PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2025-2026

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.

We will briefly look at Isaiah where we find Israel forecasted to doom and destruction because of its disobedience. This disobedience then translates into a punishment that takes the form of exile and slavery. That is pretty much as bad as it gets for a country, it being abandoned by its God and it no longer being able to dictate how it governs itself, if at all.

These verses in Matthew contain the 10 Commandments of the New Testament which we find in the beatitudes. We find some of the most lasting, and important commandments that Jesus gives to his disciples, which, again like the Israelites, we are commanded to follow, or not at our own peril. The disobedience of the Christian Church of the words of Israel will lead to a church which is abandoned by its God and find itself led by powers that are outside of its ability to dictate. When God no longer is calling the shots, but culture telling us what to do and how to do it, then we will inevitably find ourselves in a straight decline similar to that experienced by culture.

Much of the Isaiah Scripture has to do with pointing out what a bad idea it is for Israel to align with Egypt. Historically we see that happen where a large group from Israel in order to avoid the takeover of Babylon of the land and of their families, emigrate into Egypt in order to align themselves with that group of people. They leave the land and go to Egypt. Now, this doesn’t help because Babylon comes and takes over Egypt as well and also takes over all the people who had left Israel and gone there. This creates a double jeopardy where not only do they leave their own homes and their own land, which the Lord had given them, but they also find themselves in the same predicament, even worse than before. Isaiah says it was not God’s plan for them to leave. They should have stayed.

Jesus is tempted by Satan and then calls his disciples after that period of preparation. That time that Jesus spends in the wilderness equips him for the work that he has to do, including calling his disciples. Making your way through the hardships of life prepares you for what comes next. Jesus is proof of that.

It is so appropriate to read the Christmas story at this time of year. Yesterday was a highlight to see close to 25 kids sitting down on the steps of the sanctuary to take part in the children’s message. To hear Jesus being born in an almost nonchalant way and then the ensuing massacre, which was anything but nonchalant, is very, very disturbing. I can’t imagine what our church would be like if we found ourselves in a time in history where the ruler of the land was not only allowed, but gives the command to kill all children under 2. The wailing of Rachel, as Matthew describes, and that she refuses to be consoled, is a line that would resonate tremendously. But in its place, at least in our situation, we see the children and we smile for we consider it a blessing to have children as part of our fellowship.

We continue for the most part the woes against the other nations who, like Israel, are being prophecied to meet destruction. There really is no space in these verses for the work of the Lord to flourish in nations and for the promises of God to grow in ways that can produce life and abundance. Rather, these statements in these chapters really call nations to repentance and are reminders that God has created all things, even the nations that serve other gods and worship idols. God has created all and will, as Psalm 145 states, be good to all and his compassion will be over all. I love that verse which doesn’t allow us to distinguish between those who believe correct, or even those who act correctly, and those whom we consider to be outside of the fold that we have created called the church.

We know from Abraham to this day that the people of God have always been defined as the Israelites, those whom God chose to carry out his purposes and that the Messiah would come from the family of David. Now, with Jesus we know that this covenant with God’s people has been expanded to all people regardless of nationality or ethnicity. But this is a concept that comes from the New Testament. Here in Isaiah it is surprising to me to hear of the prophet speaking of Egypt and Assyria as blessed by God and as worshipping God in a similar fashion as to how Israel worship God, with sacrifices.

The day that all nations shall stream to the Lord is seen as a culmination of the fulfilment of prophecy that only the Messiah is able to bring about. We see that this prophecy is fulfilled today because all nations have remnants who worship the Lord through Jesus Christ the Messiah. But it is still strange to hear of other nations in the Old Testament carrying on as if they were the people of God. But this is a sign that even back then, all of creation was made to worship God.