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What is God trying to do in our world today, and are we missing the signs of what is needed and what he is doing? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 16:1-12 What is God trying to do in our world today, and are we missing the signs of what is needed and what he is doing? Sculpture by Sargis Babayan. Jonah the Prophet . Armenia. CC BY-SA 3.0 , uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by Sargis Babayan, 24 Jan. 2011, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jonah_the_Prophet.jpg . Tom Faletti June 15, 2025 Matthew 16:1-4 The Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign Who challenges Jesus here? This is the first time the Sadducees have had anything to do with Jesus. We see them joining with the Pharisees to challenge him. This is a significant development because the Pharisees and the Sadducees were diametrically opposed on many issues: The Pharisees accepted the whole Old Testament, believed in angels and an afterlife, and followed the minutiae of ritual rules and traditions added over the centuries, while the Sadducees accepted only the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Old Testament), did not believe in angels or an afterlife, and did not follow the extra ritual rules the Pharisees cared so much about. Also, the Sadducees were the wealthy class of political collaborators, while most Pharisees avoided politics as long as they could continue their customs. But here they are united by their opposition to Jesus. What do you think the Pharisees and Sadducees are looking for when they ask for “a sign from heaven”? A sign from heaven might be a voice from the skies or some other supernatural occurrence from above. Jesus’s initial response in verses 2-3 does not appear in many of the early manuscripts, but it is considered part of the canon of inspired Scripture. It is a clever reply because they are asking him for a sign from the skies (heaven) and he says they know how to interpret the natural signs in the skies but not the signs of the times. Many people are familiar with the saying Jesus quotes in verses 2-3. We know it as an old sailors’ adage: “Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning.” Jesus is saying they know how to interpret the appearance of the sky to judge weather conditions, but they don’t know how to interpret “the signs of the times.” What do you think he means by “the signs of the times”? The signs of the times are the things going on in the world at any particular moment in history, where God is working or where his influence is needed. The signs the Pharisees and Sadducees are missing are miracles and teachings of Jesus that are the signs that he has been sent from the Father and that the kingdom of God is at hand. During the Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the bishops urged the Church to interpret “the signs of the times” in the light of the Gospel. Pope Francis was fond of using this phrase to call attention to the issues of the 21st century where Christians need to put Gospel values into action (for more on the signs of the times that Pope Francis thought were significant, see the Faith Explored study “Where signs of hope are needed today” ). What do you think the signs of the times are today in our nation or world – the things happening in our society or world where God is working or where God’s perspective is needed? And what are the gospel values that need to be brought to bear in those areas? In verse 4, Jesus refers again to “the sign of Jonah.” He used this term in 12:39-41. What is the sign of Jonah? In the story of Jonah, Jonah was in the belly of the whale for 3 days and lived. The “sign of Jonah” may be that Jesus will be in the tomb for 3 days and then rise back to life. That will be a sign for those who doubt Jesus. But considering that Jesus has just been addressing the issue of the Gentiles, the “sign of Jonah” may also be that God cared so much about the Gentiles in Ninevites that he sent Jonah to preach to them and call them to repentance; and God cares equally about the Gentiles in Jesus’s time. The demand for a sign raises a philosophical issue. If God wants people to freely believe in him and accept his authority in their lives, would the kind of sign from heaven that the Pharisees and Sadducees want support or undermine that goal of free acceptance? More generally, why doesn’t God do dramatic things in our lives all the time, to show us that he is real? Matthew 16:5-12 Warnings about the Pharisees and Sadducees What is Jesus’s warning to the disciples in verse 6? What do the disciples think he is talking about? What is he actually talking about? What is the “leaven” or “yeast” of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Jesus is talking about the false teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees – their misunderstandings about who Jesus is and about what kind of life God is calling them to live. Jesus had used leaven as a positive analogy in Matthew 13:33 (the kingdom grows like a batch of leavened dough), but now he uses it as a negative thing. What is it the negative connotation of what leaven or yeast does that he is pointing to here? Yeast corrupts what it comes in contact with. In what ways are the disciples thinking too literally and missing the symbolism in the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000? What is the symbolism he thinks they are missing? The modern-day equivalent of the teaching of the Pharisees might be excessive legalism, while the modern day-equivalent of the teaching of the Sadducees might be materialism and the pursuit of power without regard for the spiritual. How can you distinguish good teaching from corrupting teaching today? Take a step back and consider this: Although the Pharisees and Sadducees ask for a sign and Jesus refuses to give them one when they demand it, they have already had multiple signs – including the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000. The Pharisees and Sadducees are missing what is right in front of their faces. The disciples are also missing what is right in front of them. They think Jesus is chiding them for not bringing bread with them (verse 7) even though he has just recently shown that he can provide all the bread they will ever need. They are too focused on the literal and physical, and they are missing the spiritual dimension. In what ways might we, like disciples, miss the point of what Jesus is teaching, by focusing on literal, physical interpretations when Jesus is speaking at a spiritual level? How might we be missing what God is doing or trying to do in our time because we are focused too much on our immediate physical needs and not focused enough on what God is trying to do spiritually in our world? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

A healing, a second warning of suffering to come, an interruption to pay a tax – just a normal day in the life of Jesus . . . and us? [Matthew 17:14-21; 17:22-23; 17:24-27] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 17:14-27 A healing, a second warning of suffering to come, an interruption to pay a tax – just a normal day in the life of Jesus . . . and us? Mattia Preti (1613-1699). Il tributo della moneta [The tribute coin] . circa 1640. Cropped. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mattia_Preti_-_Tribute_Money_-_WGA18400.jpg . Tom Faletti June 19, 2025 Jesus comes down from the mountain where he experienced the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8), only to find that he must deal with regular life in all its complexity. It’s not that different for us: even when we have mountaintop moments, we must return to “real life” in all its ordinariness. Let’s look at the 3 incidents that Matthew tells us about right after the Transfiguration. Matthew 17:14-21 The healing of the boy with epilepsy, and the power of faith and prayer In the previous passage, Peter, James, and John experienced the overwhelming power of God during Jesus’s Transfiguration. How have you experienced the power of God in a special way? What problem does Jesus encounter that the disciples had not been able to solve? In verse 15, Matthew literally says that the boy is “moonstruck”, i.e., struck or affected by the moon. Some translations say the boy is a “lunatic” a word that comes from the word “luna” for “moon.” The symptoms are what we would call epilepsy, and people thought those symptoms were affected by the phases of the moon ( NABRE , Matt. 17:15 fn.). In verse 17, how does Jesus react to the fact that the disciples were unable to heal the boy? When Jesus calls them “faithless and perverse,” it isn’t clear whether he is reproaching unbelievers among the crowd or the disciples. He has previously chided the disciples for having “little” faith (Matthew 6:30), and in verse 20 he says they have “little faith.” He does not say they have no faith. Based on what happens here, does Jesus give up on people with “little faith,” or does he stick with them? He sticks with them and provides the healing that is needed, despite their lack of faith. Jesus sounds frustrated, or even exasperated, in verse 17. Frustration is a human emotion and not necessarily a sin. When would you say being frustrated or exasperated is sinful, and not just human? Jesus’s is ready to move to the next step, but his disciples don’t seem to be as ready as he might have hoped. Do you think God might feel this way about us sometimes? If so, what does this passage tell you about God’s enduring commitment to us even when we fall short? Jesus says, “How much longer must I put up with you.” It won’t be much longer until his death and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit to empower us. In verse 20, Jesus compares faith to a mustard seed. Many translations say, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” but that is not what he actually said. He says, “If you have faith as a mustard seed.” It isn’t the size of the faith that Jesus is talking about, it is the recognition of the potential that is available to even a person who is very small , if they have faith. How does this encourage people who think they are small in this world? The fact that Jesus calls for faith “ as a mustard seed,” not “ the size of a mustard seed,” is important, because we sometimes think we have to muster up a large faith, and that puts the focus on ourselves when the focus should be on God. The point is to be as open to the working of God as a mustard seed, and to cooperate with the work of God as a mustard seed cooperates with God’s work of creation. What does this say to you? Seeds need darkness as well as light to become what they are meant to be. Does our faith similarly need times of darkness as well as good times? Explain. Jesus is using metaphors here, so he isn’t talking literally about moving mountains. What does moving mountains stand for? Having something come to pass that seems impossible or very hard. Seeds don’t cause their own growth; they have to trust God to provide the conditions for the growth of the seed. Similarly, our faith doesn’t move the mountain; God moves the mountain. We just have to trust him. What does that kind of mustard seed faith look like? How have you experienced answered prayer? How have you seen what seemed like a mountain be moved so that God’s will could be done? Go back to chapter 7 and read Matthew 7:9-10 . Jesus tells us that God wants to give us good things to us, his children. How does that assurance affect your thinking about prayer, faith, and trust? Sometimes, no matter how much faith we have, we do not receive what we ask for in prayer. The mountain we ask God to move does not move. That’s part of real life. What do you do when it seems like your prayers are not answered? Here are some ways to think about this question: 1. We are asked to trust God. God gives us what we need, but not necessarily what we think we want, just as human parents who love their children don’t always give them what they ask for because it might not be what is best for them. 2. God always answers our prayers, but his answer may be “Yes,” “No,” or “Not Yet (i.e., Wait).” Sometimes, he needs to work in our spirit to help us realize that we aren’t asking for the right thing. Sometimes, he may be waiting for us to grow spiritually so that we can handle the blessing we are asking for. One of the challenges of faith is to accept God’s answer. If we try to force it, as though we know best, we may make something happen that God knows is not best for us. Instead, we need to trust him. Matthew 17:21 Verse 21 does not appear in most modern translations of the Bible, because that verse does not appear in the oldest manuscripts. The New Testament was divided into verses before some older manuscripts were found, and those older manuscripts don’t have Matthew 17:21. It might have been added accidentally at some point by a copyist who was recalling Mark 9:29. In the oldest manuscripts, Mark 9:29 reads: “This kind can come out only through prayer.” The words “and fasting” only appear in later manuscripts of Mark and Matthew. In the oldest manuscripts we have, there is no Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29 does not include the words “and fasting.” Although Matthew 17:21 does not appear to be original to Matthew, Jesus does say in Mark 9:29, “This kind can come out only through prayer.” Why might there be times when prayer is necessary for healing? Matthew 17:22-23 Jesus again foretells his Passion; the disciples respond with grief Matthew 17:22 adds a new piece of information to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:21: it says Jesus will be betrayed. How does the idea that he will be betrayed make Jesus’s suffering and death even sadder? Notice that this time, the disciples are more ready to accept what Jesus is saying about his coming suffering and death. That is why they are so distressed, and perhaps also because someone who appears to be on his side will betray him. Jesus has said twice now that he will be raised. The disciples may not have understood what that meant, but what difference does it make to you that Jesus’s prophecy includes his resurrection and not just suffering and death? Matthew 17:24-27 paying the Temple tax After a long time away in more Gentile areas, Jesus now returns to Capernaum in Galilee. Matthew has several stories about Peter that the other Gospels do not have. This is one of them. This is not the story about the tax paid to the Romans (“give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”). We will see that story in chapter 22. Every male Jew age 20 and older was expected to pay a tax for the upkeep of the Temple, based on a command in Exodus 30:11-16. The tax was two drachmas (equal to a half-shekel). (Some scholars think Matthew is writing about a situation his community faced after AD 70, when the Temple had been destroyed and the Romans ordered that the tax continue to be paid, but for the upkeep of a temple in Rome dedicated to Jupiter.) What does the fact that Peter speaks for Jesus in verse 24 tell us about his role? Peter has clearly become a leader of Jesus’s band of followers, and he would have assumed that Jesus would not refuse to pay the tax that was expected of all adult males. Jesus asks whether the children of a king pay taxes that are owed to a king. (Some translations use the word “subject,” but the Greek word in verses 25 and 26 is actually “sons.”) What is he implying by his use of the word “sons”? Jesus is indicating that he is the son of God. But he uses the plural, “sons,” so he is implying that his disciples are also children of God. In verse 27, Jesus says that he does not want to offend those who expect him to pay the tax. The Greek for “offend” comes from the same root as the word “scandal” in English and the word for stumbling block in Greek. He does not want to scandalize them or be a stumbling block to them. Why is it important not to give scandal if you can avoid it? How might we decide when we may act in freedom and when we do what others expect of us in order to avoid giving scandal? Jesus tells Peter where to find the money to pay the tax, and he thoughtfully adds that Peter will find a stater (a coin equal to 4 drachmas or a full shekel), which is enough to pay the tax for both Peter and himself. What do you think about how Jesus handled this incident? Jesus does not have money, but when he needs something, the whole world is at his disposal (think of the few loaves and fish that led to the feeding of the 5,000). Jesus here shows that he cares about our earthly concerns, not just spiritual matters. What does this say to you the maters you face in your life? Jesus provides for Peter, and he will provide for us. What do you need, that Jesus can provide? Take a step back and consider this: If you think of this set of passages as a day in the life of Jesus, it might not seem all that different from some days in our lives: Suddenly, someone urgently needs you to do something; you know that a serious challenge is looming on the horizon; and then another issue unexpectedly pops up. Many people frequently have days like that; for some, it is just a normal, hectic day. When we have days like that, sometimes we might get exasperated, as Jesus did. But if we are following the model of Jesus, we will keep our cool, keep doing what needs to be done, keep helping those who need help, and keep solving the problems that arise. That’s what Jesus did on this hectic day; and with his help, we can too. When unexpected problems pop up on already busy days, how do you tend to respond? Do you become bossy? Grow anxious? Shut down? Or keep doing what needs to be done? And with what attitude? How might Jesus help you deal with those kinds of days? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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. 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Jesus cares about our afflictions. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 8:1-17 Jesus cares about our afflictions. Alexandre Bida (1813-1895). The Leper . 1875. Detail. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_heals_the_leper.png . See also https://archive.org/details/christinartstory00egglrich/page/60/mode/2up . Tom Faletti July 30, 2024 Re-read Matthew 7:28-29 Jesus acts with authority Matthew ends the Sermon on the Mount by saying that Jesus “taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes.” What does it look like when someone teaches with authority? Who has been someone who taught with authority in your life? Matthew has shown Jesus teaching with authority. Now he is going to show Jesus acting with authority. In chapters 8 and 9, we will see 10 miracles in 9 separate incidents, presented in groups of 3, interspersed with brief but pointed dialogues. Matthew 8:1-17 Jesus cures all who come to him Who are the kinds of people Jesus helps here? Who is Jesus for ? The ones Jesus helped here include an outcast leper, a lowly servant, an enemy commander in need, a mother-in-law who probably spent most of her life being overlooked, and then many others who suffered various afflictions. What does this tell you about Jesus and about Matthew’s sense of who Jesus cares about – who God cares about? Who do we care about? Do we care about the same people Jesus cares about? Explain. How are Jesus’s priorities a challenge to our society? Now let’s focus on each of these three stories separately. Matthew 8:1-4 the leper What happens in this passage? Recent translations of the Bible mostly replace “a leper” with “a man with a skin disease,” because the word was used for a variety of skin diseases, not just leprosy. Any persistent skin disease rendered a person unclean, under Old Testament law (Lev. 13-14), both in a hygienic sense (such diseases can be transmitted through touch) and in a religious sense (ritual impurity). Therefore, people with skin diseases were supposed to live in isolation, away from others. What attitudes or character traits does the man with leprosy show? In verse 2, the man said, “You can make me clean.” What is the significance of being made clean? How were lepers treated and what would being made “clean” do for him? What does Jesus do? Why is touching so significant beyond just being an action used in the healing? Jesus’s willingness to touch the man violated Old Testament norms both with regard to health and with regard to religious purity, so it was probably shocking to onlookers. In what way does Jesus’s touching the man communicate not only a willingness to violate social conventions but also a special type of caring? What effect does touching someone have? Why does Jesus tell him to tell no one? Why does Jesus tell him to go to the priests? Note that the purpose of going to the priests is to satisfy the priests; Jesus does not make it his own concern – i.e., he does not say, for example, that going to the priests was necessary in order to receive the healing. Jesus stands above the Law, even as he tells the man to fulfill the Law. What do you discern about Jesus’s/God’s character from this incident? Who are we called to “touch” or care for today in or lives, in order for them to receive God’s healing? How might our choice to “touch” people whom society shuns shock people around us, and should that affect us? What should we do about the fact that if we follow Jesus we will sometimes show care for people that others think we should stay away from? Matthew 8:5-13 the centurion’s slave A centurion was a commander of 100 men in the Roman army. He was a Gentile. The Greek word for the centurion’s “servant” is ambiguous and could mean “son.” John 4:46-54 has a similar but not identical story about a royal official’s son. But if we follow the common understanding that it is the centurion’s servant who is sick, how do you think he felt about this servant cared as a person? The centurion was an officer in a hated army that occupied the land, oppressed the people, and treated with harsh brutality anyone who dared to cross it. Why would Jesus want to help him? Jesus says, “I will come and cure him.” What Jewish cultural expectation would that have been violating? Observant Jews did not enter the homes of Gentiles, because they would becoming ritually unclean from any interaction with any unclean items in the home. Why do you think Jesus makes the offer to “come”? How does the centurion see himself relative to Jesus (verse 8) and relative to other people (verse 9)? What does he ask Jesus to do? Why does the centurion think that a word from Jesus will be enough? Matthew 7 ended with a reference to Jesus’s authority. How does this passage help us understand the authority of Jesus? For what does Jesus praise the centurion? What does he think of the centurion’s faith? How does Jesus turn this event into an indictment of the failure of the people of Israel to believe in Jesus? How can we be more like the centurion? Note: We can’t conjure up faith by our own willpower. Faith is a gift. But we can choose to be open, we can take the time to approach God, and we can welcome God’s presence and lordship in our lives. If we create the conditions for faith by nurturing whatever seed of faith we have, that openness can allow faith to grow. Matthew 8:14-17 Peter’s mother-in-law, and many other people What does Peter’s mother-in-law do when she is healed? How can she be a model for us? What happens that evening? In verse 17, what Old Testament passage does Matthew quote, and what does it mean? What is Matthew trying to suggest to us about Jesus? The quote is from one of the Suffering Servant passages of Isaiah, and the Suffering Servant ultimately makes reparation for the sins of the people, so Matthew sees it as a prophecy about Jesus as the Messiah. Take a step back and consider this: In Matthew 8:2, the leper is confident that Jesus can cure him; he is only unsure if Jesus is willing to cure him (he says, “if you wish”). In Matthew 8:8, the centurion is confident that Jesus can cure his servant, and he has a solution to the question of Jesus’s willingness (“only say the word”). With both of those issues laid to rest, the crowds that follow Jesus come with great expectation. When it comes to asking God for healing for yourself or others, do you get stuck on the question of whether God wishes to heal? Do you get stuck on the question of whether God is able to heal? Or are you able to get past both of those questions? In our time, we know that some people for whom we pray are healed and some are not. How do you approach God when healing is needed? There is power in the passage from Isaiah that Matthew applies to Jesus in verse 17. In what ways do you find it to be true of Jesus that he bears our weaknesses and diseases, and how does that help you to approach him in prayer? The next time you pray, how can you approach the Lord with greater confidence that he bears your afflictions? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

What will those who give up earthly goods for Jesus receive? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 19:27-30 What will those who give up earthly goods for Jesus receive? Image by Emma Shappley, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 19:27-30 The rewards of giving up everything for God 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” is metaphorically referring to the fellow believers we will have as spiritual brothers and sisters. It might have a similar meaning 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 call Jesus's downside-up/upside-down 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 Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

Who needs to know about your almsgiving, prayer, and fasting? [Matthew 6:1-4; 6:5-8; 6:16-18] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 6:1-18 Who needs to know about your almsgiving, prayer, and fasting? Image by Omid Armin, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Cropped. Tom Faletti May 9, 2024 Matthew 6:1-18 Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting By the time of Jesus, the Aramaic word for “righteousness” was the same word as the word for “almsgiving.” We have a similar pattern with the word “charity,” which came from a word that originally meant “love” but came to also mean “giving to those in need” – i.e., almsgiving. Verse 1 sets out a general principle regarding religious actions. What is the principle? Jesus will apply this principle to 3 common forms of religious activity or “piety” that the Jews of his time considered to be not just important, but essential, components of religious life: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Verses 2-4 Almsgiving In verses 2-4, what is the behavior that should be avoided? What is the wrong attitude behind that behavior? Jesus refers to them as “hypocrites” because in its original meaning that word was used for an actor in the theatre. He is saying they are putting on a show. In contrast, what is the right attitude or approach to almsgiving? What reward does Jesus say comes with the right attitude and actions? Reward Reread verses 2, 5, and 16. In verses 2, 5, and 16, Jesus says that those who make a show of their piety “have received their reward” (NRSV and NABRE). What do you think he means by this? What are the rewards they have received by giving, praying, and fasting in public? Where Jesus says they have “received their reward,” the word for reward in Greek is a word that can mean a reward for good service (see, for example, its use in Matthew 5:12), but it can also mean pay or wages that have been earned for work (see, for example, Matthew 20:8 – the parable of the workers in the vineyard, and James 5:4 – the workers’ wages you have withheld cry out). As for the word “received,” the Greek word was used in commerce to mean “payment in full” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 185). So they have received in full what is due to them for what they have done. Jesus is implying that these are inferior rewards. What is inferior about these rewards? In verses 4, 6, and 18, Jesus says that our Father in heaven will reward (NRSV) or repay (NABRE) those give, fast, and pray in secret. Jesus does not explain here what these rewards will be. He never teaches that we will have earthly, material rewards. What do you think the rewards of proper almsgiving, prayer, and fasting are? There are many good answers to this question. We find joy in giving for its own sake, regardless of whether anyone knows. We find joy is seeing the good fruit or good results of our giving or praying. We find ourselves changing, becoming more like God, taking on his character as we give and pray. We find our relationship with God becoming deeper. We find that God keeps giving us more good work to do (see, for example, Matthew 25:14-30, where those who have used their “talents” well are given new, greater responsibilities). We are given the opportunity to participate more and more in God’s work to transform the world and reveal the kingdom of God in new ways and places. Verses 5-8 Prayer In verses 5-6, what is the behavior that should be avoided? What is the wrong attitude behind that behavior? In contrast, what should our praying look like, and what attitude or understanding about God should guide our praying? In verses 7-8, what is the behavior that should be avoided? Some people in pagan religions would spend long periods of time reciting long lists of the names of their gods in the hope of getting their gods’ attention. Jesus says we do not need to do this. Why? What is the wrong attitude behind that behavior? In contrast, what attitude should guide our praying? What do these teachings tell us about the nature of prayer? What do these teachings tell us about the character of God? What do these teachings tell us about the character and lifestyle of a Christian? Verses 9-15 The Lord's Prayer We will look at verses 9-15, the Lord’s Prayer , in the next session, after we finish looking at the common threads that tie together what Jesus is saying here about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Verses 16-18 Fasting In the Jewish Scriptures, the Law of Moses only required one day of fasting: on the Day of Atonement (see Lev. 16:29-31), but the Jews of Jesus’s time engaged in much more extensive fasting (see NABRE fn. to Matthew 6:16). In verses 16-18, what is the behavior that should be avoided? What is the wrong attitude behind that behavior? In contrast, what is the right approach to fasting? What is the purpose of fasting? What are the benefits of fasting when done right? Do you find that fasting helps strengthen you in your faith life? Explain. How would you sum up what Jesus is saying in these teachings about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting? There are many good ways to summarize this teaching; for example: Don’t do any of these things for show, but as an expression of your relationship with God and your love for God and his people. Take a step back and consider this: Although Jesus says that God will reward or repay us, he doesn’t provide much detail as to what those rewards might look like. He doesn’t offer us front-row seats in heaven, or two tickets to the Hosts of Heaven choir concert, or a special day at our choice of the finest celestial spas. It’s almost as though he would rather not have us focus on the rewards. What would he rather we focus on? The “reward” for our service to God is to enter into his joy (Matt. 25:23) and be with him forever. You could give, pray, and fast in ways that might help you be prepared to be with God forever, or you could do what appears from an outward perspective to be the very same things, but in a way that does not help prepare you for that life with God. In whatever giving, praying, and fasting you do, how are you doing it in a way that might help prepare you to live joyfully with God forever? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

Adultery, lust, and divorce start in the heart. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 5:27-32 Adultery, lust, and divorce start in the heart. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti May 2, 2024 Matthew 5:27-30 Adultery and lust What does the Old Testament say in Exodus 20:14 and Deut. 5:18? What is lust? Why would Jesus say a person who lusts has already committed adultery in their heart? Is there a difference between committing adultery “in your heart” and committing physical adultery? What is Jesus prohibiting here? Jesus prohibits not only the action but the intense thoughts that underlie or can lead to the action. While Jesus is telling us to reject the thoughts that can lead to the action, we need to make a distinction between uninvited thoughts and the thoughts we nurture. Thoughts pop into our minds all the time. When uninvited, instinctual desires pop into our mind unbidden, that is not, in itself, a sin. When we intentionally nurture those thoughts and enjoy the fact that they are arousing our sexual passions, that is when we are embracing the lust that Jesus is telling his followers to reject. We cannot help looking at people, and our bodies sometimes react to what we see. But when we allow our eyes to linger so that our desires can be fed, then we have crossed the line. Why does he prohibit even entertaining the thought of adultery? What difference does a thought make? Actions begin with thoughts. Choosing to entertain the thought of lust means imagining that you are relating sexually with someone who is not your spouse. To choose to desire something which would violate the marriage commitment, Jesus says, is already a violation of that commitment to have only your spouse. When we look at another person as someone to have sex with, we are looking at them primarily as a body rather than as a whole person. We are called to treat all people as being made in the image of God, to treat them as people carrying infinite human dignity. In what ways does looking at someone with lust violate this principle of human dignity? In verses 29-30, do you think Jesus is actually recommending that people pluck out an eye or cut off a hand to avoid lust? (Would that actually solve the problem of lust, or could a one-handed person still lust?) What is Jesus’s point? Jesus is not speaking literally here. He is using the traditional Jewish technique of exaggeration or hyperbole to emphasize the importance of what he is saying. He is telling us to take our thought life seriously and not to allow our thoughts to linger in places they do not belong. Jesus clearly takes our inner thought life very seriously. Daniel J. Harrington tries to explain the thinking behind what Jesus is saying in this way: “The salvation of the whole person is of more value than the preservation of any one part that may lead to sin” ( The Gospel According to Matthew , p. 29). Myron S. Augsburger says, “We should understand these statements attitudinally, just as the previous injunction is addressed to our thoughts and attitudes. This means taking literally the basic intent of the passage, rather than physically removing the eye. The loss of one eye or one hand cannot in itself prevent a lustful look or thought. The word-picture is to emphasize deliberate, decisive action in dealing with our propensity to sin” ( Matthew , p. 74). Does our culture take our thought life as seriously as Jesus does? What is the prevailing attitude regarding thinking about things that would be sinful if acted upon? Do you take your thought life as seriously as Jesus does? The word translated “hell” in this passage is literally the Greek word Gehenna , which Jesus also uses in verse 22. Gehenna was the valley of Hinnom, a valley running along the south and southwest side of Jerusalem that had an ugly history. More than 700 years before Christ (in the 700s B.C.), it was a place where children were burned in sacrifice to the god Moloch (see 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31-33; and Jeremiah 32:35). That location later came to be known as a garbage dump where refuse was burned, leading to its being used as a metaphor for hell. How can we avoid or fight lust and sins that involve our thoughts? It is a well-known principle that you can’t banish a thought by saying you won't think about it The more you try to “not think" it, the more you tend to focus on it. The only ways to get one thought out of your mind is by replacing it with another thought. So in this case, we need to replace the lustful thoughts with thoughts about good things. Barclay also suggests that a life of action helps. He says of the person struggling with sinful thoughts, “[H]e will certainly never defeat the evil things by withdrawing from life and saying, I will not think of these things. He can only do so by plunging into Christian action and Christian thought. He will never do it by trying to save his own life; he can only do it by flinging his life away for others” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 147). A life filled with good actions and good thoughts has less room for lust. Matthew 5:31-32 Divorce Read Deuteronomy 24:1-4. According to Deuteronomy 24:1, for what reasons might a man give his wife a certificate of divorce? There were two great Jewish scholars in the years before Jesus’s time – Hillel and Shammai – who launched two primary “houses” or schools of thought. The school of Hillel believed in marriage but interpreted Deut. 24:1 so loosely that a man could divorce his wife for any reason, while a woman could never divorce her husband without his consent. The school of Shammai was far less lenient about divorce. In contrast, the Greeks and Romans of Jesus’s time had an extremely low regard for marriage and little disapproval of sexual relationships outside of marriage. Having concubines and lovers other than your spouse was a normal part of society. In all of these cultures, obtaining a divorce was simple. In Israel and Rome, a man could have a divorce by simply writing a statement of divorce witnessed by two people. The Greeks didn’t even require a written statement; a man could simply dismiss his wife in the presence of two witnesses, although the woman at least got her dowry back (Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 148-155). How might Deut. 24:1 have been interpreted more permissively or less permissively? What impact would the permissive practices of these cultures have had on the security of women? How does Jesus redefine the law of divorce? How does this transform the thinking about divorce? Note: Matthew allows an exception in 5:32, which is translated in the NRSV as: “except on the ground of unchastity.” Older translations of the New American Bible said, “lewd conduct is a separate case,” but the current NABRE retranslates it in a way that more clearly upholds Catholic Church teaching on divorce: “unless the marriage is unlawful.” The Greek word that is here is porneia , which was used to describe a range of illicit/unlawful sexual activity and might refer to adultery or might refer to other unlawful situations such as incest. Most Protestant denominations interpret it to refer to adultery and allow divorce in cases of adultery. Catholic scholars argue that if Jesus had meant “adultery” rather than other kinds of “unlawful” situations, he would have used the more common word for adultery, which he uses later in the same sentence. In practice, the Catholic Church offers an annulment process for marriages, allowing annulments in situations where the marriage was founded on a misunderstanding of true marriage, and that misunderstanding of true marriage in some cases might be demonstrated in part by an unwillingness of a spouse to be committed to the sexual exclusivity of Christian marriage. We will hear more about marriage in Matthew 19:3-9. The New Testament also includes Ephesians 5:21-33, which sees the marriage covenant between husband and wife as an image of Christ’s covenant with his people, the church. How does Jesus’s new law on divorce change the status of marriage? How does Jesus’s new law on divorce affect the status of women? Where does our society today fit on the scale of possible views of marriage and divorce? How does it compare to the teaching of Jesus on marriage and divorce? What difference does it make how our society views divorce? What can we do to encourage strong marriages? Take a step back and consider this: Although Jesus’s teachings about adultery, lust, and divorce here could be seen as simply a series of “don’ts,” in the broader context of the Sermon on the Mount these teachings might be better seen as calling for a transformation in a married couple’s thoughts and attitudes toward each other. In marriage as Jesus sees it, husbands and wives are committed to each other. They aren’t thinking about having sex with anyone else. They aren’t looking for a way to get out of their marriage commitments. They are committed to finding their fulfillment in each other. What might we say or do to help reclaim the vision of marriage as a union of committed love where the desire to stray is never nurtured because the commitment to mutual fulfillment is paramount? How can we help married couples to keep their eyes on their mutual commitment to love each other, when the marriage is tested and the temptation to “look at another with lust” arises? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

What are you called to do in the work of God’s vineyard? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 21:33-46 What are you called to do in the work of God’s vineyard? Jan Luyken (1649-1712). Gelijkenis van de pachters van de wijngaard [Parable of the wicked tenants] . 1703. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gelijkenis_van_de_pachters_van_de_wijngaard,_RP-P-OB-45.110.jpg . Tom Faletti August 7, 2025 Matthew 21:33-46 The parable of the tenants who kill the landowner’s son Recall that in the previous passage , Jesus was drawing a contrast between the chief priests and elders, who have failed to respond to the preaching of John and Jesus, and the “tax collectors and prostitutes,” who have come to believe and are therefore entering into the kingdom of God ahead of the chief priests and elders. Jesus tells a second parable that applies to the chief priests and elders. It uses the longstanding image of the Jewish people as God’s vineyard. The image appears especially in Isaiah 5:1-7, a passage the Jewish leaders would have known well. Read Isaiah 5:1-7 . In the Isaiah passage, in the first verses of chapter 5, what did the vineyard owner do? How does this represent God’s love for his chosen people Israel? What has he done for them? What did the vineyard do in response to the owner’s love (see verse 2 and verse 4)? In the Jewish mind, everything that happened was caused by God. They did not make a distinction between what God causes and what God allows . So they saw the destruction of the vineyard – i.e., Israel in Isaiah’s time – as the direct act of God. We, who see a difference between what God causes and what God allows , might see this as a case where God allowed the nations around Israel to attack and destroy Israel (verse 5: “take away its hedge”), rather than that God directly visited ruin upon them. Now return to Matthew 21:33-46 . Who does the landowner represent? Who do the tenants represent? Who do the servants of the landowner in verses 34-36 represent? Who does the owner’s son represent? In Mark 12:8, the tenants kill the son and throw him out of the vineyard. In Matthew, the order is reversed, as they throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. Some scholars see in Matthew’s order a reference to the fact that Jesus was killed outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem (John 19:17, 20; Hebrews 13:12-13). Who are the “other” tenants in verse 41 who the owner will subsequently bring on as his tenants? The usual interpretation of this parable is that the owner is God; the vineyard is Israel (or Jerusalem); the original tenants are the leaders of the people – the chief priests and elders; the servants are the Old Testament prophets, whom the nation of Israel often mistreated and sometimes killed (although Matthew adds that one of them was stoned, which could be a reference to Stephen – see Acts 7:54-60); the son is Jesus; and the new tenants are a new Israel (or the true Israel) composed of people who believe in Jesus. Matthew’s community, a people who received the kingdom, was a collection of Jews and Gentiles. In having so many connections to the story of salvation history, this parable is more like an allegory than most of Jesus’s parables. How does this story portray the chief priests and elders, who will soon ask the Roman authorities to put Jesus to death? What does this story say about the people who are putting their faith in Jesus? What does this parable tell us about God? Notice that the landowner, like God, trusts the workers without standing over them micromanaging every move. He is patient when they rebel. He cares so much about his vineyard that he sends his son. Although he is patient, he does bring judgment ultimately. What does this parable tell us about Jesus? He is not just a prophet; he is God’s son. He will be killed. However, there will be an accounting in the end. Where are we in this story? What does the parable tell us about ourselves? The stone In Matthew 21:42, Jesus ends the parable by pointing to a quote from Psalm 118:22-23 (“the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”). It might also remind the chief priests and elders of the saying in Isaiah 28:16 where God says that he is laying a cornerstone in Zion (Jerusalem) that is a sure foundation for people’s faith. Who is this cornerstone? What happens to the cornerstone? Jesus, the cornerstone, is rejected by the builders – i.e., the leaders of Jerusalem. The quote from the Psalms say that God has done this and it is “marvelous” or “wonderful” in our eyes. How would you explain what is wonderful about Jesus being the cornerstone of our faith and of our relationship with God? When Jesus quotes this passage from the Psalms, how does it answer the question the leaders asked in Matthew 21:23, when they asked by what authority Jesus is doing what he is doing? In verse 43, Jesus speaks judgment upon the leaders. What does he say will happen to them? The passage about the vineyard in Isaiah has similar language. You can read Isaiah 5:11-16 to see that. In verse 43, Jesus says the kingdom will be taken away from them and given to a people who will produce the proper fruit of God’s kingdom. Who are those people, and what is the “fruit” they produce? The early Christians saw this statement by Jesus as being fulfilled when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and scattered the Jewish people. They saw the Church (the Christian people) as the “other tenants,” the people producing fruit. Verse 44 does not appear in many of the early manuscripts, but it is in Luke 20:18 (Luke’s version of this same parable), so it makes sense here. Jesus may be drawing on a couple of Old Testament images: Isaiah 8:14-15 has an image of God as a rock that both Israel and Judah will stumble over, and they will fall and be broken. In Daniel 2:32-35 and 43-45, Daniel interprets a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had, in which a stone that was not made by human hands crushes a statue that represents the powerful nations of the world from the time of Babylon through the time of the Greeks. Verse 44 has been interpreted in many different ways: perhaps the first group is those who humble themselves before God and fall on Jesus in repentance, while the second group is those who resist the saving grace of Jesus. How have you found yourself needing to be “broken” as part of the process of embracing the call of Jesus in your life? In verses 45-46, we see the reaction of the chief priests and Pharisees. This is the first time Matthew has mentioned the Pharisees since Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. The recognize that Jesus’s parable refers to them. What would they like to do, but don’t do, and why? The lines have now been clearly drawn. The political die has been cast. As Jesus foretold before he came to Jerusalem, he is on a clear path to be executed by the leaders of his society. God never forces anyone to do evil. Each person who is opposing Jesus could have chosen a different path. What is Jesus offering to the leaders, as a way to get off of the tragic path they are on? In this story, we are among the “other tenants” who have been given a shot at working in God’s vineyard. What a great privilege that is! What are you doing with your opportunity? How are you working in God’s vineyard? What more could you be doing, to do the work of God? Take a step back and consider this: The range of people circling in and around God’s vineyard is vast. When people encounter Jesus, there are many different ways they might respond: Some are put off by the claims he makes, or the demands he makes, and they reject him without ever embracing him. Some may be living unruly lives when they encountered Jesus, but they see the truth in his calling, decide to follow him, and find themselves being transformed by the relationship they develop with him. Some are raised “in the faith” but do not discover a personal experience of Jesus. They go through the motions of the faith and then fall away or just keep going through the motions without developing a vital relationship with Jesus. These members of our community need a new encounter with Jesus to help them connect with him on an adult level and follow him on a personal level. Some are raised in the church, fall away, and then subsequently have a new encounter that helps them recommit their lives to following Jesus. Some are raised in the faith and develop a personal relationship with Jesus early on that matures into an adult commitment to him without ever falling away. Jesus wants all of them to be part of his team – the people who are working in his vineyard to produce the fruit of the kingdom. Every time the sun goes down, it is a chance to reflect on what we have done today. Every time the sun rises, it is a new day in the vineyard – a new chance to be open to the fruit of God’s Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and to “press on,” as the apostle Paul puts it (Phil. 3:14). Every day, Jesus invites us to take another step. We can ask: What would Jesus like to help you do today in the work of God’s vineyard? What can you do to help someone else stay true to their calling as a worker in God’s vineyard? Let us embrace our calling as tenants in the vineyard of the Lord, in whatever capacity he gives us and in whatever work he calls us to do. Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

Jesus calls his followers to persevere in the face of persecution and links it to the preaching of the Gospel to all nations. How are you sharing the good news of Jesus? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 24:1-14 Jesus calls his followers to persevere in the face of persecution and links it to the preaching of the Gospel to all nations. How are you sharing the good news of Jesus? Modern-day view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, including the Temple Mount and the Eastern Wall of the Old City. Photo by Mustang Joe. 10 Sept. 2023. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jerusalem_from_the_Mount_of_Olives_(53714451089).jpg . Tom Faletti September 5, 2025 Read Matthew 24:1-3 and consider the following background information before going on. In Matthew 21:23, Matthew told us that Jesus had come into the Temple area. Jesus’s confrontations with the leaders and his denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees occur on the Temple grounds – on their turf, in the place where they were used to being comfortable and in control. Jesus’s last words in the previous chapter told us that the Temple would one day be desolate – i.e., deserted (Matt. 23:38). Now, Jesus leaves the Temple area and leaves the city itself. He crosses the Kidron Valley to the east and climbs up the Mount of Olives. The peaks of this mountain ridge are slightly higher than the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives offers a clear, even breathtaking, view of the Temple and the city. Matthew tells us that Jesus’s disciples approach him while he is seated on the Mount of Olives (24:3). The location of this conversation between Jesus and his disciples is significant because the Mount of Olives is mentioned in the Old Testament. Zechariah In the book of the prophet Zechariah (chapters 12-14), Zechariah speaks an oracle from God that later generations interpreted as a messianic prophecy about the coming of the kingdom of God. In his prophecy, Zechariah describes a time when Jerusalem will be attacked and God will act on behalf of Jerusalem to vanquish its enemies. Before the prophecy mentions the Mount of Olives, it makes several statements that Christians interpret as prophecies about Jesus: Zechariah 12:10 says that “when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first born” (NRSV). Zechariah 13:1 says: “On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (NRSV). Zechariah 13:7b says: “Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered” (NRSV). Then Zechariah mentions the Mount of Olives: Read Zechariah 14:1-5 . What will happen to Jerusalem, according to this prophecy? It will be plundered, and the people will be sent into exile. According to Zechariah 14:3-4, whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives to defend the people of Jerusalem from their enemies? God’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. Now, in Matthew, Jesus’s feet stand on the Mount of Olives – Jesus, who is God incarnate. How are these passages relevant to the discussion we saw earlier in Matthew, where Jesu explains that the Messiah (i.e., Jesus) is greater than David? Ezekiel The Mount of Olives also appears at a key moment in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel is warning about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel is describing a vision where he sees the glory of the LORD rise up from the Temple (the first temple, which was built by Solomon) and move toward the east gate of the Temple (Ezek. 10:18-19). The glory of the LORD then moves away from the city to the mountain east of the city (Ezek. 11:22-23). That mountain is the Mount of Olives. Soon after that, the first Temple is destroyed in 586 BC. Ezekiel later has a vision of God rebuilding the Temple, and when the Temple has been properly built and furnished, the glory of the Lord returns to the city from the east and fills the Temple (Ezek. 43:1-4). The book of Ezekiel describes the Lord God moving out of the city of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives before the city is destroyed in 586 BC, and then returning when the Temple is rebuilt. How might this be a foreshadowing of Jesus? These passages from Zechariah and Ezekiel show how the Mount of Olives becomes a significant place in the Old Testament. Because of this background, Jesus’s movement between the city and the Mount of Olives is sometimes interpreted in prophetic or apocalyptic terms. Read Matthew 24:1-14 the destruction of the Temple and the beginnings of calamities When the disciples point out the Temple buildings, which they can see at a distance from the Mount of Olives, what does Jesus say will happen to the Temple (verse 2)? We know that this happened at the culmination of the war from AD 66 to 70, and Matthew’s readers know it because it happened before the Gospel of Matthew was written (probably in the 80s). They ask him two questions in verse 3: When will this happen, and what will be the sign of Jesus’s return as the Son of Man and the end of the world as we know it? Jesus clarifies that these are two separate events and that it will be a long process. What does Jesus say will happen before the end, in verse 5? What does he add in verse 6? What does he add in verse 7? There will be false prophets, wars, and natural disasters. Note that we have seen those repeatedly throughout history, so we should not place too much significance on any particular false prophet, war, or natural disaster. In verse 8, what does Jesus say about those events? Will the end coming swiftly after those things happen? No. In verse 8 he says these are only “the beginning of the birth pangs.” The Jews expected that there would be tribulation and sufferings before the end. What are “birth pangs” and is the time usually short or long between the “beginning” of birth pangs and the ultimate delivery? Jesus says those troubles are just the beginning. In verses 9-12, what does he say will happen to the Christian community? In verse 9, it is interesting to see Jesus say they will be hated by “all the nations.” The persecution reminds us of Matthew 5:11 in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you when they . . . persecute you . . . because of me.” The “all nations” prefigures Matthew 28:19, Jesus’s last instructions before his Ascension, when he tells the disciples to “make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 5:11-12 and verse 9 here suggest that Jesus expects his followers to be persecuted. Where are followers of Christ being persecuted today? Should we expect, or at least be prepared for, persecution? Are we doing the things that a follower of Christ would do that might lead to persecution? Explain. In verse 12, Jesus says, “because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold” (NRSV). Why is it that when a society is in disorder (lawlessness), people are less concerned about others (show less love)? We can see this link between lawlessness and a loss of love for others in our own day. What are some social issues where people’s willingness to be charitable or welcoming or loving toward others might be affected by how they feel about whether their own situation is in good order or out of control? Among many possible examples, here are 2: Those who work for restorative justice in the criminal justice system have experienced this. Reforms that seek to place a greater emphasis on restoration and rehabilitation must be done in a way that it does not become associated with an increase in crime, because if crime rates go up, people are more likely to demand punitive measures and reject rehabilitative or restorative processes. Similarly, it is harder to gain support for policies that are more welcoming toward immigrants when immigration is thought to be out of control or lawless. When people perceive an increase in lawlessness, their hearts grow cold and unloving. What encouragement does Jesus offer in verse 13? Matthew is familiar with persecution and wants to encourage his community to persevere. Why is perseverance important? How is perseverance important for us? What difference does it make? In our own lives, we may not suffer persecution or martyrdom, but we are still called to “endure” (NRSV) or “persevere” (NABRE) to the end. What would it look like in our own lives for us to endure or persevere to the end? In verse 14, what does Jesus say happens before the end will come? Verse 14 reflects a core theme of Matthew: that the good news or gospel must be proclaimed throughout the world. How important do you think this goal is, and why? Note that Jesus does not say that “as soon as” the gospel has been preached to the whole world, the end will come. There are groups today that make it sound like they are engaged in evangelism because they think it will hasten the Second Coming. But Jesus does not draw such a direct link. Moreover, sharing the good news (evangelization) is important for its own sake. People need the good news of God’s salvation and the opportunity to have a relationship with God. Their lives are better when they know Jesus, and they are blessed when they learn how to become more like him. That is why we evangelize. How good of a job do you think we are doing of proclaiming gospel – the good news of Jesus – throughout the world? In what ways are you preaching or proclaiming the good news? What more could you do personally to help proclaim the good news? Take a step back and consider this: God’s people, throughout the centuries, have tried to reach the whole world with the gospel. But it isn’t “one and done” for any particular region or population. First, new generations keep coming, who need to hear about the good news. Second, whole areas that once claimed to be guided by the gospel of Jesus are now considered places where the gospel needs to be preached anew. Some churches even have a word for this phenomenon: they describe some places as “post-Christian,” meaning that Christianity is no longer the predominant religion in that area and Christian values no longer seem to drive the society’s values, so the gospel must be preached again almost from scratch. In what ways is your town, your community, your nation a “post-Christian” society where the gospel needs to be taught from scratch because people don’t even know the basics of Christianity? What would your church have to do to better attract the people of a post-Christian society to spend some time with you and learn more about this “Jesus” whom you proclaim? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

Suggestions for individuals, small group members, and small group leaders. Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Overview: How to Use This Study Guide Suggestions for individuals, small group members, and small group leaders. Link to S pes Non Confundit Photo by Tom Faletti, descending toward Berlin, Germany, June 20, 2024. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 This page has separate suggestions for how to use this study guide for individuals studying on their own, small group members, and small group leaders. Click the appropriate link below: Individuals studying on their own Small group members Small group leaders Individuals studying on their own This study guide walks through Pope Francis's document Spes Non Confundit paragraph by paragraph so that you can engage with it personally and apply it to your life. The guide presents questions that will help you explore Pope Francis’s insights, the Scripture passages he cites, and additional Bible passages that support his points where his document does not explicitly cite Scripture. The guide also suggests activities that might help you put your discoveries into action. You can also be creative in coming up with your own activities. This study guide assumes that you will read the specified portions of Spes Non Confundit before trying to answer the corresponding questions. The document can be accessed online (and printed out, if desired) here: Spes Non Confundit . In this online study guide, there is a link to that document at the top right corner of every page. You can read the Bible passages as you go. It is not expected that you will engage every question with equal intensity. The goal is not to answer every question like a checklist. The goal is to hear what Pope Francis and the Scriptures are saying and then to dig in where God is calling you to new insights and action. When a question asks you to restate what Pope Francis or the Bible says, it helps to check yourself against the actual passage, to make sure you are interpreting accurately. Please give yourself plenty of time for the application questions that speak to your heart at this particular time in your life. Listen for what God is saying to you, and respond. If at the end of a session you have a clear sense of what new insight or action God is calling you to, you are on the right track. Small group members This study guide walks through Pope Francis's document Spes Non Confundit paragraph by paragraph so that we can engage with it personally and communally and apply it to our lives. The guide presents questions that will help your group explore Pope Francis’s insights, the Scripture passages he cites, and additional Bible passages that support his points where his document does not explicitly cite Scripture. The guide also suggests activities that might help you put your discoveries into action. You can also be creative in coming up with your own activities. Although anyone can explore these questions on their own, God can work powerfully when people come together with an open heart and a willingness to share their experiences, learn from others, and explore how God is calling them to action in their everyday lives. This study guide assumes that the group has agreed to read in advance the specified portions of Spes Non Confundit for each session. The document can be accessed here: Spes Non Confundit . In this online study guide, there is a link to that document at the top right corner of every page. Group members may read the Bible passages in advance but are not expected to do so. The study guide indicates when to read the Bible passages. You may access the Bible online or use your own Bible (use your Bible’s Table of Contents to find passages quickly). Groups will not have time to discuss all the provided questions. Group leaders will need to make choices about where to focus based on the direction of the conversation. Help your leaders cover the main points and allow plenty of time for the application questions, without feeling an obligation to cover everything. Let your leaders know in advance if there are particular questions or paragraphs of the document that you are especially interested in discussing. Help the group find the new insights or actions God is calling you to. Small group leaders This study guide walks through Pope Francis's document Spes Non Confundit paragraph by paragraph so that we can engage with it personally and communally and apply it to our lives. The guide presents questions that will help your group explore Pope Francis’s insights, the Scripture passages he cites, and additional Bible passages that support his points where his document does not explicitly cite Scripture. The guide also suggests activities that might help you put your discoveries into action. You can also be creative in coming up with your own activities. Although anyone can explore these questions on their own, God can work powerfully when people come together with an open heart and a willingness to share their experiences, learn from others, and explore how God is calling them to action in their everyday lives. This study guide assumes that the group has agreed to read in advance the specified portions of Spes Non Confundit for each session. Spes Non Confundit can be accessed online (and printed out, if desired) here: Spes Non Confundit . In this online study guide, there is a link to that document at the top right corner of every page. Group members may read the Bible passages in advance but are not expected to do so. The study guide indicates when to read the Bible passages. Group members may access the Bible online or use their own Bible (encourage them to use their Bible’s Table of Contents to find passages quickly). Who can lead: Because a full set of discussion questions is provided here, almost anyone can facilitate a small group on Spes Non Confundit . If you believe in Jesus, are willing to do a small amount of preparation in advance, have an open heart, and have an awareness of social dynamics, you can be a small group leader. For additional support, you can find leadership training materials at Leading a Small-Group Bible Study . Questions in bold are questions a leader can pose directly to the group. Other useful background information is presented in regular font. What to focus on: Groups will not have time to discuss all the provided questions. Group leaders should make choices about where to focus based on the direction of the conversation. Try to cover the main points and allow plenty of time for the application questions, without feeling an obligation to cover everything. Encourage members to let you know in advance if there are particular questions or paragraphs of the document that they are especially interested in discussing. Help the group find the new insights or actions God is calling you to. Bibliography See Jubilee Year 2025 - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/jubilee-2025/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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. 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Will we accept the direction of the Lord or resist? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 11:20-30 Will we accept the direction of the Lord or resist? Image by Paul Jai, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti September 8, 2024 Matthew 11:20-24 Judgment for those who do not respond To understand this passage, you need to know where these cities are. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were cities in Galilee (the province where Jesus grew up, in the northern part of Israel). Recall that when Jesus began his public ministry after John the Baptist was arrested, he moved to Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:13). The other two towns were within 5 miles of Capernaum. These were places where Jews lived and Jesus preached. Tyre and Sidon were north of Israel. They were pagan or Gentile cities on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the province of Syria. Jesus rebukes Capernaum using a quote in Isaiah 14:13-15 about being exalted or brought down that is a prophecy against the king of Babylon. (Similarly, Ezekiel 26:20 says that Tyre will be brought down to the Pit – i.e., the place of the dead.) Barclay tells us that the Greek word for “woe” in “Woe to you,” which is sometimes translated as “Alas,” “expresses sorrowful pity [at] least as much as it does anger” ( The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 13, emphasis in the original). Liddell and Scott similarly describe the word as an exclamation of pain and anger ( A Greek-English Lexicon , entry for οὐαί ). Why might Jesus be feeling sadness or pain for them? How might things go better on Judgment Day for pagans in Tyre and Sidon, and the people in Sodom (the proverbial Old Testament example of evil), than for the Jews that Jesus is talking to here? Do you think that some non-believers might find a better reception on their day of judgment (i.e., when they die) than some people who are part of the faith/church? Explain. Matthew 11:25-30 Rest for those willing to accept Jesus’s yoke Matthew now eases up on the heavy tone. There are two parts to this little passage: a discussion of who receives wisdom and an invitation to come to Jesus and find rest in his yoke. Verses 25-27 Who receives an understanding of God’s message and who does not? Jesus calls attention to the “infants” (NRSV) or “childlike” (NABRE) in contrast with the supposedly wise and educated people. Many commentators interpret the “infants” as referring to the simple, uneducated people who were embracing Jesus (including his disciples) even as the scholarly scribes and those who followed them were not (Harrington, p. 50; ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , Matthew 11:25-27 fn., p. 26). If “infants” means the simple, uneducated people, what is Jesus saying about them in comparison to the scribes and others who think they are wise? Why do you think this upside-down result happens, that the scholarly are unable to grasp what the simple people understand? Jesus is not condemning intellectual exploration. If we thought he was, we wouldn’t be participating in this Bible Study. How can we use the scholarly and intellectual gifts God has given us and still make sure we are on the right side of this simple vs. wise divide? Barclay suggests, “We must be careful to see clearly what Jesus meant here. He is very far from condemning intellectual power; what he is condemning is intellectual pride ” ( The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 15). False wisdom thinks it knows better than God. Simple wisdom submits itself under the tutorship of God. Jesus praises God that the childlike are the ones who “get it.” They are the ones who receive the revelation from God and accept it. Does it seem like Jesus almost enjoys the idea that the wise and intelligent are less able to “get it” than the childlike? If so, why might that be? How does it fit with God’s general approach to humanity? How can we be more like the “infants” and not be found lacking like the “wise and intelligent”? We can be more open and malleable; not see ourselves as smart or important but keep the focus on the straightforward, direct, life-changing message of Jesus. In verse 26, Jesus says to the Father: “such was your gracious will” (NRSV). Do you think it was God’s gracious will that the simple received Jesus’s revelation, that the “wise” did not, or both? Verse 27 sounds like many things Jesus says in the Gospel of John: Jesus’s relationship with God is as the relationship of Father and Son. How does he describe that relationship? Verse 27 suggests that if it weren’t for Jesus, we couldn’t know God; we can know the Father only because Jesus chooses to reveal the Father to us. This means our knowing God is a privilege, not a right. What does this say to you? How is verse 27 important in your life? The fact that Jesus “knows” the Father suggests a real intimacy (he doesn’t just know about the Father). Jesus us draws us into that intimacy. How fully do you think Jesus wants us to know the Father? Who falls within the category of the “anyone” to whom Jesus chooses to reveal the Father? Is this an exclusive little club? If not, what is the implication of this point? Do you show appropriate appreciation for Jesus’s decision to allow you to know the Father? How do you show that appreciation? Are there things you can do to invite more people to, through Jesus, know the Father? Verses 28-30 In verses 28-30, Jesus offers us a tremendous invitation. What does the fact that Jesus says to you, “Come,” mean for you in your life? Jesus recognizes that many are weary and carry heavy burdens. How is it important that he knows that? Do we do what Jesus calls us to do here? If not, why not? Sometimes, we think we have it all figured out or think we should have it all figured out. We think we should be able to manage on our own. Or we may be uncomfortable, or fearful, or don’t want to know what God wants of us. What do you think it means when he says, “I will give you rest”? What do you think “rest” means, in practical and spiritual terms? What is a yoke? What does a yoke symbolize? A yoke symbolizes submission – a willingness to submit to the direction of the one who places the yoke on us. In this meaning, it also symbolizing being given guidance and direction . But a yoke also means an opportunity for service . Animals were yoked when it was time to work. How can taking on Jesus’s yoke provide “rest”? We are not animals, and the yoke is not literal. This is some kind of metaphor. What do you think it means? The rabbis saw the Torah – the Law of God – as a yoke. Jesus, in effect, replaces the Torah-giver (i.e., God) with himself: God gave the Torah as their yoke; now Jesus is giving them his teachings and his guidance as our yoke. How does Jesus describe his yoke? What do you think it means when Jesus says his yoke is “easy”? Barclay says “easy” means “well-fitting,” so it doesn’t chafe ( The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 19). Perhaps that means we don’t feel constrained or bound when we take Jesus’s yoke. How can that be? In what ways is Jesus’s burden “light”? Many people resist faith in Jesus because they think Christianity involves a heavy load of rules to follow. How is Jesus’s burden “light”? How can Jesus’s well-fitting yoke produce rest for our souls? We know physical rest. What is “soul” rest – rest for our souls? Christians can face many burdens, challenges, illness, pain, and loss, even when they tak on Jesus’s yoke. (Jesus even said some of his followers would face persecution.) How can his yoke be “easy” or “well-fitting” even in the hard times? How can it still provide rest? Describe a time when you made a conscious decision to accept Jesus’s yoke/direction even though it wasn’t what you really wanted to do. How did that go? Was the yoke as difficult as you expected? What do you need to do at this point in your life to accept and lean into Jesus’s yoke more fully or effectively? Take a step back and consider this: We noted above that a yoke is a symbol of submission. Some people find it harder than others to accept direction from another person. Some people just want to be their own boss. In the same way, some people find it easier than other people to accept direction from God. The people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum found it difficult to accept Jesus’s leadership. The scribes and their followers found it difficult to accept Jesus’s authority. The religious leadership couldn’t imagine itself taking direction from him. How good are you at taking direction from God and submitting to his guidance? What are the circumstances or times where it is easier or harder for you to let go of your own plans and do what God is calling you to do? Why are those times easier or harder? A master doesn’t explain to a service animal why the animal is being asked to do what is required. But Jesus does in many cases (not always, but often) tell us the “why.” He has revealed to us his plan to transform us into his image, to shine his light to others, to address the needs of the least among us, to love even difficult people so that they too can come to love him, to share his good news with others, etc. How does knowing the big picture goals of the Lord help as we try to embrace his yoke in our lives? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Matthew List Next

Many seek to use him for their own cause, but few want to embrace his total commitment to Christ. Previous Christian Faith Articles Next Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Discipleship, Responsibility, Transformation Many seek to use him for their own cause, but few want to embrace his total commitment to Christ. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Stained Glass.” St Johannes Basilikum, Berlin, Germany. Sludge G. Photo taken 30 Aug. 2009, https://www.flickr.com/photos/sludgeulper/3904027037 . Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dietrich_Bonhoeffer_.jpg . Tom Faletti December 26, 2024 What does it mean to be a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ? Dietrich Bonhoeffer devoted his life to that question. Although his answer shifted over time, his devotion to Christ never wavered and he ultimately gave up his life because of his faith. A new movie, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. (Angel Studios, 2024), tells a gripping tale of Bonhoeffer’s life and execution in a Nazi concentration camp on April 9, 1945, but it provides little illumination of the faith this German pastor expressed so powerfully in his writings and his teaching. At the core of Bonhoeffer’s life was a commitment to the whole gospel and a radical desire to live fully for Christ. Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran minister in Germany when the Nazi dictatorship took power in the 1930s and began to eliminate those it hated. Hitler wanted total allegiance, and that demand is necessarily a problem for Christians, for whom only God is worthy of total allegiance. Most Christians in Germany at the time did not recognize how incompatible the Christian faith was with Hitler’s hatreds, goals, and methods. Bonhoeffer saw the problem from the start and sought to keep Christ at the core of the church’s identity. Bonhoeffer’s life and teachings come in three parts: discipleship, responsibility, and transformation. In each phase of his story, he challenges us to put our faith at the center of our lives. Part 1 Discipleship: Total commitment to every word of Christ Bonhoeffer started out as a pastor, theologian, and college professor, but he shifted course when the Nazis launched their brutal dictatorship in 1933. He left Germany and worked through ecumenical circles to try to warn the church around the world that Hitler was not just a political or military threat; he was a spiritual threat because his demands raised him up as an idol in opposition to God. Bonhoeffer argued that the Nazi regime’s insistence on allegiance to Hitler’s agenda even over conscience and faith was a threat to the very existence of genuine Christianity. In 1935, Bonhoeffer returned to Germany to begin training pastors in what was called the Confessing Church – those who resisted the Nazi regime’s efforts to unite all Protestant churches behind its persecution of Jews and pursuit of transnational domination. His seminary was eventually declared illegal and shut down by the Nazi government. In 1937, he published a book that captured the content of the lectures he gave as he prepared pastors to serve in the Confessing Church. The book never specifically mentions Hitler or what was going on in Germany at the time, but it speaks clearly of the coming persecution and explains what living a life that is fully committed to Christ must look like. The book was titled Nachfolge , German for “Discipleship,” but the English translation was called The Cost of Discipleship . It is most famous for its analysis of the difference between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” Cheap grace is the belief that, because Jesus died for our sins, it doesn’t matter whether we obey His commandments since we have already been forgiven and justified by His death. Cheap grace is “grace without discipleship, grace without the cross” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship , originally published in 1937 in German as Nachfolge ; English revised and unabridged edition published by The Macmillan Company, 1963, p. 47). Costly grace calls us to take up our cross and follow in the way of Christ. Costly grace means we accept and embrace a “single-minded obedience to the word of Christ” (p. 88). Costly grace places the teachings of Jesus first in every aspect of life. When any part of the Church expects little of its members other than an hour on Sunday and a statement of faith — whether that statement is a creed or a “sinner’s prayer” – it has fallen sway to “cheap grace.” But there is far more in Bonhoeffer’s book, and even people who take their faith seriously might be uncomfortable with the severity and absolutism of his approach. For example, according to Bonhoeffer, Jesus’s directive to the rich young man to sell everything and give the money to the poor applies to all of us. When Jesus says that the person who calls someone a fool is in danger of going to hell (Matthew 5:22), Bonhoeffer says Jesus means it literally. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, that means we must do good to them, not just pray for them, because love is not love if it does not take action. When we are mistreated, Bonhoeffer echoes Jesus in saying we are to relinquish our personal rights by turning the other cheek and must never respond to violence with violence. All of Jesus’s teachings are to be taken literally, Bonhoeffer tells us. If we take Jesus’s commands figuratively – as commands intended only for a limited number of people or as aspirational goals that we don’t think God expects us to fully obey – we risk falling into the cheap grace that is no real commitment to Jesus at all. Bonhoeffer argues that, since Christ became one with us in the Incarnation, He is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives. In every interaction we have with other people, Christ is there. He “stands in the center between my neighbor and myself” (p. 112). Since all of our dealings with other people also include Christ, we must embrace the way of the cross, the way of reconciliation, the way of love even for our enemy, in every interaction. That is what it means to love others as He loves us. That is why “any attack even on the least of men is an attack on Christ, who took the form of man, and in his own Person, restored the image of God in all that bears a human form” (p. 341). Since every person is made in the image of God, we must treat every person with love. We “recover our true humanity” when we “retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race” (p. 341). We are called to recognize the connection we have with all other people because that is what Christ did. This call to be like Christ does not apply only to saints or pastors. This discipleship, Bonhoeffer insists, is for all of us. All are called to obey. Reflecting on Bonhoeffer’s call to discipleship Bonhoeffer’s teachings raise many challenging questions. We might ask ourselves: Is the church too willing to let people slide by with cheap grace rather than confronting them with a gospel that demands total commitment? When are the teachings of Jesus (for example, to sell all you have, don’t insult others, turn the other cheek, love your enemy, etc.) meant to be taken literally as absolute commands? Does Jesus want all of us to do all of these things all the time? How are we to respond to these teachings of Jesus? How would our lives be different if we lived them in “solidarity with the whole human race,” as Jesus chose to live in solidarity with us? Who would we need to embrace or include as one of “us” if we were to adopt this solidarity with others as a guiding principle? Part 2 The movie Bonhoeffer (Angel Studios, 2024) tells us that the pacifist Dietrich Bonhoeffer chose to get involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler, but it does little to explore the conflicting feelings Bonhoeffer had. He saw clear spiritual risks in this decision and sought to stay true to the suffering Christ. Responsibility: Free people face difficult choices in this world Bonhoeffer sought to train pastors in an underground seminary as Hitler was consolidating and extending his power in the 1930s. Bonhoeffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship , which is based on his lectures at that time, insists that a life of total dedication to Christ will be resisted by those opposed to Christ and will be met with persecution. To be persecuted is to share in the cross of Christ. Those who suffer martyrdom enter fully into the cross of Christ and live with Him forever in glory. When Bonhoeffer’s safety appeared to be in jeopardy, his friends abroad convinced him to leave Germany. But he soon decided that if he did not join in the suffering of his fellow Christians in Germany, he could not legitimately be part of the rebuilding that he knew would be necessary once Hitler was gone. So he returned to Germany. He was arrested in 1943, imprisoned for two years, and ultimately was hanged shortly before the Allies defeated the Third Reich. The reason why Bonhoeffer was arrested is surprising. For a while, Bonhoeffer worked as a double agent, ostensibly working for German intelligence while also working for the German Resistance. Some of his family members were part of a unit in the Resistance that developed a plot to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer supported that effort. The plot failed, but Bonhoeffer’s role in the Resistance was discovered and he was arrested on April 5, 1943. In 1937, Bonhoeffer had taught that violence was never acceptable for a Christian. He had written: “If I am assailed, I am not to condone or justify aggression. . . . Suffering willingly endured is stronger than evil. . . . There is no deed on earth so outrageous as to justify a different attitude. The worse the evil, the readier must the Christian be to suffer; he must let the evil person fall into Jesus’ hands [i.e., leave the response to Jesus and not take matters into one’s own hands]” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship , originally published in 1937 in German as Nachfolge ; English revised and unabridged edition published by The Macmillan Company, 1963, p. 158-159). But as he saw the enormity of the evil being done under the Third Reich – which was killing millions of Jews and other innocent people and undermining the basic tenets of Christianity by not allowing seminaries or churches to operate if they resisted Hitler’s program – he gradually became convinced that violence was necessary in order to rid Germany of Hitler. I asked Kurt Kreibohm, a retired pastor and tour guide at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer House in Berlin about this seeming contradiction. He acknowledged the contradiction and said that Bonhoeffer agonized over it. Bonhoeffer struggled with the idea that what he was doing was a sin (indicating that he still believed what he had written previously); yet he believed the assassination attempt was necessary to prevent the killing of millions of additional people. He put himself in the hands of God, believing that his participation in the plot was worthy of God’s judgment against him even though he believed it was necessary. In 1942, a few months before he was arrested, Bonhoeffer wrote a Christmas letter to his co-conspirators. In that letter, he discusses the need for Germans to exercise “the free responsibility of the free man,” a responsibility that is “founded in a God who calls for the free venture of faith to responsible action and who promises forgiveness and consolation to the one who on account of such action becomes a sinner” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison , Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works – Reader’s Edition, Fortress Press, 2015, pp. 7-8). Bonhoeffer’s thinking has evolved in the five years since he wrote The Cost of Discipleship . Now, he sees that the need to make concrete decisions in difficult situations presents ethical challenges, and he underscores our responsibility for the actions we choose. He does not take lightly the possibility that he will make wrong choices as he exercises the free responsibility God has given him. At the same time, he believes that God will extend forgiveness and grace to him when he falls short. But it is not cheap grace. The hope of grace comes with an understanding that we are not making decisions merely to suit our own desires; we are accountable to God because God has made us “co-responsible for the shaping of history” (p. 8). He goes on to say: “I believe that even our mistakes and shortcomings are not in vain and that it is no more difficult for God to deal with them than with our supposedly good deeds. I believe that God . . . waits for and responds to simple prayer and responsible actions” (p. 13). We are still called to live our lives fully for God. While he is in prison, Bonhoeffer writes to his best friend Eberhard Bethge about “the profound this-worldliness of Christianity” ( Letters and Papers from Prison , p. 471). Looking back on his life, he writes: I thought I myself could learn to have faith by trying to live something like a saintly life. I suppose I wrote Discipleship at the end of this path. Today I clearly see the dangers of that book, though I stand by it. Later on I discovered, and am still discovering to this day, that one only learns to have faith by living in the full this-worldliness of life. . . . [O]ne throws oneself completely into the arms of God, and this is what I call this-worldliness: living fully in the midst of life’s tasks, questions, successes and failures, experiences, and perplexities – then one takes seriously no longer one’s own sufferings but rather the suffering of God in the world. Then one stays awake with Christ in Gethsemane. And I think this is faith; this is metanoia. ( Letters and Papers from Prison , p. 472) Bonhoeffer’s understanding of faith shifted over time, from seeking to avoid evil to seeking to embrace Christ in the complexities of life in the real world. But he remained focused on pursuing a life wholly identified with the suffering Christ. Reflecting on Bonhoeffer’s call to take the risk of engaging in this world Bonhoeffer is not the only person of faith who has sensed a call to move from saintly separation to a riskier involvement in the world. The challenges Bonhoeffer faced remain relevant to us today: In what ways are we called to embrace difficult choices in a messy world, rather than staying in our safe and saintly enclaves? How can we maintain our commitment to total discipleship to the suffering Christ – to a life lived wholly for God – as we grapple with difficult situations that challenge our previous understandings of how to live the life of faith? How do we embrace the “this-worldliness” of life, as Jesus did while He was on earth, yet stay focused on God? Part 3 The movie Bonhoeffer (Angel Studios, 2024) fails to capture the depth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s faith. His commitment to live fully for Christ is much clearer in his real life than in the film. Transformation: Living “as Christ” in all circumstances Dietrich Bonhoeffer began his pastoral life with zeal in the 1930s, calling all people to a severe adherence to every word of Christ – the life of “costly grace.” Confronted with the enormity of evil in the agenda of Hitler and the Third Reich, Bonhoeffer joined the German Resistance, which led to his arrest and the final phase of his remarkable life. In prison, Bonhoeffer was an enormous force for good. Fellow prisoners found strength and hope because of his encouragement. Even prison guards were impressed by him and helped in the effort to smuggle his prison writings out to the world. Some of the prayers he wrote in prison have circulated widely in the decades since then. Bonhoeffer’s 1937 book The Cost of Discipleship spells out his rigorous commitment to following every teaching of Christ: sell all, turn the other cheek, love your enemy. He urges us to recognize that in every interaction with every other person, Christ is standing between us and them, so we must love every other person. This is what it means to live as a disciple of Christ. Late in the book, Bonhoeffer takes another step. He suggests that in Romans 8:29, where Saint Paul calls us to be “conformed to the image of [God’s] Son,” he is calling us to become “as Christ” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship , originally published in 1937 in German as Nachfolge ; English revised and unabridged edition published by The Macmillan Company, 1963, p. 337). “That image,” Bonhoeffer explains, “has the power to transform our lives, and if we surrender ourselves utterly to him, we cannot help bearing his image ourselves. We become sons of God, we stand side by side with Christ, our unseen Brother, bearing like him the image of God” (p. 337). In prison, Bonhoeffer presented a living example of what he had taught in his book. To those around him, he became a living image of Christ. He had called us to live “as Christ.” He had tried to live wholly for Christ in the jaws of the Third Reich. Now, he brought the presence of Christ into each of the four prisons and concentration camps he was detained in before his execution. In his 1942 Christmas letter to members of the Resistance with whom he worked, Bonhoeffer had described the perspective he had gained as he worked to put his faith into action in the real world: “It remains an experience of incomparable value that we have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short from the perspective of the suffering” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison , Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works – Reader’s Edition, Fortress Press, 2015, pp. 20). He asserts that “personal suffering is a more useful key, a more fruitful principle than personal happiness for exploring the meaning of the world in contemplation and action” (p.20). That solidarity with those who suffer prepared him to be a light of grace and hope to those in prison. Bonhoeffer ends The Cost of Discipleship with a description of the goal of discipleship. The goal, he says, is not to be a perfect rule-follower, even though obeying Christ is a primary mark of a disciple. Discipleship is not about rules for their own sake; it is about living in an intimate relationship with the One who showed us how to live. Bonhoeffer ends his book this way: “If we are conformed to his image in his Incarnation and crucifixion, we shall also share the glory of His resurrection. . . . “We shall be drawn into his image, and identified with his form, and become a reflection of him. That reflection of his glory will shine forth in us even in this life, even as we share his agony and bear his cross. . . . “This is what we mean when we speak of Christ dwelling in our hearts. His life is not finished yet, for he continues to live in the lives of his followers. . . . “The Holy Trinity himself has made his dwelling in the Christian heart, filling his whole being, and transforming him into the divine image” ( The Cost of Discipleship , p. 343). Discipleship means allowing God to live in us, fill us with Himself, and transform us into His image, an image that was placed in each of us before we were born. God gives us freedom and the responsibility to use it to the best of our ability to lives as images of Christ. We do this by embracing the cross of Christ and extending the love of Christ to all, including those who are maltreated and rejected by others – loving all as Jesus did. Our calling is to become wholly like Him. In his writings and in his life, Dietrich Bonhoeffer sought to present a life of total devotion to Christ. The same invitation is made to all of us, because Christ came so that He might dwell in the heart of every person who embraces Him. Reflecting on Bonhoeffer’s call to be transformed into the image of Christ Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not the first person to recognize God’s grand plan: to transform us into the image of Christ. We find his story valuable partly because the times in which he lived were not ideal for trying to live a life wholly devoted to Christ. He faced difficult choices. We honor him not because he necessarily always made the “right” choices, but because he always sought to put God first. How he responded to his times raises provocative questions for us in our own faith lives: If we live “as Christ,” who loves everyone else with the same love with which He loves us, how might that change how we view and interact with other people? In what ways does the idea of becoming a living image of Christ attract you? . . . intrigue you? . . . scare you? To what extent are you willing to say yes to becoming a living image of Christ? How might seeing events from below, from the perspective of those who are outcasts or suffering, help you live as a reflection of Christ in the world? What is the next step God is calling you to take, to help you be transformed into His image and to be a clearer reflection of Christ in your world? In every phase of his life, Dietrich Bonhoeffer sought to live in a manner that was totally committed to the suffering Christ and filled with concern for all who suffer. He encouraged everyone else to do the same. May his desire to fully live “as Christ” be our goal as well. Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). 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Jesus is baptized, subjected to temptation, and starts preaching. Previous Mark List Next Mark 1:9-16 Jesus is baptized, subjected to temptation, and starts preaching. Tom Faletti Mark 1:9-15 Why do you think Jesus chose to be baptized by John? (to be continued) Bibliography See Mark - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/mark/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, 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 Mark List Next