Mourning When the King Returns

 Matthew 24:1-35
 

Good morning! As we move into chapter 24 in the book of Matthew, let’s look back and get a glimpse of where we are in Jesus’ life on earth.
 
It is now the middle of the Passion Week, only days from Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Jesus has been in Jerusalem during the day and staying a few miles to the east in Bethany each night.
 
On Sunday, the first day, of the Passion Week, Jesus was ushered into the city riding on a donkey’s colt as the people laid cloaks and palm branches before him all the while shouting “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”
 
Then, Jesus entered the temple courts and cleared the corrupt money changers and those buying and selling there. This week, I happened to read the account of these events in Mark’s gospel. There it says that Jesus also prevented anyone from carrying merchandise through the temple courts. It seems in addition to the money changers and buyers and sellers, other people were using the temple courts not as a place of worship but a short cut carrying whatever goods they needed to transport directly through the temple courts. The focus of many people in the temple courts was not on God but on themselves.
 
Each subsequent day, Jesus was in the temple courts teaching and being questioned. The events of the Passion Week are jam packed. It is still only Monday or Tuesday as we reach Matthew 24. The questions to trap Him, the parables He told, the repeated astonishment of the crowds, the seven woes, all these events happened in the course of one or at most two days.

Woe to You Hypocrites

 Matthew 23:1-39
 

Today we continue our series in Matthew titled Jesus King of Kings. As John, Tim and Carl have stated Jesus is in the last week before His Crucifixion. Last week Carl explained the difference of the Herodians and the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
 
As I prepared for today’s message I wondered “What the difference between the teachers of the law, the scribes, and the Rabbi’s were and how they and Synagogues and the Sanhedrin originated?”. So, today’s message is going to touch on the answer to this question. Before we get into that let us pray and ask the Lord to open our hearts to what He wants us to learn and apply from His word in these passages from Matthew chapter 23.

Traps

 Matthew 22:15-46
 

Welcome! Today we continue our series into the book of Matthew, now looking at the last week before the crucifixion. There is a lot to talk about in today’s passage, but I think it helps to understand the context with a quick review of some things we have looked at in the last two weeks.
 
Recall that Jesus has been teaching the crowds, who by and large love Him (even hailing Him as the Messiah as He rode into Jerusalem). He has also been opposing the religious leadership, even cleansing the temple of their excessive-money-making exchanges. He has also embarrassed them in public debate, pointed out their hypocrisy, and generally won decisively against them in the “court of public opinion” which was really an honor-shame contest. The religious leadership resents Jesus, hates Him, is jealous of Him, and fear for their future if He continues to grow in popularity.

Disobedience and Its Consequences

 Matthew 21:28-22:14

 

We continue our study today in the middle of Matthew 21. As John mentioned last week, we are now into the last week of Jesus’ life, leading up to the climax of his death and resurrection. He is in Jerusalem, and the tension between him and the religious authorities is growing. He had been speaking out against their false teaching and hypocrisy all along, and since chapter 12 they have been plotting how to kill him. But now, with his arrival at their center of power and influence, the confrontation has become even more intense – and intentional. Back in chapter 16 Jesus had explained to his disciples that “he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” He had to do it; it was his purpose for coming to earth, the only way to bring salvation.

Receiving the King

Matthew 21:1-27
 

As Jonathan pointed out last week, while we are still several chapters from the end of the book of Matthew, the time span from today’s passage until Matthew 28 is only a week. These are clearly critical moments of Jesus’ life on earth.
 
Last week, in Matthew 20:17, we saw that Jesus began his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. In Matthew 20:29, we see that Jesus and his disciples passed through the city of Jericho on the Jordan River. The journey from Galilee to Jerusalem was 85-90 miles and took four to five days by way of the Jordan. Jericho to Jerusalem was the last leg of the trip, roughly 18 miles.
 
Here now at the beginning of Matthew 21, Jesus and the disciples are approaching Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. They have made the big ascent that Jonathan mentioned last week from Jericho to the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. Even today, Google Maps predicts the journey from Bethphage to the Temple Mount is about a mile and a half and would take just over 30 minutes to accomplish. That route has to take into account modern roads and things so it potentially is a bit longer that it might have been in Jesus’ day. It’s an up and over, down and through kind of journey.  Leaving Bethphage, you go up over the Mount of Olives, then down and through the Kidron Valley, and then back up into Jerusalem which is on a similar elevation as Bethphage.
 
I enjoy looking at maps in general. I especially like to look at maps of places in the Bible because it helps the reality of the Scriptures to penetrate in a little bit different way. I can begin to feel what is happening a bit more. Hopefully, it is a help to some of you, as well.
 
Let’s pray and jump into today’s passage.

Conversations with the King

 Matthew 20:17-34
 

As we continue on in Matthew 20, we are very near the end of Jesus’ life.  Matthew’s narrative will slow down drastically over the next several chapters as we get closer to Jesus’ death.  Matthew devoted the first 20 chapters to Jesus’ first 33 years, but it will take him the last 8 chapters to cover the final week.  (Of course, we know that Matthew did not actually write in chapter and verse.  Those were added around the middle of the 16^th century.)  Matthew devotes over one quarter of his gospel to the final week of Jesus’s life to show the importance of it.  In Matthew 19:1, Jesus left Galilee, crossed to the East side of the Jordan River, and was ministering in the area of Perea.  Perea was an area just north of the Dead Sea but on the Eastern side of the Jordan River, the side opposite of Jerusalem.  When we pick up in 20:17, Jesus is leaving Perea and headed for Jerusalem. 

First and Last in the Kingdom

Matthew 19:16-20:16
 

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is do to get eternal life?”
only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
“Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Matthew 19:16-19

Family Matters

 Matthew 19:1-15

Welcome! Today we continue our series into the book of Matthew. Today we are looking at Matthew Chapter 19, beginning with verse 1.
 
When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” – Matthew 19:1-3

When Others Sin

 Matthew 18:15-35

 

Today we continue our study of Matthew in the middle of chapter 18. Our series title highlights Jesus as the King of Kings, and much of this book is devoted to describing and demonstrating the unusual nature of his kingdom. As John mentioned last Sunday, this chapter begins the fourth discourse, a sizable chunk of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom, in contrast to the stories about what he did as he traveled around with his disciples and lived out kingdom realities by ministering to the needs of people.
 
This discourse is sometimes referred to as the Discourse on the Church, since Jesus addresses the ways in which his followers should relate to each other. The word “church” appears for the second time in Matthew, after 16:18 where Jesus tells Peter that “on this rock I will build my church.” The Greek word is ekklesia, and these are the only two places in any of the gospels that this word appears, though it appears over 100 times elsewhere in the New Testament.
 
Ekklesia originally referred to a political assembly in the Greek system of democracy. It literally means “the called-out ones,” a civil body of elected members. The disciples at this stage would probably have had a vague understanding that Jesus was referring to some sort of body that he would be the head of, extending beyond them to encompass all of his faithful followers. The ekklesia would be the universal church that Jesus would establish and lead. This word would also come to refer to a local congregation of believers.

Children and the Kingdom

Matthew 17:14-18:14

 

Of course, we are continuing on in our series on the book of Matthew titled “Jesus, King of Kings.” Today’s message spans Matthew 17:14 through 18:14. Before we go into the passage, I just want to remind you briefly about the passage which preceded this one.
 
The first half of Matthew 17 tells the account of the transfiguration. Jesus climbed up a high mountain together with Peter, James, and John, but not any of the other disciples. Once they reached the top, Jesus was transfigured or transformed before their eyes. His face shone like the sun. His clothes became as a bright white light. Then, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter not knowing what else to do said some funny things. God spoke audibly declaring loud and clear, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Peter, James and John immediately fell face down on the ground. Jesus came and touched them. When they looked up from the ground, the moment had passed. They saw only Jesus.
 
As they returned down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until He had been raised from the dead. They talked on for a bit, approaching a large group of people waiting on them. Perhaps even with Peter, James and John still seeing spots.
 
Let’s pray, and then we will pick up the action in Matthew 17:14.