Monday – Read Matthew 19:16-22. What must I do to inherit eternal life? A rich young man asks Jesus, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” He had achieved so much in his life. He was rich. He was devout. He was successful. What do you get the person who has everything? This man wanted to know how he could acquire eternal life. Jesus said, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The man loved money more than the invitation to follow Jesus. This is the only story in Matthew’s Gospel in which the person Jesus called to follow him responded by walking away; this man walked away because he was rich. Consider your relationship with God and your relationship with money. Ask Jesus to be your Lord so that you may use all that you have to serve Jesus.

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Tuesday – Read Mathew 19:23-26. For God All Things Are Possible. Jesus says to us, the church, “Man, it is really hard to get one of these rich ones into my Kingdom.” Around the ninth century, some creative preacher claimed that there was a gate in Jerusalem named “The Needle's Eye” so that Jesus was talking about how difficult it was to get a fully loaded camel through this relatively narrow gate. No, that is an invention of a preacher back in the ninth century who probably had to preach this text to a congregation like ours. The disciples spoke for us all, “Then who can be saved?” And Jesus replies, “It’s hard. It’s hard. It’s impossible for rich people to enter the Kingdom. In fact, it is impossible for anyone to enter this Kingdom, but with God, all things are possible, even this.” You cannot save yourself. Salvation is a free gift from God. As you pray, thank God for God’s grace.

 

Wednesday – Read Matthew 19:27-30. The First Will Be Last and the Last Will Be First. Speaking for the disciples, Peter says that they have fulfilled what Jesus asked of the rich man.

“Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” They left behind their families, their jobs, and their homes to follow Jesus. Peter asks what their reward will be. Jesus says that those who have made sacrifices for the sake of the good news will be blessed and rewarded a hundredfold with the gift of eternal life. What sacrifices are you making for the sake of the good news? Will you go where Jesus leads you? Will you do what Jesus is calling you to do? Jesus also says, 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” There will be a great reversal in God’s Kingdom. It will not be the rulers of this world but rather Jesus’ disciples who sit on thrones in the kingdom of heaven. As you pray, ask Jesus to help you follow where he leads and do what he calls you to do.

 

Thursday – Read Matthew 20:1-16. The Generous Landowner. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who hired people to work in his vineyard at the start of the day, mid-morning, at noon, in the afternoon, and at the end of the day. Then, he paid each of them the same amount: a day’s wages. When the first workers grumbled against him, he said, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” This landowner is generous. He is so generous that he kept going back to town to hire more workers.  He probably spent more time going to and from the vineyard to hire more workers than he actually did at the vineyard. He has a relentless desire for workers in his vineyard. He just won’t quit coming back to town. He won’t stop calling, hiring, inviting, seeking, offering….  He just won’t be happy until everyone is at work in the vineyard. God refuses to leave us alone. God pursues us, seeks us, finds us, sometimes early, sometimes late. The good news is that he is still looking for you. Eleventh hour workers are as sought by him as those who have been here all day. If you’ve been here since the morning, the bad news in the good news is that the Master invites, welcomes everyone, even those whom we have despised, thinking that we deserve more than they. Our worth in this vineyard is not based on what we have earned but rather on God’s grace. As you pray, thank Jesus for giving you his prevenient grace by loving you first.

 

Friday – Read Matthew 20:17-23. Are Ye Able? Jesus knows where he is going, and he knows what will happen to him when he gets there; but he walks determinedly ahead. Jesus does not go easily to his death, but neither does he face death with amazement, alarm, or uncertainty. His goal is passion, not pilgrimage. He will be hailed as a king of the Jews, but his enthronement will be paradoxical. His coronation will mean his death. However, his journey would not end in death but rather resurrection. After hearing Jesus predict his death, the mother of James and John wanted her sons to be first in the kingdom of heaven. James and John misunderstood their calling and destiny and misunderstood Jesus’ reply to them. “Are ye able,” said the Master, to be crucified with me?” “Yea,” the sturdy dreamers answered, “to the death we follow thee.” James and John would drink the cup of suffering which Jesus drank. James would be executed, and John would be exiled. Are you willing to suffer with Jesus in order to follow and serve Jesus?

 

Saturday – Read Matthew 20:20-28. To Serve or Be Served? When you come to church, do you come to serve or to be served? The other ten disciples were angry when they heard that James and John wanted positions of power and prestige because secretly, they all wanted those positions for themselves. But Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” The first will be last, and the last will be first. Jesus modeled this kind of servant leadership even to the point of death on a cross. Jesus came to save you. As you pray, thank Jesus for giving his life to pay the debt of our sin and offer us forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.