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Matthew 1:1-17 Who is Jesus? – Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Tom Faletti Feb 13, 2024 Matt. 1:1 Who is this Gospel about? How does Matthew identify or describe the chief character of his story? What do each of these terms mean: Jesus, Messiah, son of David, and son of Abraham? Why is each term important to Matthew or significant to the Jews or early Christians? Jesus : Greek for the Hebrew name Joshua [Yeshua], which in Hebrew means “God saves,” (or “Jehovah [Yahweh] is salvation,” or Yahweh, save [us]!”). Why is this identification important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? Messiah : Hebrew for “Anointed One”; Christ, from the Greek Christos , has the same meaning). Special people were anointed, usually kings and priests; but the “Messiah” took on a greater connotation of a savior of some kind. Why is this identification of Jesus important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? Sneak peak: You are probably familiar with the story of the key turning point when Peter first recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, which is told in Matt. 16:16. Son of David : The Jews expected that they would find relief from foreign occupation and domination when David’s throne was restored. God had told David that a descendant of his would be on the throne forever. Why is this identification of Jesus important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? Isaiah 9:2-7: see verse 7: “there shall be endless peace / for the throne of David and his kingdom.” (NRSV) Isaiah 11:1-9: see verse 1: “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse” (NRSV) – Jesse was David’s father. Jeremiah 33:14-17: see verse 15: “I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (NRSV), and verse 17: “David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel” (NRSV). Sneak peak: The term “Son of David” will be used by people who were healed by Jesus and by people in Jerusalem when he entered the city on the first day of his last week on Earth, so it takes on important significance as his crucifixion nears. Son of Abraham : God made the Jewish people’s original covenant with Abraham, and all Jews trace their lineage from him (whereas not all are from the house of David). Why is this identification of Jesus important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? David was only one part of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Abraham was the father of the entire Jewish people, and Muslims also see their lineage going back to Abraham. But furthermore, through Abraham, all people were to be blessed, not just Abraham’s children: Gen. 12:2-3: “I will make of you a great nation, and . . . in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (NRSV). After Abraham shows his willingness to sacrifice Isaac: Gen. 22:17-18: “I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And . . . by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves” (NRSV). Pick one of these identifications of Jesus and explain why it is important to you or has special meaning for you. Matt. 1:2-17 Jesus’s genealogy What names or other features of this genealogy stand out for you? It was unusual to include women in a Jewish genealogy. What makes these four women stand out (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba) as worthy of mention? All four of the women were from other nations, not Israelites. Tamar, Canaanite: Genesis 38. Rahab, from Jericho, so Canaanite: Joshua 2:1-21; 6:22-25. Ruth, Moabite: Ruth 2-4. Bathsheba, Hittite: 2 Samuel 11-12. Why would Matthew want to call attention to these foreign women in Jesus’s genealogy? What message would that send? Matthew might have included these women in part to deflect any criticism about Jesus’s birth circumstances. If the irregularities in David and Solomon’s lineage did not disqualify them from the throne of an eternal dynasty, then Jesus’s lineage does not disqualify him either. Joseph essentially adopted Jesus into the family line by taking him into his home, so he had a legitimate claim to being a son of David on the human level. Matthew’s genealogy ends with “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born” (1:17 NRSV), which does not follow the standard male-line genealogy of “So-and-so, the father of So-and-such,” which might have been expected to end with “Joseph, the father of Jesus.” That would not have been accurate, as Matthew will explain shortly. When we look at God choice to make room in Jesus’s lineage for people of different backgrounds, how might that guide us in our attitudes toward people who have different backgrounds from ours? How does the presence of Gentiles in Jesus’s ancestry connect to the last two verses of Matthew’s Gospel (Mat. 28:19-20)? The good news about Jesus is meant for people of all nations. Sneak peak: Matthew spends a significant portion of his Gospel reporting Jesus’s preaching, healing, and miracles in Gentile areas. Matthew says in verse 14 that his genealogy has 3 sets of 14 generations. The number 14 might have been considered important as the numerical value of the sum of the three letters in David’s name. Matthew’s genealogy walks through the story of the Jews from the beginning with Abraham, to a high point when David was king, to the depths of despair when the Israelites were sent into exile to Babylon, and on to Jesus. How do you see Jesus serving as the climax to this story? Note: The gospel writers were not aiming for genealogical perfection. Matthew is focused on his 3 times 14 arrangement. Luke has many more names in his list and is telling the genealogical history to make a different point. (Note: It is possible that Luke’s list is a genealogy of Mary, but there is no evidence to support the claim.) Matthew is not trying to nail down every genealogical detail. For example, considering the many decades between Rahab’s role in the Jericho story and Boaz’s role in the story of Ruth (David’s great-grandmother), Rahab could not have been the mother of Boaz. (Matthew is the only one who makes that claim; the book of Ruth, where Boaz’s story is told, does not make that claim.) Matthew’s list also doesn’t quite match up with the list in 1 Chronicles (see 1 Chron. 3:11-12). The Gospel writers were not trying to nail down every genealogical detail. They were trying to make much bigger and broader points. What do you think Matthew’s goals were in including this genealogy at the beginning of his story of Jesus? What points does he want us to take from it? (It connects Jesus to the great past figures and also prepares us for the unique birth of Jesus by showing that irregularities show up in many places in the story of God’s people.) Scholarly footnote: The third genealogical group, from the Exile to Jesus, is only 13 generations. Some scholars wonder if the 14 th generation is Christ begetting the church. Take a step back and consider this: During Advent of 2023, my home parish posted online a musical reflection for each of the weeks of Advent. On the page Music for the Second Week of Advent ( St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill , https://saintpetersdc.org/pray/advent23/35171-music-for-the-second-week-of-advent ), we could listen to some lovely music including a remarkable interpretation of the genealogy of Jesus. The third musical selection on that page offered a video titled “…which was the Son of — Arvo Pärt (b.1935).” It can be found on YouTube here: Which Was the Son of... (Arvo Pärt) - Sofia Vokalensemble (“Which Was the Son of... (Arvo Pärt) - Sofia Vokalensemble.” Sofia Vokalensemble , 23 Oct. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyPmFBpiF7E ). In this piece, a choir sings a beautiful musical selection telling the genealogy of Jesus as presented in the Gospel of Luke. The commentary on the page posted by St. Peter’s Parish acknowledged that “it can be dull to hear about Jesus’s genealogy,” but went on to say: “Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has set Luke’s version of this genealogy in such a way that it is no burden to hear Jesus’s family tree. Rather, Pärt’s music seems something like an overture to the whole biblical narrative, an epic tale on par with Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia. We are not bored by Jesus’s family tree; we are overwhelmed with wonder at its sweep across time.” This is beautiful! Jesus takes his place within an entire history of the working of God in our world, so that he can save all of the people in that genealogy, all of the people who descended from them, and indeed all human beings, wherever they fall in human history. God loved this world and the people he created so much that he chose to embed Himself in the world he created, in the history of that world, in the person of Jesus. That is what we celebrate at Christmas — not a pleasant story about a sweet little baby, but rather an audacious story about a God who loved his creation so much that he was not afraid to get his hands dirty and assume our genealogy, to become one of us so that we could become like him. Glory in the story — the story of God coming among us at Christmas! We can embrace Joseph as a role model of one who was willing, as Mary did, to say "Yes" to God, so that God could do his great work of salvation among us. What is one way you can say "Yes" to God, that will allow God to do something new in your life or the lives of those around you? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew Bibliography Bibliography of major sources used in this study of the Gospel of Matthew. Tom Faletti Feb 13, 2024 Bibliography Aquinas, Thomas. “Commentary on Matthew 20.” StudyLight.org , “Golden Chain Commentary on the Gospel.” https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/gcc/matthew-20.html . Augsberger, Myron. Matthew . The Communicator’s Commentary (Mastering the New Testament) , Lloyd J. Ogilvie, general editor. Word Books, 1982. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 . The Saint Andrew Press, 2nd edition, 1958. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 . The Saint Andrew Press, 2nd edition, 1958. Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. Harrington, Fr. Daniel J. The Gospel According to Matthew . Collegeville Bible Commentary, The Liturgical Press, 1983. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Revised Standard Edition, Second Catholic Edition . Ignatius Press, 2010. The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. The Magnificat Advent Companion , Advent 2023. New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE) . Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version: With the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible . Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2010. New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. “Palestine in the time of Jesus, 4 B.C. - 30 A.D. : (including the period of Herod, 40 - 4 B.C.),” Library of Congress , https://www.loc.gov/item/2009579463/ . Vine, William E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary , 1940, StudyLight.org , https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ved.html . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Introduction to Matthew Matthew shows the universal relevance of Jesus – to all people of all nations. Jesus cared about all people and offered a gospel for all people, while demonstrating His authority over all nations. Tom Faletti Feb 13, 2024 This study material can be very enriching for personal study and growth, but it was originally developed with small-group Bible Study in mind. Therefore, it will occasionally offer instructions that may be useful for small-group study. Introductions Before you begin a small-group Bible Study, you should take some time to build community, beginning with ensuring that everyone knows everyone else’s name. Here are some questions you could ask everyone in the group to answer: Introductions: What is your name? What is your connection to this church/parish/group? Why is the Bible important to you? Why are you interested in studying it? If the study extends beyond a break, such as a break for the summer, and then reconvenes, you could renew the introductions with questions such as these: Introductions after a summer break: What is your name, and why did you return to this group? (Or if you are new, why did you decide to join us?) What is one insight about faith or life that you gained this summer or were reminded of? Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew Overview Matthew seeks to show the universal relevance of Jesus – to all people of all nations. As a man, Jesus interacted with people of many nations, cared about all people, and offered a gospel for all people. As the Son of David, Son of Man, and Son of God, Jesus demonstrated that his authority extends over all nations . Who is the author? The author of the Gospel of Matthew is unknown. From early on, the name Matthew was affixed to the top of it, but there is no information about the author in the text and no suggestion that it is linked in any way to the tax collector named Matthew who appears in this Gospel. Eusebius, who wrote a history of Christianity in the early 300s, said that Papias wrote in the first part of the second century (perhaps around 125, plus or minus 20 years) that he had learned from “the elder” that Mark wrote down accurately, but not in order, what he learned from Peter, and that Matthew arranged logia – a Greek word that means “sayings” or “oracles” – in Hebrew that others translated. The Gospel of Matthew is not a book of “sayings” – though it does have many sayings in it. The Gospel of Matthew is in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic, and there is no evidence that it was ever in another language before it was in Greek. So Papias was not referring to the present Gospel of Matthew. After looking at all the evidence, most scholars across all Christian traditions have concluded that Matthew was written by an anonymous writer, not the Matthew mentioned in Papias, wjo drew from Mark and from those “oracles” attributed to Matthew, as well as other material, and that the Gospel acquired the name “Matthew” because it included some material from the Matthew that Papias mentioned. Additional facts guide us to this conclusion. The book doesn’t say it was written by the apostle Matthew: the title “Gospel of Matthew” was added later. The apostle Matthew was probably dead by the time this Gospel was written down, 50-plus years after Jesus died. And if the author of the Gospel of Matthew had been the apostle Matthew, who was an eyewitness to Jesus’s ministry, he wouldn’t have drawn so much of his material from Mark, who mostly was not an eyewitness. The evidence clear supports the conclusion that Matthew was written by someone who was not an eyewitness but compiled stories and material handed down from eyewitnesses. (Further information about these conclusions can be found in a variety of sources. Here are some examples of scholars from a variety of positions on the theological spectrum who have reached the same conclusion: H. L. Ellison, “Matthew,” in The International Bible Commentary , edited by F. F. Bruce, p. 1121; Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament , pp. 158, 208-211; William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. xx-xxi; Myron Augsberger, Matthew , volume 1 of The Communicator’s Commentary (Mastering the New Testament) , Lloyd J. Ogilvie, general editor, pp. 14-15; and Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Revised Standard Edition, Second Catholic Edition . Ignatius Press, 2010, p. 3.) Christians who are not familiar with how the Bible came together might react: What? Are you saying Matthew didn’t write Matthew? This reflects a gap in knowledge about how the Gospels came into being. People didn’t sign their names on their writings the way people do today. The Gospels were compiled through a by which people passed on the stories of Jesus orally at first, before they were written down 50 years later. That we don’t know the name of the author doesn’t affect our faith in any way. God inspired someone to write this book, which is a masterpiece presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus. It doesn’t matter whether we know their name; God does. We will call the author “Matthew,” because the tradition leads us to no other name. What were his sources? Where did he get his material from? The author of the Gospel of Matthew appears to have gotten his material from several sources. Half of the verses in this Gospel have parallel verses in the Gospel of Mark, which is believed to have been written earlier (the evidence suggests Mark was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70). Perhaps one-fifth of the verses in Matthew appear in Luke but not in Mark. Scholars have proposed the existence of an earlier source that both Matthew and Luke had access to and drew from as they wrote their Gospels. That source is usually called Q – short for the German Quelle , meaning “source.” There is no manuscript available today that contains the material from Q, so it would be unwise to make many claims about it, even though it is reasonable that Luke and Matthew, with so many verses in common, both had access to such a document. Matthew has a significant amount of material comprised of sayings or teachings by Jesus that does not appear in the other Gospels. This material could have come from the source Papias identifies as “Matthew,” which would have been written in Aramaic/Hebrew and might have come from apostle Matthew. Note, though, that the Gospel of Matthew was written in Greek, not Aramaic or Hebrew, so the author of this Gospel or someone else would have had to translate that original “Matthew” material into Greek. Matthew also has other material unique to his Gospel that he might have written himself or gather from other sources. Matthew, like any good writer, also frames and explains material in the context of his readers’ own situations, so we see some things in Matthew that appear to be commentary from the perspective of the mid-80s, when Jewish Christians were being forced out of Jewish synagogues, Christian churches were developing more of a structure, and these churches were a multifaceted mix of Gentiles, Jews who still tried to maintain Jewish practices, and Jews who had given up practicing Judaism. When and where was the Gospel written? The best thinking is that the Gospel of Matthew was written perhaps between 80 and 90, give or take 5 or 10 years. I will often shorthand that to “around 85,” but 85 is not a precise date. Some scholars propose a date as early as before 70 or after 100. If it came after Mark as the majority of scholars think, it would have to have been written after 70 since Mark is thought to have been written around 70. Furthermore, Matthew seems to show great awareness that Jerusalem has been destroyed, which happened in 70. The ways he hints at tensions between Jews and Christians at the time it was written suggests that it might have been written between 80 and 90, when Christians were being pushed out of synagogues. And it was written before 110, because Ignatius, a bishop from Antioch, quotes phrases from it in a letter dated around 110. Scholars do not know where Matthew wrote this Gospel. Proposals range from Judea to Syria to Antioch to Phoenicia. There may be vague hints in the text that Matthew might have been based in a large city in Syria. For example, in Matt. 4:24, he adds Syria to Mark’s description; he uses the word “city” far more than the word “village”; and Ignatius, who was aware of his Gospel by 110 was from Antioch (Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament , p. 212). This leads a majority of scholars to lean toward Antioch in Syria as the locale. Antioch had a large Gentile Christian population and also a large Jewish population, some of whom embraced Christianity while others did not; and tensions had grown high by the time Matthew was writing. So Antioch fits the evidence. But it is a conjecture, not a fact. What community or audience was Matthew writing to? For centuries, the assumption was that since Matthew quotes so frequently from the Old Testament, he must be writing to a community of Jewish Christians. In the past century, this has given way to a more nuanced interpretation that pictures him writing to a community that is a mixture of Jewish and Gentile Christians. What do scholars think were Matthew’s main purposes? Scholars differ on what Matthew’s purposes were. Was he providing a handbook for local church leaders? Was he trying to teach his community and stir up their commitment? Was he trying to make the case for Jesus to people who were open to the message? Was he responding to attacks from Jews who were opposed to Christianity? Was he trying to clarify who Jesus really is – including his roles as Messiah, Son of David, etc.? We can see all these things in Matthew’s work, so perhaps he was trying to do all these things, not just one thing. The theme that perhaps is woven most consistently through Matthew’s Gospel is the theme of the “kingdom of heaven” – what is it; how things work there; what demands it places on us; and what will happen when it reaches its fulfilment. Matthew also makes considerable effort to point to Old Testament passages that are fulfilled by Jesus, which is one of the factors that led scholars from the beginning to assume that Matthew’s audience was Jewish. Matthew works hard to establish that Jesus is the Son of David, a term linked in Jewish minds to a hoped-for Messiah, but he later demonstrates that the Messiah must be more than just the Son of David. He presents Jesus identifying himself as the Son of Man, a term from Daniel associated with a decisive, final act in which God saves the Jewish people. He ends with material where Jesus takes the role of king, but scholars who try to make out this Gospel as being primarily about Jesus as King are overemphasizing one facet of Matthew’s multifaceted presentation. Unlike in the other Gospels, we see some discussion of “church” in Matthew, though it is very brief and embryonic. When scholars try to write an outline of Matthew to show the organization of the story (since the original did not have sections, chapters, or even verse markings), they find a clear structure that most scholars accept. Matthew presents his story of Jesus in 6 narrative sections, interspersed with five teaching sections. The five teaching sections are collections of teachings by Jesus, gathered together in clumps (for example, the Sermon on the Mount). Matthew is not trying to tell the life story of Jesus in order; he is trying to help us understand what Jesus is about and what he has taught us by organizing material for throughout Jesus ministry. One key element of Matthew’s structure has not been mentioned in any of the commentaries I have consulted, so I will lay it out here in some detail. Matthew seeks to show the universal relevance of Jesus – to all people, of all nations. At the beginning of the Gospel, there are Gentiles in Jesus’s family tree in Matthew’s version of Jesus’s genealogy. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples to take the gospel to all nations. In between, the itinerary of Jesus’s geographical movements shows his relevance to people of all nations: Jesus is born in Bethlehem in Judea , in the south near Jerusalem; lives for a time as a refugee in Egypt ; and then grows up in Nazareth in Galilee , in the north of Palestine. He goes to the eastern side of Judea to John at the Jordan River to be baptized, and then returns to Galilee. In Matthew 4:12-13, Jesus leaves Nazareth in Galilee and moves to Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee , and begins to gather disciples. In Matthew 4:24-25, Matthew tells us that Jesus’s healings are attracting attention in Syria (Gentile territory to the northwest of Galilee), the Decapolis (largely Gentile Greek cities east and southeast of the Sea of Galilee), Jerusalem and Judea (Jewish territory to the south), and beyond the Jordan ( Jewish territory east of the Jordan River, south of the Decapolis, east of Samaria and running south to the area across the river east of Jerusalem and Judea ). Jesus will eventually visit all of these territories. In Matthew 8:28, Jesus crosses over to Gadara, in the territory of the Decapolis , southeast of the Sea of Galilee, and then returns “home” in Matthew 9:1, presumably to Capernaum. He travels to all the towns and villages of Galilee (9:35). He sends out the Twelve to preach and heal (10:1) but restricts them (for the time being) to Jewish territory (10:5). In Matthew 15:21, Jesus goes to Tyre and Sidon in the province of Syria, Gentile territory northwest of Galilee and performs healings and miracles before returning briefly to Galilee in Matthew 15:39. In Matthew 16:13, Jesus goes to Caesarea Philippi, Gentile territory northeast of Galilee for some key incidents with his disciples as well as a healing. By Matthew 17:22, he is back in Galilee. In Matthew 19:1, Jesus goes to the Jewish territory of Judea across the Jordan , at the beginning of his journey to Jerusalem. By Matthew 20:29, Jesus has reached Jericho, in Judea , less than 20 miles from Jerusalem. In Matthew 21:1-11, Jesus enters Jerusalem . What this itinerary shows us is that Jesus had an extensive ministry in both Jewish and Gentile territories. Matthew wants us to understand that: As a man, Jesus had an international background and cared about all people. He was a man for all people. His gospel is for all people. The gospel is for all nations and needs to be preached to all nations. As the Son of David, Son of Man, and Son of God, Jesus’s authority extends over all nations. These are key themes that Matthew focuses on, every step of the way through his Gospel. Look for these themes, and explore how you can apply them to yourself and to how you interact with the people and world around you. Which of these themes of Matthew’s Gospel intrigue you the most, and why? What do you hope to earn by studying Matthew’s Gospel? What questions do you hope to have answered as you study? If you could ask Matthew one question, what would you ask, and why? How do you think he would respond? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 19:27-30 What will those who give up earthly goods for Jesus receive? Tom Faletti Feb 13, 2024 Matthew 19:27-30 Peter observes that the disciples have left everything behind to follow him. What does Jesus say they will have “at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne” (19:28, NRSV)? What does Jesus say that other believers who have left things behind will have in his kingdom? In verse 29, “a hundredfold” is a metaphor rather than a literal accounting term. What is “a hundredfold” describing, metaphorically? (A hundredfold might mean an abundance, a richness of life.) If they have left behind houses, brothers and sisters, parents and children, property, what do you think it means to say they will have “a hundredfold” in God’s kingdom? (Perhaps brothers and sisters are metaphorically referring to the fellow believers we will have as spiritual brothers and sisters. Similarly for parents and children, but wouldn’t it be awesome to think that I might have some great-great-great-grandparents who might, in heaven, be like parents to me? The property might stand for the abundance and richness of life that we will experience in heaven.) Jesus concludes in verse 30: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (NRSV and NABRE). In what ways does this passage support the conclusion that “the last will be first”? Take a step back and consider this: This incident is part of a series of events in this part of Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus explains what I like to call Jesus's upside-down or downside-up view of life : the greatest must become like a child (18:1-5), God cares as much about the one stray as the 99 who are safe (18:10-14), the prayers of just two or three people can move heaven (18:19-20), forgiveness is not something we can choose to dole out in limited amounts — we are called to forgive to the utmost (18:21-35), men are to be committed to marriage and not find reasons to divorce their wives (19:1-9), the kingdom of heaven belongs to the children, who are the lowest people on the social ladder (19:13-15), wealth is a potential impediment to receiving God's salvation rather than being a sign of God’s favor (19:16-30), the rewards of the kingdom are available to those who come late to Jesus as well as those who (think they) have followed God’s law from the beginning (20:1-16), those who wish to be first must be the servant of all (20:20-28). Jesus’s perspective is often diametrically opposed to prevailing societal perspectives regarding what is important, or valued, or expected, or right. If you want to see as God sees, you generally need to train yourself to look at things from the bottom, not the top. This can be hard for us. We have to work to see as God sees. Sometimes we have to force ourselves to see differently than the world has trained us to see. What is one aspect of your life where you can challenge yourself to see what it looks like from the bottom up, from Jesus’s downside-up perspective? Why does God choose to take that vantage point? Can you do the same? What difference would it make? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 2:13-23 Herod seeks to kill Jesus, which is why Jesus ends up as a refugee in Egypt, and then in Nazareth. Tom Faletti Feb 13, 2024 Matthew 2:13-23 Matthew tells this part of the story to help us understand how Jesus could be the Messiah even though he grew up in Nazareth, not in Bethlehem. Why does Joseph take Jesus and Mary to Egypt? It was common for Jews to hide out in Egypt if they were in trouble in Judea; there were Jewish communities in a number of Egyptian cities, so they would not have felt totally alone. Still, it was a long way from home. Jesus began his life as a refugee. Fortunately, Joseph and Mary did not have to convince a skeptical government that the family was worthy of asylum status. God was willing to become not only a human, not only a poor person, but a refugee. How does that help us understand the inherent dignity of refugees and the importance of being welcoming to them? The “fulfillment prophecy” that Matthew cites in verse 15 is not actually about Jesus or the Messiah. It was a statement from Hosea 11:1 about the fact that God called his “son,” the people of Israel, out of Egypt, long ago. Matthew repurposes it, perhaps to try to convince Jews that there is a huge amount of evidence in the Hebrew Scriptures pointing to Jesus. Perhaps Matthew is thinking that Jesus’s experience of being brought out of oppression might be a foreshadowing of our own experience of being brought out of oppression by Jesus. Matthew’s frequent use of these “fulfillment prophecies” leads some scholars to conclude that Matthew is picking out Old Testament prophecies and then creating stories to fit them. There is no evidence that he is doing that. Rather, it appears that he is organizing the stories he know about Jesus and then searching the Old Testament to see if it has “prophecies” that might fit with those events. When the wise men do not return to him, what does Herod do? Bethlehem was not a large town, so this would have been a slaughter of perhaps 20 or 30 children, not hundreds. Still, every child killed by Herod would have been deeply mourned by its mother (and father). Some scholars think the killing of the innocents is inspired by Pharoah’s killing of the first-born sons of the Israelites before the exodus from Egypt, but again if Matthew created the story for that purpose he could easily have made the connection explicit and he did not. The “fulfillment prophecy” in verse 18 is from Jeremiah 31:15, where the original verse is about the Israelites being forced into exile by the Babylonians. It is followed by prophecies that the people will return from exile. Ramah was 5 miles north of Jerusalem, so it was 10 miles from Bethlehem. Rachel’s tomb was thought to be in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Matthew puts that all together and sees Jesus. Where do you think God was, as this was happening? God allows humans to do a lot of evil things, without intervening. Why do you think that is? God is guiding us to be people who as fully as possible reflect God’s image. If he intervened every time something bad happened, we would not be able to learn the lessons of our actions and would not grow to spiritual maturity. Also, we might stop trying to be our best selves, figuring that God will make things better if we mess up. Allowing us to do evil is the price that must be paid for giving us the chance to grow and mature and be great: to take on the mind of Jesus, to be the Body of Christ to the world, to live in the power of the Spirit. Jesus escapes from a tyrant by going to Egypt and then returning when the tyrant was gone. How does this connect with Moses’s escape, as an infant, from a pharaoh who was a tyrant in Egypt, and the Israelites’ later escape from a tyrant pharaoh in Egypt? The words “go . . . for those seeking the child’s life are dead” (2:20, NRSV) echo the Lord’s direction to Moses to go back to Egypt because the Pharaoh who wanted to kill him is dead (Exodus 4:19), setting up a possible linkage between Jesus and Moses: Jesus is the new Moses, leading his people out of oppression and giving them a new Law. When Herod dies, why doesn’t Joseph go back to Bethlehem? Joseph is afraid of Herod’s son Archelaus, who is given the southern territory including Jerusalem and Bethlehem by his father. Joseph had good reason to be afraid of Archelaus. Archelaus was so oppressive and hated so much by the Jews that he was eventually deposed from his position by Rome. Recall that Herod’s roots were in Idumea. Archelaus had roots in Idumea and Samaria, so he was even more suspect of not being a real Jew, and he treated the Jews so horribly that this suspicion was confirmed in the people’s minds. Joseph goes north to Galilee, to the town of Nazareth, a place far away from Jerusalem and not under Archelaus’s jurisdiction. Matthew’s final “fulfillment prophecy” in this chapter (verse 23) cannot be found in the Old Testament. Scholars have searched and never found anything that matches. So we don’t know what Matthew had in mind here. The closest thing is a prophecy before Samson is born that Samson will be a “nazirite” (Judges 13:5), but that is not the name of a place. Perhaps Matthew was inviting a connection to the nazirites, which were Israelites, including Samson and Samuel, who consecrated themselves to God, never drank alcohol, and never cut their hair, among other strict practices (Numbers 6). But the connection is flawed, since Jesus didn’t live an ascetic life and eschewed the use of human strength that Samson excelled at. Other scholars point to a possible word-play as Isaiah 11:1 talks of a “branch” arising from the stump of Jesse, and the Hebrew word for “branch” is netser , which sounds similar to the beginning of the name Nazareth. Since Jesus fulfilled in his own person some prophecies that were addressed to “Israel,” some scholars think this word-play hinting at the branch that arises from Israel is in Matthew’s mind. All of these are nice ideas, but we don’t know what Matthew had in mind; so this suggested quote remains a puzzle. Even if we don’t expect God to communicate to us nowadays through dreams, how is Joseph a role model for seeking guidance from God? (When you figure out what God is asking you to do, do it! ; make yourself open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit; trust that God has a way forward for your life; take care of those around you; be aware of what is going on around you in the world, but don’t be paralyzed by it.) Joseph settles his family in Nazareth. What do you know about Nazareth as a place to live and work? Joseph might have seen that he could find good work in the area of Nazareth, especially in Sepphoris, 5 miles away. This is explained in Raymond Brown’s one-volume biblical commentary: “Joseph, involved in the building trade, probably settled in in Nazareth, because he could find abundant work in neighboring Sepphoris, which Herod Antipas was rebuilding as his capital at that time” (Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., “The Gospel According to Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , edited by Raymond E. Brown, S.S. et al, 1990, Prentice Hall, para. 15, p. 636). Historians say that Sepphoris, though a Jewish city, did not join the Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in 66 A.D., suggesting that it took a more cosmopolitan rather than strictly Jewish approach to life under Roman occupation. How might this choice of a hometown have affected Jesus as he grew up? Although Nazareth was a small town, it was not a backwater. Besides being just 5 miles from Herod Antipas’s capital at Sepphoris, it was nestled in the fabric of trade routes to far away places. The major north-south Roman highway along the coast from Syria to Egypt ran through Israel less than 15 miles west of Nazareth. Nazareth was also the crossroads of two smaller highways that served as trade routes, one starting at Ptolemais on the coast (modern-day Acre, Israel) and running southeast to Samaria, and the other running northeast to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee (see “Palestine in the time of Jesus, 4 B.C. - 30 A.D. : (including the period of Herod, 40 - 4 B.C.),” Library of Congress , https://www.loc.gov/item/2009579463/ , accessed 18 Dec. 2023). As a result, Jesus, as a growing child and as a young man, would have been exposed to other cultures and a bigger world even while living in his Jewish village.) This is all we get from Matthew for the “Christmas story” – very little compared to what we have from Luke. What important points about the background, birth, and infancy of Jesus are provided to us by Matthew? Jesus is Son of David, son of Abraham, Son of God due to his virgin birth, Emmanuel (God with us), perhaps a new Moses, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth. His birth story shows how the hand of God protects a little one so that he can grow up and save us, and the first people to recognize that this little one is great is a small group of Gentiles, a bit of foreshadowing that continues to play out as Matthew shows that the gospel is for Gentiles as well as Jews. How do you see the hand of God working subtly but decisively to bring good out of evil in these stories? How do you see the hand of God doing the same thing in your life? Do you think Matthew succeeds in making his point that Jesus fulfills the messianic prophecies even though he grew up in Nazareth, not Bethlehem? Explain. What can you take from this story of the wise men, Herod, Joseph, and Jesus to strengthen your faith or your approach to God? Take a step back and consider this: God could have chosen anywhere in the world for his Son to be born as a human. He could have selected a “chosen people” anywhere. He could have chosen any time in history for his coming. God chose this particular people, whose particular history placed them in this particular place in the world at this particular time. At this particular time, the Roman Empire made it easy to spread a message far and wide. Growing up in Nazareth would place Jesus among people who could both nurture him in the monotheistic culture of Judaism and also expose Him to the rest of the world, and living at a minor crossroads could help him tailor his message to speak to both Jews and Gentiles and prepare the way so that his followers could use their location in the midst of the Roman Empire to take the gospel ultimately “to the ends of the earth.” You also live at a particular time, in a particular place, among a particular people, at a crossroads of particular relationships and opportunities. God desires to work through you to share some piece of his good news with some particular people by your words and actions. How is God calling you to use the embedded realities, relationships, and crossroads of your life to bring his good news to others and make the world more like the kingdom of God that it was meant to be? What is God calling you to do next? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 4:1-11 The temptation of Jesus shows how to respond to our own temptations. Tom Faletti Mar 22, 2024 Matthew 4:1-11 In Matthew 4:1, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert. Jesus needs some alone time to prepare for his ministry. But it turns out to be 40 days, the number of years the Israelites were in the desert. In v. 1, where some translations say the Spirit led Jesus out to be “tempted,” the word can also be translated “tested.” “Tested” is the better translation because God does not tempt people. God does not lure people toward sin, nor does he dangle the thought of sin in front of people to see if they will succumb. James is very clear about this: “No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13, NRSV). However, while God does not tempt people, he does allow people to be tested by temptation. He does not preserve us from temptation, but instead gives us ways to resist (see 1 Cor. 10:13). The word “tested” conveys better the reality of what is going on: the temptation may come from the devil or from our own weaknesses, and God allows it to happen; but he does not cause temptation and he always stand beside us, urging us to resist sin. What happens in this passage? What is the value of being tested? Explain. Why does this take place in the wilderness/desert? There are multiple ways of thinking about this. On a human level, in the desert people have no support system and no distractions. On a figurative level, there is a parallel between Jesus’s testing and the testing of the Israelites in the desert after they were delivered out of Egypt under Moses. Jesus is identifying with humanity in being tempted. What are some similarities between the testing of Jesus in the desert here and the testing of the Israelites in the desert before they entered the Promised Land? In what ways are they different, including in how well they handled the temptations they faced? No disciples of Jesus were present for Jesus’s temptation. They could have known about it only if Jesus told them about it. Why do you think Jesus would have told his apostles about what happened to him in the desert? Through Christian history, theologians and commentators have seen the three temptations of Jesus as representing the three types of sins that all humans face : sins of the flesh , sins of the world , and sins of the devil . (You can easily find more about this, from a variety of denominational perspectives; for example: Fr. Dwight Longenecker, “Fighting the Un-Holy Trinity: The World, the Flesh and the Devil,” Catholic Online , 14 Feb. 2010, https://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=35421 ; “The World, the Flesh, and the Devil,” Ligonier Ministries (founded by Dr. R. C. Sproul), 23 May 2011, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/world-flesh-and-devil ; and nicely summarized by Wikipedia with examples from scholars who wrote centuries ago here: “The world, the flesh, and the devil,” Wikipedia , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_world,_the_flesh,_and_the_devil .) Temptation #1 : Bread, sins of the flesh, putting our own wants ahead of what God wants for us. On the surface, there would not seem to be anything immoral about Jesus turning stones into bread. What is the root of the potential sin in doing so? How might this have been a misuse of his powers? (Some of the reasons why this is a temptation sin include the following: He would be using his power for his own sake rather than using if for its intended purpose: to serve others. He would be failing to identify with the human race he came to identify with.) There many also be a battle going on here regarding how Jesus would carry out his mission. Should he entice people to follow him by giving them food to eat? What would have been wrong with that as his primary method of spreading the Gospel? How does this temptation apply to us? How might we be at risk of the temptation to put our own wants ahead of what God might have for us? Throughout the life of the church, going back many centuries, this temptation has been described as involving sins of the flesh, including gluttony, drunkenness, sexual immorality, but also laziness, covetousness, etc. A personal question, not necessarily for sharing if you are discussing this passage in a small group: Which sins of the flesh do you tend to struggle with and why? What Scripture passage did Jesus quote in response to this temptation? How does this Scripture passage provide guidance for us for how to think about and resist this kind of sin? Temptation #2 : Spectacle, attention, sins of the world, telling God what to do. Jesus could have jumped from the top if the Temple and survived, if he chose to. What would have been wrong with that? What is the potential sin in this temptation? There are several issues here. Some see it as a matter of tactics: Should I use spectacle and razzle-dazzle to try to draw people to God by attracting them to me? Others see it as a matter of authority: Will I assert leadership over God by putting him in a position where he has to do what I want him to do? Others see it as a matter of abdicating our responsibility to do God’s work, leaving things to God that he expects us to be doing as part of our calling.) Jesus could have used spectacle as a way of attracting the attention of people. What would have been wrong with that? Notice that Jesus did perform miracles, but they were miracles of service, to help others – not for show. The devil is implying that Jesus could force God to do things his way by doing things that would only work out if God steps in. But Jesus was God, so what would have been wrong with that? An alternate view is that the temptation here was to abdicate responsibility for how to do the work of God and just leave it to God and his angels to make it work. Are there times when “God will take care of things” is not an act of faith but instead an act of laziness? How does this temptation apply to us? How might we be tempted to draw attention to ourselves or wow others rather than doing God’s work humbly? How might we be tempted to force God’s hand by doing things that would only work out if God stepped in? (“If God doesn’t want me to do that, he’ll stop me.”) How might we be tempted to leave everything to God and not do the work he calls us to do? What Scripture passage did Jesus quote in response to this temptation? How does this Scripture passage provide guidance for us for how to think about and resist these kinds of “sins of the world”? Temptation #3 : Allegiance, power, sins of the devil, compromising our commitment to God. What is the nature of the third temptation? (It involves a temptation to submit to the devil in order to gain power.) What is wrong with the devil’s offer? The devil is asking for a compromise. What are some ways Jesus might have faced this temptation throughout his ministry on Earth? How does this temptation apply to us? How might we be at risk of the temptation to seek power or control of our circumstances even at the price of a bit of spiritual compromise? What Scripture passage did Jesus quote in response to this temptation? How does this Scripture passage provide guidance for us for how to think about and resist this kind of sin? In what ways did the devil misuse Scripture? In your life, how valuable is it to know Scripture? Is it an aid to avoiding or resisting temptation? To what extent do you turn to Scripture for specific guidance in difficult moments or times of temptation? How might the Bible be a greater help to you in dealing with temptation, if you knew the Bible better? Is there anything you could be doing to strengthen your ability to rely on the Word of God? Why do you think the devil left Jesus at this point? What kinds of opportunities do you think the devil would be looking for, to return and tempt Jesus again? When are you at risk of temptation? Silently, unless you are comfortable sharing, which temptation is the greatest risk for you: Inappropriately fulfilling your own wants? Seeking recognition or attention in inappropriate ways? Trying to get God to do things your way in order to make your efforts successful? Making inappropriate compromises to gain more power or control over your circumstances? What can you do to avoid or respond successfully to these temptations? What are your best strategies? (Here are some strategies to consider: First we need to step back and not dash headlong into the temptation. Then we have many things we can do: Pray. Think about what is really going on, both inside of you and in the situation around you. Try to see the situation from God’s perspective. Get help from Scripture. Open your heart to the Holy Spirit’s influence. Get counsel from wise and godly people around you.) Take a step back and consider this: The first temptation is a temptation to put our own wants ahead of the ways God wants us to deal with our lives. The second temptation is a temptation to draw attention to ourselves or to get God to do things our way. The third temptation is a temptation to compromise our commitments to God in order to gain some power or control. All three temptations, at root, are temptations to put ourselves ahead of God. The thing we often forget when we are facing temptation is that God is not looking down from on high with a frown, just waiting to catch us in a sin. Most of us grow up with that kind of image of God, but it doesn’t match the reality of God as presented in the gospels. Jesus is always standing right next to you, loving you and urging you to do what you and he know is right. His Spirit lives in you, reminding you of who you are in Christ and empowering you to be what you are called to be. If the root of temptation is our desire to put ourselves – our plans, our ideas, our desires, our wants – ahead of God, and yet we know, when we are not in the middle of the temptation, that our greatest happiness and greatest fulfillment comes in putting God first, then in the time of temptation we need to remember who we really are in Christ. Our most desperate need in those times is to see things from the perspective of the God we have given our lives to. And then, to have the power to act on what we see. When you are not in the middle of a temptation, where are your allegiances? Have you decided that your goal is to put God first in everything? Or are there still parts of your life that you have not been ready to give to him? Temptations will never go away, but some temptations fade after that fundamental question has been resolved. Have you really given your life to God? If not, now would be a good time to talk with God about it. He would like that, and there is nothing more important that you can do. Talk to God about where you stand right now. And if you have already decided that it is truly your intention to put God first in everything, Jesus’s example tells us something: Scripture is the first line of defense in times of temptation. Is there anything you can do to embed the Word of God more deeply into your heart, mind, and deepest self, so that you can call it forth when you need it? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 3:13-17 The baptism of Jesus, and how it relates to you. Tom Faletti Mar 15, 2024 Matthew 3:13-17 What happens in this passage? What do you think is the most significant word or statement or detail in this account, and why? Matthew is the only Gospel to include John protesting that Jesus should not be baptized. What is Jesus’s response and what does it mean? The New Oxford Annotated Bible explains makes two points about Jesus’s desire to “fulfill all righteousness”: “ Righteousness is a central theme in Matthew, and means acting in accordance with the will of God” (3:15 fn., p. 1751). Why do you think Jesus chose to be baptized when he was not in need of repentance? William Barclay offers in interesting insight: He says that the Jews had never seen baptism as being for Jews, but only for non-Jewish proselytes joining the Jewish faith. In their mind, baptism was for sinners, not the for the Chosen People. When John came baptizing and Jews submitted to his baptism, they were recognizing in a new way their own sin and their need for God to do something about it (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. 52-53.) In what ways does a willingness to be baptized indicate a humility before God? Jesus did not need to repent and be baptized, since he was sinless. Why would God want him to be baptized? By accepting baptism, Jesus, who as the Son of God was greater than John, was placing himself in a position of submission to John (see Matthew 1:11). He was also identifying himself with sinful humans, counting himself as being one of us, which he will do in an extraordinary way on the Cross. This act of placing himself in the inferior position is one of the early examples of what I call Jesus’s upside-down/downside-up approach to life – he takes the lesser position, as he will do throughout his ministry. He was constantly serving those who should be serving him, and making that the norm for Christian living. Matthew is establishing from the beginning that Jesus is the Messiah, but a particular kind of Messiah. How does Jesus’s decision to be baptized reflect the kind of Messiah he is? There is a really important point here about John. It says he “consented” (3:15, NRSV). What is the importance of our consent in doing the work of God and fulfilling all righteousness? Why do you think God speaks from the heavens at this moment? God rarely manifests himself with an audible voice. Why here? In Mark 1:11, the voice says, “ You are ” my beloved son. In Matthew 3:17, the voice says, “ This is ” my beloved son.” So one is directed toward Jesus and the other is directed toward the onlookers. Does that difference bring out different nuances about what is going on here? What do God’s words tell us about Jesus? The proclamation from heaven about Jesus harkens back to two Old Testament passages. Psalm 2 is about the anointing of the king but points to the Messiah. Verse 2 refers to the Lord and his “anointed.” The word “Christ” is the Greek word for “anointed one,” and “Messiah” is the Hebrew word for “anointed one,” so we look at Psalm 2 as speaking about the Messiah. In verse 7, God says, “You are my son; / today I have begotten you” (Psalm 2:7, NRSV), words that echo in God’s words when Jesus is baptized. Similarly, Isaiah 42:1 begins the description of the Suffering Servant that culminates in the great prophecies of Isaiah 53 that point to Jesus’s crucifixion. In 42:1, God says, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, / my chosen one with whom I am pleased” (Isaiah 42:1, NABRE), again using words that echo in Jesus’s baptism. God seeded the Old Testament with prophecies that pointed to Jesus and then confirmed them as Jesus began his ministry. Baptism is accepted by most Christian denominations as a sacrament instituted by Christ. How does what happens to Christians in baptism parallel what happens in this story about Jesus’s baptism? Notice the similarities in these brief summaries from two different Christian traditions: The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible says: “The water, Spirit, and divine voice signify the effects of baptism whereby the soul is cleansed (Acts 22:16), the grace of the Holy Spirit is imparted (3:11; 1 Cor. 12:13), and the recipient is adopted as a beloved child of God (3:17; Gal. 3:26-27; Catechism of the Catholic Church 537)” ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , Matthew 3:15 fn., p. 12). Evangelical Presbyterian theologian Vern Poythress writes: “So the features depicted in Jesus’s baptism by John come to apply through Jesus to us. We are cleansed from sin by the washing with Jesus’s blood, signified by the water of baptism. Heaven is opened to us through Jesus, giving us communion with God the Father (Heb 10:19–20). We receive the Holy Spirit, who descends on us when we have faith in Christ (Rom 8:9–10). We hear the voice of God the Father, who calls us sons in union with Christ the Son (Rom 8:14–17; Gal 4:4–7), and who is pleased with us on account of his being pleased with his eternal Son (Eph 1:4–10)” (“The Baptism of Jesus,” The Gospel Coalition , https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-baptism-of-jesus/ ). What does the baptism of Jesus say to you about your own life? How does the Trinity show up here, and why is that significant? It took Christians hundreds of years to work out exactly how to speak accurately about the Trinity, but they did not make up the concept – it shows up here at the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry as the Father speaks about the Son while the Holy Spirit hovers over it all in the form of a dove. Not in the same way, but you too are a beloved son or daughter of God. If God proclaimed something about you, what would he want you or others to know about you? Take a step back and consider this: When Christians are baptized, they are making a public profession that they belong to God the Father. They are embracing what Jesus has already done for them, and looking forward to what God will continue to do in them by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have been baptized, how are you embracing and living up to what you professed (or what was professed for you on your behalf) when you were baptized? If you have been baptized, how are you embracing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit received in your baptism? Is there more you might consider doing to respond to the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? If you have not been baptized, is this something you should consider? If so, who could you talk to about it? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 3:1-12 John the Baptist: Repentance is not comfortable but is part of our calling. Tom Faletti Mar 15, 2024 Matthew 3:1-12 John is in a place east of Jerusalem, perhaps 6 miles north of the Dead Sea. It is not an easy place to live. The Greek word used to describe that place is translated as the “wilderness” (NRSV) or “desert” (NABRE). People had to make an intentional decision to go there. In the West, Christians call this man John the Baptist. If we want to clarify that we don’t mean he was a member of the Baptist denomination, we might say John the Baptizer. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Christians call him “John the Forerunner,” because he came before and announced the coming of Christ. Let’s look first at what is going on in this passage, and then we will look at what his message of repentance means. What is happening in this passage? Who is involved? How would you describe John the Baptist’s character traits or personality? What is John’s central message? Is there significance in his being in a wilderness/desert? Matthew makes explicit Old Testament connections everywhere he sees them, and he sees John in the Old Testament: In verse 3, Matthew quotes Isaiah 40:3. What does that quote from Isaiah suggest to us about John? Why do you think it is important to Matthew that John fulfills that Old Testament passage? In verse 4, Matthew describes John’s clothing and food. What do you picture as you read this? Why is this image of John important? In 2 Kings 1:7-8, the prophet Elijah wore a hairy garment and a leather belt. Zechariah 13:4 tells us that prophets, include false prophets, wore a hairy mantle. John is baptizing not far from the place traditionally identified as the place where Elijah was taken up into heaven, and the Jews expected Elijah’s return before the coming of the Messiah. Why might John’s mannerisms and language have heightened interest in him? The Jews were concerned that there had not been a prophet, a voice of God, in their midst for several centuries. The connections between him and the Old Testament heightened the significance with which they saw him. John uses the word “repent” in verse 2. What does it mean to “repent”? The Hebrew word teshubah comes from the verb shub , meaning to turn (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , The Saint Andrew Press, 2nd edition, 1958, p. 45), leading to the idea that repentance means turning around. The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoia , which means to think differently or have a change of mind. These concepts are often combined to create the concept that to repentance is to change your mind and turn away from sin and to God. Why should the people repent, according to John? What is “the kingdom of heaven”? What does that phrase mean to you? Matthew is the only Gospel writer to use the term “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God.” The two different phrases are often used in the same statements and stories in the different Gospels, so it is hard to argue that they have different meanings. However, they have different connotations. Matthew might have decided to avoid the word “God” out of deference to the Jews, who were hesitant to speak the name of God (H. L. Ellison, “Matthew,” The International Bible Commentary , p. 1123), but there is a further point. In Jesus’s time, the Jews expected a messiah who would free them from political oppression. Referring to the kingdom “of heaven” might have allowed Matthew “to distinguish the kingdom proclaimed by John (3:2) and Jesus (4:17) from popular hopes for a literal restoration of Israel’s political empire” ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , p.11). The kingdom Jesus preached is not an earthly political kingdom; it is a kingdom that encompasses far more, a realm that transcends temporal political arrangements. In verses 7-8, John makes it clear that baptism is not free. It demands a change. What is the “price” of being baptized? What does John expect people to do to show that their repentance is genuine? What would that evidence look like? Is it genuine repentance if you decide you are doing something wrong but don’t actually do something else instead? Explain. In verses 9-10, what does John warn that God is going to do? In verses 11-12, John makes a prophecy about what is coming. What does he say is coming? What will the one who is coming do? Considering John’s overall message and what you know happened later, was John right about how things were going to play out or did his vision need to be corrected/tweaked? Read the passage again, but this time, pick a character and see it through that person’s eyes, thinking their thoughts, and asking several questions that I will give you below. (If you are studying this passage with a small group, have different people take different characters so that the whole list is covered by someone.) The characters to consider are: John. A “perfect 10” Pharisee (devoted to honoring God by strict observance of the entire law – including the Pentateuch (the written Torah), the rest of the Hebrew Bible, and also the oral legal traditions (sometimes called the oral Torah). An ordinary “5-6” Jew (The “5-6” Jews are the ones described in verses 5-6, who are trying to live a reasonably religious life but are probably not zealous about it and would not be rated a “10” like the Pharisees). A Sadducee (from the priestly aristocratic party, committed only to the written Torah/Pentateuch rather than the whole Old Testament and more politically savvy). Jesus (not having started your public ministry yet). God in heaven (whose kingdom and actions John is talking about). With regard to the character you chose: · Why are you there? · What do you think about John (or about what John is doing)? · What does John’s preaching lead you to do or make you think you should do? Now fast-forward 2000 years. Where would you be in this scene? If you did not already know about John the Baptist, what would you think about him? Knowing all that you know, how do you think you should respond to John? What repentance do you need to consider? In what ways does God want you to think differently? What is God asking you to change right now? What good fruit (v. 8) should you be doing? Scholars disagree about whether the baptism with “the holy Spirit and fire” is talking about one thing or two. Is there a baptism of the Holy Spirit for the repentant and a baptism of fire for the unrepentant? Or are the terms synonymous, with the one baptism producing either purification (for the repentant) or destruction (for the unrepentant)? (This issue is raised, for example, in the NABRE in a footnote to 3:11.) Does it matter? Or is this just a good way to segue to: When John was preaching, no one would have known what being “baptized with the Holy Spirit” means. But we know more. How is this baptism of the Holy Spirit different from John’s baptism of repentance? (Among other things, it is transformational in a way that the baptism of repentance was not.) What does it mean to you to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? And what is the meaning of the baptism with fire and the burning of the chaff? (If this is a baptism of fire in a positive sense, which later New Testament descriptions support, it is a purification that, again, changes us in ways that a simple repentance and confession of sin may not.) Does it provide some encouragement that Matthew connects repentance and the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit get involved in our lives to help us repent and produce good fruit? Take a step back and consider this: Repentance is necessary for spiritual growth, but it is usually not a comfortable process. To repent requires us to recognize where we are falling short. Furthermore, it requires us to act on that recognition and actually make a change. The change comes in two parts: a change of mind – thinking differently than we used to think – and a change of action to conform our lives to the new thinking we are doing. If we were going to write the equation of repentance, we might write it this way: Repentance = Recognizing what’s wrong + thinking differently + acting differently Thinking differently is often uncomfortable. Acting differently can also be uncomfortable – we are creatures of habit and relinquishing old habits in order to take on new habits can be hard. Fortunately, we are not alone in the repentance process. God is trying to work the character of Jesus into us and then let that character guide all we say and do. He does not leave us alone in that process. He is always trying to help us. He has sent his Holy Spirit into our hearts, to guide and empower us. We are constantly invited to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can make the changes that allow Jesus to radiate in us and through us. For Christians, we are not asked to “tough it out” on our own. Repentance is something God is doing in us, with our cooperation – if we are willing. And the fruit of repentance is not something we need to dream up and then carry out on our own. God wants to work through us to change the world around us, to advance the work of the kingdom of heaven through our lives. So the fundamental question is: Am I willing to let God show me where I need to change my thinking? Am I wiling to put his thinking into action in my life? Am I willing to let the Holy Spirit empower me to produce good fruit? If the answer is “Yes,” then I need to stay in close contact with God. What am I doing to stay tuned in to God, so that my thinking and actions reflect his character and desires? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. 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Matthew 4:12-17 Jesus chooses a particular place to begin his ministry. Tom Faletti Mar 22, 2024 Matthew 4:12-17 Jesus starts his ministry in Galilee Why does Jesus leave the area around the Jordan River where John had been baptizing? The geography is important here. What region does Jesus begin his ministry in? What city does he move to? What body of water is he near? What is your impression of Galilee? Galilee was not a large place. Roughly 50 miles north-south by 25 miles east-west, its size was around the size of the small state of Rhode Island. Although the northern part of Galilee was more mountainous and remote, the southern part, where Nazareth and Capernaum are, was not the backwoods place that many, including the city folk in Jerusalem, made it out to be (John 7:52). Nazareth itself was probably a small village, but its region, Galilee, was actually a crossroads for international travel. It included two capital cities, Sepphoris and Tiberius, both founded by the local king, Herod Antipas, and many people spoke both Greek and Aramaic (Eric Meyers, Professor of Religion and Archaeology at Duke University, “Galilee,” From Jesus to Christ , Frontline , Apr. 1998, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/galilee.html ). According to Josephus, it contained 204 villages with a population of 15,000 persons or more and was the most fertile part of the Jewish lands with an enormous agricultural output (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 65). According to Josephus, Galilee was full of people who “were ever fond of innovations, and by nature disposed to changes, and delighted in seditions” (as quoted in Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 66). At the same time, they were courageous and “more anxious for honour than for gain” (also p. 66). Galilee was surrounded by Gentile territory to the west, north, and east, and by Samaritans to the south. The original meaning of “Galilee” was “circle”: The term “Galilee of the Gentiles” in Matthew 4:15, which comes from Isaiah 9:1, actually refers to the fact that Galilee was encircled by Gentile nations. Galilee had been conquered several times over the centuries and repopulated with Gentiles. When Israel regained independence for around 100 years, from the successful revolt under the Maccabees in the 160s BCE until they were conquered by the Romans in 63 BCE, that region was turned back to Judaism. However, Galilee was not as insular as Judea to the south (Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. 66-67). Many people were bilingual, and the openness of Galileans to different cultures might have made it a good place to grow up for someone who would eventually preach a message intended for all people, not just Jews. Why do you think Jesus leaves his hometown of Nazareth to go to Capernaum? John the Baptist was arrested by Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas’s capital cities were in Galilee, not far from Nazareth. Capernaum would be safer and access to the lake (“sea”) would provide an easy means of escape to Gentile territory across the lake if necessary. But Capernaum also offered a different kind of audience from which to draw his early disciples. Why might he choose to start gathering disciples in a commercial fishing town on the sea, rather than in his hometown? Note: Jesus did not just make a quick visit to Capernaum. He “made his home in” (4:13 NRSV) or “went to live in” (4:13 NABRE) Capernaum – the Greek word implies that he took up residence in a house there. This town was at the north/northwest end of the Sea of Galilee, a large fresh-water lake. Moving here moves Jesus closer to Gentile territory (on the other side of the lake). It also brings him into the commercial area around a very large body of water. The Sea of Galilee was 13 miles long and 8 miles wide, and 680 feet below sea level, which made it a warm area ( The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. 70-71). With Jews on the west and Gentiles on the east, and a high degree of commercial activity, this was a place where people might have been especially open-minded about his mission to all nations. Matthew offers a fulfillment citation from Isaiah 9:1-2. What does that Old Testament quote tell us? This Old Testament quote tells us several things: First, Galilee is mentioned in the Old Testament as a place where God will do something significant. Second, Capernaum in Galilee is in the Old Testament territory of the tribe of Naphtali, so this is part of God’s plan for the salvation of Israel. The Old Testament passage was actually about a prophesied restoration after the fall of the nation of Israel to Assyria in 722 B.C. Matthew sees Jesus as fulfilling that prophecy and bringing light to those in darkness. In what way is Jesus’s arrival like the dawning of a light in the darkness? In what ways do you find Jesus to be a light in your life? Matthew actually does not give the full quote that he could have given to signal messianic prophecy being fulfilled. The Isaiah quote goes on to include well-known prophecies, including, “a child is born to us, a son is given to us,” who will be known as “wonderful Counselor, Mighty God”, etc. (Isaiah 9:6) and he will establish the throne of David in justice and righteousness forever (Isaiah 9:7). Matthew is signaling to at least the Jewish members of his audience, who would know their Hebrew Scriptures and the messianic prophecies, that Jesus is the Messiah. In Matthew 4:17, what did Jesus preach in his early preaching? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (NRSV) or “is at hand” (NABRE). This is exactly, word for word, John’s message. That could have been provocative in two ways: (1) It was gutsy to take up the message of someone who had just been arrested by the local king, and (2) it could potentially have been seen as presumptuous to claim John’s mantle by taking his message, given that we have no reason to think that Jesus was in John’s inner circle. Do you think Jesus meant the same thing as John by this message? What does it mean when it says he “proclaimed” or “preached”? What would that have looked like? The Greek word is the word for a herald’s proclamation from a king (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 69). What does it mean to you when Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven “has come near” or “is at hand” (Matthew 4:17, NRSV and NABRE)? We might think of the kingdom of God as any place where God reigns. The word “kingdom” indicates sovereignty – that the place where God, rather than flawed humans, is sovereign is entering our sphere in a new way. We can live our lives under his reign. Note that in Matthew, Jesus refers to the “kingdom of heaven,” whereas in the other Gospels it is the “kingdom of God.” Scholars have sometimes tried to find a distinction between the two, with little success. The best explanation is that Matthew is more sensitive to the ways that Jews talked. Jews at that time avoided saying the word “God,” so Matthew uses “heaven.” It is quite possible that Jesus also used the word “heaven” and that the other Gospels, with less concern about this Jewish desire to avoid saying God’s name, might have used “God” to make it more clear precisely what the term means (see Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., “The Gospel According to Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , p. 639, and H. L. Ellison, “Matthew,” The International Bible Commentary , p. 1123). (The Gospel of Matthew does, however, use the term Kingdom of God four times, in 12:28, 19:24, 21:31, and 21:43.) As we go through the Gospel of Matthew, we want to hang onto this idea that Jesus is describing what the world looks like when God is acknowledged as sovereign and allowed to reign. How can you make space for the kingdom of God to be “at hand” in your life? What is something new you learned today about Jesus, and what difference does it make? Take a step back and consider this: In some ways Galilee might have been the perfect place for the boy Jesus to grow up, to prepare him for his ministry. He would have been raised in a Jewish village in a region that was culturally diverse, where the Jewish language was spoken but also the language of the vast empire (Greek) that dominated so much of the Earth. He would have been exposed to different cultures, and those experiences would have prepared him to craft a message that could reach not only Jews but people of diverse backgrounds. God used that breadth of experience effectively. Similarly, God can use the experiences of your past to prepare you for opportunities for ministry in your life now. As you look back on your life, how has God used events from your past as preparation for opportunities you had to serve him later? Are there events from your past that you are still hoping God will use in support of future opportunities for service? Those might be good things to bring to God in prayer. Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 19:13-15 Welcoming children as God does – you never know the impact you have. Tom Faletti Feb 13, 2024 Matthew 19:13-15 Who do you think was bringing children to Jesus, and why? Why do you think the disciples were trying to keep them from Jesus? Some commentators argue that this is not about playing up how wonderful children are. A footnote in the New Oxford Annotated Bible says that this is: “Not an idealization of childhood” ( The New Oxford Annotated Bible , footnote to Mark 10:1-16 on p. 1810). This may be about status, not about how cute or sweet or innocent children are. Children had the lowest status in Jewish society. The disciples were trying to maintain “control” so that Jesus could focus on more important things than children; but Jesus disagrees. What is Jesus’s view of those who have no status? (No one is unimportant to Jesus.) What is important to Jesus? What does this passage tell us about how things look or feel in the kingdom of heaven? How should this affect how we go about our lives? Take a step back and consider this: If parents are modeling the love that Jesus has for children, it will have lifelong effects on their children. The effects may sometimes be hidden at the time, but later, that love may manifest itself in powerful ways. In the movie Belfast (directed by Kenneth Branagh, TKBC and Northern Ireland Screen, 2021), the deeply loving relationship between 10-year-old Buddy’s grandparents has generation-crossing effects on their children and grandchildren. When Buddy’s father teaches Buddy to be welcoming to people of all faiths, we understand that he learned it from his parents. And now he is shaping his child (who became the actor Kenneth Branagh we know), who has shaped the thinking of millions of people through his movies. Our faithful love, reflecting the love of God in our marriages and family relationships, and the ways we pass on that love to our children, matters deeply. By our love, we shape how well our world reflects its Creator. So let us not lose sight of how important our treatment of children is. We have an awesome calling to show children the love of God and let them experience what it means to be part of the love in God’s kingdom. When we love them, we may be setting in motion good things that may bear fruit years later. How can we use well the awesome opportunity to love the children in our families and help them experience the welcoming and love of Jesus? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 4:18-25 Jesus gathers disciples and followers. Tom Faletti Mar 22, 2024 Matthew 4:18-22 Jesus gathers disciples As we saw in the previous passage, something significant is happening. Jesus went to the wilderness where John was baptizing and then returned home. But now he has moved from his more rural village to a commercial town on the the Sea of Galilee. He has taken up John’s message repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here. But he is not preaching that message out in the desert the way John was – far from the towns. Instead, he is preaching in an important commercial town in his region, and soon he will be going from town to town. Whereas John waited for the people to come away to him, Jesus is taking the message to the people where they live and work. Why is this significant? Who does Jesus call? Fishing is not a job for everyone. It takes a person of a special character to handle the challenges faced by fishers. What do you see in the character of successful fishermen that might be useful for more than just fishing? (Barclay suggests these attributes: patience, perseverance, courage, an eye for the right moment, and keeping oneself out of sight – see Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 73-74). How might these be good attributes for people called to the task of evangelization – people called to tell people who might not yet be interested about a controversial person with a controversial message about God?) What does Jesus say to these fishermen? Why do you think they followed him? John 1:35-42 tells us that their decision to follow Jesus was not as abrupt as it sounds. Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist and had had a previous encounter with Jesus. Have you had experiences where God prepared you before asking you to do something significant? What would it have taken for you to follow Jesus? Matthew 4: 23-25 Jesus preaches, heals, and attracts large crowds After gathering a few disciples, what does Jesus do next? Verse 23 tells us that Jesus was both “teaching” and “proclaiming” (sometimes translated as “preaching”). How is teaching different from proclaiming/preaching? How are both valuable? What kind of audiences would Jesus have found in synagogues? Why might that have been a good place to start? Besides teaching and preaching, what else does Jesus do? Why do you think he heals – especially after resisting the temptation to do things for show? What does Jesus’s desire to heal people tell us about him? These activities bring him a great following. Where do they come from? Are the crowds Jewish? Gentile? Both? What does this tell us about Jesus’s early mission and work? Verse 24 says his fame spread in Syria , which was Gentile territory to the northwest of Galilee. Verse 25 says that crowds followed him from Galilee itself which was primarily Jewish but with some non-Jewish populations. The Decapolis was the largely Gentile Greek cities east and southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Jerusalem and Judea were Jewish territory to the south. Beyond the Jordan was Jewish territory east of the Jordan River, south of the Decapolis, east of Samaria and running south to the area across the river east of Jerusalem and Judea). Jesus will eventually visit all of these territories. If you were in Galilee at this time, would you have been attracted to Jesus? If so, what would have attracted you? What attracts you about Jesus now in your life? Take a step back and consider this: In 4:24, Matthew tells us of the vast array of diseases and illnesses that Jesus cured. Jesus is easing those kinds of suffering wherever he can. At the same time, Jesus is trying to gather a core group of disciples whom he will put through a three-year process of formation to prepare them to be leaders when he is no longer with them. What do you think is going through Jesus’s mind as he heals people? What do you think is going through Jesus’s mind as he gathers disciples? What do you think is going through Jesus’s mind as he hears our prayers asking for healing and relief from various kinds of sufferings today? What does Jesus say to you as you think about what other people are praying to him? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member

Matthew 19:23-26 Who can be saved? Your wealth won’t save you, but what will? Tom Faletti Feb 13, 2024 Matthew 19:23-26 Jesus uses a vivid illustration to make his point about the dangers of wealth. He statement about the camel going through the eye of a needle has led many people to search for answers – particularly because they don’t want to take it literally (and given that fact that Jesus was raised as a Jew in a culture where exaggeration for effect was the norm, he probably was exaggerating in some sense). Some scholars suggest the existence of a small gate into a walled city, separate from the wide, main gate, where a camel could only go through if it was stripped of all it was carrying. This smaller entrance is supposed to have been called the “needle’s eye.” There is no evidence for the existence of such entryways, but the image might be apt anyway. We need to let go of any possessions that would keep us from entering the kingdom of God, and that means we need to let go of everything we cling to, like a camel being relieved of its burdens, before we can go through. However, the disciples don’t envision there being any way through the eye of a needle. The disciples are astonished by what Jesus says about rich people because they think rich people are more likely to get into to heaven than poor people. That was common thinking in their day. Would that be a correct way of thinking? Explain. What is Jesus’s answer to their question, “Then who can be saved?” (19:25, NRSV) Note that Jesus is not saying rich people can’t go to heaven. Zacchaeus was rich (Luke 19:9). Joseph of Arimathea was rich (Matt. 27:57). Nicodemus was rich (John 19:39). Rich people were not required to give up their wealth in the early church (Acts 5:4). What do you think Jesus means by saying that for humans it is impossible? What do you think Jesus means by saying that for God all things are possible? What is he saying about us and wealth? What is your reaction to this passage? What does it say to you about your own wealth or lack of it and how it might affect your salvation? Take a step back and consider this: God is at work in us, in this world. He knows that we need possessions: a frying pan to cook in, clothes to wear, a toilet; etc. And the more advanced our world gets, due to the ingenuity of the human mind – which was created by God and then invited to use its free will to create other things – the more things we come to need: cars or bicycles, cell phones, microwave ovens, etc. The problem is not that things exist; the problem is that they sometimes take over the focus of our lives. Jesus has at least two different purposes in today’s conversation: to push us to re-focus and put our priorities in the right place, and to guide us to a deeper point – that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Only God can do that. Wealthy persons can live a life focused on their many possessions and the next possession they hope to get, or they live a life focused on sharing the love of God with those around them. Poor people can live a life focused on their meager possessions and the next possession they hope to get, or they live a life focused on sharing the love of God with those around them. Whatever a person’s situation, only God can bring them to the kingdom of heaven. Neither having many possessions nor having few possessions gives you a ticket to heaven. Only God can do that. What is one, small change you could make today, to take a bit of your mind off of wealth or “things” so that your mind and heart can focus more on people and God? Bibliography See www.faithexplored.com/bible-study/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com . See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Please offer your insights and questions: If you are a member and would like to react to or ask a question about any topic here, please post a question in the forum below. You are also encouraged to continue the conversation in any post by posting a response. Join the conversation here: Forum Page Become a Member