Passage of the Day - December 27, 2012

Matthew 28:19-20

¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 10:24, 29-31, 40-42

²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

⁴⁰ “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. ⁴¹ He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

Matthew 11:25-30

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
²⁸ “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Here is another interesting conglomeration of verses.  First, we have Matthew 28:19-20 that shows that baptism is the initiation into discipleship.  This means that baptism is the beginning of discipleship, not the conclusion or something that happens along the way.

I also saw some verses in Matthew 10 and that were interesting to note.  Matthew 10 describes what it means to be a disciple including not loving others more than Chirst, not fearing, not denying Christ, etc.  But at the conclusion of Chapter 10 is verse 42.  How interesting.  Jesus is mentioning “these little ones” meaning the little babies and children present at this time of teaching.

Then, at the end of the next chapter, Jesus praises God for hiding the truths of the kingdom from the “wise and intelligent” and have revealed them to “infants”.  The chapter then concludes with verses 28-30 which appear to show that we may make being a Christian far more difficult than it needs to be.

You see, to children, believing Christ, following Christ, and being known as His is far easier than all us polluted adults.  A childlike faith would really help us to realize how light our Christian burdens really are.  Our problem is that we know too much and are fully aware of what we are giving up.  Children, not as much.

One could argue that an infant is in a better position to be a disciple of Christ than a 40 year old.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)