Anointed and Betrayed

Matthew 26:1-30
 

Last time in our study of Matthew we wrapped up the Olivet Discourse with the last parable that Jesus told during his life on earth, the story about the separation of the sheep and the goats, a description of the last judgment. The sheep are welcomed into the kingdom, and the goats are sent away to eternal punishment. People have had questions about the meaning of this story probably ever since it was told, since on its surface it appears to indicate that each person’s eternal destiny is solely dependent on what good deeds they do during their lifetime. However, we have so much other New Testament teaching that confirms that salvation is not through good works, but only by grace, through faith, a gift from God that we receive without deserving it. So we can understand that the good deeds mentioned in the parable – feeding the hungry and being kind to strangers, prisoners, and the poor – are practical actions that spring from true faith and gratefulness to God. In the story they are described as being done unconsciously, a reflection of a sheep’s real identity, not in an effort to earn the favor of the King.
 
You may recall back in chapter 10 where Jesus was talking about salvation and rewards in a similar way, at the end of his second discourse:
 
 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. – Matthew 10:39-42
 
Finding one’s life in this context implies determining one’s own destiny, being in control and striving for personal benefit. That approach, which rejects God, will end in eternal death. In contrast, losing one’s life – probably not literally, but in submission to God – will result in eternal life with him. Welcoming a disciple of Jesus is the same as welcoming him and his Father, who sent him. Good deeds, even something as simple as giving a cup of refreshing water, will be rewarded, but notice the element of faith here. Welcoming a prophet as a prophet and a righteous person as a righteous person requires acknowledging the source of their truth and righteousness, namely God himself. The reward then is fellowship with the true God, through a revelation of who he is and what he has done for each of us.

Sitting on HIs Glorious Throne

 Matthew 25:31-46
 

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. – Matthew 25:31
 
Why is Jesus talking about this issue? I think it stems from the question back in Matthew 24:3 in which the disciples asked, “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” So, it seems as if Jesus is still answering their question. To my knowledge Jesus is only going to return once. Once he is here, he will reign for a thousand years.
 
The first time that Jesus came, he came as a lamb to be slaughtered. He was born in a barn with no glory. He was born to two parents who were simple. They did not have much and they did not look like much. As a young man he worked as a carpenter. He probably had to deal with customer service issues. Like me, in my business, he probably did not just have one boss, he had many bosses to please. I bet there was messiness involved. Before he started his travelling missionary work, he was baptized by a man who wore clothes made out of camel hair, and he ate locusts...with a touch of honey. He gathered 12 men who were ordinary and unschooled as it says in Acts 4:13. That does not sound too much like a glorious entourage for a king. He was not like charismatic evangelists of our time, waiting for people to come to him at his event. In Luke 19:10 Jesus said that he was going be the one to do the seeking. In Matthew 20, some of his disciples were jockeying for a better position in the group. He corrected their mindset by saying, “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.” (Matthew 20:28) Later, Judas betrayed Jesus to be arrested by the Romans. Instead of demonstrating his glory, power and authority, he said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matthew 26:53-54). None of these things seem to portray a king who has glory. Well, where I come from, we had a saying. “You ain't seen nothin’ yet.”

Journeys to the Kingdom

 Matthew 25:1-30

Good morning! Today we continue our series in Matthew, looking at the first part of Chapter 25. I have entitled the message “Journeys to the Kingdom,” but perhaps a better title might be “Journeys Illustrating the Kingdom,” as our passage today focuses on two parables that each involve journeys. But before we look at our passage, I think it is helpful to recall the context, which we have explored over the past two weeks in Matthew 24.
 
These two chapters, Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, are known as the Olivet Discourse, because Jesus told them to His disciples while sitting at the Mount of Olives. Jesus begins by telling them that a time will come when the Temple will be destroyed. His disciples ask Him when this will be, and what will be the signs of His coming and of the end of the age.
 
Jesus gives them signs, but also warns them that before He comes, deceivers will come who claim to be Him, and they should be careful not to fall for them. He also tells them that as for the day and hour of when these things will happen, nobody knows except God the Father. He warns them to keep watch, because His coming will be sudden and not when people expect Him. He ends Chapter 24 by warning that some will be like servants put in charge of a master’s household who, thinking they have plenty of time, chooses to live evilly and wildly. This person, Jesus says, will be caught in the midst of his disobedience and “assigned a place with hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Keeping Watch

 
Matthew 24:36-51
 

Are you keeping watch for the end of the age? What does this even mean? As John pointed out last Sunday, the disciples were wondering this, as they asked Jesus in verse 2 of Matthew 24, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” They knew that Jesus would be bringing in his kingdom in a more complete way. They suspected that the world as they knew it would change dramatically. Would that happen now or at some point in the future? How would they know what to expect? Jesus had just given them the shocking news that their beloved and honored temple would be destroyed; maybe he would explain the complete picture of what was to happen.
 
Jesus does give them a vivid warning that it will be a tough time, but that he will return to “gather his elect.” All the peoples of the earth would “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” When the temple was completely destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. no doubt many Christians wondered if Jesus would return right then. This surely was one of the signs of his coming, the “abomination that causes desolation” prophesied by Daniel more than 600 years earlier.
 
But John also pointed out in his message last week that Biblical prophecy is usually fulfilled in multiple ways, in the near term and also in the end times. We have to be very careful with definitive interpretations that associate prophetic elements with current events, in an attempt to predict the end of the world. But people have been trying to do this ever since Jesus returned to heaven. Many times entire communities have stopped their normal activities and just waited, convinced that Jesus was about to return at any moment. Is that what it means to “keep watch”? We will see from today’s passage that the answer is no. We pick up Jesus’ discourse again in the middle of Matthew 24:

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.