for him of gold (a sign of his royalty), frankincense (a sign of his purity and the work he was sent to do) and finally myrrh (an embalming fluid for his death and burial). These were not the mobiles or squeaky toys babies are normally given. There was something different about this person. Something had been spoken about him in a prophecy (2:6; Micah 5:2-4). It was enough to scare the king Herod into taking action to try and kill him (2:16).

This is a baby you go a long way to see. He’s worth chasing.

The Grown Man

The baby grew up as they do and he became a man. 

John the Baptist, who was his forerunner, talked about him passionately. He was so great, he said, he wasn’t even worthy to carry his sandals’ (3:11). So  when he said ‘he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire,’ he was referring to the process he’d been doing to the people who come to change their lives from their bad ways.  He dropped them right into the River Jordan and then pulled them back out. There was no hope that your beautifully combed hair would survive or that your new Givenchy labeled tunic wouldn’t be dripping when you got out. You were thoroughly soaked through. This is what he said Jesus was going to drench people in the Holy Spirit and with fire. 

It would be a separation from those who were his and those who weren’t. Those who weren’t would be cast out into an ‘unquenchable fire’ (3:12). Those who were his would be changed forever. He’d clearly not come to make people feel good about themselves. A little frightened? I know I am  (Prv 9:10).

Jesus then turns up in the queue to get baptised by John as well (3:13). But why would he need to do that? Jesus was to fulfill every law, every command and every desire of his Father. We know John’s baptism was from God (21:25) and by doing it he associated with us as people. He didn’t need to change anything but he did need to do everything right, everything his father wanted because he knew that not only we hadn’t but, we couldn’t.  

When he is baptised an extraordinary moment of the trinity follows. Jesus the obedient son has the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove and hears the out loud approval of his Father, ‘this is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased’ (3:16 & 17). This was one of those moments your jaw would drop and no-one would ever believe the story you retold. 

Are you ready to be changed by this man? to allow him to plunge you into his life?

The Testing

I wouldn’t make a very good sports coach. Probably reflecting my own limited ability I would quickly allow a panting, tired trainee to stop and rest saying ‘well done, have a break.’  Good coaches make them run around the field a few more times. They push the trainee beyond what they think they can do.  God is a good coach.

Jesus is sent into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil (4:1) where he faces huge temptations. (It’s good to remember that hard times are not outside of the purpose of God for our lives).

All the temptations are actually shortcuts. It’s us trying to get to a goal quickly. Satisfaction is looked for through a one night stand. Acceptance in the number of likes you receive on social media. Relaxation through drinking too much. The goals aren’t always bad, we all crave them, but it’s how we get to them that defines us.

Turning food into bread was actually saying to God, ‘I don’t trust you to not let me starve.  I’ll take charge of what I need.’ (4:4). Jumping off the roof of the temple, the most sacred and public place in Judaism, was saying ‘I’ll prove my own credentials to these people and not wait for you to do it.’  Receiving the kingdoms of this world by worshiping the devil (4:8-10) (I’m not sure they belonged to the devil as we know he’s a liar but that’s another book) was saying ‘I don’t need to go via the cross to win this world.’. Having the kingdoms of this world  and presenting them to his Father was always the aim of Jesus, (1 Cor 15:24), however the route was through laying his life down. Jesus wanted no shortcut, he was always going to get exactly what he came to get and do it the way his Father wanted. 

Both of them wanted us. Are you prepared to let this man lead your life, wherever it might lead?

The Call to follow

The rest of chapter four talks about the start of Jesus’ ministry and has those amazing words, ‘follow me’ (4:19). 

The people he called probably knew very little about who he was. But something about that call he gave made them get up, leave everything behind and start to follow this amazing man. 

Can you hear him?

The man born a king (2:2). 

The man born to die (26:24).

The man who only does what his father wants (4:4-10).

The man who knows how to make his followers who they were meant to be (4:19).

The man who took no shortcuts in getting us to God (3:15-17; 4:4-10).

The man born to reach you and me and save us (1:21).

He is the one calling you.

The Follower

The call to follow based on Matthew’s gospel.

Hear the call. Find out who we’re following and what he’s leading us into. A destiny more amazing than we could have imagined, but one that will cost us our life.

Coming Spring 2024.