Perspective on Matthew’s Continuing Narrative

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew’s Gospel is one long narrative, with five themes that make up the five main sections of the book. Yet, even though there are shifts in theme, it is still one long narrative. Actually, if it helps you, we can think of the five main themes as phases of the narrative. Our discussion of this continuing narrative left off last time right in the middle of the section that comprises chapters 21-25 in which the theme (or phase) is the conflict between Jesus and the Jewish authorities.

During this time, Jesus acted in the role of an Old Testament prophet who exposes the utter hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders and their complete lack of righteousness (cf. Jer. 7:14, 26:4-12; Ex. 9:1-10; Dan. 9:26). By means of prophetic symbols (21:1-22) and parables (21:28-22:14) Jesus has warned the Jewish religious leadership of their impending judgment, and even of the impending judgment on the very temple over which they preside. When these leaders are reduced to silence in debate, Jesus seizes the offensive and exposes and denounces their prevailing character traits (23:1-36) and expounds on the doom that awaits them and the consequences that doom will bring upon their beloved city (23:37-39, 24:1-34).

There will be a shift of scene in this process (cf. 23:1 and 24:1-3) yet the theme continues, for chapter 23 prepares us to recognize what is being discussed in 24:4 -25. In these last two chapters, Jesus is answering the disciples’ questions that resulted from the narrative of chapter 23. The tone of chapter 23 seems harsh to our modern sensibilities, and we might wonder how such a loving Jesus could be so harsh. It is important for us to understand that the Jewish religious leadership has established a system that essentially excluded God, and in doing so, they were effectively trying to strangle the life out of God’s precious children; and why were they doing so? Because they had allowed themselves to become corrupt to their very cores. We can say that in chapter 23, Jesus brought this problem to their attention in a way that would have been hard for them to miss in one final attempt to bring them to repentance, or at least to bring some to repentance, and in this effort, Jesus succeeded. The majority as we know did not repent, and ultimately their actions caused the Son of God to be nailed to a cross to silence the truth.

In connection with this, it is also worth noting that the harsh things Jesus said in chapter 23 are well within the conventions of the ancient world for prophetic pronouncements, both in the Hellenistic world and in the Judaic past, which is to say that what sounds surprisingly harsh to the modern ear, would not have seemed as much so in Jesus’ time.

Finally, these verses carry a warning note for the church, lest we should succumb to same temptations to place our pride, prejudice, materialism and perceived position above the needs of the people we lead, and the will of God.

Coming up next  we will re-join Jesus as He has a little heart-to-heart with the Jewish leadership.

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Taste and See

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Don Merritt

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come, my children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Whoever of you loves life
    and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34:8-14

I doubt that I need to elaborate too much on this batch of verses from Psalm 34. Certainly, if you’ve read the previous two posts from this Psalm, you will recognize exactly what’s going on here.

A man or woman who seeks the Lord will be richly blessed; a man or woman who fears the Lord will be richly blessed. Everything else may fail, even nature may fail, but the one who is in God’s will is blessed, and what does “blessed” mean?

Joy, joyous, happy.

How do you fear the Lord? Speak no evil, tell no lies, do what is good and pursue peace.

So, have a joyous Monday; you know what to do today, this week, and in all of the weeks to come.

Blessings coming your way!

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To Seek the Lord

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Don Merritt

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

Psalm 34:4-7

As we continue our look at the 34th Psalm, we find the treasure chest of the Word of God wide open; what do we learn?

First, we see that if we seek Him, He will respond and take away our fears. Isn’t that interesting? He’ll take away all our fears. If you think about it, most of the time when we have serious problems in life, our fears are worse than the actual problems; often fear can make a problem almost impossible to solve, until we get out of fear’s clutches.

Then we learn that people who seek God are radiant and their faces are “never covered with shame”. Thinking about this one, it seems to me that if we are always seeking God’s presence, we don’t have the shame of misdeeds or dishonesty because God never leads us down that path. Our consciences are clear and we can sleep soundly every night.

After that, we see that God will help the poor through their difficulties. He does not discriminate, instead, He loves all people.

Finally, we learn that the one who “fears” the Lord will be protected and loved, and receive the blessing of God in every way through this life. To fear the Lord is a somewhat old-fashioned way to describe reverent respect and a desire to serve God according to His plans and purpose.

Do you know what I think? I think that if we live our lives that way, if we “fear the Lord” in that sense, we probably won’t encounter nearly so many problems and difficulties, as someone who does not “fear” the Lord.

Don’t you agree?

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December 7

Posted on December 7, 2024 by Don Merritt
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Glory in the Lord

Posted on December 7, 2024 by Don Merritt

I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.
I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 34:1-3

We don’t use the word “extol” very often these days; come to think of it, I’m not sure it was ever used commonly. It means ‘to praise enthusiastically’. Well, maybe we don’t have all that much in our regular rounds that we want to extol.

That is not true of our Lord, however. We should be extolling Him “at all times”!

Think about everything God has done for you and for all of us; His glory is amazing. Of course, not everything in this world is perfect; far from it, and all of us go through times of trial. In tough times it’s very encouraging to be reminded of all that God has done, and is still doing to bless us. Such encouragement can certainly lighten a person’s load, and so, our extolling is encouragement for many.

Let’s all take some time today to extol and exalt, to glorify and give praise, for everything God is doing in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

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Jesus Seizes the Initiative

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Don Merritt

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Matthew 22:41-45

Jesus has sent three waves of frontal assault into headlong retreat; now His counter attack begins; it seems harmless enough, for He begins with a simple question about the Messiah’s paternity; the Pharisees who were there gave Him a clear and correct answer, at least from their point of view, the Messiah is the son of David.

By asking them this question, Jesus is actually giving them His answer to the authority question from 21:23, for what He is about to tell them is that He is much more than just the son of David. He quotes Psalm 110, in which David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (“by the Spirit”), acknowledges this son as his Lord; how can that be if the son in question is merely David’s offspring?

That is the question that shuts everyone up, and as Matthew has pointed out in the text, no one dared ask Him any more questions, for in this quotation of David himself, is revealed the transcendent character of the Messiah, who sits at the very right hand of God Himself.

Jesus has come from God, full of the authority of God!

Of course, the Jewish religious leaders are now even more anxious to kill Him, because, whether they knew it or not, they were acting as the agents of Satan.

Next, I will give some background about what happens after this in Matthew’s narrative, in which Jesus pronounces God’s judgment upon the religious leadership.

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―SIDEBAR: The Biggest Little Dialogue of All Time

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Don Merritt

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Matthew 22:41-45

In the next section of our Matthew narrative, we will look at these verses in the context of Matthew’s narrative more fully. Here, however, I hope we can just sit back and take in the sweeping view of the massive impact of this little dialogue. It comes originally from Psalm 110:1, yet just looking at that one verse doesn’t begin to reveal the totality of the Psalm.

As I sit here writing this, it occurs to me that it would be easy enough to write an entire book about Psalm 110. But, for right now, we’re talking about Matthew 22…

This dialogue doesn’t just appear in Matthew, it also appears in Mark:

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight

Mark 12:35-37

It also appears in Luke:

Then Jesus said to them, “Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

Luke 20:41-44

Finally, we find it in Acts…

For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Acts 2:34-37

In these four accounts, there are two slightly different versions. Matthew and Peter were eyewitnesses, while Mark and Luke were not, and they make it seem that Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1 without any direct prompting from the teachers of the law, but I’d suggest that whether the prompt was direct as in Matthew or indirect as in Mark and Luke, the prompting isn’t the point, the point is that Psalm 110 demonstrates that the Messiah is the Son of God and also heir to the Davidic throne.

And when 110:1 was quoted, everything changed forever. When Jesus quoted this to the Authorities, their attempts to trap Jesus, or to trick Him were over, and the only thing left to do was to kill Him as agents of Satan. When Peter used the quote to the crowd at Pentecost, all objections disappear, the people are cut to heart and desire to give their lives to Jesus Christ, right on the spot.

So here we are: Is Matthew 22:41 ff. the biggest dialogue of all time? I’ll let you decide that one, but as for me, I can’t think of a bigger one.

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The Third Wave is Beaten Back

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Don Merritt

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment9 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34-40

With the repulse of the second assault team comprised of the Sadducees, the third wave assault team advances, this time comprised of Pharisees. Unlike the first two waves of attack, this one included an “expert” in the law; they were bringing in one of their “big guns” at this point. It’s interesting to note a slight variation in Matthew’s account in relation to that of Mark 12:28 ff., Mark portrays the third wave as asking a genuine question, while Matthew, the eyewitness, indicates that the question was a test.

Yet in just reading the text, it seems like a fair question; where is the test? Here’s the “behind the scenes story”, as revealed in ancient rabbinic writings:

The Pharisees, sticklers about the law, identified 613 laws of Moses, 365 of which were negative commands, and 248 of which were positive. Of the 613, they differentiated between those they considered “light” and those they considered to be “heavy”, meaning that some of them were a bigger deal than others. However, just because one of these commands was “light” did not mean that it could be neglected, for as they wrote, “Be as heedful of a lighter precept as of a weighty one, for thou knowest not the recompense of reward of each precept” (m. Abot 2:1; Str-B 1:904-5).Since the whole idea of which commandment was greatest was commonly discussed and debated in Pharisaic circles, their trap was that Jesus, and notice they called Him “teacher” (Rabbi) when they asked, might give an answer that implied that one or more of the commands could be neglected, and in doing so could be charged with a violation of Torah that would discredit Him with the people− Back to our story…

Jesus not only avoided their trap, but He rejected their entire (unspoken) premise in mentioning the two love commandments; love God, love your neighbor. In fact, He stated these as the backdrop for His entire approach to the Law, for the Law must not be understood as simply a list of do’s and don’ts, ordinances and violations, but rather in relational terms, a concept that was as foreign to the Pharisees as it was appealing to the crowds. Sadly, it is foreign to a lot of Christians as well.

The third wave assault team was stopped in its tracks.

When we get together again next time, Jesus counter attacks; you won’t want to miss this one!

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The Second Wave

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 22:23-33

The stage has been set for the second wave of the Jewish leaders’ plot to unfold. The second assault team, this time made up of a platoon of Sadducees, makes their advance on Jesus.

The Sadducees were a rival group to the Pharisees, they were an aristocratic bunch, in high favor with the wealthy, and Jesus was a clear threat to their high and lofty status in the land. Their attack centers upon the issue of the resurrection of the dead, something the Sadducees do not believe in.

They give Jesus their example of seven brothers, all of whom end up being married to the same woman, as each dies in succession without producing an heir. This is a reference to Deut. 25:5-6 and Lev. 38:8 which directs that when a man is married and dies without a child to be his heir, his brother must marry his widow and produce an heir for his dead brother. The premise of their question is that after the resurrection (that they don’t believe in) people remain married in the afterlife, and as it turns out, this is an entirely false premise.

Jesus tells them that “you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God”.  He goes on to explain their misunderstanding of the power of God as He tells them about the complete transformation of people in the afterlife as they become “like the angels” in heaven with no further need for procreation. Then He demonstrates their lack of knowledge of the Scriptures in an interesting way, using an example from Exodus.

Citing Exodus 3:6 where God reveals Himself as “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” Jesus points out that these three men were centuries in the grave, while God spoke of them as though they were still very much alive, and drives His point home by saying “He is not the God of the dead but of the living”. It would seem that the extreme materialism of the Sadducees had blinded them to the truth contained in the Scriptures.

Matthew doesn’t record the reaction of the Sadducees, but the crowd was “amazed” at His teaching.

As the second wave of the assault fell back in defeat; the third wave assault team, this time comprised of Pharisees made ready to advance…

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The Jewish Leaders Unleash Their Plot

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 22:15-22

The Jewish leaders, after being made to look foolish in public have withdrawn from the scene to plot. They really want Jesus dead, but they still fear their own people will react against them if they simply grab Him and take Him away; they don’t want a riot.

They scheme and plot in secret…

Later that same day, their plans begin to unfold; they will send surrogates to trap Jesus into saying something that incites the crowd. They attack in three waves, this being the first; the surrogates are an interesting little group of the disciples of members of the Sanhedrin and a delegation of Herodians. The Herodians were those who were allied with Herod, the Roman backed “king” of Judea. Herod wasn’t a Jew; relations between the camp of the Jewish leaders and the Herodians were always strained, but to get rid of Jesus was a cause that temporarily united them, and they advance on Jesus with their question about paying tax to Rome. We have already discussed how unpopular this was, so if Jesus would speak out against paying Roman taxes, He would be in deep trouble with the Romans, and subject to arrest. If He spoke in favor of paying the tax, He would lose the favor of the crowds and the leaders would have their opportunity to strike; either way, Jesus would be in trouble.

They begin with flattery, as though to make Jesus relax and think He was among friends. Here’s a tip for you: When you hear politicians, such as this delegation, engage in this kind of flattery, watch out! Jesus was not fooled by this rather thinly veiled tactic, and when they get to the question, He responds by calling them hypocrites. More than that, He demonstrated their hypocrisy when he asked for a Roman coin… and they produced one, right there in front of all the people.

What were these great spokesmen of Jewish virtue doing carrying Roman money around?

When Jesus induced them to acknowledge whose image and name were on the coin, they were finished, and I am reasonably certain they knew it. But Jesus wasn’t quite finished with them; He answered their question in a way that did not betray any obligation to Jewish Law or tradition; “give back to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and give to God that which is God’s.”

They couldn’t help but be amazed for remarkably, they hadn’t seen that one coming; they retreated in defeat. The stage is set for the second assault, a group of Sadducees is ready to advance; Jesus is waiting for them.

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