John 3:1-2
Jesus' Miracles Came from God
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Matthew 7:1-29
Judging Others
7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
The old TV series Star Trek used a theme often in its different shows...The theme is that absolute power, corrupts absolutely...I did not know until fifty years later, that this was a quote from Lord Acton...Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely...Great men are almost always bad men."...I agree with this comment, with the exception of One Man...And I am not sure it is even fair to call Him a Man...But, while He walked the earth what a Great Man He was...He had great power and authority and used it to help others in the healing realm...He used it as a Servant might use it, a Servant of God that is...He also used His power to do other miracles...But no miracle was done to show any arrogance or pride...And He used His great authority to teach others about God as He traveled around and ministered to others...How many of us would choose the ministry and teaching field, if we could walk on water and calm raging storms or heal anyone that was ill?...
People following Jesus knew He held no political position...They knew He did not even have a position in the Temple (of God)...Yet, He seemed to hold some sort of power...And something about Him made others take notice that He had this authority about Him...
St. Matthew writes about some of the great teachings of Jesus...After He taught about judging others, praying and asking things of the LORD, the narrow and wide gates, on true and false disciples and about the wise and foolish builders...Much is learned in such a short time on a variety of subjects from Him...And after He said and taught these things the crowds were amazed at what they heard...Matthew writes, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds around Him were amazed at these teachings, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law."...And they knew He was not a Man, who held any position of any type...The people around Him and those who had seem Him grow up or knew about Him, knew He had no leadership skills or abilities from His past, that they knew of...Or did He?...
Jesus' authority came from God and God's will...His authority came from the way He taught...He had this way of teaching that spread the good news...He had this ability to interpret and translate the Bible into everyday terms...He could teach the common person about the Bible, because He is the Bible...He brought the people much healing and many miracles...His miracles came from God...His miracles tell us more about His Father...As we read the above St. Matthew's verses we notice something...His authority is shown by His teaching's relevance...Jesus had the wisdom to explore topics of meaning and the social issues of His times, and they remain relevant today...He taught how men should treat others...He knew how to better reveal things about God to us...The way He lived, He shows us we have this great potential for a much larger capacity to love our neighbors...