I confess that there are days I chose to pick up my spy novel rather than sit and read my Bible. Surely there is someone who shares my guilt! Clearly wisdom and understanding of any real value is pretty scarce in that kind of morning reading! Yet in this passage we are challenged to embrace wisdom and understanding as we would a dear sister and or friend.

Life on this planet is full of injustice. If truth be told, I struggle when I’m not treated fairly! I want justice. I want wrongs to be made right. I want people to know how much pain they’ve caused and how deep their offense has been embedded in my being. Perhaps this is why this passage strikes a chord in my heart every time I read it. Particularly verse 19 that says, “But Joseph told them, ‘Don’t be afraid! I have no right to change what God has decided.

The story of John the Baptist’s question to Jesus is one way the gospel writer seeks to establish the authority of Jesus. “Are you the One who is to come or shall we look for another?” discloses a measure of uncertainty from John and his disciples. The answer Jesus gives, referring to his work on behalf of the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor, all makes reference to themes found in the prophet Isaiah that characterize the promised messiah (Isaiah 61:1-3).

Those in the crowds who were listening to Jesus were well acquainted with John and his preaching in the wilderness. What John preached signified that something extraordinary was about to happen and that repentance was the order of the day. Jesus challenges the crowd to consider again why they journeyed to the wilderness. It was not to see a reed swaying in the wind or to see a man dressed in fine clothes.

In these few verses we have a powerful and sobering narrative. The words and works of Jesus are affirmations that the promised kingdom has arrived. Resistance to the message of the kingdom has serious consequences. Those in the crowds did not like what they were hearing and they “demonized” the messengers. Jesus now zeroes in on more egregious examples of this resistance to the good news that the kingdom has come.

“He came to his own and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:12). This brief statement summarizes what we have been reading about Jesus in this chapter in Matthew. Excuses abound but Jesus is not daunted by his unreceptive audiences. He turns to prayer and in these few verses we get a glimpse into his intimacy with the Father. Much of the resistance to his message of the kingdom have come from those who think they know better.

The ancient Israelites were storytellers. They were given a God-directive to keep their history alive by sharing their stories. “These are things we learned from our ancestors and we will tell them to the next generation.”