5 2 03

10:50a

Matthew 9

As I read through this � Jesus healing the paralytic man, calling Matthew, discussing fasting, resurrecting the guardsman�s daughter, healing the woman who had an �issue of blood� (hemorrhaging), healing the mute and blind and discussing how the workers were too few � I am struck by Matthew�s tendency to understate what happened. Thereby I am reminded of my own tendency to understate things. I don�t always understate, but often I do.

I mean, the only words Matthew devotes to his being called to follow Jesus are� �As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector�s booth. �Follow me�, He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him.� One verse (9) is all. That�s it. No story of why, no discussion or waxing eloquent on what it was like to have Jesus walk up to him and say �Follow Me�. I just have to chuckle at that.

In 38 verses, Matthew talks about the healing of six different people, one of whom was resurrected, describes three different discussions with the Pharisees, and tells of Jesus going through many towns healing people and preaching in the synagogues. Mark dedicates 22 verses to the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and the resurrection of the dead girl alone. Luke dedicates 16 verses to this same story. Matthew told the story in 9 verses.

*laughs quietly*

It is so important, to me, to read more than just one account. It�s almost like a diary, if you think about it. I mean, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all wrote accounts of their lives with Jesus, like diaries. I wonder, sometimes, if they didn�t argue between themselves after reading one another�s accounts of their time with the Christ. I know that they wrote their respective diaries/memoirs, a few years after Christ had risen to His heavenly Father, but still, I wonder if Matthew�s lack of embellishment came more from his tendency to understate, or if his tendency to understate came from a slipping memory.

What does this have to do with actual Bible study? I suppose not much, but still� It�s interesting to me.

Romans 8:18-39

Again I return to this, and again I am struck by a single verse. 31 �What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?�

Isn�t that cool? If we live within the rules God set, how can anything really hurt us? If God is for us, who can be against us? Really think about that.