Life Project Blog

Matthew 21:1-11

Jesus makes the first move in the rising conflict, actually He makes three moves, two of which are in public, and one in private. All three moves have something in common; He is answering the question “Who do you say that I am?” His identity as the son of David comes to the fore first here and in the next section, as though He were saying to Jerusalem, “Here I am, the son of David, Messiah!”

The people seem to be delighted, at least those who were present, yet there is an undertone, a very dark undertone. What we have in this entire section is the outward and physical manifestation of the ultimate spiritual conflict, for the thing we need to recognize is this: Jesus’ actions here are the first shots in a war, a showdown with eternity itself as the prize for the victor.

In this passage, Jesus gives instructions to the disciples to obtain the donkey on which He would enter the city, and as was his custom, Matthew ties that into Israel’s prophetic history (21:4-5). As I have mentioned in other posts here, in the ancient near east, a king arriving in peace rode a donkey, a king arriving to conquer rode a war horse. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, comes to town on a donkey, for the battle He was fighting was not a clash of arms between battalions of mortal men, but a spiritual battle between good and evil in the hearts of men; make no mistake, Jesus knew exactly who the real Enemy was.

Along His path, He was greeted by the crowds as a king would be greeted as He arrived in the city in peace. In the eyes of the crowds, He was the new Davidic King come to claim His throne and overturn the Roman occupation with the power of God, restoring Israel to its rightful place among the Nations of the earth. In the eyes of the Jewish religious authorities, He was trouble. Yet in the eyes of Satan, this was what he had been waiting for, in both dread and anticipation. Dread because Jesus could utterly destroy him, anticipation because if he could manipulate the Jewish authorities, already in a state of rebellion against God and hardness of heart, he could destroy Jesus by an assault upon His body, killing Him before He could destroy the Devil, and thus our drama, the greatest drama of all time begins.

In the next post, we will see Jesus make His second move, in which He takes His Davidic identity a step further− see you then!

Matthew 21-25

With the end of chapter 20, we have concluded the section that spans from 16:21-20:34 in which Jesus tries to reveal His true messianic mission to the disciples. With the end of the section, we have come to realize that they had not yet understood adequately what He was teaching, although the time would soon come when they would understand it. Now, in this new section, we will see the rising conflict between Jesus and Jewish officialdom that will ultimately result in all of Jesus’ predictions concerning His fate to come to pass.

As He arrives in the city, Jesus begins a series of provocative actions (cf. 21:12, 14-15, 23; 24:1) in the area of the Temple which result in the “chief priests and teachers of the law” becoming “indignant” (21:15). There has been conflict before, but with the conflict over His “authority” (21:24-27) followed by three parables that expose their rebellion and hardness of heart, they resolve to silence Him for good (21:45).

The initial strategy of the leaders was a purely political one; they would try to bring public condemnation upon Jesus by forcing Him to take unpopular stands on controversial issues of the day, just as politicians try to do with their opponents in our time (cf. 21:46; 22:15-48). As all of them would discover, you simply cannot “trap” Jesus, and by the time He has finished with their attacks, they are reduced to plotting in secret.

From the very beginning of this narrative, the battle will rage over the leaders’ response to the demonstration of Jesus’ messianic credentials (21:1-17), and His authoritative teaching and affirmations concerning His identity that follow (21:23-22:46). The refusal of the Jewish leaders to recognize His identity results in Jesus seizing the initiative and denouncing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (23:1-39), and pronouncing apocalyptic doom on the city (24:1-34) and finally, giving exhortation to the people of the New Kingdom (24:36-25:46).

We will jump into the fray with Jesus when we get together next time; you won’t want to miss this!

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.

Matthew 20:29-34

The old Roman road, which was almost certainly the route Jesus took from Jericho to Jerusalem, would have been a tough climb for anyone going up to Jerusalem as it winds its way through a steep canyon, climbing several thousand feet in elevation as it goes. I’ve been up that road in a bus, and I can tell you that many on the bus were afraid as we crept along, many looked away from their windows; even our driver who had taken this route many times before was visibly nervous. As for me, being a little crazy as I am, I moved up to the front of the bus and sat on the step next to the driver for a better view; there are points along the way where the road is so narrow, and turns are so sharp that it appeared as though the front of the bus was protruding out over the edge of the cliff (with a direct drop of several hundred feet) as we slowly negotiated hairpin turns. Oh did I have fun on that trip!

As much fun as I had in a bus that day, I wouldn’t really want to hike up that road, even though the scenery is spectacular, for that would be a hard climb for anyone: This is the setting in which our story takes place. Jesus, the disciples and a large crowd are heading up into the mountains from one of the lowest points on earth, interesting to keep this in mind.

Right away, we have a contrast between the crowd, the blind men and Jesus; the crowd treats the blind men like outcasts, and by the standards of the times, they were outcasts since the prevailing thinking of that time would have been that they must have been serious sinners for God to have made them blind. Thus, the crowd rebukes them for trying to approach Jesus, but Jesus takes compassion on them. The contrast here is greater than just the crowd’s attitude as opposed to Jesus’ attitude, for there is also a distinction between the blind men’s attitude toward Jesus, and the way the crowd viewed Him, for the crowd was excited by the sight of the son of David going up to Jerusalem, for like so many others, they were expecting Him to restore old Israel and destroy the Roman occupation, while the blind men saw Jesus and His ability to give them sight so they might see His truth. Thus, we have two entirely different views of Jesus’ Messianic mission in Jerusalem, views that will come into sharp and definite conflict in the next section starting in chapter 21.

Jesus gives sight to these two, and as the scene closes, what is their response to this? They followed Him, and when we receive our sight, what do we do? We follow Him: “He, who has ears, let him hear; he who has sight let him see.”

As we will shortly discover, when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, He will encounter many who have ears but do not hear, and many who have sight, but do not see.

Matthew 20:20-28

Jesus took the disciples aside on the road to Jerusalem to tell them in very explicit terms what would happen when they arrived in the city, and before we could hear their reaction, the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, comes up to plead for her sons’ position around the glorious throne of Jesus in “your kingdom”.

Can you believe her timing?!

In the last post I mentioned the contrast between the earlier discussion of the disciples’ rewards in the Kingdom, and the real mission of Jesus in Jerusalem; immediately this woman interrupts the conversation for this. It is simply too much, that is unless we remember what is going on in this section, in which the dialogue in every scene is for the instruction of the disciples concerning the real messianic mission of Jesus. No, the messianic purpose of Jesus was not to re-establish the glory days of old Israel as an earthly Nation, nor is it the purpose of God to do so in the future, for the Kingdom of heaven is not of this world.

Jesus makes this clear in His answer, telling the woman that she doesn’t know what she is asking. Then He counters with a question to the disciples, asking if they can “drink the cup I am going to drink.”  Naturally, thinking that their position in the new Israel is on the line, they say they can. I must say that I wonder if they were even listening to what Jesus was telling them before the interruption. Jesus tells them that they will indeed drink from His cup, and that drinking of it won’t determine their position at His table, for His Father would make the seating chart.

Hearing this, they were indignant, for even now they seem to have been clueless about His real mission. It was at this point that the crux of His teaching comes to the fore; it would do us well to pay attention too:

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.” (20:25-28)

Notice how Jesus taught them, using the Gentiles as the example to show them what they were looking like at this juncture, demanding to have high positions. The Kingdom of heaven is not of this world, and thus, the way to be great in the Kingdom of heaven is not a worldly journey, but a journey of service and putting others first, which is the exact opposite of what is considered great in this world. Jesus’ mission as Messiah was not to be hailed as a conquering hero, as it would be in this world for a great King, for He had come to be humiliated and tortured for the sake of all humanity; such was the degree to which His service would go in the service not only of Mankind, but of His Father. Implicit within these verses is something Jesus would say elsewhere, that the servant is not greater than the Master, and if the Master is Himself a servant, then so shall His disciples be servants. Sadly, not everyone who considers himself as a Christ follower today has learned this lesson, for if we are to follow Christ, we are to be servants, and if we are to be leaders in the congregation of followers of Christ, then we are to be the servants of all.

Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death  and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

Matthew 20:17-19

In the last few posts, the scenes have taken place on the road to Jerusalem; this scene takes place in the final stages of their journey. It would probably have been a festive atmosphere on the road with the pilgrims headed for Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, as Jesus takes the disciples aside to have a serious conversation. In looking at it, please notice the stark contrast between this, and their previous discussion about rewards; ask yourself about the frame of mind of the disciples… Interestingly, the next scene is also about rewards; why is everybody thinking about their rewards?

The text doesn’t explicitly answer that question, but a safe guess would be that they still haven’t quite grasped His messianic mission in Jerusalem, for it would appear that everyone is thinking that He will go into the City, step up as the new Davidic king, and boot the Romans out, restoring Israel to its former glory… and the disciples would have the inside track to positions in the new kingdom of Israel. In our text, Jesus is trying for the third time to correct this error in their thinking.

Unlike the first two predictions of His death in 16:21 and 17:22, this time Jesus speaks in the first person, in fact, in the first person plural “we” bringing the disciples into the picture themselves. Even more ominous is His explicitness in the prediction: He will be condemned by official Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, flogged and crucified; this is not at all abstract or requiring interpretation or discernment on the part of the disciples, it is as direct as it could be. They are certainly not heading into the city for a party!

Notice that once again, the prediction ends on a hopeful note, for Jesus is there to do the Father’s will, and will not be gone forever, instead being raised from the dead on the third day.

Interestingly, this time Matthew doesn’t comment on their reaction; there seems to have been an interruption…

Matthew 20:1-16

In looking at this very well known parable, the first thing I would like to call your attention to is the fact that it isn’t here in Matthew’s narrative standing all on its own; it is a continuation of the discussion we covered last time in 19:23-30, and there is no scene shift of any kind, in spite of the chapter division. Remember, the chapters and verses are arbitrary human devices for reference purposes only, and sometimes we must wonder why they put them where they did. We can be certain of this because of the way this passage begins: “For the kingdom of heaven is like…” Notice that Jesus is still speaking, so after He said “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” in 19:30, He said, “For the kingdom of heaven is like…” in 20:1. Got it? Good!

Thus, in chapter 19 we have the whole discussion with the rich young man about entering the kingdom, his possessions and all of that, followed by the explanation with the disciples, and moving beyond this world’s priorities to follow Jesus, in which the first (rich, powerful or well off in whatever way) end up as the last, and those who are less fortunate in whatever way being the first − and now Jesus is amplifying the “first and last” statement.

In the parable, we have the owner of a vineyard who is hiring day labor to work the vineyard. He hires workers several times during the day so that each group works a different amount of time in the vineyard, and when the end of the day comes, they all receive the same pay, to the annoyance of the first group who worked all day long. The owner of the vineyard pointed out that he paid them what they agreed to work for, and if that meant that he might seem to be overpaying the ones who worked a shorter time, that was his business; he chose to be generous to them.

Just as with His explanation of the conversation with the rich young man, Jesus is teaching that God’s grace is not something we can earn, and that it is not an entitlement, it stems entirely from God’s graciousness… could it be that’s why it is called “grace”?

The bottom line is really quite simple: When considering the things of God, we cannot understand them by the values and wisdom of Man, for instead we must take a heavenly view. As the chapter moves forward, we will see more of this new Kingdom view of things.

Matthew 19:23-30

Jesus was fully aware that the disciples would be confused after His conversation with the rich young man because, as we noted last time, He had blown up a major cultural expectation of the time that the rich were more favored by God than others were. As a result, He begins to teach them…

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (19:23-24)

The rich young man hadn’t been overly enthused at the prospect of giving up all of his wealth, and Jesus underscored the difficulty that many have in entering the Kingdom and leaving the priorities of this world behind. Looking at His example here of putting a camel through the eye of a needle, I think we can safely say that He was engaging in a touch of hyperbole to make the point. The reaction of the disciples speaks volumes about the prevailing assumptions of that culture: “Who then can be saved?”

If you notice, Jesus in His answer blows up a second predominant assumption of that time:

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (19:26)

There are two cultural teachings that are being corrected here: First, that the rich are most favored by God, and the second is that a person can attain righteousness by reliance upon their own ability to keep the Law; both of these are false. This second teaching is still with us, sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes it is more subtle, we call it “works”. You cannot earn your way into the Kingdom by following the rules, “doing church right” or by doing good deeds, for you can only enter the kingdom by faith in God through Christ. Can the rich enter the Kingdom? Yes, they can, by placing their faith in God, and not in their earthly possessions and positions.

Peter is beginning to comprehend: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (19:27)

In His answer to Peter’s question, Jesus shows them that there is both good and bad news, so to speak, for they have left their “stuff” behind for the most part, but it may not be only possessions that get in the way:

“Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (19:28-30)

Notice the relationships that may also need to be left behind, notice also that they are in the same list as “fields”, which is to say material possessions. The real point is that the follower of Christ must be willing to leave anything behind if it interferes with following Him, for with the Kingdom, you are either all in or all out. Aren’t these things that we all struggle with at one time or another?

This is one of those cases when the theology of the teaching is very simple, but living it can be difficult, yet with God, all things are possible. Consider this: The man who wrote this Gospel was a tax collector. He was rich, he also had a family, friends and associates, but by the grace of God, he was one of the Twelve, and he wasn’t the only one. Remember Zacchaeus? Joseph of Arimathea? Saul of Tarsus?

With God, all things are indeed possible!

Matthew 19:18-22

Social conventions and customs are a funny thing; they influence most of us in a way that enables us to make sweeping assumptions concerning great truths, even eternal ones, and yet those very conventions change often through history. We should take this reality as a warning to question the social conventions of our time, and this tale is a case in point. In Jesus’ day, as in many other historical periods, it was assumed that most wealthy people were the ones favored by God; why else would they be so blessed? Yes, some were not so ethical in their conduct, yet many others were good, hard working people, the bedrocks of the community; surely God’s favor was upon them!

What a contrast to those little children in the last scene, those little ones who represented vulnerability and humility. Right after Jesus commented about the little ones, a rich young man walks up to Him and asks a question:

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (19:18)

Here’s a guy who appears to have it all, but he apparently believes that he is lacking in the way he has led his life; there is an element of humility here that we often overlook. In the dialogue that follows, we learn more about this young man:

Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” (19:17-20)

This young man was righteous, and appears to have good intentions, and as you will see, Jesus doesn’t dispute his claim that he has kept all of those commandments. It would also appear that the man was beginning to realize, perhaps more quickly than the disciples, that merely keeping commandments as was the Jewish prevailing thought, wasn’t quite enough, after all− why else would he have asked Jesus in the first place? Yet, he still seems to have believed that eternal life was contingent upon his ability to do something. Maybe he was right:

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (19:21-22)

Jesus told the man to sell what he owned, give money to the poor and follow Him. I cannot over-emphasize how radical this was, for the prevailing thought of those times said that the rich were blessed, worthy and most favored of all, yet Jesus told the man to liquidate and give to the poor. Notice, He didn’t say to give everything to the poor (as some older translations say) but the implication is clear enough. The story ends with the man going away sad, because he had great wealth.

Traditional teaching assumes the man did not do as Jesus told him, but I want to point out that the text doesn’t say that; maybe he did, maybe he didn’t… but he was sad.

This is where we like to bash people who have more than we do; I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this in class discussions and sermons and how many times I have read it, but I would suggest that we should not go rushing into this too quickly. I have known quite a few people who are quite wealthy, rich people, and they usually discover that their wealth, while handy for sure, is also a millstone around their necks; a burden more than a pleasure. Yet once they have it, it is hard to let go of. Even so, let’s not concentrate on those who have more than we do, let’s look in the mirror instead, for there is where Jesus’ message, and the young man’s predicament resonate:

Suppose Jesus came to you and told you to liquidate everything you have, that’s right dear reader, sell all your possessions, give to the poor and follow Him.

Would that make you happy?

If you answer “yes” to that question, then let’s take a closer look: Your home, your car(s), your accounts, retirement plans, investments, kids’ college funds, the contents of your house… everything. You show up to follow Jesus with only the shirt on your back. Hold on, the shirt on your back is also a possession, so you show up without even a shirt on your back or anything else, to follow Jesus: Are you happy?

More importantly, would you do it?

Maybe we should think carefully before we make this all about pointing fingers at others!

The good news is that we are still in that section where the instruction is for the disciples, and in the next part, we will see what Jesus has to say to them; will it get easier? Well, you’ll have to come back next time to find out!

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Matthew 19:13-15

There are times when the disciples are quite insightful, when they really “get it”, and then there are times when they really seem to miss the point entirely, and this is one of those latter cases. I suppose that we should be hesitant to be too critical of them, since I’m sure that each of us is probably guilty of missing the point often enough.

In this brief scene, Jesus is out among the people, and they bring some little children to Him for Him to pray over, and the disciples rebuked them. Maybe they thought that Jesus was too busy at the time to deal with a bunch of little ones, Matthew doesn’t say, but whatever their reason, it would appear that they have missed what Jesus was telling them in 18:5…

And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Jesus insisted that the little ones be allowed to come to Him, and once again mentions that we must be as little children, the powerless, vulnerable and often exploited by this world, to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Yes, it would be accurate to say that little children are a metaphor for the “citizens” of His Kingdom. I have already commented on this in my remarks on 18:1-5, “The Greatest in the Kingdom” so I won’t repeat the whole thing again now, instead, let’s once again take a step backward to look at the whole picture.

We are still in that section of Matthew in which Jesus is educating the disciples, where they are the ones in the scene that He is primarily concerned with. Also, in this part of that section, He is teaching them the stark difference between His teaching of the Kingdom, and the traditional teachings of the Jewish leadership, so isn’t it interesting that this should happen, and isn’t it significant that Matthew has included it here?

I can’t prove this, and I can’t pass it on to you as an established fact, but I can tell you that my guess is that Matthew passed this little episode on to us because this is when they began to understand His teaching about little children; certainly, it was for the disciples’ education that these events took place when they did.

In the next scene, Jesus has a chat with a rich young man; see you then!