Bible Studies

Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth?

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." John 1:43-51

Assumptions, stereotypes, prejudices, presumptions, hunches, expectations, bias, preconceptions - there are certainly a lot of these in our world today! But then there always has been, I suppose. Today we are just "blessed" with social media to help us propagate these ideas all over the world. We have news media that make no bones about their bias, and there are those who claim to have none. Even the creators of social media allow their assumptions and biases to determine what material they will allow users to post. Things certainly seem to be broken. Is there any hope?

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Forgiveness is Essential

“Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' “And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:21-35

How many sermons or teachings have we heard about forgiveness? I would imagine we have heard so many that we don’t need another one. We should all be experts! It should be second nature for us - someone wrongs us and we immediately forgive and turn it over to God. 

If only it were that easy!

When someone cuts us off in traffic 
When someone breaks their word to us
When someone steals from us 
When someone gossips about us 
When someone persecutes us 

In this Gospel lesson, we hear a question we have all probably asked ourselves. We might ask it this way, “How many times do I have to put up with this?” The disciples’ question to Jesus is not should I forgive; it is how many times should I forgive. The answer Jesus gives, if we were to take it literally, is 70 x 7, which is 490 times. If this was Jesus' intent, how hard would that be to track? 
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