Jesus tells us to be ready for his return. What are you doing to be ready for that day (whether it is the Second Coming or your death)? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 24:32-44 Jesus tells us to be ready for his return. What are you doing to be ready for that day (whether it is the Second Coming or your death)? Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti September 7, 2025 Matthew 24:32-35 No one knows when Jesus will return, so be ready for whatever God does In verses 32-33, Jesus shifts from apocalyptic language to an image from the garden that most people can identify with and understand. What does he say about fig trees to help us understand that we will know he has come when he comes? Verse 34 is confusing even to scholars. We aren’t sure what Jesus meant when he said that “this generation” will not pass away until “all these things” have taken place. Obviously, the people who lived at the time of Jesus have passed away, but he has not returned. What could it mean? Some people interpret “this generation” to mean “this age” – i.e., this era in human history – but the word is not elsewhere translated in that way. Jesus could be saying that his death and resurrection will occur before that generation dies (similar to what he said in Matthew 16:28). Or he might be referring to the destruction of Jerusalem. However, neither of those events amounts to “all these things,” since Jesus has just discussed his Second Coming; so this is not a sufficient interpretation. It is not uncommon for prophetic and apocalyptic material to have multiple layers, so in different places Jesus could be referring to different events or even multiple events that occur at separate times. However, it would be unwise to argue that none of what Jesus has talked about refers to the Second Coming. Matthew often gathers different sayings of Jesus and presents them together in one place, so perhaps this sentence really belongs with the things Jesus said about the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew 24:15-22. The Greek word used for “generation” – genea – was also sometimes used by Greeks to mean a family or race (Liddell and Scott), so perhaps Jesus was saying that the Jewish people would not be wiped out before the Second Coming. This would mean that Jesus is using a different meaning for the word here than when he used the same word in Matthew 11:16 and 12:41. That is not an extraordinary thing to do, but some people reject this option for that reason. Although some scholars argue that the whole chapter is mainly about the destruction of the Temple, and others argue that the whole chapter is about the Second Coming, this study takes a more balanced approach that is consistent with the broad mainstream of scholars, including both Catholic scholars such as Harrington (pp. 94-97) and scholars with deep evangelical roots such as H. L. Ellison (1146-1147). In this approach, Matthew 24:4-14 stands as warning to Christians of all time periods, Matthew 24:15-22 is about the destruction of the Temple, and then Jesus makes a shift toward the Second Coming that becomes clear in verses 27-41. Since Matthew is mainly concerned about being ready for the Lord whenever he returns (which is the focus of the next passage) and would not have written an obvious contradiction into his Gospel, the third and fourth explanations above are the most satisfactory: Either Matthew has merged material from various sources and verse 34 is referring to the material in verses 15-22, or “this generation” has a meaning that could still make sense in Matthew’s time, such as that it means “this people” – i.e., the Jewish people. We don’t need to be troubled by the fact that we cannot be sure what verse 34 means. Nothing here is central to our faith, other than the encouragement that Jesus will return and that we should live our lives in a way that is always ready for him. We do not need an exact timeline –in fact, in verse 36 Jesus says that even he doesn’t know the exact timeline. What we do know is that Jesus will be victorious in the end and those who remain watchful and endure will live with him forever. What do you think about Jesus’s confidence that his people will be able to endure through the suffering and that he will come in the end to gather his people to be with him forever? Verse 35 says that Jesus’s words will live on even when the universe is no longer in existence. What does that tell you about Jesus? Does verse 35 make you want to know more of Jesus’s words, since his words will live on forever? If so, why? Would more studying of the Bible help? Matthew 24:36-44 No one knows when Jesus will return, so be ready When Jesus was speaking to them, did he know when the Second Coming will occur? Jesus said he did not know. As the eternal Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God knows everything the First Person of the Trinity knows (see, for example, Matt. 11:27, and also John 3:35). But as a human person, Jesus apparently did not know this in his human knowledge, unless he is exaggerating to emphasis the importance of not focusing on timetables but instead on always being ready. Given that Jesus says that neither he nor the angels know when the Son of Man will come, what do you think you should focus on? In verses 37-39, Jesus gives an illustration from Noah’s time to explain the attitude we should have toward the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus is contrasting Noah’s attitude with the attitude of the people around Noah. What is the point of the story? In verses 40-42, Jesus gives some examples where one person is “taken” and one person is “left.” The Left Behind franchise has popularized the idea of the “rapture” as one possible interpretation of these words, but that interpretation reaches far beyond the text of what Jesus actually says. For an exploration of “rapture” theories, see The Rapture? It’s Not a Pre-Millennial Escape from Tribulation . How does verse 42 explain the point of verses 40-41? Throughout this chapter, Jesus has been speaking metaphorically, so verses 40-41 are probably also metaphorical rather than literal. (The statement applies very well to our own individual deaths.) Obviously, our eternal salvation is not dependent on whether we literally “stay awake” or fall asleep. What is the point Jesus is making? Does this teaching about the Second Coming of Jesus have any relevance in our lives other than if we happen to be alive when the Second Coming occurs? What does Jesus want us to take away from this for our everyday lives? The next analogy Jesus offers involves a homeowner (verses 43-44). What is the point? A homeowner doesn’t know when a thief might be coming. What does that mean a homeowner must do in order to be safe? In verse 44, Jesus tells us to be “ready” (NRSV) or “prepared” (NABRE) for his return, even though we don’t know when he is coming. How can we be ready? How might it be useful to consider these questions in terms of our own death? No one knows when they will die but we all will die someday. What does it look like to live a life that is always ready for the day when we will meet our Maker? What would you do differently if you lived your life with a greater focus on being ready for the day you will meet God face to face? Take a step back and consider this: This passage challenges us – not to spend a lot of time trying to figure out the signs of the Second Coming, but to live a life that is ready for the day when he comes (perhaps in the Second Coming but more likely when we die). My Bible Study group explored the idea that we can get ready for God by living the life now that he has called us to live. This led us to ask: What are the signs that you are living the life God has called you to live? One member pointed out that sometimes she knows God wants her to take a new step to become more like him, because it keeps nagging her. One of the signs that we are living the life Jesus calls us to live is that we are talking with God about the ways he wants to change us and allowing him to make us more like himself. Another member described a time when she had to stop trying to make things go her way and just accept that she was called to a season of serving others. One of the signs that we are living the life Jesus calls us to live is that we are accepting those times of serving as Jesus would, rather than fighting it. Another member talked about how important it is to keep growing spiritually, and not think we are done growing. One of the signs that we are living the life Jesus calls us live is that we are looking for the next small way that God wants to help us be more like him. What are the signs that you are living the life God has called you to live? What do you need to do to get ready? It is a blessing that we can leave to God the timing of the Second Coming and don’t have to try to figure out obscure signs. We can focus on the interior signs that indicate we are ready for Jesus right now, and not be distracted by a focus on exterior signs of some future event. Matthew has been very clear about what Jesus is telling us to do right now, in the present. Here are some examples: Be pure in spirit and pure of heart; be peacemakers; don’t respond to others with anger, but love even your enemies; love God with your whole heart; love your neighbor as much as you love yourself; and, in the next chapter, use the talents God has given you to serve him, not to serve yourself; feed the hungry; welcome the stranger; take care of the sick; etc. Those are the concerns Jesus asks us to keep our eyes on, not an obscure timetable for his return. What is one thing you can do in the next week to keep your focus more on what Jesus is calling you to do right now, while you wait for his return? 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

We can walk in the light of Jesus, or we can walk in the darkness that leads to a hard heart. What can you do to stay in the light and keep your heart soft and open to Jesus? [John 12:36-43; 12:37-43; 12:44-50] Previous Next John List John 12:36-50 We can walk in the light of Jesus, or we can walk in the darkness that leads to a hard heart. What can you do to stay in the light and keep your heart soft and open to Jesus? Prempy [a modern artist from Ghana]. Jesus Christ, the light of the world . Prempy, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_Christ_the_light_of_the_world.jpg . Tom Faletti May 9, 2026 Read John 12:36b-50 A summary or recapitulation of Jesus’s claims Verse 38 is taken from Isaiah 53:1, which is the beginning of the Suffering Servant passage that says that “he” (who Christians interpret as Jesus) was pierced for our sins and bore our guilt, was struck for the sins of the people, fulfilled God’s will by making his life an offering for sin, and bore the sins of many. How does it benefit us to see how what happened to Jesus is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy? The people in Jesus’s time did not know that Isaiah 53 was speaking about Jesus. Later, people who believed in Jesus looked back and saw the connection. Prophecies don’t dictate the future; they merely report in advance what will happen. It is as though the prophet is seeing into a future time through a cosmic window, without directly affecting or controlling what people do in those future times. What gives the prophet the ability to foresee things that will happen in the future, even though the prophet does not dictate the future? Verse 40 needs to be examined closely. Some Christians interpret it literally and simplistically to mean that God actively hardened people’s hearts and forced them to reject Jesus. But that interpretation contradicts what the Bible tells us about God: that God loves all people (John 3:16; Psalm 145:9; 1 John 2:2); that God desires all people to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3-6; 2 Pet. 3:9; Matt. 23:37; John 12:32); that God does not tempt anyone to sin and therefore certainly does not force anyone to sin (James 1:13-14; 1 Cor. 10:13); and that God gives humans free will with which to choose to follow him or reject him (Deut. 30:19-20; Josh. 24:15; Ex. 35:29; Sirach 15:11-20; Matt. 23:37; John 7:17; 1 Cor. 7:36). We can find a way of interpreting this verse that does not contradict the Bible and core Christian teachings about God and free will. John, like other Jews of his time, believes that God’s hand is in everything, but he also believes that humans make free choices. That is why he tells us in verse 40 that hearts are being hardened even as he tells us in verse 42 that many of the leaders are coming to believe in Jesus. Jesus’s death is Jesus’s choice and is not dictated by humans (John 10:17-18) or by Satan (John 12:31). But humans have a choice and are called to make the choice to believe in him (John 7:17; 7:37-38; 6:66-71; 8:31-32; 3:14-18). We can understand how human free will coexists with God’s sovereignty, and avoid extreme and contradictory conclusions, if we understand that there is a difference between God’s perfect will (what he desires to happen), his permissive will (what he allows to happen), and his decreed will (what he orders or directs or forces to happen). There are laws of nature that your free will cannot override (for example, the laws physics apply to your driving whether you like it or not). There are also laws of the spiritual world that you cannot suspend. If you resist God, you will end up with a hard heart. If you avoid the light, you will be in the dark and, for all practical purposes, be blind (see verse 48). This will be true not because God forced you to reject him or hardened your heart or made you blind, but solely because you chose a path that led to your having a hard heart and being blind. This is the way to understand John’s statement. God “hardened” their hearts in the sense that he created a universe with spiritual laws of accountability that require people to make choices, and those who choose to reject God and refuse to be converted will end up with hard hearts. God does not want anyone to have a hard heart or to be spiritually blind, but he allows it to happen. There are additional reasons not to interpret John 12:40 in a simplistically literal way. First, the actual words in Isaiah 6:9-10, which John is quoting from, do not say that God forced the people to have a hard heart. In both the original Hebrew and the Greek Septuagint, God merely observes that they do have a hard heart. Second, when Matthew quotes the Old Testament passage more accurately in Matthew 13:14-15, it is clear that God is observing that they have a hard heart, not commanding that it be so. The Hebrew version of Isaiah, the Greek Septuagint, and Matthew – none of them say that God made the people have a hard heart. God allowed them to reject him, which led to their hearts being hardened. That is what Isaiah prophesied, and that is how we should interpret John 12:40. A deep dive into the translations of Isaiah (feel free to skip this) In the original Hebrew version of Isaiah 6:9-10, God tells Isaiah to say to the people: “You hear [or, Hear ye] but do not understand, and see and do not perceive, the heart of this people [no verb] sluggish and the ears heavy and the eyes shut, lest they see . . . and hear . . . and understand . . . and turn . . . and be healed.” God is not commanding them to have a hard heart; he is observing that they have chosen to have a hard heart. Most modern translations of Isaiah 6:10 say: “ Make the heart of this people sluggish [or dull].” However, the word “Make” does not appear in the Hebrew – there is no verb in that portion of the verse. A better translation would be: “The heart of this people is sluggish.” This makes it clear that God, through Isaiah, is describing what is actually happening, not commanding it to happen. The Septuagint, which was a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, was completed before Jesus was born. A majority of the Old Testament quotations in the New Testament are drawn from the Septuagint, not directly from the Hebrew or “Masoretic” text. In John 12:40, John’s words diverge significantly from the Septuagint; but Matthew closely follows the Septuagint’s language, writing: “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn around [or, be converted], and I should heal them.” God does not make the people have a hard heart; he merely observes that they do. John talks about blindness in verse 40 right after Jesus tells the people, in verses 35-36, to walk in the light. Either you walk in the light, or you end up walking blindly in the darkness. It’s a matter of spiritual cause and effect. If you choose to walk in the dark, you will be effectively “blind.” If you choose to close your heart to Jesus, you will develop a hard heart, because that’s the way God’s spiritual laws work. How do you see this spiritual principle of cause and effect at work in our world today? Our physical hearts can become weakened by sclerosis, which is a hardening of the coronary arteries and heart tissues that can debilitate us and even result in death. Sclerosis can be caused by smoking, a high fat diet, high blood sugar, excess weight, lack of physical activity, stress that leads to high blood pressure, and other factors. What does spiritual sclerosis look like in our spiritual hearts? What do you think people do wrong, that slowly leads them to having a hard heart? In verse 42, John tells us that many people, even among the authorities, came to faith in Jesus. How does that illustrate the fact that faith is a matter of free will? How do you think the leaders who believed in Jesus avoided developing the hard hearts that those who rejected Jesus developed? What is the condition of your heart? In what ways is it soft and open to Jesus, and in what ways have you become hardened and set in your ways? How can we keep our heart soft and open to Jesus? Verse 43 notes that some of the leaders who came to belief in Jesus did not make it known publicly. Why? And how is this a caution to us? Some Bibles label verses 44-50 a “recapitulation,” which means a restatement of the main points of a presentation that has already been made. How are verses 44-50 a restatement of what Jesus has already said? What do you see there that Jesus has already said previously? Verse 47 sometimes puzzles people. Won’t Jesus judge us? Jesus is saying that, when he came to live among us in the 1st century, he did not come to condemn people. He also said this in John 8:15: “I do not judge anyone.” But, as verse 48 indicates, when he returns at the end of time, he will bring judgment: his word will judge us. When he came to earth 2,000 years ago, he came not to judge us (verse 47) but to save the world (verse 47) and lead us to the light (verse 46). How do you experience Jesus as the light that keeps you from living in darkness (verse 46)? How do verses 44-50 do a nice job of summing up what Jesus has been saying for the past several chapters? Is there anything new in these verses that you haven’t seen previously? If so, what new insights do you see there? If this passage was intended to summarize the key points of what Jesus has been saying in the last few chapters, is there anything especially important that you think was left out? What would you have included in your recapitulation that is not here? Some scholars call the portion of John’s Gospel from 1:19 through the end of chapter 12 “the Book of Signs,” because it includes the major miracles that John identifies as signs of who Jesus is. It also includes Jesus’s “I am” statements. What has stood out to you most or had the most impact on your faith so far in the Gospel of John? Take a step back and consider this: Many people are uncomfortable with talk of “judgment.” We don’t like to think about being judged. It stirs up feelings of embarrassment and fear. In his Jubilee Year 2025 document Spes Non Confundit , Pope Francis offered a different perspective, stressing that because God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), we can prepare for judgment “from the standpoint of hope.” He wrote: The judgement of God, who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8.16), will surely be based on love, and in particular on all that we have done or failed to do with regard to those in need, in whose midst Christ, the Judge himself, is present (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Clearly, then, we are speaking of a judgement unlike any handed down by human, earthly tribunals; it should be understood as a rapport of truth with the God who is love and with oneself, within the unfathomable mystery of divine mercy.... In the words of Benedict XVI: “At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy.” Judgement, then, concerns the salvation in which we hope and which Jesus has won for us by his death and resurrection. It is meant to bring us to a definitive encounter with the Lord. The evil we have done cannot remain hidden; it needs to be purified in order to enable this definitive encounter with God’s love. (Francis, Spes Non Confundit , par. 22 ) As we consider God’s judgment at the end of our lives, how can focusing on God’s love help us to avoid being afraid? How can the judgment of God purify us so that we can live in an eternal relationship with God? 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

When Jesus calls us to serve, he doesn’t just mean servant leadership; he means servant “helpership” that puts others’ needs first [Matthew 20:17-19; 20:20-23; 20:24-28] Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 20:17-28 When Jesus calls us to serve, he doesn’t just mean servant leadership; he means servant “helpership” that puts others’ needs first. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti July 5, 2025 Matthew 20:17-19 Jesus plainly foretells his crucifixion This is Jesus’s third prophecy of his Passion. He reveals more each time. In chapter 16, he said he would suffer and die and be raised. In chapter 17, he added that he would be betrayed. Now, he fills in more details. Jesus’s first prophecy of his Passion (Matt. 16:21) had already mentioned Jerusalem. What are the various things Jesus now says will happen to him in Jerusalem? He will be handed over to the Jewish leaders; they will condemn him to death; they will hand him over to the Gentiles; the Gentiles will (a) mock him, (b) flog him, and (c) crucify him; and he will be raised on the third day. Why do you think Jesus takes the Twelve aside to tell them this, and why do you think he keeps telling it to them repeatedly? The crucifixion was so horrible that he wants them to be prepared – especially the leaders of his group. This is the first time he indicates the manner of his death: crucifixion. How might the disciples have reacted to that? Crucifixion was a horrific, excruciating form of execution that was assigned to serious criminals, rebels, and slaves in slave rebellions. It was designed to totally subjugate the person and cause them great and lengthy suffering. It was also designed to humiliate them. So the disciples would have been horrified. In Matthew’s Gospel, we have seen Jesus minister to Jews and Gentiles, so it is ironic that both Jews and Gentiles will be involved in his execution. This is the first time Jesus says explicitly that Gentiles (i.e., the Romans) will execute him. Throughout European history, Jews have suffered discrimination and maltreatment at the hands of Christians, with major pogroms attacking whole populations of Jews in 1096, 1189, 1254, 1348, 1492, 1881, 1938-1945, and many other times. People who lived 1,000 years or more after Christ were absurdly charged with somehow being responsible for his death. In light of that history, why is it so significant that, while Jesus said that the Jewish leaders would condemn him, he made it clear that it would be non-Jewish people who would mock and scourge and crucify him? The crucifixion is so much a part of our telling and retelling of our faith that we have probably lost the horror of it. Is there something in this prophecy that you think you should take less casually or take less for granted? Explain. Matthew 20:20-23 Special honor for James and John? Who makes this request? Note: This is not some random, foolish woman. The mother of Zebedee’s children was one of the women who fearlessly stood by the cross as Jesus was crucified (Matthew 27:56). She was also possibly the sister of Jesus’s mother Mary (looking at the information in John 19:25 and comparing the lists of the women at the foot of the cross in the various Gospel accounts leads to this possible conclusion). James and his brother John, along with Peter, hold a special place among the apostles. They are the ones who are invited to accompany Jesus when he is transfigured. But it might be helpful to sort out the men names James. There are three Jameses in the New Testament: James, the brother of John, was an apostle. James and John are known as the sons of Zebedee and, in Mark 3:17 as the “sons of thunder.” They are the ones who in this passage ask to sit at Jesus’s right and left hand when he comes into his kingdom. This James is sometimes called James the Great. He was martyred around A.D. 44, executed by Herod in In Acts 12:2. He may have been the second Christian martyr, after Stephen. James the son of Alphaeus was also an apostle. He is sometimes called James the Less (perhaps because he was shorter, or just because he was less prominent). James the brother of Jesus becomes the leader of the Christian community in Jerusalem, as seen in Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18 and Galatians 1:18-19. He is sometimes called James the Just. Several ancient sources suggest that he was martyred in Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple, perhaps in A.D. 62. What does the mother of James and John ask for? In the Gospel of Mark, James and John make the request directly. Some scholars have observed that Matthew rarely writes anything that makes any disciple look bad. Here, the way he tells the story, it is their mother who makes the request. Considering that they accompany her and readily answer Jesus’s first question, do you think they agree with their mother’s request or are embarrassed by it? Explain. When they ask to sit at his right and left hand in his kingdom, what do you think they think they are asking for? What does this tell you about them? They were ambitious, but also zealously loyal to Jesus and wanted to be as close as possible to him. Jesus tells them they don’t understand what they are asking for. Why? What is the “cup” (verse 22) that he asks them if they are ready to drink? Why do you think they are so sure they are ready for it? Jesus says they will drink his cup. What do you think that means? James was an early martyr (Acts 12:2), but John lived a long life ending in a natural death in Ephesus. So what is the “cup” for them? Why is Jesus unable to grant their request? If there are these right and left seats in heaven, and given Jesus’s upside-down approach to humanity, is it possible that the people who will sit on his right and left are people at the bottom of the social scale? Would that surprise you? Explain. Note that, although Jesus corrects James and John’s thinking in the next passage, he does not rebuke them for their request. What is your best guess as to why not? We will look at the other disciples’ reaction in a moment, but let’s think about how this passage might speak to us in our lives. When or how might we have inappropriate or misguided ideas about what God should do for us? In what ways might we get caught up in the glory of believing in Jesus and lose sight of the fact that we are called to take up our crosses? Matthew 20:24-28 The one who wants to be great must be a servant How did the other apostles feel when they heard about James and John’s request? How does Jesus describe the way the rulers of the Gentiles treat other people? In our day, what does it look like when people in authority “lord it over” others? In Jesus’s kingdom, if you want to be great or first, how must you treat others? What does it mean to be a servant (Greek diakonos ) of others? To serve means to work for or minister to others, to attend to the needs of others or wait on them (as Martha did, when she pointed out to Jesus that she was “serving” while Mary sat at Jesus’s feet). What does it look like when we are doing that? When we are serving, we are trying to help others achieve their goals or are trying to meet their needs, not our own. How can we, in practical terms, follow this teaching? How can we be a servant of others? My father was the one who, at every church event, always stayed after to put the chairs away and sweep the floors. That might be one example. What is the attitude of a servant toward those he or she is serving? In typical Jewish rhetorical fashion, Jesus makes his point in two different ways. First, he contrasts “great” with “servant”: if you want to be great, you must choose to be a servant. He then sharpens the point by taking those concepts to their extreme: if you want to be “first,” you must be a “slave” (Greek doulos ) – i.e., if you want to be at the absolute top, you must choose to be at the absolute bottom. Jesus is not endorsing slavery – he is making a point about God’s upside-down view of the world: If you want to be at the absolute top, then in God’s kingdom you must be willing to be at the absolute bottom of the ladder of social status. What does this say to you about the Christian life? What does this say to you about your life? Look at verse 28. How is Jesus as a model of servanthood? People who are placed in positions of leadership are called to serve even while filling those positions. What does verse tell them about what “servant leadership”? If you had to capture in a word or phrase the concept of what it means to serve others, without using the word “servant” or the word “slave,” how would you describe what it looks like to serve others, from Jesus’s perspective? One possible answer, among many, is: Work for the good that others seek, not just the good you seek, and put what is good for them first. (How would you answer?) In verse 28, Jesus says he is giving his life as a “ransom for many.” The word “ransom” usually means a price paid to free a person, but when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into the Greek Septuagint, the word “ransom” was used in places where the Hebrew communicates the ideas of God’s liberation without implying that any payment has been made – for example, in Exodus 6:6; Psalm 77:16 in the NABRE, which is 77:15 in the NRSV and most other translations; and Isaiah 43:1 and 44:22. The idea is probably the same here: that Jesus will give up his life to liberate or free others ( New American Bible, revised edition , Matt. 20:28 fn. ). In verse 28, the word “many” is not signaling that some people are specifically excluded ( New American Bible, revised edition , Matt. 20:28 fn. ); it is merely explaining the difference between “the one” (the servant who brings freedom) and the “the many” (who are freed and also called to be servants). In verse 28, Jesus says he came to give up his life to free many people. In what ways does Jesus’s act of giving up his life free us? In what ways can we help free others by being a servant to them? Take a step back and consider this: Women have faced a long history of being stereotyped and confined to subservient roles. This can complicate their effort to respond to Jesus’s call to service. Is Jesus calling them to be a “doormat”? No. Does Jesus support discrimination and inequality? No. Women have a right to speak up for themselves when they do not receive respect and to seek equal treatment. They can do that and still respond to Jesus’s call to be a servant. Throughout history, men have been primed to think of themselves as leaders and to seek positions where they can direct others. They may sometimes unconsciously assume that women will take greater responsibility for the service work – food preparation, childcare, etc. When they hear the word “service,” they may tend to think mainly of ways they might “serve” others by being leaders in the positions at the top. But sometimes, we are called to servant “helpership,” not servant leadership. The challenge for many men is to get past the historical and cultural assumptions that expect them to serve at the top, so that they can also embrace opportunities to serve others from below, in the supporting roles that help others thrive and lead. How can we transcend cultural stereotypes and assumptions, and embrace the heart of a servant who is willing to be “last” in the eyes of the world, imitating Jesus’s self-giving service? How might God like to see you respond to this call to service today? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

The person Paul is writing to, Philemon, is an example of the kind of encouraging partner everyone might like to have, and Paul is an example of giving thanks and praise. How can we be like them? Previous Philemon List Next Philemon 1-7 The person Paul is writing to, Philemon, is an example of the kind of encouraging partner everyone might like to have, and Paul is an example of giving thanks and praise. How can we be like them? Image by Luis Georg Müller, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti October 5, 2025 Introduction Paul’s letter to Philemon is the shortest of Paul’s letters that were included in the canon. It is so short that it was not separated into chapters, and therefore we only designate the verses – so Philemon 7 is the 7 th verse (and a very good one). In the New Testament, it is located after all the other letters attributed to Paul, so it is after Titus and before Hebrews, which was not written by Paul. Philemon is pronounced fih-LEE-muhn, with the accent on the second syllable. Who is the letter to and from? Paul wrote this letter to a man named Philemon. Philemon is believed to have lived in Colossae because of the language in Colossians 4:7-9, although some look at Colossians 4:16-17 and wonder if it is the letter to the Laodiceans, which otherwise has been lost to time. Colossae was in southwest Asia Minor, now southwest Turkey (Türkiye), and Laodicea was nearby. Ephesus was 100-120 miles west, on the coast of the Aegean Sea. The subject of the letter is a man named Onesimus (in standard English, pronounced oh-NEH-sih-muhs). Paul wants Philemon to treat Onesimus kindly. Date and place of writing Paul says in the letter that he is writing from prison. The traditional and most widely accepted view is that Paul is writing from house arrest in Rome, which would place the letter around AD 61-63 (according to Fitzmyer and others; some scholars count the years slightly differently and say 60-62). Traditionally, scholars have believed that Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians were written during the same imprisonment and they are called the “captivity” letters. Some scholars prefer to see the letter as having been written during Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Caesarea, before he was sent to Rome, which would mean around AD 58-60 (or 57-59). A newer view is that Paul is in prison in Ephesus and writing around AD 56-57. We do not have any explicit evidence that Paul was ever in prison in Ephesus. However, Paul says he was imprisoned multiple times (2 Cor. 11:23), and neither Paul nor Luke in the Acts of the Apostles describes any of those imprisonments. He could have been jailed in Ephesus at some point (he stayed there for 2 years). Paul’s statement in Philemon 22 that Philemon should prepare a guest room for him to come for a visit if he is released makes more sense if he is writing from Ephesus, 100-120 miles away, than if he is writing from Rome, a distance of 1,312 miles by land and sea (Witherington, p. 530). Witherington ( PDF ) and White ( PDF ) provide competing, both very thoughtful, arguments against and in favor of the view that Paul’s captivity was in Ephesus. Read Philemon 1-7 . What is the tone of the letter, so far? What do you think the relationship is between Paul and Philemon? Read Philemon 8-11 . Paul finally turns to the subject of his letter, a man named Onesimus. How does the tone of the letter shift at this point? Read Philemon 10-25 . What is Onesimus’s social status? How has Onesimus changed? What does verse 14 tell us about Philemon? Verse 14 tells us that Philemon has the power and authority to decide what happens to Onesimus. He must have at least a little bit of wealth to be able to afford a slave, but many people “owned” slaves at that time in the Roman Empire. What does verse 19 tell us about Philemon? Verse 19 tells us that Philemon owes his life to Paul, presumably meaning he owes his faith in Christ to Paul – i.e., Paul converted him. What does verse 22 tell us about Philemon? Verse 22 tells us that Philemon’s house is big enough for the local church to meet there and has at least one spare room that could be made available for Paul to stay there as a guest. So, again, he is reasonably wealthy. Looking at all of the things Paul says about Philemon, how would you describe Philemon? What is Paul asking Philemon to do? Why does he think Philemon might be willing to do it? We are going to look at the details of what Paul writes, and then we will take a step back and look at the broader issue of slavery in the Roman Empire and how Paul handles that issue. Let’s dive into the details of what Paul writes: Philemon 1-3 Greetings How does Paul describe himself? In the first verse of Ephesians and of Colossians, Paul describes himself as an “apostle,” In Philippians, he describes himself as a “slave of Christ Jesus.” How does he describe himself in the first verse of this letter, and how is this difference significant? In verse 2, “your” is singular – the house the church meets in belongs to one of them. Scholars think the most likely interpretation is that Apphia is Philemon’s wife and Archippus is his son; but some think these are leading people in the church community. Similarly, the general belief is that the house the church meets in belongs to Philemon, who is a leader of the Christian community there, and that Onesimus is owned by Philemon; but some scholars think the house they meet in is owned by Archippus. Paul has already established a standard way of greeting the people he writes to: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 3). We see the exact same wording in Ephesians and Philippians, almost identical wording in 1 Thessalonians, and abbreviated versions of it in other letters. In verse 3, Paul uses the Greek word “grace” ( charis ). This is a New Testament/Christian concept for the unearned favor we receive from God. For that concept, Paul uses a word familiar in the Greek world that described the unearned favor or blessing a person might receive, for example, from a wealthy person. Paul also uses the Greek word for “peace,” which would call to mind the standard Hebrew greeting of shalom that expressed the desire for wholeness and well-being in all of one’s relationships. How do the two words “grace” and “peace” in Paul’s greeting capture well what we might wish for people we care about? Paul describes each of these three people – Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus – in very positive terms using just a few words. What is important to him about them? What can we learn from Paul’s example in the way he acknowledges the good he sees in other people? Philemon 4-7 Paul is thankful for Philemon In verses 4, 5, 6, and 7, the word “you” is singular each time. Paul is talking specifically to Philemon, not to the family as a whole. Let’s look some more at what kind of person Philemon is. In verse 2, Paul calls him “our co-worker.” What do you think “our co-worker” means? What does Paul say about Philemon in verses 5-6? Verse 5: Paul is thankful for Philemon’s faith in the Lord Jesus and his love for Jesus and his fellow Christians. Verse 6: Paul says that Philemon shares a “partnership” in the faith. In verse 5, Paul praises Philemon’s faith and love. Ignatius of Antioch, writing 50 years later, said that “faith and love in Christ Jesus . . . are the beginning and the end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love” ( Ignatius of Antioch ). How do faith and love encompass the Christian life? In verse 6, what do you think Paul means when he refers to Philemon’s “partnership in the faith”? In what ways are we called to be co-workers or partners in the work God is doing through his people? What does Paul say about Philemon in verse 7? He says that Philemon encourages others in a way that refreshes the hearts of the believers. What do you think Paul means when he says Philemon refreshes the hearts of others? Some possible answers are: Philemon is hospitable or generous towards others in a way that helps them feel encouraged, renewed, and loved. Note: The Greek word Paul uses that is translated as “heart” is actually the word for “bowels” – the inner parts of us. To a Hebrew mind that is the seat of the emotions or place of one’s “innermost self” ( New American Bible, revised edition , Phile. 7, fn.). The translators wisely substitute the word “heart” because that is where people in our time locate our deepest self. In what ways are we called to refresh the hearts of our fellow believers, and how can we do that effectively? Some possible answers are: Be there for others, which means we need to be connected to them (for example, part of the church community with them). Talk with others and listen well. Be positive and encouraging. Practice being aware of other people’s needs. Avoid seeming to be telling people what to do as though we know better than them how they should live their lives (otherwise, they will not feel encouraged and refreshed). How important is it to be plugged into a local church in order to be a co-worker and refresh others? What seem to be Paul’s criteria for evaluating a person, and how do his criteria compare with the criteria our culture uses to measure a person’s worth? Looking at the example Philemon has set by how he has lived his life, what do you see in Philemon that you might be able to manifest more fully in your life? Take a step back and consider this: We have gotten through 7 verses of Paul’s letter to Philemon, and Paul hasn’t even begun to broach the main subject of his letter: Onesimus. We could cynically say that he is just buttering up Philemon so that he can win him over. Or we could say that this just shows how important it is to Paul to maintain a strong relationship with his friend. Or we could say that this is what effective Christians always do: praise other people and express appreciation for them whenever they can, in order to encourage them in their walk with the Lord. What does Paul’s expansive praise say to you about your own way of interacting with other people? Are there any suggestions here for your own relationships? Bibliography See Philemon - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/philemon/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 Philemon List Next

Each of us will be judged by our treatment of the hungry, the stranger, the sick, those in prison, etc. What are you doing to find Jesus in those places? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 25:31-46 Each of us will be judged by our treatment of the hungry, the stranger, the sick, those in prison, etc. What are you doing to find Jesus in those places? Separation of Sheep and Goats . Early 20th century reproduction of a Byzantine mosaic originally dated early 6th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Separation_of_Sheep_and_Goats_MET_cdi24-144-4s1.jpg . Tom Faletti September 14, 2025 Matthew 25:31-46 in the final judgment, Jesus asks if you responded to those in need What is this passage about? Note that this story is not a parable. He is not saying the kingdom of heaven is “like” this. He is saying that this is what is going to happen. The only part of it that is like a parable is the use of the terms sheep and goats to picture Jesus separating people the way a shepherd would separate different creatures. The rest is a direct description of what Jesus says about how the final judgment will go. In verse 31, where is the Son of Man? Jesus has described himself as the “Son of Man” throughout Matthew’s Gospel. Here, for the first time, he takes to himself the title “king” (v. 34). The first title has messianic overtones but emphasizes his humanity. The second title offers a different perspective. What does his use of these two titles – Son of Man and king – tell us about Jesus and his relationship with the human race? Who is gathered before him (v. 32)? All the nations. Who do the sheep and the goats represent? Who is it that gets separated? He is not simply separating the nations for judgment; the language used makes it clear that this is a judgment of individual people – see the footnote below: Are individuals or nations judged? Note that the “sheep” and “goats” are used mainly as an illustration. Jesus isn’t asking us to draw conclusions here based on what we know about sheep and goats. In our day, he might have said: As a veterinarian separates the dogs from the cats. He used the image of separating sheep from goats because that was an image his audience was familiar with, an then he applied it to separating different types of people. In verse 34, what is the blessing given to those on his right hand – the sheep? What do you think it means to “inherit the kingdom”? In verses 35-36, what is it that they did, that led to this blessing? Do they understand what they did, or are they surprised by what he says? Explain. What is the king’s explanation of how they did these things to him? He says that when you did it to/for them, you did it to/for him. Different translations use “to” or “for” because in the Greek, the dative case used here indicates who receives the benefit of an action but does not specify a preposition. The point is that when we do these things, Jesus is the recipient of our actions: You did it to me. How do you think this passage applies to us today? How literally do you think we should take it? Do you think there are people who might be surprised to learn that when they were helping people in need, they were also doing those good things to/for Jesus? Explain. What does their surprise tell you about people who do good things, about God, and/or about our final judgment? It is probably unrealistic for any one person to do all these things with any frequency, so how do you think Jesus would want us to respond to this story? Those among us who like to-do lists (myself included) need to hear this caution: Jesus has not presented himself as the kind of person who would want us to turn this into a checklist and think that if you do each one of these things at least once we have earned salvation. That’s not what this is about. It is probably better to think about it as a way of life: responding to needs habitually and generously whenever needs present themselves. Now let’s look at the “goats.” In verses 41 and 45, what is the ultimate destination of the “goats”? What does the king say they failed to do, that has led to this outcome? Do they understand why they are receiving these consequences, or are they surprised? Explain. How does the king explain what he means by their failing to do these things to him? Note that these are what are called “sins of omission,” not “sins of commission.” It isn’t that they did something bad; it is that they failed to do something good that they could have done and should have done. Do you think there are people who might be surprised to learn that they are failing the test of the final judgment? If so, do you think it would be a situation where they should have known because they knew what Jesus taught in the Bible, and they willfully ignored what they should have known? Or do you think it would be a situation where, once it was pointed out to them, they would be able to say, “Yeah, you’re right; I should have known that and I failed”? Or do you think it would be a situation where they would be legitimately baffled to learn that this was Jesus’s criteria for judgment? Explain. What does their surprise tell you about people who fail to help others in need, about God, and/or about our final judgment? In verse 40, the king tells the first group that they did it to one of the “least” of these brothers of mine, and in verse 45 he tells the second group that they did not do it to one of the “least” of these. Who are these “least” ones? What do you think this passage says to us? As you read this, is there someone or some group of people that you think the Lord might be nudging you to do more for, or some action you feel he is calling you to take? What is this passage saying to you personally? Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, we have seen Jesus’s constant “ downside-up ” approach. Why do you think this is the perspective he has chosen to take: to place such an emphasis on our action to help the “least” among us? Do you count yourself among these “least”? If so, how does this passage make you feel? If you don’t, how do you feel about the fact that Jesus identifies himself with the “least”? Verse 34 is the first time in the Gospels that Jesus is explicitly referred to as a “king.” Why does our King care so much about what happens to the “least” among us? For the most part, people aren’t naked and in need of clothing in our day. But there might be some other needs that would not have made sense to mention in Jesus’s day but that he might have mentioned if he were speaking now. What are some other basic needs that Jesus might add to his list if he were making this point to our society today? There are many possibilities; for example: I was homeless and you helped me find shelter; I was pregnant and you gave me baby clothes and diapers; I was a victim of human trafficking and you rescued me; I was an immigrant and you welcomed me – oh, that one already is on his list when he says: I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. In our more complicated world, some social and economic problems can be addressed by the people collectively in far better ways than we can do individually – for example, helping the homeless, pregnant women, victims of trafficking, people with mental illnesses, etc. Sometimes, Christians and other people of good will take action collectively through nonprofit organizations or governments. Is working to help people through social organizations and governments a reasonable way of trying to respond to what Jesus is calling us to do in this passage? Explain. For people who live in democracies, is it reasonable to try to hold governments accountable to address the needs of the hungry, the sick, etc.? None of us can do it all. But we can work to live our lives with a mindset that the least among us need to be central to our focus. How can you do that better? Take a step back and consider this: Jesus clearly wants us to place a high priority on meeting the needs of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the sick, and others who are the “least” among us. This concern meant so much to him that he equated himself with them when he said: “What you did it to them, you did to me.” How easy is it for you to see Jesus in those who are suffering on the fringes of our society? What can a Christian do to internalize this perspective? How do we grow in our ability to see Jesus in the least among us? If we take this passage seriously, it could lead us to worry about our salvation. Are we doing “enough” to join Jesus in heaven? He clearly wants us to feel challenged. But he does not want us to be afraid of him or to think that we can only make him care for us if we do the right things. He is not creating a new works-based legalism after having spent so much time trying to overcome the legalism of the Pharisees. He also is not offering “works” as an alternative to “faith.” We are saved by him, not by our fulfillment of a specific list of requirements, but our faith should be manifested in actions to help the least among us. See Is Jesus suggesting that we can earn our way to salvation by our works? for more on this how this passage relates to faith. Since we are sinners saved by grace and called to be conformed to Christ, it might be worth thinking about it this way: Can we be comfortable living with Jesus’s priorities and serving him whenever we encounter a person in need around us? That is our challenge. How comfortable are you with Jesus’s “downside-up” view of the world – his close identification with those who have the least? What can you do to become more comfortable with Jesus’s worldview? Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that “the poorest of the poor are . . . Christ under the guise of human suffering” ( Mother Teresa: In My Own Words , p. 24), and that she sought to “comfort Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor” ( Mother Teresa: Where There is Love, There is God , p. 15). If we can find joy in looking to serve Jesus in the least among us, we are on the right path of adopting the priorities and worldview of Jesus. The question is not whether we have fulfilled Matthew 25 perfectly. The question is whether we have embraced Jesus’s worldview. He wants our hearts. If we embrace his priorities, he is both willing and able to mold us into the people he wants us to be, through the power of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. If we allow the Holy Spirit to work his worldview ever more deeply into the fabric of our lives, we will become ever more like Jesus – our character following the mold of his character, our concerns reflecting his concerns, our actions manifesting his love to the world and responding to needs wherever he can be found. Am I willing to let the Holy Spirit mold me so that I take on the heart of Jesus and allow him to work his priorities into my actions? Am I willing to show forth his love to the poorest of the poor? If I’m willing, he is able. May it be so! Notes regarding 2 issues people find in this passage: Are individuals or nations judged? Some theologians claim that the final judgment story is talking about God’s judgment of nations, not individual people. They argue that in Matthew, “the nations” usually refers to nations other than Israel, and “brothers” usually means Christians, so they claim that Jesus is saying that the Gentile nations will be judged by how they treat Christians (see, for example, Father Daniel Harrington, p. 101). Both Catholic and Protestant theologians have rejected this argument. Father Benedict Viviano, O. P., points out ( The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 145, p. 669) that in Matthew 24:9 and 14, and in Matthew 28:19, Jesus uses the term “all nations” in a way that includes Israel, not just the Gentile nations. Furthermore, Matthew often uses the word “brothers” to include all humans, not just Christians – for example, in the Sermon on the Mount. As a result, the idea that this is only a judgment about nations is not well supported. H. L. Ellison uses the grammar of the passage to show that argues that Jesus is talking about individual people, not just nations (Ellison, p. 1148). When Jesus says that the king separates “them” (Matt. 25:32), the Greek word for “them” is masculine, which indicates people. If he was referring to the nations, the neuter form of the word “them” would have been required. So this is an individual judgment, applying to each person. Myron Augsburger adds that, although Jesus uses the word “brothers” in verse 40, he does not use that word in verse 45. There, Jesus says the goats did not help the “least” ones – i.e., the needy in general, not specifically Christians (pp. 283-284). Jesus is warning us about how all individuals should treat all individuals who are in need. Is Jesus suggesting that we can earn our way to salvation by our works? Some people struggle with how to fit this passage into a “faith versus works” framework. Jesus never separated faith from helping others. We can’t save ourselves, but he made it very clear that he expects us to help the hungry, the stranger, the sick, those in prison, etc. If there is a “faith vs. works” contradiction between what Jesus says here and what modern-day preachers preach, we would have to choose Jesus’s own words over modern re-interpretations of the gospel, since Jesus is our Lord and God. However, there is no contradiction. Faith and service to those in need are both central teachings of Christ. See Faith Versus Works: What Does the Gospel of Matthew Say for a discussion of how faith and works come together rather than being in opposition to each other. Regarding this specific passage and the concern that it undermines a commitment to faith, evangelical scholar H. L. Ellison says that this passage “is intended to be a warning to us. Since from His brothers, He [Jesus] will expect more, not less, this can serve as a check on the reality of our profession” (Ellison, p. 1148). In other words, we can test the genuineness of our profession of faith by how we respond to the plain words of Jesus in this passage. On the other end of the spectrum, some people use this passage to argue that faith in Christ is not necessary – that how we treat the poor is all that matters. Catholic scholar Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., responds that the passage “is addressed to Christian disciples, and discipleship is understood, in a very bold way, as identical with care of the needy. This is not a denial of faith; it is of the essence of faith” ( The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , par. 145, p. 669). Jesus is not here rejecting his consistent call to faith; he is showing us one element of what faith looks like in action. If our understanding of the Christian faith does not include an understanding both of the centrality of service to those in need and of the centrality of faith in Christ, we do not understand Jesus as presented to us in the Scriptures upon which our faith is based. This passage presents the Word of God to us. What do you think Jesus would say to those who think the passage contradicts the gospel message about how we are “saved”? 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

At the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus turns water into wine. It is far more than a miracle; it is a sign that God is present, calling us to “Do whatever he tells you.” [John 2:1-11] Previous Next John List John 2:1-12 At the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus turns water into wine. It is far more than a miracle; it is a sign that God is present, calling us to “Do whatever he tells you.” Paolo Veronese (1528-1588). Venedig Die Hochzeit zu Kana (The Wedding at Cana) . Circa 1571. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery), Dresden, Germany. Photo by Tom Faletti, 25 June 2024. Tom Faletti November 8, 2025 Read John 2:1-12 The wedding feast at Cana What happens in this incident? We don’t know how many disciples Jesus brought with him to the wedding – even the wedding host might not have known how many were coming. But those disciples got to see how Jesus addressed the shortage of wine, and John tells us in verse 11 that this strengthened their faith. Let’s look at the whole story. First, look at the interaction between Jesus and his mother. Does Mary actually ask Jesus to do something? How is she both deferring and pushing? Does Jesus say yes or no, or does he leave the conversation unsettled? Jesus calls his mother “Woman.” Although that may not have been rude in his time, it was also not a normal way to address one’s mother. Scholars think that Jesus is signaling that whatever he does will not be based on his family connection to Mary. What guides Jesus’s decisions throughout his ministry? On what does he base his decisions? Jesus does what is the will of his Father. In verse 4, Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come.” Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus’s “hour” is the time of his suffering (his “Passion”) and death, and sometimes also includes his resurrection and ascension (for example, John 13:1). What does his “hour” have to do with whether he does something here? Although this miracle may have important symbolic meaning, it also shows in a small and practical way that Jesus cares about the little things – the everyday things in life that matter to us humans. How have you seen ways that Jesus cares about the little things in our lives? How does this encourage you to trust Jesus in every part of your life, not just in the “big” decisions? In the other Gospels, Jesus says, “This is my body.... This is my blood” at the Last Supper. John does not include that in his account of the Last Supper. Instead, he presents Jesus as the Bread of Life in chapter 6 after the multiplication of the loaves. In the Old Testament, there are poetic passages that refer to wine as the “blood” of grapes (Gen. 49:11; Deut. 32:14). Is John similarly replacing the Last Supper cup of wine with this provision of wine at Cana? How is this miraculous sign of providing wine for all like his gift of himself to us in what Christians commemorate in “communion” or the “Eucharist”? Mary tells the servant, “Do whatever he tells you” (verse 5). How is that an appropriate guide to everything we do in our lives? Jesus gives the servant some instructions, and they do what he tells them to do, even though he doesn’t explain why. Have you ever had a situation where you felt that God was asking you to do something that was perplexing but that turned out to be the right thing to do? What happened? Is there a particular challenge you are facing right now, or a difficult part of your life, where God might be asking you to “Do whatever he tells you”? What might he be asking you to do? In verse 11, John calls what happened here the beginning of Jesus’s “signs.” A sign is something that points to something bigger than itself; it tells or proclaims something about the thing it is pointing to. John will show us 7 of Jesus’s signs – actions that are more than just physical miracles, actions that point to something bigger. In what way is this miracle a “sign”? Beyond just the physical miracle, what does it tell us or show us? It demonstrates the power of Jesus in such a way that his actions glorify God. John makes connections between Jesus and Moses in a variety of places in this Gospel. He has already suggested in chapter 1 that Jesus is greater than Moses (1:17). Moses’s first “plague” in Egypt was to turn water (the Nile River) into blood (Ex. 7:14-19). Jesus’s first sign is to turn water into wine. What might be the connection? What was the point or “sign” in Moses’s action and how was that similar to Jesus’s “sign”? Both signs called people to respond to God, who was speaking through the person standing in front of them. Through Moses, God was saying, “Let my people go.” Jesus is communicating the love of the Father. In verse 11, John tells us that this first sign revealed Jesus’s glory, “and his disciples believed in him.” John is suggesting that for some of the disciples, this was a turning point. Why might this have been a decisive factor that brought them to believe in him? How important are Jesus’s miracles or “signs” to your faith? What do they tell you or how do they support your faith? If you were at the wedding feast at Cana, through whose eyes would you have seen what Jesus did? (The disciples? The servers? The chief steward/headwaiter? The bridegroom?) And how might this miracle have affected you? John not only tells us about the surface level – what physically, literally happened – he also helps us see the deeper spiritual implications. Besides what we have already discussed here, what other spiritual insights do you see? What can you bring from this story into your everyday life? Take a step back and consider this: Imagine you were the water in the story of the wedding feast at Cana. You were poured into the jars used for purification, so you expect that you will be used to help a human who needs to be purified (besides ritual washings before meals, Jews went through purification rituals after having been defiled by contact with a dead animal, a grave, or something else that conferred ritual impurity). The humans are having a party, so you don’t really expect to be needed right now. It’s not the time for purification rituals. Suddenly, voices are talking near you, someone draws a ladleful of you out of the jar, and you realize that something has changed. You’re no longer just water for purification. You have been transformed into something more! Jesus has changed you into wine – something that will bring joy to others and glory to God. (That’s what Jesus does. He transforms us into something more than we were.) You, the water-turned-into-wine, catch a glimpse of the one who has done this. They call him Jesus, and he is smiling. He clearly loves being with other people. And you have made him happy by fulfilling the purpose he assigned to you. Jesus does this with us, too. He does it with everyone who follows him. Opportunities appear that may bring joy to others and glory to God. They may be big or small. It might be the chance to offer a smile or a cheery greeting to someone in need, which might bring them more joy than a glass of wine ever could. It might be a simple act of service; a fully engaged, eye-to-eye conversation; an effort to speak out for justice for those whose voices are not heard. In ways too numerous to count, God seeks to transform the situations we are in. He gives us the opportunity – the privilege! – of letting him first transform us into more than we were, so that we can do more than we were doing to convey the love of God to those around us. God is always finding opportunities for us to bring joy to others and make them more aware of the presence of God in their midst. How can we be ready and flexible, so that when Jesus calls us to do something different, we can fulfill his purposes even though we might not see the full picture of what God is doing? 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

The cursing of the fig tree was a prophetic action, where Jesus stands against those who are "all leaf and no fruit." Is our metaphorical fig tree producing fruit or withering? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 21:18-22 The cursing of the fig tree was a prophetic action, where Jesus stands against those who are "all leaf and no fruit." Is our metaphorical fig tree producing fruit or withering? Image by Wyxina Tresse, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 5, 2025 Matthew 21:18-22 Jesus curses a fig tree What do you think is going on in this incident? On his first day in Jerusalem, Jesus uses tactics we have seldom seen him use in the past. He is no longer concerned about attracting attention. He has made a dramatic entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, driven money changers and sellers out of the Temple, healed people in the Temple under the indignant noses of the chief priests, and now cursed a fig tree. What is going on? One way to interpret this is that Jesus is doing what many Old Testament prophets did: he is using dramatic public actions to illustrate symbolically what the leaders have ignored when he has merely spoken. These kinds of actions might be thought of as acted-out parables . (Protest movements would call it “street theater.”) Here are some of the things Old Testament prophets did that seem to be similar to Jesus’s actions in these acted-out parables: At the Lord’s direction, Jeremiah called the elders and senior priests together and destroyed a clay jug in their presence, telling them that this is what God would do to their houses and the house of the king if they did not repent (Jer. 19:1-13). Ahijah bought a new garment and tore it into 12 pieces to dramatize the breakup of David’s kingdom (1 Kings 11:29-31). Ezekiel baked bread on dung in the sight of the people and ate it for a year (Ezek. 4:9-17). When the people did not wake up to the calamity they faced, Ezekiel cut off his hair, divided it into three pieces, and then burned one-third, went around the city striking one-third with a sword, and scattered the last third to the wind, symbolizing what would happen to the nation (Ezek. 5:1-12). Isaiah took off his clothes and went naked and barefoot for 3 years to symbolize the coming defeat that would result in the people being led away naked and barefoot into captivity and exile (Is. 20:1-6). Jesus is using prophetic actions , direct actions similar to these, to try to wake up the religious leaders. American Catholic novelist Flannery O’Connor wrote stories that were often considered violent, disturbing, and even grotesque. He explained why: “When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock – to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.” (qtd. in Austin Dominic Litke, O.P. “ Reading Flannery O’Connor in our times .”) Many people are bothered by the idea that Jesus might have cursed a poor tree, and they are even more troubled when they see that Mark says it was not the time for figs (Mark 11:13). Scholars have a variety of sometimes contradictory explanations: Some say that in fact figs do grow on fig trees in Israel at the time of year when the Passover occurs, and this tree was deficient. Others say that leaves don’t grow on fig trees until later in the Spring, so this tree had leaves when it should not have had leaves, a sign that it was not flourishing properly and would not produce fruit at the proper time. Others say that fig trees start with a knob that is not a delicious fig but can be eaten, and the tree should have had these knobs by this time of the year. A tree with no “fruit” (i.e., no knobs) at this point in the growing cycle would not produce fruit later in the year. Others point to the fact that the word Mark uses when he says that it was not the “time” for figs is the Greek word kairos , which is usually used in the New Testament to speak of a special kind of time: God’s time, the appointed time. So the tree should have had fruit because it was God’s time for that tree to have fruit for Jesus, but it was not responding to God’s time, just as the Jewish leaders were not responding to the unique moment or “time” they were in, a time when they should have been welcoming Jesus as the Messiah. Since this action of Jesus seems to be a prophetic action or acted-out parable – an action taken to make a broader point – let’s focus on the metaphor and the broader point Jesus is making, not the tree. If Jesus’s action is a metaphor, what do you think the fig tree and its lack of fruit stand for? The fig tree was sometimes used in the Old Testament as a reference to Israel – for example, in Jeremiah 8:12-13 and Hosea 9:10. Israel, as represented by their leaders, is not producing the fruit God expects to find. Mark tells the story of the fig tree in two parts, happening on successive days, with the cleansing of the Temple happening in-between. Since his Gospel was written first, it is possible that his sequencing of the story is closer to the actual timeline of what happened. His narrative establishes a clear connection between the cleansing of the Temple and the cursing of the fig tree. Matthew condenses the fig tree story but still keeps it adjacent to the cleansing of the Temple. When we see the connection, we realize that Jesus’s action is not about this tree’s fruit. The tree sacrificed its life so that the Lord of the Universe could perform a dramatic prophetic action to try to wake up the Jewish leaders. If the fig tree stands for Israel, i.e., the Jewish people, what is Jesus trying to tell the Jewish leaders? The Jewish leaders might be described as all leaf and no fruit. What kind of fruit should the leaders have been showing? How can we avoid being all leaf and no fruit? What should our “fruit” look like? Perhaps the most surprising thing about this passage is that Jesus does not explain his action. He does not talk about the tree or the fruit. He does not talk about the leaders. When he is questioned by the disciples, he makes a separate point that has nothing to do with the leaders, the fruit, or the leaves. Perhaps he concluded that the acted-out parable did not have the desired effect so he decided not to belabor the point, or the disciples didn’t remember his point, or the Gospel writers didn’t think there was value in explaining the point or thought we would grasp the point without it being said. He will make the point again in some of the parables he will tell in the next few days, as he returns to prophetic teaching rather than prophetic acting: Our actions need to conform to what we profess or claim about ourselves. We need fruit, not just leaves. How is the metaphorical fig tree of the Church (God’s people) doing these days? In what ways is it producing fruit or withering? How is your metaphorical fig tree doing? In what ways are you producing fruit or withering? How does Jesus respond in verse 21, when the disciples ask how the tree withered so fast? Rather than warning people that they might be at risk of suffering what the tree suffered, Jesus unexpectedly suggests that the disciples might be able to do the same thing he did if they have faith. In verse 21 and at the end of verse 22, what does he ask his followers to exhibit? What does this passage say to you about your own faith life and prayer life? Do you think Jesus is talking literally about trees and mountains (that if I have enough faith, I could cause a tree to wither or a mountain to move?), or is he speaking metaphorically? What are the “trees” and “mountains” that we might need to talk to God about with undoubting faith? Christians tend to like the mountain metaphor: we see obstacles, call them mountains, and pray that they will be removed. Can the fig tree be a useful metaphor for us as well? What might be some things we could approach God about in prayer, that we would like to see wither away so that God’s will would be done in our lives? How can we build the kind of faith that is not about getting God to do what we want, but rather about living in such union with God that we can ask for the right things and trust him completely that he will work in and through us? Take a step back and consider this: The clearing of the Temple and the cursing of the fig tree can raise many questions in our minds. Let’s not lose sight of the big picture. Jesus is calling us to live lives totally devoted to God, and this dedication should be manifest in our public lives: in the “Temple,” in marketplace, in our workplaces, in our families, everywhere. If the chief priests and scribes had believed in Jesus, he would never have felt the need to cause a fig tree to wither as a metaphor for their lack of faith. But the point was never about the fig tree; the point was that the nation was withering because of the lack of faith of the chief priests and scribes. Perhaps our lack of faith also causes things to “wither” that would flourish if we had faith. When we fail to trust that God has our back, we may be tempted to do inappropriate things that wither our spiritual life rather than giving life. When we fail to believe in and support the people around us, our actions or inaction may wither the life in them and us. When we do the easy thing instead of the right thing, and do it again and again, our connection to God will gradually wither. Every day, we face choices that lead us to cry hosanna to the Son of David or to take actions that contribute to the withering of our life with Christ. How can you recognize and consciously reject actions that cause faith to wither? How can you help your own faith and the faith of the people around you to produce fruit? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

What are you called to do in the work of God’s vineyard? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 21:33-46 What are you called to do in the work of God’s vineyard? Jan Luyken (1649-1712). Gelijkenis van de pachters van de wijngaard [Parable of the wicked tenants] . 1703. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gelijkenis_van_de_pachters_van_de_wijngaard,_RP-P-OB-45.110.jpg . Tom Faletti August 7, 2025 Matthew 21:33-46 The parable of the tenants who kill the landowner’s son Recall that in the previous passage , Jesus was drawing a contrast between the chief priests and elders, who have failed to respond to the preaching of John and Jesus, and the “tax collectors and prostitutes,” who have come to believe and are therefore entering into the kingdom of God ahead of the chief priests and elders. Jesus tells a second parable that applies to the chief priests and elders. It uses the longstanding image of the Jewish people as God’s vineyard. The image appears especially in Isaiah 5:1-7, a passage the Jewish leaders would have known well. Read Isaiah 5:1-7 . In the Isaiah passage, in the first verses of chapter 5, what did the vineyard owner do? How does this represent God’s love for his chosen people Israel? What has he done for them? What did the vineyard do in response to the owner’s love (see verse 2 and verse 4)? In the Jewish mind, everything that happened was caused by God. They did not make a distinction between what God causes and what God allows . So they saw the destruction of the vineyard – i.e., Israel in Isaiah’s time – as the direct act of God. We, who see a difference between what God causes and what God allows , might see this as a case where God allowed the nations around Israel to attack and destroy Israel (verse 5: “take away its hedge”), rather than that God directly visited ruin upon them. Now return to Matthew 21:33-46 . Who does the landowner represent? Who do the tenants represent? Who do the servants of the landowner in verses 34-36 represent? Who does the owner’s son represent? In Mark 12:8, the tenants kill the son and throw him out of the vineyard. In Matthew, the order is reversed, as they throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. Some scholars see in Matthew’s order a reference to the fact that Jesus was killed outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem (John 19:17, 20; Hebrews 13:12-13). Who are the “other” tenants in verse 41 who the owner will subsequently bring on as his tenants? The usual interpretation of this parable is that the owner is God; the vineyard is Israel (or Jerusalem); the original tenants are the leaders of the people – the chief priests and elders; the servants are the Old Testament prophets, whom the nation of Israel often mistreated and sometimes killed (although Matthew adds that one of them was stoned, which could be a reference to Stephen – see Acts 7:54-60); the son is Jesus; and the new tenants are a new Israel (or the true Israel) composed of people who believe in Jesus. Matthew’s community, a people who received the kingdom, was a collection of Jews and Gentiles. In having so many connections to the story of salvation history, this parable is more like an allegory than most of Jesus’s parables. How does this story portray the chief priests and elders, who will soon ask the Roman authorities to put Jesus to death? What does this story say about the people who are putting their faith in Jesus? What does this parable tell us about God? Notice that the landowner, like God, trusts the workers without standing over them micromanaging every move. He is patient when they rebel. He cares so much about his vineyard that he sends his son. Although he is patient, he does bring judgment ultimately. What does this parable tell us about Jesus? He is not just a prophet; he is God’s son. He will be killed. However, there will be an accounting in the end. Where are we in this story? What does the parable tell us about ourselves? The stone In Matthew 21:42, Jesus ends the parable by pointing to a quote from Psalm 118:22-23 (“the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”). It might also remind the chief priests and elders of the saying in Isaiah 28:16 where God says that he is laying a cornerstone in Zion (Jerusalem) that is a sure foundation for people’s faith. Who is this cornerstone? What happens to the cornerstone? Jesus, the cornerstone, is rejected by the builders – i.e., the leaders of Jerusalem. The quote from the Psalms say that God has done this and it is “marvelous” or “wonderful” in our eyes. How would you explain what is wonderful about Jesus being the cornerstone of our faith and of our relationship with God? When Jesus quotes this passage from the Psalms, how does it answer the question the leaders asked in Matthew 21:23, when they asked by what authority Jesus is doing what he is doing? In verse 43, Jesus speaks judgment upon the leaders. What does he say will happen to them? The passage about the vineyard in Isaiah has similar language. You can read Isaiah 5:11-16 to see that. In verse 43, Jesus says the kingdom will be taken away from them and given to a people who will produce the proper fruit of God’s kingdom. Who are those people, and what is the “fruit” they produce? The early Christians saw this statement by Jesus as being fulfilled when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and scattered the Jewish people. They saw the Church (the Christian people) as the “other tenants,” the people producing fruit. Verse 44 does not appear in many of the early manuscripts, but it is in Luke 20:18 (Luke’s version of this same parable), so it makes sense here. Jesus may be drawing on a couple of Old Testament images: Isaiah 8:14-15 has an image of God as a rock that both Israel and Judah will stumble over, and they will fall and be broken. In Daniel 2:32-35 and 43-45, Daniel interprets a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had, in which a stone that was not made by human hands crushes a statue that represents the powerful nations of the world from the time of Babylon through the time of the Greeks. Verse 44 has been interpreted in many different ways: perhaps the first group is those who humble themselves before God and fall on Jesus in repentance, while the second group is those who resist the saving grace of Jesus. How have you found yourself needing to be “broken” as part of the process of embracing the call of Jesus in your life? In verses 45-46, we see the reaction of the chief priests and Pharisees. This is the first time Matthew has mentioned the Pharisees since Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. The recognize that Jesus’s parable refers to them. What would they like to do, but don’t do, and why? The lines have now been clearly drawn. The political die has been cast. As Jesus foretold before he came to Jerusalem, he is on a clear path to be executed by the leaders of his society. God never forces anyone to do evil. Each person who is opposing Jesus could have chosen a different path. What is Jesus offering to the leaders, as a way to get off of the tragic path they are on? In this story, we are among the “other tenants” who have been given a shot at working in God’s vineyard. What a great privilege that is! What are you doing with your opportunity? How are you working in God’s vineyard? What more could you be doing, to do the work of God? Take a step back and consider this: The range of people circling in and around God’s vineyard is vast. When people encounter Jesus, there are many different ways they might respond: Some are put off by the claims he makes, or the demands he makes, and they reject him without ever embracing him. Some may be living unruly lives when they encountered Jesus, but they see the truth in his calling, decide to follow him, and find themselves being transformed by the relationship they develop with him. Some are raised “in the faith” but do not discover a personal experience of Jesus. They go through the motions of the faith and then fall away or just keep going through the motions without developing a vital relationship with Jesus. These members of our community need a new encounter with Jesus to help them connect with him on an adult level and follow him on a personal level. Some are raised in the church, fall away, and then subsequently have a new encounter that helps them recommit their lives to following Jesus. Some are raised in the faith and develop a personal relationship with Jesus early on that matures into an adult commitment to him without ever falling away. Jesus wants all of them to be part of his team – the people who are working in his vineyard to produce the fruit of the kingdom. Every time the sun goes down, it is a chance to reflect on what we have done today. Every time the sun rises, it is a new day in the vineyard – a new chance to be open to the fruit of God’s Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and to “press on,” as the apostle Paul puts it (Phil. 3:14). Every day, Jesus invites us to take another step. We can ask: What would Jesus like to help you do today in the work of God’s vineyard? What can you do to help someone else stay true to their calling as a worker in God’s vineyard? Let us embrace our calling as tenants in the vineyard of the Lord, in whatever capacity he gives us and in whatever work he calls us to do. Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Jesus calls his followers to persevere in the face of persecution and links it to the preaching of the Gospel to all nations. How are you sharing the good news of Jesus? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 24:1-14 Jesus calls his followers to persevere in the face of persecution and links it to the preaching of the Gospel to all nations. How are you sharing the good news of Jesus? Modern-day view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, including the Temple Mount and the Eastern Wall of the Old City. Photo by Mustang Joe. 10 Sept. 2023. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jerusalem_from_the_Mount_of_Olives_(53714451089).jpg . Tom Faletti September 5, 2025 Read Matthew 24:1-3 and consider the following background information before going on. In Matthew 21:23, Matthew told us that Jesus had come into the Temple area. Jesus’s confrontations with the leaders and his denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees occur on the Temple grounds – on their turf, in the place where they were used to being comfortable and in control. Jesus’s last words in the previous chapter told us that the Temple would one day be desolate – i.e., deserted (Matt. 23:38). Now, Jesus leaves the Temple area and leaves the city itself. He crosses the Kidron Valley to the east and climbs up the Mount of Olives. The peaks of this mountain ridge are slightly higher than the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives offers a clear, even breathtaking, view of the Temple and the city. Matthew tells us that Jesus’s disciples approach him while he is seated on the Mount of Olives (24:3). The location of this conversation between Jesus and his disciples is significant because the Mount of Olives is mentioned in the Old Testament. Zechariah In the book of the prophet Zechariah (chapters 12-14), Zechariah speaks an oracle from God that later generations interpreted as a messianic prophecy about the coming of the kingdom of God. In his prophecy, Zechariah describes a time when Jerusalem will be attacked and God will act on behalf of Jerusalem to vanquish its enemies. Before the prophecy mentions the Mount of Olives, it makes several statements that Christians interpret as prophecies about Jesus: Zechariah 12:10 says that “when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first born” (NRSV). Zechariah 13:1 says: “On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (NRSV). Zechariah 13:7b says: “Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered” (NRSV). Then Zechariah mentions the Mount of Olives: Read Zechariah 14:1-5 . What will happen to Jerusalem, according to this prophecy? It will be plundered, and the people will be sent into exile. According to Zechariah 14:3-4, whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives to defend the people of Jerusalem from their enemies? God’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. Now, in Matthew, Jesus’s feet stand on the Mount of Olives – Jesus, who is God incarnate. How are these passages relevant to the discussion we saw earlier in Matthew, where Jesu explains that the Messiah (i.e., Jesus) is greater than David? Ezekiel The Mount of Olives also appears at a key moment in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel is warning about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel is describing a vision where he sees the glory of the LORD rise up from the Temple (the first temple, which was built by Solomon) and move toward the east gate of the Temple (Ezek. 10:18-19). The glory of the LORD then moves away from the city to the mountain east of the city (Ezek. 11:22-23). That mountain is the Mount of Olives. Soon after that, the first Temple is destroyed in 586 BC. Ezekiel later has a vision of God rebuilding the Temple, and when the Temple has been properly built and furnished, the glory of the Lord returns to the city from the east and fills the Temple (Ezek. 43:1-4). The book of Ezekiel describes the Lord God moving out of the city of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives before the city is destroyed in 586 BC, and then returning when the Temple is rebuilt. How might this be a foreshadowing of Jesus? These passages from Zechariah and Ezekiel show how the Mount of Olives becomes a significant place in the Old Testament. Because of this background, Jesus’s movement between the city and the Mount of Olives is sometimes interpreted in prophetic or apocalyptic terms. Read Matthew 24:1-14 the destruction of the Temple and the beginnings of calamities When the disciples point out the Temple buildings, which they can see at a distance from the Mount of Olives, what does Jesus say will happen to the Temple (verse 2)? We know that this happened at the culmination of the war from AD 66 to 70, and Matthew’s readers know it because it happened before the Gospel of Matthew was written (probably in the 80s). They ask him two questions in verse 3: When will this happen, and what will be the sign of Jesus’s return as the Son of Man and the end of the world as we know it? Jesus clarifies that these are two separate events and that it will be a long process. What does Jesus say will happen before the end, in verse 5? What does he add in verse 6? What does he add in verse 7? There will be false prophets, wars, and natural disasters. Note that we have seen those repeatedly throughout history, so we should not place too much significance on any particular false prophet, war, or natural disaster. In verse 8, what does Jesus say about those events? Will the end coming swiftly after those things happen? No. In verse 8 he says these are only “the beginning of the birth pangs.” The Jews expected that there would be tribulation and sufferings before the end. What are “birth pangs” and is the time usually short or long between the “beginning” of birth pangs and the ultimate delivery? Jesus says those troubles are just the beginning. In verses 9-12, what does he say will happen to the Christian community? In verse 9, it is interesting to see Jesus say they will be hated by “all the nations.” The persecution reminds us of Matthew 5:11 in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you when they . . . persecute you . . . because of me.” The “all nations” prefigures Matthew 28:19, Jesus’s last instructions before his Ascension, when he tells the disciples to “make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 5:11-12 and verse 9 here suggest that Jesus expects his followers to be persecuted. Where are followers of Christ being persecuted today? Should we expect, or at least be prepared for, persecution? Are we doing the things that a follower of Christ would do that might lead to persecution? Explain. In verse 12, Jesus says, “because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold” (NRSV). Why is it that when a society is in disorder (lawlessness), people are less concerned about others (show less love)? We can see this link between lawlessness and a loss of love for others in our own day. What are some social issues where people’s willingness to be charitable or welcoming or loving toward others might be affected by how they feel about whether their own situation is in good order or out of control? Among many possible examples, here are 2: Those who work for restorative justice in the criminal justice system have experienced this. Reforms that seek to place a greater emphasis on restoration and rehabilitation must be done in a way that it does not become associated with an increase in crime, because if crime rates go up, people are more likely to demand punitive measures and reject rehabilitative or restorative processes. Similarly, it is harder to gain support for policies that are more welcoming toward immigrants when immigration is thought to be out of control or lawless. When people perceive an increase in lawlessness, their hearts grow cold and unloving. What encouragement does Jesus offer in verse 13? Matthew is familiar with persecution and wants to encourage his community to persevere. Why is perseverance important? How is perseverance important for us? What difference does it make? In our own lives, we may not suffer persecution or martyrdom, but we are still called to “endure” (NRSV) or “persevere” (NABRE) to the end. What would it look like in our own lives for us to endure or persevere to the end? In verse 14, what does Jesus say happens before the end will come? Verse 14 reflects a core theme of Matthew: that the good news or gospel must be proclaimed throughout the world. How important do you think this goal is, and why? Note that Jesus does not say that “as soon as” the gospel has been preached to the whole world, the end will come. There are groups today that make it sound like they are engaged in evangelism because they think it will hasten the Second Coming. But Jesus does not draw such a direct link. Moreover, sharing the good news (evangelization) is important for its own sake. People need the good news of God’s salvation and the opportunity to have a relationship with God. Their lives are better when they know Jesus, and they are blessed when they learn how to become more like him. That is why we evangelize. How good of a job do you think we are doing of proclaiming gospel – the good news of Jesus – throughout the world? In what ways are you preaching or proclaiming the good news? What more could you do personally to help proclaim the good news? Take a step back and consider this: God’s people, throughout the centuries, have tried to reach the whole world with the gospel. But it isn’t “one and done” for any particular region or population. First, new generations keep coming, who need to hear about the good news. Second, whole areas that once claimed to be guided by the gospel of Jesus are now considered places where the gospel needs to be preached anew. Some churches even have a word for this phenomenon: they describe some places as “post-Christian,” meaning that Christianity is no longer the predominant religion in that area and Christian values no longer seem to drive the society’s values, so the gospel must be preached again almost from scratch. In what ways is your town, your community, your nation a “post-Christian” society where the gospel needs to be taught from scratch because people don’t even know the basics of Christianity? What would your church have to do to better attract the people of a post-Christian society to spend some time with you and learn more about this “Jesus” whom you proclaim? 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

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

Paul sends Onesimus to Philemon with a letter. Previous Philemon List Next Introduction Paul sends Onesimus to Philemon with a letter. Paul and Onesimus. “A Letter to Philemon.” VideoBible.com . Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/vb-philemon/ . Tom Faletti October 4, 2025 Introduction The apostle Paul wrote this brief letter to Philemon, asking him to treat kindly a man they both knew. The introductory notes are brief, so they are included in the study of the first part of the letter, which can be found here: Philemon 1-7 . Click Philemon 1-7 to see the Introduction and continue with the study. Bibliography See Philemon - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/philemon/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 Philemon List Next

John the Baptist: Repentance is not comfortable but is part of our calling. Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 3:1-12 John the Baptist: Repentance is not comfortable but is part of our calling. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti March 15, 2024 Matthew 3:1-12 John prepares the way by calling for repentance, baptizing those who respond John is in a place east of Jerusalem, perhaps 6 miles north of the Dead Sea. It is not an easy place to live. The Greek word used to describe that place is translated as the “wilderness” (NRSV) or “desert” (NABRE). People had to make an intentional decision to go there. In the West, Christians call this man John the Baptist. If we want to clarify that we don’t mean he was a member of the Baptist denomination, we might say John the Baptizer. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Christians call him “John the Forerunner,” because he came before and announced the coming of Christ. Let’s look first at what is going on in this passage, and then we will look at what his message of repentance means. What is happening in this passage? Who is involved? How would you describe John the Baptist’s character traits or personality? What is John’s central message? Is there significance in his being in a wilderness/desert? Matthew makes explicit Old Testament connections everywhere he sees them, and he sees John in the Old Testament: In verse 3, Matthew quotes Isaiah 40:3. What does that quote from Isaiah suggest to us about John? Why do you think it is important to Matthew that John fulfills that Old Testament passage? In verse 4, Matthew describes John’s clothing and food. What do you picture as you read this? Why is this image of John important? In 2 Kings 1:7-8, the prophet Elijah wore a hairy garment and a leather belt. Zechariah 13:4 tells us that prophets, include false prophets, wore a hairy mantle. John is baptizing not far from the place traditionally identified as the place where Elijah was taken up into heaven, and the Jews expected Elijah’s return before the coming of the Messiah. Why might John’s mannerisms and language have heightened interest in him? The Jews were concerned that there had not been a prophet, a voice of God, in their midst for several centuries. The connections between him and the Old Testament heightened the significance with which they saw him. John uses the word “repent” in verse 2. What does it mean to “repent”? The Hebrew word teshubah comes from the verb shub , meaning to turn (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 45), leading to the idea that repentance means turning around. The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoia , which means to think differently or have a change of mind. These concepts are often combined to create the concept that to repentance is to change your mind and turn away from sin and to God. Why should the people repent, according to John? What is “the kingdom of heaven”? What does that phrase mean to you? Matthew is the only Gospel writer to use the term “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God.” The two different phrases are often used in the same statements and stories in the different Gospels, so it is hard to argue that they have different meanings. However, they have different connotations. Matthew might have decided to avoid the word “God” out of deference to the Jews, who were hesitant to speak the name of God (H. L. Ellison, “Matthew,” The International Bible Commentary , p. 1123), but there is a further point. In Jesus’s time, the Jews expected a messiah who would free them from political oppression. Referring to the kingdom “of heaven” might have allowed Matthew “to distinguish the kingdom proclaimed by John (3:2) and Jesus (4:17) from popular hopes for a literal restoration of Israel’s political empire” ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , p.11). The kingdom Jesus preached is not an earthly political kingdom; it is a kingdom that encompasses far more, a realm that transcends temporal political arrangements. In verses 7-8, John makes it clear that baptism is not free. It demands a change. What is the “price” of being baptized? What does John expect people to do to show that their repentance is genuine? What would that evidence look like? Is it genuine repentance if you decide you are doing something wrong but don’t actually do something else instead? Explain. In verses 9-10, what does John warn that God is going to do? In verses 11-12, John makes a prophecy about what is coming. What does he say is coming? What will the one who is coming do? Considering John’s overall message and what you know happened later, was John right about how things were going to play out or did his vision need to be corrected/tweaked? Read the passage again, but this time, pick a character and see it through that person’s eyes, thinking their thoughts, and asking several questions that I will give you below. (If you are studying this passage with a small group, have different people take different characters so that the whole list is covered by someone.) The characters to consider are: John. A “perfect 10” Pharisee (devoted to honoring God by strict observance of the entire law – including the Pentateuch (the written Torah), the rest of the Hebrew Bible, and also the oral legal traditions (sometimes called the oral Torah). An ordinary “5-6” Jew (The “5-6” Jews are the ones described in verses 5-6, who are trying to live a reasonably religious life but are probably not zealous about it and would not be rated a “10” like the Pharisees). A Sadducee (from the priestly aristocratic party, committed only to the written Torah/Pentateuch rather than the whole Old Testament and more politically savvy). Jesus (not having started your public ministry yet). God in heaven (whose kingdom and actions John is talking about). With regard to the character you chose: Why are you there? What do you think about John (or about what John is doing)? What does John’s preaching lead you to do or make you think you should do? Now fast-forward 2000 years. Where would you be in this scene? If you did not already know about John the Baptist, what would you think about him? Knowing all that you know, in what ways might you respond to John? What repentance do you need to consider? In what ways does God want you to think differently? What is God asking you to change right now? What good fruit (v. 8) do you think you need to be showing? Scholars disagree about whether the baptism with “the holy Spirit and fire” is talking about one thing or two. Is there a baptism of the Holy Spirit for the repentant and a baptism of fire for the unrepentant? Or are the terms synonymous, with the one baptism producing either purification (for the repentant) or destruction (for the unrepentant)? (This issue is raised, for example, in the NABRE in a footnote to 3:11.) Does it matter? Or is this just a good way to segue to: When John was preaching, no one would have known what being “baptized with the Holy Spirit” means. But we know more. How is this baptism of the Holy Spirit different from John’s baptism of repentance? Among other things, it is transformational in a way that the baptism of repentance was not. What does it mean to you to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? And what is the meaning of the baptism with fire and the burning of the chaff? If this is a baptism of fire in a positive sense, which later New Testament descriptions support, it is a purification that, again, changes us in ways that a simple repentance and confession of sin may not. Does it provide some encouragement that Matthew connects repentance and the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit get involved in our lives to help us repent and produce good fruit? Take a step back and consider this: Repentance is necessary for spiritual growth, but it is usually not a comfortable process. To repent requires us to recognize where we are falling short. Furthermore, it requires us to act on that recognition and actually make a change. The change comes in two parts: a change of mind – thinking differently than we used to think – and a change of action to conform our lives to the new thinking we are doing. If we were going to write the equation of repentance, we might write it this way: Repentance = Recognizing what’s wrong + thinking differently + acting differently Thinking differently is often uncomfortable. Acting differently can also be uncomfortable – we are creatures of habit and relinquishing old habits in order to take on new habits can be hard. Fortunately, we are not alone in the repentance process. God is trying to work the character of Jesus into us and then let that character guide all we say and do. He does not leave us alone in that process. He is always trying to help us. He has sent his Holy Spirit into our hearts, to guide and empower us. We are constantly invited to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can make the changes that allow Jesus to radiate in us and through us. For Christians, we are not asked to “tough it out” on our own. Repentance is something God is doing in us, with our cooperation – if we are willing. And the fruit of repentance is not something we need to dream up and then carry out on our own. God wants to work through us to change the world around us, to advance the work of the kingdom of heaven through our lives. So the fundamental question is: Am I willing to let God show me where I need to change my thinking? Am I wiling to put his thinking into action in my life? Am I willing to let the Holy Spirit empower me to produce good fruit? If the answer is “Yes,” then I need to stay in close contact with God. What am I doing to stay tuned in to God, so that my thinking and actions reflect his character and desires? 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