Search Results

Jesus was found guilty because he told the truth. When should you speak the truth? And when should you speak out against injustices against others? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 26:57-68 Jesus was found guilty because he told the truth. When should you speak the truth? And when should you speak out against injustices against others? José de Madrazo y Agudo (1781-1859). Jesus in the House of Annas . 1803. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jes%C3%BAs_en_casa_de_An%C3%A1s_Museo_del_Prado_Jos%C3%A9_de_Madrazo.jpg . Tom Faletti September 17, 2025 Matthew 26:57-68 Jesus is subjected to interrogation, false testimony, and abuse Where do the people who arrested Jesus take him? Who and what group is he brought to? Caiaphas, the high priest, was appointed by the Roman authorities, so he was both the highest-ranking civil official and the head of the Temple. The council was the Sanhedrin, the Jewish political authority in Jerusalem. The Romans allowed the council to exercise judicial authority and make judgement in cases that were not capital cases – i.e., where the sentence could not be the death penalty ( New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV , Matthew 26:59 fn., p. 1787). Matthew calls the high priest’s place a “house,” but given that it could be a meeting place for the council, with guards and witnesses and so forth, we might picture the scene better if we thought of it as a mansion or compound. It turns out the Peter didn’t totally desert Jesus. Where did he go (verse 58)? The courtyard of a Jewish house. Who is Peter standing around with? Would it have taken courage for Peter to have gone there? What did the chief priests and council (the ruling elders) seek? Why do you think they sought false testimony? What charge was leveled against Jesus in verse 61 that the chief priests thought was conclusive evidence against him? Had Jesus actually said this? The high priest demands that Jesus answer the charge, but in verse 63, Jesus remains silent. Why do you think Jesus remains silent at this point? Throughout the centuries artists have contemplated how to portray Jesus during this show trial before Caiaphas. How do you think he should be portrayed? Is he stoic? defiant? cowed? confident? humble? steely? How do you envision Jesus here? The high priest then demands that Jesus answer under oath whether he is the Messiah, the Son of God (verse 63), and Jesus finally speaks up. Why do you think he decides to respond to this question? What would it have implied if he had remained silent to this question? There are times when we might get in trouble for speaking the truth but we can remain silent without causing problems, and there are times when silence would be wrong. Maybe the risk is not that you will lose your life, but there might be consequences. What are some examples of times when you should speak the truth even though you may suffer for it? How do you know when you should speak out and when you should be silent? In verse 64, Jesus says, “You have said so,” the same, seemingly enigmatic phrase he used with Judas in Matthew 26:25. When Judas asked, “Am I the one?”, if Jesus had responded with a “Yes” he would have had to quality the answer by adding, “If you persist in your plan; but you could change your mind.” Here, he had to say something more than just a simple “Yes” to avoid implying that he agreed with their mistaken ideas about the messiah. Have you experienced times when a simple “yes” or “no” is not sufficient in answer to a question? Jesus is not ducking Caiaphas’s question. After saying, “You have said so,” he follows it with a statement (verse 64) that is so clear that there will be no doubt in Caiaphas’s mind that Jesus should be executed. What does Jesus say about the Son of Man (i.e., himself), and what does it mean? What is he telling them? In verse 64, Jesus is partially quoting from Daniel’s apocalyptic vision in Daniel 7:13, in which a son of man comes with the clouds of heaven and is given dominion and kingship by God. But it also evokes Psalm 110:1, a verse Jesus used with the Pharisees in Matthew 22:44: “The LORD said to my lord, / ‘Sit at my right hand / until I make your enemies your footstool’” (NRSV). Both references make it very clear that he is stating that he is, indeed, the Messiah and the Son of God. Why is this statement so troubling to the members of the council? Why do you think Jesus decided at this point to speak so clearly and boldly? The high priest convinces the council to agree with him that Jesus has committed blasphemy and should be executed. The death sentence is based on Leviticus 24:16, which says that anyone “who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death” (NRSV). The Sanhedrin does not have the authority to execute anyone (the Romans had taken that power away from them), so they will have to hand him over to the Romans to try to achieve that goal. Once they have reached their conclusion – the conclusion they had already reached before the “trial” began – how do they treat Jesus (verses 67-68)? The Sanhedrin had 71 members, and a quorum of 23 was needed to conduct business. There is some uncertainly as to whether this was a trial or a preliminary investigation more like our grand juries, but either way, they violated their own rules of procedure. Criminal cases were required to be tried in the daytime, were not supposed to happen during Passover, and could not lead to a guilty verdict unless the case was held over for at least one day beyond the beginning of the proceeding. The Sanhedrin was required to meet for trials in its own meeting place, which was separate from the high priest’s house, and evidence could not be accepted unless it was provided separately by two different witnesses (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , pp. 389-391). Did the Sanhedrin follow proper procedures for properly determining guilt or innocence? How should they have conducted their investigation differently if they truly wanted the truth? Why do you think they did not follow their rules for a trial? They did not follow the rules because they had already decided Jesus’s guilt before they began and wanted to secure the outcome they had already decided was the right one. As you look back over the events from the arrest in the garden through this sham trial, who is in control? How does Jesus show that he is the one in control even as he submits himself to abuse? What does this tell you about how to think about difficult times in your own life? Once they had declared that Jesus is guilty of blasphemy, the members of the council subjected him to abuse. Why do you think they did this? Even people who are guilty of serious crimes retain their God-given human dignity, but they abused him. Are there ways that people in our society violate the human dignity of others by how they treat people who have been identified as guilty of some offense, whether in a court of law or the court of public opinion? How can we avoid, or even take a stand against, participating in such injustices and support efforts to treat with human dignity even people who have been accused of wrongdoing? Are there ways that we are at risk of joining in a bandwagon that declares people guilty of some criminal or social offense without giving them a fair hearing of the evidence? Are there ways that we are tempted or encouraged to join in the abuse of people who do things we don’t like, perhaps on social media? How can we make sure that our treatment of other people honors their God-given dignity, even if we think they have done wrong? Take a step back and consider this: Throughout history, Christians have placed an emphasis on the duty of governments and courts to act justly in their legal proceeding, and this concern has continued in our day. For example, the Catholic Church’s official compilation of social doctrine says: The activity of officers charged with establishing criminal responsibility, which is always personal in character, must strive to be a meticulous search for truth, and must be conducted in full respect for the dignity and rights of the human person ; this means guaranteeing the rights of the guilty as well as those of the innocent. The juridical principal by which punishment cannot be inflicted if a crime has not first been proven must be born in mind. (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, paragraph 404, p. 174; italics in the original). Evangelical Christians have also been a voice for justice for the accused. For example, pastor T. D. Jakes is quoted in an article in Christianity Today , where he spoke out on behalf of a death row inmate who professed his innocence. Jakes said, “If Jesus acquitted the guilty, then surely he would advocate for the innocent” ( Randall ). The proceedings used against Jesus bear a similarity to biased trials in every age that convict innocent people to achieve political or religious ends. Knowing that this happened to our Lord and Savior has led many Christians to fight the unchecked exercise of judicial power and to be advocates for the rights of the accused. Jesus was falsely declared guilty and executed though innocent. The Old Testament stresses in many places the importance of standing for the truth in judicial proceedings. Are we doing enough to speak up for and ensure the rights of the accused in our own society? As of 2023, the National Registry of Exonerations had identified 575 cases of people in the United States being wrongly convicted since 1989 and later exonerated based on DNA tests, including 35 people who were on death row ( Shelby ). The Innocence Project has worked successfully to present DNA evidence leading to the exoneration of more than 200 people who were wrongly convicted. On average, these victims of judicial error and injustice served more than 17 years in prison before they were freed. The Innocence Project reports that 101 additional crimes were committed by the original attackers who had continued to roam free while innocent people were sent to prison in their place, and that 58% of the wrongful convictions were imposed on Black people, a percentage that is greatly disproportionate to their share of the population ( Innocence Project ). What might Christians do to honor their innocent Lord by being a voice for the protection of innocent people in our judicial systems? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Who can be saved? Your wealth won’t save you, but what will? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 19:23-26 Who can be saved? Your wealth won’t save you, but what will? Image by Jussara Romão, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 19:23-26 The danger of riches Jesus uses a vivid illustration to make his point about the dangers of wealth. His statement about the camel going through the eye of a needle has led many people to search for answers – particularly because they don’t want to take it literally (and given that fact that Jesus was raised as a Jew in a culture where exaggeration for effect was the norm, he probably was exaggerating in some sense). Some scholars suggest the existence of a small gate into a walled city, separate from the wide, main gate, where a camel could only go through if it was stripped of all it was carrying. This smaller entrance is supposed to have been called the “needle’s eye.” There is no evidence for the existence of such entryways, but the image might be apt anyway. We need to let go of any possessions that would keep us from entering the kingdom of God, and that means we need to let go of everything we cling to, like a camel being relieved of its burdens, before we can go through. However, the disciples don’t envision there being any way through the eye of a needle. The disciples are astonished by what Jesus says about rich people because they think rich people are more likely to get into to heaven than poor people. That was common thinking in their day. Would that be a correct way of thinking? Explain. What is Jesus’s answer to their question, “Then who can be saved?” (19:25, NRSV) Note that Jesus is not saying rich people can’t go to heaven. Zacchaeus was rich (Luke 19:9). Joseph of Arimathea was rich (Matt. 27:57). Nicodemus was rich (John 19:39). Rich people were not required to give up their wealth in the early church (Acts 5:4). What do you think Jesus means by saying that for humans it is impossible? What do you think Jesus means by saying that for God all things are possible? What is he saying about us and wealth? What is your reaction to this passage? What does it say to you about your own wealth or lack of it and how it might affect your salvation? Take a step back and consider this: God is at work in us, in this world. He knows that we need possessions: a frying pan to cook in, clothes to wear, a toilet; etc. And the more advanced our world gets, due to the ingenuity of the human mind – which was created by God and then invited to use its free will to create other things – the more things we come to need: cars or bicycles, cell phones, microwave ovens, etc. The problem is not that things exist; the problem is that they sometimes take over the focus of our lives. Jesus has at least two different purposes in today’s conversation: to push us to re-focus and put our priorities in the right place, and to guide us to a deeper point – that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Only God can do that. Wealthy persons can live a life focused on their many possessions and the next possession they hope to get, or they live a life focused on sharing the love of God with those around them. Poor people can live a life focused on their meager possessions and the next possession they hope to get, or they live a life focused on sharing the love of God with those around them. Whatever a person’s situation, only God can bring them to the kingdom of heaven. Neither having many possessions nor having few possessions gives you a ticket to heaven. Only God can do that. What is one, small change you could make today, to take a bit of your mind off of wealth or “things” so that your mind and heart can focus more on people and God? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Compassion compels Jesus and us to proclaim the good news. [Matthew 9:35-38; 10:1-4; 10:5-15] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 9:35-10:15 Compassion compels Jesus and us to proclaim the good news. Image by Daryl Han, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Cropped. Tom Faletti August 9, 2024 Matthew 9:35-38 compassion for sheep without a shepherd; laborers needed for the harvest In 9:35, Jesus’s work is described as having three components. What are the three aspects of Jesus’s work? Teaching, proclaiming the gospel, and healing people. Jesus is now moving from town to town throughout the northern region. How does he feel about the crowds? Jesus is moved with compassion or pity. The Greek word Matthew uses for “compassion” has a root word: a word for the internal organs – a person’s inner parts or bowels. The word implies a deep, emotional concern. In our day, we would use the word “heart.” It is the same word Jesus uses to describe how the father felt when he saw his long-gone prodigal son returning in the distance. He feels the kind of deep compassion you feel in your gut. How does Matthew describe the state of the people in verse 36? He says they are harassed and helpless (Matthew 9:36, NRSV) or “troubled and abandoned” (Matthew 9:36, NABRE), like a sheep without a shepherd. Why does this assessment of the people’s condition bring forth the image of a sheep without a shepherd? How does it feel to be in that condition? What do you think it was about the people that moved Jesus to compassion? Do you think of Jesus as having that kind of deep compassion for you? Explain. In what ways do we or the people in our church or the world at large need the compassion of Jesus today? How does it change things when we recognize God as having this kind of deep compassion for us? Are we called to have this kind of compassion, the kind of compassion Jesus had, for the people around us? If so, what would that look like? The Jewish leaders were supposed to be their shepherds. Why were the people like sheep without a shepherd? Do you ever feel like this? If so, what do you think Jesus would want you to know and what do you think he would want you to do? Recognizing that the people had great needs, Jesus makes a comment about the harvest and laborers. What is the “harvest” Jesus is referring to? Who are the “laborers” in that harvest, and what is their role – i.e., what should they be doing? Why are laborers scarce? What is the role of the harvest master? The obvious next question is, what does this call us to do? We will some on answer to that in the next passage. In chapters 8-9, Matthew has inserted some short discussions (see 8:18-22; 9:9-17; 9:35-38) in a long series of miracles. Each discussion helps us understand what true discipleship is – that is, what it means to follow Jesus. The next thing that happens in Matthew’s narrative is that Jesus sends out the apostles. But Matthew is not just trying to tell a good story. He is trying to prepare, encourage, motivate, and prod the Christian communities for whom he is writing. And that includes us. So: Is there still a “harvest” yet to be harvested today? Is there still a shortage of laborers? Why? What is our role as potential laborers? What is Jesus calling us to do? What is he calling you to do? Introduction to Chapter 10 Chapter 10, like the Sermon on the Mount, is a collection of things Jesus said over a long period of time, probably including things he did not teach the apostles until after his resurrection. For example, 10:18 says, you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings. This was not a description of what they would face on this initial missionary journey, but rather something they would face as they went out into the Roman world after the coming of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 10:1-4 Jesus gives authority to 12 apostles to go forth Notice the diversity of the twelve apostles. What does that tell you about what Jesus is looking for in his disciples? The Greek word for “apostle” means one who is sent forth. Apostles go and speak or act on the authority of the person who sent them; here, they are “sent out” in verse 5. But Verse 2 is the only place in Matthew’s Gospel where the word “apostle” is used, whereas Luke refers to them as apostles on other occasions throughout his Gospel. Even in verse 1 Matthew uses the word “disciples.” Why do you think Matthew uses the word “apostles” only once and repeatedly calls them “disciples” everywhere else in his Gospel? Perhaps he does not want his readers (or us) to think that only a select few are called to proclaim the good news – all disciples can do that. He wants us to connect with them and identify with them rather than setting them apart as something different from us. What “authority” does Jesus give them? Why do you think Matthew uses the word “authority” and not the word “power”? Matthew 10:5-15 Jesus gives instructions to the apostles as they go out to proclaim the good news and heal people Where does Jesus tell the apostles to go? Why focus there? Who are “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”? Note: Jesus will go to the Gentiles and to Samaria later in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus commands the apostles to proclaim the good news (“gospel” means “good news”). What is the specific message they are to proclaim? As they proclaim the good news, what specifically do you think they would be proclaiming? What would they have said after that starting sentence? Who might Jesus be calling you to share his good news with, in your life right now? Jesus commands the apostles to do miraculous works of healing. Why? Why do you think Jesus tells them to bring nothing with them? Verse 10 says, “laborers deserve their food.” If they weren’t bringing any food, how do you think Jesus expected them to eat? What do you think a “worthy” house is, in verse 12? Jesus tells them not to stay in places that do not welcome them or listen to their words, but to leave and shake the dust off their feet as they go? How might that have been intended as a message to the people they were leaving? How might “shaking off the dust” have been an important act for the apostles themselves, in terms of their own psyche as they dealt with rejection? Is there a lesson in here for you, as you try to be a good witness to your faith in Jesus but may encounter varying reactions? What might this say to you? Take a step back and consider this: In the first 9 chapters of his Gospel, Matthew has shown us: where Jesus comes from (Matt. 1-3). the methods Jesus will not use, and, by implication, what methods he will use (Matt. 4). Jesus’s revolutionary teachings on what it means to follow God and how we should interact with each other (Matt. 5-7). the sweeping range of Jesus’s power and authority, the opposition he faces from powerful people, the need for people who are willing to do the work of God, and the costs of choosing to follow him (Matt. 8-9). Then, at the beginning of chapter 10, Jesus empowers his disciples to do what he has done. As you review the first 9 chapters of Matthew and the beginning of chapter 10, what part of this story speaks to you most directly right now with regard to your calling as a disciple of Jesus? What part of Jesus’s good news is God calling you to embrace more fully right now? What action is God inviting to take to put his teachings into action? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

A healing, a second warning of suffering to come, an interruption to pay a tax – just a normal day in the life of Jesus . . . and us? [Matthew 17:14-21; 17:22-23; 17:24-27] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 17:14-27 A healing, a second warning of suffering to come, an interruption to pay a tax – just a normal day in the life of Jesus . . . and us? Mattia Preti (1613-1699). Il tributo della moneta [The tribute coin] . circa 1640. Cropped. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mattia_Preti_-_Tribute_Money_-_WGA18400.jpg . Tom Faletti June 19, 2025 Jesus comes down from the mountain where he experienced the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8), only to find that he must deal with regular life in all its complexity. It’s not that different for us: even when we have mountaintop moments, we must return to “real life” in all its ordinariness. Let’s look at the 3 incidents that Matthew tells us about right after the Transfiguration. Matthew 17:14-21 The healing of the boy with epilepsy, and the power of faith and prayer In the previous passage, Peter, James, and John experienced the overwhelming power of God during Jesus’s Transfiguration. How have you experienced the power of God in a special way? What problem does Jesus encounter that the disciples had not been able to solve? In verse 15, Matthew literally says that the boy is “moonstruck”, i.e., struck or affected by the moon. Some translations say the boy is a “lunatic” a word that comes from the word “luna” for “moon.” The symptoms are what we would call epilepsy, and people thought those symptoms were affected by the phases of the moon ( NABRE , Matt. 17:15 fn.). In verse 17, how does Jesus react to the fact that the disciples were unable to heal the boy? When Jesus calls them “faithless and perverse,” it isn’t clear whether he is reproaching unbelievers among the crowd or the disciples. He has previously chided the disciples for having “little” faith (Matthew 6:30), and in verse 20 he says they have “little faith.” He does not say they have no faith. Based on what happens here, does Jesus give up on people with “little faith,” or does he stick with them? He sticks with them and provides the healing that is needed, despite their lack of faith. Jesus sounds frustrated, or even exasperated, in verse 17. Frustration is a human emotion and not necessarily a sin. When would you say being frustrated or exasperated is sinful, and not just human? Jesus’s is ready to move to the next step, but his disciples don’t seem to be as ready as he might have hoped. Do you think God might feel this way about us sometimes? If so, what does this passage tell you about God’s enduring commitment to us even when we fall short? Jesus says, “How much longer must I put up with you.” It won’t be much longer until his death and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit to empower us. In verse 20, Jesus compares faith to a mustard seed. Many translations say, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” but that is not what he actually said. He says, “If you have faith as a mustard seed.” It isn’t the size of the faith that Jesus is talking about, it is the recognition of the potential that is available to even a person who is very small , if they have faith. How does this encourage people who think they are small in this world? The fact that Jesus calls for faith “ as a mustard seed,” not “ the size of a mustard seed,” is important, because we sometimes think we have to muster up a large faith, and that puts the focus on ourselves when the focus should be on God. The point is to be as open to the working of God as a mustard seed, and to cooperate with the work of God as a mustard seed cooperates with God’s work of creation. What does this say to you? Seeds need darkness as well as light to become what they are meant to be. Does our faith similarly need times of darkness as well as good times? Explain. Jesus is using metaphors here, so he isn’t talking literally about moving mountains. What does moving mountains stand for? Having something come to pass that seems impossible or very hard. Seeds don’t cause their own growth; they have to trust God to provide the conditions for the growth of the seed. Similarly, our faith doesn’t move the mountain; God moves the mountain. We just have to trust him. What does that kind of mustard seed faith look like? How have you experienced answered prayer? How have you seen what seemed like a mountain be moved so that God’s will could be done? Go back to chapter 7 and read Matthew 7:9-10 . Jesus tells us that God wants to give us good things to us, his children. How does that assurance affect your thinking about prayer, faith, and trust? Sometimes, no matter how much faith we have, we do not receive what we ask for in prayer. The mountain we ask God to move does not move. That’s part of real life. What do you do when it seems like your prayers are not answered? Here are some ways to think about this question: 1. We are asked to trust God. God gives us what we need, but not necessarily what we think we want, just as human parents who love their children don’t always give them what they ask for because it might not be what is best for them. 2. God always answers our prayers, but his answer may be “Yes,” “No,” or “Not Yet (i.e., Wait).” Sometimes, he needs to work in our spirit to help us realize that we aren’t asking for the right thing. Sometimes, he may be waiting for us to grow spiritually so that we can handle the blessing we are asking for. One of the challenges of faith is to accept God’s answer. If we try to force it, as though we know best, we may make something happen that God knows is not best for us. Instead, we need to trust him. Matthew 17:21 Verse 21 does not appear in most modern translations of the Bible, because that verse does not appear in the oldest manuscripts. The New Testament was divided into verses before some older manuscripts were found, and those older manuscripts don’t have Matthew 17:21. It might have been added accidentally at some point by a copyist who was recalling Mark 9:29. In the oldest manuscripts, Mark 9:29 reads: “This kind can come out only through prayer.” The words “and fasting” only appear in later manuscripts of Mark and Matthew. In the oldest manuscripts we have, there is no Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29 does not include the words “and fasting.” Although Matthew 17:21 does not appear to be original to Matthew, Jesus does say in Mark 9:29, “This kind can come out only through prayer.” Why might there be times when prayer is necessary for healing? Matthew 17:22-23 Jesus again foretells his Passion; the disciples respond with grief Matthew 17:22 adds a new piece of information to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:21: it says Jesus will be betrayed. How does the idea that he will be betrayed make Jesus’s suffering and death even sadder? Notice that this time, the disciples are more ready to accept what Jesus is saying about his coming suffering and death. That is why they are so distressed, and perhaps also because someone who appears to be on his side will betray him. Jesus has said twice now that he will be raised. The disciples may not have understood what that meant, but what difference does it make to you that Jesus’s prophecy includes his resurrection and not just suffering and death? Matthew 17:24-27 paying the Temple tax After a long time away in more Gentile areas, Jesus now returns to Capernaum in Galilee. Matthew has several stories about Peter that the other Gospels do not have. This is one of them. This is not the story about the tax paid to the Romans (“give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”). We will see that story in chapter 22. Every male Jew age 20 and older was expected to pay a tax for the upkeep of the Temple, based on a command in Exodus 30:11-16. The tax was two drachmas (equal to a half-shekel). (Some scholars think Matthew is writing about a situation his community faced after AD 70, when the Temple had been destroyed and the Romans ordered that the tax continue to be paid, but for the upkeep of a temple in Rome dedicated to Jupiter.) What does the fact that Peter speaks for Jesus in verse 24 tell us about his role? Peter has clearly become a leader of Jesus’s band of followers, and he would have assumed that Jesus would not refuse to pay the tax that was expected of all adult males. Jesus asks whether the children of a king pay taxes that are owed to a king. (Some translations use the word “subject,” but the Greek word in verses 25 and 26 is actually “sons.”) What is he implying by his use of the word “sons”? Jesus is indicating that he is the son of God. But he uses the plural, “sons,” so he is implying that his disciples are also children of God. In verse 27, Jesus says that he does not want to offend those who expect him to pay the tax. The Greek for “offend” comes from the same root as the word “scandal” in English and the word for stumbling block in Greek. He does not want to scandalize them or be a stumbling block to them. Why is it important not to give scandal if you can avoid it? How might we decide when we may act in freedom and when we do what others expect of us in order to avoid giving scandal? Jesus tells Peter where to find the money to pay the tax, and he thoughtfully adds that Peter will find a stater (a coin equal to 4 drachmas or a full shekel), which is enough to pay the tax for both Peter and himself. What do you think about how Jesus handled this incident? Jesus does not have money, but when he needs something, the whole world is at his disposal (think of the few loaves and fish that led to the feeding of the 5,000). Jesus here shows that he cares about our earthly concerns, not just spiritual matters. What does this say to you the maters you face in your life? Jesus provides for Peter, and he will provide for us. What do you need, that Jesus can provide? Take a step back and consider this: If you think of this set of passages as a day in the life of Jesus, it might not seem all that different from some days in our lives: Suddenly, someone urgently needs you to do something; you know that a serious challenge is looming on the horizon; and then another issue unexpectedly pops up. Many people frequently have days like that; for some, it is just a normal, hectic day. When we have days like that, sometimes we might get exasperated, as Jesus did. But if we are following the model of Jesus, we will keep our cool, keep doing what needs to be done, keep helping those who need help, and keep solving the problems that arise. That’s what Jesus did on this hectic day; and with his help, we can too. When unexpected problems pop up on already busy days, how do you tend to respond? Do you become bossy? Grow anxious? Shut down? Or keep doing what needs to be done? And with what attitude? How might Jesus help you deal with those kinds of days? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of the Gospel of Matthew. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew - Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of the Gospel of Matthew. Some of the resources on the author's bookshelf. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Major Sources Augsberger, Myron. Matthew . The Communicator’s Commentary (Mastering the New Testament) , Lloyd J. Ogilvie, general editor. Word Books, 1982. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1. 2nd edition. The Daily Study Bible. The Saint Andrew Press, 1958. Note: All of the volumes in Barclay’s Daily Study Bible series can be viewed online at “William Barclay's Daily Study Bible,” Bible Portal , https://bibleportal.com/commentary/william-barclay . Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2. 2nd edition. The Daily Study Bible. The Saint Andrew Press, 1958. Note: All of the volumes in Barclay’s Daily Study Bible series can be viewed online at “William Barclay's Daily Study Bible,” Bible Portal , https://bibleportal.com/commentary/william-barclay . Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament . Yale University Press, 1997. Ellison, H. L. “Matthew.” The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Harrington, Fr. Daniel J. The Gospel According to Matthew . Collegeville Bible Commentary, The Liturgical Press, 1983. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Revised Standard Edition, Second Catholic Edition . Ignatius Press, 2010. Interlinear Bible. Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/interlinear/ . The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott . A Greek-English Lexicon . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Internet Archive , Volume I: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0001/mode/2up , Volume II: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0002/mode/2up . Also at Furman Classics Editions, http://folio2.furman.edu/lsj/ . New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE) . Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version: With the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible . Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2010. New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance . Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/greek/21.htm . Vine, William E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary , 1940, StudyLight.org , https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ved.html . Viviano, Benedict T., O.P. “The Gospel According to Matthew.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. Additional Sources Aquinas, Thomas. Catena aurea: commentary on the four Gospels, collected out of the works of the Fathers . Oxford: Parker, 1874, https://archive.org/details/p1catenaaureacom01thomuoft/page/244/mode/2up . Aquinas, Thomas. “Commentary on Matthew 20.” StudyLight.org , “Golden Chain Commentary on the Gospel,” https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/gcc/matthew-20.html . Augustine. “Sermon 272.” Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series, Early Church Texts , https://earlychurchtexts.com/public/augustine_sermon_272_eucharist.htm . Barna Group. “1 in 4 Practicing Christians Struggles to Forgive Someone.” Barna Group , 11 Apr. 2019, https://www.barna.com/research/forgiveness-christians/ . Belfast , directed by Kenneth Branagh, TKBC and Northern Ireland Screen, 2021. The British Museum. “Slavery in ancient Rome.” Exhibition: “Nero the man behind the myth,” 2021. The British Museum , https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nero-man-behind-myth/slavery-ancient-rome . Calechman, Steve. “Sleep to solve a problem.” Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School , May 24, 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-to-solve-a-problem-202105242463 . Cooper, Kyle. “Have you given up on your New Year’s resolution? Here’s how to get back on track.” WTOP , 12 Jan. 2024, https://wtop.com/health-fitness/2024/01/today-is-the-day-many-of-us-give-up-on-our-new-years-resolutions-but-you-may-be-able-to-get-back-on-track-with-these-tips/ . Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History , Book III. New Advent , https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm . “Faith and the Faithful in the 2024 Election.” Online forum. Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life , Georgetown University, 13 Feb. 2024, https://catholicsocialthought.georgetown.edu/events/faith-and-the-faithful-in-the-2024-election . Feldman, Robert S. Understanding Psychology , 14th edition. McGraw Hill Education, 2019. Fischer, John. “Inside.” YouTube , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avrVLA4uDos . Lyrics at Genius , https://genius.com/John-fischer-inside-lyrics . Fischer, John. “John Wayne and the Sermon on the Mount.” The Catch Ministry , 29 Nov. 2023, https://catchjohnfischer.live/2023/11/29/john-wayne-and-the-sermon-on-the-mount/ . “Food & Nutrition.” World Concern , https://worldconcern.org/food-nutrition . Accessed 25 Aug. 2024. Francis of Assisi. “Letter to the Faithful II” [also known as “Later Admonition and Exhortation To the Brothers and Sisters of Penance (Second Version of the Letter to the Faithful)”]. c. 1220. The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi, Parts I & II . Translated from the Latin Critical Edition by Fr. K. Esser, O.F.M. [Die opuskula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras aquas, Grottaferrata (Romae) 1976], http://www.liturgies.net/saints/francis/writings.htm . Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” 1915. Poetry Foundation , https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken . Grohol, John M. “Why ‘Sleeping on It’ Helps.” LiveScience , 26 Oct. 2009, https://www.livescience.com/5820-sleeping-helps.html . Innocence Project. “Explore the Numbers: Innocence Project's Impact,” Innocence Project , 2024, https://innocenceproject.org/exonerations-data/ . King, Martin Luther, Jr. Strength to Love . Beacon Press, 1963. Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity . Macmillan Publishing Co., 1952. Macmillan Paperbacks edition, 1960. Litke, Austin Dominic, O.P. “Reading Flannery O’Connor in our times.” Aleteia , 3 July 2020, https://aleteia.org/2020/07/03/reading-flannery-oconnor-in-our-times/ . His citation for the Flannery O’Connor quote is: “The fiction writer and his country.” Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose , Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1970, p. 34. Longenecker, Fr. Dwight. “Fighting the Un-Holy Trinity: The World, the Flesh and the Devil.” Catholic Online , 14 Feb. 2010, https://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=35421 . The Magnificat Advent Companion , Advent 2023. Meyers, Eric. “Galilee.” From Jesus to Christ . Frontline , Apr. 1998, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/galilee.html . Miller, Jared. “Does ‘Sleeping on it’ Really Work?” WebMD , https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/does-sleeping-on-it-really-work . Mother Teresa: In My Own Words . Compiled by José Luis González-Balado. Liguori, 1996. Mother Teresa: Where There is Love, There is God . Compiled by and edited by Brian Kolodiejchuk. Doubleday, 2010. “Music for the Second Week of Advent.” St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill , https://saintpetersdc.org/pray/advent23/35171-music-for-the-second-week-of-advent , Dec. 2023. O’Toole, Garson. “When One Door Closes Another Opens, But Often We Look So Long Upon the Closed Door That We Do Not See the Open Door.” Quote Investigator , 3 Dec. 2018, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/12/03/open-door/ . “Palestine in the time of Jesus, 4 B.C. - 30 A.D.: (including the period of Herod, 40 - 4 B.C.).” Library of Congress , https://www.loc.gov/item/2009579463/ . Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church . Libreria Editrice Vaticana (The Vatican). United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005. Poythress, Vern. “The Baptism of Jesus.” The Gospel Coalition , https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-baptism-of-jesus/ . “Quitters Day.” There is a Day for That , https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/various/quitters-day . Randall, Rebecca. “Which Is Worse: the Guilty Freed or the Innocent Punished?” Christianity Today , 5 Mar. 2021, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/march-web-only/wrongful-convictions-prison-bible-view-split-by-race.html . Shelby, Daniele. “DNA and Wrongful Conviction: Five Facts You Should Know.” Innocence Project , 25 Apr. 2023, https://innocenceproject.org/dna-and-wrongful-conviction-five-facts-you-should-know/ . Silverstein, Shel. “God’s Wheel.” A Light in the Attic . HarperCollins, 1981, p. 152. Warren, Rick. The Purpose-Driven Life . Zondervan, 2002. Welch, John W. and John F Hall. “Chart 6-4: Estimated Distribution of Citizenship in the Roman Empire.” Charting the New Testament , BYU Studies, 2002, https://byustudies.byu.edu/further-study-chart/6-4-estimated-distribution-of-citizenship-in-the-roman-empire/ . Wesley, John. “The Use of Money,” Sermon 50, https://web.archive.org/web/20150402061915/http://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/Sermon-50-The-Use-of-Money . “Which Was the Son of... (Arvo Pärt) - Sofia Vokalensemble.” Sofia Vokalensemble , 23 Oct. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyPmFBpiF7E . “The World, the Flesh, and the Devil.” Ligonier Ministries (founded by Dr. R. C. Sproul), 23 May 2011, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/world-flesh-and-devil . “The world, the flesh, and the devil.” Wikipedia , 31 March 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_world,_the_flesh,_and_the_devil [presents the views of scholars who wrote centuries ago]. Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

If we try to make sense of God based on our human limitations, we will misunderstand the Scriptures and the power of God. How can the Scriptures guide us to a bigger picture? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 22:23-33 If we try to make sense of God based on our human limitations, we will misunderstand the Scriptures and the power of God. How can the Scriptures guide us to a bigger picture? Image by Frank McKenna, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 18, 2025 Matthew 22:23-33 The Sadducees and whether there is a resurrection This is the second in a series of 3 challenges Jesus faces when he arrives in Jerusalem – this time from the Sadducees. The Sadducees believed only in the Torah – the first 5 books of the Old Testament, which Christians sometimes refer to as the Pentateuch, which is Greek for “five books.” The Sadducees did not consider the books of the prophets authoritative, nor did they accept the wide body of oral tradition that the Pharisees adhered to. Since the Torah does not suggest that there is a resurrection or an afterlife, the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection. The Sadducees tended to be wealthy. They made up a major portion of the political leadership among the Jews and tended to be collaborators with the Roman occupation. But those characteristics do not seem to be relevant here, where the question revolves around their religious beliefs. The Pharisees believed in a resurrection and an afterlife. They not only believed in an afterlife of the soul (as, for example, the Greeks believed); they also believed that our bodies are raised. They pointed to passages later in the Old Testament that provided varying degrees of support for such a position. Here are some of those passages: Isaiah 26:19 says, “Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise.” Ezekiel 37:1-14 describes a vision of a valley of dry bones. The bones come back together and regain flesh and skin, breath enters them, and they come to life. Although in the passage itself the image is of a new Israel being restored after the exile to Babylon, Jews (and later, Christian commentators) saw it as a sign or foreshadowing of individual resurrection. Daniel 12:2 says that after a time of terrible persecution, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Psalm 73:24-25 says, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward [or, in the end] receive me with honor [or, into glory].” This could merely mean that the psalmist will be restored, in this life, after when the difficulties he faces are over, but some saw it as a description of entering into God’s realm like Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11-12), both of whom are described as being taken up to God without dying first. The Sadducees, who don’t believe in an afterlife, approach Jesus with a puzzle that they think shows the foolishness of believing in a resurrection. What is the problem the Sadducees pose? There is a commandment in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, that directs a man to marry his brother’s wife if his brother dies childless, so that through the first child of that union the brother will have a legal heir. Genesis 38:7-11 gives an example of a refusal to follow this command. Both of these books are part of the Torah, the limited part of the Hebrew Scriptures that the Sadducees acknowledged. The Sadducees imagine a series of brothers marrying the same woman, each dying before any offspring is produced, and they ask: Whose wife is she in heaven? In verse 29, Jesus tells them they are wrong (misled, led astray) for two reasons they don’t know the Scriptures and they don’t know the power of God. How is knowing both of those critical to the spiritual life? In verse 30, what does Jesus say about how they are thinking incorrectly? Jesus says there is no marriage in heaven, because in heaven people are like angels. It is important not to misinterpret the statement that humans are “like angels.” Humans in heaven are “like angels” in the sense that, like angels, they live forever and don’t need to engage in sexual reproduction in order to produce offspring and keep the family line alive (see New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV , Matthew 22:30 fn., p. 1780). This does not mean we are like angels in other ways; for example, unlike angels, we will have a body in heaven. Angels are a different kind of creature than humans. They only have a spiritual nature and don’t have a body or a material nature. Although Jesus frames his answer in terms of the Sadducees’ underlying assumption, common at the time, that the point of marriage is to carry forward the family line. This should not be misinterpreted to mean that that is the only purpose of marriage. St. Paul, and theologians and everyday believers throughout the centuries, have seen much more in marriage, in addition to its function of continuing an individual’s family line and ultimately propagating the species as a whole. In verses 31-32, Jesus turns specifically to the Scriptures. We might expect Jesus to focus on how they are wrong in not accepting the parts of the Old Testament that the Pharisees accept. Instead, in verse 32, Jesus quotes from Exodus 3:6, which is in the Torah, the part of the Old Testament that the Sadducees do accept. What does God say in Exodus 3:6, and why does Jesus argue that this indicates people do live on after death? In Exodus 3:6, God says, “I am” the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They must be alive, because otherwise God would have said, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before they died. The fact that he is still their God indicates that they are still alive. God is the God of the living, not the dead. The Sadducees are wrong about the Scriptures partly because of their crimped reading of the Torah. They think marriage works the same way in heaven as on earth, which shows that they think that heaven isn’t all that different from earth. Why is thinking that heaven is like earth such a big error, not just with regard to the question they asked but in our understanding of heaven more generally? Jesus also says the Sadducees are wrong about the Scriptures because they have not noticed a key statement by God in their Scriptures that presupposes that people do live on after death. What does this tell you about Scripture study? Now let’s come back to the fact that Jesus says in verse 29 that the Sadducees are also wrong because they do not know the power of God. What is it that they are missing about God’s power? They think that God is limited by what we understand from our human perspective. They think he is only powerful enough to create physical lives, which come and go. They don’t think that God has power over death and can extend life beyond death. At a fundamental level, they don’t understand how powerful God is. They underestimate God. In what ways do we tend to act like God is bound by human limitations or underestimate God’s ability to transcend problems that stump us? There are a lot of different threads in this exchange between Jesus and the Sadducees. What insights does this passage give you about God, or heaven, or the resurrection, or the Scriptures, or yourself? Take a step back and consider this: It is possible that the Sadducees didn’t really want to think of God as having a power and perspective that transcended theirs and could cut through their conundrums. They were very invested in their own power and comfortable with their own ways of seeing things. Accepting a God who transcends their power might have forced them to rethink some of the ways they were using their own power. How does our own desire for power affect our responsiveness to the power of God? How does our belief that we have power, at least in some areas of our lives, sometimes make it harder to appreciate the Scriptures and the power of God? Where, in your own life, do you need to let go of your preconceived notions about God and his ways? And replace them with what? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Allow Jesus to heal you, open your eyes, loosen your tongue. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 9:18-34 Allow Jesus to heal you, open your eyes, loosen your tongue. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti August 8, 2024 Before we read our next passage, consider this question: In the next passage, Matthew tells us about more of Jesus’s miracles. In the previous passages, we have seen a progression of miracles that show Jesus’s authority over increasingly daunting challenges that humans face: illnesses, storms, demons, and sin. What is left? I.e.: What is the greatest challenge that every human must ultimately face? What is the greatest thing that Jesus could work a miracle to overcome? Matthew 9:18-26 restoring a dead girl to life, while healing a woman with hemorrhages What two miracles take place in this pair of stories? Let’s look at the synagogue official and his daughter first (verses 18-19 and 23-26): Matthew’s telling of the story of the girl has small differences from Mark’s version of the same story: in Matthew, the girl is already dead and the synagogue official knows she is already dead when he approaches Jesus and ask him to save her. Matthew just calls him a “ruler”; Mark specifies that he is a leader or official in the synagogue (Mark 5:22). The synagogue official asks Jesus to heal his daughter after she is already dead. What does this tell you about his faith? Matthew keeps showing us people who are in positions of leadership but take the position of a faith-filled supplicant, even as other leaders are moving more and more toward opposition to Jesus. You can imagine the tense conversation that might have occurred between this synagogue official and the scribes and Pharisees we saw challenging Jesus in the previous passages. If you were the synagogue official, how would you explain your actions to the scribes and Pharisees who were challenging Jesus? They would have been people of your social class. How would you explain why you were humbling yourself to seek out this controversial man Jesus? What does this political backdrop tell you about the social context in which Jesus conducted his ministry? What does the political backdrop tell you about faith? What does it tell you about following Jesus? We are called to do the work of God regardless of whether political leaders support us. We should be welcoming to all of them, just as Jesus was. What does this healing of the girl tell us about Jesus? About God? What does this healing of the girl tell us about faith? About ourselves? Among other things, this healing shows that the faith of another person can make a difference in your life, which means that your faith can make a difference in the lives of others. Now let us focus on the story of the woman. As someone who suffers from constant bleeding (hemorrhages), which would make her be considered ritually unclean, she is probably a social outcast. The “tassel” or “fringe” was a knotted string that Jews attached to the four corners of their outer garments in obedience to the Law of Moses (Numbers 15:37–39; Deut. 22:12) to remind them to obey the commandments of the Law. Notice that Jesus wore such a garment. He would have been dressed like any Jew of his time, not in modern robes. What is the significance of the fact that the woman touched the tassel of Jesus’s cloak? In general, it would not have been socially appropriate for a woman to touch a man in that culture. But in addition to that, with an issue of blood she would have been considered unclean. When the woman touched Jesus’s garment, Jesus immediately turned and looked to see who had touched him. If we were reading the story of a Greek god or goddess, then when in verse 22 it says that Jesus turned and saw her, we might fear that the next sentence would be that he blasted her in some way. But Jesus is not that kind of god. How does he respond to her in verse 22? How does Jesus affirm her decision not to be timid in reaching out to him? How might you benefit from being less timid in your faith? To what does Jesus ascribe the woman’s healing? What is the role of faith in living out our live with Jesus? How is this woman a role model for us? How is Jesus in this entire pair of stories a role model for us? The moment the woman touched the fringe of Jesus’s outer garment, she had his total and undivided attention. As people made in the image of God and called to be like Christ to those around us, what does this tell us about how we should be aware of and respond to others? Returning to the story of the girl, what is the crowd’s reaction when Jesus says she is not dead? How are we at risk of being like that crowd? While Matthew has begun this third sets of miracles with a climactic demonstration of Jesus’s power over even death, he is also making another point by telling us when a miracle occurred in response to a person’s faith – here, the synagogue official and the woman with the hemorrhages. The next miracle also emphasizes the faith of the recipient. Matthew 9:27-31 the healing of two blind men What do the two blind men ask for? What does Jesus ask them in response? Why do you suppose Jesus asked this question rather than just granting their request? Does God ask us the same question (“Do you believe that I am able to do this”)? In what way does he pose this question to us? To what does Jesus ascribe their healing? Do you believe that Jesus will help you when you ask him? Jesus’s healing of blind people is metaphorical as well as physical. What is the metaphorical or spiritual point for us? In verse 30, why do you think Jesus told the formerly blind men not to tell anyone what Jesus had done? What did the formerly blind men do? Was Jesus’s request a realistic request? After all, they were previously blind and now they were not blind. What do you think he expected to happen? Matthew 9:31-34 the healing of a person who is mute In this healing, we are told that “the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed” (Matthew 9:33, NRSV). How does the fact that the man spoke relate to the statement about the crowd’s reaction? Just as we might think about the healing of the blind men metaphorically, we might also think about how sometimes our voices are silent, metaphorically, and Jesus heals that. How might it be said of you – at some time in your past, present, or future – that “the one who had been silent spoke”? How do the Pharisees who lack faith react to this healing of a person who was thought to be possessed by a demon? What do they accuse Jesus of? How does the level of faith of the blind men versus the Pharisees illustrate the timeless choice about how to respond to Jesus? What does this set of stories about people’s reactions to Jesus’s miracle-working power say to you about your life? In this chapter 9, Matthew has presented some of the key criticisms of Jesus that will lead to his execution. What things has Jesus been attacked or challenged for? Blasphemy (Matt. 9:3), for claiming to be able to forgive sins. Association with immoral people (Matt. 9:11), for eating with sinners. Inadequate attention to the rituals of the faith (Matt. 9:14), for not having his disciples fast. Being a tool of the devil (Matt. 9:34), an illogical conclusion that did acknowledge the fact that he could drive out demons. Jesus is not someone to be neutral about. As C. S. Lewis said, “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call him Lord and God” ( Mere Christianity , p. 56). People are beginning to take sides. If you were watching all of this happen, how would you have responded to the Pharisees? Take a step back and consider this: These stories of the woman with the hemorrhage, the synagogue official, the blind men, and the man who could not speak call us to have faith in Jesus. They show us that Jesus does not want us to be timid, blind, or silent. Matthew is telling us: Don’t be afraid to approach Jesus even if the world thinks you are not worthy to do so. Don’t be afraid to approach Jesus even if it goes against what other people of your social class are saying. Don’t be afraid to admit that there are things you just can’t see on your own, but that in Jesus you can see with new eyes. Don’t be afraid to let Jesus loosen your tongue so that you are silent no longer and can speak about what matters in your life. Are there ways you feel unworthy to approach Jesus about your needs? Are there ways you feel pressured to keep your faith private? Are there ways you think maybe you are missing something and need Jesus to open your eyes in a new way? Are there ways you feel like you need Jesus to loosen your tongue so that you can speak edifying words that would benefit others? What would Jesus say to you if you were in front of him right now? How can you reach out in faith and touch the tassel of Jesus’s cloak, and allow him to do a new work in your life? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

What is the evidence that Jesus is the Messiah? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 11:1-19 What is the evidence that Jesus is the Messiah? Image by Hasan Almasi, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Cropped. Tom Faletti August 27, 2024 Matthew 11:1-19 Jesus responds to John the Baptist and explains John’s role in God’s plan Notice in verse 1 that Matthew does not tell us what happened when Jesus sent out the apostles. This reinforces the idea that Matthew isn’t focused on writing an event-by-event history; he is focused on explaining how Jesus’s life and teachings are relevant to the Christian community he is writing for. What matters most to Matthew here is not what the apostles did but what his readers might do. Verses 2-6 What is the meaning of John’s question? What does Jesus offer as signs, or what we would call “evidence,” in response to John’s question? All of the signs Jesus offers involve physical healing except the last one. Why does the fact that the good news is being proclaimed to the poor fit in a list of signs, and how is it evidence of who Jesus is? How is this concern for the poor a sign that Jesus is the one sent by God? How is being concerned for the poor evidence that a person may be aligned with or sent by God? What does Jesus’s inclusion of the poor here suggest to us about our own relationship with the poor? Notice that Jesus does not directly answer John’s question. Instead, he provides evidence by naming deeds mostly deeds mentioned in the Old Testament) as things the Messiah would do. John would have been familiar with those Old Testament passages and would have understood the conclusion Jesus is suggesting he reach. Let’s take a look at two of those prophecies: Read Isaiah 35:3-6 . According to Isaiah 35:3-6, what things will happen when the Lord comes to save his people? Read Isaiah 61:1 . According to Isaiah 61:1, what things will happen when the Lord comes to save his people? Jesus also names signs that are not listed in the Old Testament prophecies – signs that perhaps make his presence even more wonderous that what had been predicted. What has he done that goes beyond those Old Testament prophecies? Jesus raised a small number of people from the dead. But for some people, the greatest evidence that Jesus is the Messiah is the fact that he himself rose from the dead. Why is that powerful evidence of who Jesus is? Verse 6 is not meant as a criticism of John the Baptist, but rather as a set-up for what Jesus says in verses 16-19, where he challenges those in his own time who have taken offense at him. What are some of the things Jesus said or did that people took offense at? In our time we also have people who take offense at Jesus. What about Jesus causes people to take offense at him today, in our time? Have the words or deeds of Jesus ever been a stumbling block or problem for your faith? If so, how did you deal with it? Verses 7-15 Jesus shows a bit of wit as he speaks about John’s identity. He is saying that the people knew that John was special, or they wouldn’t have gone out to see him and be baptized by him. Jesus follows this by revealing John’s identity in biblical terms. He quotes Malachi, the last officially recognized prophet, whose book is the last book of the Old Testament (last when the Deuterocanonical books are placed in their proper places). Read Malachi 3:1-3 . What does Malachi 3:1 say that relates to John the Baptist? Look at Malachi 3:2-3. In this description of the messenger preparing the way before the Lord, what reminds you of John, and how? Read Malachi 4:5-6 . In Mathew 11:14, Jesus explicitly connects John to Elijah by invoking Malachi 4:5. What does Malachi 4:5 say? In what sense is John the Baptist like Elijah? In Luke’s Gospel (1:8-20), an angel appeared to John the Baptist’s father Zechariah and told Zechariah that he would have a child. The angel uses language from Malachi 4:6 in describing John. What does this verse say about John the Baptist? Why does John the Baptist get so much attention in the Gospels? Why is John important in the story of God’s plan to save his people? John serves not only as a forerunner to Jesus but also as a link or bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Go back to Matthew and look at Matthew 11:11 . Jesus has now established that John is really important. Why, then, does he say in Matthew 11:11 that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John? Greater in what sense? Is he talking about moral/spiritual greatness? About what they could experience that John did not have an opportunity to experience? Or what? This question may be answered in a variety of ways, but most answers revolve around the fact that Christians who lived after John had the opportunity to know the crucified and risen Christ and experience the new life he brings in the kingdom of God, and John did not. Barclay offers this: “But what was it that John lacked? What is it that the Christian has that John could never have? The answer to that is very simple and very fundamental. John had never seen the Cross. And therefore one thing John could never know – the full revelation of the love of God” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 7, emphasis in the original). It is our opportunity, blessing, and privilege to have experienced what John did not. We did not merit it. Do not agonize over verse 12. The scholars consider it to be puzzling at best and offer a wide variety of interpretations of it. The “violence” could be the violence suffered by John at the hands of the Roman government, or the sufferings of Christians in Matthew’s day (perhaps as a parenthetical insert by Matthew), or the apocalyptic sufferings to come; but some commentators consider it to be allegorical, referring to the self-discipline that Christians must embrace as followers of Christ. Verses 16-19 Jesus contrasts what was said about John and what was said about Jesus, to show the hypocrisy of those who rejected both John and Jesus. What was the impression of John among those who did not respond to his preaching? What was the impression of Jesus among those who did not respond to his preaching? Are there ways that we can become naysayers, rejecting preachers or teachers who seem too severe but also rejecting those who seem too soft? Scholars disagree about the meaning of verse 19. Luke records the saying differently (Luke 7:35), saying that wisdom is vindicated by her children. That form of the statement might suggest that John and Jesus are the children of wisdom. But Matthew’s version offers a different interpretation that draws on the Old Testament practice of personifying wisdom as a person (see, for example, Proverbs 8-9 and Wisdom 7:22-8:21). In that view, Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom, and his works vindicate his claims. If we follow that interpretation, verse 19 reaffirms the point of verse 2: that Jesus’s works demonstrate that he is “the one,” the very wisdom of God. Would it be fair to say that when someone is claiming to be offering words of wisdom, the deeds or actions that come from following that word of wisdom might be a helpful guide to whether the claim is actually wisdom or nonsense? Explain. How do Jesus’s actions give us reasons to believe his teachings, so that we can be confident that he is providing wisdom from God? If Jesus is the wisdom of God, what might you consider doing, or doing more of, to grow in that wisdom? Take a step back and consider this: In Matthew, 11:4-5, Jesus tells John the Baptist to judge him by his actions. The Christian community today mostly does not do the things that Jesus did: we mostly don’t give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, heal lepers, open the ears of the deaf, or raise the dead. To deal with this problem, people often spiritualize the statement, as though Jesus was talking about spiritual blindness, for example, rather than physical blindness. However, the Christian community, down through the ages, has shown the same concern for people’s physical needs, even though they have mostly not addressed those needs through miraculous signs. For example, Christians, and especially Catholic Christians, have created countless hospitals and other health care institutions to connect people with medical professionals who use the medical truths God has allowed scientists to discover, to bring healing to many people. I can support those good works, and I can support efforts to ensure universal access to health care. Second, Christians have found countless ways to carry out the last sign that Jesus offered to John: to proclaim good news to the poor. Healing can involve meeting both people’s spiritual needs and their physical needs. Similarly, good news can come to the poor both in the spiritual form of the spoken gospel and in the physical form of actions that meet their physical needs. The apostle James tells us: “If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16, NABRE) Why should someone believe our gospel if we do not show an active, effective concern for their pressing physical needs as well as their spiritual needs? World Concern, a Christian nonprofit organization that provides disaster response and community development in many countries around the world, puts it this way: “Food is a basic human need and an essential part of bringing the whole gospel to a village. A mother cannot hear the gospel over the cries of her hungry child” (“Food & Nutrition,” World Concern , https://worldconcern.org/food-nutrition , accessed 25 Aug. 2024). The whole gospel addresses the physical and spiritual needs of God’s children. This is not the first time we have seen Jesus express concern for the poor. Repeatedly throughout Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus emphasizes his particular concern for the poor and suffering of the world. Part of sharing the good news of Christ is showing his concern for the basic needs of others. We are called to present his love to others by being his hands and feet as the Body of Christ in this world. How can you show concern for the whole person as you consider the poor around you? How can you bring the good news of Jesus both in words and in actions that address their basic human needs? What is your church doing to meet the basic needs of the poor? What more might it be able to do, perhaps with a little help from you? What international Christian organizations, like World Concern, might you support to extend, in the name of Christ, God’s helping hand to those struggling to meet their basic needs? Many Christians support the work of Catholic Relief Services and/or World Vision, both of which are large, highly respected relief and development organizations that effectively address the basic needs of millions of people around the world every year. Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Are there any reasons why God would not make the prevention of suffering his highest priority? Previous Next Table of Contents If God Could Stop Suffering, Why Wouldn't He? Are there any reasons why God would not make the prevention of suffering his highest priority? Tom Faletti (to be continued) Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Table of Contents Next

Does a loving mother prevent all suffering her children might endure? Why not, and what might that tell us about God? Previous Next Table of Contents God is Like the Most Loving Mother Does a loving mother prevent all suffering her children might endure? Why not, and what might that tell us about God? Tom Faletti (to be continued) Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Table of Contents Next

Jesus cleanses the Temple, removing the sacrificial lambs he will one day take the place of. Where do we need his cleansing in the “temple” of our own life? [John 2:13-17; 2:18-25] Previous Next John List John 2:13-25 Jesus cleanses the Temple, removing the sacrificial lambs he will one day take the place of. Where do we need his cleansing in the “temple” of our own life? From Histoire Sainte , an incomplete set of hand-coloured lithographs depicting scenes from the Bible and the History of Christianity, published in Paris by Delagrave and printed by Becquet frères. Circa 1850-1880. The British Museum, London (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1981-U-56-134?selectedImageId=1097590001 ). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Histoire_Sainte_(BM_1981,U.56-134_60).jpg . Tom Faletti November 8, 2025 Read John 2:13-17 The cleansing of the Temple Why does Jesus go to Jerusalem? In John’s Gospel, Jesus spends much more time in Jerusalem than he does in the other Gospels. He goes from Bethany east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing, to Galilee (where he grew up), where he starts gathering disciples, and now to Jerusalem for Passover. Passover was the annual spring religious feast celebrating God’s liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It was marked by the sacrificing of lambs to commemorate how they were protected when the angel of death “passed over” the houses of the Israelites that had the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. In the Gospel of John, Jesus goes to Jerusalem 3 times for Passover, suggesting that his public ministry lasted more than 2 years, and perhaps longer. Luke tells us (Luke 2:41) that Jesus’s parents brought him to Passover in Jerusalem every year as a child, and presumably he continued that practice throughout his adult life. What does Jesus do in Jerusalem? John places the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, whereas the Synoptics place it at the end. The Gospels writers arranged their stories to achieve their theological purposes, not to tell the story in chronological order. In the Synoptics, this event is the precipitating factor that leads to the final murder plot against Jesus. For John, the precipitating factor is the raising of Lazarus. There are other, more minor differences that at a minimum suggest that the story was passed down orally in two slightly different forms from different eyewitnesses. Some scholars think he cleared the Temple twice, once at the beginning of his ministry and again at the end. What were the sheep, oxen, and doves used for, in the Temple? Oxen, sheep, and doves were sacrificed in the Temple. You could buy the appropriate animals for your sacrifice, so that you would not have to travel to Jerusalem with your own animals for sacrifice. Also, if you brought your own animal to the Temple, the authorities might reject it, saying it was blemished, and tell you to buy one of theirs. The Synoptic Gospels and secular historical accounts indicate that people were often fleeced by the merchants in the Temple. Why were there moneychangers in the Temple? (It’s understandable if you do not know the answer to this question.) The moneychangers were there to accept payment for the Temple tax that every adult male was obligated to pay annually. The Jewish leaders accepted only certain coins – for example, they did not accept Roman coins, which carried the image of Caesar – so you needed a moneychanger to exchange your money for the accepted coins. All of this business was conducted in the outer court of the Temple complex – the Court of the Gentiles – making it a noisy place not conducive to prayer. Jews could proceed into the courts that were closer to the Holy of Holies, but Gentiles had to stop here and could not proceed further in order to find a quiet place to pray. What reason does Jesus give in verse 16 for his action? Jesus does not want God’s house to be a marketplace. It had lost it sense of reverence as economic concerns overshadowed the primary purpose of the Temple as a place where people could interact with God. Jesus’s action reminds many scholars of the last verse of the book of Zechariah (Zech. 14:21), which prophesies that when the Lord comes there will no longer be merchants in the house of the Lord. What do you think Jesus wants God’s house to look like? How might economics, money, and market considerations affect how the Church as a whole and our local churches operate? How might those concerns interfere with our primary purposes as God’s people? John may have a deeper point in mind. Sheep and oxen were essential to the Temple’s role as a place of sacrifice. Therefore, what might be the deeper symbolism in driving them out of the Temple? What would it mean if there were no longer any sacrificial animals in the Temple? There could only be no animals if Temple sacrifice was no longer necessary. This could happen because Jesus is here and will sacrifice himself as the “Lamb of God,” as John the Baptist called him in 2:29 and 2:36. There may be even more to this, in the mind of John the evangelist. In the other Gospels, the Last Supper is on Passover night . But in John’s Gospel the Last Supper is on the night before Passover, and Jesus is dying on the Cross in his ultimate act of sacrifice just as the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple in preparation for that evening’s Passover meals. Jesus’s sacrifice will make the whole sacrificial system in the Temple unnecessary, which would obviate the need for merchants buying and selling animals for sacrifice. That would bring to fulfillment Zecharia’s prophecy that when the Lord comes there will no longer be merchants in the Temple. Verse 17 tells us that Jesus’s action reminds his disciples of Psalm 69:9 (69:10 in the NABRE), which talked about zeal for God’s house. They were struck by the zeal with which Jesus cleansed the Temple. Why do you think Jesus cleared the Temple? What is your reaction to what Jesus did? Read John 2:18-25 Jesus is challenged by the Jewish leaders In verse 18, John refers to “the Jews,” a phrase he will use repeatedly throughout his Gospel. Sometimes, he is just referring to the Jewish people generally (for example, in John 2:13: “The Passover of the Jews was near”). But other times, as in verse 18, he is referring specifically to the Jews who opposed Jesus: the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem. John’s references to “the Jews” are never a general indictment of all Jews. John and Jesus and Jesus’s mother Mary and many people in John’s community were Jews. John was not speaking against all Jews. What was the reaction of the Jewish leaders to Jesus’s cleansing of the Temple? Why do they challenge him? What do they want? What “evidence” does he offer them? John often tells stories where someone misunderstands something Jesus says. What does Jesus mean by the “temple,” and what do the Jewish leaders think he means? Why do you think Jesus answers their challenge in this way? Note: If this confrontation seems premature, we need to remember that John is not necessarily telling us everything in chronological order. Where would you have been in this scene? (One of the disciples? One of the people challenging Jesus? A moneychanger or merchant? A Temple leader? A bystander? Or would you not even have been in the Temple?) Consider the person you just named in the previous question. How do you think they would have reacted to the clearing of the Temple and the discussion that followed? What does this story say to you? Saint Paul said that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, who resides in us (1 Cor. 6:19). Is there any part of the “temple” of your life that needs some cleansing by Jesus? What would he like to do? How do we let Jesus clear away the distractions so that we are proper temples of the Holy Spirit? Take a step back and consider this: Verse 23 tells us that Jesus did other signs while he was in Jerusalem that John does not tell us about, and many people began to believe in his name – but Jesus did not trust these apparent declarations of faith. The New Testament scholar Raymond Brown wrote that Jesus “did not trust their faith because it stopped at the miraculous aspect of the sign and did not perceive what was signified” (Brown, p. 341). In other words, they saw only the miraculous action and not the message or meaning to which the sign pointed. We are called to look for what God’s miraculous signs “signify” – the deeper messages they point to, the eternal truths that lie behind what God has done at the surface or physical level. The human tendency is to stop at the surface of what God has done and is doing. We can only reach our full calling when we go beyond the surface and embrace what the signs signify. How can we train ourselves to look for the deeper spiritual meaning behind what happens on the surface of our lives? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John List Next

Mary and Joseph follow God’s guidance one step at a time, not knowing what each new step will be but trusting that he will show them what to do. Can we, too, trust God to guide us one step at a time? [Luke 2:25-40; Matthew 2:1-12; 2:13-18; 2:19-23] Previous Mary List Next Session 3: When life gets complicated Mary and Joseph follow God’s guidance one step at a time, not knowing what each new step will be but trusting that he will show them what to do. Can we, too, trust God to guide us one step at a time? [Luke 2:25-40; Matthew 2:1-12; 2:13-18; 2:19-23] Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973). The Holy Family Resting - The Flight into Egypt . Original Bronze Sculpture. 1963. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC. Photo by Tom Faletti, 21 Jan. 2025. Tom Faletti July 13, 2025 Luke 2:25-40 Mary receives a surprise prophecy about herself In verse 25 and verse 26, how is Simeon described? What does Simeon do in verse 28, and what does he say in the verses that follow? How does Simeon describe Jesus in verse 32? Is this an accurate description of what Jesus ends up being? Explain. Simeon’s statement about the Gentiles in verse 32 builds on a statement in Isaiah 42:6 and Isaiah 49:6 that Israel will be a light to the nations (i.e., the Gentile nations). What is significant in Simeon’s interpretation that this claim applies to Jesus? In verse 33, how do Mary and Joseph react? Now Simeon turns his attention to Mary. What does he say to her in verses 34-35? How does the prophetess Anna add to the story? When we make ourselves available to God, as Mary and Joseph did by going to the Temple and as we do when we go to church, we open ourselves up to the possibility for interactions and blessings that we might miss if we weren’t there. How has your participation in your church’s rituals and activities opened the door to blessings for you? Now look at this incident through Mary’s eyes. What happened, from her perspective? What do you think the phrase in verse 35 meant to Mary, when Simeon said, “and you yourself a sword will pierce” (Luke 2:35, NABRE) or “a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35, NRSV)? What do you think this experience with Simeon meant to Mary later, when Jesus was an adult? Are there times when we must accept the pain of a figurative sword that accompanies the blessing of doing God’s will? What can we learn from Mary here? How is Mary a role model for the kind of person we are called to be? How is Mary an example for how to actively live out our faith? Now we are going to read the story of the “wise men.” We usually look at this story from the perspective of the wise men or “magi,” because that is how Luke tells the story. However, we are going to look at it from Mary’s perspective. From Mary’s perspective, the story begins in this way: While she and Joseph and Jesus are staying in a house in Bethlehem (Matthew tells us in verse 10 that they were in a house when the wise men arrive), the Holy Family receives a surprise visit from some well-to-do wise men from far away in the East. Consider Mary’s perspective as you read the story: Matthew 2:1-12 The magi find Jesus We do not know where in the “East” these men came from. We do know this: Matthew does not use a Greek word to describe them. Our word “magi” is a transliteration of the Greek word that Matthew uses, and that word is a Greek transliteration of the plural Persian word magi (the singular is magus ), which referred to a caste of Persian priests of the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrian priests were astrologers in the sense that they carefully studied the stars. Priests of that caste were also at times associated with magic, and our word for magic comes from the same root word as magi , but it would be misleading to think of them as magicians or as astrologers. In their time, the movements of the stars were thought to affect the fortunes of people and nations, so at a time of limited knowledge of the natural world, they were trying to be wise observers of nature. We might think of them as the wise or scholarly practical philosopher-scientists of their time, in addition to being priests of their religion. Since we are focusing on Mary in this study, go back and read verse 11 carefully. What happens from Mary’s perspective? What does she observe happening? What do you think she thought when these wealthy, probably well-dressed, knowledgeable men came into the house and prostrated themselves before the baby Jesus? Mary has now seen three very different groups of people approach the baby Jesus: the local, rough, lower-class shepherds; the very old, holy man of God; and the foreign, refined, upper-class magi. How might Mary have reacted to the fact that all these very different people had important things to say about Jesus? Throughout history, Mary has been seen as a saint who is accessible to everyone. How might her experiences as a young mother have shaped her as an accessible and welcoming person? Do you see Mary as the kind of role model who is accessible to people of all social classes, all nationalities, all levels of education and economic status? Explain. What can you learn from Mary here in the story of the wise men? Matthew 2:13-18 The escape to Egypt and massacre of innocent children The wonderment of the magi’s visit doesn’t last long. Soon, an angel appears to Joseph with a dire message. What does the angel tell Joseph? How do you think Mary reacted to this? What is our term, in English, for someone who has to flee their homeland and go to a different country because they are in danger? Our term for people in this situation is “refugee,” which is a specific kind of migrant – see “What is the difference between a refugee and a migrant?” ( USA for UNHCR ). How do you think Mary felt about being a refugee? Note: There were Jewish communities in Egypt, so they might not have been totally alone (just as refugees who come to Western countries in our time often have communities they can connect with), but because of their religious and cultural differences, they would have been seen as outsiders in the broader Egyptian culture. How do you think Mary’s experiences as a refugee shaped her as a person? Looking at this part of Mary’s life, how can we be like Mary? Matthew 2:19-23 They return to Israel Throughout this set of passages, Matthew is making subtle connections between Jesus and the ancient Israelites who were brought out of Egypt by God in the experience we call the Exodus. In verse 15, he quotes Hosea 11:1, where the prophet refers to Israel as God’s son but Matthew sees a new application to God’s Son Jesus. In verse 20, Matthew makes a connection to Moses. An angel tells Joseph that he can return to Israel, “for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” This echoes the experience of Moses. In Exodus 2:15, Moses had fled Egypt because Pharaoh wanted to kill him. In Exodus 4:19, Moses is told that he can return, “for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” How might Mary have seen parallels between Jesus and Moses and between Jesus and the nation of Israel as she journeyed to Egypt and back to Israel? As Mary and her fellow Jews celebrated their faith, they constantly recalled the story of God’s action that brought salvation to the Israelites in the event known as the Exodus where they escaped from Egypt. How might that story have been an encouragement to Mary in her ordeal of escape from and return to Israel? Where do Mary and Joseph settle, and why? Matthew and Luke focus on different stories related to Jesus’s birth and infancy, with Luke presenting Mary’s story while Matthew focuses on Joseph. Luke 1:36-37 indicates that Mary’s hometown was Nazareth. Matthew does not tell us where Joseph lived before Jesus was born; he says only that Joseph’s ancestral home was Bethlehem. When they return from Egypt, they settle in Nazareth, which Luke tells us is Mary’s hometown, whereas custom would have had a bride move into her husband’s home. How do you think Mary felt as she returned to Israel? What would it have been like, raising your child, knowing that powerful people might again someday decide he is a danger and should be killed? Do you think that Mary told Jesus about the dangers, or kept them to herself, and why? When you face ongoing dangers in life, how do you find a balance between ignoring them and obsessing over them? How might Mary be a role model for how to deal with the risks we take in life? Take a step back and consider this: In these passages, Jesus is honored, Mary receives a troubling prophecy, and then Jesus is targeted for execution. What a complicated start to motherhood, for Mary! Mary and Joseph did not realize what an adventure their marriage would be, and they did not have all the answers for what to do. The angel who first visited them did not tell them about Herod, or the magi, or that they would become refugees in order to escape Herod’s murderous plan. They did not need to know those things in the beginning, nor did they need God to spell out solutions in advance. God revealed what they needed to know, when they needed to know it. Notice what this means: Following God was not, for them, just one big leap of faith. It was a series of smaller steps, where they trusted God each time for what they needed to know and do at that moment, in order to get to the next step. The same is true in our lives. We don’t need to know everything about our future. We only need to know what we need to know for the present moment – and then we need to do it, in order to get to the next step. It’s an important lesson: We don’t always need to know what is coming. God sees the whole picture, and that is enough. When in your life have you had to trust God through a series of steps where you did not know where things were going, but God ultimately led you to a good outcome? What are you facing right now, where you would like to know more about what is coming than God has revealed to you, and you just have to trust God and take one step at a time? What are the best things for you to remember as you face times of uncertainty? How might Mary be a role model for you in these times of uncertainty? Bibliography See Mary - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/mary/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Mary List Next