All posts by Richard Harrell

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About Richard Harrell

Connecting life, art, and the power of story in ways that change my world. I am a disciple-maker and lover of Jesus living in a small town in Georgia. I am also on a spiritual journey, looking for points in life that point me to new and full life in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes: Matthew 2:21-23, Luke 2:39-40, 51-52

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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

Matthew 2:21-23

Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother, and reentered Israel. When he heard, though, that Archelaus had succeeded his father, Herod, as king in Judea, he was afraid to go there. But then Joseph was directed in a dream to go to the hills of Galilee. On arrival, he settled in the village of Nazareth. This move was a fulfillment of the prophetic words, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (The Message)

After this, he got up, took the child and his mother and traveled back to Israel. Also, he heard that Archelaus now ruled in Judea in the place of his father, Herod. He was afraid to go there and, because he was warned in a dream, he turned aside to the region of Galilee. When he arrived, he made his home in the town of Nazareth and, in doing so, fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”(PRT)

  • It became such a badge of honor to be from such a place and be such a Savior that it was how others identified Jesus. Come and see Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
  • When the blind or the lame would call out for healing, they called to Jesus the Nazarene.
  • The demons acknowledged his authority to drive them out as Jesus Christ the Nazarene.
  • When Mary and her friends came to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, the angel assured them that the one they looked for, this Jesus the Nazarene, is not here because He is risen.
  • Peter preaches the first Acts presentation of the Good News of the Kingdom in chapter 2 and declares the this Jesus the Nazarene is the very one who conquered death.
  • Then Peter in chapter 3 reaches down to take the hand of the paralytic and declares “I don’t have a nickel to my name; but what I have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk.
  • Paul says that even Jesus identified himself when he had the vision on the Damascus highway – “I am Jesus the Nazarene; the one you are persecuting.” (Acts 22:8)

That Jesus was from such a small, backwater village in a non-descript part of the Israel is as fitting as Jesus as a baby being born in a livestock cave.

He, as the light of the world, entered where least expected and spread throughout the world.

Joseph was warned a third time, this specific to the dangers Herod’s son Archelaus posed to their safety. That’s why Joseph took Mary and Jesus back to his home in Nazareth which was under Antipas’ rule. Interesting that Herod the Great killed off so many of his sons; but some still reign in parts of his kingdom. Archelaus proved his bloodline and refused a godly lifestyle; he was cruel and unpredictable, too.

Luke 2:39-40, 51-52

39-40 When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him. (The Message)

39-40 When they had completed all the law of the Lord required, they returned to Galilee and to their home town of Nazareth; it was there that the child grew up and became strong and filled up with wisdom, and God’s grace was on him. (PRT)

51-52 So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people. (The Message)

51-52 And Jesus went down from Jerusalem with them and came to Nazareth; he was obedient to them and his mother carefully kept all these things both said and done in her heart. (PRT)

Nazareth is where Jesus grew up, went to synagogue school, learned how to build things, and grew in spirit and the Holy Spirit fully within discovered how to express the Spirit’s fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Some may have difficulties with Jesus growing in wisdom and in the spirit as He is God incarnate. But the “incarnate” – in the flesh – is significant. If Jesus was born with all the wisdom and fully mature, he would not have come in the flesh; he would have come as a superman. He is not. He is God, and He is man.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes Matthew 2:12-21

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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

Matthew 2:12-21

12In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.

The scholars were warned in a God-given dream. That they were warned may indicate more than one had the same dream. And they wisely withdrew from Judea and took another route. Wycliff translates this as “an answer taken in sleep.” God connected the dots of all the scholars had gathered about Herod, the newborn King, and their own travels; and when they awoke, they had their answer.

13After the scholars were gone, God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further

notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill him.

After the scholars withdraw by another route, Joseph is visited by an angel. Did Joseph and Mary also know that the scholars were warned in a dream? That would have underpinned what the angel says here. The word angel and the word messenger are the same. The angel comes to give the message God wants Joseph to have. The tone is a commanding one.

The “get up” could also be “now that you’re up” – take the child. Now that I’ve got your attention, here’s what you need to do.

There is an urgency and a checklist here: get up (check), gather the child and mom (check), run away to Egypt (check), make your home there (check), watch for my next message (check).

There is a warning: Herod is unhinged and will kill this child.

This is one of several ways the Enemy attempted to end Jesus’ bloodline (Haman, Babylon, etc.)

The word for kill is to destroy completely the potential represented in Jesus.

14-15Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother under cover of darkness. They were out of town and well on their way by daylight. They lived in Egypt until Herod’s death. This Egyptian exile fulfilled what Hosea had preached: “I called my son out of Egypt.”

While Joseph definitely obeyed here, these words aren’t a part of this verse. Still, he got up (check), got the child and mom together for the trip (check), left right away (under cover of the night),  withdrew (there’s that word again) toward Egypt.

This use of withdrew means to avoid what might be feared, they repositioned themselves elsewhere. They hightailed it out of Bethlehem.

The word for “lived” is the to be verb – they were, for a time, immigrants in Egypt, making their home and living there. Similar to Moses. Fulfilling the prophecy.

Jesus, with Joseph and mom, came up out of Egypt and this fulfilled the prophet Hosea’s promise that God’s son would be called out of Egypt.

Egypt was the place where Jews had sought refuge from war, political oppression, famine and threats. Because of this, communities of Jewish immigrants were found in every Egyptian city. Jesus would be raised in a culture that was both an international and Jewish.

V. 15 is tied to v. 19. News travels slowly and likely Joseph didn’t know when Herod died. But he did, and they packed up and returned.

16-18Herod, when he realized that the scholars had tricked him, flew into a rage. He commanded the murder of every little boy two years old and under who lived in Bethlehem and its surrounding hills. (He determined that age from information he’d gotten from the scholars.) That’s when Jeremiah’s sermon was fulfilled:

A sound was heard in Ramah, weeping and much lament.

Rachel weeping for her children, Rachel refusing all solace,

Her children gone, dead and buried.

And Herod, much to the grief of Jerusalem and certainly Bethlehem, became unhinged and sought to kill Jesus by committing democide. Every baby boy was killed in the region. Tradition has it as 14,000 children. But, Bethlehem wasn’t that large. One would expect dozens in the town; maybe hundreds in the vicinity due to the census. When bloodlust is unleashed by a crazed person, there may have been more. Certainly if it was regional, the murderous act was great as was the grief throughout the land. Were it not for the warnings Joseph had and the spontaneous obedience he showed, Jesus would have been in this mix. One only has to do a search for the Slaughter of the Innocents to see how the Italian masters depicted this in their art.

Rachel descendants, and Rachel from the grave, cry a second time for the loss and grief. The first time was at the Captivity.

That Herod had as his command assassins who were comfortable killing baby boys is horrible.

19-20Later, when Herod died, God’s angel appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt: “Up, take the child and his mother and return to Israel. All those out to murder the child are dead.”

And Joseph and the mom and baby get the promised message. Return. It’s safe. Again, this is a promise to Moses and now to Jesus. Return because those whom you feared are dead.

The chronology is less than two years in Egypt as Herod already had an incurable disease when he ordered the babies killed.

21Joseph obeyed.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes: Matthew 2:1-12

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vv. 1-2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory—this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”

Herod was not “the Great” until after he died. He was unstable and feared by the people and personally was paranoid of losing his power. The “scholars” were likely a group of people who had studied the different books and trends and the stars confirmed what they discovered. In faith, these pagan worshipers from Persia, stepped into a long journey to find a place to worship Jesus.

King of the Jews is always Messianic. Never for the  likes of Herod.

They travel from the East, from the rising of the sun.

The language says Jesus has already been born by the time they reach Jerusalem. But it doesn’t say how long. Some say two years (based on Herod’s edict to execute all under two).

While they were still back home “in the east” they saw the star that announced the birth.

vv. 3-4 When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

Herod knew that, though he wasn’t learned in the prophecies, the priestly leaders and the legal experts were. He called the Sanhedrin together.

Jerusalem was afraid as were the priests and legal experts. Herod was unhinged. He was nearing the end of a terminal illness. He had killed everyone around him who might try to claim the throne. Now, there is born a baby who is the Messiah. Oh yeah, fear was needed. I wonder though if the city, in their fear to upset the “status quo,” might fear what was said. Please don’t upset the balance of powers we’ve worked so hard to attain. Please don’t bring a Messiah into this mix and cause us to leave our “comfort zone.”

vv. 5-6 They told him, “Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly: It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land, no longer bringing up the rear. From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”

They knew the truth but they were afraid. The Messiah would come out of Bethlehem. The Sanhedrin never got this right as, right before going to the Cross, Jesus was explained away as from Nazareth.  How could he be the Messiah if he’s from there – it’s Bethlehem that was needed.

The shepherd of God’s people. That infers that God is pulling together a people for his own; and Jesus will be that very Shepherd. (Heb. 13:20)

vv. 7-8 Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars from the East. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.”

Herod schemed to secretly tell them he was devout, too. He examined closely what they had dreamed. He sought insight from both sources to combine this knowledge into an insipid plan to do away with the baby.

vv. 9-10 Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!

They recognized God’s guiding star. The worship was all the more powerful with this revelation. The sign and the book combine to guide them.

The translation “hovered over the place of the child” could mean that there was a guiding light that directed them to the very inn, the very stable.  The word is “fixed” as it, it was fixed in place above what they needed to know to find Jesus. What a miracle!

The phrase rejoiced with rejoicing emphasizes the magnitude of the joy they experienced. Joy-mega-joy.

v. 11 They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.

How long after the initial appearing did this happen? Some say they were two years out from the birth; but the age of the star’s appearing could have placed the scholars at the time or soon after Jesus’ birth.

v. 12 In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.

Once again the Father intervened to direct their path. They had the “not-good” feeling from Herod confirmed by dreams from the Father.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes Matthew 22:34-40

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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

Matthew 22:34-40

v. 34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 

The word means “gagged” as in shut them down completely. Like the muzzle on an ox.

The Pharisees were overjoyed to see the Sadducees put in their place. So, they huddled up to come up with their own question.

vv. 35-36 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

This is someone who lives by the law, interprets the law for others. It’s an honest question that a seeker might have; it’s a trap if he can get Jesus to dismiss part of the code in favor of another.

Interesting factoid about the law and the lawyers: “The scribes declared that there were 248 affirmative precepts, as many as the members of the human body; and 365 negative precepts, as many as the days in the year, the total being 613, the number of letters in the Decalogue” from Robertson/Vincent.

Jesus wasn’t caught in the trap of talking minutiae and getting stuck in siderail issues. Love God with all you have; love others out of the healthy love you have for yourself.

How do you determine a commandment is great? Is it great because of the limitations it brings (I must wear fringes around my robe to be holy) or because of the freedom it brings? Love the Lord; Love others like you esteem yourself. Against such there is no law.

The word for “trap him” may have been simply to “test Jesus” to give him a conundrum that would test his mettle in determining a righteous answer.

v.37-38 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 

This was written on a little piece of parchment and contained in a tiny square box and worn on the arm as a reminder of the Greatest Commandment. The lawyer was likely wearing this very verse.

v. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

This law was pulled from a chapter on ceremonial rules; but it was given a high place of honor by Jesus as he combined it with the first and greatest. The vertical and the horizontal driven by a passionate love was the positive rule to live by. This has been called the Great Commandment alongside the Great Commission in Mt 28.

v. 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Out of the whole of the revelation of God’s Word, this is the summation. Base on, hung on like two balances to all the compendium of the law. Without these two in clear position, the law is cumbersome. Only Mark shares the Lawyer’s response. He affirms it and leans into Jesus’ teachings.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes: Romans 1:1-17

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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

7To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul points backward to the OT and the prophets who carried the consistent promise to God’s people that the Messiah was coming. It wasn’t an “unexpected” thing that Jesus came. It was declared through the generations, really since Genesis was recorded.

Jesus’ resurrection is the stamp of approval that He is Son of God. It could be no other way. But not just Son of God, Son of David; also our, our, Lord.

This letter to the Romans is the appeal to the Gentiles.

“and you also” – Paul knew these beloved followers of Jesus. He addressed nearly 30 by name in the final chapter and commended workers he know that were joining the Roman movement toward Jesus.

Pivotal: to you, who were far, who were not accepted, who lived for paganism, you are called to belong, to be God’s holy people. Belong before you believe.

Servant, bound to Jesus, is Paul’s favorite title. Not just messenger, missionary, but servant or slave. In a day when people crave titles and positions that indicate accomplishments and leverage, saying “let’s just call me slave” is a powerful antidote. The Good News of the Kingdom is clearly in the OT and he connects the two books based on this clarity. “Holy Scriptures” may be the first time in the NT the OT is called this. V. 3 qualifies Jesus in his humanity; v. 4 in his divinity.

8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will, the way may be opened for me to come to you.

Remember, Paul knows these guys. People talk. News travels. What you do is not done in secret. He gets reports every time someone visits him or comes from Rome. And it’s mostly good news that the nations who go through Rome are coming to Jesus through faith and His grace.

That’s why he is praying for them. More, Lord. Keep it coming. And let me in on it.

11I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

14I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

I don’t think Paul thought he was the container of a special “gift of the Spirit” – like he was to take the gift of tongues or prophecy or helps to Rome so they could “exercise” it.  Paul knew that the Father had deposited in him good stuff from the Kingdom that, when allowed, he could impart. People were blessed by Paul’s wisdom, teaching, compassion, example, etc. They needed these things like a “gift” that the Spirit sending him to them would receive. And they would be stronger because of him being with them.

But more than that; he would be blessed and encouraged and strengthened because of the interactions and exchange. He needed them. His faith needed the faith of others. That’s why he had been so eager, every time he heard these stories, he wanted to buy a ticket and pack his bags for Rome. Only his sensitivity to what the Spirit was up to prevented him.

But wait, there’s more! Not only is Paul’s faith strengthened. Not only are the people in Rome stronger. But there are people on the fringe, people who have heard and haven’t heard, that have not stepped across the line and joined the family of the redeemed. The harvest almost always symbolizes souls saved from the fire and sown into the world as people of faith.

This harvest metaphor should not be taken lightly since Paul and Jesus lean into it so much. There are parallels that need to be internalized as a part of our theology. The world is full of souls, many of them are ripening toward the end of life. They will have fruit, that is, they are people of faith; or they will be spiritually barren, or not people who have their faith in Jesus. When they die, they will become fruit for the Kingdom or they will be burned in the fire. Also, those who are people of faith are sown into the world to multiply. Harvest is important. And it incorporated all people; not just Jews.

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

This seminal passage has been the message to turn many to understand it is not by our religious activity that we enter into a relationship with Jesus; rather, it is the message of salvation – the cross and the empty tomb – that has the power to turn a life from self-righteousness to God-righteousness. We are redeemed, restored, made righteous because we have faith that Jesus finished the work and offered the gift. We grasp hold of this gift as a drowning man will a raft or a thirsty one will a cold water.