Matthew 17, The Transfiguration (NASB)

Matthew has told us that there is to be a future "revealing" of the Son of Man.  In this chapter, we turn a corner.  Jesus's preaching ministry is near an end and he will soon make one last trip to Jerusalem, there to die.

Matt 17:1-3

Six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and James, and his brother John, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 

This occurs just after Jesus has promised the disciples that they will see the Son of Man coming in glory.

I wonder what Moses, Elijah and Jesus talk about....

Matt 17:4-8

Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, I will make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

Peter always speaks his mind.  He is eager to create a place the three heroes can rest.  But he needs to be listening.

Matt 17:9-13

When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

So part of the Old Testament prophecy, to their understanding, has been fulfilled by John the Baptist.

Matt 17:14-18

When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” 

And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed [h]at once.

Was it a demon?  Or something else?  How would our medical profession view this?

Jesus is clearly frustrated with his disciples.  They apparently still have a long way to go in their training.

Matt 17:19-20

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 

And He said to them, “Because of your meager faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Verse 21 (in old texts) is questionable (not appearing in early Greek copies of Matthew) and has been removed by the NIV.  A translation of it would be "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting," which was likely copied from a parallel passage in Mark 9:29.

Matt 17:22-23

And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be handed over to men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

This is a depressing statement to the disciples. There is lots of evil in the world and it often seems to be winning.

Matt 17:24-27

Now when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” 

He said, “Yes.” 

And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” 

When Peter said, “From strangers,” 

Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt. However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

The "temple tax" (NIV) is a translation of Greek for "the two drachmas". Jesus clearly does not seek confrontation with the political system, although he continues to confront religious hypocrisy.

The Synoptic Gospels

On Sundays we take a break from reading another chapter and spend a brief time summarizing what we've been reading (or will read.)

Even a cursory reading of the New Testament reveals that the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are very similar, with many common stories and parables.  Then the fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, is very different, with different events and a special collection of teachings by Jesus that do not appear in the other three.

Presumably, the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke had a common source for their accounts of Jesus's ministry and had personal reasons for deviations from that account.  Matthew, written to Jews, deviates from the common accounts to quote Old Testament prophecies, for example while Luke, written by a Greek to the Gentiles, adds observations and stories that might be of interest to the individual not aware of Jewish history.  (Luke is also careful to mention women in the Jesus ministry, naming women among his followers, both before and after the resurrection.)

One of the simplest explanations for the common passages in the first three gospels is that the Gospel of Mark was written first and that the other two gospel writers had access to Mark as an outline for their work.   (From the first few verses of the Gospel of Luke, we see that Luke interviewed individuals before writing his report, so one would expect that he would have access to Mark's gospel, if had had been written by that time.)

One can then explain the Gospel of John as deliberately different from the other three, since John, writing much later, probably assumes those other stories have been told and wants to add to, flesh out, the reports on Jesus's acts and teachings.

The term commonly used to identify the first three gospels, distinct from that of John, is "synoptic".  More information, in considerable depth, is available on this Wikipedia page .

Related to the 3+1 gospels in the New Testament is the issue of gospel harmony.  Can we, using the four gospels, create an orderly summary of the events of the life of Christ?  There is an old, classical tradition of this and I have several harmonies of the life of Christ in my personal library.  These attempts differ slightly since the different gospels do have different orders for certain events and teachings.  And, very likely, Jesus taught the same messages several different times, in different places.  The Wikipedia page on this, at the link above, does a pretty good job of outlining one version of a gospel harmony, giving a table with 161 events from the life of Christ, along with their references in the four gospels.  Those 161 events – with representative church artwork! – can be found here.

Tomorrow we return to Matthew, reading the growing challenges by the religious leaders, as Jesus spends the Passover Week in Jerusalem.

Matthew 20, Towards Jerusalem (Humility & Service)

More teaching on the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 20:1-16
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out  early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, `You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.'
So they went. 

"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, `Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' `Because no one has hired us,' they answered. He said to them, `You also go and work in my vineyard.'

"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, `Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'  The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.  So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. 

"But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the  landowner. `These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they  said, `and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

"But he answered one of them, `Friend, I am not being unfair  to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?  Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money?  Or are you envious because I am generous?'

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

This is not an economic philosophy, but a statement about God reaching out to the Gentiles.

Matt 20:17-19
Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them,"We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.  They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"

We are going to have a lesson in submission and humility, subverting the way of the world.

Matt 20:20-23
Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

"What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."

"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" 

"We can," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."

Jesus passes this request off as something beyond his power.  It seems there were certainly limits to his humanity.

Matt 20:24-28
When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high  officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Service, humility, not power -- this is what is important in the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 20:29-34
As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of  David, have mercy on us!"

The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on  us!"

Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

"Lord," they answered, "we want our sight."

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes.  Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

I wonder if the blind men really expected this or were even asking for this.  What was their perspective?  Why were there two?  Sitting together?

These teachings have had a common theme of service and humility.  All of this is a prelude to entering Jerusalem during Passover Week.

More online resources for Matthew

On Sundays we relax a bit from this blog, catching up on our readings or briefly summarizing where we have been or where we are going.  Today I want to note a few more online resources.

The Blue Letter Bible has a study guide on Matthew.  It begins here.

Bob Utley, a pastor out of East Texas (where I'm located now) has a nice overview of various passages from the Bible.  Here is his introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.  Bob's accent meets the stereotype of the southern televangelist, but his understanding and communication of bible passages is much better than that.

On a different direction, here is the Wikipedia page on the Renaissance painting of Jesus calling the tax collector, Matthew, to be his follower.  The gospels were the source for much of medieval and Renaissance art.

While searching Youtube, I found a four hour (!!) adaptation of Matthew as film. Personally this is not for me (I'd rather read the whole book – in the KJV – than watch this slow moving film!) but I it shows the things one can try to do with Bible Study.

Tomorrow we return to Matthew, looking at the "transfiguration" which appears in chapter 17.

Matthew 15, A Canaanite woman and 4000 Gentiles

The religious leaders never liked Jesus.  The feeling is mutual, for Jesus preaches a message of reformation, a "completion" of Judaism, a true consecration of the heart.

Matt 15:1-9
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"

Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, `Honor your father and mother' and  `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to  death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, `Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to `honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:`These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"

Notice that Jesus doesn't answer their questions but uses it to ask one of his own.

The first quotes in verse 4 are from the ten commandments, Exodus 20:12 and Deut. 5:16. The second set of quotes in verse 4 are from Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9.  The quote in verse 9 is from Isaiah 29:13.

Matt 15:10-14
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him `unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him `unclean.'"

Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

Jesus is unconcerned about the Pharisees and associates them with the "tares" or weeds of an earlier parable.  But he has to explain that parable to the disciples, along with his emphasis on speech (or thought) over mere dietary practices.

Matt 15:15-9
Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."

"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man `unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him `unclean.'"

This seems to be one of the simpler parables (not even a real parable?) but the disciples are unsure. Notice that Jesus is willing to be rather abrupt with his disciples.  Presumably when he says, "Are you so dull?" he is trying to get their attention?

Matt 15:21-28
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

I find this a beautiful passage.  Jesus appears unmoved by the woman.  But her stubbornness unleashes his compassion and care.

Jesus has a plan for the Gentiles and this woman's faith and determination (indeed desperation!) allow him to implement it.  The woman's "faith" could also be described as stubbornness and determination. It is not meek.  It is not intellectual.  It is an act of the will and, in its simplest form, pure persistence. Maybe there is hope for my stubbornness?!

Matt 15:29-31
Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing.  And they praised the God of Israel.

Jesus continues to heal and most people recognize his authority.

Matt 15:32-39
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."

His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"

"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. 

"Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."

He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children.

After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

In this miracles it is clearly stated that these Gentiles have nothing to eat.  The "four thousand" presumably counts just the men; it does not include the women and children who accompanied them.

Matthew 14, the Death of John & Feeding of the 5000

Jesus has just finished his collections of parables on living as a member of the Kingdom of Heaven. Now we have a number of incidents and events that describe the climax of Jesus's ministry.

Matt 14:1-11
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him." Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her."

Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist."

The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.

Herod is trapped by his promises and his decadence.  And, of course, John pays the price for being the prophet who denounced Herod.

Matt 14:12-14
John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

The death of John distresses Jesus.  He withdraws from the populous but continues to minister.

Matt 14:15-21
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said,  "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

"Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

This is a strange miracle.  It reflects the manna that the Israelites got in the wilderness.
(The feeding of 4000, not 5000, occurs in the next chapter, Matthew 15:32-38.)

Matt 14:22-33
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 

Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying,  "Truly you are the Son of God."

A strange incident.  Why did Jesus allow Peter to step out of the boat?  What is the point?  Of all the miracles in Matthew, this one sounds the most mythical to me; unlike other miracles it does not seem to have a particular purpose.

From the NIV footnotes, the phrase in verse 24 translated "considerable distance" is literally, in Greek, "many stadia".  (A stadia was apparently 600 foot lengths, under 200 yards, probably about an tenth of a mile?)

Matt 14:34-36
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Wherever he lands, people are ready to come out and greet Jesus.  At this stage in his ministry, Jesus is "viral"; he is popular and wields considerable influence with his teachings.  But the death of John the Baptist signals a change; soon Jesus will have numerous political opponents, the religious teachers who will be out to destroy him.

Matthew 13: 24-58, More Parables for the Disciples

Here Matthew collects a series of parables, like the previous one on "the sower", all related to the kingdom of heaven. (This passage continues the "Parabolic Discourse".)

Matt 13:24-30
Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.  When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

"The owner's servants came to him and said, `Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come  from?'

"`An enemy did this,' he replied. The servants asked him,  `Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

"`No,' he answered, `because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

So we will not easily see the kingdom of heaven before the harvest.  Maybe embedded in this parable is a statement about making premature religious judgments?

Matt 13:31-33
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a  tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

In each of these the kingdom of heaven is small and unnoticed, at least at the beginning.

According to the footnotes to the New International Version (NIV) the Greek translated "large amount" was, in Greek, three satas which was "probably about 1/2 bushel or 22  liters".

Matt 13:34-35
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.  So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."

Jesus had a reason for speaking in parables; he was not trying to be easy to understand and follow, but demanding commitment and thought.  (Not a bad idea for us educators today....)

The quote in verse 35 is from Psalm 78:2.

Jesus's parable on the "sower" (recorded at the beginning of chapter 13) has disturbed his followers.

Matt 13:36-43
Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do  evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

"He who has ears, let him hear."

Part of the parable has a direct analogue in the world around Jesus and Jesus lays out those analogies.

The kingdom of God is serious, with serious consequences and choices.  (Not something I am particularly eager to hear!)

Matt 13:44-50
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore.  Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The kingdom of God is precious, valuable, worth more than anything we can offer in the short term.  Most of my life some aspect of this has sunk in ... and I am grateful for this lesson.

There is going to be an "end" (of this age) possibly far down the road....  and apparently a final separation and destruction?!

Matt 13:51-52
"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked. 

"Yes,"  they replied.

He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."

I think the disciples are lying when they say, "Yes"!

Matt 13:53-58

When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.  Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at him. 

But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Jesus's hometown is unwilling to believe the Messiah could be the boy they knew as a child.  What does this say about Jesus's childhood?  Or the hometown's worldview?

Isaiah 53 might be relevant here, as it gives an (unattractive) picture of the suffering Messiah.

Matthew 13: 1-23, Third Discourse (Parable of the Sower)

The third discourse of Jesus begins with a major parable and its explanation.

Matt 13:1-2
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.

Jesus has enough followers that he has to preach from a boat out in the lake.

13:3-9

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a  crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

He who has ears, let him hear."

This is a fundamental parable in the teachings of Jesus.  To understand the ministry of Jesus, want needs to grapple with several questions:  Why does Jesus speak in parables?  And what is he saying with this one?

What does this story tell us about the lifestyle of the speaker and listeners?  (What is their experience; what do they do for a living?)

So … what is this story really about?

13:10-15

The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"  He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing,  they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or  understand.  In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "`You will be  ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever  seeing but never perceiving.  For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly  hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their  ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would  heal them.'

Note that Jesus does not really answer the disciples question....  (Certainly not to my satisfaction!)

The quote in verse 15 is from Isaiah 6:9-10.

13:16-17

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

An alert to his listeners -- people in the past longed for this day. (And those of us in the future would like to be able to return to the past and partake in it!)

13:18-22
"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 

When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly  falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

This parable is explained!  (Many parables are not!  Jesus will follow this teaching with a number of shorter parables that will not be explained.)

Jesus has a reason for teaching in parables.  What is it?

The next passage will includes some more parables, in response to questions from the disciples.

Matthew 12: 1-29, Disputes about the Sabbath

In the previous chapter, Jesus's popularity has skyrocketed.  Everyone knows about him even though at times He has tried to keep the healings secret.  Now Jesus begins to get pushback from the religious leaders.  This begins with disputes about the Sabbath ... and quickly escalates.

Matt 12:1-8
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."

He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread--which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.

"Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.  If you had known what these words mean, `I desire mercy, not  sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Jesus is making Messianic claims.  The "Son of Man" was often a phrase for the Jewish Messiah.

From the NIV footnotes: In verse 6 the phrase "one greater than ..." could also apparently be interpreted "something greater than the temple..."  (This is also true with the parallel phrases in verses 41 and 42.)

The Old Testament quote in verse 7 is from Hosea 6:6.

Matt 12: 9-14
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"

He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and  lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

With this healing, and Jesus's refusal to cower to their demands, the Pharisees decide that he is a threat.

Matt 12: 15-21
Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was. 

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will  proclaim justice to the nations.  He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope."

The quote in verse 21 is from Isaiah 42:1-4.  Matthew makes it clear that this man is indeed the Jewish Messiah, meeting the Old Testament prophecies.

Matt 12: 22-29
Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.  All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then can his kingdom stand?  And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 

"Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house."

The Pharisees dismiss Jesus's power as demonic.  (There seems to be no attempt to dismiss these healings as fakery.)

The disputes with the Pharisees will grow sharper in the next passage of Matthew.

Matthew 9, New wine (a woman, a little girl, two blind men)

Jesus has crossed over the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) to the eastern side (the modern Golan Heights) and is now preparing to return to Galilee.

Matt 9:1-8
Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."

At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

Which is easier: to say, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Get up and walk'?  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic,  "Get up, take your mat and go home." And the man got up and went home.

When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.

This is a stunning story.  It is elaborated in Mark's gospel, with the men lowering the man down through a roof.  The story displays Jesus's interest in the man's heart, not just the physical ailments.  I like the part where Jesus responds to the thoughts of others around him and says, "Oh, by the way.... Get up...."

Matt 9:9-13
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his  disciples.

When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and `sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The quote in verse 13 is from Hosea 6:6.  Jesus emphasizes the appearance of a new covenant, one for sinners, for the depressed, the downtrodden.  The tainted Roman collaborator, Matthew, falls into this group.

Matt 9:14-17
Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment,  for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.  Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

New wine, which must sit and mature, goes into new wineskins which, by their very newness, have the flexibility required to last through the fermentation process.  With these "word pictures", these active metaphors, Jesus insists that there are things appropriate for their times.  The time of Jesus's ministry is a time of new wine, of a new covenant with God.

I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, on the appropriate seasons, and the song "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by Pete Seeger (made popular by The Byrds) which has a very similar interpretation.

Matt 9:18-26
While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him  and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live."

Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.  Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his  cloak.  She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."

Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.

When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him.

After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.  News of this spread through all that region.

A series of short miracles occur here, very rapidly.  This is the golden time of Jesus's ministry, when he has "gone viral" and everyone is talking about him.  But these miracles are motivated by compassion and Jesus is quick to respond to these requests.

Here, just after Jesus had called Matthew (the writer of this gospel), he is approached by a "ruler", presumably one with wealth and power, whose daughter has died.  The ruler believes that maybe Jesus can do something, even after death. And Jesus responds.  But as he travels, another event occurs; a woman reaches out and touches Jesus cloak, hoping to somehow get some of this power that he has.  Again, Jesus responds.  Then, calmly, Jesus explains to the weeping family that the girl is "just sleeping" and proceeds to "wake her up." This event is recorded in the Gospel of Mark also (Mark 5:41) where Mark (via Peter) recalls Jesus's brief words, "Little girl, get up!"

Matt 9:27-31
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"  

"Yes, Lord," they replied.

Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this."

But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

Once again (following almost every miracle) there are instructions "Tell no one."  Why are these people not to speak?  It seems to be an issue of timing – Jesus is trying to avoid the overwhelming crowds this will bring.

Matt 9:32-24
While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.  And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."

The Pharisees are not happy.

Matt 9:35-38
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Jesus is overwhelmed with work and needs the disciples to see the opportunities around them.

Matthew is now about to move to a new portion of Jesus's ministry, another series of discourses on the kingdom of God.  That part begins in the next chapter.

Matthew 8, Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee

After the sermon on the mountainside, Jesus begins to travel throughout Galilee.

Matt 8:1-4

When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds  followed him.

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

Jesus not only heals the man, but gives very interesting instructions: "Follow the Law of Moses on this ... and keep quiet!"

(In verse 2 the Greek word translated here "leprosy" was used for a variety of skin diseases.  This is true for any of the "leprosy" cases that appear in the New Testament account.)

Matt 8:5-9
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, `Go,' and he goes; and that one, `Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, `Do this,' and he does it."

The centurion is a Roman enemy ... but this enemy is one who seems to recognize Jesus as divine. Or maybe he is just desperate for help, turning to Jesus since he has run out of other options? Regardless, Jesus responds with compassion and healing.

Matt 8:10-13
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at  that very hour.

Jesus interrupts this miracle with a brief sermonette on the promises of God to even the Gentiles.

Matt 8:14-17
When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.  He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."

These three miracles (in the mind of Matthew) meet the prophetic statements of Isaiah (from Isaiah 53.)  These miracles makes Jesus very popular and he is suddenly in demand.

In Mark 1 this episode is described as occurring on the Sabbath, which may explain why people bring their sick to Jesus in the evening, after sunset.  Jewish practice of that day viewed such actions as "work" and thus unacceptable on the sabbath, which ended at sunset.

From verse 14 we learn a little piece of trivia: Peter is married.  

Matt 8:18-20
When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Although Jesus is now very popular, he is not eager to get a following and he will not make it easy for people to follow him.

Matt 8:21-22
Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

A strange short dialogue.  Jesus sees the man's statement about his father as an excuse.

Matt 8:23-27
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We're going to drown!"

He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

I would agree with the disciples in this last verse.  One who can control the wind and waves is indeed a frightening individual!

Matt 8:28-34
When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

"What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."

He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.  Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

How strange and ancient this episode!  Did it really occur like this?  Some have pointed out that the townspeople may have been motivated by greed -- they were pig farmers, unlike good Jews....  (From the NIV Footnotes: in verse 28 some Greek manuscripts say, in place of Gadarenes, either Gergesenes or Gerasenes.  It seems the exact name is unclear.)

In the next chapter, Jesus continues his traveling in the northern part of Israel and nearby Syria.

Online aids to studying the Gospel of Matthew

We celebrate the second Sunday of the new year by NOT moving on to new material but instead doing a little bit of review. If you have missed a day in reading through the Gospel of Matthew, this is a time to catch up.

Meanwhile, I'll describe some nice web sources I have found on the Gospel of Matthew.

The Overview Bible project also has a nice summary of the Gospel of Matthew.

There is a free audio of the Gospel of Matthew available here at librivox.
Here is the Gospel of Matthew read in the King James Version on Youtube.  (Personally, I'm not a fan of the ancient King James Version – too many associations with church traditionalism and legalism for me – but you may enjoy it.)

The Bible Gateway is a good place to begin a study.  Pick a chapter in which you are interested (such as Matthew 1) and then along the right side of the page, click on "Study This".  A variety of commentary options will appear, some old, some new, some free, some not.

Among the published commentaries one might purchase are these five recommended by Ligonier Ministries.  If English is not your first language – or even if it is! – there is a nice "EasyEnglish" commentary on Matthew here.

But, frankly, one should spend most of one's time on the original source, the Scriptures themselves.  The commentaries are for the curious, after reading a bit in the original Bible chapters ... which we will try to do tomorrow!

Welcome to "A Year in the New Testament"!

As 2015 ends and 2016 begins, I plan to read carefully through the New Testament in the course of this year, roughly one chapter a day, forcing myself to read the text by (lightly) blogging on each chapter.

I've organized the New Testament readings so that I will read through each of the four gospels at different times of the year, roughly once every three months, with various other New Testament books read in between, following a theme or a historical order.  We will begin with the gospel of Matthew in January, followed by the book Acts, Galatians and Romans.  I will look at the Gospel of Mark in April and May, Luke in June and July and John in October and November.

Each blog post will include the text of the chapter, along with a few notes and comments.  Sundays will not include new material but will be a time to catch up; On Sundays I will post a summary blog or outline some passages to come.

I hope to post a new chapter, with a few observations, every morning.

Will you join me in A Year in the New Testament?  Feel free to follow the blog and comment -- or not -- as you see fit.  You may write me by sending email to KenWSmith54 (AT) gmail (DOT) com.