[October 12, 2008] In this passage, Matthew 15:39-16:20, we reach the climax of the Gospel according to Matthew. It is like the peak of the mountain. Everything before this leads up to it and everything after flows down from it. From the time when Jesus first presented Himself to . . . → Read More: Matthew 15:39—16:20, The Revelation of Christ and the Church
[August 12, 2012] Last time we considered the introductory narrative cycle that leads up to Jesus’ teaching on the church in the light of the kingdom. Who is Jesus’ mother and siblings, His home? It is not those whose familiarity with Him does not include spiritual insight into His Person. It is . . . → Read More: Matthew 14:22—15:20, The Controversy with the Zealous
[September 28, 2008] Last Sunday we began a new section of Matthew. This section is about who Jesus is, and ends with Peter confessing Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of God and Jesus revealing (1) the church that He will build on this foundation, (2) His death and resurrection that will . . . → Read More: Matthew 14:22—15:20, The Church’s Journey
[August 5, 2012] After Jesus’ “sermon” of the seven parables, a new section of Matthew’s gospel begins. This section, in my view, extends from 13:54 to 20:34 and is about the church, or as we shall see as it fully develops, the church in the light of the kingdom of the heavens. . . . → Read More: Matthew 13:54—14:21, The Messiah’s New People
[July 29, 2012] When Jesus began His sermon of parables, it was at a time when the opposition to His ministry from a contingent of Pharisees and His own frustration with the crowds was most acute. With His disciples gathered around Him in a house, He declared that they . . . → Read More: Matthew 13:36-53, Attaining the Kingdom
[September 17, 2008] Today we continue the parables of Jesus in Matthew 13. Matthew, the gospel writer, has organized his material very carefully into themes. You recall that the beginning of Matthew’s gospel presents Jesus as the Kingdom of the Heavens in His own person, who invites people . . . → Read More: Matthew 13:36-53, The Reality of the Kingdom
[May 6, 2012] Jesus comes down from the mountain—which in Matthew’s gospel has associations with Sinai (and spiritual revelation)—and returns to the people of Israel, and they follow Him. Here begins the next “discipleship manual” in the gospel, in each of which Matthew presents a narrative followed by a teaching. This section, . . . → Read More: Matthew 8:2-17, Dispensations of Salvation
[March 18, 2012] After offering Himself to the Father as a holocaust for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was betrayed, arrested and abandoned, then bullied by the stewards of God’s people (the chief priests and elders), denied by His disciple, and handed over to the Gentiles, that is, the . . . → Read More: Matthew 27:27-44, Jesus Suffers at the Hands of Men
[January 29, 2012] If we are to understand the Sermon on the Mount, we need to see it within the dynamic of the Gospel according to Matthew, that it is not a summary of Jesus’ ethical stance but rather a description of where He is—namely the Kingdom of . . . → Read More: Matthew 5:17-26, To Fulfill the Commandments
[January 22, 2012] When we come to the Lord’s Table, our Lord tells us to remember Him. For those who saw Jesus with their own eyes, “remembering” meant to recall Him to their minds, to cherish Him in their hearts, and to honor Him with their intentions, words and . . . → Read More: Matthew 4:18—5:16, Discipleship and Beatitude (additional notes)
