Category: Gospel of Matthew

Religion Turned Upside Down

Matthew 5

Matt 5 48

Matthew 5 is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.  There is so much wisdom packed into this chapter that it is difficult to pick out pieces to include.  So, I want to start at the end, in verse 48.

“Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

This is Jesus’s concluding statement to this part of his sermon.  Reading this verse alone seems like Jesus is giving us an impossible task, and in this life, it really is.  However, we should still strive for it.  A lot of this chapter is telling us how to be perfect.

This is one of those times when Jesus is really flipping things upside down.  The Jewish people were under the law, and some of them at least followed the letter of the law without regards to the purpose of the law.  It was a specific set of rules, and consequences for not following them.

Starting in Matthew 5:21, Jesus takes some of these very specific laws, and really expands the meaning of them.  The law in the Old Testament was “You shall not commit murder”.  The consequence was that “whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.”  Jesus continues in verse 22 with the spirit of the law instead of just the letter of the law by saying, “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You fool’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”  Calling someone a fool is much more difficult to guard against than killing someone.  For those that were following the letter of the law and felt they were perfect in the law, this would have completely destroyed their view of themselves.  How can we be perfect if something this easy to do makes us guilty before the court and makes us deserve the lake of fire?

Jesus then goes on to talk about adultery, and expounds on it by saying in verse 28, “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  This may be the most difficult sin for a male to conquer.  I believe that every man has committed this sin.  So, how can we be perfect?

Jesus does not stop there.  He talks about vows and promises, about not holding grudges or repaying offences, and about loving your enemies.  He takes a set of laws that were difficult to keep, and shows us the spirit of the law, and how our hearts and thoughts separate us from God just like the physical acts separate us from God.  So, how is it possible for anyone to be perfect, or to ever be with God?

Was Jesus really changing the Old Testament laws with this?  Verse 17 answers this by saying, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law of the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”  I think Jesus was telling them that this attitude and heart of the law was always there, but not understood by most.  So, he wasn’t really expanding the law, but explaining how it should be understood.  This still doesn’t make it any easier to be perfect.  How do we even have a chance of being perfect?

Obviously, we have to have the sacrifice of Jesus’s death, and his resurrection, to be made perfect.  We have to accept Jesus as our Savior and follow him throughout our lives.  This is the only way we will ever be considered perfect, and able to be in God’s presence in the kingdom.  However, that does not mean we should not strive to be more perfect each day, and with the help of God, and his Son Jesus, we can come closer to perfection each day (although never actually being perfect).

I think the beginning of Matthew 5 gives us a lot of traits to strive for, along with promises that go along with them.  Jesus starts in verse 3 with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  He continues the list with those who mourn, the gentle, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peace makers, and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.  As we work to have the attributes described here, we draw closer to God.  It isn’t about what we do, but where our heart is and why we do the things we do.

-Andrew Hamilton

Knowing Scripture

Matthew 4

Matt 4 4

It always impresses me when someone can quote scripture that is appropriate to the situation at hand, especially when they can quote it word for word, and know the reference.  Being impressed isn’t really because of their knowledge, but because if they can quote exactly what is in scripture, and tell me where to look it up and get more information means that I can know the truth from the Bible.

In Matthew 4, Jesus has spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting.  I think that would make it very difficult to remember anything clearly.  However, when tempted, Jesus is able to quote the necessary scripture to answer the temptations brought to him by the tempter.  When tempted with food, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”  For each of the other temptations, Jesus again quotes Old Testament scripture that answers the temptation directly.  Because of these answers, the devil leaves Jesus.

How awesome is the power of scripture.  We can rebuff temptation with scripture in the same way Jesus did.  However, it requires us to know scripture, to memorize it.

I often find myself being able to paraphrase things, and maybe being able to get somewhere close to where it is found.  If given time, I can find it.  While this is helpful, it often falls short of what I need.  When I am having a difficult time, or trying to help someone, it is frustrating not being able to find the verses needed to help with the problem.

I encourage you to learn and memorize scripture.  Jesus is our example, and he knew the scriptures.  We should all follow that example.

-Andrew Hamilton

 

John the Baptist

Matthew 3

Matt 3 3

Matthew 3 revolves around John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus.  He was sent to prepare people for Jesus.  Jesus’s ministry was really radical when compared to what had been taught previously.  We will see more of that in future chapters.  John started that radical teaching here.

First though, we are introduced to John the Baptist and then in verse 3 we read a prophecy from Isaiah.

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”

Again, this would have probably been a prophecy taught about the coming Messiah, and so the Jewish people of the time would need to see how this is fulfilled to believe Jesus was their Messiah. Obviously, a lot of them still did not believe, but for the ones that did, they needed to see each of these prophecies fulfilled.

John was baptizing people as they confessed their sins.  There are some similarities between baptism and some of the ritual cleansing listed in the old testament.  However, even with that, this was a huge departure from what people had ever done before.   Never before had people come to an individual, and not even a priest, to confess sins and then be immersed in the water.

In verse 7 we see that even Pharisees and Sadducees were coming for baptism.  I have no idea why they would have wanted to be baptized, and in the little bit of searching I did, could not find an explanation.  No matter the reason, we see John call them a brood of vipers, and warn them of what Jesus is going to do.  This is the first confrontation we see with the Pharisees or Sadducees, and it sets up what we can expect between them and Jesus.

The end of the chapter, starting in verse 13 shows us the baptism of Jesus.  Jesus comes to John to be baptized.  John does not feel worthy to baptize Jesus, but I think does it out of obedience.  He recognized the authority of Jesus and that it is necessary to obey Jesus’s requests.

Verses 16 and 17 show a super natural acknowledgement of who Jesus is from God.

“6 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and [i]he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and[j]lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is [k]My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

If anyone present had any doubts before that, this should have erased them.  However, it seems like the Pharisees and Sadducees were probably still there, and as a whole, they did not believe.

What does it take for us to believe?  We have the whole Bible and know the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  This should be an easy answer for us with everything we know.  So, if we believe, are we being like John the Baptist?  Are we a forerunner for Jesus to people who don’t know him?  Are we preparing the way for people to come to know Jesus?

-Andrew Hamilton

Obeying Immediately and Without Questions

Matthew 2

Matt 2 14

How do you deal with situations where you have to completely change what you had planned?  I always think I have a long term plan for my life.  When it doesn’t work out, or I have to change something, I don’t always deal well with it.

I want to look at how Joseph reacts to some very difficult situations.  I am going to jump back to Matthew chapter 1 for the first example.  Joseph found out Mary was pregnant and planned to divorce her quietly.  Then, he is visited by an angel, and was told in Matthew 1:21-22, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a Son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”  So, first Joseph plans to marry Mary.  Then, when she is pregnant, he plans to divorce her quietly.  So, his plans have already been messed up once before being visited by the angel.  He is given a message from God.  How does he react?  By everything we see in scripture, it appears Joseph just listened to what God told him through the angel, and accepted it.  That is amazing faith and obedience.

The second example is after the visit from the magi.  This was probably one to two years later.  We don’t have any real information about the life of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus during this time, but most likely they had settled into a routine and things were fairly normal.  Then, after the Magi visit, Joseph receives another message from an angel. Matthew 2:13 record this message to Joseph, “Get up!  Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”  Again, his reaction was swift and decisive.  Matthew 2:14 says, “So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.”  He didn’t even wait till morning but left immediately.

Then, sometime later, an angel appeared to Joseph a third time.  This time he was told, “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead” in Matt 2:20.  So, he went back to Israel, but because he was warned in a dream, they went to Nazareth.  Again, there are no signs of questioning, just doing what he was told.

I have never been spoken to by an angel, so I don’t know how I would react in that situation.  However, I have received direction from God in some pretty clear ways.  I questioned what I was being told because it did not fit into my plans.  So, I know that this immediate obedience is extremely difficult, but when we put all our trust in God, it is possible.

-Andrew Hamilton

Know Your Audience

Matt 1 22

Matthew Chapter 1

I remember in high school English classes the teachers talking about knowing your audience.  I really enjoyed math and science classes, but English and literature classes were a different story.  I really didn’t like figuring out the audience, the theme, symbolism, etc.  However, I now know that in at least some cases, the teachers were correct.  You gain a lot of extra understanding when you know the primary audience for a book.  I say primary audience in this case because I firmly believe that all of the Bible was written to everyone who will take the time to read it or listen to it.  However, the author had a primary audience they were writing to at the time.

Each gospel was written for a different primary audience.  Matthew was writing to the Jews who had a good knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures.  They would have learned the prophecies regarding the Messiah and were looking towards the fulfillment of those prophecies.

The first chapter of Matthew starts with the genealogy of Jesus.  This is the first step to showing that Jesus is the Messiah they are looking for.  Several prophecies are fulfilled in this.  The first is that the Messiah is a seed of Abraham (Gen 22:18).  The Messiah is a descendent of Isaac (Gen 21:12) and a descendent of Jacob (Num 24:17), and a descendent of Judah (Gen 49:10).  Then, skipping a few generations, the Messiah is from the line of Jesse (Isaiah 11:10) and David (Jeremiah 23:5).  All of these names are listed in the genealogy of Jesus recorded in the first seventeen verses of Matthew.

They may not have each known every one of these prophecies, but the people who first read or heard the gospel of Matthew probably knew at least some of them.

After we finish looking at the genealogy, Matthew moves on to the birth of Jesus.  Compared to the gospel of Luke (which was written primarily to the Greeks), the account of the birth of Jesus is very brief.  Why would this be?  It goes back to the primary audience, and what was necessary to show Jesus is their Messiah.

Matthew basically tells that Mary was going to have a baby, Joseph was told about it and listened to what an angel said to him, and Mary remained a virgin until Jesus was born.  Matthew then quotes an Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 in Matthew 1:23: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.”

We can read scripture and learn tons without understanding who the primary audience was at the time each book was written.  However, understanding the audience, culture, etc., can add a whole new dimension to our understanding.

-Andrew Hamilton