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When Jesus says that he is the Bread of Life, some people grumble. Jesus calls us to believe him and have eternal life. How might grumbling undermine our faith? [John 6:34-50] Previous Next John List John 6:34-47 When Jesus says that he is the Bread of Life, some people grumble. Jesus calls us to believe him and have eternal life. How might grumbling undermine our faith? Underlying image by Brett Jordan, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Word balloons added. Tom Faletti February 22, 2026 Read John 6:34-47 Jesus is the Bread of Life who gives eternal life In biblical interpretation, there is a concept known as a “type” – an event or person or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows, in an incomplete way, an event or person or thing in the New Testament that has a deeper reality or meaning. The perishable manna in the Old Testament was a “type,” or foreshadowing, of the eternal bread of life that God provides to us in his Son Jesus. In verse 34, it is unclear whether the people in the crowd are beginning to understand that, or if they just want Jesus to feed them physical bread every day (their statement is similar to that of the Samaritan woman who asked Jesus to give her the living water always in John 4:15). In verse 35, Jesus responds with his first “I am” statement – the first of 7 key “I am” statements in John’s Gospel. What does “I am the bread of life” mean? How is Jesus the bread of life? How does what Jesus says in verse 35 parallel what he said to the Samaritan woman about the living water (4:13-14)? In verse 35, what must one do in order to never hunger, and what must one do in order to never thirst? We must come to him in order to never hunger, and believe in him in order to never thirst. In verse 36, Jesus then tells them that they do not believe in him. He does not say this in a way that rejects them. What does he tell them in verses 37-39? Jesus wants only to do the will of the Father and will not reject anyone the Father gives him. He will not lose anyone the Father gives him. In verses 37-38, Jesus says that he does not act on his own but does the will of the one who sent him. In modern terms, we might say that Jesus has his marching orders and is a man on a mission. What are his marching orders? What is the mission? In verse 36, Jesus says that those who are rejecting him have seen him but do not believe. In verse 40 he says that everyone who sees him and believes in him has eternal life. How does it happen that people see Jesus but don’t translate that seeing into the act of believing? Their “seeing” in verse 36 is an awareness of him that does not lead them to put their trust in him. In verse 40, Jesus calls us to go beyond a superficial “seeing” – to really see and act on what they see by believing in him. The word for “see” in verse 36 is a word that means to stare at, but the word for “see” in verse 40 is a word that can be translated as to “behold,” which suggests a focused and receptive attention. Are there ways that we “see” what God is saying to us but don’t act on it? How can we catch ourselves when this is happening, and what can we do about it? What do you think it means to “see” Jesus and believe in him? In verse 40, Jesus adds an additional effect of believing. In addition to having eternal life from Jesus, we will be raised up by Jesus on the last day. Eternal life could be seen as something we have from the moment we believe in Jesus. What is added when Jesus says that we will be raised on the last day? What does this promise mean to you right now in your life? In verse 41, the Jewish religious leaders “murmur” about Jesus. What does that recall from the Old Testament? When the Israelites were in the desert, they grumbled against Moses and complained about how God was caring for them in Exodus 15:24, 16:2-3, and 17:2-3, and Numbers 11:1. God gave them the manna they have just been talking with Jesus about immediately after one of the gripe sessions (Ex. 16). What is wrong with murmuring? Murmuring is a form of grumbling, a lack of trust in God or a form of resistance to what God wants. How are we susceptible to grumbling against God and the spiritual leaders he gives us? What can we do to avoid inappropriate grumbling against God? Notice why the Jewish religious leaders are murmuring about Jesus in verse 41. It isn’t because he is describing himself as the bread of life. They appear to understand that this is a metaphor. What they object to is that he says he came down from heaven. What is their objection to that claim in verse 42? How might we be guilty of judging people based on their background – the class or group that we mentally assign them to – and not give due consideration to how what they are doing or saying might be inspired by God? In verses 43-47 Jesus makes several points in response to their complaint. In verse 44, Jesus says more clearly what he alluded to in verse 37: “No one can come to me unless the Father . . . draws him.” What does this mean to you? Who does God want to draw to Jesus? Everyone. We know from the rest of Scripture that Jesus is not claiming some sort of Calvinist predestination where God assigns people to be saved or damned. We have free will and can choose to come to Jesus or not, and yet God draws us to come to him even before we do so. In what ways does it involve our free action and in what ways does it involve God’s action? Have you ever felt drawn by God (to himself, to Jesus, to the faith)? What did it feel like and how did you react? How do you see God’s hand or God’s grace at work in your life now, even as you act based on your own free will? Jesus sums up what he has been saying with a short statement in verse 47 that doesn’t repeat everything but captures the most essential element. What allows us to have eternal life? Have you told Jesus in a definitive way that you believe in him? Some people go through the rituals but never actually have that conversation with Jesus. Is that something you are feeling called to do right now? If you have already had that definitive conversation with Jesus, is there something you are feeling called to do right now to more fully live out your decision to believe in Jesus? Take a step back and consider this: Murmuring is not solely the province of unbelievers. Even people who believe in Jesus can fall prey to murmuring or grumbling. In fact, grumbling is one of the practices that can be most corrosive to our faith. Grumbling involves complaining in an ill-tempered or annoyed way. When we look at what is going on spiritually, we can see that grumbling is often a sign of trust. When the Israelites were grumbling against Moses and God in the desert in Exodus 16 and Numbers 14, their grumbling was an expressing of their lack of faith in God. Not all complaining falls into this category of grumbling. There are times when it is appropriate to express a complaint. But a complaint can be made with faith that the one hearing the complaint cares and will respond, or it can be expressed in a way that reveals a lack of trust. Hannah was so distressed, by her barrenness and the ridicule to which she was subjected by her husband’s other wife, that she wept bitterly as she prayed to the Lord (1 Sam. 1:10). She was bringing her deep pain to the Lord in faith. Her prayer showed her trust in God. The Israelites, in contrast, were expressing their lack of trust in God. When Paul tells us, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing” (Phil. 2:14), the context is provided in the previous verse: “God is the one working in you . . . for his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13). Negative grumbling is unnecessary and out of place when we recognize that God is at work in our lives and that we can trust him. Similarly, Peter says, “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pet. 4:9-10). There is no need for grumbling when we recognize that God is working through us to extend his grace to others through the gifts he has given to us. Yet so often, Christians are prone to grumbling, allowing their negative attitudes to undermine their trust in God. In what kinds of situations, or what areas of your life, might you be prone to the negative complaining or grumbling that may signal that you are having difficulty trusting in God? How can you turn your thinking around, so that you can see more clearly how God is at work in your life and let go of any negative complaining or grumbling? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, 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 John List Next

Quotes worth thinking about. Previous All Special Materials Next Quotes Quotes worth thinking about. Tom Faletti September 26, 2025 This collection will grow over time. Quotes on issues of faith, life, truth, and justice, etc. FAITH There are no ordinary people “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” – C.S. Lewis. The Weight of Glory . 1941. LIFE Measure your performance by how much better you made the people around you “The most important measure of how good a game I’d played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.” – Bill Russell. Inscription engraved on a block that stands with a statue of Mr. Russell at Boston’s City Hall Plaza See John Hareas. “City of Boston celebrates Bill Russell: Player, activist, mentor.” NBA.com , 1 Nov. 2013, https://www.nba.com/news/bill-russell-city-of-boston . Recover from your mistakes “If you stumble, make it into a dance.” – Inside a Dove candy wrapper TRUTH Read old books “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. . . . Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.” – C. S. Lewis. “Introduction” to On The Incarnation , a translation of Athanasius’s On the Incarnation of the Word of God . Translated by Sister Penelope Lawson, a nun in the order of the Convent of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin. Originally published in 1944. Current edition published by GLH Publishing, Louisville, KY, 2018, pp. 2-3. (Italics are in the original; boldface added. In the original publication, the translator was listed as “A Religious of C.S.M.V.” Athanasius’s treatise was written prior to A.D. 319.) JUSTICE Justice, injustice, and democracy “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” – Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). In the foreword to The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense . 1944. University of Chicago Press, 2011, p. xi. (See Joseph E. Hartman. “Democracy and Sin: Doing Justice to Reinhold Niebuhr.” Academic Questions . Fall 2015. National Association of Scholars . https://www.nas.org/academic-questions/28/3/democracy_and_sin_doing_justice_to_reinhold_niebuhr#_ftnref27 .) (For clarity in the 21 st century, the quote is often rendered: “Humanity’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but humanity’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”) PURPOSE God has created me to do Him some definite service; I have a mission [A slightly shortened version of this is often printed with the title “The Mission of My Life”] “1. God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory – we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name. “2. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission – I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his – if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling. “3. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me – still He knows what He is about.” – John Henry Newman (1801-1890). “Hope in God – Creator.” 7 Mar. 1848. In Part 3: Meditations on Christian Doctrine, in Meditations and Devotions of the late Cardinal Newman . Edited by Fr. William Neville. London: Longmans, Green, 1893. Newman Reader , https://www.newmanreader.org/works/meditations/meditations9.html . THE POOR Contact with the lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord “Love for the Lord, then, is one with love for the poor. The same Jesus who tells us, ‘The poor you will always have with you’ ( Mt 26:11), also promises the disciples: ‘I am with you always’ ( Mt 28:20). We likewise think of his saying: ‘Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me’ ( Mt 25:40). This is not a matter of mere human kindness but a revelation: contact with those who are lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord of history. In the poor, he continues to speak to us.” – Pope Leo XIV. Dilexi Te (Apostolic Exhortation on Love for the Poor) . The Vatican , 4 Oct. 2025, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20251004-dilexi-te.html , par. 5. Love for God is not possible for the Christian without love for the poor “In his new apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te , Pope Leo . . . traces the uninterrupted centrality that the poor have played in the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel in every age and culture, and the rich legacy that the saints have left us in their comprehension that love for God is not possible for the Christian without love for the poor.” – Robert McElroy (Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Washington). “Cardinal McElroy’s statement on Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation ‘Dilexi Te.’” Archdiocese of Washigton , 9 Oct. 2025, https://adw.org/news/mcelroys-statement-dilexi-te/ . 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

The 7 themes of Catholic Social Teaching, with Scripture passages that support those themes. Previous Justice Articles Next The Bible and Catholic Social Teaching Examples of how the Bible supports Catholic social teaching. “Separation of Sheep and Goats.” Byzantine mosaic reproduction. Early 20th century (original dated early 6th century). Metropolitan Museum of Art , CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Separation_of_Sheep_and_Goats_MET_cdi24-144-4s1.jpg . Tom Faletti December 9, 2024 The Bible and Catholic Social Teaching “Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith.” – United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Catholic Social Teaching,” USCCB , https://www.usccb.org/offices/justice-and-peace/catholic-social-teaching . Catholic social teaching draws on 4 streams of knowledge: The Bible , including specific passages and overarching themes. (All of Catholic social teaching is based on Scripture, starting with Genesis: We are made in the image of God.) Church documents , including encyclicals and other documents written by the popes, documents of Church councils, pastoral letters from conferences of bishops, etc. The 7 themes of Catholic Social Teaching identified by the U.S. Catholic bishops. Facts and analysis , including an examination of root causes that underlie specific issues. Themes of Catholic Social Teaching 1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person - All people are made in the image and likeness of God, so we must protect life and preserve human dignity from the beginning of human life to the end. Scriptural Support: Genesis 1:26-31 ; Luke 10:25-37 ; Romans 12: 9-18 . For more, see Life and Dignity of the Human Person | USCCB . Examples of relevant issues: Abortion; euthanasia; the death penalty; terrorism; war; immigration; racism. 2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation - All humans are social beings and are called, and must be welcomed, to participate in community. Scriptural Support: Romans 12:4-8 ; 1 Peter 4:8-11 ; Leviticus 25:23-28,35-43 . For more, see Call to Family Community and Participation | USCCB . Examples of relevant issues: Government support for families; education; homelessness; new immigrants in your community; people with disabilities; people on the fringes of society; the role of Christians in politics/government. 3. Rights and Responsibilities - Everyone has human rights and a duty to care for and share with those who lack what is required for human decency . Scriptural Support: Isaiah 1:16-17 ; Luke 16:19-31 ; Psalm 72:1-14 . For more, see Rights and Responsibilities | USCCB . Examples of relevant issues: Protection of life; access to food and water; access to shelter and basic health care; education; employment; equal treatment; protection from discrimination, injustice, and oppression; rights of conscience and religion. 4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable – We must put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. Scriptural Support: Zechariah 7:8-11 ; Isaiah 58:6-10 ; Matthew 25: 31-46 . For more, see Option for the Poor and Vulnerable | USCCB . Examples of relevant issues: Poverty; safety net programs; support for people with disabilities; refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants; people threatened by violence; orphans and children in foster care. 5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers – We must ensure that workers are treated fairly and that their rights are respected. Scriptural Support: Deuteronomy 24:14-15 ; Matthew 20:1-16 ; James 5:1-6 . For more, see The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers | USCCB . Examples of relevant issues: A just/living wage; basic benefits; time off (sick/vacation/family leave); employment training/assistance; fair treatment/equal employment; unions/collective bargaining. 6. Solidarity – We must stand with others in their struggle for justice and work for the common good of all people. Scriptural Support: Proverbs 31:8-9 ; Psalm 82:3-4 ; Leviticus 19:33-34 ; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 . For more, see Solidarity | USCCB . Examples of relevant issues: Advocating for the oppressed, needy, voiceless, migrant, disabled, ill, abused, etc.; humanitarian aid to poor people in other countries; supporting people whose human rights are violated; weighing private interests vs. the common good in society. 7. Care for God’s Creation – We must be good stewards of creation and protect the environment. Scriptural Support: Genesis 2:15 ; Leviticus 25:18-24 ; Matthew 6:25-34 . For more, see Care for Creation | USCCB . Examples of relevant issues: Air and water pollution; conservation; climate change; location of sites with toxic substances/environmental hazards; contamination of soil and groundwater; waste management; deforestation; surface mining. For a summary of the 7 themes, see Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching Handout from Catholic Relief Services. For more information about the 7 themes of Catholic Social Teaching, see Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching | USCCB , which has a separate page on each of the 7 themes, with relevant Scripture passages and excerpts from Church teachings and documents. Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Justice Articles Next

This is a perennial question, and for good reason. Previous Next Table of Contents If God is All-Good and All-Powerful, Why Does He Allow Suffering? This is a perennial question, and for good reason. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti (to be continued) Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Table of Contents Next

The baptism of Jesus, and how it relates to you. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 3:13-17 The baptism of Jesus, and how it relates to you. Image by Kaleb Tapp, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti March 15, 2024 Matthew 3:13-17 Jesus is baptized by John What happens in this passage? What do you think is the most significant word or statement or detail in this account, and why? William Barclay notes that the Jews had never seen baptism as being for Jews, but only for non-Jewish proselytes joining the Jewish faith. In their mind, baptism was for sinners, not the for the Chosen People. When John came baptizing and Jews submitted to his baptism, they were recognizing in a new way their own sin and their need for God to do something about it (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. 52-53.) Matthew is the only Gospel to include John protesting that Jesus should not be baptized. What is Jesus’s response? What is “righteousness,” and what does it mean to fulfill all righteousness? To live a “righteous” life is to live a life totally in accordance with the will of God. To “fulfill all righteousness” suggests that God wanted Jesus to do this. Why do you think Jesus chose to be baptized (or that the Father wanted Jesus to be baptized) when Jesus was not in need of repentance? One of the reasons Jesus might have done this was to demonstrate his identification with humanity. By accepting baptism, Jesus was identifying himself with sinful humans, counting himself as being one of us, which he will do in an extraordinary way on the Cross. In what ways does a willingness to be baptized show an attitude of humility? As the Son of God, Jesus was greater than John; but here he was placing himself in a position of submission to John (see Matthew 1:11). This act of placing himself in the inferior position is one of the early examples of what I call Jesus’s downside-up approach to life – he cares about the people in what society considers to be inferior positions. Here, he even takes the lesser position for himself, as he will do at other times in his ministry. He was constantly serving those who should be serving him, and making that the norm for Christian living. Matthew is establishing from the beginning that Jesus is the Messiah, but a particular kind of Messiah. How does Jesus’s decision to be baptized reflect the kind of Messiah he is? There is a really important point here about John. It says he “consented” (3:15, NRSV). What is the importance of our consent in doing the work of God and fulfilling all righteousness? Why do you think God speaks from the heavens at this moment? God rarely manifests himself with an audible voice. Why here? In Mark 1:11, the voice says, “ You are ” my beloved son. In Matthew 3:17, the voice says, “ This is ” my beloved son.” One version of the statement is directed toward Jesus and the other is directed toward the onlookers. Does that difference bring out different nuances about what is going on here? What do God’s words tell us about Jesus? The proclamation from heaven about Jesus harkens back to two Old Testament passages. Psalm 2 is about the anointing of the king but points to the Messiah. Verse 2 refers to the Lord and his “anointed.” The word “Christ” is the Greek word for “anointed one,” and “Messiah” is the Hebrew word for “anointed one,” so we look at Psalm 2 as speaking about the Messiah. In verse 7, God says, “You are my son; / today I have begotten you” (Psalm 2:7, NRSV), words that echo in God’s words when Jesus is baptized. Similarly, Isaiah 42:1 begins the description of the Suffering Servant that culminates in the great prophecies of Isaiah 53 that point to Jesus’s crucifixion. In 42:1, God says, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, / my chosen one with whom I am pleased” (Isaiah 42:1, NABRE), again using words that echo in Jesus’s baptism. God seeded the Old Testament with prophecies that pointed to Jesus and then confirmed them as Jesus began his ministry. Baptism is accepted by most Christian denominations as a sacrament instituted by Christ. How does what happens to Christians in baptism parallel what happens in this story about Jesus’s baptism? Notice the similarities in these brief summaries from two different Christian traditions: The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible says: “The water, Spirit, and divine voice signify the effects of baptism whereby the soul is cleansed (Acts 22:16), the grace of the Holy Spirit is imparted (3:11; 1 Cor. 12:13), and the recipient is adopted as a beloved child of God (3:17; Gal. 3:26-27; Catechism of the Catholic Church 537)” ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , Matthew 3:15 fn., p. 12). Evangelical Presbyterian theologian Vern Poythress writes: “So the features depicted in Jesus’s baptism by John come to apply through Jesus to us. We are cleansed from sin by the washing with Jesus’s blood, signified by the water of baptism. Heaven is opened to us through Jesus, giving us communion with God the Father (Heb 10:19–20). We receive the Holy Spirit, who descends on us when we have faith in Christ (Rom 8:9–10). We hear the voice of God the Father, who calls us sons in union with Christ the Son (Rom 8:14–17; Gal 4:4–7), and who is pleased with us on account of his being pleased with his eternal Son (Eph 1:4–10)” (Vern Poythress, “The Baptism of Jesus,” The Gospel Coalition , https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-baptism-of-jesus/ ). What does the baptism of Jesus say to you about your own life? How does the Trinity show up here, and why is that significant? It took Christians hundreds of years to work out exactly how to speak accurately about the Trinity, but they did not make up the concept – it shows up here at the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry as the Father speaks about the Son while the Holy Spirit hovers over it all in the form of a dove. Not are not the same as Jesus, but you too are a beloved son or daughter of God. If God proclaimed something about you, what would he want you or others to know about you? Take a step back and consider this: When Christians are baptized, they are making a public profession that they belong to God the Father (or their parents make that profession on their behalf, in the case of infant baptism). They are embracing what Jesus has already done for them, and looking forward to what God will continue to do in them by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have been baptized, how are you embracing and living up to what you professed (or what was professed for you on your behalf) when you were baptized? If you have been baptized, how are you embracing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit received in your baptism? Is there more you might consider doing to respond to the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? If you have not been baptized, is this something you should consider? If so, who could you talk to about it? Bibliography See 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

Welcome a child, be as humble as a child, and don’t lead any “little ones” astray: the starting point for our relationships in the church. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 18:1-9 Welcome a child, be as humble as a child, and don’t lead any “little ones” astray: the starting point for our relationships in the church. Carl Bloch (1834–1890). Jesus Christ with the children / Let the little Children come unto Me / Suffer the Children . Date unknown. Oil on copper. Cropped. Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Let_the_Little_Children_Come_unto_Jesus.jpg . Tom Faletti June 29, 2025 In chapter 18, Matthew again gathers together various sayings and teachings of Jesus. This time, the focus of the teachings is on how to deal with issues that might cause dissension and strife within the Christian community. Jesus tells us how to treat each other and what to do when someone doesn’t treat us right. Matthew 18:1-5 Seeking status versus becoming like a child and welcoming the child What is the disciples’ question to Jesus? What do you think they are thinking about, and how does it show that they don’t understand Jesus’s ways yet? Notice that he doesn’t answer their question. Instead, he calls a child into their midst. What do you think it is about a child that shows what it takes to enter the kingdom of heaven? What does it mean, when Jesus tells us to humble ourselves like a child (verse 4)? In what ways is a child “humble”? Why does Jesus say that those who do this are “the greatest”? Greatest in what way? Why would Jesus say (in verse 5) that when we welcome (NRSV) or receive (NABRE) a child in his name, we welcome or receive him? Fr. Daniel Harrington tells us: “in ancient society the child had no legal rights or standing and was entirely dependent on the parents. . . . Likewise, no one through rank or status has a real claim on God’s kingdom” (Harrington, p. 74). Harrington explains that the Qumran community from whom we have the Dead Sea scrolls seated people at meals according to their rank within the community because “[t]he meals were supposed to mirror what would happen when God’s kingdom comes” (p. 73). This focus on status was apparently not uncommon in the time of Jesus. How does our society give attention to status and elevate some people over others? In what ways do people seek status in our society? How are people asking today a modern-day equivalent of “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” How are we infected by that kind of thinking? What does Jesus say in response? How is a child’s dependence and lack of worldly status a model for us? In the context of the rest of the passage, Jesus is not just talking literally about children. They represent all the people at the bottom of the social ladder. The disciples want to know who is greatest – who has highest rank. Jesus says, those who appear to have the lowest rank, the least claim, the lowest status are the ones who, in the kingdom of God, have the highest status or who are the greatest. If this is the criterion for greatness, what does it say to us about ourselves? What does this tell you about God and about God’s thinking? Jesus identifies himself with the children, the people with the lowest status. This is not the only time Jesus identifies himself with someone else. In Matthew 25, in the story of the sheep and the goats, he identifies himself with the hungry, sick, etc. What does this tell you about Jesus? What does this tell us about the importance of looking out for the vulnerable: children, the poor, people with mental or physical disabilities, and others who have no claim to greatness? Jesus appears to be saying, I will measure you not by whatever status you think you have, but by how you treat the people who don’t have status, the people who are not considered the greatest. Who are the people who lack status in our community and nation, and what must we do differently to respond to this challenge from Jesus? Harrington sums up this verse by saying that Jesus is saying that “He dwells in them in a special way” (p. 74). What is this special relationship between God and the least among us? What does that relationship challenge us to do? How can we welcome those with the lowest social status? This passage starts out talking about status in the kingdom of heaven. But by the end of the chapter, we will realize that Matthew is thinking in part about the church on Earth and the struggles between people within the church. In that context, who are those with low status that your local church should be showing greater concern for? Matthew 18:6-9 Don’t lead the little ones astray In this passage, Jesus refers to “these little ones,” and most people interpret it as not just talking about children. Who are “these little ones”? Harrington suggests that this term describes “a simple and good-hearted member of the community who can be lead astray” (p. 74). The one other place where Jesus uses the term is in Matthew 10:42, where it means a disciple as Jesus praises anyone who gives one of “these little ones” a cup of cold water. The word Jesus uses to describe the offense committed by someone who leads others astray is a word we have seen before: the Greek word is skandalon . When Jesus calls Peter a “stumbling block” or “obstacle” in Matthew 16:23, it is this word. When Jesus says in Matthew 17:27 that they should pay the Temple tax so that they will not give offense (Matt. 17:27), the word for “offense” is the verb form of the same word. Here again it is the verb form of that word. To be a stumbling block, to give offense, to scandalize – these are all situations where one person might trip up another person so that their faith is shaken or they are led into sin. How can one person lead another person to sin? Jesus says that the perpetrator would be better off if some pretty bad things happened to him or her. What are those things he warns us about in verses 6, 8, and 9? What is his point in making these comparisons? In verse 7, Jesus addresses the common rationalization: it’s going to happen anyway. What is his warning? How might we be a stumbling block for others if we are not careful? Take a step back and consider this: Matthew is selecting various teachings of Jesus and arranging them in the order he thinks might have maximum benefit for the Christian community. He could have chosen any story to tell first. It is worth considering why he chose to start with these teachings about how to treat children and the “little ones,” before dealing with what to do when a member of the community sins against you and how often you should forgive people (which are coming next). By starting here, Matthew provides a bigger-picture perspective with which to consider the rest of the teachings in this chapter. If you think of yourself as a big deal, you may be more tempted to get angry when someone does something you don’t like. You may be more tempted to try to exclude them or cut them off. If you think of yourself as a humble child, you might choose a different way to deal with disagreements. In every age, there are people in prominent positions who identify themselves as Christians but aren’t living up to the “high calling” or “upward call” we have in Christ (Phil. 3:14). They may be too focused on power, or on what they can gain from their prominence. They may have a tendency to lord it over other people or act as though they think they are more important than others. We too sometimes get off track. Maybe we get too focused on ourselves and our own desires. Maybe we start treating others as underlings whom we expect to help us accomplish our desires. Maybe we start treating people as means to our ends, rather than as important in themselves. Matthew 18:1-5, can be an antidote to that. How can viewing ourselves as simply a child in the kingdom of God help us maintain the right perspective and not act like we and our agenda are more important than everyone else and their agenda? How can viewing the world through the eyes of a child help prepare you to forgive others when they hurt you? 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

Herod seeks to kill Jesus, which is why Jesus ends up as a refugee in Egypt, and then in Nazareth. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 2:13-23 Herod seeks to kill Jesus, which is why Jesus ends up as a refugee in Egypt, and then in Nazareth. Image by NEOM, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 2:13-23 Jesus becomes a refugee, avoids a massacre, and ends up in Nazareth Matthew tells this part of the story to help us understand how Jesus could be the Messiah even though he grew up in Nazareth, not in Bethlehem. Why does Joseph take Jesus and Mary to Egypt? When the angel tells Joseph to “flee,” the Greek word for flee is pheuge , which is related to our English words “refuge” and “refugee.” It was common for Jews to hide out in Egypt if they were in trouble or in danger in Judea; there were Jewish communities in a number of Egyptian cities, so they would not have felt totally alone. Still, it was a long way from home. Jesus began his life as a refugee. Fortunately, Joseph and Mary did not have to convince a skeptical government that the family was worthy of asylum status. God was willing to become not only a human, not only a poor person, but a refugee. How does that help us understand the inherent dignity of refugees and the importance of being welcoming to them? The “fulfillment prophecy” that Matthew cites in verse 15 is not actually about Jesus or the Messiah. It was a statement from Hosea 11:1 about the fact that God called his “son,” the people of Israel, out of Egypt, long ago. Matthew repurposes it, perhaps to try to convince Jews that there is a huge amount of evidence in the Hebrew Scriptures pointing to Jesus. Matthew might also be thinking that Jesus’s experience of being brought out of oppression is a foreshadowing of our own experience of being brought out of oppression by Jesus. Matthew’s frequent use of these “fulfillment prophecies” leads some scholars to conclude that Matthew is picking out Old Testament prophecies and then creating stories to fit them. There is no evidence that he is doing that. Rather, it appears that he is organizing the stories he knows about Jesus and then searching the Old Testament to see if it has “prophecies” that might fit with those events. The stories come first; not the prophecies. When the wise men do not return to him, what does Herod do? Bethlehem was not a large town, so scholars think this would have been a slaughter of perhaps 20 or 30 children. While not large in number, all the children killed by Herod would have been deeply mourned by their mothers and fathers. Some scholars think the killing of the innocents is inspired by Pharaoh’s killing of the first-born sons of the Israelites before the exodus from Egypt, but again if Matthew created the story for that purpose he could easily have made the connection explicit and he did not. The “fulfillment prophecy” in verse 18 is from Jeremiah 31:15, where the original verse is about the Israelites being forced into exile by the Babylonians. It is followed by prophecies that the people will return from exile. Ramah was 5 miles north of Jerusalem, so it was 10 miles from Bethlehem. Rachel’s tomb was thought to be in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Matthew puts that all together and sees Jesus. Where do you think God was, as this was happening? God allows humans to do a lot of evil things, without intervening. Why do you think that is? God is guiding us to be people who as fully as possible reflect God’s image. If he intervened every time something bad happened, we would not be able to learn the lessons of our actions and would not grow to spiritual maturity. Also, we might stop trying to be our best selves, figuring that God will make things better if we mess up. Allowing us to do evil is the price that must be paid for giving us the chance to grow and mature and be great: to take on the mind of Jesus, to be the Body of Christ to the world, to live in the power of the Spirit. Jesus escapes from a tyrant by going to Egypt and then returning when the tyrant is gone. How does this connect with Moses’s escape, as an infant, from a pharaoh who was a tyrant in Egypt, and the Israelites’ later escape from a tyrant pharaoh in Egypt? The words “go . . . for those seeking the child’s life are dead” (2:20, NRSV) echo the Lord’s direction to Moses to go back to Egypt because the Pharaoh who wanted to kill him is dead (Exodus 4:19), setting up a possible linkage between Jesus and Moses: Jesus is the new Moses, leading his people out of oppression and giving them a new Law. When Herod dies, why doesn’t Joseph go back to Bethlehem? Joseph is afraid of Herod’s son Archelaus, who is given the southern territory including Jerusalem and Bethlehem by his father. Joseph had good reason to be afraid of Archelaus. Archelaus was so oppressive and hated so much by the Jews that he was eventually deposed from his position by Rome. Recall that Herod’s roots were in Idumea. Archelaus had roots in Idumea and Samaria, so he was even more suspect of not being a real Jew, and he treated the Jews so horribly that this suspicion was confirmed in the people’s minds. For example, Josephus tells us that in one of Archelaus's first official acts, 3,000 Pharisees were killed in response to an uprising protesting his father’s last act of oppression in Jerusalem. Joseph goes north to Galilee, to the town of Nazareth, a place far away from Jerusalem and not under Archelaus’s jurisdiction. Matthew’s final “fulfillment prophecy” in this chapter (verse 23) cannot be found in the Old Testament. Scholars have searched and never found anything that matches. So we don’t know what Matthew had in mind here. The closest thing is a prophecy before Samson is born that Samson will be a “nazirite” (Judges 13:5), but that is not the name of a place. Perhaps Matthew was inviting a connection to the nazirites, which were Israelites, including Samson and Samuel, who consecrated themselves to God, never drank alcohol, and never cut their hair, among other strict practices (Numbers 6). But the connection is flawed, since Jesus didn’t live an ascetic life and refrained from the demonstrations of human strength that Samson excelled at. Other scholars point to a possible word-play as Isaiah 11:1 talks of a “branch” arising from the stump of Jesse, and the Hebrew word for “branch” is netser , which sounds similar to the beginning of the name Nazareth. Since Jesus fulfilled in his own person some prophecies that were addressed to “Israel,” some scholars think this word-play hinting at the branch that arises from Israel is in Matthew’s mind. All of these are nice ideas, but we don’t know what Matthew had in mind; so this suggested quote remains a puzzle. Even if we don’t expect God to communicate to us nowadays through dreams, how is Joseph a role model for seeking guidance from God? When you figure out what God is asking you to do, do it! ; make yourself open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit; trust that God has a way forward for your life; take care of those around you; be aware of what is going on around you in the world, but don’t be paralyzed by it. Joseph settles his family in Nazareth. What do you know about Nazareth as a place to live and work? Joseph might have seen that he could find good work in the area of Nazareth, especially in Sepphoris, 5 miles away. This is explained in Raymond Brown’s one-volume biblical commentary: “Joseph, involved in the building trade, probably settled in in Nazareth, because he could find abundant work in neighboring Sepphoris, which Herod Antipas was rebuilding as his capital at that time” (Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., “The Gospel According to Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 15, p. 636). Historians say that Sepphoris, though a Jewish city, did not join the Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in 66 A.D., suggesting that it took a more cosmopolitan rather than strictly Jewish approach to life under Roman occupation. How might this choice of a hometown have affected Jesus as he grew up? Although Nazareth was a small town, it was not a backwater. Besides being just 5 miles from Herod Antipas’s capital at Sepphoris, it was nestled in the fabric of trade routes to faraway places. It was only 15 miles away from the major international north-south Roman highway that ran through Israel along the Mediterranean coast from Syria to Egypt. Nazareth was also the crossroads of two smaller highways that served as trade routes, one starting at Ptolemais on the coast (modern-day Acre, Israel) and running southeast to Samaria, and the other running northeast through Nazareth to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, a city founded by Herod Antipas (see “Palestine in the time of Jesus, 4 B.C. - 30 A.D.: (including the period of Herod, 40 - 4 B.C.),” Library of Congress , https://www.loc.gov/item/2009579463/ ). As a result, Jesus, as a growing child and as a young man, would have been exposed to other cultures and a bigger world even while living in his Jewish village. This is all we get from Matthew for the “Christmas story” – very little compared to what we have from Luke. What important points about the background, birth, and infancy of Jesus are provided to us by Matthew? Jesus is Son of David, son of Abraham, Son of God due to his virgin birth, Emmanuel (“God with us”), perhaps a new Moses, born in Bethlehem, and raised in Nazareth. His birth story shows how the hand of God protects a little one so that he can grow up and save us, and the first people to recognize that this little one is great is a small group of Gentiles, a bit of foreshadowing that continues to play out as Matthew shows that the gospel is for Gentiles as well as Jews. How do you see the hand of God working subtly but decisively to bring good out of evil in these stories? How do you see the hand of God doing the same thing in your life? Do you think Matthew succeeds in making his point that Jesus fulfills the messianic prophecies even though he grew up in Nazareth, not Bethlehem? Explain. What can you take from this story of the wise men, Herod, Joseph, and Jesus to strengthen your faith or your approach to God? Take a step back and consider this: God could have chosen anywhere in the world for his Son to be born as a human. He could have selected a “chosen people” anywhere. He could have chosen any time in history for his coming. God chose this particular people, whose particular history placed them in this particular place in the world at this particular time. At this particular time, the Roman Empire made it easy to spread a message far and wide. Growing up in Nazareth would place Jesus among people who could both nurture him in the monotheistic culture of Judaism and also expose Him to the rest of the world, and living at a minor crossroads could help him tailor his message to speak to both Jews and Gentiles and prepare the way so that his followers could use their location in the midst of the Roman Empire to take the gospel ultimately “to the ends of the earth.” You also live at a particular time, in a particular place, among a particular people, at a crossroads of particular relationships and opportunities. God desires to work through you to share some piece of his good news with some particular people by your words and actions. How is God calling you to use the embedded realities, relationships, and crossroads of your life to bring his good news to others and make the world more like the kingdom of God that it was meant to be? What is God calling you to do next, where you are? 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 is Jesus? Who is Peter? Where do you fit in the Church that God is building? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 16:13-20 Who is Jesus? Who is Peter? Where do you fit in the Church that God is building? “On this rock I will build my church.” St. Peter’s Church, Staunton on Arrow, England, UK. Photo by Fabian Musto, 12 May 2018. CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:On_this_rock_I_will_build_my_church_-_St._Peter%27s_Church_(Staunton_on_Arrow)_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5772113.jpg . Tom Faletti June 16, 2025 Matthew 16:13-20 Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah and is given the keys to the kingdom This happens in the region of Caesarea Philippi, which is 20-25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and inhabited mainly by Gentiles. Jesus first asks the disciples who the people say the Son of Man (i.e., Jesus) is. How do they answer? Why might the people have thought that Jesus was a return of one or another of these figures that preceded him? Jesus then asks them: Who do you say I am? Simon Peter speaks, and speaks accurately. Who does Simon Peter say Jesus is (verse 16)? Some translations use the word “Christ”; some use the word “Messiah.” Peter would have used the Hebrew word Messiah , but the biblical text was written in Greek and the actual word in the biblical text is the Greek word Christos , from which we get our word “Christ.” Both mean “Anointed One.” Peter adds that Jesus is “the Son of the living God.” (That is not in Mark 8:29.) Matthew has previously identified Jesus as God’s Son in 2:15 and 3:17. Including the term here helps clarify that Jesus is not the kind of military messiah the Jews were hoping for. (For those who might be troubled that Matthew might be adding something, many scholars think Peter might have declared Jesus to be the Son of the living God when Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection, and Matthew may simply be combining the two declarations to keep things tidy.) What does the “Anointed One” mean to you personally? Why is it so important that Jesus is the Messiah? Matthew builds the case that Jesus is the Son of God slowly throughout his entire Gospel. In 2:15, Matthew applies to Jesus an Old Testament passage where God refers to his son. In 3:17, God calls Jesus his Son. In 14:34, the disciples say Jesus is the Son of God after he walks on the water. Here, Peter identifies Jesus as the Son of God. In 27:54, the centurion calls Jesus the Son of God. Why is it so important that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus asks all of us: Who do you say I am? We can’t let someone else answer this question for us. If you didn’t feel bound to use the particular term Messiah or Christ , how would you answer the question: Who do you say I am? People experience Jesus in so many different ways: as their savior, hope, healer, teacher, model, purpose for living, strength, the one they can share anything with, and more. In verse 17, Jesus says to Peter, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,” but God the Father. In what ways could you say about your faith that it has not been revealed to you by humans but by God himself? “this rock” Until verse 18, Peter has been known as Simon. Here, Jesus gives him a new name in Aramaic which was the language spoken by the Jews in Jesus’s time (a distinct language but related to the Hebrew language). The new name means “rock,” and that name has been passed on to us as Peter ( Petros in Greek in the New Testament). Jesus immediately continues by saying, “upon this rock [ petra , which also means “rock”] I will build my church.” When Jesus says, upon “this rock,” what does he mean? Throughout history, the scholars have not agreed. Is he saying that Peter is the rock, or that Peter’s faith is the rock, or that the truth that Peter professed is the rock, or that Peter’s confession of faith is the rock, or that the Messiah Peter proclaimed (Jesus) is the rock? The Roman Catholic Church has leaned heavily on the first interpretation, while Protestant preachers have ranged widely while rejecting the first interpretation. What do you think Jesus means when he talks about “this rock” in verse 18? “church” There was no “church” yet in Jesus’s time. The Greek word for “church” that appears here appear only twice in the Gospels: here and in Matthew 18:17 (the NRSV in two other verses refers to a “member of the church” but the Greek in those places is “brother”). What did “the church” mean to Matthew and his community? They had to translate into Greek what Jesus said in Aramaic. The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia . The corresponding Hebrew word is qahal , and translators generally used the Greek word ekklesia for the Hebrew word qahal . This Hebrew word was used for the assembly or congregation of the people of Israel, and that sometimes meant the entire people of Israel and sometimes a local gathering. So when Jesus refers to the “church,” he could mean the universal church – the whole body of Christians. But he could also mean the local manifestation of the church – what we would call a parish or congregation – and that is clearly what Matthew has in mind in 18:15-20. The word is also used in the New Testament in chapter 2 of the Book of Revelation, which addresses the “church” of Ephesus, the “church” of Smyrna, etc., and there it probably means the group of local assemblies that met in those cities. The Catholic Church interprets this passage in light of the development of the papacy, a different view than evangelical churches, which reject the hierarchical superstructure of the Catholic Church. Mainline Christian denominations and the Orthodox church reject the papacy but have hierarchies. What do you think Jesus means when he says that upon this rock “I will build my church”? “the gates of Hades” In verse 18, Jesus uses the phrase “the gates of Hades.” He does not say “the gates of hell.” In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld where souls went when they died, and the name came to be used for the place where they resided: the abode of the dead, the netherworld. “Hades” was the word used to translate the Hebrew word Sheol , which was the place of the dead. There was no joy in Sheol, but it was not a place of torment. It was merely the place where the souls of the dead went. Jesus says that the place of death will not prevail over the Church: the people of God will not end up in the grip of (in the gates of, in the location of) death. The power of death cannot overcome the Church. We will end with God, not in the place of death. When Jesus says in verse 19 that the gates of Hades will not prevail over the Church, he is saying that death is not our final destination. What does Jesus’s promise that death will not prevail in the end mean to you? “the keys of the kingdom” and the power “to bind” and “to loose” In verse 19, Jesus two things that have been controversial through much of the Church’s existence. He is still speaking specifically and singly to Peter. He says he will give to Peter “the keys to the kingdom” and the power “to bind” and “to loose.” Scholars have debated the meaning of “the keys of the kingdom.” The phrase is often interpreted in light of Isaiah 22:22, where God says that Hilkiah will become the master or chief steward of King Hezekiah’s royal household. He will have the key to the House of David – “key” being a symbol of authority – and he will have control over whether the doors are open or closed. Scholars also have debated the meaning of the power to bind and loose. Father Daniel Harrington says, “The content of that power is not completely clear. It may involve laying down rules and giving exemptions, imposing or lifting excommunications, forgiving or not forgiving sins, or even performing exorcisms” (Harrington, p. 68). In Jesus’s time, rabbis might have interpreted these terms in reference to their teaching authority. They would have been seen as having the power of excommunication (and Jesus was once expelled from a synagogue by rabbis who thought they had that authority). The leading rabbis also made rulings on how to interpret the Scriptures. The early church saw this teaching authority as being held by the apostles. As time went on, this teaching authority passed from bishop to bishop. In Matthew 18:18, the power to bind and loose is extended to all of the disciples in cases of disciplinary action in the local church community. But only Peter is described as receiving the revelation from the Father that Jesus is the Messiah (Matt. 18:17), and only Peter is given the keys of the kingdom. The Roman Catholic Church has develop a whole theology of the papacy, and this verse is part of that theology: that the Church is built on Peter, that Jesus instituted Peter in a unique role, that Peter has primacy in the teaching authority of the Church, and that his teaching authority is passed on to his successors (the popes) as the visible head of the Church. Protestants reject this whole theology of the papacy and do not see any hint of papacy in this passage. They see Peter as the leader of the apostles in Jesus’s time, but they generally see “this rock” as Peter’s confession of faith or the truth he professed or Jesus himself, not Peter, and they see the power to bind and loose as broadly shared by all Church leaders or the Church as a whole. Note, however, that this is partly a disagreement over who has authority and how much authority, not over whether there is a teaching authority. Protestants believe that their denominations have the power to determine who is and is not a member of the denomination and the power to decide what is and is not official doctrine. That leads to a series of questions for people of any denomination: In verse 19, Jesus is still speaking specifically and singly to Peter when he gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and loose. What do these statements about Peter mean to you? How important was Peter’s role in the early Church? In what ways does the binding and loosing authority of the Church benefit us (the authority to establish doctrine and to decide who is a member of the church or not)? How can this authority be used wisely so that it is not abused? Jesus ends this exchange in verse 20 by telling the disciples not to tell people that he is the Messiah. This restriction was obviously only meant for a time; after his resurrection, they were called to tell the world all about him. But why do you think he told them not to tell people he was the Messiah at this time? Take a step back and consider this: The arguments over the papacy have taken attention away from Jesus’s metaphor. He says that the Church – which is the entire people of God from every Christian denomination – is like a building made of rock and built out of individual stones. In Matthew 21:42, Jesus identifies himself as the cornerstone, quoting Psalm 118:22 (“the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”). Peter builds on that image when he writes, “Come to him, a living stone,” adding that “you, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house . . .” (1 Pet. 2:4-5). Jesus is a living stone, the cornerstone of God’s house, and we are living stones who help form that house of God. This is a metaphor for the Church. Each one of us is a living stone in God’s enormous spiritual building. Each of us have our own, specific place in the Church that God is building. How important is it for the stones that make up the Church God is building to fit together well? How important is it for each stone to be fitted to the stone next to it, for each row of stones to be aligned properly upon the row before it, as part of God’s overall plan? In what ways are you a living stone in the Church that God is building? Where do you fit in the construction of God’s spiritual house? 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 do you prepare a small-group Bible Study meeting? Previous For Leaders Next Preparing to Lead a Small-Group Bible Study Meeting How do you prepare a small-group Bible Study meeting? Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti March 25, 2024 At the Previous Meeting Tell the group what verse you are starting at or what verses or chapters you will be covering, especially if there is an expectation, or a desire among some, to study during the week. During the Week Before the Meeting Don’t wait until the last day to prepare. In your preparation, it is better to be prepared to cover too much material than not enough. Pray. Ask God to guide you, help you understand the text, and help you formulate questions and comments that will lead others to understand God’s Word and how it speaks to their lives. Read the text at least twice. Then read a commentary and/or study notes to learn some of the nuances of the text and the kinds of issues that might come up. Break the text into appropriately sized passages: a paragraph, a story, a set of verses that focus on a particular topic. For each passage, formulate a series of questions, including all three of the following types of questions: What does it say? These are questions of fact . They help the group to acknowledge and agree on the basic facts of what the passage says. Examples: What happened? What is Jesus (or God or some other person) saying here? What issue does Paul (or some other author) raise here? What does the author say we should do? What guidelines for living does he offer? What does it mean? These are questions of interpretation . They help the group to wrestle with what the passage means, and with different interpretations of what it means. Examples: Why did the man do what he did? Why did Jesus react in that way? What does that word (or phrase) mean? Why did the author (or person) use that particular word (or phrase)? What does the author mean when he uses that term, or says “. . . .”? Who is this referring to, or who does this apply to? What does this passage tell us about God? Why do you think the author chose to focus on that problem? How does this passage make you feel? What are some attitudes or actions that term would apply to today? What does that key word (or phrase) mean to you? What are some ways that people demonstrate this characteristic? Give some examples of actions that fit the description in the passage. Describe a time in your life when you encountered this problem. How can we apply it to our lives? These are application questions. They help the group to share their faith and practical insights with each other, and apply the passage to their own lives. Examples: What do you find most challenging in this passage, and why? How can we learn from the example of the person in this passage? What does this person’s example tell us about what me might do in our own lives? How can we apply this passage to our lives today? What does this passage say to us about our relationship with God, or about God’s attitude toward us? What are the modern problems we face today that this passage is talking about? How does the passage say we should respond? What does this passage say to you about yourself? What do you find most encouraging in this passage, and why? What are some things we can do to live out these commands? Which of these commands do you find hardest to obey, and why? When do you find it especially difficult to do what this passage is saying? Why is that the hard time, and what can you do about it? What are some ways we try to avoid the implications of this passage? What do we need to change in our lives to become examples of what Jesus (or God or the author) is talking about? What are you facing right now where you need to hear and apply the ideas in this passage? When have you experienced what the passage describes? When are you tempted to do what the passage describes? What does this person’s example tell us about how we can deal with similar problems at work (or at home, or in our church, or in our relationships)? In what ways do we fail to do what this passage is describing? How well does our parish reflect these values? What can we do to improve our parish’s way of living this part of the Gospel? What do you need to do to live out the truths of this passage? What holds you back from living out these principles? What would the author (or God) say to you in response? What do you find hardest to accept or live out in this teaching? Why? In the next week, what is one thing you can do to live out the challenge of this passage? Determine whether there are some key issues and applications you think the group should see. Make sure your questions will lead the group to wrestle with those issues, but don’t put your answer in the questions. Allow room for the members to reach a different conclusion. (For example: If you think the key is faith, don’t ask, “Don’t you think faith is the key point here?” Instead, ask, “What do you think this passage says to us about our relationship with God?”. If the group answers in a different way than you expect, you can share your view, but don’t push them to see it only your way.) During the Meeting Extend a welcome to each person as they arrive. Greet each person warmly. Don’t delay your start. Reinforce those who are on time by starting 5 minutes after the official starting time, regardless of who you are still expecting. Begin with prayer, reminding the group that Jesus is here with us, and spend a short time in silence to become aware of His presence. Then ask the group to pray short prayers of thanks or praise : “Thank you, God, for. . . .” Or “I praise you, Lord, for. . . .” Close this prayer time by asking for God guidance and the group’s openness to Him. Unless you are covering several chapters each week, ask someone to read aloud the first passage. (If you are covering large sections, instead ask the group to read the chapters in advance and begin by summarizing what happened in the passage, perhaps reading a key part.) Ask the questions you prepared. Always start with the basic “what does it say” or fact questions. Quite often, people don’t really understand or agree about what the passage actually says, and if they don’t understand what it says they certainly won’t understand what it means or how to apply it. Your study during the week may have given you some background knowledge you can share here to help the group understand what the passage says. However, try to elicit as much as possible from the group rather than telling it all yourself. Ask your interpretation or “what does it mean” questions, but don’t let the group get stuck there. Leave plenty of time for application questions. Ask some application questions that help the group find apply the passage to their daily lives. Don’t skip this step. Your job isn’t done until the passage has been applied. Frame your questions in ways that encourage personal sharing and a faith response to the passage. Know in advance which questions you think are most important. After the group has talked about what the passage says and means, ask your most important application questions first. If the group spends a long time on your first application question, you don’t have to use every question you prepared. Try to involve everyone. Make sure that people who want to say something but are more shy about breaking into the conversation are given a chance to speak. (For example, say, “I think Chris is trying to say something here.”) If one or two people have taken the discussion into a side area that is not involving the whole group, bring the group back to the topic. “Off the track” is often in the eyes of the beholder, so if the area is somewhat related to the passage, and most of the group is interested and participating, you may want to let the discussion go for a little while. The goal is faith sharing and spiritual growth, and the Holy Spirit can sometimes accomplish that in a different way than you anticipated. But don’t let the discussion get way off the passage and don’t let a few people go on and on without involving the rest of the group. Bring the discussion back to the passage. (For example, say, “Let’s look at the passage again to see what it says about this.” Or ask another application question that brings the group back to the passage.) When you feel it is time to move on, briefly summarize what the group has discovered in that passage and suggest that the group move on to the next passage. Repeat steps 4 to 11 for the next passage. Before the end, try to summarize the key findings and applications from the week’s discussion. End with prayer, inviting short prayers asking God to help us or others : “Lord, help me or us to. . . .” or “Lord, help my brother or sister to . . . .” Encourage the group to echo each other’s prayers, so that it is truly conversational prayer: “Yes, Lord, help, me or us or Chris to. . . . Give them your. . . .” Make sure newcomers and quieter people are included in the social chit-chat after the meeting. For more leadership training materials, see Leading a Small-Group Bible Study . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous For Leaders Next

Jesus’s followers will face suffering before he returns. What do we need to know, and what do we need to be doing? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 24:15-31 Jesus’s followers will face suffering before he returns. What do we need to know, and what do we need to be doing? Image by Pavlo Osipov, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti September 6, 2025 Matthew 24:15-28 A great period of tribulation and the Second Coming of Jesus In the previous passage, Jesus warned that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed and described the beginnings of a time of trial that Christians would face. In this passage, he provides more detail. The reference in verse 15 to the “desolating sacrilege” (NRSV) or “desolating abomination” (NABRE) refers to portions of the prophetic book of Daniel (9:27; 11:31; and 12:11) that describe the event in history in which Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria, profaned the Temple in Jerusalem by setting up a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Temple, in 167 BC. That action, described in 1 Maccabees 1:54, sparked the Jewish rebellion that temporarily overthrew their oppressors. (The abomination was removed in 1 Maccabees 6:7.) Matthew’s readers might also recall another incident, in A.D. 40, in which the Roman Emperor Caligula sought to erect a statue of himself in the Temple but was assassinated before he could carry out the deed. Matthew appears to be suggesting that the prophecy in Daniel was fulfilled (again) when the Romans desecrated and destroyed the Temple in AD 70. Jesus is using figurative and metaphorical language to describe events that had not happened yet when he spoke, but that had taken place by the time Matthew wrote: namely, that the Temple would be desecrated, that the Jewish nation would be destroyed, and that the Jewish people would be dispersed. The next passage, Matthew 24:29-36, looks further into the future to the time of the Second Coming of Jesus, but for Matthew 24:15-22, we need to stay focused on the events of AD 70. In verses 15-21, what does Jesus tell Christians to do when the desecration of the Temple is imminent? Here is what actually happened in the years after Jesus spoke. Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire became frequent in the AD 60s. When the Romans decided that they had had enough, the emperor sent an army led by the general and future emperor Titus to end the uprisings once and for all. Christians mostly fled away from Judea (consistent with what Jesus said they should do). Huge numbers of Jews instead sought refuge in Jerusalem, thinking that the city, with its thick walls would protect them or that God would protect them because the Temple was there. When the Romans armies sieged the city in AD 70 and then burned and destroyed the city, hundreds of thousands of Jews perished. Josephus reported that more than a million people died and nearly 100,000 were enslaved. God mostly allowed these terrible events to take place without acting to stop them, but verse 22 suggests that God stepped in at one point. What did God do? Does God do this in our lives sometimes? While he allows Christians to face the same kinds of disasters, illnesses, etc. as other people suffer, does he sometimes shorten our times of suffering or lessen our suffering as he stands with us? As you ponder times when you have endured suffering and prayed fervently for God to ease it, Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 10:13 might be relevant: “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it” (NABRE). In verses 23-26, Jesus is shifting the focus to his Second Coming. That shift in focus become clear in verses 27-30. He already warned Christians in verse 4 not to be duped, and he warns them again. What specific danger does he warn them about this time? He warns them not to believe it when people claim that the Messiah has popped up in some obscure place here or there. In verses 27-28, he tells them why they should not try to find some obscure appearance of the Messiah. When Jesus comes at his Second Coming, will it be vague, or will it be obvious? What is the point of using a lightning bolt as a metaphor for his coming? Jesus is not saying that there will be a literal bolt of lightning announcing his return. He is using an analogy to say that his Second Coming will be obvious as a bolt of lightning. You won’t be able to miss it any more than you can miss a bolt of lightning that flashes all the way from one end of the sky to the other. Jesus uses a different metaphor in verse 28, and this metaphor often puzzles people. The Greek word that is often translated as “corpse” can also be translated as “carcass,” and the image would be clearer to us if we used that word: Where the carcass is, the vultures gather . Jesus is reinforcing the point in verse 27 about paying attention to clear signs. When vultures circle in the sky, you know there is a carcass nearby – it is a clear sign. In the same way, it will be clear when the Son of Man comes. Some translations use the word “eagle’ in place of the word “vulture,” which leads to additional layers of meaning. The Romans used the eagle as a symbol of the Roman Empire. When the Romans (eagles) gather around Jerusalem (the eventual carcass), you will know that the time of the city’s end is near ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , fn. to 24:28, p. 51). Jesus has been using the term “Son of Man” for himself throughout this Gospel, but in verse 27 he uses it in a way that connects it to ideas about the “end times,” when God will decisively intervene in human history. Jesus draws the term “Son of Man” from the Old Testament prophet Daniel. In Daniel 7:13, Daniel has a vision of a “son of man” who would come on the clouds of heaven and be given everlasting dominion. In verses 27-28, Jesus refers to the “coming of the Son of Man,” so now he is talking about the Second Coming. What do verses 27-28 tell us about efforts to study obscure signs and vague timelines in order to figure out when Jesus is coming? Do we need to do that, or will the signs be clear when his return is near? In verse 27, Jesus refers to the “coming” of the Son of Man. The Greek word is parousia (usually pronounced pah-roo-SEE-uh), which means “coming” or “arrival.” Matthew is the only Gospel writer who uses this word, and he uses it only in verses 1, 27, 37, and 39 of this chapter. Paul also uses this word in reference to Jesus’s Second Coming in 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians, and James and 1 John also use it in the same way. In this study, I have been using the term “Second Coming” of Jesus for the parousia of the Son of Man. Why is the “coming of the Son of Man” important? Note: Some scholars argue that the main subject of this chapter is the destruction of the Temple, and almost none of it is about the Second Coming. At the other extreme, some scholars claim that this chapter as primarily about the Second Coming, not about the destruction of Jerusalem. Furthermore, people in this second group reject the idea that the language is primarily metaphorical and argue that it should be read as a literal description of what will happen (reading it even more literally than they probably read many other verses of Scripture). The more balanced approach we are taking here, in keeping with Jesus’s other figurative language, is consistent with the broad mainstream of scholars, including both Catholic scholars such as Harrington (pp. 94-97) and scholars with deep evangelical roots such as H. L. Ellison (1146-1147). In this approach, Matthew 24:4-14 stands as warning to Christians of all time periods, Matthew 24:15-22 is about the destruction of the Temple, and then Jesus makes a shift toward the Second Coming that becomes clear in verses 27-41. Matthew 24:29-31 The Son of Man (Jesus) will come in glory Jesus has just told his disciples that when (referring to himself) the Son of Man comes, it will be obvious. Now he describes what it will look like. What does Jesus say will happen when the Son of Man appears? As with most prophetic language and Jesus’s earlier words in this chapter, we should understand that this is metaphorical language. It could happen literally as described – God is capable of anything – but will the sun literally be darkened or is this metaphorical language describing how it will feel to those who experience it? There is no way we can know, but much of Jesus’s language has been metaphorical. Recall that in verse 3, the disciples asked Jesus what will be the “sign” of his coming and the end of the age. Now, in verse 30, he identifies the “sign,” but the sign is none other than himself. What does Jesus say about the “sign”? He says that “the sign of the Son of Man will appear” (NRSV and NABRE) and they will see the Son of Man coming – in other words: the Son of Man himself will be the sign. His coming will be the sign of his coming. This is consistent with his repeated warning not to be led astray by other “signs.” In verse 30, Jesus says that the Son of Man is the sign. In other words, if someone asks you what will be the sign that the Jesus has come back, the answer is: His coming will tell you, and you’ll know it when it happens. This statement should discourage us from empty speculation about the “signs” of his coming. He is saying clearly here that you will know. What does this tell you about how much effort you should put into trying to figure out the “signs” of the Second Coming? Most of the evocative language Jesus uses in this passage is language that appears in similar forms in the Old Testament in passages often described as being about “the Day of the Lord.” Jesus uses phrases that appear in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Haggai, and Zechariah. The things Jesus says here are best interpreted as more symbolic than literal, like the metaphors he has used in his parables and in his descriptions of the kingdom of heaven. It is unlikely that purely naturalistic language about the sun, moon, stars, and clouds can adequately describe the supra-natural event of eternity breaking decisively into time, and Jesus clearly doesn’t want us to waste time trying to figure out what are the signs when we should be focused on what he talks about in the rest of this chapter: whether we are will be ready . Every generation has had people who think their time is the time when Jesus is returning. For 80 generations now, they have been wrong. One might wonder if some people have wasted an inordinate amount of time looking for signs that weren’t there rather than giving their time to fulfilling Jesus’s clear commands in the Gospel of Matthew. What does Jesus say the Son of Man will do when he comes? Who do you think his “elect” are (verse 31)? Considering the things Jesus has told his people to do through this Gospel, what do you think a person must do to be counted among the “elect”? See Faith Versus Works: What Does the Gospel of Matthew Say for a discussion of what Jesus expects of those who wish to be counted among the “elect.” Given that Jesus is speaking in figurative or metaphorical language rather than giving us a script for the Second Coming, what do you think are the key points he wants us to take from this passage that can be useful in our lives? Among the key points he is making are these (and there are probably more): 1. He is coming back, so be ready for it. 2. It will be obvious when he comes back. 3. He has all power and holds the future of the world in his hands, so we can take courage when life is hard. Take a step back and consider this: It has been 2,000 years since Jesus told us that he will return, and it could be hundreds or thousands of years more before he actually does return. However, we all will face our own encounter with the Son of Man at our death, and that will be a moment as clear and decisive as Jesus says his Second Coming will be. What do you think you need to be doing to be ready for his coming, whether it is at the end of the world or at the end of your 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

Jesus cleanses the Temple, removing the sacrificial lambs he will one day take the place of. Where do we need his cleansing in the “temple” of our own life? [John 2:13-17; 2:18-25] Previous Next John List John 2:13-25 Jesus cleanses the Temple, removing the sacrificial lambs he will one day take the place of. Where do we need his cleansing in the “temple” of our own life? From Histoire Sainte , an incomplete set of hand-coloured lithographs depicting scenes from the Bible and the History of Christianity, published in Paris by Delagrave and printed by Becquet frères. Circa 1850-1880. The British Museum, London (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1981-U-56-134?selectedImageId=1097590001 ). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Histoire_Sainte_(BM_1981,U.56-134_60).jpg . Tom Faletti November 8, 2025 Read John 2:13-17 The cleansing of the Temple Why does Jesus go to Jerusalem? In John’s Gospel, Jesus spends much more time in Jerusalem than he does in the other Gospels. He goes from Bethany east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing, to Galilee (where he grew up), where he starts gathering disciples, and now to Jerusalem for Passover. Passover was the annual spring religious feast celebrating God’s liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It was marked by the sacrificing of lambs to commemorate how they were protected when the angel of death “passed over” the houses of the Israelites that had the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. In the Gospel of John, Jesus goes to Jerusalem 3 times for Passover, suggesting that his public ministry lasted more than 2 years, and perhaps longer. Luke tells us (Luke 2:41) that Jesus’s parents brought him to Passover in Jerusalem every year as a child, and presumably he continued that practice throughout his adult life. What does Jesus do in Jerusalem? John places the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, whereas the Synoptics place it at the end. The Gospels writers arranged their stories to achieve their theological purposes, not to tell the story in chronological order. In the Synoptics, this event is the precipitating factor that leads to the final murder plot against Jesus. For John, the precipitating factor is the raising of Lazarus. There are other, more minor differences that at a minimum suggest that the story was passed down orally in two slightly different forms from different eyewitnesses. Some scholars think he cleared the Temple twice, once at the beginning of his ministry and again at the end. What were the sheep, oxen, and doves used for, in the Temple? Oxen, sheep, and doves were sacrificed in the Temple. You could buy the appropriate animals for your sacrifice, so that you would not have to travel to Jerusalem with your own animals for sacrifice. Also, if you brought your own animal to the Temple, the authorities might reject it, saying it was blemished, and tell you to buy one of theirs. The Synoptic Gospels and secular historical accounts indicate that people were often fleeced by the merchants in the Temple. Why were there moneychangers in the Temple? (It’s understandable if you do not know the answer to this question.) The moneychangers were there to accept payment for the Temple tax that every adult male was obligated to pay annually. The Jewish leaders accepted only certain coins – for example, they did not accept Roman coins, which carried the image of Caesar – so you needed a moneychanger to exchange your money for the accepted coins. All of this business was conducted in the outer court of the Temple complex – the Court of the Gentiles – making it a noisy place not conducive to prayer. Jews could proceed into the courts that were closer to the Holy of Holies, but Gentiles had to stop here and could not proceed further in order to find a quiet place to pray. What reason does Jesus give in verse 16 for his action? Jesus does not want God’s house to be a marketplace. It had lost it sense of reverence as economic concerns overshadowed the primary purpose of the Temple as a place where people could interact with God. Jesus’s action reminds many scholars of the last verse of the book of Zechariah (Zech. 14:21), which prophesies that when the Lord comes there will no longer be merchants in the house of the Lord. What do you think Jesus wants God’s house to look like? How might economics, money, and market considerations affect how the Church as a whole and our local churches operate? How might those concerns interfere with our primary purposes as God’s people? John may have a deeper point in mind. Sheep and oxen were essential to the Temple’s role as a place of sacrifice. Therefore, what might be the deeper symbolism in driving them out of the Temple? What would it mean if there were no longer any sacrificial animals in the Temple? There could only be no animals if Temple sacrifice was no longer necessary. This could happen because Jesus is here and will sacrifice himself as the “Lamb of God,” as John the Baptist called him in 2:29 and 2:36. There may be even more to this, in the mind of John the evangelist. In the other Gospels, the Last Supper is on Passover night . But in John’s Gospel the Last Supper is on the night before Passover, and Jesus is dying on the Cross in his ultimate act of sacrifice just as the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple in preparation for that evening’s Passover meals. Jesus’s sacrifice will make the whole sacrificial system in the Temple unnecessary, which would obviate the need for merchants buying and selling animals for sacrifice. That would bring to fulfillment Zecharia’s prophecy that when the Lord comes there will no longer be merchants in the Temple. Verse 17 tells us that Jesus’s action reminds his disciples of Psalm 69:9 (69:10 in the NABRE), which talked about zeal for God’s house. They were struck by the zeal with which Jesus cleansed the Temple. Why do you think Jesus cleared the Temple? What is your reaction to what Jesus did? Read John 2:18-25 Jesus is challenged by the Jewish leaders In verse 18, John refers to “the Jews,” a phrase he will use repeatedly throughout his Gospel. Sometimes, he is just referring to the Jewish people generally (for example, in John 2:13: “The Passover of the Jews was near”). But other times, as in verse 18, he is referring specifically to the Jews who opposed Jesus: the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem. John’s references to “the Jews” are never a general indictment of all Jews. John and Jesus and Jesus’s mother Mary and many people in John’s community were Jews. John was not speaking against all Jews. What was the reaction of the Jewish leaders to Jesus’s cleansing of the Temple? Why do they challenge him? What do they want? What “evidence” does he offer them? John often tells stories where someone misunderstands something Jesus says. What does Jesus mean by the “temple,” and what do the Jewish leaders think he means? Why do you think Jesus answers their challenge in this way? Note: If this confrontation seems premature, we need to remember that John is not necessarily telling us everything in chronological order. Where would you have been in this scene? (One of the disciples? One of the people challenging Jesus? A moneychanger or merchant? A Temple leader? A bystander? Or would you not even have been in the Temple?) Consider the person you just named in the previous question. How do you think they would have reacted to the clearing of the Temple and the discussion that followed? What does this story say to you? Saint Paul said that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, who resides in us (1 Cor. 6:19). Is there any part of the “temple” of your life that needs some cleansing by Jesus? What would he like to do? How do we let Jesus clear away the distractions so that we are proper temples of the Holy Spirit? Take a step back and consider this: Verse 23 tells us that Jesus did other signs while he was in Jerusalem that John does not tell us about, and many people began to believe in his name – but Jesus did not trust these apparent declarations of faith. The New Testament scholar Raymond Brown wrote that Jesus “did not trust their faith because it stopped at the miraculous aspect of the sign and did not perceive what was signified” (Brown, p. 341). In other words, they saw only the miraculous action and not the message or meaning to which the sign pointed. We are called to look for what God’s miraculous signs “signify” – the deeper messages they point to, the eternal truths that lie behind what God has done at the surface or physical level. The human tendency is to stop at the surface of what God has done and is doing. We can only reach our full calling when we go beyond the surface and embrace what the signs signify. How can we train ourselves to look for the deeper spiritual meaning behind what happens on the surface of our lives? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, 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 John List Next