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Blessed are the poor, the grieving, the meek. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 5:1-5 Blessed are the poor, the grieving, the meek. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti April 20, 2024 Matthew 5:1-2 The setting for the “Sermon on the Mount” Matthew introduces his first compilation of Jesus’s teachings. He ultimately has 5 of these “discourses.” Why does Matthew set this scene on a mountain? We can compare this to Moses presenting the Law on Mount Sinai. Jesus was seated because that is how Jewish teachers taught. Although this says it is addressed to the disciples, Matt. 7:28 tells us that it is being heard by crowds of people. Matthew has compiled teachings that Jesus would not have presented all at once. Therefore, there is not a specific, single crowd envisioned by Matthew. We will see that Matthew frequently gathers together different things that Jesus said or did that might not all have happened in one time or place. He carefully organizes his material to help us understand what Jesus said and did. Matthew 5:3-12 The Sermon on the Mount – who is blessed in the kingdom of heaven? These statements of Jesus are known as the “Beatitudes,” from the Latin word for “blessed.” There are generally considered to be eight beatitudes in Matthew, whereas Luke only has four. Verse 3 What does “blessed” mean? What does “poor in spirit” mean? “Poor in spirit” does not mean spiritually poor. A person who is “poor in spirit” is actually spiritually rich. So what is the opposite of poor in spirit? What does a life look like that is not “poor in spirit”? How can a person become, or try to be, poor in spirit? Is “poor in spirit” different from “poor,” which is how Jesus says it in Luke’s account in Luke 6:20? It is possible that Jesus said it in different ways at different times, since he probably preached the same message many times in different places. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary argues that “the addition of ‘in spirit’ changes the emphasis from social-economic to personal-moral: humility, detachment from wealth, voluntary poverty” (Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., “The Gospel According to Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 24, p. 640), but some commentators find no significant difference. Barclay tells us that the Greek word here is the word for “absolute and abject poverty” (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 85). He then walks through the development of the phrase “the poor” in the Old Testament, where it shifted from being simply a word for economic poverty to a word for lack of power and influence, to a word for being oppressed and downtrodden, to a word for putting one’s whole trust in God because one has no other resources. The Psalms repeatedly talk about “the poor” as people who trust in and rely on God (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 86). The Bible does not give any sign that God finds value in the life-destroying effects of abject poverty, so perhaps Matthew included the words “in spirit” to make it clear that Jesus was not praising abject poverty in itself but rather the attitude of trust in God that some poor people have because of their lack of anything else to put their trust in. Can a person be wealthy yet poor in spirit? If so, what would it look like? Can a person be educated yet poor in spirit? If so, what would it look like? Can a person be popular or famous and still be poor in spirit? What would it look like? Considering all that we have talked about, what is the attitude or approach to life of a person who is poor in spirit? One might say: People who are poor in spirit exhibit a fundamental dependency on God rather than on anything else, and treat people as all having an equal claim on the resources of the earth rather than focusing on their own right to own their own resources. In Luke, Jesus says, “ yours is the kingdom of God,” but in Matthew the poor in spirit are referred to in the third person (“ theirs is the kingdom of heaven”) (Matthew 5:3, NRSV). What might be the significance of the fact that in Luke the audience is included in the category of the poor? According to this verse, what do people get or have, if they are poor in spirit? What does it mean to have the kingdom of heaven? If you have the kingdom, that means you are where God is and have all that God wishes to give to you. Jesus said that, with his arrival, the kingdom of heaven is now at hand – i.e., right near you. The poor dwell (or will dwell, to the extent that this is a promise going forward rather than an immediate reality) in that place. And we understand from the Lord’s Prayer that where God’s kingdom has come, God’s will is done. So if the poor have that kingdom, they have citizenship in that place where God’s will is done – and is done for them as much as for everyone else, unlike in earthly kingdoms. Verse 4 What do you think this beatitude is envisioning that people are mourning about? People have seen many forms of mourning in this passage: They might be grieving due to their own losses or difficult lives: the death of a loved one, the effects of illness, mistreatment by others, the suffering that accompanies doing what is right. They might be deeply sorrowful for their sins, mourning their own failure to live up to what God has called them to be. They might be mourning the sufferings of others: grieving the injustices and evils that the world tolerates and the poor treatment of the lowly and needy. Is this beatitude only offering comfort when bad things inevitably happen or when we recognize our sinfulness? Or is it also calling us to take proactive action to choose to mourn situations that go beyond our own little world; and, if so, what should we be mourning? Why would the fact that you will be comforted (in the future) make you blessed that you are mourning now? Wouldn’t it be better to not have to be mourning in the first place? What do you think the nature of the “comfort” is? Verse 5 What does it mean, to be “meek”? What does it look like? Barclay says that the Greek word for meek, praus , had several meanings. Aristotle used one of its meanings to talk about the virtue of meekness. According to Barclay, Aristotle defined meekness as the happy medium between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 91). When, if ever, might a meek person be angry and still be meek? Barclay highlights a second meaning in the Greek for the word “meek”: it is used to describe an animal that is domesticated and trained to obey the commands of its master (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 91-92). How is meekness related to being responsive to the leading of God? Barclay also notes a third meaning: the humility that is the opposite of pride and lofty-heartedness (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 92). Humility is sometimes described as living in recognition of one’s true place, with neither too high a view of oneself (puffed up) nor too low a view of oneself (groveling). This does not mean self-abasement, despite the extremes to which some people may take it. As people sometimes say, “God doesn’t make junk”; so we don’t need to debase or dishonor ourselves in order to be meek. Humility means having a right view of ourselves and our place, as God sees us, and acting accordingly. What is true humility? Can I do something to become meek? The Greek word for “earth” is used in the Bible in a variety of ways: for ground, earth, soil, etc.; and also for territory, as in “the land of Israel”; and also for the Earth or the physical realm of our existence, as in “heaven and earth” and “a new heaven and a new earth.” The promise that comes for the meek is that they will inherit the earth. What does it mean, that the meek shall inherit “the earth”? Psalm 37:11 says the meek shall inherit the land. That would have been understood as meaning the land of Israel. As Christians, perhaps we understand this as meaning that, for us, the meek shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. That is our true land. Take a step back and consider this: The poor, the meek, and those who are mourning are not the people at the top of the social ladder, and poverty, mourning, and meekness are not likely to move people to the top of the heap in society. But Jesus is beginning to develop a thread of teaching here that will continue throughout Matthew’s Gospel, telling us that God views things very differently than the typical society does. In Jesus’s downside-up view of the world, those who are seen as at the bottom from the world’s perspective are prominent in God’s perspective. Matthew will show us that a lot of Jesus’s teachings build on Old Testament themes. But here, Jesus has broken totally new ground. Nowhere in the Old Testament are we told that the poor are blessed. The people who help the poor are blessed, and God hears the cries of the poor, but never does the Old Testament suggest that there is any blessedness associated with being poor. Jesus is asking us to think differently. When you see a poor person, does your mind say, “The kingdom of heaven is theirs”? Do you think of those who are humble rather than grasping as being the ones who will inherit the earth? How might you treat the poor and the meek differently if you keep firmly in mind that Jesus declares them blessed and says that the earth and the kingdom of heaven belong to them? 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 Index Next

Who is Jesus? – Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 1:1-17 Who is Jesus? – Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 NOTE: Whenever the chapter and verse for a passage are underlined, please read the passage before proceeding. Matthew 1:1 Who is this Gospel about? How does Matthew identify or describe the chief character of his story? Let’s look at each of these terms: Jesus, Messiah, son of David, and son of Abraham. What does each term mean and why is it important to Matthew or significant to the Jews or early Christians? Jesus : Greek for the Hebrew name Joshua (Yeshua), which in Hebrew means “God saves,” or “Jehovah (Yahweh) is salvation,” or “Yahweh, save [us]!”. Why is this identification important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? Messiah : Hebrew for “Anointed One”; Christ, from the Greek Christos , has the same meaning). Special people were anointed, usually kings and priests; but the “Messiah” took on a greater connotation of a savior of some kind. Why is this identification of Jesus important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? Sneak peak: You are probably familiar with the story of the key turning point when Peter first recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, which is told in Matt. 16:16. Son of David : The Jews expected that they would find relief from foreign occupation and domination when David’s throne was restored. God had told David that a descendant of his would be on the throne forever. Why is this identification of Jesus important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? Consider Isaiah 9:2-7; see verse 7: “there shall be endless peace / for the throne of David and his kingdom.” (NRSV) Consider Isaiah 11:1-9; see verse 1: “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse” (NRSV) – Jesse was David’s father. Consider Jeremiah 33:14-17; see verse 15: “I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (NRSV), and verse 17: “David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel” (NRSV). Sneak peak: The term “Son of David” will be used by people who were healed by Jesus and by people in Jerusalem when he entered the city on the first day of his last week on Earth, so it takes on important significance as his crucifixion nears. Son of Abraham : God made the Jewish people’s original covenant with Abraham, and all Jews trace their lineage from him (whereas not all are from the house of David). Why is this identification of Jesus important for Matthew’s Gospel and for us? David was only one part of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Abraham was the father of the entire Jewish people. Muslims also see their lineage going back to Abraham, but it goes further than that. Through Abraham, all people were to be blessed, not just Abraham’s children: Gen. 12:2-3: “I will make of you a great nation, and . . . in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (NRSV). After Abraham shows his willingness to sacrifice Isaac: Gen. 22:17-18: “I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And . . . by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves” (NRSV). Pick one of these identifications of Jesus and explain why it is important to you or has special meaning for you. Matt. 1:2-17 Jesus’s genealogy What names or other features of this genealogy stand out for you? It was unusual to include women in a Jewish genealogy, but Matthew’s genealogy names four: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. . What makes these four women stand out as worthy of mention? All four of the women were from other nations; they were not Israelites: Tamar, Canaanite: Genesis 38. Rahab, from Jericho, so Canaanite: Joshua 2:1-21; 6:22-25. Ruth, Moabite: Ruth 2-4. Bathsheba, Hittite: 2 Samuel 11-12. Why would Matthew want to call attention to these foreign women in Jesus’s genealogy? What message would that send? Matthew might have included these women in part to deflect any criticism about Jesus’s birth circumstances. If the irregularities in David and Solomon’s lineage did not disqualify them from the throne of an eternal dynasty, then Jesus’s lineage does not disqualify him either. Joseph essentially adopted Jesus into the family line by taking him into his home, so he had a legitimate claim to being a son of David on the human level. Matthew’s genealogy ends with “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born” (1:17 NRSV), which does not follow the standard male-line genealogy of “So-and-so, the father of So-and-such,” which might have been expected to end with “Joseph, the father of Jesus.” That would not have been accurate, as Matthew will explain shortly. When we look at God choice to make room in Jesus’s lineage for people of different backgrounds, how might that guide us in our attitudes toward people who have different backgrounds from ours? How does the presence of Gentiles in Jesus’s ancestry connect to the last two verses of Matthew’s Gospel (Mat. 28:19-20)? The good news about Jesus is meant for people of all nations. Sneak peak: Matthew spends a significant portion of his Gospel reporting Jesus’s preaching, healing, and miracles in Gentile areas. Matthew says in verse 14 that his genealogy has 3 sets of 14 generations. The number 14 might have been considered important as the numerical value of the sum of the three letters that make up David’s name in Hebrew. Matthew’s genealogy walks through the story of the Jews from the beginning with Abraham, to a high point when David was king, to the depths of despair when the Israelites were sent into exile to Babylon, and on to Jesus. How do you see Jesus serving as the climax to this story? Note: The Gospel writers were not aiming for genealogical perfection. Matthew is focused on his 3 times 14 arrangement. Luke has many more names in his list and is telling the genealogical history to make a different point. (Note: It is possible that Luke’s list is a genealogy of Mary, but there is no evidence to support the claim.) Matthew is not trying to nail down every genealogical detail. For example, considering the many decades between Rahab’s role in the Jericho story and Boaz’s role in the story of Ruth (David’s great-grandmother), Rahab could not have been the mother of Boaz. (Matthew is the only one who makes that claim; the book of Ruth, where Boaz’s story is told, does not make that claim.) Matthew’s list also doesn’t quite match up with the list in 1 Chronicles (see 1 Chron. 3:11-12). The Gospel writers were not trying to nail down every genealogical detail. They were trying to make much bigger and broader points. What do you think Matthew’s goals were in including this genealogy at the beginning of his story of Jesus? What points does he want us to take from it? It connects Jesus to the great past figures and also prepares us for the unique birth of Jesus by showing that irregularities show up in many places in the story of God’s people. Scholarly footnote: The third genealogical group, from the Exile to Jesus, is only 13 generations. Some scholars wonder if the 14th generation is Christ begetting the church. Take a step back and consider this: During Advent of 2023, my home parish posted online a musical reflection for each of the weeks of Advent. On the page Music for the Second Week of Advent ( St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill , https://saintpetersdc.org/pray/advent23/35171-music-for-the-second-week-of-advent ), we could listen to some lovely music including a remarkable interpretation of the genealogy of Jesus. The third musical selection on that page offered a video titled “…which was the Son of — Arvo Pärt (b.1935).” It can be found on YouTube here: Which Was the Son of... (Arvo Pärt) - Sofia Vokalensemble (“Which Was the Son of... (Arvo Pärt) - Sofia Vokalensemble.” Sofia Vokalensemble , 23 Oct. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyPmFBpiF7E ). In this piece, a choir sings a beautiful musical selection telling the genealogy of Jesus as presented in the Gospel of Luke. The commentary on the page posted by St. Peter’s Parish acknowledged that “it can be dull to hear about Jesus’s genealogy,” but went on to say: “Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has set Luke’s version of this genealogy in such a way that it is no burden to hear Jesus’s family tree. Rather, Pärt’s music seems something like an overture to the whole biblical narrative, an epic tale on par with Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia. We are not bored by Jesus’s family tree; we are overwhelmed with wonder at its sweep across time.” This is beautiful! Jesus takes his place within an entire history of the working of God in our world, so that he can save all of the people in that genealogy, all of the people who descended from them, and indeed all human beings, wherever they fall in human history. God loved this world and the people he created so much that he chose to embed Himself in the world he created, in the history of that world, in the person of Jesus. That is what we celebrate at Christmas — not a pleasant story about a sweet little baby, but rather an audacious story about a God who loved his creation so much that he was not afraid to get his hands dirty and assume our genealogy, to become one of us so that we could become like him. Glory in the story — the story of God coming among us at Christmas! We can embrace Joseph as a role model of one who was willing, as Mary did, to say “Yes” to God, so that God could do his great work of salvation among us. What is one way you can say “Yes” to God, that will allow God to do something new in your life or the lives of those around you? Bibliography See 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 Index Next

The earliest Christian documents – Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians – show an early understanding that Jesus is God, and the Gospels say it explicitly. Previous Christian Faith Next When Did Christians First Recognize the Divinity of Jesus? The earliest Christian documents – Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians – show an early understanding that Jesus is God, and the Gospels say it explicitly. Stained glass presentation of the Holy Trinity in the church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Brockdish, United Kingdom. The artist is unknown. CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons . Tom Faletti March 15, 2025 2025 is a banner year for Christians, but few realize it. Exactly 1,700 years ago in AD 325, several hundred bishops gathered in the city of Nicaea (located in the present-day Turkish city of Iznik, approximately 90 miles southeast of Istanbul). There, they worked out the formal language describing many elements of the doctrine of the Trinity, including the words Christians use to explain that Jesus is God. Some skeptics claim that the early Christians did not see Jesus as God. At the extreme, conspiracy theorists who want Jesus to be seen as just a man argue that the divinity of Jesus wasn’t accepted until it was promulgated at that First Council of Nicaea, almost 300 years after Jesus died and rose from the dead. (A famous novel and movie from early in the 21st century made such a claim.) The skeptics are ignoring crucial evidence from the Bible itself. The belief in the divinity of Jesus first shows up in the first two documents that were later included in the Bible: Paul’s first and second letters to the Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians was written in AD 50, just 20 years after Jesus’s death and resurrection and 275 years before the Council of Nicaea. 2 Thessalonians followed a few months later. Both indicate that the apostle Paul believed in the divinity of Jesus. Paul treats the Lord Jesus and God the Father as a unity and prays to Jesus as he would to God It would be easy to miss these earliest expressions of belief in the divinity of Jesus. To us they are subtle. Paul wasn’t trying to write a book of doctrine. But a careful examination of what he wrote in Greek reveals clear indications of Paul’s belief in the divinity of Jesus, and his belief that Jesus and the Father are one. In 1 Thessalonians 3:11, Paul prays that God the Father and the Lord Jesus will direct his path back to the Thessalonians for another visit (his first visit was cut short by persecution). The verb he uses for “direct” is a third person singular verb – the verb you use when the noun is a singular noun. In other words, he speaks of God the Father and the Lord Jesus as a single entity, not as two entities. What do I mean by that? Let me explain by offering an analogy. Suppose I say that “John is directing traffic.” The word “is” is a third person singular verb, which goes with the third-person singular noun “John.” If I say that “John and Paul are directing traffic,” the word “are” is a third person plural verb that goes with the third person plural subject “John and Paul.” In ordinary circumstances, I would never say, “John and Paul is directing traffic.” That would be bad grammar. The word “is” requires a singular noun. There is only one reason why I would use “is” in that sentence: if “John and Paul” is a singular entity rather than a plural group of entities – for example, if “John and Paul” is the name of a security service. In that case, “John and Paul” is a singular entity, not a pair of separate entities, and I could correctly say that “John and Paul is directing traffic.” In 1 Thessalonians 3:11, Paul uses a verb that treats God the Father and the Lord Jesus as a single entity, using the third person singular verb . You can’t see this in the English, because English often does not have different words for singular and plural verbs; but it is clear in the Greek. Paul chooses the verb form that treats God the Father and the Lord Jesus as a unity that acts as one. (See 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 for my full Bible Study on this portion of Paul’s letter.) In the next verse (1 Thess. 3:12), Paul prays that the Lord Jesus will help the Thessalonians abound in love. This is another subtle sign of his belief in the divinity of Jesus. Paul would not pray to a mere human; God is the one who can answer prayer. But he directs his prayer to Jesus. This indicates that, 20 years after the Resurrection, Paul sees Jesus as having the power of God. Contrary to the confusion of the skeptics, the Christians of Jesus’s time believed that Jesus is God and that he is one with the Father. He was not just a man elevated to divinity centuries later by the Council of Nicaea. Paul again places Jesus on a par with the Father in his second letter A few months later, Paul writes a second letter to the Thessalonians. He again chooses a verb that identifies God the Father and the Lord Jesus as one, as I explain in my Bible Study on 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:18 . Here is the story. In 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Paul is praying for the Thessalonians. He begins the prayer by describing our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father as having given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace. He continues the sentence by saying, may he encourage your hearts and may he strengthen them. He uses the third personal singular he ; He does not say, may they encourage and strengthen your hearts. Again, as in 1 Thessalonians 3:11, Paul indicates by his grammar that he sees the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father as one God, which means that he believes in the divinity of Jesus. Other passages in the Bible assert Jesus’s divinity Paul also signals Jesus’s divinity a few years later in his letter to the Philippians (2:6-11). But Paul’s letters are not the only places we see signs of the early belief in the divinity of Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark, written less than 20 years later, Jesus embraces the claim that He is the Messiah and the Son of God and adds that He will come in judgment from the right hand of God (Mark 14:62-64). His opponents see it as a clear claim of divinity, which is why they call for His execution. The Gospel of John, which was written before AD 100, repeatedly affirms Jesus’s divinity. Here are some examples: The first chapter refers to Jesus as “the Word” (John 1:14-15) and says, “In the beginning . . . the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Jesus says, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). Jesus uses the phrase “I am” frequently, but in one instance, He uses it in a way that clearly asserts divinity. In John 8:56-59, He says, “Before Abraham existed, I am.” “I am” is the core of the name of God in the Old Testament (YHWH, or Yahweh). His opponents clearly understand that He is claiming divinity and pick up stones to kill him for blaspheming. When Thomas encounters the risen Jesus, he calls Jesus “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28). The skeptics think church leaders waited 300 years to declare Jesus divine. It is true that throughout history, some people, both within and outside of the Church, have questioned the belief that Jesus is divine. But the belief itself – that Jesus is divine as well as human – was not a novel idea decided out of nowhere in 325. It is actually in the Bible. The Council of Nicaea gave us common words to explain Jesus’s divinity The Nicene Creed affirms that there is one God in three Persons, that the Lord Jesus Christ is “God from God,” and that the Son of God is “consubstantial with the Father,” meaning that He is “of the same substance” as God and did not start out as a human. The Council of Nicaea was important because it agreed on formal, doctrinal language to express these truths of the Christian faith. But Paul signaled that Jesus is divine 275 years earlier in his choice of verbs and pronouns in his first and second letters to the Thessalonians. NOTE: There is much more in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. Although my Bible Studies pause occasionally to explain doctrinal issues like this, the main focus of my Bible Studies is to help us explore how we can apply the practical wisdom of the Scriptures to our everyday lives. Check out my full set of Bible Studies and see where God leads you. 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 Christian Faith Next

Responding to difficult questions and dealing with politics. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 21:23-27 Responding to difficult questions and dealing with politics. Image by Buddha Elemental 3D, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 5, 2025 Matthew 21:23-27 The chief priests and elders challenge Jesus’s authority The locus of opposition to Jesus has been shifting from the Pharisees and scribes to the chief priests and scribes and now to the chief priests and elders. The Pharisees were members of might be thought of as a religious society that was mostly trying to live a devoted life to God. The scribes were the lawyers (or theologians of our day) who knew the details of God’s Law and the Scriptures and might be aligned with the Pharisees or the chief priests. But the elders, which included many of the chief priests, were the power brokers of Jerusalem. The chief priests and elders, together, were a potent force: The chief priests ran the Temple, and the elders made the political decisions that affected the whole city of Jerusalem. Recall that Jesus has entered the city in a very disruptive way, kicked people out of the Temple precincts, healed people in the Temple precincts, and now was back, teaching the people right there on the Temple grounds. What do the chief priests and elders ask Jesus? Why do you think they ask him this question? Not everyone who claims to be from God actually is. Is it reasonable to ask where a person’s authority comes from when they are shaking things up? How can we judge whether someone who is shaking things up is coming from God or not? Notice that Jesus does not answer their question. Is there a lesson for us in choosing when to defend ourselves and when to let a challenge pass without an answer? If Jesus had chosen to answer the question, what would his answer have been? Jesus chooses to counter with a question, to either establish their sincerity or spotlight their spiritual bankruptcy. What question does Jesus ask them (verse 25)? Why is this a hard question for them to answer? What would be the right answer to Jesus’s question? Notice that the right answer to Jesus’s question is also the right answer to the question the leaders asked Jesus: John and Jesus were both operating based on authority given to them by God. How does their inability (or unwillingness) to answer Jesus’s question expose how badly they are out of touch with what the people can see that God is doing? What can we learn from this story for ourselves? My Bible Study group saw many things they could learn from this story. For example: Ask questions. Don’t feel the need to defend yourself or answer every question from others. Jesus often doesn’t dictate answers to people; he lets them reach their own conclusions – perhaps we should too. Instead of getting caught up in verbal battles with others, pay attention to what God is doing. Why does Jesus allow people to think things that are wrong rather than trying to prove to them what is right? Jesus is building hearts and minds, not robotic teleprompters or answering machines. He wants to develop people who can think like God thinks and act like Jesus would. If he forces us to think a certain way, we can never develop hearts and minds that follow him by our own free will. Jesus’s approach to other people, even those who oppose him, always honors the importance of free will. How can we use our free will well? God always hopes that we will use the free will he has given to us to respond to what he has revealed give our lives freely in service to him and others. Take a step back and consider this: Some people would see the chief priests and elders as master politicians: They are very aware of the ways that the people don’t agree with them, and very savvy about how to manage that problem so that they don’t get on the bad side of the people. However, in the process, they have lost a bit of themselves and their integrity. They are playing for power, rather than for working for truth, or justice, or goodness. If they were working for truth, they would make their case and try to show the people why they are wrong. That might appear difficult with so much evidence on the other side; but if they genuinely believed they were right then they would be willing to stand up for their beliefs and make their best case, whether others agreed or not. But that is if they were working for truth, not playing for power. If they were working for justice, or goodness, or any other good motive, they similarly would make the case for what they believe in. Only the coward or the person playing politics would back down when asked a question and not even try to offer an answer. Politics is not inherently bad. Some people are called to the difficult work of trying to manage disagreements in a society or community and find solutions or approaches that address a wide range of concerns and hold the community together even though many people can’t have all they want. But that is when they are doing the hard work of politics, not playing politics for their own benefit. How can a politician do the hard work of politics and still act like a Christian? In a democracy, Christians are called to get involved in politics, at least to the extent of voting and perhaps in other ways, in order to exercise their responsibilities as citizens to promote the good of all. Beyond that, almost everyone is involved in politics in other ways – the politics of the office, the give-and-take and negotiating that goes on in families, and even the managing of different groupings in a church. We are called to be like Jesus in all situations, even in those places. How can we do the work of politics well in our everyday lives? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next

Paul’s basic rules for Christian living: sexual purity, love for others, and an orderly lifestyle. [1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 4:9-12] Previous 1 Thess. Index Next 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 Paul’s basic rules for Christian living: sexual purity, love for others, and an orderly lifestyle. Image by Jim Strasma, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti January 31, 2025 1 Thess. 4:1-8 General conduct and sexual conduct Earlier, we saw that, in Paul’s time, the general form for a letter was to begin with who the letter was from and to, offer a greeting that might include an expression of thanks, and then move to the main points of the letter. In a sense, the first 3 chapters of this letter have been an extended thanksgiving. Paul now turns to some specific issues he wants to address. What is the general rule of conduct that Paul sets forth in verse 1? Paul says: Conduct yourselves (literally, “walk”) the way we taught you to, to please God. If Paul’s basic principle is that your conduct should “please God,” what would that kind of conduct look like? Paul tells them that they are doing what they were taught and should do it even more. In what ways is that an appropriate exhortation to all of us at all times in our lives? What is something you are doing, for which it might be good to encourage yourself to do it even more? In verse 3, Paul says that the will of God is “your holiness” (NABRE) or “your sanctification” (NRSV). The two translations evoke different aspects of the same point: the goal is both a process and a result. What is “holiness” or “sanctification”? To what extent do you want to be “holy” or “sanctified”? Paul elaborates by focusing on the issue of sexual morality. This was appropriate to his time (and our time today) because sexual morals were extraordinarily loose in his time (as in ours). Sexual promiscuity was considered normal. Divorce was common. Paul is speaking to men in this passage. Men often had a wife and a mistress and also spent time with prostitutes. We can extrapolate from what he says to find principles that apply to women as well as men. Verse 3 ends with the general principle for sexual morality, stated in the negative. What are they to refrain from, and what does it mean? How might you apply this verse to your own situation or to the sexual attitudes among your friends and colleagues? Verse 4 is unclear. Paul says that each man should know how to ( verb) his (noun) . The verb used in the Greek can mean control or possess or acquire. Different translations make different choices from among those options. The noun is literally “vessel.” What does that vague word mean? Theologians and scholars down through the centuries have disagreed about whether Paul is talking about the man’s “body” or his “wife” or the male sex organ. Most modern translations interpret it as referring to the man’s “body” or his “wife.” If in verses 4-5, Paul is talking about obtaining a wife, what is his point as he talks about doing so in “holiness and honor” and not with “lustful passion”? What is he telling them to do? If in verses 4-5, Paul is talking about controlling one’s body, what is Paul’s point as he talks about doing so in “holiness and honor” and not with “lustful passion”? What is he telling them to do? In verse 6, Paul directs them not to exploit their brother (and this could apply to women as well as men). How does sexual immortality mistreat other people besides the people involved in the sexual relationship? Paul tells them not to be like the Gentiles who do not know God. In what ways do Christians have a better understanding than nonbelievers of what God seeks in our sexual relationships? In verse 6, Paul says that the Lord is an avenger in these things. Is his point that there is judgment on those who do not follow God’s teaching on sexual morality? Or is his point that if you suffered because someone else did wrong, you need to leave it to God to avenge the wrong? Paul restates his point in a different way in verse 7. What does he say? In verse 8, Paul brings the Holy Spirit into this consideration of sexual immorality. What is the connection between what we do with our bodies and the fact that God is giving his Holy Spirit to us? Paul elaborates on this connection to the Holy Spirit a few years later in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 6:16-20), where he describes our body as a temple of the Holy Spirit that should not be profaned by sexual immorality. Paul began in verse 1 by saying that he was speaking “in the Lord.” Now he ends in verse 8 by saying that anyone who disregards this teaching is not disregarding a human being (Paul), but God. The Church throughout its existence has taken a similarly strong stand with regard to sexual sin. Why does God take sexual morality so seriously? How would you explain to a new Christian why sexual behavior matters? 1 Thess. 4:9-12 Brotherly love The Greek word in verse 9 translated as “mutual charity” (NABRE) or “love of the brothers and sisters” (NRSV) is the word philadelphias , which means brotherly love. The word comes from two Greek words: phileō , which was the word used for the kind of love one might have for members of one’s family, and adelphoi , the word for brothers. From early on, the Christian church referred to the members of the Christian community as “brothers” ( adelphoi ); so philadelphias meant love for one’s fellow Christians – for those who are brothers and sisters in Christ. In verse 9, what does Paul say about their love for one another? In verse 9, Paul says they have already been “taught by God” to love one another. What does God teach us about love? And how might they already have learned and been showing that kind of love? When Paul says that they have been taught by God to love one another, he uses the word agape instead of the word phileō . The word agape was rarely used in ancient Greece. Jesus and Christians used it for the kind of selfless, unconditional love that God has for us. Christians believe that God empowers us to have that kind of love for each other. In what ways might God be calling us and our community to show greater unconditional love? In verses 11-12, Paul identifies other characteristics that he would like to see in the Thessalonian church community. Consider what each one means and how it might manifest itself in your life and the life of your community: What does it mean to “aspire to live a tranquil life” (NABRE)? How might you or your community do this? What does it mean to “mind your own affairs” (NABRE)? How might you or your community do this? What does it mean to “work with your hands” (NABRE)? How might you or your community do this? What does it mean to “conduct yourself properly toward outsiders” (NABRE)? How might you or your community do this? Where the NABRE says Paul would like them to “not depend on anyone,” a more literal translation might be “not have any need.” What does it mean to live in such a way that you do not have any need, and how might you or your community do this? Note: Verse 12 should not be used as a hammer to attack people who are in need. We do not always have a choice as to whether we are “in need” – health, societal, and economic factors can interfere with that goal. And Paul has called us just 3 verses earlier to love one another (4:9). It would be a misuse of Paul’s letter to apply verse 12 in a way that violates verse 9. Looking over this list of characteristics Paul would like to see in the local church, how would you describe Paul’s ideal vision of a Christian community? What could your church do to more fully foster these traits? What actions could you take to apply one or more of these traits more fully in your life? Looking back over the entire section from 4:1 through 4:12, which verse stands out to you as something where God might be speaking to your heart right now? What might God be calling you to do? Take a step back and consider this: If we were to try to summarize verses 1-12, we might say that God is calling us to a life of sexual purity, godly love for others, and an orderly lifestyle. God does not give us rules because of some domineering obsession with having rules for the sake of rules. He gives us rules so that we can be free to be all he is calling us to be as people made in his own image. How do these instructions calling for sexual purity, godly love for others, and an orderly lifestyle allow us to live like Christ? Which of these is currently easiest for you? Which is hardest? Why is that one hard, and what can you do to grow in it? When God tells us to love others, who are the people you find hardest to love? How can you take a step this week toward loving them more? Bibliography See 1 Thessalonians - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/1-thessalonians/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous 1 Thess. Index Next

A young woman living in obscurity receives a visit from an angel of God and says “Yes” to God’s plan. How can we be like her? [Luke 1:5-25; 1:26-38; 1:39-45; 1:46-56] Previous Mary Index Next Session 1: What Mary was, we are called to be A young woman living in obscurity receives a visit from an angel of God and says “Yes” to God’s plan. How can we be like her? [Luke 1:5-25; 1:26-38; 1:39-45; 1:46-56] Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). The Annunciation . 1657. Cropped. The National Gallery, London, UK. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%27Annonciation,_vers_1655,_Londres,_National_Gallery.jpg . Tom Faletti July 11, 2025 The Theme The theme of this study is: What Mary was, we are called to be. What Mary did, we are called to do. When we say, “What Mary was, we are called to be” we mean that we are called to be the kind of person Mary was. She is an example of what the character of a person of faith looks like. When we say, “What Mary did, we are called to do,” we mean that we are called to put our faith into action the way she did. She is a role model for how to live the kind of life where our faith permeates everything we do. Who is this study for? This study is intended for anyone who is interested in exploring how to live a life of faith. It can be used by Catholics and Protestants, evangelicals and Orthodox believers. While the study acknowledges that Catholics and Protestants have a long history of disagreement about some Catholic teachings about Mary, the study keeps its focus on what the Bible says and does not address Catholic doctrines that developed later. Where there are disagreements about how to interpret the Scriptures, the differences are noted and explored. For this reason, Catholics and Protestants can all be comfortable with this study – and could even use it to study together. It is also worth noting that many Protestants find much to admire in Mary – see, for example, Timothy Keller’s “God’s Call to Mary and to Us” (published by Focus on the Family) and Jacob Prahlow’s “A Protestant Thinks about the Blessed Virgin Mary” . Everyone who values the Word of God will find this study useful. IF YOU ARE STUDYING WITH A SMALL GROUP This study material can be very enriching either for small-group Bible Study or for individual study and growth. If you are studying with a small group, please take some time to build community, beginning with ensuring that everyone knows everyone else’s name. Here are some questions you could invite everyone in the group to answer: What is your name? What is your connection to this church/parish/group? Why were you attracted to be part of this study of Mary? From what you already know about the mother of Jesus, what stands out to you? What questions do you have? What would you like to know more about, with regard to Mary? Where you see a Scripture passage in bold and underlined (like Luke 1: 5-25 below), it means you should read that passage before proceeding. Let’s dive in. Luke 1: 5-25 What happens before Mary appears in Luke’s Gospel Some helpful background Mary’s story in the Bible begins when she was probably a teenager, possibly as young as 14 years old although we are not told what her age was. She was suddenly catapulted from living a normal, obscure teenage life to living an heroic though still obscure life. But before that happened, some extraordinary things were already happening in her extended family. Before mentioning Mary, Luke tells us about what leads to the birth of John the Baptist, who was born into Mary’s extended family. Mary’s relative Elizabeth (Luke 1:36) was childless (1:7) and advanced in years (1:18), but now she has become pregnant. Before she becomes pregnant, Elizabeth’s husband, a priest (1:5), has a vision of an angel while he is serving alone in the holiest inner sanctuary of the Temple. The angel tells him that Elizabeth will have a son, who is to be named John (1:10-14). The angel informs him that this son will be filled with the Holy Spirit like Elijah and will turn people to God to prepare them for the Lord (1:15-17). When Zechariah questions this message because he and Elizabeth are fairly old, he is rendered unable to speak (1:18-20), and when he comes out of the sanctuary, everyone knows that he has seen a vision. Mary is likely to have heard about this event. Note: Although some older translations such as the King James Version and some simplified translations call Elizabeth Mary’s “cousin,” the Greek word is a more generic word used for relatives of all kinds, close and distant, so most modern translations say “relative,” not “cousin.” We do not know if Elizabeth was an aunt, a cousin, or a more distant relative. We also do not know if Mary came from the lineage of priests as Zechariah did. Similarly, we do not know if Mary was descended from the line of David. Matthew presents Joseph’s genealogy (Matt. 1:1-17), which shows that Joseph was from the line of David, i.e., a direct descendant of David. Luke also tells us that Joseph was a descendant of David (Luke 1:27 and 2:4). Some scholars through the centuries have suggested that Luke presents Mary’s genealogy, but many other scholars have rejected that idea because Luke 4:23. For Jews of Jesus’s time, the father’s lineage was all that mattered. Joseph was not Jesus’s biological father, as Matthew tells us in his account of the virgin birth (Matt. 1:18-25), but Joseph essentially adopted Jesus as his own son by raising him. So, Joseph’s ancestry is Jesus’s ancestry for Jewish legal purposes even though Jesus was the Son of God. Does Mary’s relative obscurity trouble you, or draw you to her, or not matter to you? Why? What do you think of a God who chooses to enter the human race by being born of an obscure woman whose pedigree is unclear? What does this tell you about God? What does Mary’s obscure background tell you about Mary? Does this tell you anything about yourself? Can you be from obscure roots and still fulfill God’s purposes for you? How does Mary’s background speak to you? Elizabeth conceives, and roughly 6 months later, Mary enters Luke’s story. Luke 1:26-38 An angel tells Mary she will have a son from God (the “Annunciation”) Let’s start by walking through the conversation between Mary and the angel. In verses 26-27, what does Luke tell us about Mary (what kind of person is she, where is she, what is her marital status, etc.)? To be “betrothed” was far more than what we call being “engaged.” After betrothal, the couple was considered married even though it would be months before the marriage was consummated. If a person was betrothed and had sex with someone other than their intended, it was considered adultery (see New American Bible , Luke 1:18 fn.). In verse 28, how does the angel greet Mary? In verse 29, how does Mary respond? In verses 30-33, what does the angel prophesy to Mary about what is to come? In verse 34, Mary questions the angel. What is her question? When the angel had appeared to Zechariah, Zechariah had asked, “How will I know this, for I’m an old man and my wife is old too?” His question was, in essence, a demand for proof. How is Mary’s question different? How is her question appropriate, whereas Zechariah’s was not? Mary is not challenging what will happen or asking for proof; she is merely asking the process by which it will happen. Her question is, literally, in the Greek, “How will this be, since I do not know a man?” – i.e., How will this be since I do not have sex? In verses 35-37, how does the angel explain to Mary how she will become pregnant? In verse 38, how does Mary respond to this announcement? Look over the passage and focus on the things the angel says. What do the angel’s words tell us about Mary? What do the angel’s words tell us about God? Look over the passage again, focusing on the things Mary says. What do Mary’s words tell us about Mary? What does this passage tell us about Mary’s attitude or approach toward her faith? One of our themes for this study is: What Mary was (the kind of person Mary was), we are called to be. What can we learn from Mary? All of us can, like Mary, say, “I am the servant of the Lord.” How can you take that approach to your own faith more consistently? What does this passage tell us about Mary’s use of her whole being: her mind, her will, and her spirit/faith? What Mary did, we are called to do. Mary accepted the coming of the Holy Spirit to her to enable her to fulfill her God-given role in God’s plan of salvation. How can you welcome or say yes to the Holy Spirit to fulfill your particular God-given role in your life? Mary is now the second woman in her extended family to have an unusual pregnancy after an unusual encounter with God. Mary decides to go visit her relative Elizabeth. In the next scene of our story, we see two women, both chosen by God for something special, having a chance to have some woman-to-woman time together. Luke 1:39-45 Mary visits Elizabeth (the “Visitation”) What happens? Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit as a result of her encounter with Mary and the response of the child in her womb. How can we become more open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as Elizabeth was? When Elizabeth has this special, spirit-filled moment, her response is praise. How can we become more confident in giving praise to God when we are touched by his Spirit? Luke 1:46-56 Mary sings God’s praises (the “Magnificat” or “Canticle of Mary”) What Mary says here is called the “Magnificat” because in Latin, the first word of Mary’s prayer is the word Magnificat , which means “praises,” as in “my soul praises.” What is your overall impression of Mary’s “song”? What is your favorite line or phrase or word from Mary’s song, and why? What does this song tell us about God? What does this song tell us about Mary? Mary could have praised God in many different ways. We can learn a lot about her from the subjects she chooses to focus on and what she says about them. What does Mary’s choice of topics about God tell us about her and what kind of person she is? Notice that one of the themes Mary focuses on is that some people are rich and mighty, and some people are poor and lowly, and God has here taken decisive action on behalf of the poor and lowly. One of the themes for this study is: What Mary did, we are called to do. Mary praises God energetically and expansively. What can we learn from this for ourselves, regarding our prayer life or interactions with others? The other theme for our study is: The kind of person Mary was, we are called to be. What does this prayer tell you about what kind of person Mary was, and what does it encourage you to be? Here is a brief summary of how Elizabeth’s story ends, so that you are not left hanging: ( Luke 1:57-80 John is born and Zechariah’s mouth is opened to sing God’s praise) Elizabeth gives birth to a son (1:57), and when Elizabeth says he will be named “John” (1:60), the neighbors and relatives object, thinking that he should be named for Zechariah or some other relative. Zechariah indicates that the child is to be named “John” (1:63), and at that moment his tongue is freed so that he can speak (1:64). He responds with his own canticle of praise to God (1:67-80). Take a step back and consider this: One of the things we see in Mary’s prayer is that she sees the world from the perspective of the lowly, not from the top of the social ladder. In the Gospels we see that Jesus has a similar perspective. I have summarized how both the New Testament and the Old Testament present God’s downside-up view of the world here: God Takes a Downside-Up View of the World . Some examples are: blessed are the poor, God cares for the one as much as the 99, wealth is an impediment to salvation rather than a sign of God’s favor, what you did to the least of these you did to me, the Lord hears the cry of the poor, etc. Do you think Jesus learned to see through the eyes of the have-nots from his mother Mary, who proclaimed God’s concern for the lowly and hungry, as well as learning it from his heavenly Father? What might this suggest about how Mary raised her child? How are we called to imitate Jesus and Mary in viewing things from the perspective of the lowly? Bibliography See Mary - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/mary/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Mary Index Next

What matters the most? What do your words reveal? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 12:1-37 What matters the most? What do your words reveal? Image by Jamie Sreet, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Cropped. Tom Faletti September 9, 2024 Matthew now presents a sharpening of the opposition to Jesus, which will eventually lead to his death. Jesus is criticized for two matters that relate to the Jewish rules for honoring the Sabbath. Matthew 12:1-8 Plucking grain on the Sabbath In this first incident, how does Jesus end up at cross-purposes with the Pharisees? What do his disciples do, and what is the Pharisees’ complaint? Although Jesus does not mention this, the Old Testament prohibition of work on the Sabbath prohibited harvesting on the Sabbath (Exodus 34:21); it did not explicitly prohibit plucking grain and Deuteronomy 23:24-25 even allowed plucking your neighbors grapes or grain to fill our hunger, so it would be difficult to argue that plucking was prohibited on the Sabbath. The Pharisees extended the rule, as they did so many other rules, to the extreme. Jesus offers 4 different answers to their complaint: In verses 3-4, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean? David and his followers ate bread from the altar in 1 Sam. 21:1-6 [under the high priest Ahimelech – Mark wrongly says Abiathar; Matthew leaves out the name]. They and the disciples were both responding to the same legitimate concern: hunger. In verses 5-6, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean? The priests in the Temple do work on the Sabbath, but that is not a sin. The Sabbath rule is not the only or highest rule. In verse 7, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean? Hosea 6:6 says God wants mercy, not sacrifice. The Pharisees are focusing on the wrong concerns and failing to value what is more important: mercy. In verse 8, what does Jesus say, and what does it mean? Jesus, the Son of Man, is lord of the Sabbath. He has ultimate authority over the Sabbath. At the time Matthew is writing, Matthew’s community probably used these arguments as defenses when criticized by the Jews for being lax in following the Old Testament Law. In Mark, Jesus also says that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Jesus is saying that the Sabbath regulation had a limited purpose and the Pharisees were trying to give it a paramount, overpowering purpose. What is the limited but valuable purpose of the Sabbath? If one has a proper sense of the valuable but limited purpose of the Sabbath, why is the disciples’ plucking food to eat not a violation of the point of the Sabbath? Jesus is declaring himself the lord of the Sabbath. What does that make him out to be? As lord of the Sabbath, Jesus is declaring that human needs take precedence over Sabbath rules. How might we balance the freedom to do good on the Sabbath with the call to honor the Sabbath? How can we decide what is appropriate to do on the Sabbath? How might we sometimes fall into the trap of placing a higher priority on following rules than on achieving God’s loving, merciful purposes? Matthew 12:9-14 Healing on the Sabbath What is the second thing Jesus is criticized for? The Pharisees were so committed to not working on the Sabbath that when they were at war with the Greeks in the times of the Maccabees and when Roman attacked Jerusalem in 63 BC, they did not resist attack on Sabbath days, which led to some serious defeats (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , pp. 31-32). What is Jesus’s response to their criticism of his healing on the Sabbath? It seems so obvious when Jesus says it: You would pull your sheep out of a ditch on the Sabbath. How much more precious is a human being than a sheep. But how might we be slide into placing a higher value on things than on people? How is our society prone to place a higher value on things than on people? When or where in our society is there a tendency to place a higher value on rules and regulations, on procedure and protocol, than on helping people? How would you sum up in a phrase the “rule” Jesus is modeling that supersedes our human rules? Verse 14 is an ominous turn in Jesus’s ministry. What have the Pharisees now decided to do? Matthew 12:15-21 Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament “Servant” of the Lord When Jesus learns that the Pharisees want to kill him, what does he do in verse 15? Jesus is being careful not to precipitate an attempt to kill him before the proper time when he has completed his work on Earth. And yet it does not deter him from his work. Although he changes location, he doesn’t change what he is doing. Jesus continues to do his thing. What can we learn from Jesus as he increases his carefulness but continues his ministry? Does this offer any insight for how to deal with opposition when we are doing God’s work? Does Jesus’s situation help us understand why he orders people (unsuccessfully) not to publicize what he has done for them (verse 16)? Matthew says what is going on here fulfills an Old Testament prophecy. Re-read verses 18-20 , which are a quote from Isaiah 42:1-4. What did Isaiah say about God’s chosen servant? Which elements of the prophecy correspond to what Jesus is doing with the people and how he is dealing with the Pharisees? In what ways does Jesus bring justice? In what ways does Jesus nurture, not break, the bruised reed, and strengthen, not quench, the smoldering wick? How has Jesus been like that in your life? Matthew 12:22-37 The blasphemy of the Pharisees What miracle does Jesus perform in verse 22? How do the Pharisees react, and why is this so serious? They blaspheme by saying that Jesus is working for Satan – i.e., that God is evil. What are Jesus’s 3 arguments in response to their claim (vv. 25-26, 27-28, and 29)? vv. 25-26: If Jesus is healing by the power of Satan, then Satan is destroying his own kingdom. vv. 27-28: If exorcisms performed by Jewish exorcists are judged as being done by the Spirit of God, then it is hypocritical to judge Jesus differently. vv. 29: If Jesus casts out demons, and thereby steals people back from Satan, he must have greater power than Satan – a power to bind Satan. But if that is happening then God’s Kingdom is breaking into our world. Do you see a battle going on in our day between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, where the good that comes from God faces the bad that comes from evil forces? In verses 31-32, Jesus says there is only one unforgivable sin, which he says is blasphemy against the Spirit. How is the Pharisees’ attack a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Why would that particular sin be unforgivable? Is it that God refuses to forgive them, or is it that by refusing to recognize the Holy Spirit as good they are rejecting the source from which they would need the grace to repent of their sin and receive forgiveness? In verse 32 Jesus says that blaspheming against the Son of Man may be forgiven. Why? Perhaps because rejecting God in human form still leaves room for the movement of the Holy Spirit to lead a person to repentance. Or perhaps because it is one thing to misjudge Jesus; although he is God, he is somewhat hidden in human form. But to deny the manifest power of the Holy Spirit when it is plainly seen is to reject clear evidence. In verse 33, Jesus uses the analogy of a tree and its fruit and accuses the Pharisees of lying, because they are calling the tree (Jesus) evil even though its fruit (people being cured) is good. We sometimes evaluate people based on their actions and the effects they have (their fruit). Is this a wise strategy that we should use more regularly? Explain. In vv. 34-37, Jesus issues a more general caution about our words. It applies to the Pharisees, but it also applies to all of us, all the time. What is he saying and why? What does Jesus mean by your “heart”? What is the good treasure of storehouse of good (or evil) in our hearts? What does that mean? Is it fair to say that what comes out of a person’s mouth reveals the state of their heart? Explain. When are we most at risk of an unguarded or careless word? Some of the answers my Bible Study group offered include: when we are angry, hurt, tired, hungry, or disappointed; when we are not thinking about who the word is directed at, and when we don’t have a valid purpose for saying the word, even though it might be true. What can you do to avoid careless words? How can you bring only good out of your storehouse, so that you are not condemned by your words? Are there ways you need to deal with what is going on in your heart, so that you won’t have to work so hard to manage what comes out of your mouth? What adjustments might be needed in the state of your heart right now? We live in a world where talk is cheap and plentiful, and many people think truth is relative. How important is it to speak accurately and truthfully, to speak words that are consistent with reality as God knows it? Take a step back and consider this: In this passage, the Pharisees do what too many people in our modern world do: First, they decide what they believe. Second, they refuse to listen to the arguments and evidence offered by those who disagree with them. Third, they say whatever fits with what they believe, even if there is evidence to the contrary. Finally, they attack the people who disagree with them, sometimes viciously. We see this pattern all the time in our day. Even we ourselves may fall prey to this approach sometimes, especially on social media, where the culture encourages us to take sides and to speak without listening and with little respect. But Jesus’s rules for what comes out of our mouths apply as much when we are on social media as anywhere else. On social media, our “mouth” is our keyboard plus the “Post” or “Share” button. We may not literally speak words, but we communicate them just the same when we post. Jesus’s warning applies equally to social media: The words you communicate come out of the treasure or storehouse of your heart, for good or evil. “[B]y your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37, NRSV). What are the ideas and attitudes in your heart that you are revealing by what you say on social media and how you say it? As Christians it is our calling and privilege to reveal Jesus to others at all times. What changes might be good for you to consider, so that everything you post and share on social media comes from the good things in your heart so that it can properly represent Christ? If you would like some suggestions for how to decide what things are appropriate to share on social media, from Christ’s perspective, see Before You Hit the Share Button . The relevant questions are: Is it true? Have you checked it? Will it build others up? 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 Index Next

Murder, anger, insulting others – how are they related, and what can we do about them? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 5:21-26 Murder, anger, insulting others – how are they related, and what can we do about them? Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti April 26, 2024 Matthew 5:21-26 Anger Jesus here begins a series of six teachings, in Matthew 5:21-48, where he states a Jewish law and then provides his own teaching. Each teaching begins with, “You have heard it said . . . but I say. . . .” They are sometimes called the “six antitheses” because some scholars see them as presenting the opposite (anti-) of a principle taught in the Old Testament (thesis). However, they usually go beyond rather than directly rejecting the Old Testament principle, so “antithesis” is not a good term for them. Some scholars call them the six “hypertheses,” because the prefix “hyper” can signify going beyond the thesis or principle that has previously been stated. In each case, Jesus re-interprets and expands on or transforms the Old Testament injunction. Often, he prohibits not only the action but also the thought that underlies the action or leads to the action. In verse 21, what is the Old Testament law Jesus cites? In verse 22, Jesus takes the principle much further in three ways. What does he say about anger? Still in verse 22, what does he say about using abusive or insulting language? In the third part of verse 22, some translations give us the Aramaic word Jesus uses – “Raqa” or “Raca” – which was a term of contempt used to call someone a fool or empty-headed or an idiot. What does Jesus say about using this kind of especially contemptuous language toward another person? Notice that each sin incurs a more serious consequence than the previous one, moving from being liable to judgment , which invokes an image of being brought before a local court of village elders; to being liable to the Council or Sanhedrin , which invokes an image of being brought before the highest court; to being liable to the fires of Gehenna , a word of Hebrew origin that is often translated as “hell’ but actually refers to the Valley of Hinnom southwest of Jerusalem, where there was a garbage dump that was thought of as always having a fire burning. In what ways are these three steps progressively worse – from anger, to insult, to contempt? How are these things related to murder? In what ways do they all start from the same place? When Jesus says that if we do these things we will be “liable” to these kinds of judgment, what do you think he means? Is he speaking literally (about courts and Gehenna) or metaphorically? And if metaphorically, what is he trying to tell us? Why is anger such a serious matter? Is anger always wrong? Is there an appropriate time for anger – what people sometimes call “holy anger”? Mark describes Jesus as being angry once, when Pharisees resisted the idea of a person being healed on the Sabbath (Mark 3:5), and Jesus certainly appears to be angry when he clears the Temple of the moneychangers (Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17). St. Paul says, “Be angry and do not sin” (Eph. 4:26), which indicates that anger is not necessarily sinful. Anger often arises as a physiological response to situations; it’s what we do with it that determines whether it is a sin. How can we stay open to the kind of “holy anger” that pushes back against injustice, yet avoid the kind of anger that Jesus is telling us to avoid? Why is abusive language such a serious matter? Abusive language has become such an embedded part of our culture – a standard part of television shows, comedy acts, etc. – that we might not even realize we are echoing or imitating it. How can we control our own language, the things we personally say? What are some examples of people in our time using the kind of contemptuous, dehumanizing language Jesus is talking about when he uses the word “Raqa”? The principle of human dignity calls us to recognize that every person has an inalienable dignity given to them by God – even the people who may be seen as our enemies. How is this kind of contemptuous language a violation of human dignity? Why is this kind of dehumanizing language so dangerous? What kinds of things can it lead to? Oppression, murder, discrimination, and even genocide sometimes starts with this kind of language, from the dehumanization of Black people in the history of the American South, to the dehumanization of Dalits in Indian history, to the use of the word “cockroaches” that preceded the Rwandan genocide. A brief look through history can bring forth many similar examples, and they continue in our time. Politicians in many countries are using dehumanizing language to delegitimize people they do not like – often with deadly results. Where is the part of this discussion that might make you uncomfortable? Where might you need to adjust how you manage your anger or your language, in order to be more like Christ? In verses 23-26, Jesus shifts the focus slightly. In verses 23-24, what does he tell us to do? Why would God say that reconciling with a brother or sister is more important than making an offering to God? In verses 25-26, Jesus broadens the idea of reconciliation by moving from a religious context to a legal context. What does he say? How is an openness to reconciliation important for avoiding bad court judgments? How might our society be a better place if there was more focus on reconciliation between offenders and those they have harmed? Both of the examples in verses 23-26 presume that we are at fault. We are often not very good at recognizing our own faults. How can you become the kind of person who recognizes when you are at fault? Looking at this whole passage, what is the most important point for you in what Jesus says about murder, anger, abusive language, contempt, and reconciliation? Take a step back and consider this: In the United States and many other countries, there has been a coarsening of social discourse and political discourse. Many social media voices and political leaders treat those who disagree with them with disrespect and contempt and blatantly distort their views – and rack up millions of views, “likes,” and reposts in the process. Christians might consider ways to push back against this ungodly trend. For example, we might decide that we will never forward or “share” a post that uses disrespectful language about another human being. We can find other articles that express the same views more respectfully. Many of us remember being told by a parent, “If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all.” While there is a place for criticizing the views of others, we should be able to accurately state the other side’s claims before showing why we think they are wrong, and our arguments for why they are wrong should be based on facts and evidence, not based on distortion and innuendo. If we can’t do that, we aren’t treating them as people made in the image of God. We might consider a 21st century version of our parents’ maxim: “If you can’t say something that respects the humanity of the other person, don’t say anything at all.” Or perhaps: “If you can’t state your opponent’s position in a way that would allow them to say, ‘Yes, that’s what I’m saying,’ then you shouldn’t try to characterize their views at all.” How can you contribute to a more civil public discourse in your country’s social and political life? And what about anger? Anger sometimes comes unbidden – a visceral reaction that arises from the physiology of our humanity. But we can choose whether to nurture that anger and help it grow, or tame it and give it the perspective it needs to be harnessed for good. What do you need to do to tame or harness your anger so that it is serves the good rather than becoming a trigger that leads to sin? 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 Index Next

If God doesn't care about us, we are in a pretty precarious position. Previous Next God's Purposes Does God Care? If God doesn't care about us, we are in a pretty precarious position. Tom Faletti (to be continued) 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 God's Purposes Next

In the Bible, God tells us to speak out for those with no voice and defend the poor (Proverbs 31:8-9). Previous Justice Next God Calls Us to Speak Out In the Bible, God tells us to speak out for those with no voice and defend the poor (Proverbs 31:8-9). Image by Juliana Romão, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti May 17, 2025 [A version of this article appeared in the February 2025 edition of St. Anthony Messenger and can be found on the Franciscan Media website at ‘Speak Out for Those Who Cannot Speak’ .] Have you ever thought of your voice as a gift from God that allows you to speak out for justice? Have you ever used your voice to ask your leaders to do the right thing on behalf of the poor and needy? Proverbs 31:8-9 tells us that God wants us to do exactly that: use our voice to speak out for those who might otherwise not be heard. I was a bit surprised when I encountered this call to advocacy recently. I have read through the Bible several times, and I didn’t think I had seen this before. So I checked the verse in multiple Bible translations, to make sure it wasn’t just a paraphrase. In almost every translation, the call to speak out is stated clearly. Here is Proverbs 31:8-9 in three popular Catholic Bibles: The New Revised Standard Version , favored by some scholars, reads: “Speak out for those who cannot speak, / for the rights of all the destitute. / Speak out; judge righteously; / defend the rights of the poor and needy.” The New American Bible, Revised Edition , published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reads: “Open your mouth in behalf of the mute, / and for the rights of the destitute; / Open your mouth, judge justly, / defend the needy and the poor!” And the New Catholic Bible , a recent translation that is gaining attention, says: “Speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves, / and defend the rights of the destitute. / Speak out and pronounce righteous judgments; / defend the rights of the wretched and the poor.” The point is clear in every case. We are called to be a voice – to speak out for those who have no voice and defend the rights of the poor and needy. Why does this verse get so little attention? Many people can quote Proverbs 3:5-6 by heart (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. . .”), and they use it to encourage themselves and others to live fully for God. But who quotes Proverbs 31:8-9 by heart, or uses it to guide their lives? Why does Proverbs 3:5-6 get celebrity attention, while Proverbs 31:8-9 lies in some forgot corner of our faith? If we are going to take the whole Bible seriously, we can’t leave out verses like this. Therefore, it is worth exploring why Proverbs 31:8-9 is not a “go-to” verse. Why do we not use this proverb to encourage ourselves to speak out on behalf of those whose voices are not heard? Why do we not quote it to each other as a guide for Christian living? Perhaps this verse gets less attention because putting it into practice might move us outside our comfort zone. Speaking out for others is not as simple or easy as “trusting” God. We may feel like we don’t know how to do it. We may not think this is an important priority among God’s many commands. Yet we know that God doesn’t ask us to pick and choose from the Bible based on our comfort level. So let’s look at whether this is one of God’s priorities. God says this more than once The author of the Book of Proverbs collected sayings and words of wisdom from a variety of sources and compiled them into the book we know today. The commandment we are looking at is in a short section near the end of the book where he is quoting some wise teachings that a mother imparted to her son – a king named Lemuel who is unknown to us (Prov. 31:1-2). In Proverbs 31:8-9, she tells him to speak out for those with no voice and defend the needy. The books of the prophets also direct God’s people to defend the needy. Isaiah chides the people of Judah for their sinfulness and tell them to “learn to do good; / seek justice, / rescue the oppressed, / defend the orphan, / plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17, NRSV). In the book of Jeremiah, God speak to the people of Judah about what they are doing wrong. He says of them: “They know no limits in deeds of wickedness; / they do not judge with justice / the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, / and they do not defend the rights of the needy.” (Jeremiah 5:28, NRSV). This means that there are three different books of the Old Testament where God tells His people to speak up for or defend the needy and others who cannot speak for themselves. Being an advocate is part of obeying the commands of God. Who needs our voice? Proverbs 31:8 tells us to speak for those who cannot speak. In our society, whose voices are not heard? Too often, the poor, the needy, the homeless, and the destitute are not heard. Immigrants, refugees, and others treated as aliens are pushed away. Victims of trafficking and people at risk of being trafficked go unseen. People with disabilities or physical challenges and those suffering from mental illness are often ignored and left out. Others are held back by the persistence of discrimination. In short, there are many people whose voices are not heard. People whose concerns are ignored or discounted need a voice to defend their rights. Whose voice do they need? Ours. To whom shall we speak? Proverbs 31:8-9 begins as an instruction to a king, and our world would be a better place if more political leaders and people in authority followed its instruction. The Bible is full of verses showing God’s particular concern for the poor, the migrant, the defenseless, and the oppressed. In every age, those with power are called to use their power to defend and help those whose resources are limited. People in authority need to make sure that the rights of the poor are honored as zealously as the rights of the wealthy. Our leaders should spend at least as much time speaking out for those whose voice is not heard in the corridors of power as they spend arguing for the things that the wealthy and well-connected say to them. The needs of the destitute should be as high on their agenda as the needs of the middle class and wealthy. But the duty to speak does not end with our leaders. Their obligation to use their power justly does not absolve us of our responsibility to use our voice. To whom shall we speak? Our leaders need to hear this message. Our governmental leaders, our business leaders, our church leaders, and other social influencers need to hear from us that God expects them to speak up for the needy and those whose voices are not heard. When we speak to our leaders on behalf of the needy and voiceless, we are fulfilling God’s command in Proverbs and the prophetic books of the Old Testament. How many people of faith spend any significant amount of time doing this? It doesn’t take long to call or write to a governmental leader, to post a comment on the social media pages of a corporation or social influencer, or to share our concerns with leaders in our churches. We sometimes speak out on our own behalf regarding legislation or public policies that we think affect us personally. As followers of Christ, shouldn’t we be at least as willing to do so to defend the needy and provide a voice for those who are not being heard? How our politics might change if people of faith took this word from God seriously and pressed their leaders to do what God wants them to do: to defend the poor and speak out for those whose voices are being ignored! When we do this, we are obeying the Word of God, because when we use our voices to speak to our leaders on behalf of the poor and ignored, we are truly being a voice for them. What shall we say? Sometimes, we remain silent because we don’t think we know what to say. It helps to know what the issues and facts are, but you don’t need to be an expert to be helpful. There are many reputable groups who are already acting as voices for the poor and forgotten. They can give us the facts, and even the words to say. And our voices are more likely to be heard when we are working with others. Many groups that know what is going on have links on their websites where we can find opportunities to speak out. They can even give us the words to use. see Groups That Work for Justice for a partial list of groups that work from a perspective that is consistent with Catholic social teaching. Our voices are a gift from God. Often, we may think we cannot directly address the struggles of the poor, the voiceless, and others in need. But we can always use our voices to speak out on their behalf. When we do that, we are obeying God’s directive in Proverbs 31:8-9. And our effort might help move our world one step closer to God’s vision of a world where justice prevails. This week, who can you speak out for? How can you use your voice to defend the poor and needy, to be a voice for those who have no voice or whose voices are ignored in the halls of power? 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 Justice Next

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

The sick; the young; migrants and refugees; the elderly. (Paragraphs 11-14 of Spes Non Confundit) Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Session 4: Where signs of hope are needed today, part 2 The sick; the young; migrants and refugees; the elderly. (Read paragraphs 11-14) Link to S pes Non Confundit Sunset, Ephesus. Photo by Tom Faletti, Ephesus, Turkiye, October 27, 2023. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 Everywhere we turn, we can find people who are discouraged. Jesus calls us to share God’s hope with those around us whose lives are not easy. In this session, we look at more of the groups Pope Francis identifies as having a special need for hope: the sick and disabled, the young, migrants and refugees, and the elderly. People in each of these groups face significant challenges that could sap their hope. Pope Francis suggests ways we can help give them hope. Our study guide will help us explore specific ways we might bring God’s hope to people in these situations. When we reach out to those who are overlooked, forgotten, or on the margins of society (what Pope Francis calls the “periphery”), we are recognizing God’s presence in them and welcoming them in as part of “us.” When we cross those barriers, we help make it clear that in God’s world there is no “us” versus “them”; there is only God and “us” – all of us. Read paragraphs 11-14 in preparation for this session. Paragraph 11 (the sick) 🔗 Why does Pope Francis care so much about the sick? Read Matthew 25:35-36,40 What does Jesus say about people who are sick and himself? How is visiting someone who is sick a way to foster hope? In paragraph 11, besides talking about the sick, Pope Francis also talks about healthcare workers. Why does he say we should show them gratitude? The pandemic showed just how precarious the conditions of healthcare workers can be. What concrete actions can we take as a society to increase their safety and hope? Suggested Activity: Think about a caring nurse, a cheerful medical receptionist, an upbeat optician or dental hygienist, a gentle phlebotomist, or another healthcare worker who has brightened your day by the way they have cared for you. Say a prayer of thanks for them and ask God to renew their hope in their profession. Then send them a thank-you message. You can also let their boss know how much you appreciate them. You can do the same for a doctor, but don’t leave out the assistants who make a huge difference but are so often unseen. What can we learn from healthcare workers and apply in how we care for others? Do you know someone who is sick and would appreciate a note, call, or visit? What is one step you can take to show them God’s love and your caring heart? Suggested Activity: Ask someone who is sick if you could bring them a meal, a loaf of bread, or just stop by for a visit. Check with them about their dietary needs and personal likes and dislikes before cooking something, and adjust accordingly. If they invite you to stay and eat with them, accept their offer – they may appreciate the company more than the food. In the second part of paragraph 11, Pope Francis expresses concern for people with disabilities. Read Leviticus 19:14 Leviticus 19:14 shows the bare minimum of how we should treat people with disabilities: don’t make things more difficult for them. Why would that even need to be said? Why do people with disabilities sometimes face unnecessary discrimination and mistreatment? Pope Francis calls for our whole society to join in a “song of hope” (par. 11) for people with disabilities through our care for them and respect for their human dignity. What are the concrete actions that might create a “song of hope” for people with disabilities? What are some specific things that you or your parish or your society’s institutions could do to help people with disabilities feel less restricted and, with a song in their heart, be more free to be independent participants in society? Suggested Activities: Check in on people you know are dealing with a chronic illness. For many, their ongoing challenges may take a long time to resolve, if ever, while the attention of those they know may have moved elsewhere. So try to keep in touch over time. Get to know a member of your parish who has a disability. Ask them if they would be willing to move through your church and parish facilities with you and show you the obstacles they encounter. Then work with them to explore with your parish leadership what might be done to help people with disabilities feel more welcome in your church. Invite people with disabilities to events and help make it possible for them to attend if they are interested, rather than assuming they will not be able to do so. Paragraph 12 (the young) 🔗 In this paragraph, Pope Francis is thinking primarily of teenagers and young adults. Why is he concerned about them? What are some of the signs that they are lacking in hope? Read Colossians 3:21 Although Colossians 3:21 is directed at fathers, it offers wisdom for society as a whole. What are some of the challenges young people face that may cause them to become discouraged or lose heart? What can your parish or community do with young people to support their hopes and dreams? Are there ways you can encourage young people in their desire to help people in need? Suggested Activity: Ask teens you see at church if they would be willing to share their perspective with you on how the Church could be more welcoming and supportive of teens. Or ask your parish youth group leader if you could bring a few adults to one of their meetings to meet with the youth group members and listen to their ideas. Be prepared to try to move forward on some of the ideas you hear, or you will become one more reason why teens are sometimes discouraged about the Church. Paragraph 13 (migrants and refugees) 🔗 In paragraph 13, Pope Francis lists some reasons why people become migrants or refugees. Why do migrants leave their homelands? Why are refugees forced to emigrate? Read Matthew 25:35 and 25:40 When Jesus refers to a “stranger” in Matthew 25:35, the Greek word is xenos , which means a foreigner or a person who is unfamiliar. What does this passage suggest to us about our treatment of migrants and refugees? How does our society currently treat migrants and refugees? Note: The Catholic Church teaches that nations have a right to control their borders, but that governments have an obligation to treat migrants and refugees with dignity and respect and to provide protection to those seeking refugee status while their claims are considered. How can we help make migrants and refugees more welcome in our society? Read Leviticus 19:33-34 How does God say “strangers” or “aliens” should be treated? How would things be different in our society if refugees and other immigrants were treated the same as native-born people, as Leviticus directs? In the second part of paragraph 13, Pope Francis calls on the Christian community to defend the rights of the vulnerable. How can we do this and how would it increase hope? Suggested Activities: Look for opportunities to be welcoming to immigrants or other people on the fringe of parish life. Introduce yourself to them after church. Chat with them at the coffee hour. Research what people in your community are doing to welcome immigrants and look for ways you can be supportive. Encourage others in your parish to join in helping when you see needs that can be met. Paragraph 14 (the elderly) 🔗 Why do you think Pope Francis says that elderly people often feel lonely and abandoned? What are some of the factors in modern society that contribute to the elderly being neglected rather than held close to us as a treasured part of the fabric of our communities? What can we do to keep the elderly connected to the life of our parishes and communities? What can we do to help the elderly live in hope all through their lives? Suggested Activities: Invite older people to events you are part of. Go beyond just people who are your age or have the same marital status as you. Say hello to the older people in your parish and draw them into conversations. Visit people you know who are home-bound. Send them a card or note letting them know you care about them. Let your parish know about them. Ask your parish priests whether they know of “shut-ins” who would appreciate a visit. The sick, teenagers, migrants, refugees, and the elderly all experience situations where they feel like they are being ignored by church and society. Why is that? Read Proverbs 31:8-9 Proverbs 31:8-9 tells us to be a voice for those who have no voice. How might you respond to this call? How can you be an advocate for people whose voices are not heard in society or in the halls of power? Verse 8 says to speak up for the rights of the destitute, and verse 9 says to defend the needy and the poor. Why is this kind of action necessary, and not just providing charity to them? Closing question: How can we shift the way we see people so that our default is to be welcoming to all, to be people who inspire hope in all who feel ignored or disconnected? Bibliography See Jubilee Year 2025 - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/jubilee-2025/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Jubilee 2025 Next