PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2025-2026

The last day of Jesus’ life unfold before us. Judas is sorry that he did what he did, but it is too late, the damage is done. He goes and hangs himself. This is probably one of the least focused on passages in Scripture. The hanging of Judas is tragic, very tragic. It is the opposite of what the Gospel teaches, that there is always hope for the lost, always. Judas took that away from God, he took away God’s ability and willingness to forgive him.

We see Peter is also distraught because he has betrayed Jesus, and so he weeps bitterly. Jesus appears to the disciples and gives them the great commission in chapter 28 to go out and make disciples and to teach, and to baptize. It doesn’t say go out and plant churches, it says go out and make disciples. That is our primary goal.

We are going to cover two Scriptures that I understand to be fundamental to our status as followers of Jesus. The first is 22:34-40 where we see Jesus explain what the greatest commandment is: love God and love your neighbor. Some are good at the first but not so good at the second, and others are good at the second but not so good at the first. I would argue that if you think you are good at the first, but are actually bad at the second, well, then you actually aren’t good at the first. For loving God has to involve loving your neighbor. I would also say that if you love your neighbor but don’t know or don’t love God, well, then the purpose is defeated because, as Jesus said, you will have the poor with you always. Without the foundation of Jesus at the center of our love, then our love is like the wind. It comes and it goes and it leaves no mark and makes no difference.

The second Scripture that I want to emphasize is Matthew 25:31-46 which describes what it looks like to love God and to love your neighbor. In fact, the Scripture depicts God as someone who will be asking for an accounting of our work with our neighbor and if we come up short, well, then we are going to be separated out. This Scripture does not lead us to a works salvation, but rather a realization that God isn’t playing when he tells us to love Him by loving our neighbor.

The end of Isaiah is followed by the Psalms and the Proverbs which describe a God who has spent day after day, hour after hour, and year after year, even generation after generation looking to pour into His people, but they have turned their back on him. The description of God who almost doesn’t seem to learn that this people will not turn and worship him ever in a way that they should provides both hope and pity. Hope that God will never leave us or forsake us. Pity that our God continues to try to see the best in us, and expect something different from what we are currently doing, and yet never sees any true results. What’s that definition of insanity? Trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result?

But that is why Jesus. Jesus came not so that we would behave different, but simply put, so that we wouldn’t have to behave differently. Because now it is not up to us. This is the difference. There are no expectations because our actions don’t create a righteousness. The righteousness by which we are defined is imposed upon us by the act of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection.

Finally after chapters of condemnation and descriptions of infidelity and unfaithfulness, the Scripture describes a complete restoration, but at the hands of God. We are not able to bring about the reconciliation that is required, but rather only through the hand of God is this able to take place. This can be called the good news of deliverance where Israel is no longer the target of the wrath of God for her unfaithfulness. She remains unfaithful, but it is time to bring her back into the fold since no other nation has been picked out as God’s people. The other nations will go to ruin while Israel, the people of God, will be built up.

Chapter 58 of Isaiah contains a bit of a mirror image of Matthew 25. We have the prophet in the chapters preceding that we read really lambast Israel and its unfaithfulness. It goes on for a couple chapters describing how the nation and the people have turned their back on God and so as a result God has turned his back on them. And then in 58 you see a listing of all that which God requires of people in order for them to follow him properly. What is it that the Lord requires, the question arises. In chapter 58 starting at vs.6 you see a listing of all those things that God requires of us:  “to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

But wait, there is more, he then follows that up with: “If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted.” If you do all these things, the prophet states, then you shall call upon the Lord and the Lord will answer. That seems like a pretty good deal to me, but when was the last time that we loosed the bonds of injustice or any of those things that are in the list. Being a follower of Jesus, as we see in the parable of the servant who received grace but did not give it out, requires us to give grace and compassion and mercy. We aren’t very good at that, and yet it is required of us.

Both of our Scriptures today contain verses that are very familiar and very popular. The Isaiah Scripture not only reminds us that God will bring his people back out of captivity, but it provides us with the suffering servant image to remind us of what the Messiah will look like. Unlike the popular depiction of the Messiah as a conquering king who rides on a horse and mows down anyone in his way, this suffering servant, this Messiah, is one who is comfortable in his position as the least of these. This was not a common, nor a popular depiction of the Messiah which is why so many people missed who Jesus truly was.

In our Matthew Scripture we see Peter proclaiming the confession of faith that has been ours since then to now. You are the Messiah, Peter says, the son of the living God. This witness, this testament, this declaration has been ours since the church began.

So we have the feeding for the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000. It is no wonder that Jesus tells the crowds the only reason why you come to see me is because I feed you and heal you. It should give us pause that maybe we also like the crowds are only following Jesus because of what we can get from him: eternal life, peace, maybe even a sense of inclusion and part of the crowd as we live in a society and culture where being Christian is the norm.

Isaiah’s words remind us that the people of Israel remain in captivity and are slaves in a foreign land as this is written. The prophet reminds the people what got them here in the first place and how they can find themselves out of it. There is the promise that one day they will get out of this dire situation in which they find themselves, but disobedience comes at a cost.

The life of Jesus is one that he is becoming known now. Even the rulers of the land, including Herod who wonders if Jesus is not just a John the Baptist version 2.0, pays attention to him. This causes Jesus to change his plans and his actions by moving further away from Herod and to a place where he can do his thing without being noticed nearly as much.

The Isaiah Scripture has totally changed its tone from one of predicting the downfall of Israel because of its infidelity, to the work that God will do to tear down the other nations because of their foolish pursuit of idols and other gods made by hand. The nonsensical nature of creating an idol, or a god, out of wood, half of the tree will go to be burnt in order to cook food and other manual and house chores, while the other half goes to be made into an idol which people will worship seems very illogical. How can that which is used for worldly matters then become something ephemeral, even spiritual? That is a good lesson for us.

Matthew has a phrase that struck me in light of where we find ourselves as a people today. Look at 12:36-37 which states: “I tell you, on the day of judgement you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; ³⁷ for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” This is a powerful reminder that our words matter, and what we call people, and how we define people, and even those silly little things that we put on social mean to demean people, well, they all matter.

The Isaiah Scripture does contain some elements of Handel’s Messiah which should be familiar. A man of suffering is one of those, and which should get our attention as a time when Jesus is prophesied to be the suffering servant. We see this in our Matthew Scripture as Jesus states that we are to take on the burden and the yoke of Jesus which is light compared to that which we try to carry on our own.

Merry Christmas! In Isaiah we see a bit of a transition from words of condemnation and warning, to a ruler whom God trusts and whose Spirit remains in him. Hezekiah is one who is following God’s heart and as a result we see how God delivers him out of two very serious situations. The Assyrians are amassed around Jerusalem ready to take it over, but God tells Hezekiah not to worry about it. This will lead to deliverance. And sure enough God leads His own force and drives them out. Hezekiah is also on his deathbed but prays to the Lord for deliverance, and sure enough, because of his fasting and prayer God gives Hezekiah 15 more years of life. That’s pretty cool.

In Matthew we find ourselves in the time of the Gospel where Jesus definitely acts in ways that are counter cultural and the leaders of the culture don’t know what to do with him. The religious leaders see him eating and partying with tax collectors and think he has disqualified himself. But as he says, the physician comes to heal the sick, not those who are well. In a similar fashion Jesus finds himself being asked to heal people who are directly associated with the synagogue, which implies that he hasn’t totally fallen out of grace. He will one day, fall out of grace with the people that is, but not quite yet. He is useful as long as he heals and does nice things for the leaders of the people.