Repeating History

DAILY READING

Matthew 23:29-36

FIELD NOTES

Jesus doesn’t mince words in today’s passage.  His infamous “Seven Woes” speech is pretty cutting against the Pharisees.  Here he calls them out for their belief that had they been alive during the time of the prophets, they would have listened, rather than ignore, or even kill them as their ancestors did.  

Jesus knows their hearts, and ours.  How often do we decry the sins of the past and yet in our own ways, carry the same communal sins out in our day?  

Are we as clean as we think we are?  What sins of the past are still alive and well in our hearts still?  

QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD

• We like to think we are better than those who have come before us, and yet we often repeat the sins of our fathers and mothers.  Why do you think this happens?  
• What can we learn from past communal sins (slavery, the holocaust, etc.) in order to better grow as a church?  What lessons do we need to learn as to not repeat the church’s sins of the past?

FAMILY FIELD TALK

• How do we learn from our mistakes?
• What mistakes have you made that you don’t want to make again?

PRAYER GUIDE

Lord, help us learn and move forward with those lessons intact.  Help us not repeat the sins of the past.  In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.