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God patiently waits for us to bear fruit and asks us to be patient with those around us. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 13:24-53 God patiently waits for us to bear fruit and asks us to be patient with those around us. Mustard plants. Image by Manuel from Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/photos/fall-mustard-field-mustard-field-4568733/ Tom Faletti June 5, 2025 We are in the middle of a series of parables of Jesus that Matthew has gathered together in one place. For the next parable, the disciples later ask Jesus for an explanation and get one. We will look at the parable and the explanation together. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Good seed and weeds There is a weed called darnel that looks like wheat in its early stages of growth, but that is poisonous to humans when it matures. This is what the parable is talking about: that you can’t tell at the beginning whether a plant is wheat or darnel. What do you find most striking in this parable? What do the owner’s slaves want to do, and why does he tell them not to? This parable is often thought to be talking about the church. What is the message for the church in the owner’s restraint? If you try to weed out the sinners, you may get it wrong and also weed out good people. Notice that the owner is very steady and confident, while the owner’s slaves are flustered. What does this tell you about our faith? In the parable, the entity who messes up the owner’s field is called an “enemy” (verse 28), and in verse 39 Jesus calls that enemy “the devil.” To what extent do you think the devil is at work trying to mess up the good harvest of the kingdom of God? Jesus says that the seed represents “the children of the kingdom” (verse 38). Notice that this is different than in the previous parable, where we are the soil. Here, we are seed, which God has sown in the world. Seed is sown so that it can produce a harvest. What kind of harvest do you think we are meant to produce? In this parable, the weeds are people. In the simple terms of the parable, wheat doesn’t turn into weeds, and weeds can’t turn into wheat. But in real life, people have the ability to change. What can happen that might make someone turn from being more like a weed to being more like a good seed? What might happen if we are too quick to get rid of the weeds – the sinners? Do you think that one reasons why God doesn’t want to pull up the weeds until the end of the age is because people can change? If so, how what is the message for us in the owner’s restraint? How are we doing in fulfilling this teaching? This parable teaches that there is an ultimate separation of the good and bad at the time of the harvest. What criteria are used to decide who is separated out of God’s harvest? In Jesus’s explanation of the parable, who is responsible for the ultimate separate of the wheat from the weeds, the good from the bad? What does that say to you? There are many answers to this question. Some people see in it a message that God holds everything in his hands, so we can trust him. Do your part. Nurture the harvest, don’t prematurely limit it. What is the message for us in knowing there is a final judgment? Is it more of a warning or an assurance? (You may find in your Bible's footnotes that some scholars think the explanation of the parable in verses 36-43 did not come directly from Jesus but from the early church. There is no way to know this, one way or the other. But either way, the explanation is part of the inspired canon of Scripture, so it doesn’t really change anything. I would like to think that the disciples were, at least sometimes, self-aware enough to know when they were lost and ask for explanations.) The parable we just looked at is the first in a series of parables where Jesus begins by saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like (or can be compared to)….” That doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a particular element of the parable that represents the kingdom. Rather, it means that the actions in the parable resemble in some ways what happens in the kingdom. Jesus is saying: The way things happen in the kingdom of heaven is sort of like the situation where…. A parable is not an allegory; you can’t compare every element of the human story to a specific spiritual element. Rather, we need to look for the overall message of the parable. Some scholars think the key point of the parable itself (verses 24-30) is the need for patience: don’t try to kick all of the sinners out of the church – that’s God’s job at the end of time. Others think the key point is in Jesus’s explanation (verses 36-43), where those who cause sin and do evil face ultimate judgment. What is the key point you take from this parable? Notice that in the end, “the righteous will shine like the sun” (verse 43). Picture yourself shining like the sun in the kingdom of heaven. What is your response to that image? What can you do now, to help you shine like the sun in the kingdom of God? Matthew 13:31-35 Mustard seeds and yeast The mustard seed was used as a reference for a very tiny size. The mustard seed grew to as high as 10 feet in Galilee. Jesus is not claiming that mustard seeds literally turned into giant trees – exaggeration is a common feature in parables and other kinds of stories in Jesus’s time. But Luke uses the word “garden” in Luke 13:19, where Matthew says field (13:31), and the mustard seed turned into a very large bush in a garden, large enough to tower over other plants in the garden. Jesus’s goal was to contrast the size difference, from tiny seed to large bush, not to present a botany lesson. In Matthew 13:33, where Jesus refers to “three measures” of flour, the unit of measure he uses is the sata . Three sata is the equivalent of around 9 gallons, or 144 cups. So he is referring to a huge amount of flour be leavened by the small lump of leavened dough that served as the “yeast” or leavening agent when Jews made leavened bread. What is the meaning of the parable of the mustard seed? What is the meaning of the parable of the yeast? What do these parables tell us about the kingdom of God? What does this tell you about what God is doing in our world? What do you think our role is in this kingdom that is growing so large? We are called to do our part. Even a small act, a small word, can have an influence and make a difference. Is there a lesson here for us when we try to start new efforts to promote the kingdom of God? Are we, in effect, planting a mustard seed? What does that tell us? How is leaven or yeast, which transforms a lump of unleavened dough into something more, an apt metaphor for the kingdom of God? Notice that leaven here is treated as a good thing, whereas in other situations it was considered as something that represented sin. Jesus used every example available to him to make his points. In verse 35, Matthew quotes from Psalm 78:2 to explain Jesus’s use of parables. But in the second half of that quote, he makes an extraordinary claim about Jesus. What is he saying Jesus does? Matthew says that, even though Jesus is speaking in parables, he is revealing things that have been hidden since the creation of the world. Earlier we were told that Jesus speak in parables so that people have to make an effort, open their ears, and soften their hearts if they want to understand Jesus. Matthew is saying that those who don’t make that effort are missing out on truths that humans have not had access to since the world was created. If Jesus’s parables contain such deep truths, how should we respond to them? Matthew 13:44-50 A treasure, a pearl, a net What do the parables of the treasure and the pearl tell us about the attitude we should have toward the kingdom of God? Give the kingdom of God your full effort and support. Most of us are not going to sell everything we have tomorrow. What does it look like in practical terms to give the kingdom of God your full effort and support? In the parable of the net, Jesus again shifts the focus to the final judgment. What is his point? All of the parables are told in figurative language. People sometimes seize on one or another element of a parable and try to take it literally. Seed, yeast, fire, etc. are all figurative illustrations to teach deeper truths. The deeper truths are that God is building a great kingdom and patiently tolerates a lot of evildoing while it is germinating, that participation in that kingdom is the greatest treasure one could have, and that there will be a final judgment that separate those who have embraced God’s kingdom from those who have not. The language in all of the parables is figurative. What do you think the final judgment will be like? What do you think the “separation” of good and evil people will look like in the final judgment? Matthew 13:51-53 Using both the old and the new Matthew concludes this collection of parables with a parable about using all of the revelation that God has given to us. In this closing parable, Jesus compares a scribe to a head of a household. What is the comparison? What is the “storeroom” (NABRE) or “treasure” (NRSV and most other translations)? What do the “new” and the “old” stand for? In verse 52, Jesus refers to a “scribe.” Some scholars think that in Matthew’s church people entrusted with the ministry of teaching may have been identified as “scribes,” so that this passage might be aimed partly at them. In a broader sense, Matthew himself could be seen as a “scribe” who brings forth treasures from both the “new” teachings of Jesus and the “old” teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures. We too, have access to the treasures of God’s kingdom. In what ways are we called to bring forth “treasures” from both the “old” and “new” parts of our faith? Take a step back and consider this: These parables, taken together, present an interesting image of the believer: producing fruit but not prematurely forcing out those who are not doing the same; giving up everything for the kingdom but not separated from the wicked until God does the separating at the end of time. What attitudes and virtues can help us find this balance of being all-in for Jesus but not trying to be the judge who separates out those who don’t? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Jesus wanted the Temple to be a house of prayer and a place of healing. Can our churches and our lives be that, too? [Matthew 21:12-13; 21:14-17] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 21:12-17 Jesus wanted the Temple to be a house of prayer and a place of healing. Can our churches and our lives be that, too? August Jernberg (1826–1896). Kristus utdriver växlarna ur templet [Christ Driving the Moneychangers out of the Temple]. 1857. Cropped. Göteborgs konstmuseum (Gothenburg Museum of Art), Gothenburg, Sweden. Public domain. Photo by Hossein Sehatlou, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Driving_the_Moneychangers_out_of_the_Temple_(August_Jernberg)_-_Gothenburg_Museum_of_Art_-_GKM_0008.tif . Tom Faletti August 4, 2025 Introduction to Matthew 21:12-17, Jesus’s first day in Jerusalem What do you think is the first thing Jesus does after he arrives in Jerusalem and gets off the donkey? Make a courtesy call to the political leaders? Visit the religious leaders and ask for their blessing? Get a permit for a rally where he can preach to the people in the city? Set up a healing tent? As we will see, the first thing he wants to do is heal people, but he needs a quiet place to do it. So the first thing he does is one of the most disruptive and confrontational things he could have done: clear the Temple of the people providing currency exchange services and selling sheep and doves for sacrifice. Matthew 21:12-13 The cleansing of the Temple: Jesus clears the Temple area of commercial business We saw in our study of the previous passage that, in the time of the Maccabees, palm branches were waved as part of the ritual in which the Temple was restored and purified after its defilement by the Greeks. Here, Jesus is addressing what he sees as a new defilement of the Temple. Some scholars see in this passage a reference to Mal. 3:1-3, where the prophet says that the Lord will come suddenly to his temple and “he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD” (Mal. 3:3, NRSV). What does Jesus do in the Temple? Who is the target of his disruption? Why does he do this? Jesus quotes from two places in the Old Testament. Let’s take them in reverse order. A den of robbers When Jesus refers to a “den of robbers,” he is drawing from Jeremiah 7:4-11. In that passage, God tells the people not to boast about the Temple because they are oppressing others and acting unjustly and have turned the Temple into a den of robbers (v. 11) In what ways might the Temple have become a “den of robbers”? The selling and buying took place in the outermost court of the Temple complex – not in the Temple building itself but in the Court of Gentiles. This was the first of several courts Jews had to walk through to reach the Temple itself, which could only be entered by the priests. The Temple tax, which every male Israelite was required to pay yearly, was a half-shekel, which was equivalent to about two days’ wages. However, the Temple authorities would not accept Roman or Greek coins because the emperor’s image was stamped on the coins. They would accept only Tyrian coins (because of their higher silver content) and Jewish coins. The currency exchange fee was about 10% (one gera or ma’a, which was around one-twentieth of a shekel, according to my research). In addition to paying that fee, if you brought a larger coin and needed to have change given back to you, the charge was doubled. So the fee was 10%-20% of two-days’ wages, which was a significant charge for poor people, who didn’t always find enough work to earn a days’ wages every day and who were sacrificing several days of wages to come to the Temple. There was a thriving trade in cattle, sheep, and doves (see John 2:14) for the sacrifices people needed to make at the Temple. For pilgrims, it was hard to bring an animal from far away, so people in Jerusalem sold sheep to them. This could have been seen as a helpful service, unless the prices were set high to take advantage of the pilgrims. Furthermore, you could only sacrifice an animal that was without blemish, and the power to decide if an animal was without blemish was in the hands of the Temple priests. It was easy for the Temple authorities to reject a supposedly “imperfect” animal, so the potential for abuse was high. Doves With regard to doves: Poor people who could not afford a sheep were allowed under the Law to bring turtledoves and pigeons (Lev. 5:7). Also, whereas Israelite men were commanded to offer a lamb, women were directed to offer a dove. Barclay says that price for a dove inside the Temple precincts could be as much as 20 times as high as the price outside the Temple (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 270). Matthew and Mark both specifically mention that Jesus overturned the seats of the people selling doves. In John, he specifically chastises the people selling doves, telling them to stop making his Father’s house a marketplace (John 2:16). Why might Jesus be especially concerned about the selling practices regarding doves? Since doves were the offerings made by poor people, Jesus might have been particularly concerned about how the sellers were taking advantage of poor people. Poor people are easier targets for financial abuse since they have little power to respond, so perhaps the markup was especially large for doves, or perhaps he was concerned more generally about the impact of these practices on the poor. There is one other significant point of background: The high priest Annas had major control over this business and therefore probably took it personally when Jesus drove out the sellers. Are there ways that we can be at risk of turning God’s holy places into places of commercial exploitation? There is a lot of money-making associated with the Christian faith (consider Christian music, Christian books, Bible sales, Christian movies, Christian art, statues, candles, devotional materials, Sunday school materials, etc.). How can we evaluate when it is appropriate, or not, to make money from religious activities? A house of prayer In verse 13, Jesus says that his house should be a “house of prayer.” This phrase comes from Isaiah 56:6-7, where God says that foreigners will come to the Temple and worship there, and it will be a house of prayer for all people. Even if there was no exploitation going on, how might the money-changing and selling and buying have made it hard for this to be a house of prayer? How might this have been particularly problematic for the Gentiles, and why would Jesus care? Jews could go beyond the Court of the Gentiles, to the courts where things were quieter. But Gentiles could not go further and were stuck in the court where the marketing was going on. Do you think that all of the people involved in changing money and buying and selling were evil? Or is it possible that many were devoutly trying to honor God in their lives? Is it possible for Christians today to be faithful believers but not realize that they are caught up in accepted practices that undermine God’s work? What might be some examples? How might we take this message into the business world? What should the Temple have looked like and sounded like and felt like, as a house of prayer? If our churches are to be effective houses of prayer, what do we need to help them look like and sound like and feel like? Matthew 21:14-17 Jesus heals people and responds to the criticisms of the leaders After Jesus has cleared the Temple courts of the sellers, it is presumably a quieter, more prayerful place. What is the first thing Jesus does (verse 14)? Notice that he does this in the Temple – i.e., in the courtyards of the Temple – a place that is crowded with thousands upon thousands of pilgrims. What does this tell you about Jesus? Given that the Jewish leaders have not been friendly to Jesus, what does it tell you about Jesus that he is doing this right in the Temple courtyards? Why do you think the chief priests and scribes are unhappy that children are crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David”? How does Jesus respond (verse 16)? Jesus quotes from Psalm 8:2. This is the psalm that begins, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” The verse Jesus quotes is the very next verse, which says, roughly: out of the mouths of babes and infants, you have [done something – scholars aren’t sure what the words mean here] to silence your enemies. Jesus chooses not to quote the words calling them “enemies” – he is an eternal optimist, hoping people will respond to his teaching. What is Jesus implying, by using this quote? What kind of link is he implying between himself and God? Notice that Jesus defends himself by quoting God’s Word to the religious leaders. How important is it to know the Bible? It is telling that the chief priests had no problem with the hubbub of the animals and the buying and selling and money changing in the Temple precincts, but now they are indignant about the noise of the children’s praise of Jesus. They see (verse 15) the miracles of healing that Jesus is performing. Yet they are indignant about the children, rather than moved by the healings. The chief priests may be unhappy that Jesus is healing people in the Temple precincts. Leviticus 21:16-23 said that people with a “blemish” – i.e., a physical deformity or deficiency – were not supposed to approach the altar. But Jesus is welcoming them right there in the Temple precincts, not far from the altar. The chief priests and scribes are more focused on their ideas about what the Temple should look like than on the good that Jesus is doing. Are we sometimes like that too, focused on our rules and preconceptions and missing the good that God is doing? Do any examples come to mind? If so, how might you do things differently? Jesus spends the night in Bethany, presumably with his friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Martha and Mary are mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, and all three of them are mentioned in the Gospel of John. Take a step back and consider this: Jesus had had a special fondness for the Temple at least since he was 12 years old, when he first called it “my Father’s house” (Luke 2:49). He clearly believed that this was a special place – a place where heaven and earth meet and people have a special opportunity to commune with God. He is now making it not only a place where prayer can happen, but also a place where healings happen. Are there places that you think of as specially graced for prayer, healing, and communion with God? If so, how do you nurture the prayerfulness of those spaces? We are not bound to a Temple as the unique place where God resides, but rather have come to understand that every Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who resides in us. What are some things we might consider doing to make our hearts, our souls, our very selves more fitting places of prayer, and healing, and communion with God? What can you do to nurture a spirit of prayer and healing in your own life? 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 danger of riches: What kind of grip do they have on you? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 19:16-22 The danger of riches: What kind of grip do they have on you? Image by freestocks, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 19:16-22 The rich young man Why do you think Jesus starts off by asking the man why he is asking about the good? Describe the young man. Besides being rich, what kind of person was he? Some people might say that the young man was a “good person” who also happened to be rich. Do you know people like that? Others might say he was person who followed religious rules but kept his wealth to himself and didn’t care about the poor. Do you know people like that? In verse 16, the young man asks: What good deed (singular) must I do? At first, it sounds like he thinks there is one magic step that would guarantee him eternal life. How would you answer, if someone asked you what is the one thing they need to do to go to heaven? My answer, which would show that faith (and life) is more complicated than that, might be: The one thing you need to do is to give every part of your life over to Jesus to serve him. In other words, there isn’t one simple, single thing. When the young man asks which commandments he needs to keep, what is Jesus’s response? Notice that Jesus includes not only parts of the Ten Commandments but also to love your neighbor as yourself. How does that up the ante for what is expected? In verse 20, we find out what the heart of the problem is. This young man has been striving valiantly to fulfill all of the laws in the Old Testament (and there were very many! – 613 of them). He still feels a void. The very fact that he is asking this question, rather than feeling smug in his devotion to the Law, tells you the internal struggle he is going through. You can hear the pain in his voice as he asks, “What do I still lack?” (19:20, NABRE) Have you ever hit a point in your spiritual life where you felt like you were doing everything you were supposed to be doing and it still wasn’t enough? If so, what did you learn from that time of struggle? In verse 21, Jesus prefaces his directive to sell all with the phrase, “If you wish to be perfect.” The Greek word translated “perfect” here means complete or finished and responds to the man’s sense of being unfinished in his pursuit of eternal life. Jesus is inviting the young man to a new level of perfection or completion in his desire to follow God. In verse 21, Jesus tells the young man that to address what he feels is lacking in his life, he needs to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and come follow Jesus – i.e., follow him completely, without any earthly attachments. How might that address what the young man feels is lacking in his life? Do you think this directive to sell all you have applies to all people, or was it specifically chosen to meet the need of this young man? Consider that while many people shared from their wealth in the early church, they were not required to do so – see, for example, Acts 5:1-4. Also consider friends of Jesus such as Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, who did not sell all they had and follow him. If we don’t give up our possessions, does that mean we can’t be “perfect”? Does it mean we can’t go to heaven? Does it mean there is some stage of discipleship that we will miss out on? Why might riches be an obstacle to perfect discipleship? Members of my Bible Study group offered answers such as: They might lead people to think they don’t need God. They might be a distraction from what is important to God. They might cause us to put our focus on material things instead of the things that matter most to God. They might encourage us to focus on ourselves, our own ego and interests, and become selfish. For you, how might your possessions and wealth (however big or small) be an obstacle to following Jesus more perfectly or completely? Some people think that Jesus was asking this particular young man to take the step he needed to take to fulfill his calling, but that it does not necessarily apply to all people. Why might this not apply to everyone? What might be the particular step you need to take to fulfill your calling? Take a step back and consider: Since each of us is unique, it wouldn’t be surprising that what one person needs is different than what another person needs. One person feels called to the priesthood, another to a marriage relationship, and a third never feels a tug in either of those directions. One person feels called to government service and another to the world of high finance. One person is a prosecutor while another is a public defender. One person feels called to the interior life of prayer and meditation, while another is devoted to a wide range of social relationships and activities. God has made each of us unique. Yet whoever we are, wherever we are, we need to come to grips with our relationship with possessions. Even a hermit might have to struggle with this: Where do “things” fit into my life and how do they affect my spiritual life? There are many people who will tell you how to deal with the possessions in your house, whether by buying closet organizers, sorting things into piles, or gently giving them away. Jesus’s concern here is not where you put your possessions, but what hold they might have on your heart. What is your current relationship with your possessions? Do you give them an appropriate priority, or do they tend to overshadow things that are more important? Are things that have a “grip” on you that you need to break free from? Is there something you need to do with your possessions to address something lacking in your spiritual life? 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

How to pray: The Lord’s Prayer shows the way. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 6:9-15 How to pray: The Lord’s Prayer shows the way. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti May 18, 2024 Matthew 6:9-15 The Lord’s Prayer: How to pray This prayer has two parts: 3 petitions focused on God and 3 petitions focused on our needs. How does the prayer known today as “the Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father” begin? What does this first part – "Our Father who art in heaven" – say about the nature and character of God? “Heaven” tell us God is not human, or like a human. “Father” tells us what God is like – what God’s character is, relative to us. Note: Matthew is writing in Greek and here uses the Greek word for “father.” However, if Jesus taught the prayer in Aramaic, he might have used the more intimate Aramaic word “Abba,” which means “Daddy.” “Abba” only appears 3 times in the New Testament – in Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; and Galatians 4:6 – but it casts a new light on our relationship with God that is not taught prior to Jesus. What does this beginning of the prayer say about our relationship to God? . . . and our relationship with each other? This part of the prayer establishes that we are children of God – and therefore that we are brothers and sisters of each other. What does “hallowed be thy name” mean? “Hallowed” establishes that God, by his very nature, is holy. In combination with “heaven” it establishes that God has a supreme degree of holiness, and this indicates a distinction between God and us. Is this just about treating God’s name with respect, or is there more to it? What are some ways we can “hallow” God’s name in our everyday living? Verse 10 has the form of a typical Jewish couplet: two statements that say the same thing in different ways, so that the second amplifies the first (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 211-212). How do “thy kingdom come” and “thy will be done on earth as in heaven” make the same point? How does the second petition in verse 10 – “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – go further than or further explain the first of these petitions? The petitions in verse 10 suggest that wherever God’s will is done, there the kingdom of God is. Anywhere on Earth where the will of God is being done is part of the kingdom. What does this say to you about how you live your life? Barclay suggests that the last 3 petitions in this prayer focus our attention on 3 great human needs that are related to the present, past, and future: bread now, forgiveness for what we have done in the past, and help in future temptation. He also suggests that these petitions point us to God the Father as Creator (bread), God the Son as savior/redeemer (forgiveness), and God the Holy Spirit as source of strength and guidance (in temptation) (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 199). What do you think Jesus meant by “bread”? Is it just about meeting our physical need for food? Is it about all of our material needs? Is it expressing a desire for spiritual food? Is it about the Eucharist? Is it about desire to participate in the heavenly banquet to come? Throughout the ages, people have found benefit in all of these interpretations. What might be the significance in praying for “our” daily bread, not “my” daily bread? The word usually translated “daily” is uncertain. It is used in the New Testament only here and in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:3), and it only appears once in other Greek literature outside the New Testament. Scholars suggest that it could mean “daily” or “tomorrow’s” or “needful” or “future” (Viviano, par. 39, p. 645). Although in the Lord’s Prayer today many people pray, “Forgive us our trespasses,” the word is better translated as “debts,” which is what we find in both the NRSV, the NABRE, and most other modern translations. The word “debts” is a metaphor for our sins. If we are talking about sin, what does “Forgive us our debts” mean? What does the word “debt” suggest about our sins? What does “as we forgive those . . .” mean? “as” means in the same proportion or to the same degree – with the same measure. So we are asking God to forgive us to the same degree that we forgive others, or using the same measure we use to measure out forgiveness to others. How do verses 14-15 amplify the message of the importance of forgiveness? Why is forgiveness so important? Forgiveness isn’t always easy. How can we move to a place of forgiveness when we have been deeply hurt? It is important to acknowledge the hurt, and sometimes we need time to process the hurt. But ultimately, when forgiveness is hard, it comes down to a decision. We can decide to hold on to the hurt or to give it to God and decide as an act of the will to stop holding it against the other person. This does not necessarily mean “forgetting” the offense; for self-preservation we sometimes need to remember what has been done to us. But we can still decide to stop holding it against the other person. Sometimes, when we do this, we find that letting go of it provides a release for ourselves as well, allowing us to put the matter in the past and move forward. In the Lord’s Prayer as we pray it today, we say, “Lead us not into temptation” (verse 13a). There is a lot going on behind the scenes in this verse. First, although we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” the word “temptation” is not the best translation of the word. Modern translations often say “test” or “trial” in verse 13. The Jews of Jesus’s time expected that there would be a time of severe testing before the coming of the Messiah. A common understanding of the petition is that it is asking God to spare us that trial. Second, although the first part literally means “Lead us not,” we know that God does not lead people into temptation – see James 1:13-14. Therefore, it is better to interpret this metaphorically. The Catholic bishops in a couple of countries in Europe have sought and received approval from the Vatican to rephrase this part of the prayer in their liturgies to remove the implication that God might lead us into temptation. They are adopting other wordings that might be translated into English as: “Do not let us fall into temptation” or “Do not abandon us to temptation.” The point is that, while God allows people to be put to the test, we want to ask him to spare us from that trial. Where is God when you are tempted – leading you into the temptation or trying to lead you out of it ? Explain. What is the test or trial you need to ask God to keep you from? In the Lord’s Prayer, we usually pray, “Deliver us from evil.” This acknowledges that evil is real, along with temptation. What is the response to evil that Jesus is calling us to take? In modern translations, the "deliver us" line in verse 6:13 is translated: “rescue us from the evil one” (NRSV) or “deliver us from the evil one” (NABRE), because the Greek word is sometimes used for the devil (for example, Matthew 13:38) – i.e., evil personified, not some abstract notion of evil. What does this add to your understanding of what we are praying here? Compare this prayer to your picture of the heaped-up, empty phrases Jesus rejects in Matthew 6:7. How is this prayer different? How can you capture some of the Lord’s Prayer’s simplicity and directness in your personal prayers to God? For some people, this prayer has become so rote that it has lost some of its power. If we could reclaim this prayer – every petition of it – so that it was a conscious expression of our intimate reliance on God as we face life in the real world, how might that affect our lives? Which of these petitions is speaking must directly to your heart today, and why? What might you consider doing differently because of today’s study? Take a step back and consider this: Barclay writes: “In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to bring the whole of life to the whole of God, and to bring the whole of God to the whole of life” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 199). How does this prayer invite us to make God the center of all that we face in life? How can you use the Lord’s Prayer to help you invite God into “the whole” of your life? What are the short, simple, direct things you need to say to God right now? 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

How much do you know about the resurrection of Jesus? What does the Bible say? Take this 5-question quiz and see what you know. Previous All Special Materials Next Easter Quiz: The Resurrection of Jesus How much do you know about the resurrection of Jesus? What does the Bible say? Take this 5-question quiz and see what you know. Image by Pisit Hing, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti April 20, 2025 Click the following link to take this 5-question quiz and see what you know about the Resurrection: Easter Quiz: The Resurrection of Jesus 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 All Special Materials Next

Peter and Judas illustrate 2 different ways to respond when you have committed a serious sin. How can you stay connected to a God who loves you even when you deny him? [Matthew 26:69-75; 27:1-2; 27:3-10] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 26:69-27:10 Peter and Judas illustrate 2 different ways to respond when you have committed a serious sin. How can you stay connected to a God who loves you even when you deny him? Caravaggio (1571–1610). The Denial of Saint Peter . Circa 1610. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Denial_of_Saint_Peter-Caravaggio_(1610).jpg . Tom Faletti September 18, 2025 In Matthew 26:69 through 27:10, we see Peter’s denial and Judas’s betrayal, and 2 very different approaches to what to do next when you have sinned. Matthew 26:69-75 Peter denies Jesus 3 times We see here that Peter did not run away and hide after Jesus was arrested. On the contrary, he has come to the courtyard of the high priest, inside the high priest’s house. What do you think is going through his mind before the first servant girl calls him out? Look at each of the 3 times Peter is accused of being associated with Jesus and how he responds. What do the people say, and how does he respond? Notice how the vehemence of Peter’s denials escalates from “I don’t know what you are talking about to “I don’t know the man” to cursing. Sometimes sin starts small. How can we train ourselves to be honest in little things, so that we do not turn out to be dishonest in big things? After the first woman questions Peter, he moves from the inner courtyard out to the porch. Why do you think he didn’t just leave the place entirely at that point? This is a sign that Peter’s devotion to Jesus was great, even though his fear turned out to be greater than his courage. How do you think you would have responded to Jesus’s arrest? Would you have been at the high priest’s house in the first place, or would you have been somewhere else? How long would you have stayed there, before you decided it was too dangerous and you left? If you had been challenged about being one of the people with Jesus, what would you have said? Are there ways that we avoid making clear our association with Jesus today? Are there certain places, or conversations, where you decide to keep your mouth shut? Are there times when you, in effect, deny your connection to Jesus? The Romans rotated their soldiers every 3 hours during the night. The changing of the guards at 3:00 a.m. was called “cock-crow” and was marked by the sound of a trumpet. It is possible that this is the meaning of what Peter hears in verse 74, not a literal rooster crowing. When Peter hears the cock crow, how does he react? When the deed has already been done – when you have said or done something and later you deeply regret it – what do you do next? What would God want you to do, when you have failed to be true to your faith or to your relationship with him? Matthew 27:1-2 The chief priests hand Jesus over to Pilate After a night of agony, a mock trial, and abuse, what happens to Jesus in the morning (27:1-2)? Some scholars believe it is only now that the Sanhedrin formally passes judgment on Jesus rather than having done so during the night. Either way, they now have a plan for achieving their goal of having him killed. They bring him to the Roman governor, who has the power to carry out a death sentence. What do you think Jesus is thinking at this point? Matthew 27:3-10 The death of Judas How does Judas react to the action of the Sanhedrin? Recall that one of the theories for why Judas betrayed Jesus is that he was trying to push Jesus to act decisively to usher in the kingdom. In verse 3, Matthew tells us that when Judas saw that Jesus had been condemned, he repented, or regretted what he had done, and tried to return the 30 pieces of silver. How does this support the idea that Judas did not think what he was doing would hurt Jesus? What do you think Judas thought would happen when Jesus was arrested? Are there times when we use immoral or questionable means to try to force things to go in a particular direction? Why is that wrong, and why do we sometimes want to do it? It is wrong to do something evil, even if it will allow us to achieve something good, because we are meant to be like God, and God does not do evil in order to achieve good. This issue is sometimes described by saying that the end doesn’t justify the means: i.e., your goal (the end) is never so important that it justifies doing something immoral (the means) to achieve it. When a person is willing to use immoral means to achieve a good goal, how is that a sign of lack of trust in God? How can we train ourselves to use only godly ways of trying to achieve the goals we seek? In verse 4, how does Judas describe what he has done? How do the chief priests and elders respond to Judas? What does their response mean? In verse 4, the chief priests say to Judas, “See to it yourself” (Matthew 27:4, NRSV). In our day, we might say, “That’s not my problem.” Was it appropriate for the chief priests to try to absolve themselves of their role in Judas’s betrayal by saying, in effect, “Not my problem”? Think about our own lives now. When is it fair to excuse ourselves from involvement in another person’s concern by saying, “That’s not my problem” or “Don’t blame me,” and when do we have moral responsibilities despite our protests? In verse 5, we learn that Judas is in such a great state of despair that he kills himself. What do you think Jesus would have said to Judas, if he could have talked to Judas before Judas initiated his act of suicide? How can we help people who are considering suicide, whether because of despair, depression or other mental health issues, loneliness, pain, abuse, or other underlying issues? What can we say and how can we point them toward the help that is available to them? If someone expresses suicidal feelings to you, take it seriously. Don’t say, “Oh, they would never do that.” Take time to listen, recognize the pain they are experiencing, and let them know that people care – that they are seen as valuable. And help them get help. In the United States, getting help can start with the simple act of calling 988. In verse 6, we find that the chief priests are very concerned about the moral issue of what to do with the money that Judas gave back to them. They want to do the ethical thing with it. It's funny how we can be so focused on doing the right thing or avoiding sin in one area of our lives that we totally miss the fact that we may be participating in something evil in another area of our lives. What does that irony say to you? How do the chief priests solve this problem? What do they do with the money? Acts 1:18-19 passes on to us a different story about what happened to Judas and the 30 pieces of silver. Both stories agree that the money was used to purchase a field that then became known as the “Field of Blood,” but the details differ. In verse 9, Matthew refers to Jeremiah. This is one of the rare places where some scholars think Matthew might not have been as careful as usual with his Old Testament references. Jeremiah does not talk about 30 pieces of silver. Zechariah has a passage where 30 pieces of silver are thrown into the Temple (Zech. 11:12-13). The rest of what Matthew describes can be connected loosely to various events in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 18:2-3 talks about a potter. Jeremiah 32:6-9 talks about the purchasing of a field. And in Jeremiah 19:1-15, Jeremiah goes out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, southwest of Jerusalem, where in his time Jews were offering child sacrifices to false gods, breaks a potter’s jug, and declares that Jerusalem and its surrounding towns will be like that jug: their enemies will slaughter them and so many people will be buried in that valley of Hinnom that they will run out of space for more burials. (That place is the location of the garbage dump that was known as “Gehenna” in Jesus’s time, which Jesus used as a term for hell.) The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible ties it together in this way: “Ancient tradition locates Judas’ burial site (Field of Blood) in the same valley of Hinnom, precisely where Jeremiah smashed the pot and foretold its destiny as a future graveyard (Jer. 19:11). Matthew may think of the smashed vessel, originally a sign of Judea’s demise, as also a prophetic sign of Judas’ destruction” (Matt. 27:8-10 fn, p. 58). Matthew might have been working from memory rather than having the Old Testament texts in front of him, which might explain how he conflated these various Old Testaments passages. God inspired the authors who wrote the Scriptures, but he worked through real human beings who were real authors, not dictation machines, and God clearly didn’t consider it necessary to force Matthew to be precise here. It doesn’t affect our salvation or the overall gospel message. In Peter’s weeping and Judas’s despair we see very different approaches to how to deal with our own serious sin. Compare and contrast Peter and Judas’s betrayal and how they acted when they realized they had done wrong. How are they similar and how are they different? Both did wrong, and both eventually recognized it. Peter stayed committed to the community of disciples and is still with them two days later. Judas decided he had no options and gave up. He lost all hope. This is not the first time Peter has gotten something wrong: remember “Get behind me, Satan” (Matt. 16:23). What is different about Peter’s relationship with Jesus, compared to Judas’s relationship with Jesus? What can we learn from Peter’s example that might be useful in our own lives? Take a step back and consider this: Peter, for all his flaws, got some important things right. He realized that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. He poured his life into serving Jesus and letting Jesus be his Lord. And he realized that Jesus loved him so much that Jesus would never give up on him, even if he had denied Jesus. Some Christians find it easier to embrace the first two points – that Jesus is God and that we are called to serve him – without fully embracing the third point: that Jesus’s fundamental attitude toward us is love. Particularly if we were raised in households where love was conditional, or brought up in churches where God was presented more as a wrathful judge than as a loving Father, it can be hard to understand that third point: that God loves us unconditionally, even when we do wrong, and that we can stick with him even when we have failed. This understanding of Jesus’s love does not give us license to sin. Peter would be the first to say that the fact that Jesus forgave him did not mean it was OK to sin; rather, Jesus’s unalterable love made him want all the more to avoid sin. But it can make a huge difference in our lives if we understand that Jesus loves us even when we sin and doesn’t withdraw his love from us when we have a catastrophic failure of faith. We are taught that God is always watching us. Do you picture God’s “watching” as being more like a police officer always on the lookout to see if you break the law, or more like a parent seeing and delighting in every new step a young child takes? Take a moment to picture God delighting in you, and loving you so much that he keeps loving you even when you falter and sin. Bask in that love. What do you want to say to this God who loves you so much? Now take it a step further. If this is how God loves us even when we sin, and we are called to be like God, then this is the attitude we are called to have toward others when they sin. We are called to love even those who mistreat us or betray us. How can you immerse yourself in the love of God so deeply that you can love others as Jesus still loved Peter and Judas after they sinned against him? What is one step you can take to extend that unconditional love of God toward people in the world around you today? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

What does it look like when we love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and extend the same love to others? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 22:34-40 What does it look like when we love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and extend the same love to others? Image by Wyron A, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 18, 2025 Matthew 22:34-40 The Pharisees ask what is the greatest command? This is the third in a series of 3 challenges Jesus faces in his final week in Jerusalem before he is executed. This time it is the Pharisees who challenge him. The Jews had identified 613 commandments in the Mosaic Law, which was a lot to keep track of. Jewish teachers sometimes tried to summarize the Torah in a sentence. A Gentile once came to Hillel the Elder, the great Jewish scholar, and asked to be converted “on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot.” Hillel summarized the Torah with a statement that is essentially the reverse of Jesus’s Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12, saying, “That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study” ( Shabbat 31a ). Hillel founded the school known as the House of Hillel in Jerusalem and was a spiritual leader there from around 20 or 30 years before Jesus was born until Hillel died when Jesus was a teenager or young adult. His “house” or party of scholars lived on for more than a century after his death, generally in opposition to the stricter House of Shammai that led the Pharisees during Jesus’s ministry. What do the Pharisees ask Jesus? How does Jesus answer the question of which commandment is the greatest? Notice that Jesus quotes two commandments (found in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 9:18), not one. Why does it take two commandments to summarize the law? One deals with our relationship with God, and one deals with our relationship with people. (Jesus also cited the second of these commandments, Leviticus 9:18, in his answer to the rich young man in Matthew 19:19.) Jesus says that all of the teachings of the Old Testament Law and prophets depend on, or are based on, these two commands. Why is that? Test Jesus’s claim by applying it to some of the commandments you know from the Old Testament (for example, the Ten Commandments or other things God tells us to do in the Old Testament). How is each command based on one or the other of these two greatest commandments? What does it mean to love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind? How do you love God with your whole “heart”? How do you love God with your whole “soul”? How do you love God with your whole “mind”? Some Christians try to downplay the importance of the mind, but Jesus (and the Old Testament, and Saint Paul) emphasize the importance of the mind in our relationship with God. How can you use your mind in ways that “love” God? What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? What are some ways you try to love your neighbor as yourself? People often point out that to love your neighbor as yourself implies that you love yourself. The concern that arises if that if you don’t love yourself, it may be hard to love others. What are some ways that we can apply to ourselves the same love that we extend to our neighbors? The Jews would have taken it as a given that people love themselves, care for themselves, and try to provide for themselves. How can that instinct to take care of our own needs help us understand what we are called to do to love others by also taking care of their needs? Jesus says the second command is “like” the first? How are the two commandments related? How does the second command reflect the first? Jesus taught us in Matthew 25:31-46 that if we aren’t loving our neighbor, we aren’t loving God, because Jesus is to be found in the people in need around us. So these are not two totally separate ideas about how to honor God. The two commands work together because God has chosen to make us and everyone else in his image, so he is present in our neighbors. How can you follow these two commands in your life today? What is one thing you might do more faithfully, or start doing, to better fulfill the two great commandments? Now take a step back and consider this: A woman in one of my Bible Study groups once shared a story when we were discussing this passage. She was struggling with the idea of showing love to a difficult person in her life. She talked with her priest about it, and the priest reminded her that the other person is a child of God too. He told her to look at the other person as God does. She tried to do that, and, she said, “It worked.” Once she was able to see the other person through the eyes of God, she was able to not just tolerate the other person but develop a friendship with them. Loving God with our minds sometimes means looking at a situation and thinking through how God sees it, and then acting accordingly. Loving our neighbor means seeing them as God sees them. When we adjust our thinking, God is able to do things through us that he can’t do when we are closed off from extending his love to others. It is tremendously rewarding when we can experience the reality that, by loving God and loving our neighbor, we are participating in the work of God. Where in your life can you take a new step this week to love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and all of your mind, and extend that love to others? 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

Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of the Gospel of Matthew. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew - Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of the Gospel of Matthew. Some of the resources on the author's bookshelf. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Major Sources Augsberger, Myron. Matthew . The Communicator’s Commentary (Mastering the New Testament) , Lloyd J. Ogilvie, general editor. Word Books, 1982. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1. 2nd edition. The Daily Study Bible. The Saint Andrew Press, 1958. Note: All of the volumes in Barclay’s Daily Study Bible series can be viewed online at “William Barclay's Daily Study Bible,” Bible Portal , https://bibleportal.com/commentary/william-barclay . Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2. 2nd edition. The Daily Study Bible. The Saint Andrew Press, 1958. Note: All of the volumes in Barclay’s Daily Study Bible series can be viewed online at “William Barclay's Daily Study Bible,” Bible Portal , https://bibleportal.com/commentary/william-barclay . Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament . Yale University Press, 1997. Ellison, H. L. “Matthew.” The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Harrington, Fr. Daniel J. The Gospel According to Matthew . Collegeville Bible Commentary, The Liturgical Press, 1983. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Revised Standard Edition, Second Catholic Edition . Ignatius Press, 2010. Interlinear Bible. Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/interlinear/ . The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott . A Greek-English Lexicon . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Internet Archive , Volume I: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0001/mode/2up , Volume II: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0002/mode/2up . Also at Furman Classics Editions, http://folio2.furman.edu/lsj/ . New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE) . Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version: With the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible . Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2010. New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance . Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/greek/21.htm . Vine, William E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary , 1940, StudyLight.org , https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ved.html . Viviano, Benedict T., O.P. “The Gospel According to Matthew.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. Additional Sources Aquinas, Thomas. Catena aurea: commentary on the four Gospels, collected out of the works of the Fathers . Oxford: Parker, 1874, https://archive.org/details/p1catenaaureacom01thomuoft/page/244/mode/2up . Aquinas, Thomas. “Commentary on Matthew 20.” StudyLight.org , “Golden Chain Commentary on the Gospel,” https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/gcc/matthew-20.html . Augustine. “Sermon 272.” Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series, Early Church Texts , https://earlychurchtexts.com/public/augustine_sermon_272_eucharist.htm . Barna Group. “1 in 4 Practicing Christians Struggles to Forgive Someone.” Barna Group , 11 Apr. 2019, https://www.barna.com/research/forgiveness-christians/ . Belfast , directed by Kenneth Branagh, TKBC and Northern Ireland Screen, 2021. The British Museum. “Slavery in ancient Rome.” Exhibition: “Nero the man behind the myth,” 2021. The British Museum , https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nero-man-behind-myth/slavery-ancient-rome . Calechman, Steve. “Sleep to solve a problem.” Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School , May 24, 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-to-solve-a-problem-202105242463 . Cooper, Kyle. “Have you given up on your New Year’s resolution? Here’s how to get back on track.” WTOP , 12 Jan. 2024, https://wtop.com/health-fitness/2024/01/today-is-the-day-many-of-us-give-up-on-our-new-years-resolutions-but-you-may-be-able-to-get-back-on-track-with-these-tips/ . Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History , Book III. New Advent , https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm . “Faith and the Faithful in the 2024 Election.” Online forum. Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life , Georgetown University, 13 Feb. 2024, https://catholicsocialthought.georgetown.edu/events/faith-and-the-faithful-in-the-2024-election . Feldman, Robert S. Understanding Psychology , 14th edition. McGraw Hill Education, 2019. Fischer, John. “Inside.” YouTube , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avrVLA4uDos . Lyrics at Genius , https://genius.com/John-fischer-inside-lyrics . Fischer, John. “John Wayne and the Sermon on the Mount.” The Catch Ministry , 29 Nov. 2023, https://catchjohnfischer.live/2023/11/29/john-wayne-and-the-sermon-on-the-mount/ . “Food & Nutrition.” World Concern , https://worldconcern.org/food-nutrition . Accessed 25 Aug. 2024. Francis of Assisi. “Letter to the Faithful II” [also known as “Later Admonition and Exhortation To the Brothers and Sisters of Penance (Second Version of the Letter to the Faithful)”]. c. 1220. The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi, Parts I & II . Translated from the Latin Critical Edition by Fr. K. Esser, O.F.M. [Die opuskula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras aquas, Grottaferrata (Romae) 1976], http://www.liturgies.net/saints/francis/writings.htm . Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” 1915. Poetry Foundation , https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken . Grohol, John M. “Why ‘Sleeping on It’ Helps.” LiveScience , 26 Oct. 2009, https://www.livescience.com/5820-sleeping-helps.html . Innocence Project. “Explore the Numbers: Innocence Project's Impact,” Innocence Project , 2024, https://innocenceproject.org/exonerations-data/ . King, Martin Luther, Jr. Strength to Love . Beacon Press, 1963. Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity . Macmillan Publishing Co., 1952. Macmillan Paperbacks edition, 1960. Litke, Austin Dominic, O.P. “Reading Flannery O’Connor in our times.” Aleteia , 3 July 2020, https://aleteia.org/2020/07/03/reading-flannery-oconnor-in-our-times/ . His citation for the Flannery O’Connor quote is: “The fiction writer and his country.” Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose , Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1970, p. 34. Longenecker, Fr. Dwight. “Fighting the Un-Holy Trinity: The World, the Flesh and the Devil.” Catholic Online , 14 Feb. 2010, https://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=35421 . The Magnificat Advent Companion , Advent 2023. Meyers, Eric. “Galilee.” From Jesus to Christ . Frontline , Apr. 1998, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/galilee.html . Miller, Jared. “Does ‘Sleeping on it’ Really Work?” WebMD , https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/does-sleeping-on-it-really-work . Mother Teresa: In My Own Words . Compiled by José Luis González-Balado. Liguori, 1996. Mother Teresa: Where There is Love, There is God . Compiled by and edited by Brian Kolodiejchuk. Doubleday, 2010. “Music for the Second Week of Advent.” St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill , https://saintpetersdc.org/pray/advent23/35171-music-for-the-second-week-of-advent , Dec. 2023. O’Toole, Garson. “When One Door Closes Another Opens, But Often We Look So Long Upon the Closed Door That We Do Not See the Open Door.” Quote Investigator , 3 Dec. 2018, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/12/03/open-door/ . “Palestine in the time of Jesus, 4 B.C. - 30 A.D.: (including the period of Herod, 40 - 4 B.C.).” Library of Congress , https://www.loc.gov/item/2009579463/ . Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church . Libreria Editrice Vaticana (The Vatican). United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005. Poythress, Vern. “The Baptism of Jesus.” The Gospel Coalition , https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-baptism-of-jesus/ . “Quitters Day.” There is a Day for That , https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/various/quitters-day . Randall, Rebecca. “Which Is Worse: the Guilty Freed or the Innocent Punished?” Christianity Today , 5 Mar. 2021, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/march-web-only/wrongful-convictions-prison-bible-view-split-by-race.html . Shelby, Daniele. “DNA and Wrongful Conviction: Five Facts You Should Know.” Innocence Project , 25 Apr. 2023, https://innocenceproject.org/dna-and-wrongful-conviction-five-facts-you-should-know/ . Silverstein, Shel. “God’s Wheel.” A Light in the Attic . HarperCollins, 1981, p. 152. Warren, Rick. The Purpose-Driven Life . Zondervan, 2002. Welch, John W. and John F Hall. “Chart 6-4: Estimated Distribution of Citizenship in the Roman Empire.” Charting the New Testament , BYU Studies, 2002, https://byustudies.byu.edu/further-study-chart/6-4-estimated-distribution-of-citizenship-in-the-roman-empire/ . Wesley, John. “The Use of Money,” Sermon 50, https://web.archive.org/web/20150402061915/http://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/Sermon-50-The-Use-of-Money . “Which Was the Son of... (Arvo Pärt) - Sofia Vokalensemble.” Sofia Vokalensemble , 23 Oct. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyPmFBpiF7E . “The World, the Flesh, and the Devil.” Ligonier Ministries (founded by Dr. R. C. Sproul), 23 May 2011, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/world-flesh-and-devil . “The world, the flesh, and the devil.” Wikipedia , 31 March 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_world,_the_flesh,_and_the_devil [presents the views of scholars who wrote centuries ago]. 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

Clean and beautiful on the outside, dirty and ungodly on the inside. How can we avoid falling into the trap of focusing on our exterior image? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 23:25-36 Clean and beautiful on the outside, dirty and ungodly on the inside. How can we avoid falling into the trap of focusing on our exterior image? Image by Nadot Yannick, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 22, 2025 Matthew 23:25-36 (Part 2 of Matthew 23:13-36) Read Matthew 23:13-36 Jesus denounces the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy Part 2 Verses 25-26 The Pharisees were very conscious of the ritual or ceremonial purity of their cups and dishes. This was not a concern about cleanliness as we mean it; it was a concern about whether their cookware and dinnerware were “clean” as a matter of ritual purity. The Old Testament and the traditions preserved and developed by the scribes identified many ways that a person or object could become unclean. Some were extrapolated directly from the Law. For example: A utensil was unclean if it came in contact with pork. A man was unclean if he touched a dead body or a Gentile. A woman was unclean during her menstrual period. If you came in contact with anyone or anything that was considered “unclean,” you could become unclean too. The Pharisees were very focused on avoiding anything unclean and drew upon the detailed and nuanced teachings of the scribes, who developed intricate rules for what was and was not unclean. What does Jesus accuse the scribes and Pharisees of, in verses 25-26? How does Jesus describe the “inside” things that he says they are neglecting to pay attention to? What are the actual words he uses in verse 25 to describe the “inside”? Jesus uses 2 terms. The first word can mean plunder or robbery or greed. The second word means self-indulgence in the sense of lacking self-restraint, which could be applied to drinking, sexual conduct, or other matters. With these words, Jesus is clearly not talking about cups and plates – cups can’t be accused of greed or self-indulgence. What do you think Jesus is really saying here? When Jesus tells them to clean the inside of the cup, what do you think he means (not cups and plates, but what)? How might people “clean” this “inside” aspect of their lives? Jesus calls the Pharisees “blind” in verse 26. How might that be an appropriate description of their behavior? How might this metaphor of the “outside” and “inside” apply to our churches today? What are the things on the “inside” that we might be ignoring while we focus on things on the “outside”? Here is an example of failing to focus on what is unclean on the inside: The Catholic Church, and other denominations to a lesser extent, for decades ignored scandalous sexual predation by clergy in its parishes. Local parishes sometimes develop an excessive focus on external things that are less important. For example, I have seen church members get stuck in constant carping over the choice of altar furnishings and music. I spent weeks at one church trying to address the enormous unrest that arose when the pastor decreed that church groups would henceforth have to pay to use the parish hall for their meetings, a move that took everyone’s focus off of the purpose of the parish’s ministries. What are the “outside” matters that you personally might be giving too much attention to, and what might be the “inside” matters that you are ignoring that need to be cleaned up? Verses 27-28 In verses 27-28, what does Jesus say about the scribes and Pharisees? This accusation uses an actual practice that was useful as a metaphor. In Jesus’s time, there were not strict laws about where dead bodies could be buried. Tombs could be encountered anywhere, and if you came into contact with something dead, you would be considered “unclean.” Tombs were painted white to mark them clearly so that people would not accidentally stumble into them. The “whitewashing” of tombs was a practical attempt to help people practice their religion. Jesus uses the idea of a whitewashed exterior covering a corrupt interior as a metaphor for what is going on in people’s spiritual lives. Jesus uses a metaphor of a tomb that is painted white on the outside but is rotting on the inside. In verse 28, how does he describe what is happening on the inside of the scribes and Pharisees? How might a person be “beautiful” on the outside but full of hypocrisy and evil on the inside? What are some ways that we show to the world a public exterior that might not match the less godly things going on inside us? A question to consider in the silence of your own heart: What is an area of inward unrighteousness that you could work on so that your inner reality would better match the exterior ways you present yourself? Verses 29-36 In verses 29-30, what does Jesus say their attitude was toward the murder of prophets of the past? According to Jesus, what will they do to the prophets and wise people of their own time? As Matthew writes this, several decades later, who do you think he has in mind? Who are the kinds of people that were scourged, hunted from town to town, killed, and crucified? Matthew is thinking about the Christians who have been persecuted in the early years of the Church. In verse 35, Jesus uses an “A to Z” formulation to summarize the breadth of the murders in the Old Testament, from Abel to Zechariah. Abel is in Genesis. For Zechariah, there are two possibilities. A Zechariah was murdered in 2 Chronicles 24, which was the last book in the Hebrew Bible because they put the books of history after the books of the prophets in their scriptures, but he was the son of Jehoida (2 Chron. 24:20), not the son of Berechiah. Alternatively, Zechariah the prophet is described in Zechariah 1:1 as the son of Berechiah, and his book is the second-to-last book of the prophets. The Bible does not describe him as having been murdered, but later rabbinic tradition said that he was murdered in the Temple (( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , Matthew 25:35 fn., p. 49). Jesus’s point is that from beginning to end, the Jewish scriptures tell of people who claim to be following God killing other people who are following God. Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of following in that long line of rejecting people who are actually following God. In vv. 34-36, what does Jesus say is coming in the years ahead? Who are the people that will experience this suffering? Christians. Matthew, written perhaps 50 years after Jesus spoke these words, can see how Jesus’s prophecy came true as Christians were mistreated by Jewish leaders in the decades after Jesus’s resurrection. Given Jesus’s repeated and frank warning that Christians will suffer persecution, does it make sense that some Christian leaders in our day preach that Christians should expect prosperity and a good life? Explain. Take a step back and consider this: We live in a time where people curate themselves, posting a carefully crafted image of themselves online in social media. A person may be clean and beautiful on the outside, yet evil and violent on the inside, and we would never know it from their social media accounts. Most Christians use social media, and there is nothing wrong with telling others about the good things going on in our lives. But does that lure us into embracing the world’s priorities, which say that the exterior is what really matters? How important is the interior, really? How can we stay engaged with others via social media yet avoid falling into the trap of focusing primarily on our exterior image? What can we do to keep our focus on becoming like Jesus on the inside and letting that guide what we do on the outside? And, perhaps not on social media but in more intimate settings, is there a place for letting people know what is really going on inside of us, on the inside? Consider the song “Inside” by John Fischer ( audio , lyrics ): “Come see / Everything that lies inside of me / ’Cause amidst the mess I’ve made of me / You might see the Lord.” 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

How can we recognize when we are focusing on little things that are of less importance and missing the more important matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 23:13-24 How can we recognize when we are focusing on little things that are of less importance and missing the more important matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness? Image by Sheldon Kennedy, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 21, 2025 Matthew 23:13-24 (Part 1 of Matthew 23:13-36) Read Matthew 23:13-36 Jesus denounces the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy In Matthew 23:13-36, Jesus pronounces 7 woes upon the scribes and Pharisees. The word usually translated “woe” has a meaning that communicates sorrow as well as anger. Wiliam Barclay tells us, “There is righteous anger here, but it is the anger of the heart of love, broken by the stubborn blindness of men” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 318). Jesus is speaking these stern words of judgment with a heavy heart. Part 1 Verses 13-14 It is not surprising that, of all the groups that opposed Jesus, Matthew retains this denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, because those were the two groups that lived on after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and opposed the work of Christian communities such as Matthew’s that included both Jews and Gentiles. What is the first thing Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees for? In what ways do you think they were doing that? Are there ways that we might unintentionally block people from entering the kingdom of heaven or be an obstacle to other people’s faith? How should we act to avoid being an obstacle to other people’s faith? Sometimes, the problem is a desire to try to push everyone to conform to one for how to live the faith, so it may be helpful to try to avoid being controlling or judgmental. Instead of trying to corral or force people, we can seek to love them into the kingdom of heaven. Note: Most modern translations leave out verse 14, in which Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of devouring widows’ houses. It is not in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts of Matthew, but it is in the corresponding passage in Mark; so it may have been added by a copyist who pulled it from Mark 12:40 rather than being in the original version of Matthew. Verse 15 What do the scribes and Pharisees do that leads to the second woe? Judaism is not today thought of as a proselytizing religion. However, in the 1 st century, before the destruction of Jerusalem, Jews encouraged Gentiles to join them as “god-fearers" – people who accepted the Jewish moral law and belief in one God – and Pharisees sought to convince them to convert fully to Judaism through circumcision and acceptance of the full Law with all its detailed rules regarding foods, etc. In Matthew’s time, Pharisees wanted Christians to embrace the whole Jewish Law; so verse 15 might have resonated even more for Matthew’s readers than for Jesus’s original audience. Every Christian denomination seeks converts. What’s wrong with what the Pharisees were doing? Barclay says it well: “The sin of the Pharisees was that they were not really seeking to lead men to God, they were seeking to lead men to Pharisaism” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 321). In our time, how might Christians sometimes be more focused on converting people to their “side” or their flavor of Christianity than to God? How are we vulnerable to focusing more on winning people to our “party” – our part of the body of Christ or even our political party – than to God? One of the ways we see this happening in the United States is people putting politics before religion. Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University, author, and American Baptist pastor, says that between 2005 and 2020, political scientists observed a “pretty significant revolution” in people’s thinking. Previously, political scientists thought that “religion was the first lens and then politics lived downstream of religion” – i.e., that people chose their religion first and then decided how to vote based on their religious views. But now, he says, “we recognize that politics is the master identity, and . . . that people pick their religion [or denomination or local church] based on their politics. It’s not the other way around” (“ Faith and the Faithful in the 2024 Election ”). Given that our faith should be the primary guiding light for our worldview and everything else should come second to that, this finding is troubling. Verses 16-22 Recall from Matthew 5:33-37 (in the Sermon on the Mount) that Jews in Jesus’s time were casual about oaths, arguing that unless an oath directly invoked God it didn’t “count.” Here, Jesus may be quoting them, or he may be using exaggeration to show the foolishness of their hypocritical hair-splitting. What is the point of Jesus’s response to the Pharisees’ game-playing about which oaths “count” and must be honored? Jesus is pointing out that the things they say don’t “count” – the Temple, the altar – are more important than the things they say do count. Furthermore, in verses 20-21 he suggests that it all goes back to God, so all of it “counts.” Perhaps the real issue here is whether you should need to swear by anything in order to assure someone that you are telling the truth or will fulfill your word. When should people be able to count on your words being trustworthy? What does it say about us if we are focused on when we might be able to slip out of an oath based on a technicality? In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus told his followers that they should never swear an oath by anything. Should you ever need to swear an oath, other than in a court of law or official document? Explain. Verses 23-24 Jews were directed in the Law of Moses to tithe from the produce they harvested (Lev. 27:30-32). Jesus indicates that the scribes and Pharisees are so zealous about collecting the whole tithe, or tithing of their entire gain, that they demand that people tithe even from their garden herbs (mint, dill, and cumin). If you have ever owned a basil plant, imagine if an advocate of tithing asked you to give to the church one-tenth of your “harvest” of basil, besides your tithe of your income. That’s what Jesus is criticizing here: they were trying to calculate the tithe down to the basil leaves, while ignoring more important matters. Is there anything wrong with tithing from even your smaller gains? In verse 23, what are the “weightier” matters of the Law that Jesus says they should be more focused on? Jesus identifies justice, mercy, and faithfulness as “weightier” matters than the tithing of mint. (The NABRE uses the word “judgment,” but “justice” may be a more appropriate translation that better captures the meaning of the word today.) What does it mean to practice “justice”? Justice means is to give to God what is due to God and to give to people what is due to them as people made in God’s image. What does that call us to do? What does it mean to practice “mercy”? One way to think about mercy in a modern context is to think about the use of discretion to balance the possible harshness of strict justice. Legal systems often ask judges to use discretion in deciding what is an appropriate way to deal with the circumstances of an individual case. What does it mean to practice “faithfulness”? (Note: Some translations say “faith” or “fidelity,” but in today’s language “faithfulness” probably better captures what Jesus is saying.) Why are justice, mercy, and faithfulness “weightier” than detailed tithing? Jesus does not reject tithing. He says that they should focus on the weightier matters “without neglecting the others” – i.e., without neglecting tithing. Does Jesus want us to tithe our mint and basil? How can we balance Matthew 22:21 – where Jesus tells us to “give back to God what is God’s” – with Jesus’s overall objection to the zeal with which the Pharisees focused on details? The Pharisees might say, “We haven’t neglected the weightier matters. We tithe of everything because of our faithfulness to God.” What point are they missing? In verse 24, Jesus refers to gnats and camels. Both are identified as “unclean” in the Law of Moses (Lev. 11:41-43 and Lev. 11:4), so Jews were supposed to avoid them. Pious Pharisees poured their drinks through a cloth to strain out any possible gnats. Jesus accuses them of straining the gnats out of their drinks while swallowing camels. What is the meaning of this metaphor? What are the “gnats” they we might become unnecessarily focused on in our day? In other words, what are the little things we might have a tendency to focus on that don’t really matter very much in the grand scheme of our faith, but that might draw our attention away from more important things? What are the “camels” – the big, important things – that we might be overlooking in our focus on gnats? This could be considered personally and also societally. Societally, we might fail to address weighty matters such as hunger, homelessness, racism, etc. Individually, we might fail to address issues such as paying fairly those who work for us, avoiding unkind or abusive words that hurt other people, doing our fair share of the chores, showing mercy to other people when they are not perfect, etc. You can probably add good examples of your own. Throughout this denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus repeatedly calls them “hypocrites” (see verses 13, 15, 23 ,25, 27, 29). What is a hypocrite? “Hypocrite” is actually a Greek word. That word was used to describe actors in the theatre. They play a part that is not who they really are, so they are pretending to be something they are not. The meaning of the word then expanded to the more general meaning we have for it today. How does their behavior make it appropriate to describe them as hypocrites? How are we at risk of falling into hypocrisy in our day? Take a step back and consider this: It is easy to become critical of the scribes and Pharisees and miss the ways we also put our focus in the wrong places. It is also possible to go to the other extreme and adopt a worldview that unconsciously says that no details matter – that anything goes. God calls us to find the balance that allows us to stay focused on justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt. 23:23). What are the big things that you think matter most? What can you do to make sure you stay focused on those big things and don’t get distracted by little matters that aren’t as important? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Jesus fulfills the Old Testament: the Law and the Prophets. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus fulfills the Old Testament: the Law and the Prophets. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti April 26, 2024 Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus came to fulfill the Law What does Jesus say in verse 17? Jesus refers to “the law and the prophets.” The law and the prophets are two of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament. The “law” is the Torah, the first 5 books of the Old Testament. The “prophets” refers to the books of the prophets – Isaiah, etc. The third division of the Hebrew Bible is the “writings” – which includes the Psalms and other books of literature (Proverbs, etc.) that are grouped with the Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. In Matthew, Jesus uses the phrase “the law and the prophets” here and in three other places: Matthew 7:12; 11:13; and 22:40. In 7:12, he says that the “Golden Rule” – do unto others as you would have them do unto you – is the law and the prophets. In 22:40, after talking about the two Great Commandments – love the Lord our God and love your neighbor – he says that all that is written in the law and the prophets hangs on these two commandments. Jesus says he did not come to “abolish” the law and the prophets. What would it mean to “abolish” them? And therefore, what does it mean to not abolish them? What does it mean to “fulfill” the law and the prophets? To “fulfill” means to “complete,” or to bring to completion, or to have reached the point of completion. To “fulfill” the law and the prophets can be explored in two ways: How the law is fulfilled as we follow the moral law first outlined in the Old Testament; and How Jesus , by his life, death, and resurrection, fulfilled the purposes and promises of God presented in the Old Testament. With regard to Jesus, it is useful to note that in Luke 24:44, Jesus said that “everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled” (NRSV). There, he is referring to all three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures. With regard to how the law applies to us, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible comments that the New Covenant Jesus presented “perfects and transforms” the Old Covenant: “While sacrificial laws of the OT expired with the sacrifice of Jesus, the moral Law (Ten Commandments, etc.) was retained and refined” (fn. to 5:17, p. 15). In the next section of Matthew’s Gospel, we see Jesus transforming the teachings of the Old Testament in ways that we still try to follow today. In what ways do we continue to follow the commandments of the Old Testament and embrace the teachings of the prophets? How does our commitment to following the law allow the law to fulfill its intended purpose? In what ways did Jesus fulfill the law and the prophets? Some scholars argue that this teaching in Matthew contradicts what Paul says when he says that we are not justified by doing the works of the law (for example, in Galatians 2:15-16; Romans 3:21-31). How would you respond? Is Jesus saying we are justified by doing the works of the Law? Is Paul saying we don’t have to obey the basic commandments of the Law? Or do these passages of the Bible fit together even though they may be looking at the issue from different perspectives? Some scholars overstate Paul’s rejection of the Law. Paul affirmatively cites the Ten Commandments in Romans 13:8-10 and says they are summed up in the command to love your neighbor, as Jesus said in Matthew. And throughout his letters, Paul expects a high moral standard of the people to whom he is writing. We are not justified by doing the works of the law – we still need salvation through Jesus; but Jesus expects us to follow the Ten Commandments and also other elements of the moral/social law – for example, to care for the poor, treat workers justly, welcome the stranger, etc. In verse 18, Jesus says that not one letter of the law will pass away. The word for “letter” is literally the Greek word iota – their name for the letter “i,” which is the smallest letter in Greek as it is in English. It is important to note that Jesus is not endorsing all the tiny details of the interpretations of the Law that the scribes and Pharisees had piled on top of the actual words of the Old Testament Law. He broke their "laws" frequently and derided them for their excessive devotion to the laws they had made. But he is expressing a deep reverence for the word of God handed down in the Old Testament itself. Jesus’s reference to heaven and earth passing away may be recalling Isaiah’s prophecy of a “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17, NRSV and NABRE). In Matthew 5:18, Jesus says that nothing will “pass” from the law “until all is accomplished.” This could be interpreted as referring to the “eschatological” end of the world (the “end times”), but it makes more sense to understand it as referring to Jesus’s fulfillment of the law and the prophets by his death and resurrection. Jesus has already preached that the kingdom of heaven is near. In what ways are we living, metaphorically or partially, in the “new heavens and new earth” that Isaiah foretold, even as we wait for its complete fulfillment at an end time that is yet to come? In what ways do the law and prophets still apply to us in this interim time we live in? Given that Christians do not accept the obligation to carry out all 613 commandments in the Old Testament – for example, we do not follow the kosher laws, the sacrificial laws, or other ceremonial laws – how do we know which laws Jesus still expects us to follow today? Notice in verse 19 that Jesus does not consign to hell those who break the commandments, but he says they will be called “least” in the kingdom of heaven. What do you think this means? What might “least” look like in heaven? Verse 19 particularly makes a point about teachers. Why are they so important? Jesus ends this passage with a statement that would have been a surprise to his followers. The scribes and Pharisees sought to live at an extreme or maximum level of righteousness. What does Jesus say in verse 20? What do you think Jesus is telling you, in saying that your righteousness must be greater than that of the people who are trying the hardest to be righteousness? For you, what is the good news in this passage? Take a step back and consider this: If the Law was a sentient being, you might picture it eagerly anticipating its “fulfillment.” It was created for a purpose – to prepare the way for Jesus and the salvation of not only the Jewish people but all of humanity. Now, in Jesus, the beginning of that time of fulfillment is at hand. We, too, are on a path to fulfillment. God is working his character into us and reflecting his goodness and love out through us to a world that desperately needs opportunities to see God through us. In the end, our goal is to allow God to work his character fully into us so that we are like Jesus. I can’t be exhibiting God’s character and manifesting God’s love if I am insulting, unfaithful, hateful, etc. – issues that Jesus will take up in the next passage. Those attitudes do not reflect the image of God because God does not have those attitudes. If my ultimate fulfillment is to be like Christ, then those attitudes must go. The moral law set forth in the Old Testament, however, does reflect aspects of God’s character. The Law helps me understand, in some ways, the kind of person God is calling me to be. For you, is the Law a bad guy that prohibits you from doing what you want to do and being what you want to be? Or is it a good thing that reminds you of what you want to do and who you want to be? How does the Law help you to live the life of Christ? How can you embrace more fully this vision: that the Law, which is fulfilled in Christ, is not something to be abolished but rather is a support for your life of faith that can help you reach your ultimate fulfillment in Christ? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). 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