Monday, January 4, 2010

Jesus Teaches in Their Synagogue's

Beads of Joy 01-04-10

Jesus Teaches in Their Synagogue's
©2010 James Dacey, Jr. SFO

Hello Everyone,

Jesus has entered the building ! OK, that's just me getting a little goofy again. But sometimes there is more truth in joking then we are led to believe. Jesus has begun His ministry, and this research and all that I have learned is so extremely exciting. I keep saying it and I know those who read my blogs everyday know it, I can't contain all this joy, I get so much joy when I study the word, think of the word, think of Jesus, think of Mary. OK you get it. LOL. Today we reflect on Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 (The Beginning of The Galilean Ministry / Ministering to a Great Multitude). The exciting find in this reading is in verse 23, "He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogue's, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people." The activities of our Lord's ministry have been announced here in verse 23. The joy cannot be contained.

The commentary explains it like this, verse 23 is seen as a sort of summary of Jesus' ministry. The center of importance is the "preaching of the gospel", and it's said that it is framed by, "the teaching in synagogue's" and "healing". Later in Matthew's gospel we can see this in action; Matthew 9:35, "Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogue's, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness." There are a few other verses that further share about Jesus' teaching: Mark 1:39, and Luke 4:15,44. Go ahead check them out, you know you want to.

In all Jesus' preaching He made two demands upon us: Repent of our sins and Believe in Him. True repentance requires change in our lives, and believing in Him, and it's possibly by God's grace. These are two life-changing steps we need to take seriously in our lives. But the most important, most critical part of all this; is that we must have a relationship with our Savior. If it's all about listening and reading and learning all about our faith, well then you missed the point. Jesus came to us so that we may have life and have it abundantly. We need to be open to the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to bring Jesus alive inside us.

We need to allow God to change the way we think. We need to also know that God loves us far more than we can ever realistically ever comprehend. Believing in Jesus takes a lot of faith, but once you really have Him in your heart and you really love Him with all your heart, in your heart; you will see how easy it is to just take Him at His word in whatever He tells us. It's all about a relationship.

Listen to Him. Learn from Him. Fully Trust in Him.


Your brother in Christ Jesus & His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr SFO