Intentionalness

Yes I am claiming that as a word! It means extra intentional!!!

Years ago my Bible Study Group and I did a study we kind of wing-ged it. We started with this laminated card I was given as a gift, it compared the gospels side by side. We built our study around this piece and just decided as we went along what to do.  It’s called “Gospels Side by Side: A harmony of the Gospels by Chronology and Topics”

Here is a glance at the pamphlet contents

Key Features of this Gospels Comparison Pamphlet

1.     10 charts covering 100 events, 30 miracles, and 40 parables. See which are included in each of the gospels―at a glance.

2.     “Then and Now” map of Israel during Jesus’ time.

3.     Chart tracking where Jesus walked.

4.     Answers key questions: Why are there four Gospels? Why do the gospels place events in different order?

In a nutshell it compared dates in Jesus life and what each gospel said about it. this brochure also describes the intention of the gospel and what you should get from it. Really interesting piece of literature.  FYI you can buy this at Mardel or Amazon.

So back to the study, there were quite a few of us doing this study so we divided up into teams – two in each. Each team was assigned to one of the Gospels – so we had Team Matthew, Team Mark, Team John and Team Luke. In your team we decided to do several things, each team would find out about the author, in depth. Why did this man write it, what was he about. Who was he? When was it written, etc. We found out some really interesting details about these books and the men behind them. I’ll give you a few things we found out that were most interesting. Matthew (the apostle) was one of the 12, before following Jesus he was a tax collector. In his job he had to be very detailed so he was what they called a scribe – which is very similar to a modern day court reporter – meaning they write down or notate word for word – verbatim. So this means when you read your Bible and you might see red text (this is what Jesus said – himself) you are likely reading word for word what Matthew heard.  If you want some good context on this read in Matthew the sermon on the mount – below is an excerpt from the book of Matthew from the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:43-48    Love for Enemies   ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So more things we found out, All of the original apostles (disciples) died very horrible deaths –crucified (upside down – Peter) – note he said he was  not worthy of dying as Jesus did so he did upside down, (Crucified on an X shaped cross – Andrew), (Executed by sword – James), (Crucified – Phillip), (Beheaded, after being flayed alive – Bartholomew), (killed by a sword – Matthew), (Stabbed with a spear – Thomas), (James – stoned), (Shot with arrows – Thaddeus) (Simon – Crucified . Except John, they tried to get him – he was boiled in Oil but he survived it. He ended up dying of old age the only apostle not martyred.   There are so many totally interesting things you can find out if you just research. The Bible is a great reference – when you go to read it, there usually is a preface to each book. This talks about the book you are going to read. Gives some really good information that will help you when you begin reading that book I’ll give you a short portion of the preface to the book of John (Yes I love John – I was team John in our study – He and His brother were called Boangers by Jesus which means SONS OF THUNDER – because they were passionate about Jesus word and spreading it. John is also the disciple Jesus most loved!)

PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN      First, John's writing style.    There are two kinds of gospels. One is called synoptic gospels. They are Matthew, Mark and Luke. They are called synoptic gospels because their point of view of Jesus is the same. They saw Jesus as a human being. Matthew saw Jesus as a king. Mark saw Jesus as the servant. Luke saw Jesus as an ordinary man. From there they observed Jesus step by step, and by inductive method came to a conclusion that Jesus is the Son of God. On the other hand, John adopted a deductive method. First John gives the title "Jesus is God. " For example, in giving his title "Jesus is God" he mentions in John 1:1-4 that Jesus is God and Jesus is the Creator God. It says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men."

This gives you some background on John and kind of puts you in his head space. Helps you feel like you could go back to this time and walk with them. Take the journey. So now again back to our topic, Intentional, as we were doing this study some good questions came up for many of us doing this study. Things we all pondered in depth and answered as a group based on our reading, study and findings.  I am going to note here an additional source I used during this study that was a perfect pairing to my Bible and the pamphlet – it is a commentary. Mine is by Warren Wiersbe, there are two books in the set. One is Old Testament and the other is New.  This really dives deep in to the Bible and tells more things that are really interesting. He explains in great detail the meaning of numbers like 12 and 7 in the Bible and why they are important, he even talks about leaves and why they matter. A large amount of great information.  Here is a portion of his writing about the book of John: I Am the Good Shepherd” (10:11–21) This is the fourth of our Lord’s “I am” statements in John’s gospel (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:9). Certainly in making this statement. He is contrasting Himself to the false shepherds who were in charge of the Jewish religion of that day. He had already called them “thieves and robbers,” and now He would describe them as “hirelings.” The word translated “good” means “intrinsically good, beautiful, fair.” It describes that which is the ideal, the model that others may safely imitate. Our Lord’s goodness was inherent in His nature. To call Him “good” is the same as calling Him “God” (Mark 10:17–18).

See what I mean, he is really detailed in explaining and it helps to understand the portion you are reading in the Bible. I love this reference.

So we are going along and a question comes up as we are talking about Jesus sending the disciples out two by two (see below)

Matthew 10:1-4   The Twelve Apostles  ESV  And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus

Mark 6: 7-13   ESV  Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles  ⁷ And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸ He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— ⁹ but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.^[b] 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. ¹¹ And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” ¹² So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. ¹³ And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

So you see Jesus sent them out 2 by 2. Of the 12 no doubt there were many that didn’t know the others well so do you suppose Jesus picked them or paired them up intentionally – our answer was for sure – yes. Jesus had a plan and a purpose for everything. Even sending them out. He, no doubt, knew their hearts and what they were equipped to do and not equipped to do. Likely he sent each man with a partner who could lift him up or give what he could not. Talk about intentional. Sidenote here – if you’ve watched “The Chosen” Peter (Simon) was a fisherman who owed taxes and guess who his tax collector was – Matthew – in this show Jesus sends Peter and Matthew together when he sent them 2X2, now they really were at odds with each other prior to this sending – I’m not really sure if Jesus sent these two together but in the show it sure does make for interesting viewing and thoughts. Wow, that was smart. It just drives home more intentional things Jesus did.

So many things about Jesus were 100% with a purpose, to further the Kingdom. Every word Jesus said had a reason, every move He made – had a cause and effect. You know there is much written about Jesus, about his Ministry, about what He did and said. It amazes me that he began preaching at age 30 and was crucified at age 33, he only had 3 years. That really is not a ton of time to have had the impact He had. Why and how – When He picked people to follow him He did so with great purpose, He knew these people would be the founders of the Church, that they would build it and do all they could to keep it strong.  Today, 2025 years later there are still Churches, still we know the Gospels, still we have the teachings. TWO-THOUSAND years these teachings have survived. That’s just amazing. It all began with a man who was intentional.  Boy did he set a good example. I give credit to the disciples and to other learned scholars who were tasked with taking the early writings and translating them. We are doing a study at church on this right now.

I’m so grateful for intentionalness!

Dear Heavenly Father, first, thank You for sending Jesus, thank You for his ministry, His life, His death and resurrection. Thank You for His intentional time on this Earth. Let us keep being intentional about being in His Word, Being faithful and faith-filled.  I ask that You keep giving me the seeds of learning so I can study more and more and more. In Jesus Name I pray - AMEN