Search Results

Can we say “Yes” to God, and then actually do the work he asks us to do? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 21:28-32 Can we say “Yes” to God, and then actually do the work he asks us to do? Georg Pencz (ca.1500–d. 1550). The Parable of the Father and His Two Sons in the Vineyard , from the series The Story of Christ . 1534-35. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Public domain, CC0 , https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/432116 . Tom Faletti August 7, 2025 Matthew 21:28-32 The parable of the two sons What does the first son say and then do? What does the second son say and then do? Let’s look at this parable first on the surface level – the ordinary human level. How would you describe the difference between the two sons? Notice how the second son respectfully calls his father “sir” or “lord” ( kyrie in Greek). He is all lip service, no action . Pious words don’t substitute for obedience in doing what God wants. Given that neither son is totally without blame, Jesus’s question is interesting. Which seems to be more important to him: what the sons said or what they did ? Neither son fully reflects what the father hopes his children would be, since the father would have liked his sons to both respond to the initial request and carry it out. We also sometimes don’t want to do what God asks us to do. How does God want us to deal with that? God doesn’t mind if we express how we feel. But he hopes we will do what he asks. God would like u to embrace his goals both in word and in deed. But why do the actions count for more than the words? Now let’s look at the metaphorical meaning of the parable. A vineyard is a symbol of Israel. We see this, for example, in Isaiah 5:1-30 and Jeremiah 12:10. If the vineyard is Israel, who do the two sons represent? Jesus does not leave any ambiguity as to which son represents the chief priests and elders. He turns the story directly against them. He says that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before them. What does this mean? This passage relates to the previous one. Jesus asked the Jewish leaders about John the Baptist. The Jewish leaders did not embrace John’s message of repentance, but many of the ordinary people did, including tax collectors and prostitutes. They same pattern reoccurred in people’s reactions to Jesus. The leaders professed to honor God, but they did not respond with the appropriate actions. They were like the son who did not do his father’s will: all lip service, no action. What have the tax collectors and prostitutes done that leads Jesus to praise them? How does their approach to John (and presumably to Jesus) differ from that of the chief priests and elders? The tax collectors and prostitutes Jesus is talking about are those who have amended their lives to follow Jesus, so that they are showing fruit for God. In verse 32, Jesus says to the leaders: “even when you saw” that the tax collectors and prostitutes were responding to the call of God “you did not change your minds.” It is possible that this made them even less inclined to believe, but Jesus says it should have made them more inclined to believe. Why should we be encouraged in our faith when people who are not part of the faith come to faith? What does this parable tell us? How valid do you think the following conclusions are? God cares what we do, not just what we say. In God’s eyes, what we do counts for a lot more than what we say. God is willing to put up with a lot if we come around in the end. He gives us time to turn around and do what he wants. Now think about the father’s feelings toward the son who treated him respectfully but did not do what the father asked. How do you think God feels about people who say they do God’s will but don’t actually follow through with action? In our lives, God’s directions are not always as simple as “God work in my vineyard today” – but sometimes they are. How would you describe the “work in God’s vineyard” that God wants you and me to be doing right now in our lives? Which of the following might be examples of “working in God’s vineyard” today? Living a holy life that follows God’s moral laws. Looking for opportunities to tell others the good news about Jesus that we have received – and then actually telling it. Putting God’s love into action by caring for the poor, the hungry, the sick, the stranger, etc. Standing up for justice and the proper treatment of all the people created by God. There are many Christians who live out their faith in word and deed. There are also some who seem to talk the talk but don’t seem to show much concern for loving those who struggle and seeking their well-being. There are also people who don’t talk the talk of faith at all but try to live by a strong moral code and care for the needy. What do you think God thinks about these groups of people? Is there an area in your life where you might be saying the right things but not doing what your Father wants? What might you do in response to this parable? In this parable, Jesus draws a clear line, challenging the chief priests and elders to choose a side – His side – and stop opposing him. In the next parable, he makes this even more explicit. Take a step back and consider this: The Washington, DC, news station WTOP presented a story by Kyle Cooper about the claim that most people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by the second Friday in January. This phenomenon even has a name: Quitter’s Day . But if you consider Jesus’s parable about the two sons, it raises a question: Is the second Friday of January the right time to decide that you are not going to put into action what you said you would do? Or is it just another day when you can turn your lack of action into action? If we have not done something at the first opportunity – whether it is to follow through on a resolution or something else – we can still start now. Start it at the first opportunity: It would be wonderful if we could catch God’s vision for what he is trying to do in our world, embrace the vision, and follow through with steady, consistent action from the beginning. We don’t want to excuse a “No,” even if it eventually becomes a “Yes,” or to excuse a “Yes” that isn’t followed by action. Neither of those is God’s ideal for us; he desires our words and our deeds. But it’s a fact of life that sometimes we don’t follow through. That’s not necessarily the end of the story, however. Often, we still have an opportunity to start now. Start now: Every moment is another moment when we can say “Yes” to God in place of a previous “I will not,” or to follow through on a “Yes” we have not yet delivered on. God is always ready to welcome us into the vineyard, and he always receives us with joy. Is there something that God has been asking you to do, and perhaps you said “No” or perhaps you just haven’t followed through? If so, what can you do now to get to work on it? What can you do to cultivate the attitudes and habits of mind that will help you be the kind of person who, when God says, “Go and do this today,” you say “Yes” and do it? It is a privilege and a gift from God that we are invited to participate in the work of his vineyard, working with him as he transforms us into a fuller image of himself and transforms the world so that it is a fitting place for his kingdom. Let us welcome the opportunities and embrace the work he gives to us! Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next

How does Holy Communion help you to enter into the new covenant that Jesus offers us? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 26:26-35 How does Holy Communion help you to enter into the new covenant that Jesus offers us? Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). Eucharist . Circa 1637-40. Cropped. The National Gallery, London, UK. Photo by Tom Faletti, 28 May 2025. Tom Faletti September 16, 2025 Matthew 26:26-35 The Passover meal: The first communion/Eucharist The Passover seder involved a variety of steps. Participants drank four cups of wine, spread over the course of a meal that lasted several hours. They ate certain foods that had symbolic meaning. For example, parsley or other greens were dipped in salt water, symbolizing the early hope the Israelites had when they first came to Egypt (the greens) turning to bitter tears (the salt water) in their period of slavery. At one point in the Passover meal, the unleavened bread is called the “bread of affliction.” It is broken by the person leading the seder and passed around. Matthew 26:17 refers to the Feast of Unleavened Bread because in Jesus’s time, the two feasts were celebrated together. What actually happens in this passage? What does Jesus actually do? What is your understanding on the meaning of what happens here? Background regarding communion/the Eucharist The Christian denominations don’t agree on what is happening here. If you are studying this passage in a group, this is not the place to try to convert each other. Listen to others, humbly share what you believe, and leave it to the Holy Spirit to work in everyone’s heart. If we don’t treat each other lovingly, even when we disagree, we haven’t grasped what Jesus is all about. Here is some background for those who have an interest in understanding how different Christian denominations approach the Lord’s Supper: Christians of all denominations look to this meal as the basis of the ritual they celebrate in their worship services or liturgies. Catholics call it the “Eucharist” or “communion” and call the service the “Mass.” Evangelicals and other Protestants usually call it “communion” or “the Lord’s Supper.” Whatever they call it and in whatever way they celebrate it, the roots of their practice are here in Jesus’s final meal before his death. Christians don’t just celebrate it yearly the way the Jews celebrated the Passover – but instead celebrate it weekly, or daily, or monthly – because in Luke 22:19, Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” or “in memory of me.” Christians have different ideas about what happens at their worship services or Masses. Catholics believe that the bread and wine, when consecrated, actually becomes the body and blood of Christ even though they remain under the appearances of bread and wine. Catholics call this “transubstantiation.” Orthodox Christians believe the consecrated bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, but they do not try to define in dogma the mystery of that transformation and they do not accept the Roman Catholic formulation of “transubstantiation.” Nevertheless, they share a belief in a literal transformation of the bread and wine that traces back to the earliest writings of Christians (going all the way back to Justin Martyr around AD 155). Lutherans believe that the body and blood of Christ are “truly and substantially present” in the consecrated bread and wine but that it is still bread and wine. Episcopalians believe that Christ’s body and blood become “really present,” without any need for the consecrated elements to stop being bread and wine. Most other Christian bodies reject the idea that the bread and wine literally “become” the body and blood of Christ. They generally believe that Christ is present spiritually, but not physically. Another point separates believers: Most Christians believe that the communion service or Eucharist or liturgy is a memorial, or commemoration, or remembrance of the Jesus’s Last Supper, or of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection more broadly. Some denominations believe that it goes further: that what Christ did 2,000 years ago is made truly present to us now. For example, Catholics believe that the Mass is a memorial but also more: They believe that, in the Mass, Christ’s unique, once-and-for-all sacrifice is made present again in our midst. They are not saying that the Eucharist is a new sacrifice each time – there was only one sacrifice made by Christ on the Cross – but they believe that single sacrifice is re-presented to us and that the Mass allows us to enter now into what happened then. We are not going to resolve these issues here. If you are studying in a small group, please accept the fact that Christians disagree, share what this passage of Scripture means to you, listen to others, and avoid arguments, which rarely resolve anything and can undermine the cohesiveness of your group. How important is communion to you, and why? Why do we generally have “communion” as a communal event? We pray individually, but we don’t have our own private moments of partaking of bread and wine. Why is this something meant to be done together? In verse 26, what does Jesus say the bread is? Catholics take Jesus’s words “This is my body” literally, while most Protestants consider it symbolic. What do the words “This is my body” mean to you? Even people from the same denomination can bring a richness of personal perspectives and experiences to this question. As far as doctrine goes, Catholics are the literalists here, whereas sometimes in interpreting other verses of the Bible it is Protestants who insist on more literal interpretations. God keeps loving us despite our disagreements. In the Passover seder, one of the cups of wine that the participants drink is associated with the covenant established by God when he gave the Law to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Jesus was incredibly well versed in the Scriptures and may have been thinking about Exodus 24:8, which he referred to “the blood of the covenant” – a sacrifice made by the Israelites as they entered into the covenant with God at Mt. Sinai. (This is different from the sacrifice of the Passover lambs as the Israelites prepared to leave Egypt.) In verse 28, Jesus identifies the cup as being a covenant, but this covenant is different from than the earlier covenants God made with Israel. How does Jesus describe this covenant? If you were expecting the word “new” in this verse, you are thinking of Luke 22:20, where Jesus says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” In Matthew 26:28 and Mark 14:24, Jesus says, “This is my blood of the covenant.” The covenants in the Old Testament are solemn agreements between God and his people. How is Jesus’s blood a covenant with us? In verse 28, what does Jesus identify as the purpose of the pouring out of his blood? His blood is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus says this, Jesus is making a connection with Isaiah 53:12, where Isaiah says of the Suffering Servant that “he poured out himself to death, / and was numbered with the transgressors; / yet he bore the sin of many, / and made intercession for the transgressors” (NRSV). How does this connection of the cup to the forgiveness of sins relate to you? What difference does it make in your life? How is Jesus’s new interpretation of the Jewish Passover an additional demonstration of his authority? At many places in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has been reinterpreting the Jewish Scriptures: You have heard it said . . . , but I say. . . . Now, he has reinterpreted the foundational feast of Passover. Now he shows that he also has authority over Jewish liturgical practices. How does the new covenant inaugurated here have power that the earlier covenants did not have? How do you think Matthew and the believers of his time felt about the Lord’s Supper described here? What do you think Matthew is trying to tell us? Note: In verse 29, Jesus says he will not drink wine again “until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” This statement is usually interpreted as referring to the heavenly banquet that is envisioned for us in heaven. Notice in verse 29 that even though Jesus knows he is going to die, he knows this is not the end. He is still thinking about his Father’s kingdom and looking forward to the future. How can this attitude be helpful to you in your own life’s journey? In verse 29, Jesus says that he will drink “with you” in the Father’s Kingdom. That assurance extends to us as well. What is your reaction to the idea of that someday you will eat and drink with Jesus in heaven? When you receive communion at church, what is going through your head? In what ways do you see Christ in the Eucharist/communion and/or see it as a means of becoming more fully united with Christ? Augustine gave a homily about the Eucharist for new converts who were baptized at Easter or Pentecost around A.D. 408 in which he took the idea that the consecrated bread is the body of Christ and connected it to the idea presented by Paul that we are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Augustine said: “Be what you see; receive what you are” (Augustine, “Sermon 272”). How do you see the “body of Christ” in communion? How do you make the most of the experience of receiving communion? Focus now on Matthew 26:31-35 , where Jesus predicts Peter’s denial Jesus tells them several important things in verses 31 and 32. What does he tell them (1) about themselves; (2) about himself; and (3) about what will happen afterwards? He says: (1) They will desert him and scatter. (2) He will be stricken, but he will also be raised up and he will go to Galilee. (3) They will meet him in Galilee (going “ahead” of them implies they will go as well). The Old Testament passage Jesus quotes in verse 31 is from Zechariah 13:7. In verse 33, how does Peter respond to the claim that they will desert Jesus? Peter carries forever the stigma of having denied Jesus because we have the full story of his denial. But what does v. 35 tell us about the other disciples? In verse 31, Jesus said, “You will all. . . .” Do you think the other disciples were different from Peter in their denial/desertion? Peter was not a coward. He tried to defend Jesus with his sword when Jesus was arrested, and he followed Jesus right into the courtyard of the high priest’s compound. But in the end, it turned out that he had too much confidence in himself. We sometimes think our faith and loyalty and courage are greater than they are. What caution can we take from Peter’s misplaced confidence? Read Matthew 26:41 and then re-read what Jesus says in verses 31-32. How do you think Jesus feels about the disciples? Is he angry? Embittered? Lovingly aware? How do you think Jesus feels when you turn away from him in big or small ways? How do these verses provide encouragement in difficult times? Notice that even though Jesus has just told them they will desert him, he also says in v. 31 that he expects to see them later in Galilee. Do you find that God is also that way with us: that even though we mess up, he never rejects us – instead he just keeps expecting us to show up the next time? What does this tell you about God? Take a step back and consider this: The Passover feast was a celebration of God’s acts of salvation in the history of the Jewish people. Jesus’s sacrifice of himself ushered in a new covenant that fulfills and transcends the previous covenants God made with his people. We see these previous covenants in the Old Testament: God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants after the flood (Gen. 8:20-9:17); a covenant with Abraham that established a nation that would be God’s special people (Gen. 17:1-14); a covenant with Moses and the Israelites that gave them the Law (Ex. 19-24); and a covenant with David, through whose line the messiah would come (2 Sam. 7:1-17; summarized again in 1 Chron. 17:11-14). Later, God promised that he would establish a new covenant that would be for all people (Jer. 31:31-34). Jesus establishes that new and eternal covenant through his death and resurrection. In fact, Jesus Christ brings all of the covenants to their fulfillment. How is God’s relationship with the Jewish people through many centuries important to Christians? What difference does it make in your life that Jesus has both fulfilled the old covenant and established a new covenant? A covenant is a solemn agreement between humans and God (or between humans with each other ). Do you think of yourself as being in a “covenant” relationship with God? How is it helpful to think about your relationship with God in that way? 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 cursing of the fig tree was a prophetic action, where Jesus stands against those who are "all leaf and no fruit." Is our metaphorical fig tree producing fruit or withering? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 21:18-22 The cursing of the fig tree was a prophetic action, where Jesus stands against those who are "all leaf and no fruit." Is our metaphorical fig tree producing fruit or withering? Image by Wyxina Tresse, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 5, 2025 Matthew 21:18-22 Jesus curses a fig tree What do you think is going on in this incident? On his first day in Jerusalem, Jesus uses tactics we have seldom seen him use in the past. He is no longer concerned about attracting attention. He has made a dramatic entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, driven money changers and sellers out of the Temple, healed people in the Temple under the indignant noses of the chief priests, and now cursed a fig tree. What is going on? One way to interpret this is that Jesus is doing what many Old Testament prophets did: he is using dramatic public actions to illustrate symbolically what the leaders have ignored when he has merely spoken. These kinds of actions might be thought of as acted-out parables . (Protest movements would call it “street theater.”) Here are some of the things Old Testament prophets did that seem to be similar to Jesus’s actions in these acted-out parables: At the Lord’s direction, Jeremiah called the elders and senior priests together and destroyed a clay jug in their presence, telling them that this is what God would do to their houses and the house of the king if they did not repent (Jer. 19:1-13). Ahijah bought a new garment and tore it into 12 pieces to dramatize the breakup of David’s kingdom (1 Kings 11:29-31). Ezekiel baked bread on dung in the sight of the people and ate it for a year (Ezek. 4:9-17). When the people did not wake up to the calamity they faced, Ezekiel cut off his hair, divided it into three pieces, and then burned one-third, went around the city striking one-third with a sword, and scattered the last third to the wind, symbolizing what would happen to the nation (Ezek. 5:1-12). Isaiah took off his clothes and went naked and barefoot for 3 years to symbolize the coming defeat that would result in the people being led away naked and barefoot into captivity and exile (Is. 20:1-6). Jesus is using prophetic actions , direct actions similar to these, to try to wake up the religious leaders. American Catholic novelist Flannery O’Connor wrote stories that were often considered violent, disturbing, and even grotesque. He explained why: “When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock – to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.” (qtd. in Austin Dominic Litke, O.P. “ Reading Flannery O’Connor in our times .”) Many people are bothered by the idea that Jesus might have cursed a poor tree, and they are even more troubled when they see that Mark says it was not the time for figs (Mark 11:13). Scholars have a variety of sometimes contradictory explanations: Some say that in fact figs do grow on fig trees in Israel at the time of year when the Passover occurs, and this tree was deficient. Others say that leaves don’t grow on fig trees until later in the Spring, so this tree had leaves when it should not have had leaves, a sign that it was not flourishing properly and would not produce fruit at the proper time. Others say that fig trees start with a knob that is not a delicious fig but can be eaten, and the tree should have had these knobs by this time of the year. A tree with no “fruit” (i.e., no knobs) at this point in the growing cycle would not produce fruit later in the year. Others point to the fact that the word Mark uses when he says that it was not the “time” for figs is the Greek word kairos , which is usually used in the New Testament to speak of a special kind of time: God’s time, the appointed time. So the tree should have had fruit because it was God’s time for that tree to have fruit for Jesus, but it was not responding to God’s time, just as the Jewish leaders were not responding to the unique moment or “time” they were in, a time when they should have been welcoming Jesus as the Messiah. Since this action of Jesus seems to be a prophetic action or acted-out parable – an action taken to make a broader point – let’s focus on the metaphor and the broader point Jesus is making, not the tree. If Jesus’s action is a metaphor, what do you think the fig tree and its lack of fruit stand for? The fig tree was sometimes used in the Old Testament as a reference to Israel – for example, in Jeremiah 8:12-13 and Hosea 9:10. Israel, as represented by their leaders, is not producing the fruit God expects to find. Mark tells the story of the fig tree in two parts, happening on successive days, with the cleansing of the Temple happening in-between. Since his Gospel was written first, it is possible that his sequencing of the story is closer to the actual timeline of what happened. His narrative establishes a clear connection between the cleansing of the Temple and the cursing of the fig tree. Matthew condenses the fig tree story but still keeps it adjacent to the cleansing of the Temple. When we see the connection, we realize that Jesus’s action is not about this tree’s fruit. The tree sacrificed its life so that the Lord of the Universe could perform a dramatic prophetic action to try to wake up the Jewish leaders. If the fig tree stands for Israel, i.e., the Jewish people, what is Jesus trying to tell the Jewish leaders? The Jewish leaders might be described as all leaf and no fruit. What kind of fruit should the leaders have been showing? How can we avoid being all leaf and no fruit? What should our “fruit” look like? Perhaps the most surprising thing about this passage is that Jesus does not explain his action. He does not talk about the tree or the fruit. He does not talk about the leaders. When he is questioned by the disciples, he makes a separate point that has nothing to do with the leaders, the fruit, or the leaves. Perhaps he concluded that the acted-out parable did not have the desired effect so he decided not to belabor the point, or the disciples didn’t remember his point, or the Gospel writers didn’t think there was value in explaining the point or thought we would grasp the point without it being said. He will make the point again in some of the parables he will tell in the next few days, as he returns to prophetic teaching rather than prophetic acting: Our actions need to conform to what we profess or claim about ourselves. We need fruit, not just leaves. How is the metaphorical fig tree of the Church (God’s people) doing these days? In what ways is it producing fruit or withering? How is your metaphorical fig tree doing? In what ways are you producing fruit or withering? How does Jesus respond in verse 21, when the disciples ask how the tree withered so fast? Rather than warning people that they might be at risk of suffering what the tree suffered, Jesus unexpectedly suggests that the disciples might be able to do the same thing he did if they have faith. In verse 21 and at the end of verse 22, what does he ask his followers to exhibit? What does this passage say to you about your own faith life and prayer life? Do you think Jesus is talking literally about trees and mountains (that if I have enough faith, I could cause a tree to wither or a mountain to move?), or is he speaking metaphorically? What are the “trees” and “mountains” that we might need to talk to God about with undoubting faith? Christians tend to like the mountain metaphor: we see obstacles, call them mountains, and pray that they will be removed. Can the fig tree be a useful metaphor for us as well? What might be some things we could approach God about in prayer, that we would like to see wither away so that God’s will would be done in our lives? How can we build the kind of faith that is not about getting God to do what we want, but rather about living in such union with God that we can ask for the right things and trust him completely that he will work in and through us? Take a step back and consider this: The clearing of the Temple and the cursing of the fig tree can raise many questions in our minds. Let’s not lose sight of the big picture. Jesus is calling us to live lives totally devoted to God, and this dedication should be manifest in our public lives: in the “Temple,” in marketplace, in our workplaces, in our families, everywhere. If the chief priests and scribes had believed in Jesus, he would never have felt the need to cause a fig tree to wither as a metaphor for their lack of faith. But the point was never about the fig tree; the point was that the nation was withering because of the lack of faith of the chief priests and scribes. Perhaps our lack of faith also causes things to “wither” that would flourish if we had faith. When we fail to trust that God has our back, we may be tempted to do inappropriate things that wither our spiritual life rather than giving life. When we fail to believe in and support the people around us, our actions or inaction may wither the life in them and us. When we do the easy thing instead of the right thing, and do it again and again, our connection to God will gradually wither. Every day, we face choices that lead us to cry hosanna to the Son of David or to take actions that contribute to the withering of our life with Christ. How can you recognize and consciously reject actions that cause faith to wither? How can you help your own faith and the faith of the people around you to produce fruit? 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

What do we owe to governments and leaders? What do we owe to God? How can we honor God and obey the laws of our leaders? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 22:15-22 What do we owe to governments and leaders? What do we owe to God? How can we honor God and obey the laws of our leaders? Jacob Adriaensz Backer (1608-1651). Skattepenningen [The Tribute Money] . 1630s. Cropped. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Tribute_Money_(Jacob_Adriaensz._Backer)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_17634.tif . Tom Faletti August 17, 2025 Matthew 22:15-22 The tax trap Recall that in Matthew 21:23 Jesus is challenged for the first time after his arrival in Jerusalem, when the leaders ask him by what authority he is doing what he is doing. After he establishes that they are not being genuine with him, he tells 3 parables that all drive home the point that the leaders (and everyone else) face a choice: to accept Jesus, because he is indeed from the Father, or to reject him. Now, Matthew turns to a series of additional challenges that are thrown at Jesus. This time, Jesus is approached by Pharisees and Herodians. The Pharisees we have seen before. The Herodians are supporters of Herod, the tetrarch (ruler, but under the Roman emperor) of Galilee (in the north, where Jesus came from) and Perea (the land east of the Jordan River across from Judea and Samaria). These 2 groups made odd bedfellows: The Pharisees were strict followers of every detail of the Law. They hated the taxes they had to pay to Caesar. The Herodians were political collaborators who had received power from Rome and tried not to do anything that would upset Rome, so they supported the paying of the tax. They benefited from the status quo and some Herodians were probably among the tax collectors. That these two groups would join together to ask this question shows how desperate they were to get rid of Jesus. They didn’t even agree about the question they were asking, but both groups recognized that it was political dynamite. What do they ask Jesus? What is the danger for Jesus if he tries to answer the question? If Jesus says no, it is not lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, they can have him arrested immediately and turned over to the Romans. If Jesus says yes, it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, he will disappoint the deeply faithful Pharisees and anger the more zealous Jews who oppose Roman oppression. Jesus asks them to show him the coin used to pay the tax – a denarius, which was roughly equivalent to a day’s wage. He then asks a question, which is his frequent tactic for dealing with opposition. What question does Jesus ask? Why does it matter whose image is on the coin? Kings and other rulers always issued coins with their image on it, and the coins they issued were considered to belong to the king. Group 4 Denarius (18 AD – 35 AD) of Tiberius ( Roman emperor (Emperor 14 AD – 37 AD), also sometimes referred to as a Tribute Penny . Obverse: TI[berivs] CAESAR DIVI AVG[vsti] F[ilivs] AVGVSTS (Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus). Reverse: PONTIF[ex] MAXIM[us] (The greatest bridge-builder) - Livia seated holding inverted spear and olive branch. Catalogue: Sear (1964) - 467. Image by DrusMAX, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emperor_Tiberius_Denarius_-_Tribute_Penny.jpg . The denarius in Jesus’s time had the emperor Tiberius’s image and an inscription that read: Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus . Julius Caesar died in 44 BC approximately 40 years before Jesus was born. After a period of uncertainty while they sorted things out, his successor, Augustus (Octavian), ruled as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC to AD 14. Julius Caesar was sometimes treated as a god during his lifetime and was formally deified after his death. Augustus was worshipped as a god during his lifetime and was formally declared to be a god after his death. The denarius asserted Augustus’s divinity. When they acknowledge in verse 21 that Caesar’s image is on the coin, what is Jesus’s response? The best translation of what Jesus says is to “give back” to Caesar the things of Caesar – i.e., it’s already his, it has his name and picture on it, so give it back to him – “and” to God the things of God. What does it mean to give back to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar? Did this answer their question about paying taxes? What does it mean to give back to God the things that belong to God? What are the things that belong to God? Everything. If all things really belong to God, what does this say to us about how we should live our lives? What does this tell you about your salary or other income? Does it really belong to you? It’s not my salary. It’s not my bank account. It’s not my inheritance. It all belongs to God. I am a steward of it on God’s behalf. What does this tell you about tithing? Are you free to do whatever you want with your money as long as you give 10% to God? What would it look like to live the kind of life where we recognize and act on the understanding that everything we have belongs to God? If we took this seriously, would we ever spend anything more than the bare minimum on ourselves? Would we take vacations, by fancy coffees, etc.? Is there room for occasional luxuries in a life that recognizes that everything belongs to God? If we don’t take this seriously, if instead we think it all belongs to us, what’s wrong with that? What do we miss out on? Is there anything you think you should be doing differently, based on what Jesus teaches here? Now, let’s look a bit more at what it means to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Jesus draws a contrast between Caesar and God. What does Jesus’s answer tell us about emperors, kings, and all authorities? It tells us that they are not gods and are not to be treated as though they were. But more than that, it tells us that they have limited authority. Having governments and leaders with political authority is necessary, but they are limited and finite. Since everything belongs to God, but only some things belong to Caesar, what does Jesus’s answer tell political leaders about what they should do with the taxes they collect? They, too, are answerable to God and must give back to God what is God’s. This means they must use taxes in ways that honor God – for example, by serving the common good. What do you think this story tells us about whether we should pay our taxes even though we may not agree with everything the government does with our taxes? What do we owe to our governments? How can we both honor God and obey the laws of our leaders? Most of the time, we can be citizens of our own country without violating our obligations as citizens of the kingdom of God. If Christians ever reach the difficult conclusion that they can’t in good conscience meet their earthly citizenship responsibilities because of their duty to God, what should they do? There is an additional subtle point that can be seen here. Jesus is telling them to give that which is stamped with Caesar’s image back to Caesar. But we are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), so we are called to give our very selves back to God. What would it look like in your life to give yourself back to God? Take a step back and consider this: Verse 22 tells us that the Pharisees and Herodians went away “amazed.” Were they amazed because he had wiggled out of their clutches by his crafty answer? Were they amazed by the wisdom of his answer? Were they amazed by the depths of the commitment he is asking of us? As we have seen repeatedly in Matthew, Jesus is trying to help us see life in entirely new ways. How is the idea that we should give everything to God a revolutionary idea? Can we apply the same principle to other aspects of our life besides “things”? Does the same principle apply to our time, our work effort, etc.? The implication is that we can live a life that is so united with God that we are living entirely for God. How can we learn to think about everything we do as being part of a life that, even though it might see ordinary, is actually an extraordinary life lived entirely for God? What is your next step in this marvelous journey toward being fully united with Christ? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next

Do you struggle with the Christian teaching that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully human? Three apostles had a visible experience of this truth. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 17:1-13 Do you struggle with the Christian teaching that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully human? Three apostles had a visible experience of this truth. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). The Transfiguration of Christ . Part of The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity . 1605. Cropped. The Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy, Nancy, France. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transfiguration-Rubens.JPG . Tom Faletti June 18, 2025 Matthew 17:1-8 The Transfiguration What happens to Jesus here? There are some interesting similarities between this passage and God’s revelation of himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai, where God appeared on the seventh day in the midst of a cloud (Ex. 24) This passage follows Peter’s identification of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. Why does it happen now, after Peter’s declaration? How does this passage reflect who Jesus is? Is this who Jesus always has been, but it is usually hidden from us? Explain. Why does God usually not manifest himself in his glory? What is the significance of Moses and Elijah appearing with Jesus? Moses symbolizes the Law and Elijah symbolizes the prophets. The phrase “the law and the prophets” is shorthand for the whole Hebrew Scriptures (our Old Testament). Jesus has already used that phrase 3 times in Matthew (in 5:17; 7:12; and 11:13), and he will use it again in 22:40. A separate point of significance is that at the end of Elijah’s life he was taken to heaven, and therefore he was thought to be still alive, not dead in Sheol (which is why people thought he could return before the Messiah comes). Why do you think that Peter, James, and John are given this experience? What does God’s voice say from the cloud in verse 5? This voice is similar to the voice in Matthew 3:17 when Jesus is baptized. The church also came to connect it to Deuteronomy 18:15, where Moses commanded the Israelites to listen to the prophet God would raise up in the days to come. In what ways is God saying, “Listen to him” to us and the people of our time? Experiencing this miracle doesn’t protect the apostles from denying or forsaking Jesus later. The power of the moment slowly fades. Similarly, although Moses’s face shone after his encounters with God on the mountain (Ex. 34:29-35), the shine slowly faded (2 Cor. 3:12-13). Have you ever experienced the overwhelming presence of God and then later had it “wear off”? Why does this happen to us? Is it something we should expect and accept, or is there something we should do about it? Peter swings from one extreme to another – from so comfortable that he offers to make 3 tents to so overwhelmed that he cowers in fear. Is this a sign of his weakness or a sign of his amazing ability to change as he gains new knowledge? What can we learn from Peter in this story? Where would you be in this story? In verse 7, Jesus comes to them and touches them – a very down-to-earth, human gesture – and says, “Get up; don’t be afraid.” Is he telling them not to cower before God? Is there a distinction between the kind of fear of God that seemed more common in Moses’s time and the relationship Jesus wants his disciples to have with God? Read 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 , focusing particularly on verse 18. How does Paul describe us as we gaze on the glory of the Lord? How should we see ourselves in the presence of God? What is the appropriate “fear of the Lord” that is at ease with God and embraces his glory, rather than cowering before him? In what ways is Jesus saying to you, “Get up; do not be afraid?” Matthew 17:9-13 The coming of Elijah In verse 9, Jesus tells the apostles not to tell people about this vision until he is raised from the dead. Are there special moments in our experience of God that we should not try to explain to people who haven’t yet become believers in Jesus? How does Jesus connect John the Baptist to Elijah? The Jews believed that Elijah had to return before the Messiah would come. This discussion may have been important to Matthew and his community as an answer to Jews who argued that Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah because Elijah had not yet returned. In verse 12, Jesus again says he is going to suffer. This is a thread throughout the second half of Matthew, starting in chapter 16. How is the fact that Jesus suffered a thread in your life? Take a step back and consider this: There can be a tendency to focus either on Christ in his glory or Jesus in his humanity, and to lose sight of the fact that he is the one, same Lord. There are many aspects of our faith where people who doubt want to see it as a series of either-or choices that we see it as both-and: Is God all-just or all-merciful? Does our faith come from God or by our own will and choice? Is Jesus fully God or fully man? Often, as in these cases, the answer is, “Both.” The challenge for (and the invitation we have from God) is to hold seemingly contradictory truths together and to seek God’s wisdom so that he can show us how they are complementary, not contradictory. For many people, it is too easy to say, “It can’t be so,” and to fail to probe deeply enough to see how God does things that go beyond our human instincts as to what is possible. Is there any part of the idea that Jesus Christ is both our glorious God and our human brother that you struggle with? Think about Jesus as he is manifested in this passage, as one person who is both the divinely transfigured, beloved Son of God and the down-to-earth, “Don’t be afraid” human teacher. Share your uncertainties with him, and “listen to him.” What does Jesus say to you about your uncertainties? How can we train our hearts and minds to not settle for simple answers that focus on one part of the faith to the exclusion of other parts, but instead to grow to maturity in our understanding (1 Cor. 2:16; 14:20; Eph. 4:13; Rom. 12:2)? 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

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

Jesus takes retaliation in a new direction. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 5:38-42 Jesus takes retaliation in a new direction. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti May 4, 2024 Matthew 5:38-42 Retaliation After reading Matthew 5:38-42, read Exodus 21:23-24 and Leviticus 24:17-20 . (Optionally, you could also read Deuteronomy 19:16-21.) What did the Old Testament prescribe as the limit of retaliation or punishment for hurting another person? This system is known by its Latin name, lex talionis , which means the Law of Retaliation, in which people receive retribution in kind: whatever the offender did to someone else, the offender receives roughly equal treatment. It is often called “an eye for an eye” because of the Old Testament examples that are given. When it was established by the Israelites, it was a restriction on vengeance or retaliation at a time when it was common to kill someone who injured you or to have your entire tribe attack the entire tribe of someone who inflicted an injury. It was saying: Only one eye for an eye; only one life for a life. Deuteronomy 19:18 indicates that this system of penalties was to be carried out by the society through the courts; the Law was not establishing a private right of action where you could go after the person who hurt you and do the same thing to them. The Jewish rabbis did not believe that God wanted people to be literally maimed, so they developed methods of calculating how much a person should pay in money, rather than having body parts taken (William Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 162). We would call this “compensatory damages” today. What is Jesus’s new way of approaching the problem? Jesus says, don’t resist, don’t demand retribution; instead, give more. Another part of the Old Testament Law said, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18, NRSV). This seems to contradict the eye-for-an-eye mentality. Jesus weighed in on the side of not taking vengeance. But Jesus went further. Matthew 5:39a states the general principle, followed by 5 different practical applications of it that move progressively further and further away from the original issue of violence. What are the 5 specific cases Jesus cites and how to deal with them? Someone hits you, sues you, forces you to go a mile, begs from you, or asks to borrow from you. Let’s look at each of these examples to see what insights and concerns they raise. 1. Someone hits you. This example is often misunderstood. Most people are right-handed, and the example assumes a right-handed person. If a right-hander is going to hit you on the right cheek, it will have to be done with the back of the hand, not with a fist. This implies an insult slap. (If someone slugs you with their right fist, the right fist will generally hit your left cheek, not your right cheek. Only a backhanded slap lands on the right cheek.) If you have been insulted with a back-of-the-hand slap to your right cheek, offer them your left cheek, which can be hit even more forcefully. What is Jesus saying? One possible extension of what Jesus is saying is: Do not get all worked up when people insult you. How can we learn to not seek retaliation when we are mistreated? Another possible extension of what Jesus is saying is that Jesus’s approach may have a greater likelihood of changing your opponent's behavior than hot-headed retaliation would. Read Romans 12:19-21 . (What Paul writes here is based on Proverbs 25:21-22.) What does Paul tell the Christians in Rome, and how does it relate to Jesus’s teaching here? Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “[W]e must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding. At times we are able to humiliate our worst enemy. Inevitably, his weak moments come and we are able to thrust in his side the spear of defeat. But this we must not do. Every word and deed must contribute to an understanding with the enemy and release those vast reservoirs of goodwill that have been blocked by impenetrable walls of hate” ( Strength to Love , p. 46). How might responding to insult or mistreatment by turning the other cheek defuse a situation and give you an opportunity for reconciliation and a better outcome? 2. Someone sues you. Jesus says, If you are sued for your inner garment, of which a person would probably have more than one, give also your cloak – the outer garment, of which the typical Jew would have only one (Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 165). Under the Old Testament Jewish Law, you had a right to your cloak at night, even if you had to give it to someone during the day as the pledge for a loan (Exodus 22:26-27). Jesus says, give up even your cloak. One interpretation is that Jesus is saying that you should not insist on your rights. How can we be like that? When we do this, it might open up the possibility of bridging the gap between us and the other person, which might make it possible to restore the relationship. (But don’t count on it. This is not a magic. There may be times when we just have to leave justice in the hands of God. And there may be times when we need to stand up for our rights.) 3. Someone forces you to go a mile – i.e., inconveniences you. Roman soldiers could press a person into service to carry a burden for them, as Simon of Cyrene experienced with Jesus’s cross. Jesus is saying to do more than what we are asked when we are inconvenienced. How can we be like that? 4. and 5. Someone begs from you or asks to borrow from you. We have all experienced times when people have begged or borrowed from us. Begging and borrowing are not the same thing. How are they different? Despite the differences between begging and borrowing, in what ways do both types of requests put us in the same position? What is Jesus’s response to both situations, and why do you think that is his prescription? How can we be like that? Considered together, these examples deal with much more than retaliation. They describe a way of approaching life – a mindset – that is at odds with our human nature and with what the world teaches us. How would you describe the fundamental attitudes or mindset that underlie this approach to life? At How can we transform our hearts and minds so that these kinds of reactions come more naturally? Where in your life right now might God be asking you to try to accept this mindset and do things differently?How can we transform our hearts and minds so that these kinds of reactions come more naturally? Where in your life right now might God be asking you to try to accept this mindset and do things differently? root, they involve a deep reliance on God. Do any of these seem especially unrealistic or difficult? Discuss it. Jesus would listen intently to your concerns. How do you think he would respond? Take a step back and consider this: It would be easy to see the Sermon on the Mount as replacing the old Law with a new Law – a new, stricter set of rules that we should follow. That is not what Jesus is doing. More laws will not create the kind of people Jesus is seeking to form. He wants to create new hearts, not new laws. One of God’s great projects on Earth is to work his character into our hearts. The more we become like him, the more instinctively we will be able to live out his teachings. What are the underlying changes of heart and mind that would be needed in order to live out Jesus’s instructions in this passage more easily? How can we transform our hearts and minds so that these kinds of reactions come more naturally? Where in your life right now might God be asking you to try to accept this mindset and do things differently? 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

Wise men come to see the newborn king – and still do today! Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 2:1-12 Wise men come to see the newborn king – and still do today! Possibly Antonio Vassilacchi ( also called L'Aliense) (1556-1629). Chiesa di San Zaccaria church, Venice, Italy. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 2:1-12 The wise men seek the newborn king, and unintentionally alert King Herod The “wise men,” or “magi” in the Greek, were, according to The New Oxford Annotated Bible , “a class of Parthian (Persian) priests, renowned as astrologers” (fn. to Matthew 2:1-12, p. 1749). That may suggest more certainty than we have; other scholars do not think it is so certain. We mustn’t think of “astrologers” as being like modern-day fortune-tellers. They were scientists, trying to make sense of physical phenomena and how those phenomena might affect humans. There were whole bodies of “knowledge” that had been developed, connecting different nations to different “stars” (actually, planets). Why did the wise men from the East come looking for a baby in Jerusalem? In Matthew’s mind, what is the significance of the fact that these were wise men from the East rather than people from Judea? Note: The star could have been a comet, but it was more likely a juxtaposition of planets (“stars”) that had auspicious meaning according to the wisest understandings of the natural world at that time. There is a reference to a star in the Old Testament: In Numbers 24, Balaam prophesied that “a star shall come out of Jacob, / and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (24:17, NRSV) and “Edom will become a possession” (24:18, NRSV) – i.e., Edom will be taken over and lose its independence. Herod, with an ancestry reaching back to Edom, would have been especially troubled by this. Why do you think these men want to pay homage to a Jewish baby king? Note: Herod the Great was “king” from 37 BC to 4 BC, most of that time as a vassal (a client state) to the Roman Emperor. He was known for his great building projects, including his marvelous renovation and beautification of the Temple in Jerusalem, but he was also known for his ruthless treatment of any rivals; he even had his own wife and several members of his family executed. He was not from Judea. He was from Idumea, south of Israel, part of a non-Jewish Edomite family, and although his people several generations earlier had been forced to become Jews, he was always suspect among strict Jews, both because of his ethnic heritage and because of his profligate lifestyle. Why do you think Herod was frightened or troubled by the news these wise men brought? We sometimes sanitize the Bible of its politics. This is a story with a huge element of politics. Why might “all of Jerusalem,” perhaps including the chief priests, have been frightened or troubled by the news from the wise men? The people of Jerusalem knew that Herod often killed whole groups of people when he thought someone was trying to challenge him. When a tyrant is upset, everyone around him is on edge. Incidentally, Bethlehem was 5 miles south of Jerusalem, so if Jerusalem was stirred up, it also would have stirred up people in Bethlehem. Matthew tells us that Herod immediately thinks this might have something to do with the Messiah. What does this tell you about Herod? Herod is tuned in to Jewish thinking and is very sensitive to any claims that might be made against him. The idea that Jesus might be a king will remain a dangerous concept all the way to the end of Jesus’s life. We see him accused of that in his trial, and it is ultimately what he is charged with when he is executed (see Matt. 27:11,29,37). Note that Herod might have been suspicious of the magi from the beginning if they were Parthians. Before Herod was king, he took the side of Hyrcanus II when Hyrcanus’s nephew Antigonus took the throne from Hyrcanus. The Parthians were on the opposite from Herod in that fight. Herod went to Rome to seek help to gain the restoration of Hyrcanus, but the Roman Senate unexpectedly appointed Herod king, if he could gain control of Judea, which he did. The chief priests and scribes were able to name an Old Testament prophecy that they thought told where the Messiah would be born. What does this tell you about them? The prophecy in verse 6 is taken from Micah 5:1-5a (the verse numbering might be off by one in your Bible, as the Hebrew versions of our Old Testament counted 5:1 as 4:14). What does that prophecy say about Jesus? Bethlehem was David’s hometown and the place where David was anointed as king (1 Sam. 16:1-13). It was also the hometown of Ruth’s mother-in-law and father-in-law and of Boaz, who she ultimately married (he was David’s great-grandfather). In 2 Sam. 5:2, when King Saul died in battle, all the tribes of Israel came to David and said, “The LORD said to you: it is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel” (NRSV). Remember that Matthew set up in chapter 1 the importance of Jesus being the son of David. Matthew is making the connections for us here. Herod also professes to want to pay homage to the child (verse 8). That, we learn, is a lie. However, it raises questions for us. Why should we give homage to this child? What does it mean to “give homage” to Jesus? How can we do it genuinely and well? How does the faith of these Gentile wise men contrast with Herod’s attitude toward Jesus? How does the faith of the wise men prefigure the response to Jesus among Gentiles in Jesus’s own time and in the early church? The wise men were “overwhelmed with joy” (verse 10) when the star stopped and they knew they were near to finding the child they had been looking for. When have you been “overwhelmed with joy” at experiencing Jesus? What can you do to foster that joy? What can we learn from these wise men? They are open to other cultures; they are seekers of truth; they recognize that a future king could be poor – i.e., that poverty is not a defining limitation of a person. Note: In 2:11, Matthew tells us that: “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother” (NRSV). “The house” indicates that when this takes place, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are not in a cave or stable. However, they could have been in the lower quarters of a house where the animals were kept (with “bedrooms”or sleeping quarters for the normal residents upstairs). There is no evidence about how many wise men there were, but since Matthew lists three gifts, the tradition developed that there were three of them. What is the significance of the gifts of “gold, frankincense, and myrrh”? Gold is obviously costly, but so were frankincense and myrrh. How might these gifts have been, perhaps unwittingly, symbolically appropriate for Jesus? Gold symbolizes royalty. Jesus is our king. Frankincense symbolizes priesthood, in that priests offer incense as a sacrifice to God. When offered to Jesus, is suggests that Jesus is the Son of God. Also, Jesus is our great high priest, offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Myrrh was used for burial. Jesus’s death saved us. The myrrh symbolizes his humanity and his sacrifice for us. But also, myrrh was used in the tent tabernacle in the desert (before there was a Temple) to anoint the holy things (the tent, the ark of the covenant containing the tablets of the Law – God’s Word given to the Israelites, the sacrifice table, the utensils used in the sacrifices, etc.) and to anoint the priests (Exodus 30:22-33). Jesus is the tabernacle (the holy place that God resides) and he is the ark of the covenant (the Word of God in human flesh), anointed by God to bring us into a close relationship with God (and ultimate to take up residence in us through the Holy Spirit) and to deliver the fullness of God’s Word to us. Note: Some scholars think Matthew is adding details that go beyond the story, perhaps drawing from Psalm 72:10-11 (where the psalmist prays: may the kings of other lands bring gifts to the great future king of Israel) and Isaiah 60:6 (which says that people from Sheba will bring gold and frankincense); however, if Matthew was doing that, he would have called attention to those passages as additional “fulfillment prophecies”, and he does not do that. So it is unlikely that Matthew is making up details here to fit Old Testament passages. In 2:12, the wise men do not return to Herod but go a different way. In order to follow God faithfully, we too are sometimes called to avoid things we might have been involved with previously and “go a different way.” What is something in your life that you might need to avoid in order to follow God, and how will you “go a different way”? Take a step back and consider this: Christians delight in the story of the wise men. We honor their passion to find the new king of a far-off land. But Christians sometimes have attitudes that directly conflict with this praise for the wise men. The wise men studied the signs and evidence in nature that could expand their understanding of God’s activity in the world. Yet Some Christians disparage the work of people in our day who think hard and study carefully all of the evidence they can find in the natural world, in their search for truth (in our day, we call them “scientists”). The Scriptures don’t attack the wise men for following the evidence in the natural world wherever it leads, and neither should we attack those who follow the evidence in the natural world today. We can object when they go beyond the evidence to make claims not supported by evidence, but we need to honestly evaluate the evidence they find before rejecting it. Throughout history, Christians have suggested that God speaks to us in two “books”: the book of the Scriptures and the book of Nature. When you learn from Scripture, you are learning about God. When you learn from science, you are learning about God’s work in the world. We need to be open to the truths that arise from our careful study of nature, because nature is authored by God. Psalm 19:1-4 affirms that God speaks to us through the natural world: “The heavens are telling the glory of God; / and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. / Day to day pours forth speech, / and night to night declares knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2, NRSV). In other words, the natural world tells us about the work of God. When Christians belittle the importance of using our minds to expand scientific understanding – whether it is about diseases or vaccines or changing climate patterns or how stars are developed or how species change over time – they are acting exactly the opposite of how the wise men in today’s Scripture passage acted when they studied the heavens so carefully. If we close our minds to people who seek truth in the natural world that God created, we may miss important truths about God’s creation that would allow us to serve God better and take better care of his creation and his people. How can you be more open to the truths discovered by scientists? 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

Can you embrace a king who comes in peace? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 21:1-11 Can you embrace a king who comes in peace? Aelbert Cuyp (1620–1691) (school of). Christ Riding into Jerusalem. Circa 1640–1700. Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC), Glasgow Life Museums, Glasgow, Scotland. Image provided by Art UK, CC BY-NC-ND, https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/christ-riding-into-jerusalem-83691 . Tom Faletti August 3, 2025 Matthew 21:1-11 The crowds rejoice as Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey Jerusalem was the capital of Judea. Bethphage (pronounced Beth'-fuh-dzhee) was a village on the Mount of Olives, just outside the city of Jerusalem, around one mile from the Temple. The “village opposite you” was probably the nearby village of Bethany, where Jesus will go that evening (see Matt. 21:17) – Mark names Bethphage and Bethany in Mark 11:1. Jesus is arriving just as Passover is beginning. Barclay says that 30 years later, a Roman governor said that around a quarter of a million lambs were sacrificed in Jerusalem at the Passover, and the Jews had a regulation that there should be at least 10 people for every lamb. That would suggest that there could have been 2.5 million people crammed into Jerusalem – a huge crowd far beyond its usual population (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 262). Jesus has chosen to come to Jerusalem at the moment when his arrival may have maximum impact. How does Jesus get a donkey? There is no way to know whether Jesus arranged this in advance or used supernatural power to make it possible; but either way, what does it tell you about how much Jesus has been thinking about how to approach the final week of his life? Jews who were expecting a messiah to come soon had interpreted Zechariah 14:4 in a way that suggested that the messiah would approach Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives on the “day of the Lord.” That is what Jesus does. How does Jesus enter into Jerusalem (verse 7)? Riding on a donkey Matthew 21:5 quotes from Zechariah 9:9-10. Read Zechariah 9:9-10 The daughter Zion or daughter of Zion mentioned here and also in Isaiah 62:11 is Jerusalem and its inhabitants. There is only one donkey in Zechariah, it is referred to twice in the typical Hebrew way for poetic effect. Why would Matthew say that there was a donkey and her colt, and that Jesus sat on “them”? Scholars have a variety of ideas: Perhaps he was interpreting the Zechariah passage overly literally; perhaps the “them” refers to the cloaks he sat on; or perhaps he rode on one and then the other. Why would the disciples have brought two donkeys to Jesus? Perhaps a young donkey – one that hasn’t been ridden on yet – would not be eager to be led away from its mother but follow her if she was led to Jesus. These details don’t really matter. What matters is this: What is the significance of riding into a capital city on a donkey? A conquering king would ride in on a horse. Jesus comes in peace, not as a conquering king. How does the rest of these two verses from Zechariah suggest to us about Jesus? He has not come as a worldly, conquering king. What is the nature of his coming? Now return to Matthew 21:1-11 What do the people do? Spreading cloaks Spreading cloaks on the road was a way to acknowledge the reign of a new king. This had been done for Jehu in 2 Kings 9:13 when he became king of Israel. Matthew says just refers generically to branches from the trees, but John specifically identifies them as palm branches. In around 142 BC, when the Maccabees overthrew the Seleucid (Greek) empire and gained independence, 1 Maccabees 13:51 tells us that in celebration of that great victory, the people waved palm branches as the miliary leader Simon and his troops entered the citadel at Jerusalem. This was the end of the fight for liberation from the Greeks that put an end to the defilement of the Temple, which Antiochus Epiphanous had ordered. 2 Maccabees 10:1-8 describes the steps that were taken to purify the Temple, which included the waving of palm branches. So when the people spread palm branches before Jesus, they are invoking a history of liberation. What do the people say? Hosanna In Matthew 21:9, the people cry out, “Hosanna,” which is literally a cry in Hebrew to “save, I pray/beseech.” We see this word in Psalm 118:25, where the psalmist calls on God to “save us,” followed in the next verse (118:26) by the statement, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” They appear to be clearly invoking Psalm 118:25-26. What is the significance of the people identifying Jesus as one who can save them? The Son of David What is the significance of the people calling Jesus the “son of David”? An interesting footnote is that when David declared that the king who would follow him would be his son Solomon – the first person who was the “son of David” – Solomon rode into Jerusalem on David’s mule (1 Kings 1: 32-40) – again, not the horse of a warrior. People might also have recalled this as they proclaimed Jesus to be the “Son of David.” What is the significance of the people proclaiming that Jesus comes in the name of the Lord? In what ways can we embrace the words of the crowd when they identify Jesus as the Son of David, proclaim him to be the one who comes in the name of the Lord, and ask him to save them? What do you think they people are thinking about Jesus? The Jews at that time had a strong expectation that their Roman oppressors would be thrown off by a descendant of David and that the kingdom of David would be re-established as an earthly kingdom. Calling Jesus the Son of David and spreading cloaks and palm branches were ways of signaling that they thought he was the one who would come and establish a new earthly kingdom. When God does something in our lives, how do we express our joy at what God has done? Can we learn something from the people of Jerusalem? Notice that Jesus does not correct their thinking about what kind of messiah he is. The time will come for people to understand better who Jesus is, but for now he responds to their faith, not their understanding of doctrinal facts. We see this in our day as well. Christians don’t agree about major points of doctrine, which means somebody is wrong. Jesus makes it clear in other parts of the Gospels that it is important to know the truth, but God still works in the lives of believing Christians who have conflicting views, some of which must be wrong. Why do you think God still works in the life of people who don’t have all their doctrinal facts sorted out perfectly, and what does that tell you about God’s relationship with us? Verses 10-11 have an interesting juxtaposition. The “whole city” is in turmoil and asking who is the person people are making such a fuss big deal about, and the “crowd” explains. The “whole city” would be the people who were already there and mostly knew little about Jesus, and the “crowd” would mainly be the people who had come with Jesus all the way from Galilee or had joined him on the way to Jerusalem as he traveled through Judea (see Matt. 19:2 and 20:29). The people in Jerusalem want to know why people are so excited about this person they don’t know about. Where do you see yourself in this story? Would you have been with Jesus from the beginning, accompanying him from all the way back in Galilee? Would you have been so moved by him when he came through your little town in Judea that you left town to follow him? Would you have already been a devout person intending to go to Jerusalem for the feast, and you decided to go with Jesus when you learned that he would be walking to Jerusalem for the Passover too? Would you have been part of that crowd waiving branches and spreading your cloak on the road? Would you have been among the people asking, “Who is this?” Would you have been one of the people answering the question, explaining who Jesus is? Would you have been watching skeptically? Would you have missed it entirely? Where do you see yourself in this story? What does this story of Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem say to you today? Take a step back and consider this: We have seen a number of instances in Matthew’s Gospel where Matthew shows us a Jesus who cares especially about the people at the bottom of the social spectrum – what we have called God’s downside-up view of the world. Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem shows the contrast again, where Jesus’s approach is the opposite of what the world expects. They expect a king who will establish dominion under the mantle of power; they get a servant who will establish his kingship under a mantle of peace. John Fischer, a Christian friend of mine who was a popular musician in the Christian contemporary music scene in the 1970s and now runs an online ministry to try to extend the grace of God to people who feel left out of traditional churches, wrote an online post in which he says that the “strong, biblically-based evangelical church” he grew up in always seemed to skip over the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes (Matt. 5-7). That is where we first see clearly Jesus’s downside-up view: Blessed are the poor; turn the other cheek; love your enemy; etc. John wrote: [W]e should stick out like a sore thumb in our culture right now. The acceptable cultural milieu is currently one of separation, isolation, fear, bullying, show no mercy, take no prisoners, no sympathy, no empathy, foster hate, and a rejection of that which is different. It is the culture of the strong man more in keeping with John Wayne than Jesus. In fact, our culture right now is dominated by everything that is the exact opposite of the Beatitudes. So if you want to be different, now is the time to follow Jesus, and steer clear of any movement of Christianity that borrows from the strong man tactics that are prevalent today. That’s not Jesus; it’s John Wayne. (“ John Wayne and the Sermon on the Mount ”) Jesus challenges us to turn the world’s view upside-down – to see differently, to think differently, to act differently. He did not come with horse and chariot to force our submission to him. He came on a donkey of peace. We are called to follow his example. What does Jesus’s refusal to accept the trapping of power say to leaders in our day? How might Christians in our time be overly eager to embrace the exercise of military power? In what ways does Jesus’s refusal to exercise worldly power challenge us? What might we need to do differently to point the leaders of our time to the Jesus who enters Jerusalem on a donkey? How can we join the One on the donkey who comes in the name of the Lord, and follow his way? How can we also point the powerless of our time to the Jesus who rides on a donkey? 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

Pray with confidence that God will respond as your Father. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 7:7-11 Pray with confidence that God will respond as your Father. Image by Gustavo Sánchez, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti June 7, 2024 Matthew 7:7-11 Pray expectantly Overall, what is your initial impression of this passage? What is it saying? In verses 7-8, what is the attitude Jesus is calling us to have in prayer? The tense of the verbs in these verses is the present imperative active ( Interlinear Bible , https://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/7.htm ), which means that they would be better translated as: Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking; or continually ask, continually seek, continually knock. We don’t have this tense in English, so our translators settle for “ask, seek, knock,” but the tense in Greek means to continually do that thing. The Greek verbs that are used in verses 7-8 indicate that Jesus is not talking about asking just once. The verbs actually mean “keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.” How does that affect your understanding of this passage? What does this tell you? In verses 9-10, Jesus offers two images of what human parents would or would not do, and then uses them as analogies to God. What would human parents not do, and why? To an innocent and undiscerning child, a large stone might look like a small loaf of bread. A small fish might look like a snake or eel. If a child asked for bread or fish, a parent would not give them a stone or a snake; that would be malicious. Almost all parents love their children and would responding lovingly, not cruelly or callously. In verse 11, Jesus then compares the parents to God. What does he say about “your Father in heaven”? By describing our prayers as like a child seeking what he or she needs from a parent, Jesus is telling us about our relationship with God who is our Father. What does this tell us about how we can approach God in prayer? Jesus says even human parents, who are “evil” (NRSV) or “wicked” (NABRE), wouldn’t give their child a stone if they asked for bread. What is he trying to tell us by using that word “evil” or “wicked” to contrast us with God? God, who is all good, will not give us fake gifts or false gifts. God will only give us what is good, what is consistent with His perfect love. This means God will not always give us what we ask. Even when we ask for good things, God does not always give us what we ask for. How do you make sense of that reality in the context of this passage? It is often said that God answers our prayers in one of three ways: Yes, No, or Not Yet. If the answer is Yes, we receive the blessing and move forward. If the answer is No, we accept the answer and move on. If the answer is Not Yet, we wait patiently, continuing to pray and trust that God has our best interests at heart. God cannot always give us what we ask for, because sometimes what we ask for would not actually be what is best for us, and God would not give us a stone even if we thought it was good and asked for it. How have you experienced God answering your prayers with a Yes? How have you experienced God answering your prayers with a No? How have you experienced God answering your prayers with a Not Yet? There is a fourth way that God answers prayer. Sometimes, after praying for a period of time, we come to realize that what we truly want and need is not what we were asking for, but something else. In this case, God has answered our prayer by changing our heart and our desires. When our heart is aligned with God, it opens the door for God to work in new ways that might not previously been feasible. But that requires us to be willing to more forward according to God’s ways, not our ways. How have you experienced your requests to God changing as you kept asking God for something? There is a fifth way that God answers prayer: with a “Not That But This.” God sometimes gives us something that is a blessing but not the blessing we sought. As William Barclay says: “God will always answer our prayers, but He will answer them in His way, and His way will be the way of perfect wisdom and of perfect love” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. 275-276). A relevant quote that has been attributed to many people over the years is: “When one door closes another always opens, but we usually look so long, so intently, and so sorrowfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened” (quote investigator Garson O’Toole concludes that the source is unknown, although part may have come from Johann Paul Friedrich Richter). How have you experienced God answering a prayer not by giving you what you asked for but by opening a door to something else? Did you find it easy or hard to recognize that God was answering your prayer by giving you that alternative? The relationship we have with God, our Father, is far more important than anything we ask God to do. Are there ways that your prayer life might change if your prayers were consistently founded on the relationship you have with God as Father and not so much on what you want? How does this passage help you pray to God with confidence? Having looked at this entire passage in detail, what does it say to you? Take a step back and consider this: Sometimes what we ask for is not evil but misses the point. My grandfather, when he was in his 60s, told me that when he was young, he had asked God for three things: a beautiful wife, a beautiful car, and a big house. With his 8th-grade education and hard-scrabble upbringing, those probably seemed like big asks. But he was a hard worker, a sociable person who was good at understanding what other people wanted and how to bring people together, and a wise man about many things despite his meager formal education. He advanced in the steel mill from blue collar to white collar, then left to become a very successful insurance agent. He married early and eventually obtained a big house (relative to others in his community) and the fancy car he wanted. But he told me about his early prayer not boastfully but ruefully, as if to show the foolishness of the request. When he told me this, he was spending most of his time in one room of the big house, sitting next to the bed where his wife lay 23 hours a day. Her life had been sapped by chronic health problems, but she had all the time in the world to carp at him as he sat there. The fancy car mostly sat unused in the garage. People sometimes say: Be careful what you ask for. But that is too cryptic to catch the point. It isn’t what you ask for, but why, that matters. For whom are you asking, and to what end? For whom are you most earnest prayers delivered? To what end do you ask God to bless you? How would your prayers change, if you were only allowed to pray for things that you knew would help advance God's loving work in the world? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next

What does it look like when we love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and extend the same love to others? Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 22:34-40 What does it look like when we love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and extend the same love to others? Image by Wyron A, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 18, 2025 Matthew 22:34-40 The Pharisees ask what is the greatest command? This is the third in a series of 3 challenges Jesus faces in his final week in Jerusalem before he is executed. This time it is the Pharisees who challenge him. The Jews had identified 613 commandments in the Mosaic Law, which was a lot to keep track of. Jewish teachers sometimes tried to summarize the Torah in a sentence. A Gentile once came to Hillel the Elder, the great Jewish scholar, and asked to be converted “on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot.” Hillel summarized the Torah with a statement that is essentially the reverse of Jesus’s Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12, saying, “That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study” ( Shabbat 31a ). Hillel founded the school known as the House of Hillel in Jerusalem and was a spiritual leader there from around 20 or 30 years before Jesus was born until Hillel died when Jesus was a teenager or young adult. His “house” or party of scholars lived on for more than a century after his death, generally in opposition to the stricter House of Shammai that led the Pharisees during Jesus’s ministry. What do the Pharisees ask Jesus? How does Jesus answer the question of which commandment is the greatest? Notice that Jesus quotes two commandments (found in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 9:18), not one. Why does it take two commandments to summarize the law? One deals with our relationship with God, and one deals with our relationship with people. (Jesus also cited the second of these commandments, Leviticus 9:18, in his answer to the rich young man in Matthew 19:19.) Jesus says that all of the teachings of the Old Testament Law and prophets depend on, or are based on, these two commands. Why is that? Test Jesus’s claim by applying it to some of the commandments you know from the Old Testament (for example, the Ten Commandments or other things God tells us to do in the Old Testament). How is each command based on one or the other of these two greatest commandments? What does it mean to love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind? How do you love God with your whole “heart”? How do you love God with your whole “soul”? How do you love God with your whole “mind”? Some Christians try to downplay the importance of the mind, but Jesus (and the Old Testament, and Saint Paul) emphasize the importance of the mind in our relationship with God. How can you use your mind in ways that “love” God? What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? What are some ways you try to love your neighbor as yourself? People often point out that to love your neighbor as yourself implies that you love yourself. The concern that arises if that if you don’t love yourself, it may be hard to love others. What are some ways that we can apply to ourselves the same love that we extend to our neighbors? The Jews would have taken it as a given that people love themselves, care for themselves, and try to provide for themselves. How can that instinct to take care of our own needs help us understand what we are called to do to love others by also taking care of their needs? Jesus says the second command is “like” the first? How are the two commandments related? How does the second command reflect the first? Jesus taught us in Matthew 25:31-46 that if we aren’t loving our neighbor, we aren’t loving God, because Jesus is to be found in the people in need around us. So these are not two totally separate ideas about how to honor God. The two commands work together because God has chosen to make us and everyone else in his image, so he is present in our neighbors. How can you follow these two commands in your life today? What is one thing you might do more faithfully, or start doing, to better fulfill the two great commandments? Now take a step back and consider this: A woman in one of my Bible Study groups once shared a story when we were discussing this passage. She was struggling with the idea of showing love to a difficult person in her life. She talked with her priest about it, and the priest reminded her that the other person is a child of God too. He told her to look at the other person as God does. She tried to do that, and, she said, “It worked.” Once she was able to see the other person through the eyes of God, she was able to not just tolerate the other person but develop a friendship with them. Loving God with our minds sometimes means looking at a situation and thinking through how God sees it, and then acting accordingly. Loving our neighbor means seeing them as God sees them. When we adjust our thinking, God is able to do things through us that he can’t do when we are closed off from extending his love to others. It is tremendously rewarding when we can experience the reality that, by loving God and loving our neighbor, we are participating in the work of God. Where in your life can you take a new step this week to love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and all of your mind, and extend that love to others? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next

Jesus is buried: Some people take action; others wait and watch. [Matthew 27:57-61; 27:62-66] Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 27:57-66 Jesus is buried: Some people take action; others wait and watch. Gustave Doré (1832-1883). The Burial of Christ . Woodcut. Detail. The illustration was originally published as one of 241 wood engravings created by Doré in La Grande Bible de Tours , issued in 1866. It is in the public domain due to copyright expiration. This image was reproduced from The Doré Bible Illustrations , Dover, 1974, and made available online by Felix Just, S.J. (see http://catholic-resources.org/Art/Dore.htm ) at https://catholic-resources.org/Dore/John19f.jpg , and its use is authorized by him. Tom Faletti May 17, 2024 Matthew 27:57-61 Jesus is laid in a tomb, under watchful eyes In verse 57, what does Matthew tell us about Joseph of Arimathea? He is rich, from Arimathea, and a disciple of Jesus. Mark adds that he is a respected member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council that had condemned Jesus (Mark 15:43), and Luke adds that Joseph had not agreed to the council’s actions. Scholars aren’t sure where Arimathea was. The early Christian historian Eusebius, writing nearly 300 years after the time of Jesus, identified it as the Old Testament town of Ramathaim or Ramah where Samuel the prophet was born (1 Sam. 1:1; 2:11), approximately 5 miles north of Jerusalem. What does Joseph do? Jewish Law required that criminals be buried on the same day they were executed (Deut. 21:22-23), and it would have been particularly unseemly to leave Jesus’s body to scavenging dogs on the Sabbath. Joseph steps in, in place of the family members who ordinarily would have acted. What does Matthew want us to understand about (1) the way Jesus’s body was handled, and (2) the status of the tomb he was buried in? Joseph’s action would have called attention to himself with Pilate and also might have deepened the wedge between him and other members of the Sanhedrin. How is Joseph an example of courage? How might we imitate Joseph in situations we might face in our own lives? Where might this kind of courage be needed? Who is watching as Joseph buries Jesus? The “other Mary” was the mother of James and Joseph – see verse 56. John 19:25 suggests she is the sister of Jesus’s mother Mary and the wife of Clopas. Some scholars sort out the family somewhat differently and think that Clopas ws the brother of Jesus’s (adopted) father Joseph, which would make this “other Mary” the sister-in-law of Jesus’s mother. Either way, the women of the family are steadfast to the end. Why do you think these women continue to follow the action, to the bitter end? Their commitment to God no matter what bad things happen, reminds me of Job’s comment, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15, KJV). It is as though they are saying: “Though He may die, still we will be there for Him.” How is their example a witness to us? Matthew 27:62-66 Setting a guard to avoid a hoax Who goes to Pilate? What is their concern? The Pharisees were last referenced in Matthew 23:29. All of the drama since then has involved the chief priests and elders – the political and religious leadership – not the rank-and-file Pharisees who are so concerned about fervently living out every detail of their understanding of the Law. Why do you think the Pharisees are involved again now? Why do they care whether people make up stories about a dead Jesus? The day of Preparation was the day before the Sabbath. Matthew says they went to Pilate on the day after the day of Preparation. If we understand the timing he is suggesting, it means they went to Pilate on the Sabbath, which would be a significant violation of the Sabbath required by the Law and show how concerned they were about Jesus even after his death. What do they specifically ask Pilate for? Notice that Pilate does not offer a simple “Yes.” His answer in verse 65 is literally, “You have a guard.” (Some translations say, “Take a guard,” but that is an interpretation, not the literal words in the Greek.) Pilate’s unclear answer has led to two different interpretations: Interpretation #1 : Pilate agreed to their request and made Roman soldiers available. There is a problem with this interpretation: If the guard was a Roman guard, it is hard to believe the soldiers would have gone to the Jewish leaders after the resurrection (see Matthew 28:11) and joined in a hoax that, if found out, would have caused them to be executed for dereliction of duty. Interpretation #2 : Pilate indirectly rejected their request by reminding them that they have their own soldiers – the Temple guard, who helped arrest Jesus – and is telling them to set up their own guard if they are concerned. There is a problem with this interpretation: If it was Jewish guards, why would they have been concerned about Pilate hearing about their failure at the tomb (Matthew 28:14)? A possible answer is that when a person has failed a task, they don’t want anyone in power knowing about it, even if they aren’t directly under that person’s authority; and in this case it might be even more troubling since Pilate, in effect, commissioned them to do the task. On balance, Interpretation #2 seems more likely, but it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of our faith who the guards were. In verse 66, what do the Jewish leaders and the guard do? What do you think they expect will happen next? Barclay remarks on the irony of Pilate’s last statement, regarding the plan to guard the tomb: “make it as secure as you can” (Matthew 27:65, NRSV). Barclay says, “It is as if Pilate all unconsciously said, ‘Keep Christ in the tomb – if you can.’” He adds: “They had not realized one thing – that there was not a tomb in the world which could imprison the Risen Christ” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , pp. 414). Every opponent of God would like to, in effect, keep Christ in his tomb. Why is that so important? If Jesus is risen, then he is still alive and active in the world today and must be confronted or accounted for; and many people would rather not have to explain what they are doing or not doing with regard to a man who said he was the Son of God and has come back to life – which no mere human could do. Are there ways that leaders in our societies do things that look like they are trying to keep Christ in his place rather than giving him free reign to work in our churches and communities? Explain. Are there ways that people in our churches do things that feel like they are trying to keep Christ in his place rather than giving him free reign to do his resurrection work in our churches and communities? Explain. What are some ways that we might unconsciously try to keep Christ in the “tomb” in our own lives rather than allowing the Risen Christ to have free reign? We have been exploring what happened to Jesus on Good Friday. The next passage describes what happens on Easter Sunday morning, the morning of Jesus’s glorious Resurrection. But there is a day in between – Holy Saturday. Take a minute to contemplate Holy Saturday – that day of waiting between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Is there value in those days of waiting, between when we first experience pain and loss and when God helps us move to a new resurrection that rises above the pain and loss? What is the value of those days of waiting, between the dark and the dawn? How do times of waiting for God help build our character so that we become more like Jesus? How can we wait for God effectively? A footnote for the scholarly minded (feel free to skip): This story of the guard is only in Matthew’s Gospel, not in the other Synoptic Gospels, even though other parts of Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels draw significantly from Mark. This bothers some scholars, leading some to suggest that it is merely apologetics (material developed to defend the faith against attacks) or is based in legend. One response is that perhaps Mark and Luke did not consider this story important to their audiences. Matthew’s community was a mix of Jewish and Gentile Christians, and, after Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jewish Christians were frequently challenged by Jewish leaders and even faced expulsion from synagogues. Those Jewish Christians would have valued this story as they tried to defend their faith against people who claimed that Jesus’s resurrection was just a stolen-body hoax. It would have been much less important to Luke’s and Mark’s largely Gentile audiences, who may not have been dealing so directly with that argument. We do not need to have this story to know that Jesus rose from the dead. We have abundant evidence in the 4 Gospels, in subsequent books of the New Testament, and in the lives of believers for 2,000 years. But even today, people who do not want to believe in Jesus like to suggest that perhaps his followers stole his body; so perhaps the story still has special relevance for us today. Take a step back and consider this: The Jewish leaders of Jesus’s time were living in a world of “what-ifs”: What if the people are being fooled by Jesus and it was the devil who sent a wonder-worker named Jesus to turn people away from their historic Jewish faith? What if Jesus’s radically different preaching causes the people to get so riled up that the Romans come down hard on us? What if the disciples of Jesus went and stole the body? What if? What if? What if? “What if” is not always a bad question. Sometimes it keeps us out of trouble or helps us anticipate a problem that we can solve or deflect if we think ahead. But sometimes, “What if” becomes an excuse to avoid confronting the uncomfortable. How do you know when your “what-ifs” are reasonable and when your “what-ifs” are masking your own unjustified resistance to the truth? Is there something that maybe God has been nudging you to do, but you are so caught up in “What ifs” that you can’t get yourself to do it? If so, what might Jesus say to you to encourage you to respond to God’s nudges? Talk to him about it. Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next