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Paul is writing not just to individuals, but to a church that is standing together and living the Christian life together in faith, hope, and love. Previous 1 Thess. List Next 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Paul is writing not just to individuals, but to a church that is standing together and living the Christian life together in faith, hope, and love. Image by Pedro Lima, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti January 26, 2025 1 Thess. 1:1 Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica This letter begins in the typical form of letters in the Greek and Roman world at that time: with who it is from, who it is to, and some sort of greeting. It is somewhat like the format of many of our emails: Introduction: From: ___, To: ___, and a greeting, which may include words of thanks. The body or “meat” of the email. Personal comments and/or final greetings. Who is the letter from? See Introduction to 1 Thessalonians for a discussion of who the letter is from. Who is the letter to? The letter is to the church of the Thessalonians. The Greek word for “church” is ekklésia , which means an assembly or gathering. It is used in the New Testament to refer both to a local assembly of God’s people (the church at ___) and to the whole of God’s people (the Church). Here, it means the body of Christians in Thessalonica. This means Paul is writing to the Christians there as a group, not just to the leaders or some other specific individuals. It is quite possible that he expected his letter would be read out loud to the whole assembly of gathered Christians on the next Sunday after his letter arrived. How does Paul describe the Thessalonians? Who are they “in”? Think about what it means to be “in” something – to be in a pool of water, in the ocean, in the rain, in the dark. When you are “in” something, you are in some sense surrounded. What does it mean to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 1:1)? In what ways do you experience being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? We are not in God alone, as isolated individuals. Paul is speaking to the church as a group. How might we be more faithful followers of Christ if we remembered more fully that we are all together, collectively, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? In his greeting, Paul makes changes to the standard secular greeting of the time. His word “grace” in Greek sounds a little bit like the word for “greetings” that Greeks or Romans would have used in his time ( New American Bible, revised edition , Rom. 1:1-7, fn.). He then adds the Greek word for the traditional Hebrew greeting shalom , which means “peace.” Thus, Paul has packed a lot of nuance into a simple five-word greeting. What would it mean to you, if someone wished you “grace” and “peace”? If you were among the Thessalonians to whom this letter was being read on a Sunday, what would Paul’s greeting say to you? 1 Thess. 1:2-10 Paul is thankful for the Thessalonians When Paul thinks of the Thessalonians, his primary reaction is thanksgiving. Why? Verses 2-4 Looking at verses 2-4, does Paul think about the Thessalonians very often? In verse 2, how does Paul put his thinking about them into action? What does he do? He prays for them. How often does he pray for them? Is there a hidden secret here? How might our lives be different if, when we think about people and the situations they face, our “thinking” takes the form of praying for them? What difference might that make (for them, but also for us)? In verse 3, what comes to mind about them when he thinks about them? Notice that in verse 3 we see, for the very first time in Christian writing, these three virtues together – faith, love (or charity), and hope – which later become known as the “theological virtues.” Most Christians are more familiar with them as they appear in Paul’s later letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 13:13),where love is listed last and identified as the greatest. The Church eventually joined these “theological” virtues with the four “cardinal” virtues that go back to Aristotle and other ancient Greek philosophers: prudence (or wisdom), justice, fortitude (or courage), and temperance (or moderation). Together, they are known as the 7 virtues. Although Paul refers to the virtues of faith, love, and hope, he does not refer to them in the abstract. He describes each one as an active force as he refers to their work of faith, their labor of love, and their endurance in hope (NABRE) or steadfastness of hope (NRSV). Let’s look at each one separately: What is the work of faith? One possibility is that this refers to the works we do because we believe: “the works resulting from faith (James 2:14-26)” (Peter E. Cousins, The International Bible Commentary , p. 1461). Our faith governs what we do in the present – if it doesn’t, is it really our faith? What does the work of faith look like in practice? What are you doing when you are doing it? What is the labor of love? What does the labor of love look like? How are you “laboring” when you are exhibiting the virtue of love? What is the point of emphasizing their endurance or steadfastness in hope? Why is endurance or the ability to be steadfast so important for hope? Hope is forward-looking. It involves having expectations about the future. Since we haven’t reached that future yet, we need endurance in the present to keep going, to “keep the faith,” in the expectation or hope that what we believe will come really will come. Paul says their hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. How are each of these three words important in their own way for giving us hope: “Lord,” “Jesus,” and “Christ” (Christ = Messiah)? What do you think about the Thessalonians as you view them through the eyes of Paul? How can we be more like the Thessalonians in the virtues we embrace? As you think about these virtues the Thessalonians exhibited, what particular trait or virtue might God be inviting you to grow in right now? What might be a step you could take to embrace that growth? Paul had not spent much time with the Thessalonians – perhaps as little as three weeks if Luke’s compressed narrative is to be taken literally, but certainly not more than a few months. Yet in verse 4 he calls them “brothers.” What does this signal? How would you feel, to have the Apostle Paul call you a brother or sister? Actually, you are his brother or sister in Christ. How does being counted among the brothers and sisters in Christ make you want to live your life? In verse 4 Paul also tells the Thessalonians that they are loved, or beloved, by God. What does this tell you about your own relationship with God? Finally in verse 4, Paul calls them “chosen.” Who chose them, and what does that tell you about them or about God? In what ways are you chosen by God? Is there something you would like to be doing more, or more effectively, because you know you were chosen by God and are loved by God? How might you respond more fully? Verses 5-10 In verse 5, Paul says that it wasn’t his fancy words that made the gospel he preached effective. What are the three things he identifies as the marks or characteristics of his presentation of the gospel? How might the preaching of the gospel be presented “in power and in the Holy Spirit”? How can we allow the power of the Holy Spirit to come through as we tell others about our faith? In verse 6, Paul says that the Thessalonians became imitators of him and of the Lord. In what ways did they become imitators of Paul and the Lord? They imitated Paul and Jesus in adopting a life of faith and in taking on the sufferings (and joy) that Paul and Jesus experienced because of their faith. Paul says the Thessalonians not only imitated Paul and Jesus, they became a “model” (NABRE) or “example” (NRSV) for other believers. How is that so? Notice in verse 6 how they received the word of God with joy in the Holy Spirit. How and why is joy central to the Christian experience? Pope Francis said, “Christian joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit: it is having one’s heart ever joyful because the Lord has triumphed, the Lord reigns, the Lord is at the right hand of the Father, the Lord has looked at me and sent me and has given me his grace and has made me a child of the Father…. a Christian without joy isn’t Christian; a Christian who lives continuously in sadness is not a Christian ” (Pope Francis, “No Fear: Morning Meditation in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae” , 15 May 2015). How can we embrace the joy of the Holy Spirit more fully in our lives? In verse 8, Paul says that what has happened in Thessalonica has “sounded forth” across the entire Greek peninsula and beyond. If the word were to be spread abroad about what is happening in your church, what would the message be? How would your parish or church be described? In verse 9, where Paul describes what the Thessalonians did, he is describing what repentance looks like. Repentance always involves a turning “from” and a turning “to.” What did they turn from and what did they turn to? Note: The “living and true God” echoes Old Testament verses that distinguish the one God from the multitude of dead idols. Paul’s description here can be seen as another set of 3 elements: turning from (the past), turning to (the present), and waiting for the return of Jesus and his deliverance (the future). The third element reinforces his reference to hope earlier. Is this kind of “turning” a one-time thing, or should we regularly look for how we can “turn” to God? In what way might God be calling you to turn “from” or “to” something right now? In verse 10, Paul refers to the “wrath” that is coming. The word “wrath” was used by Jews in Paul’s time as a shorthand for the coming of the Lord at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. The word “wrath” can be misunderstood in our time, because we associate it with human emotions such as uncontrolled fury that do not reflect the nature our divine God (Jesus talked about God’s judgment but never used the word “wrath” to describe it). Paul is saying that if we have made the turn toward God, we can wait for Jesus’s return without fear because he “delivers us” (NABRE) or “rescues us” (NRSV) from final judgment. Scholars point out that in verse 10, the word “delivers” or “rescues” is a present participle, not a future tense, meaning that Jesus has already begun the process and is already, now, in the process of delivering or rescuing us from final judgment. How is that so? Is there something about the Thessalonians that attracts you? How might they be an example for you or your local church? How might you emulate them? Take a step back and consider this: The words Paul uses to describe faith, hope, and love show that these virtues are active and practical. They make a difference in our daily lives. We work out our faith. We labor in love. We stick to it with endurance and perseverance in the present because we have a hope in the future that God is preparing. As the gospel of Christ takes root in our lives, these virtues are infused into us by God. But they are not solitary characteristics. They manifest themselves in, and shine forth in, the community – in us and others acting together as Christ’s Body. How does your work of faith support the church and community of which you are a part? How does your labor of love build up the church and community of which you are a part? How does your endurance in hope strength the church and community of which you are a part? What is God calling you to do in manifesting these virtues that He is working into you? Bibliography See 1 Thessalonians - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/1-thessalonians/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 1 Thess. List Next

What does God want us to see? And once we see the real world as he sees it, how would he like us to respond? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 20:29-34 What does God want us to see? And once we see the real world as he sees it, how would he like us to respond? Artist unknown. Kristus helbreder de to blinde ved Jericho [The Healing of the Two Blind Men at Jericho] . 16th century. Cropped. Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark), Copenhagen, Denmark. Public domain, SMK, https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMSsp689?q=Kristus%20helbreder%20de%20to%20blinde%20ved%20Jericho&page=0 . Tom Faletti July 5, 2025 Matthew 20:29-34 Two blind men call on Jesus as the “Son of David” Matthew now returns to his narrative about Jesus’s walk to Jerusalem. We are now around 15 miles or so from Jerusalem. The city of Jericho was more than 800 feet below sea level, in the Rift Valley that includes the Dead Sea (the Salt Sea). Jerusalem is approximately 2,500 feet above sea level. So, from Jericho, it is climb of more than half a mile in altitude, through canyons and hills, over a 15-mile walk. The road they are walking on is the road that was famous for robbers – the road Jesus talked about in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). Jesus is leaving Jericho, embarking on the climb to Jerusalem, when this incident happens. The story was probably told frequently: it appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mark tells us the name of one of the men: Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46), which suggests that Bartimaeus may have become a well-known member of the church. Matthew has already told us a similar story in 9:27-31. Some scholars suggest that they are the same story told in different ways, but the details of the stories are very different. Who is walking with Jesus? Who starts shouting, and what do they say? What is the reaction of the crowd? When the blind men keep shouting, what does Jesus do? What does he ask them? When the blind men tell Jesus they want to see, what is Jesus’s emotional reaction? What does Jesus do? What do the men’s actions tell us about them? Are they mild-mannered and easily pushed around? Are they easily discouraged? Does their blindness cause them to be ignorant of what is going on in their town? What do these things tell us about them? This is the one chance these men will ever have to be healed of their blindness, and they are not willing to let anything stand in the way of seeking the One who can make a difference in their lives. Are we so committed to seeking out the Lord? What does the example of these men say to us about our own approach to God? The blind men call him “Son of David.” In Matthew’s Gospel, that term is used by people seeking healing – see, for example, 9:27 and 15:22. In the next scene, where Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey, Matthew’s is the only Gospel where that phrase is used by the crowds, who call Jesus the “Son of David.” What does “Son of David” mean? David was the great king of Israel, and the Jews always expected that one day a descendant of David would once again rule them. King Solomon was the immediate son of David, according to the flesh. At the time of Jesus, some people believed that Solomon had powers (verse 7:20 in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, which was written in the voice of Solomon, claimed he had knowledge of nature-based healing methods). Jesus is the “son” of David in the sense that he is a descendant of David, and Christians understand him to be the “Son of David” messianically. The fact that the blind men call Jesus “Lord” and “Son of David” suggests that they recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. Although Jesus previously told evil spirits not to tell that to anyone, Jesus does not tell them to be quiet. Perhaps now that he is so near to his crucifixion it no longer matters. Commentators have always seen this story as about more than a physical healing: it speaks to the issue of spiritual blindness and sight. What do you think this story might suggest about spiritual blindness? Though these men are physically blind, they are closer to the truth than many “seeing” people, who are spiritually blind. How can we avoid spiritual blindness? Jesus doesn’t heal the men immediately. Although their need was probably very obvious, he first asks them what they want and waits for them to give him an answer. Do you think that is true in general in our relationship with God – that God waits for us to ask specifically before he answers? Why? Notice that they don’t say, “We want to see.” They specify what they hope Jesus will do: “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” They are specifically asking Jesus to do something specific. They are not expressing vague hope or a general desire – they are specific. Does this tell us anything about how we should approach God in prayer? What does the fact that Jesus was “moved with compassion” (verse 34) say to you? When Jesus heals the men, what do they do in response? They immediately follow Jesus on the road toward Jerusalem. Thomas Aquinas quotes the early Christian scholar Origen as writing: “We also now sitting by the wayside of the Scriptures, and understanding wherein we are blind, if we ask with desire, He will touch the eyes of our souls, and the gloom of ignorance shall depart from our minds, that in the light of knowledge we may follow Him, who gave us power to see to no other end than that we should follow Him” (Aquinas. “Commentary on Matthew 20” ). In what way might God be calling you to embrace a new ability to see, and follow him? What message do you take from this story for yourself? What does the example of these blind men say to us about how to respond to Jesus? Take a step back and consider this: “Lord, let our eyes be opened” (Matt. 20:34). These blind men wanted their eyes to be opened to see what is going on in the real world. We rightly lay a spiritual gloss on this story as we pray: “Lord, let our eyes be opened to your grace. . . . to your love. . . . to your wisdom.” We would do well to pray that prayer more literally: “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the beauty in your creation that we miss every day.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the beauty in our family members.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the ways our co-workers do wonderful things.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the not-so-random acts of kindness that our neighbors perform.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the beauty in the members of our community who quietly work to address the needs of the people we fail to see.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the suffering of those around us.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the hungry children desperate for food.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the immigrants who want nothing more than a chance to start at the bottom of a new society so they can stop living in constant fear.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the people who are denied health coverage and cannot afford to see a doctor.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the victims of war who fear every airplane that flies overhead, because it might carry the bomb that kills them.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the people who are threatened, doxed, flamed, fired, arrested, silenced, intimidated, or abused for trying to stand up for justice and the truth.” “Lord, let our eyes be opened to see the people you see, whom others do not want us to see.” The blind men asked that their eyes be opened to see, and then they followed Jesus on the road toward his Cross. May that be our prayer too, and may their response be ours as well. What might you already sense that God wants you to “see” – things that you may be missing because you are too busy, or too insulated, or too distracted? What might God want you to “see” that you are not currently focusing on because it makes you too uncomfortable? Once you see, what might God want you to do – the thing that would be your act of following him on the road? 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

Paul takes the long view, seeing present events in light of eternity, and provides early evidence of the doctrine of the Trinity. [1 Thessalonians 2:17-20; 3:1-8; 3:9-13] Previous 1 Thess. List Next 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 Paul takes the long view, seeing present events in light of eternity, and provides early evidence of the doctrine of the Trinity. Image by Chuttersnap via Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/photos/white-and-blue-cloudy-sky-TSgwbumanuE . Tom Faletti January 26, 2025 1 Thess. 2:17-20 Paul longs to visit the Thessalonians In this section of the letter, Paul describes what has been happening since he left the Thessalonians and how much he longs to see them again. When have you been separated – as Paul put it, “in person, not in heart” (2:17) – from someone you cared greatly about? How did you feel at the time and how did you feel when you received news about them or were reunited with them? How do you feel when you see signs of progress in the faith of someone whose spiritual welfare you have been concerned about? In verse 18, Paul says that Satan “thwarted” him (NABRE) or “blocked” him (NRSV) when he desired to return to Thessalonica. He does not specifically describe the obstacle. When the things you want to do are blocked, do you tend to interpret it as Satan thwarting you or as other people making choices that get in the way, or both? Explain. In verse 19, Paul describes the Thessalonians as his crown and joy. The word he uses for “crown” is not the word for the crown of royalty but rather for what an athlete receives after having won a race or other competition – for example, a laurel wreath. He uses similar language years later to describe the Philippians (Phil. 4:1). He is not saying he will get a crown for something he did. He is saying that they are the affirmation that his life was not lived in vain. In verse 20, Paul says the Thessalonians are his glory and joy. In verse 19, he says that their faith is an affirmation that his efforts were worthwhile. When your life is over and you come before God, what aspects of your life will you be joyful about or see as an affirmation of how you lived your life? How does thinking about what might matter to you when you come into the presence of the Lord affect how you want to live your life now? Notice how Paul frequently sees a bigger picture. Nothing ever matters to him only for the moment or only for itself. He is always evaluating everything in the light of what it will look like when we are fully in the presence of God. 1 Thess. 3:1-8 Paul sends Timothy, who brings back good news about the Thessalonians In verse 2, the phrase Paul literally says Timothy is a “co-worker of God.” Many translations soften this to co-worker for God, but scholars suggest the best translation may be “God’s co-worker” (see Collins, “1 Thessalonians,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 26, p. 776, and Cousins, “1 Thessalonians.” The International Bible Commentary , p. 1463). In what ways are you God’s co-worker, working with God to help bring about God’s purposes in your sphere of influence? Paul says that Christians should expect persecution (3:3). Do we live our lives with that expectation? Why or why not? What is Paul’s worst fear regarding the Thessalonians, the thing he most fears might happen as they are persecuted (3:5)? In 2:18, Paul referred to the devil as “Satan,” a word that comes from the Hebrew word for “adversary.” Satan is God’s chief adversary in the spiritual world. In 3:5, Paul uses the word “tempter” – another reference to the devil. In what ways is the devil a “tempter”? How does temptation work in our lives today? What can we do so that our initial openness to the gospel is not in vain? In verses 6-8, what good news does Timothy bring back from his visit to the Thessalonians? Specifically: How do the Thessalonians feel about Paul? How are they handling the persecution? In verse 8, Paul says that “we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord” (1 Thess. 3:8, NRSV). What does he mean? What do you need to do to keep standing firm in the Lord? 1 Thess. 3:9-13 Paul gives thanks for the Thessalonians and prays that he may see them again Why is Paul so full of joy? In verse 10, what is the additional reason he now wants to visit the Thessalonians? Paul says that he would like to “restore whatever is lacking” (1 Thess. 3:10, NRSV) or “remedy the deficiencies” (1 Thess. 3:10, NABRE) in their faith. Many scholars think the meaning is probably that he wants to give them further instruction in the faith, since he may have spent less than a month with them. He might want to address individual gaps in understanding that individual members have, but he is probably thinking about what the community still needs to be taught collectively, as a community. In what areas might you need additional understanding, to be stronger in your faith? What things might be lacking in your local church, and how could you help fill the gaps? Parts of the doctrine of the Trinity are embedded in Paul’s letter In verse 11, Paul prays that he may be able to return to the Thessalonians. There is a significant theological point buried in that prayer. When Paul refers to God the Father and the Lord Jesus, the verb he uses (the word “direct”) is in the third person singular. In English, we sometimes can’t tell the different between the third person singular and the third person plural (“he will direct,” “they will direct”), but the Greek language does a better job of making that distinction. The difference matters here. It’s the difference between saying of two directors of a play, “Sue and Bob direct it” (third person plural) or “Sue and Bob directs it” (third person singular). You would only use the singular if Sue and Bob were in such total union with each other that they always act as one. Otherwise, you would use the plural “are.” Paul uses the third person singular verb . He chooses the verb form that treats God the Father and the Lord Jesus as a unity that acts as one. This was written a mere 20 years after Jesus rose from the dead. We find that Paul already had in his head two key parts of what was eventually worked out fully in our doctrine of the Trinity: the divinity of Jesus (that he was God) and the oneness of the Father and the Son (that the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father were one God, not two gods). In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30), but that was not written down until perhaps 40 or 50 years after Paul wrote this letter. Paul’s language suggests that, from the early days of Christianity, Christians accepted that the Father and the Son were one God. The idea was not the creation of the Council at Nicaea in 325, although that is where some key language explaining it was nailed down. In verse 12, we see another theological development. Paul prays that the Lord Jesus will help the Thessalonians abound in love. That is not a request one would make of a mere human. God is the one who can answer prayer. This indicates that, 20 years after the Resurrection, Paul sees Jesus was as having the power of God. So, to sum up, Paul is implicitly showing that Christians, very early on, believed that Jesus was one with God and was God. See my article When Did Christians First Recognize the Divinity of Jesus? for a more complete exposition of the early Church’s belief in the divinity of Jesus. Some skeptics like to suggest that the doctrine of the Trinity did not take shape until the Council of Nicaea. That is not true. Paul was not concerned with writing formal doctrine, and it took time to work out the language, but the basic idea was there from the beginning: that Jesus was God – not merely a human – and that Jesus was one with the Father. How is the doctrine of the Trinity important to your understanding of the faith? In verses 12-13 what does Paul pray for the Thessalonians? He prays (1) that the Lord may make them abound in love for each other and for all people; and (2) that the Lord may strengthen their hearts so that they will be blameless and holy before God when the Lord returns. In his prayer for the Thessalonians in verse 12, Paul asks that they may abound in love not just for one another but for all. How is your Christian community doing in abounding in love not just for each other but for all people? What could your church do better in order to abound in love for all? What could you do? What does blamelessness look like? What does holiness look like? Why is it important to have our hearts be strengthened in order to be blameless and holy? To what extend are the two parts of this prayer related? Can you actually be blameless and holy if you are not abounding in love for all people? Explain. Compare Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians with your own prayers for those you care about. When you pray for those you love, do you pray that they may abound in love for each other and for all people, and that they may be strengthened in order to be blameless and holy? (Or do you confine your prayers to more mundane concerns?) How might Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians guide your own prayers for those you care about? Take a step back and consider this: We see in this letter that Paul is constantly looking at everything that happens around him from the perspective of what it looks like in the presence of God. The things he hopes will happen now are the things that he believes will have value when we are with God forever. In that sense, Paul is always playing the long game – considering the present in the light of eternity. How might you focus a little less on how things look from your own perspective now, and a little more on how things look from God’s perspective? How would routinely seeing our time in the light of eternity affect how you think and act in everyday life now? Bibliography See 1 Thessalonians - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/1-thessalonians/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 1 Thess. List Next

Living parables: Incidents in Jesus’s ministry that tell a bigger story, including the feeding of the 5,000. [Matthew 13:54-58; 14:1-12; 14:13-21] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 13:54-14:21 Living parables: Incidents in Jesus’s ministry that tell a bigger story, including the feeding of the 5,000. The feeding of the multitude. Hagia Sophia, Trabzon, Türkiye. Late 13th century fresco. Photo by Dosseman (Dick Osseman), 6 Sept. 2018, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trabzon_Hagia_Sophia_Feeding_of_the_thousands_93_080.jpg . Tom Faletti June 6, 2025 In chapter 13, Matthew gathered together a broad group of Jesus’s parables. Now, from Matthew 13:54 through chapter 14, Matthew gathers together some of Jesus’s actions that might be thought of as living parables : stories that reveal something bigger than just what happens in the story. Matthew 13:54-58 Rejection in his hometown of Nazareth What does verse 54 tell us that Jesus does? How do the people react? At root, what is the reason Jesus is not accepted in Nazareth? What is beneath their doubt? Is it jealousy? Insistence on upholding the accepted social hierarchy? Something else? Do you think the proverb quoted in verse 57 is true most of the time, or only occasionally? Explain. Verse 58 says Jesus did not do many miracles there. Why? Read Mark 6:5-6 , which provides a bit more detail. Why do you think that some people who were sick were able to be healed by Jesus? Matthew 13:58 says that Jesus did not do many miracles there, but Mark 6:5 says that Jesus was not able to do many miracles. Most scholars believe Mark’s Gospel was written first, and that Matthew drew from Mark. There are a variety of places where it appears that Matthew made edits to Mark’s words as he incorporated them into his Gospel. In this case, perhaps he did not want to imply that Jesus could be limited. Do you think the reason so few miracles were done was because Jesus did not want to heal people who didn’t believe in him, or because their lack of faith did not provide the right conditions for him to act? Explain. How might we be preventing God from acting mightily in our lives due to our lack of faith? How is this reaction of the people of Nazareth a living example of the parable of the sower and the soils? If we take this story as a living parable illustrating a bigger point for the early church and for us, what might that point be? Matthew 14:1-12 The death of John the Baptist Herod the tetrarch was a son of Herod the Great (the one who tried to have Jesus killed as a baby) and inherited one fourth of Herod’s territory – including Galilee. What happened to John the Baptist? Why had John criticized Herod? Why was John the Baptist killed? According to Jewish historian Josephus, Herod had John killed because he was afraid that John had become so popular that he could start a rebellion (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , pp. 103-104). Is that plausible? From Herod’s perspective, why was John killed? From Herodias’s perspective, why was John killed? From Salome’s perspective, why was John killed? From the perspective of the early Christians, why was John killed? From Herod’s perspective, the matter is political and personal, and eventually touches on his ego and his social standing. From Herodias’s perspective, the matter is personal and also touches on her legitimacy as Herod’s wife, so it is vindication. From Salome’s perspective, it is something she can do for her mother, and also possibly for power. For the early church, John’s death is a passing of the torch and is also a foreshadowing. John was committed to speaking the truth and died honorably for it. Herod was committed to upholding a foolish vow even though it meant an innocent man would die. Staying true to your word doesn’t make you honorable if it means doing something wrong. How do you know when you should stick with a commitment? Should you ever let a commitment go unfulfilled? If we follow Jesus’s command to not swear by anything (Matt. 5:34-37), we will never be in a position where we have to choose between going back on an oath or doing something evil. Some people think Herod was experiencing guilt for what he had done, and that is why he imagined that Jesus might be John, raised back to life. John the Baptist was Jesus’s cousin. They probably had times together when they were growing up. How might Jesus have reacted to John’s execution? According to John 1:35-42, some of the disciples started out as followers of John. How might they have reacted to John’s death? If this story is a living parable illustrating a bigger point for the early church and for us, what might that point be? Matthew 14:13-21 Jesus feeds 5,000 We use the shorthand phrase that Jesus fed 5,000 people, but verse 21 tells us that it was 5,000 men, plus the woman and children who accompanied them; so it was actually far more than 5,000 people. Why do you think Jesus withdrew to a deserted place? How do you think he felt when the people found him so quickly? When Jesus saw the crowd, he had “compassion” for them. What does this say to you? What happens in this story? What does this story tell us about Jesus? What does this story tell us about the crowds of people? They were focused on wanting to be with Jesus, so focused that they chased after him and didn’t pack their bags first. They may not have always been thinking clearly, but they were orderly and open to God. What does it tell us about the disciples? They were caring and practical, even though they didn’t have a miracle in mind. They didn’t know Jesus would care so much. They were instruments of God’s miraculous work. Put yourself in this story. Where would you have been, and what would you have been thinking about what happened? What do you think God wants us to learn from the fact that there were so many leftovers? What do you think God wants us to learn from the fact that so many people were fed? What does this overall story say to you? Why do you think God doesn’t multiply food all the time? Hundreds of millions of people go hungry every day. Nine million people die from hunger every year, including 3 million children. Why do you think God doesn’t feed them all, as Jesus fed everyone here? Note that although God doesn’t fix everything for us, he always welcomes what we bring to him and seeks to transform it to do more – when they said they had 5 loaves and 2 fish, Jesus said, “Bring them here to me” (Matt. 14:18). This story is so central to story of Jesus that it is the only miracle (other than the Resurrection) that is told in all 4 gospels. Christians of all stripes see this story as far more than just a story about a good thing happening to 5,000+ people. It illustrates much bigger points about God and our relationship with God. If this story is a living parable illustrating a bigger point for the early church and for us, what might that point be? From this story, people often draw lessons about the power of God, God’s provision for us, God’s love for us, how much can be done when we take what little have and hand it over to God to what he wants with it, etc. There are some bigger points here as well: First, this story is an anticipation of the Eucharist (Communion), through which God feeds us spiritually today. The language in Matthew 14:19, where Jesus “looked up to heaven” (perhaps in prayer), “blessed and broke the loaves,” and “gave them to the disciples,” is very similar to the actions he took at the Last Supper when he instituted the Eucharist/Holy Communion (Matthew 26:26). What connections would you make between this miracle and the Eucharist/Holy Communion? Second, it can be interpreted as a foreshadowing of the eternal banquet which we will enjoy with God forever in heaven (see Matt. 8:11; Rev. 19:9). What connections would you make between this miracle and the heavenly banquet God is preparing for us? Take a step back and consider this: The Bible shows that God loves situations where lots of people are fed: We see this in the scenes where Jesus feeds thousands of people (Matt. 15:29-39 as well as Matt. 14:13-21). We see it in Jesus’s imagery of heaven as a place where feasting is the norm (Matt. 8:11; Matt. 26:29; Luke 22:29-30; Matt. 22:1-14). We see it in John’s vision of heaven (Rev. 19:9). We see it in the Old Testament, in God’s provision for the Israelites in the dessert (Ex. 16), in the celebration of the Passover feast (Ex. 12:1-28; Num. 9:1-14; Deut. 16:1-8), and in prophecies of the future (Isaiah 25:6). Clearly, God loves feasts and wants us to associate good eating with him. How can you make every meal a reminder of God’s love and a celebration of God’s provision for us? 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

Two responses to Jesus: total opposition and extravagant devotion. How can you show how you feel about Jesus? [Matthew 26:1-5; 26:6-13] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 26:1-13 Two responses to Jesus: total opposition and extravagant devotion. How can you show how you feel about Jesus? Maître François (fl. 1460-1480). Anointing of Jesus , from an illuminated manuscript of Augustine's “ La Cite de Dieu ,” book I-X. Circa 1475-80. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anointing_La_Cite_de_Dieu.jpg . Tom Faletti September 15, 2025 In Matthew 26, we begin Jesus’s “Passion”: the events immediately surrounding his suffering and death on the cross. These are his final 48 hours on earth before he gives up his life for humanity. In the course of his mistreatment, he will be called “Messiah,” “Son of God,” and “King of the Jews.” In Matthew 26:1-13, we see 2 extreme reactions to Jesus: extreme hatred and extreme love. Matthew 26:1-5 Extreme hatred: the chief priests and elders plot Jesus’s death At this time, the high priest was appointed by the Roman rulers. Caiaphas was high priest from A.D. 18 to 36, an unusually long time considering that the average tenure of a high priest was around 4 years at this point in Jewish history. This suggests that Caiaphas was very good at navigating the politics of dealing with the Romans and keeping the peace (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , pp. 361-362). In his book Mere Christianity , C.S. Lewis said that Jesus hasn’t given us the option of being neutral about him: I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (Lewis, pp. 55-56, at the end of the chapter entitled “The Shocking Alternative”) The chief priests and elder have made their choice. What does Jesus say is going to happen to happen? Jesus again states the specific manner by which they will kill him – crucifixion – and says that he will be “handed over” – a passive phrase that suggests that no one is truly in control of him; rather, God is in ultimate control and allowing all of it to happen ( The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 147, p. 669). This term “handed over” will appears frequently in the passages ahead. Jesus has already used it in 17:22 and 20:18 to describe what is about to happen to him. He will be “handed over” multiple times before his death: he will be handed over to the chief priests in 26:45 and to Pilate in 27:2; he will be handed over to be crucified in 27:26; and his body will be handed over to Joseph of Arimathea in 27:58). What is this “Passover” that was about to be celebrated? This is the annual Jewish festival celebrating God’s saving action in the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Who is involved in the conspiracy against Jesus? The chief priests and the elders are the parties to this plot. They are the religious and political leaders and powerbrokers of the society. Notice that the people who seek Jesus’s death are not the Pharisees and scribes , even though they frequently clashed with him. Jesus’s death was not an act of “the Jews” as some amorphous collective. The Pharisees – the Jews most focused on a living a holy life – were not part of this plot except those Pharisees and scribes who also were leaders. Jesus was executed by the scheming of the political and religious leaders, who saw him as too great a threat to their fragile hold on all they held dear. What do the chief priests and elders want to do, and what holds them back? How can a person reach a such an extreme stage of hate that they want to have Jesus killed? When you get focused on protecting what you have, what holds you back from doing wrong? Matthew 26:6-13 Extreme devotion: the anointing of Jesus at Bethany Where is Jesus when this happens? Recall that Bethany is a village on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, where Jesus has been staying each night. Luke and John tell us that Bethany is where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived. In John 11:45-53, the man is Lazarus and the woman is his sister Mary. Here in Matthew and also in Mark 14:3-9 the woman is not named. Luke 7:36-56 tells the story of a penitent woman who anointed Jesus’s feet at the home of Simon the leper. In the other accounts she is not identified as a penitient woman. In Luke and John, the woman anoints Jesus’s feet, but in Matthew and Mark she anoints his head. The differences in details suggest that there may have been 2 events where Jesus was anointed – probably Matthew, Mark, and John describing one event and Luke describing the other – but that some of the details may have become blurred or merged as the Christian community recalled the stories. The word for leprosy could refer to any of a variety of skin diseases, but having any of those diseases required that a person be separated from the rest of society to protect against the spread of the disease. Therefore, Simon was probably healed by Jesus at some earlier time. What does the woman do? Mark 14:5 says that the ointment could have been sold for more than 300 days’ wages – in our day that might be $18,000 to $36,000. She used costly ointment and spread it extravagantly. Why do you think she does this? How does the woman’s action affirm Jesus’s identity as the Messiah? “Messiah” means “Anointed One.” In the Bible, anointing was a way of signifying that God had chosen someone – for example, to be a king as when Samuel anointed Saul and later David. The woman may not have been making an intentional statement about Jesus’s identity as the Messiah – she may have just been expressing her extreme appreciation of him by giving him the most precious thing she owned – but the action does have messianic overtones. How do the disciples react to what the woman did? Notice that the disciples seem to be responding reasonably to Jesus’s clear and repeated concern for the poor. Jesus addresses that concern. How does Jesus describe the woman’s action in verse 10? She has done a good thing for him. We will talk about Jesus’s comment about the poor in a few minutes. Stay focused on the woman for now. What is the significant of Jesus saying that she did it “for me”? Does Jesus’s reaction give you any guidance in trying to judge when an extravagant action might be appropriate? The woman’s action was an act of love, coming from her heart. The disciples’ reaction was an act of practicality, coming from reason. How can we choose wisely in trying to decide when to listen to the heart and when to listen to practical reason? Don’t settle for a glib “always listen to your heart.” Listening to your heart always seems to work out in Disney movies, but in real life people’s lives have sometimes been shipwrecked by uncritically listening to their heart: rash marriages, bankruptcy, unnecessary dangers, and even death have followed those who fail to tame and guide the yearnings of their heart. Yet, excessive reliance on reason can sometimes lead to loneliness, missed opportunities, and a cold and joyless existence. How can we choose wisely when to listen to our extravagant hearts and when to listen to our practical and utilitarian minds? How does a person reach a stage of such extravagant love toward Jesus? The woman proactively seized the opportunity to honor Jesus while she could. If she had waited, the opportunity would have been lost. Are there times when we need to act while we can, to do some service for God, because we might not have the chance later? What does this tell you? Have you ever had a time where, out of love for God, you took an action that was extravagant or exceptionally generous or unusually self-giving? How did it feel to be doing that, and what happened? Is there anything you feel God calling you to do right now, out of love for him, that might be beyond the norm? How might you test that feeling to see if it is genuinely from God? Now let’s focus on verse 11. What does Jesus say in verse 11? The actual phrasing in the Greek does not say that you will always have the poor with you. Some translations get this wrong. The Greek word “have” is in the present tense – you [currently] always have the poor with you (the NRSV gets this translation right). It is not a prediction about the future, nor is it an excuse for not trying to reduce poverty. Why do you think it was true in Jesus’s time that they always had poor people among them? What kinds of societal structures were common in Jesus’s time that contributed to the fact that poverty was common? Why do you think it is true in our present time that we always have poor people among us? Are there societal structures in our time that contribute to the presence of poverty in our midst? Jesus is drawing on Deuteronomy 15:11, which commands God’s people to help the poor: “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” (NRSV). How important is it to God that we care for the needy, and why do you think he cares? This passage does not support the view that poverty is inevitable and therefore we should accept it. First, Deuteronomy tells us to do more than just accept it – it tells us to open our hand to the poor and needy. Second, the Gospel of Mark has an additional sentence that Matthew left out when he shortened the story. In Mark 14:7, Jesus tells us that we can do good to the poor whenever we want. In Mark 14:7, Jesus says that you can do good to the poor whenever you want. How much of a priority do you think we should place on meeting the needs of the poor? Do you think Jesus would be comfortable with a world where Christians just accepted the existence of poverty and didn’t do much about it? Explain. What do you think we should be doing about poverty in our time – individually, through nonprofit organizations, through governments, and in other ways? In Matthew 26:12, what does Jesus say the woman has done for him? What do you think this means? What does Jesus say about the woman in verse 13? What does the example of this woman say to you about your interactions with Jesus? Can you draw any additional conclusions about this passage when you recall that in the previous passage Jesus said that what we do for the “least” among us we do for him? If what we do to those in need we do to Jesus, how might we “anoint” Jesus by the way we treat the least among us? Throughout history, women’s stories have seldom received as much attention as men’s stories and often have not been preserved at all. How does Jesus affirm/elevate women in verse 13 and throughout this story? How might we help affirm the value of what women do in our society? Take a step back and consider this: Jesus affirms that this particular act by this particular woman has lasting value. Not all acts of extravagance have such value. What matters is what has value in God’s eyes, not the world’s eyes. What can you do because of your love for Jesus that will have lasting value in the eyes of God? 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

Everyone can participate: Sharing and living the good news. [Matthew 28:11-15; 28:16-20] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 28:11-20 Everyone can participate: Sharing and living the good news. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti May 31, 2024 Matthew 28:11-15 The guards’ dilemma As we discussed in Matthew 27:57-66, it is not clear whether the guards were Roman guards or Jewish guards. If they were Roman guards, it is hard to understand why they would have gone to talk with the Jewish chief priests. If they were Jewish guards, some observers wonder why they would have been concerned that the governor Pilate might cause them trouble; but one can understand their desire to avoid looking like they were derelict in their duty. On balance, it seems more likely that the guards were Jews, but we do not know. In verse 28:11, Matthew says the guards told the chief priests “everything that happened” or “all that had happened” (NRSV and NABRE, respectively). What in particular do you think the guards said? What plan do the chief priests and elders come up with to address what happened? Why would the guards need to be paid a large sum of money to say this? The chief priests might have been seen as guardians of the Torah or Old Testament Law, but now they have constructed a lie, in direct violation of the Torah, to avoid confronting a new truth that confirms the truths Jesus spoke that they already rejected. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible describes the story concocted in verse 15 as: “A desperate fabrication by the Jerusalem leaders. Their bribe of the Roman soldiers illustrates how willful blindness hardens the heart to resist uncomfortable truths, even in the face of evidence” ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , fn. to 28:15, p. 60). Why is it that people sometimes sacrifice the truth to maintain the status quo? In what ways might we be at risk of resisting uncomfortable truths? Consciously or unconsciously, people sometimes choose to ignore evidence that disagrees with what they think. This can happen in matters of spiritual belief, religious observance, political analysis, business practices, social expectations, and family relations. How might we be at risk of resisting uncomfortable truths in these areas of our lives? How important is it to you to know the truth, to believe what is true, and to speak “the whole truth and nothing but the truth” regardless of the consequences? Matthew 28:16-20 The Great Commission Where do the disciples go? In Matthew, mountains are places where important things happen – for example, the Sermon on the Mount. We do not know what mountain this is. It could have been the mountain upon which Jesus was transfigured (Matthew 17:1-8). The rest of what happens in this passage occurs after they “saw” him. Why is seeing important for believing? In what ways does seeing the Lord in action give us strength to do what we are called to do? What do you think it means when Matthew says they worshipped him but some doubted? This could be an oblique reference to Thomas’s doubting before he saw the Lord (John 20:24-29) or others doubting the resurrection. If so, “some doubted” might be a parenthetical comment, not a statement of what happened after “they worshipped him.” The point is that worship was not the automatic or immediate reaction of everyone. Harrington suggests, “Their doubts (v. 17) may involve the possibility of having such an experience at all or the propriety of worshiping Jesus” (Harrington, The Gospel According to Matthew , p. 113). Matthew does not tell about any ascension of Jesus into heaven. Perhaps he thought that was implicit. Or perhaps he thought that how Jesus returned to the Father in heaven was of little importance compared to the importance of the material he is ending with – that Jesus’s followers were directed to spread the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20, often called “the Great Commission”). Go back and re-read the first part of Matthew 28:7 and 28:10. Back at the tomb, what is the first thing the women were asked to do? Why was their task of sharing important, even though they are not among the “eleven” here? Some people have big roles that draw a lot of attention. Some people have smaller or less visible roles where they pass along the word of God in a quiet, unobtrusive way or perform other necessary but often unnoticed tasks. God uses different people in different ways. All of the roles are important. What are some ways that you might be being called or used by God in behind-the-scenes ways to help spread the good news of Jesus? How might you honor those who do the behind-the-scenes work that help make the more public and visible work of God possible? Sometimes a simple, quiet word of appreciate goes a long way. In verse 18, Jesus says that “all authority” (NRSV) or “all power” (NABRE) has been given to him. What does this mean? As he walked the earth, the fully God but fully human Jesus was restricted in space and time, and as a human exercised only limited power on earth. Having risen from the dead, he has been given, by the Father, all power and authority in heaven as well as on earth. “All authority” means that he can do whatever he chooses to do, and no other power can stop him. Notice that the Great Commission (verse 19) begins with “therefore,” meaning that it follows from Jesus’s statement about his authority in verse 18. Why does the Great Commission flow from Jesus’s authority? Do we live our daily lives as though this is true, that all authority or power has been given to Jesus? Explain. In verses 19-20, what does Jesus tell the disciples to do? What is the significance of baptizing people? What is the role of baptism in our faith? When Jesus tells them to teach people to obey everything he commanded, what do you think is included in the “everything”? Where would you look for the content of what should be taught? Matthew has been making it clear throughout his Gospel that the message of Jesus is for all people of all nations, so this ending is not surprise. As early as chapter 2 (vv. 1-12), Jesus is worshipped by Gentiles (the wise men/Magi). In Matthew 4:24-25, we see Jesus’s message reaching beyond the Jews to people in Gentile territory. In Matthew 8:5-13 he heals the servant of a (Gentile) centurion. In chapter 15, Jesus is teaching and healing Gentiles more broadly. So these final verses are the culmination of a message Matthew has been stressing throughout his Gospel. How important is the universality of the gospel to the Christian faith? How central to the faith is the idea that the gospel is meant for everyone? Different faith traditions think about the Great Commission in different ways. Some consider it to be particularly a charge for the original disciples. Some see it as a mandate for the Church as a whole, but with different people called to different tasks and not all people called to evangelize. Some consider it a command directed toward all Christians. What role do you think you are called to play in spreading the good news and making disciples? Do you think we, the Church as a whole, are doing enough to bring the gospel to “all nations”? Explain. Verse 19 is probably the clearest statement of belief in the Trinity found in the New Testament. This Gospel was probably written in the 80s (AD), which shows that even as early as then Christians recognized that God needed to be described in terms of three Persons. Some skeptics like to claim that the idea of the Trinity was created in the 300s under Constantine. This is simply not true. Although some of the final doctrinal language was worked out then, Matthew 28:19 shows that the concept of the Trinity had already been around for more than 200 years before the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 codified the doctrinal language we use to describe the Trinity. How does talking about God in terms of all three Persons of the Trinity help us to get to know God better? Do you find yourself relating more to one of the Persons of the Trinity than another – for example, do you focus more on God as Father, or relate more to Jesus than you do to the Holy Spirit? What value might there be in trying to relate to God in all three Persons of the Trinity? In verse 20, Matthew ends his Gospel with an assuring statement. What does Jesus say? Considering how daunting it might seem to spread the good news to the entire world, how is this statement comforting? How might Jesus’s assurance that he is with us always be an encouragement that spurs us on to greater efforts? Where in your life right now do you need to hear these words: “I am with you always,” even to the end of time? If you had 30 seconds to tell someone the core of the gospel, what would you include in your short testimony or witness or summary of what the Christian faith is all about? If someone asked you why they should care about Jesus – what difference does it make – how would you respond? Conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel Look back through the entire Gospel of Matthew before answering these two questions: What do you think Matthew wants his readers to do in response to his account of the life and teachings of Jesus? Please don’t stop at something simple like, “He wants us to believe.” Yes, of course he does. But what would that look like? What does he want us to do or how does he want us to live our lives as our response to Jesus? What is your favorite story, quote, or teaching from Matthew’s Gospel, or what part of this Gospel strikes you as most important or most meaningful, and why? [If you are studying together in a small group, ask everyone to respond to at least one of these questions and perhaps both, starting with the first questions and then moving to the second question after everyone who wants to share on the first question has done so.] Take a step back and consider this: Matthew’s Gospel is a call to “go” and “do” – to help those in need, to share the good news, to live a transformed life. Matthew is not content with words; he wants to us to put our faith into action. That is the core of his Gospel. Matthew hopes his Gospel will help us understand at least 5 things: First, Jesus seeks to transform our thinking in response to his downside-up view of the world, to see things from the perspective of those at the bottom of the social scale. Second, Jesus calls us to make changes in how we live our everyday lives, in order to be all that God intends us to be and not just avoid breaking the rules of the Law. Third, Jesus expects us to help those most in need and recognize that when we minister to them, we are ministering to him. Fourth, Jesus calls his followers to share with others what he has taught them and help people become part of the kingdom of heaven. Fifth, this message is meant for all people in all nations, not just an exclusive group or those we like or get along with easily. The good news is for everyone. The kingdom of heaven is open to everyone who responds. This is a visionary life we have been called to, and we have been given the privilege of receiving Jesus’s invitation to live it fully, with him. We can’t do everything, everywhere, all at once. As you end this study of the Gospel of Matthew, what is one thing you might consider doing differently starting right now – perhaps, focusing on one change you can make in how you think, how you live, who you help, how you share, and who you welcome in the life you have in Christ? 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 are you willing to befriend? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 9:1-17 Who are you willing to befriend? “I say to you: Stand up.” Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin, Germany. Photo by Tom Faletti, 24 June 2024. Tom Faletti August 3, 2024 Matthew 9:1-8 a paralyzed man is forgiven of his sins (and healed) Jesus returns home to Capernaum, the city he moved to after he started his public ministry (Matt. 4:13). Matthew leaves out some details we are familiar with from Mark’s version of this story – for example, in Mark’s telling, they let the man down through the roof of the house. What does Jesus see in the men who are carrying the paralyzed man? What does he say first to the man (verse 2)? Why would Jesus focus on the man’s need for forgiveness from his sins? Why do the scribes react so negatively? Mark explains why they think he is blaspheming. They are saying to themselves, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7, NRSV) Unstated but probably also in their minds is that sins are forgiven through sacrifices offered in the Temple. Note that if Jesus were merely human, his claim would indeed be blasphemous, because sin is, at root, an offense against God, and only God can forgive that. Note also that blasphemy is a serious charge. Jesus will ultimately be charged with blasphemy when the religious leaders use it to call for his execution by crucifixion (Matt. 26:65). How does Jesus respond to the scribes in verses 4-5? Some people find Jesus’s statement confusing. The key to understanding it is to picture how easily people could check to see if the statement is accurate. It is easy to say , “Your sins are forgiven,” because no human can verify whether your words have made it happen. But it is hard to claim that a paralyzed person is now able to stand up and walk unless you actually have healing powers, because the evidence will clearly show whether you are telling the truth or lying. For a purely human person, which is easier: to tell someone their sins are forgiven or to tell them they are healed and can now walk? Why? In verse 6, Jesus says that healing the man will help the scribes know that Jesus can forgive sins. Explain how this is so. It is only at this point that Jesus now heals the man. How might this conversation have been important for the man to hear, before he was healed? How do you think the man felt, having his sins forgiven and his body healed? How do you feel when you experience God’s forgiveness? In John 20:22-23, Jesus gives to the apostles the power to forgive sins. How do you see this power flowing through the church today? How do the crowds react to what Jesus has said and done? How is their reaction different from the reaction of the people in the town where the demon-possessed men lived? How does this story ratchet up even further the power and authority Jesus is showing? How does forgiving sins show an even greater authority than stilling a storm or ordering demons to leave a man? What does this story say to you about your own life and your own relationship with Jesus? Go back to verse 2 for a moment. The man was only able to have this encounter with God because some friends brought him to Jesus. How are friends important to our faith? Are there some friends of yours who might need a little help from you to bring them to Jesus so that they can have an experience of God? Introduction to Matthew 9:9-17 : Jesus’s relationship with tax collectors and fasting Having related 3 more miracles, Matthew again takes a break to bring us two more conversations between Jesus and those around him. In both cases, Jesus is trying to give religious leaders a clearer insight into his purpose or mission. In each of these two dialogues, Jesus presents three arguments in response to a challenge. Matthew 9:9-13 going to a party at a tax collector’s house What good thing happens in verse 9? In Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27, the tax collector’s name is Levi, and in Mark 2:15 and Luke 5:29 the party takes place at Levi’s house. The fact that in the Gospel of Matthew this man’s name was changed to Matthew suggests that there may be some connection between this Gospel and this man. However, as our Introduction to Matthew explains, this tax collector is probably not the actual author of this Gospel, even though some sayings in this Gospel may have been handed down from him. Tax collectors (also called by their Roman name “publicans”) were responsible for collecting local taxes in Roman provinces and remitting the taxes to Rome. In Israel, they were Jews who were usually despised for two reasons First, they were seen as collaborators with the imperial overlords who oppressed them. Second, they were seen as extortionists. Tax collectors did not receive a salary. To become a tax collector, they had to win an auction where they made the best bid to collect the most taxes for Rome, and they had to deliver on the amount of taxes they promised. The only way they could make money was by collecting more taxes than they had to remit to Rome. They were allowed to use whatever means were necessary to collect the taxes, and since the more they collected the richer they became, the system was highly vulnerable to abuse. Many tax collectors used extortionist methods to enrichment themselves at the expense of their fellow countrymen. As a result, they tended to be wealthy and hated. The term “sinners” is used repeatedly in the Gospels. It includes people in a variety of occupations, including camel drivers, herders, and physicians (who expose themselves to blood and other impurities that might make them ritually unclean) (Benedict T. Viviano, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 61, p. 649). H. L. Ellison indicates that there is a place in the Talmud where a list of sinners includes gamblers, people who engage in usury, criminals, and tax collectors, among others (H. L. Ellison, “Matthew,” The International Bible Commentary , p. 1131). In both cases, the word appears to focus on people who have made persistent business or vocational choices, not people who have committed individual sins in their private lives. Is Matthew’s decision to follow Jesus a good thing even if he is a tax collector? Are there times when we are skeptical about people who count themselves among the followers of Jesus? How do we deal with that? Why is it significant that Jesus dines at Matthew’s home? What is the Pharisees’ complaint against Jesus in verse 11? The Pharisees were devoted to strict observance of every tiny detail of the Law, with great concern about ritual purity. They would never have entered the home of a tax collector or sinner, much less eaten with them. They think Jesus should have the same view. What are they implying about Jesus? They are implying he is a sinner because he hangs out with sinners. As my Bible Study group member Migna Taveras put it, they are suggesting that “you are who you hang out with.” Matthew has now brought into the light the opposition of both scribes and Pharisees to Jesus. Jesus offers 3 arguments in response to the Pharisees’ concern. First, he uses the analogy of healthy and sick people (verse 12). How does this analogy fit the situation of going to this dinner party? Are we “well” or “sick”? Explain. What might we do when we realize that we and others are a combination of well and sick? Jesus’s second argument (verse 13a) uses a quote from Hosea 6:6 in which God says he desires mercy, not sacrifice. What does that mean? The prophet Hosea, speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel, was trying to call back to God a people who had rejected the Davidic line of kings, set up their own worship practices in place of worship in the Temple, and tolerated and often embraced the worship of other gods. The Pharisees, in their response to Jesus, are rejecting the Messiah in the Davidic line who is, like Hosea, trying to bring a wayward people back to God. Jesus echoes Hosea in saying that mercy is the first thing on God’s mind. How can we embrace Jesus’s call for mercy in our lives? Jesus’s third argument (verse 13b) is that he came to call sinners, not the (self-)righteous. We might find it uncomfortable to be counted among either of those groups. Is there a third option besides “sinners” and the “(self-)righteous”? How is Jesus’s statement that he has come to call sinners, not the righteous, a direct appeal to those who complained? How can we embrace more fully the attitude of the Lord who welcomes sinners, comes for the sick, and extends the mercy of God? What is something specific that you can do differently or do more consistently to by like Jesus? Matthew 9:14-17 John’s disciples and fasting Jesus encounters a third complaint, this time from the followers of John the Baptist. What is the complaint in verse 14? What are they implying about Jesus? Jesus offers 3 arguments in response to this question about fasting. First, he notes that people don’t mourn at a wedding (verse 15). What is the meaning of this seeming non-sequitur? Jesus is the bridegroom, and his disciples are the wedding guests. They do not need to fast while he is present. When Jesus refers to himself as a bridegroom, it evokes several Old Testament Scriptures where God is described as a bridegroom, including Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:20; Hosea 2:14-20. When Jesus says that later they “will” fast, is that an order or just a prediction/prophecy? Jesus’s second point is that you don’t sow a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak (verse 16). What is wrong with doing that? What is Jesus’s point? What does the unshrunk cloth stand for, in this analogy? What is the old cloth? What are we? Where do we fit in the analogy Jesus offers? Jesus’s third point is that you don’t put new wine in old wineskins (verse 17). What is wrong with doing that? What is Jesus’s point? What does the new wine stand for, in this analogy? What are the old wineskins? What are we? Where do we fit in the story Jesus tells? How can we welcome the “new wine” in our lives and live as new wineskins? What about the “old wineskins” who live among us? Is there hope for them? What can we do with them? Note: In 9:15, Jesus gives his first hint of his coming death: “The days will come. . . .” These hints will get stronger and more explicit as we continue in Matthew. Take a step back and consider this: In the story of the paralyzed man, the man’s friends bring him to Jesus and the scribes are resistant to Jesus’s authority. In the story of the party at the home of the tax collector, the Pharisees are indignant that Jesus has befriended these obvious sinners. Whenever Jesus is confronted with a person, he begins with the fact they are created by God and loved by God, and therefore worthy of receiving our welcoming and love. He always sees the whole person – not just one thing they have done, or one aspect of who they are. Therefore, when he sees the paralyzed man, he sees someone who needs both healing and forgiveness. When he sees the tax collector, he sees someone who could be an apostle. When he sees the tax collector’s dinner companions, he sees people who are more than what they currently seem to be. And he wants to befriend them all. How can we put on Jesus’s eyes and see the fuller story of every person we meet, rather than rejecting people because parts of their story are objectionable? Who are you willing to befriend? 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

Mary stands by Jesus at the cross and is with the Christian community at Pentecost.  How can we follow her example of being faithful in difficult times and remaining present with the church? [John 6:41-44; Luke 11:27-28; John 19:16-20, 23-27; Acts 1:13-14; 2:1-4; Galatians 4:4-7] Previous Mary List Next Session 6: At the foot of the cross and in the Upper Room Mary stands by Jesus at the cross and is with the Christian community at Pentecost. How can we follow her example of being faithful in difficult times and remaining present with the church? [John 6:41-44; Luke 11:27-28; John 19:16-20, 23-27; Acts 1:13-14; 2:1-4; Galatians 4:4-7] Quinten Massys (ca. 1466 – 1530). The Crucifixion . Around 1515. Cropped. The National Gallery, London, UK. Photo by Tom Faletti, 28 May 2025. Tom Faletti July 16, 2025 John 6:41-44 Is not this Jesus whose father and mother we know? This passage shows the family-oriented nature of Jewish society in Jesus’s time. It was important to know a person’s family background. Jesus was not a man who came out of nowhere. The people knew his parentage. What does this say to you? In our society, we tend to categorize people in a variety of ways, including based on their family. How important is family background to you? Jesus used familiar things in his parables: fathers, sons, farmers, grain, sheep, etc. He used the concept of a “father” to help us understand who God the Father is. What kind of relationship do you think Jesus had with his father Joseph, and do you think that relationship might have helped him as he considered how to teach us about God the Father? Luke 11:27-28 Bless is the womb / Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it This is another passage where people comment on Jesus’s earthly family relationships and he redirects the conversation to make a bigger spiritual point. What does the woman remind us about Jesus’s mother and her relationship with him? And what is the bigger point Jesus wants us to hear? Jesus keeps stressing the importance of hearing God’s word and doing it. How was Mary a good example of both hearing and doing what God says? How can we be people who are marked by both characteristics: that we hear God’s word and that we do it? John 19:16-20, 23-27 Mary at the foot of the cross Mary is at the foot of the cross. What is she observing? What is she thinking? What is she feeling? Mary is not alone. Who is with her? Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala) is there. Also present is Mary, the wife of Clopas. This could be a literal sister of Mary, but it would be unusual to have two sisters with the same name; so scholars think it is more likely that this is a sister-in-law of Mary. It could be her husband Joseph’s brother’s wife. Also present is the disciple whom Jesus loved, who is traditionally believed to be the apostle John since John is mentioned in the other Gospels but is not named in the Gospel of John. Why is it important that Mary is not alone? Why is it important that Christians not walk the road of life alone? How can the local church be a place where every person has other believers around them and is not alone? What needs to be done for that to be a reality in your church – that no one feels like they are facing the challenges of life alone? In verse 26, what does Jesus say to Mary? What do you think this means? In verse 27, what does Jesus say to the disciple? What do you think this means? How did they respond to Jesus’s instructions? According to tradition, John took Mary with him when he moved to Ephesus. What can we learn from Mary in her obedience to Jesus in this moment? The Gospel of John never names the beloved disciple and never mentions the apostle John by name. It also never names Mary by name. Some scholars believe Mary and John’s names are not used because John is partly offering them as symbols representing all of us. In what ways does Mary represent all mothers? In what ways does John represent all disciples? What does the fact that John and Mary are told to take care of each other say to us about ourselves? How can we be more like Mary and John in our lives? Is there something in this passage that God is using to call you personally to a new step right now? Notice that although in earlier passages Jesus seemed to be distancing himself from his earthly family relationships in order to make bigger points about the family of God, in the end, here, he takes care of his mother. What are our duties to our family members? The bigger-picture point that Jesus has been emphasizing is that family does not give you an inside track to Jesus. All people are called to be part of the family of disciples, the family of God who are followers of Jesus. How can we extend to all people that invitation to be part of God’s family? Acts 1:13-14 and 2:1-4 Mary in the Upper Room We do not know if Mary was with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them in the evening on the day that he rose (John 20:19-23; Luke 24:33-43), but it is quite possible. We do know that she was with them in this passage from Acts. In Acts 1:13-14, what are the disciples and Mary doing? This is after Jesus’s Ascension into heaven, and they are devoting themselves to prayer together, before the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was and still is a Jewish holiday – called Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks. It is on the 50th day after the Passover and it celebrates two things: the giving of the Torah (the Law, the first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures) on Mount Sinai, and the grain harvest for the summer. Why is it significant that Mary is there praying with them? How important is it to our relationship with God to spend time praying with others? Why? Are there things you might consider doing, that would give you more time in prayer with fellow believers? Think about the experience Mary has already had of the Holy Spirit. What do you think it means to her to receive the Holy Spirit now? How might this experience of the Holy Spirit have been different for Mary than her experience of the Holy Spirit as a teenager? Pentecost is often described as the birthday of the Church. That means Mary was present at the birth of Jesus and at the birth of his Church. How is that special? How is the experience of the Holy Spirit important for you? How can you be more open to being filled with the Holy Spirit in your life? How can the Mary we see here be an example for us in our lives? Galatians 4:4-7 Paul mentions Jesus’s mother In Galatians, Paul makes this brief reference to Mary, without naming her by name. What does he say about her? Why might it have been important to Paul to note that, when God sent his son, Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law”? Why does it matter that Jesus was born of a woman – that he entered human existence the way he did? Why does it matter that Jesus was part of the Jewish people who followed the Law? How important is Mary in God’s plan for our salvation? How might we be called to be like Mary, metaphorically, in having Jesus be born of us, to have him come to the world through us? Take a step back and consider this: We have watched Mary go through an extraordinary life’s journey: from a holy but young teenager called by God to do something monumentally unique; through some dangerous times when her baby’s life was threatened and she had to leave everything that was familiar to her; to a special moment when she pressed Jesus to take an action that became the first “sign” of his public ministry; through the excruciating experience of watching her son be tortured to death; to being present when his Church was born on Pentecost. In between the special moments, she lived an ordinary life for 30+ years. Our lives are similarly marked by singular moments scattered amidst the unremarkable routines of everyday life. How can we be ready for the special moments that pop up in our lives amidst the years of mundane, ordinary normality? What can we learn from Mary about those rhythms of extraordinary and ordinary experiences? How can we be like her? Bibliography See Mary - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/mary/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 Mary List Next

Bible Study resources for 1 Thessalonians, to help individuals and small groups explore how the Bible applies to life today: background, commentary, and questions. 1 Thessalonians Introduction to 1 Thessalonians Paul brought the gospel of Christ to the people of Thessalonica despite opposition. 1 Thessalonians - Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thess.). 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Paul is writing not just to individuals, but to a church that is standing together and living the Christian life together in faith, hope, and love. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 Paul’s concern for the Thessalonians is like the love of a mother or father for their children. 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 Paul takes the long view, seeing present events in light of eternity, and provides early evidence of the doctrine of the Trinity. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 Paul’s basic rules for Christian living: sexual purity, love for others, and an orderly lifestyle. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 The return of Christ and how to be ready. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 Living the Christian life in the church. Image at top by Markos Mant, provided by Unsplash via Wix.

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

The poor; the goods of the earth, debt, economic priorities; synodality. (Paragraphs 15-17 of Spes Non Confundit) Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Session 5: Where signs of hope are needed today, part 3, and broader appeals for hope The poor; the goods of the earth, debt, economic priorities; synodality. (Read paragraphs 15-17) Link to S pes Non Confundit Photo by Tom Faletti, Berlin, Germany, June 20, 2024. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 Some of the greatest divisions in the world seem to revolve around economics and religion. In the paragraphs of Spes Non Confundit that we will explore in this session, Pope Francis first voices God’s special concern for the poor. He then offers proposals for responding to the divide between wealthy and poorer nations. Finally, he highlights the Church’s long history of synodality as part of a call for greater unity among God’s people in the Church. Our study guide questions will help us explore how we can live lives that show greater solidarity with the poor, how we might appeal to our leaders to place a greater priority on meeting the needs of the poor and providing justice for all, and how we can promote unity in the Church. Rather than shaking our heads in despair at the challenges around us, we are called to find ways to work for justice and unity in our world and in our Church. Our loving God stands on the side of responsive hope rather than idle despair. Read paragraphs 15-17 in preparation for this session. Paragraph 15 (the poor) 🔗 In paragraph 15, Pope Francis gives an impassioned plea on behalf of the poor. What are some of the ways he sees them being neglected and impoverished? Pope Francis says that when we see “the constant tide of new forms of impoverishment, we can easily grow inured and resigned” (par. 15). What does he mean? Why do we become “inured or resigned”? How does poverty drain people of hope? How can you live a life that is more fully identified with the poor as an act of solidarity? Read 1 John 3:16-17 According to 1 John 3:16, who is our example for how we should treat others, and what do you think it calls you to do as a follower of Christ? What does John tell us in 1 John 3:17? What are some concrete things you could do, on your own or with others, to respond to some of the poverty around you? If Christians engaged in more concerted efforts to help the poor, it naturally would lift the hopes of the poor. How might it also give greater hope to you or others who are doing the helping? Now return to what Pope Francis wrote in paragraph 15. Why does he say that it is “scandalous” that “the poor continue to be the majority of the planet’s population” (par. 15)? Pope Francis is not only concerned with our individual responses to the poor; he is also concerned about the actions of leaders in the international economy. Why does the world need more than just our individual responses? In what ways might it be said that, for world economic leaders, the problems of the world’s poor “are brought up as an afterthought” (par. 15)? How might political and economic leaders do a better job of addressing poverty? Suggested Activities: Explore the work of Catholic Relief Services , which provides developmental assistance to communities in need all over the world and provides opportunities for church members to advocate for governmental action to address poverty around the world. Consider a more frugal and earth-sustaining lifestyle. Distinguish between needs, wants, and luxuries when you are considering purchases. If you save money this way, consider giving some of it to organizations that serve the poor. (Section 4) Appeals for hope In this section, Pope Francis discusses some broader ways of thinking about the issues we face. Paragraph 16 (the goods of the earth, debt, and economic priorities) 🔗 Pope Francis says that the goods of the earth are for everyone, not for a privileged few. This runs contrary to the prevailing view that whatever you own is yours – period, end of story. In paragraph 16, Pope Francis make a specific request of the rich. What does he ask them to do? In the same paragraph, Pope Francis makes a specific request of governments. What does he ask them to do with the money spent on weapons? What do you think about Pope Francis’s requests? Pope Francis is raising questions about the priorities of those who have the greatest impact on how the world’s resources are used. Let’s look at this question of priorities on a personal level and on a societal level. Read Matthew 25:41-42 and 25:45 What does Jesus say about our failure to provide food and water to those who need it? There is enough food in the world to feed everyone, but the food is not distributed equitably enough to meet all people’s basic needs. What does this say about our priorities? What changes is Pope Francis asking us to make in our priorities, and what would your response be? What are one or two things you could do – either directly or as an advocate appealing to people in power – to try to reduce poverty and increase access to food and water? What could people in power do to increase access to food and water? Suggested Activity: Explore the work of Bread for the World , a Christian organization that is the leading anti-hunger voice in the halls of Congress. This group helps church members and other people of good will become advocates for action as it calls on our leaders to take the necessary steps to end malnutrition and hunger in our nation and our world. Read Leviticus 25:13-17,23-24 The Law of Moses prescribed that every 50th year (the jubilee year) all land would be returned to its original owner, so that families would not be indebted forever. Pope Francis quotes from Leviticus 25:23, where the Lord tells the Israelites that they are tenants on the land, not permanent owners, because the land belongs to God. If we viewed land this way in our society, how might that lead to changes in the situation of the poor? We might not be able to implement the full vision of Leviticus 25:23, but what might we do to move closer to a society where people are not mired in debt? In the second part of paragraph 16, Pope Francis raises the issue of debt relief for countries that cannot repay their loans. Debt relief can help address the lingering effects of past injustices related to colonization. Pope Francis notes that economic disparities can be exacerbated by the disproportionate use of the earth’s natural resources by wealthy countries. Would you be willing to support debt relief programs that try to help indebted countries get a fresh start? Why or why not? What might you do to learn more about the history of colonial practices that impoverished so many nations in Africa, South America, and South Asia and the economic imbalances that still affect them? Suggested Activity: Do some research to learn more about the history of colonization, the ways wealthy and powerful nations have extracted wealth from poorer and weaker nations, and how the power imbalances of the past continue to hold back the development of the nations of the global South today. Share what you learn with a friend or neighbor. Paragraph 17 (synodality) 🔗 In paragraph 17, Pope Francis notes that 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, where bishops approved the bulk of the Nicene Creed that we proclaim at Mass every Sunday. The Pope does not mention this merely to remind us of Church history and doctrine, but to illustrate the value and importance of church synods in the life of the Church. Synodality is the idea that we must include all of the People of God as we journey together and discern what God is doing and wants to do in our Church. In paragraph 17, Pope Francis discusses the concept of synodality, which goes back to the early days of the Church. Why does Pope Francis say that synodality is important? How might a synodal approach to Church life help build unity? At the end of the third part of paragraph 17, Pope Francis quotes Jesus’s prayer for unity, which appears in John 17:21. What does Jesus’s call for unity say to us, and how should we respond? According to Jesus’s prayer, how can unity in the Church have an effect that goes beyond the Church itself? How can we support the Church’s efforts to express unity through synodality? Suggested Activity: Reach out to someone in your parish who thinks differently than you on issues related to the Church or politics. Invite them to get together with you for coffee so that you can listen to their perspective. Let the conversation proceed without any intention to convince the other person – just listen and learn. The very act of listening is part of what synodality is about. It helps build unity, even when we don’t agree. Closing question: In these paragraphs, Pope Francis is trying to build a unity of purpose that transcends economic differences, reaches out across national boundaries, and draws together the entire Church. What needs to change in people’s hearts in order for this unity of purpose to be fostered? What needs to change in your heart to help you more fully embrace this unity of purpose? 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. Previous Jubilee 2025 Contents Next