Matthew Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Three days after Jesus’ death, Mary Magdalene and another of Jesus’ followers, also named Mary, go to visit the tomb. When they get there, there’s a violent earthquake, and an angel appears. The angel is as bright as lightning, and “white as snow”. He rolls back the stone from the tomb and sits on it. Meanwhile, the guards that were posted are so terrified that they pass out and collapse. The angel tells the women that Jesus isn’t there, and that he has risen, just as he said he would. The angel invites them to look into the empty tomb for themselves, and tells them that Jesus will be going to Galilee.

As the women hurry away from the tomb to tell the disciples, Jesus suddenly appears in front of them, and they are overwhelmed with joy. Jesus tells them to go tell the disciples, and to tell them to go to Galilee.

Meanwhile, after the guards regain consciousness, they go to the chief priests and report everything that happened. The chief priests devise a plan, and give the soldiers a large amount of money, and tell them that if Pilate asks them what happened, they are to tell him that the disciples snuck in and stole the body while they were sleeping. The priests promise to keep the guards out of trouble if Pilate gets angry at them for sleeping on the job. “And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”

The eleven disciples hear about Jesus’ resurrection from Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and head to Galilee. Jesus meets them there, and they worship him, but some are doubtful. Jesus tells them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Commentary

Could wimpy fisherman disciples really take down Roman legionaries? It doesn’t say how many guards were posted, except that there were more than one. The writing is unclear whether the guards posted were Roman soldiers, or temple guards from the priests. If the chief priests, or the Romans, really thought that the body had been stolen, I would assume that they would organize a man hunt to locate the body and nip all these resurrection rumors in the bud. Particularly the Romans, as they have more to lose if stories of a re-born Israelite king inspire another rebellion. If they did look for the body, Matthew doesn’t write about it.

Matthew was so detailed the past few chapters, but then here at the end goes back to his earlier ways of leaving everything out except for a sketchy outline of events. What did the disciples say when they saw Jesus? He writes that some were “doubtful”, but doesn’t say anything more than that. This is the last chapter, and Matthew leaves the ending open for a sequel, i.e. the missionary activities of the disciples, but doesn’t say anything more about what happened to Jesus or where he went after Galilee.

Matthew Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Upon hearing that Jesus has been condemned to death by the chief priests, Judas is filled with remorse. He goes back to the priests and gives them their thirty coins back, saying that he has sinned against innocent blood. The priests tell him they don’t care and that that’s his problem. Judas tosses the bag of money into the temple, then hangs himself. The priests pick up the money off the floor, and decide that the temple can’t keep it because it’s blood money. They use it to buy a field to use a burial place for foreigners. This fulfills a prophecy that the Messiah will be betrayed for thirty silver coins which will be used to buy a potter’s field.

Meanwhile, the chief priests have taken Jesus before the Roman governor to be tried. Pilate asks Jesus if he’s the king of the Jews, and Jesus says yes. Pilate asks him to respond to all the charges and testimony against him, but Jesus is silent and doesn’t respond to a single one. Pilate is surprised by this.

The governor’s custom is to release one prisoner on a certain feast day. Pilate knows the only reason the priests have brought him Jesus is out of envy, so on the feast day he asks the crowd which prisoner they want, Jesus, who calls himself their Messiah, or Barabbas, a notorious criminal. While the crowd is deciding, Pilate’s wife sends him a message, warning him to have nothing to do with Jesus because she’s seen in a dream that he’s innocent.

The priests go through the crowd, and convince the people to ask for Barabbas. So when Pilate asks them which one they want, they all shout for Barabbas. Pilate asks what they want him to do with Jesus, then, and they yell for him to crucify him.  Pilate asks what crime Jesus has committed, but the crowd ignores the question and again yells for Pilate to crucify him. Pilate takes a bowl of water and literally washes his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood, it is your responsibility!” He then releases Barabbas, and hands Jesus over to be flogged and crucified.

The governor’s soldiers strip Jesus and dress him in a scarlet robe, the color of royalty. They make a crown out of thorns and put it on him. They make him a scepter, and mockingly kneel down in front of him, then sarcastically call him the “king of the Jews”, spit on him, and take the scepter and beat him with it. Then they put him back in his own clothes and take him away to be crucified. They find a peasant named Simon to carry the cross for them, and head to a place named Golgotha. They give him some wine mixed with gall, which is a pain killer, but Jesus won’t take it.

The guards crucify him, and then sit down to keep watch until he’s dead. They divide up his clothes and cast lots for the pieces, which fulfills the prophecy that said the Messiah’s garments would be separated and gambled for. Two robbers are also crucified on either side of Jesus. Above Jesus’ head, they place a written sign with the charges: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” People come by to insult Jesus, saying that if he were really the Son of God, he’d save himself. The chief priests especially take enjoyment in ridiculing him. Even the robbers who are dying on either side of him join in with the insults.

When night falls, Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The people listening think he’s calling for Elijah, and wait to see if the prophet Elijah will appear to save him. But no one appears, and Jesus dies. At the moment of his death, the curtain separating the Holy Place from the rest of the temple is rent in two. There is a small earthquake, and when the Roman guard guarding Jesus feels it, he is terrified and exclaims that Jesus must have been the Son of God after all.

After Jesus is dead, one of his rich followers asks Pilate for the body, and Pilate lets him have it. He wraps the body in burial cloths, and places it in a tomb cut from the rock. He rolls a stone in front of the tomb to close it off, and leaves. The next day, the chief priests and Pharisees ask Pilate to post a guard on the tomb, because Jesus had claimed that after three days he would return to life. “Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead.” So they put a guard on the tomb.

Commentary

I’m a little confused at the refusal of the priests to take their money back. While Judas is still living, making him keep the money means he’s also stuck with the guilt, which makes sense. But after he’s dead, why not take the money then? Why do they suddenly have morals against taking blood money? It’s not like they had any morals before. Also, using the money to buy a field for burying foreigners seems pretty random.

There’s a lot of blame games and guilt-passing going on here. First, the priests try to make Judas shoulder all the guilt by making him keep the money. Then, Pilate tries to make the priests and the people take all the responsibility, by announcing to the crowd that nothing is his fault and washing his hands of it in a very literal fashion.

According to the notes, Barabbas led a rebellion against the Romans, which is why he was arrested. Thus, Barabbas would have been a folk-hero to the Jews, especially the nationalistic ones that wanted Israelite independence and hated the Romans, which is most of them. This is apparently how the priests convinced the crowd, who just a few weeks ago welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with a parade and hung rapt in the temple on every word he said, to vote for Barabbas instead.

The Roman guards are surprisingly hateful for people who don’t really have any emotional investment in the situation. The Romans seem to be largely absent from the day-to-day life of the Jews; they might have known of Jesus’ preaching, but they just as likely didn’t know and didn’t care. So I’m a little taken aback by how personal they seem to take it when they’re beating Jesus. Maybe they just hate the Israelites in general? Then they offer him pain-killers, which doesn’t make any sense. If they hate him, why offer it? And if they don’t hate him, why treat him with such animosity back at the palace? Jesus refuses to take the wine; according to the notes, he wanted to be fully conscious until his death. I would have been shotgunning that stuff like my life depended on it.

It’s also notable that the priests are afraid that the disciples will steal the body and lie that Jesus has been resurrected, which is something I’ve also heard.

Matthew Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Jesus tells his disciples that after Passover ends in two days, he’ll be arrested and crucified. While he’s telling them this, the chief priests are gathering in the palace of the high priest Caiaphas. They discuss ways to arrest and kill Jesus, but decide not to do it until after Passover because it might cause a riot.

Later that day, a woman comes up to Jesus while he’s sitting at a table, and pours expensive perfume on his head. The disciples get angry at the waste of money, saying that they could have sold that perfume and given the money to the poor, but Jesus silences them. “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” He says the perfume is actually a preparation for his burial. Henceforward, wherever the gospel is preached, the story of what the woman did will be told as well, in memory of her.

One of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, goes behind Jesus’ back to visit the chief priests, and asks them what they’re willing to give him in exchange for him giving them Jesus. They agree on a price of thirty silver pieces, and Judas starts watching for an opportunity to hand Jesus over.

Later, the disciples get everything prepared for the Passover meal. While they’re eating, Jesus announces that one of them will betray him. Everyone is surprised, and they all ask, “Is it me?” and “Surely it’s not I, Lord?” Jesus says it would be better for the betrayer if he had never been born. Judas slyly asks if it’s him, and Jesus says yes, it is him.

Jesus then takes some of the bread, breaks it, and gives it to his disciples saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Next he takes a wine cup and says, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” He says he will not drink “this fruit of the vine” again until he drinks it with them in his Father’s kingdom. Jesus quotes a prophecy which says that the flock of the shepherd will scatter, which means that the disciples will fall away from him. Peter declares that he would never fall away, and Jesus tells him that Peter will deny him three times that very night, before the rooster crows. Peter still doesn’t believe it.

Jesus, Peter, James, and John go to Gethsemane. Jesus tells them to sit down and wait, while he prays. He tells them he is overwhelmed with sorrow. He walks a little ways, and falls prostrate and prays, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” When he comes back, the disciples are sleeping. Jesus asks them if they couldn’t manage to stay awake for even one hour. He tells Peter, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” He walks away again and prays again. When he comes back, the disciples have fallen asleep again. He walks away and prays a third time, and when he comes back he wakes the disciples up and tells them the hour of betrayal is at hand.

Suddenly, Judas appears, with a posse of guards in tow. Earlier he told them that the person he will kiss will be Jesus, and that’s how they will know who to arrest. He walks over to Jesus, greets him, and kisses him. The guards immediately arrest him. One of the disciples pulls his sword to defend Jesus, and cuts the high priest’s servant’s ear off. Jesus tells the disciple to put the sword away, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Jesus asks the large group of guards why there’s so many of them; is he leading an armed rebellion, that they need a small army to take him down? Nevertheless, their actions fulfill the prophecies. All the disciples flee.

Jesus is then taken to the high priest Caiaphas and the chief priests, who have set up a kangaroo court. They bring forward various false witnesses, including two who claim that they heard Jesus say that he could tear down the temple and in three days rebuild it. Caiaphas demands that Jesus answer the charge, but Jesus remains silent. Finally, Caiaphas demands to know whether Jesus is the Messiah or not. Jesus says yes, he is, and someday, they will see him seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Caiaphas accuses him of blasphemy, calls an end to the trial, and sentences him to death. The other priests all agree. They spit in his face, slap him, and hit him, mockingly asking him, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?”

Meanwhile, Peter is sitting outside in a courtyard near Jesus’ trial, trying to listen to the proceedings. A girl comes up to him and asks him if was with Jesus, and he denies it. He walks a little ways away, and another girl recognizes him as a follower of Jesus. Peter angrily tells them he doesn’t know Jesus. A little while later, a group of men approach Peter and say that surely he was with Jesus, because he has the same Galilean accent. Peter furiously denies it. Suddenly, a rooster crows, and Peter remembers Jesus’ prophecy. He goes outside and weeps bitterly.

Commentary

I’m curious how Matthew would know the secret plans of the chief priests. He couldn’t have known such details at the time, so he must have found out later. Perhaps one of the priests later repented and joined the Christians, and told them. Or one of the servants could have. Rumors probably abounded as well. Possibly Matthew never actually knew for sure, and is making educated guesses here.

Re: the perfume lady. It’s nice that her story will always be told in memory of her and stuff, but couldn’t Matthew have bothered to include her name? Sigh. According to the notes, the woman is Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha… neither of whom is mentioned in Matthew’s book either.

Ok, so Jesus announces at dinner that Judas is going to betray him. And the reaction among the other disciples is…. nothing? What? Where’s the beat-downs? Where’s the hasty vengeance on the snake in their midst? God probably isn’t big on vengeance, but c’mon. They totally ignore him like they didn’t even hear. I can only assume that Matthew’s taking creative liberties again, and Jesus didn’t actually announce it in the middle of dinner like that; perhaps it was a private conversation between Judas and Jesus (probably at a different time), and not a public announcement type thing like Matthew portrays it. That would explain the nonreaction among the other disciples, because they didn’t hear it. Leaving out the subtlety and writing it as a more public occurrence also fits in with how Matthew likes to have his good guys and bad guys clearly labelled.

Re: not drinking the fruit of the vine again till he’s with them in heaven. I’m pretty sure this is why most Baptists think drinking is wrong. At least, that’s what I was taught growing up. I have difficulty with that, because A) I like alcohol (jus’ sayin’), B) Just because Jesus said he’s not going to drink for a while doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t, C) Is there even any wine in heaven in the first place? Or any other physical things? and D) Presumably he wouldn’t tell the disciples to drink a cup of wine and then immediately afterwards tell them “PS, no more drinking.” So now that we’ve established that Jesus is cool with drinking, what DOES he mean by this? The nearest I can figure is that it’s yet another hint of his upcoming death – he won’t drink again until he’s in heaven, and that will be soon.

Completely unrelatedly, what’s the deal with the invisible disciples? There are 12 in total, but we only ever hear about maybe five. We usually only see Peter, and occasionally have seen James, John, Matthew (once), and Judas. The others are completely left out and after the listing of the disciples in chapter 10 are never mentioned again. They’re like ghosts.

Re: Arresting Jesus. Jesus is famous. He’s been preaching all across the country for like three years, and has been preaching inside the city itself, at the temple, every day for like a month now. Everyone knows Jesus. So why the whole prearranged signal to recognize him? Everyone would recognize him. The only thing Judas could have betrayed would be Jesus’ location, if the guards didn’t know where he was staying or when he would be out at night. But the kiss to signal which of the four people in the garden was Jesus, just seems gimmicky. Everyone in the city would have been able to recognize the famous prophet, without need of such spy-show tactics.

Matthew Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Jesus tells a parable about 10 virgins going to meet a bridegroom. Five of the virgins are wise and take extra oil for their lamps. Five of the virgins are foolish and take their lamps but no extra oil. They get there and wait for the bridegroom, but he’s taking his sweet time, so they doze off. At midnight, the cry goes up the bridegroom is finally coming, so the five wise virgins top off their lamps with oil and head out to meet him. The five foolish virgins complain that their lamps are out of oil from the long wait and ask to borrow some. The wise virgins tell them no, and tell the foolish ones to go buy some for themselves.

The foolish virgins head to the market (in the middle of the night), and while they’re away, the bridegroom arrives. The wise virgins are prepared and already waiting, and go into the banquet with him. Later, the foolish virgins finally get back, and find that the door is closed and no one will let them in. Jesus says that the return of the Messiah at the end of the world will be like this parable.

Jesus tells another parable. A master has three servants; before going away on a journey, he gives the best servant 5 talents, the average servant 2 talents, and the least able servant 1 talent. The servant with 5 talents invests them and makes 5 more. The one with 2 talents also invests them, and gains 2 more. But the one with 1 talent digs a hole and buries it. When the master comes back, the first servant tells him that he took the five talents he was entrusted with and earned 5 more. The second servant also says the same thing. The master is very happy and rewards them. The third servant tells the master that he was afraid of him and hid his talent; “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.”

The master gets very angry, calling him lazy, wicked, and worthless. He says he would have been better off putting the talent in the bank, where at least he would have gotten the interest. He takes the talent away from the servant and gives it to the servant with ten talents, saying that anyone who has will receive even more, and anyone who doesn’t have will lose even what he has. The servant is thrown outside.

Jesus says that at the end of the world, he will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep, or the righteous, will be put at his right, and the goats, or the unrighteous, will be put at his left. The King of Heaven, Jesus, will say to the sheep on his right, “Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

The righteous will be confused and say that they never saw Jesus sick or hungry or in prison, and Jesus will reply to them that “whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” The unrighteous did not do any of these things, and Jesus will tell them, “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

Commentary

The notes say that the parable of the virgins that brought extra oil, and were therefore able to wait a long time for the bridegroom, is used by Jesus to imply that the people’s wait for him to return will be a long one. Which on the one hand makes sense because it HAS been a long time, but on the other hand doesn’t make sense because just a chapter ago he was saying that the end of the world was going to occur within the listener’s lifetimes, not after a long wait at all. Also, I seem to be quoting the notes a lot.

I don’t really get the parable of the talents. I guess the talents are supposed to represent faith? And if you have even a small amount of faith, you’re supposed to be working on making it bigger, because if you don’t it’ll dwindle down to nothing? Or something like that? Because taken at face value, it makes the master of the servants sound like a greedy dirtbag, especially the part about him profiting from harvests he didn’t sow and so forth.

Matthew Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Jesus tells the disciples that someday the temple will be destroyed – “not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” The disciples ask what the signs of the end of the world will be. Jesus warns them that many liars claiming to be him will appear. There will be “wars and rumors of wars”, but Jesus says not to be alarmed because such things always happen and don’t signify the end of the world. He says that there will be famines, earthquakes, and countries fighting each other, and that indicates the beginning of “birth pains”, i.e. suffering that will precede the coming of the Messiah at the end of the world.

Jesus warns them that his followers will be persecuted, killed, and hated by every nation because of their belief in him. As a result, many will turn away from Jesus. Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” The gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole world before the end comes.

“So,” Jesus continues, “when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Jesus tells them that when that time comes, they’ll have to leave in a hurry – leave right away and don’t go back for anything. It will be a time of great distress. There will also be many false prophets claiming to be Jesus, but don’t believe them, even if they perform miracles and such. The coming of the true Son of Man will be as obvious as lightning.

Then, the ancient prophecy about the sun being darkened and stars falling will be fulfilled. The sign of the Messiah will appear in the sky, and he will send his angels to gather the “elect”. Just like tender twigs and leaves on a fig tree indicate the approach of summer, there will also be signs that indicate the approach of the end of the world. “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

Jesus tells them that no one knows the hour when heaven and earth will pass away. Even the angels and the Son don’t know, only the Father knows. In Noah’s era, people were eating and drinking and marrying right up until the day the flood came and they all died. It’ll be the same at the end of the world. “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.”

Jesus warns them to keep watch for his return. If the owner of a house knew what time a thief was going to break in, he’d keep watch and thwart the burglar. The Messiah returning at the end of the world will also come in like a thief in the night. If the master comes home at an unexpected hour and finds his servants doing what they’re supposed to, they will be rewarded. But if the master comes home and finds that in his absence the servants have been getting drunk and beating each other up, they will be punished.

Commentary

Totally didn’t know that Matthew kind of had a mini-Revelations end-of-the-world thing right in the middle of his book. And I’m reading it on New Year’s Eve on 2012! Dun dun dunnnnnnn.

Matthew places a lot of emphasis on foretelling the destruction of the temple, which makes sense given his Jewish audience. According to the Bible notes, the temple was destroyed in 70AD. Also according to the notes, the book of Matthew was written sometime between 50 and 70AD. It says the ones who argue for the earlier 50AD date do so based on its Jewish focus, since the church was almost completely Jewish at first, and most of its preaching was aimed at fellow Jews just like the book of Matthew is. The ones who argue for a later date do so based on the similarities between the writings of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. If Mark or Luke wrote their books first, and Matthew copied, then that would place Matthew’s writing at a later date. However, there’s no way to tell if Matthew was written later and copied off the others, or if his was written first and the others copied off him.

If Matthew wrote before 70AD, then he correctly predicted the temple’s destruction. If Matthew was written after 70AD, then it was probably not very long afterwards. (Possibly, he could have written most of it prior to 70AD, and then after the temple was destroyed gone back and added the foreshadowy bits.) His age is also a factor; if he’s about the same age as Jesus, and the average lifespan was 40 or 50, then he would have been quite old even at the 50AD date. By 70AD, he would probably have been dead.

Re: the “abomination that causes desolation”. According to the notes, this is a quote from the book of Daniel in the OT, and refers to an incident in 168BC when the pagan conqueror king Antiochus Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire erected an altar to Zeus on the sacred altar in the temple in Jerusalem. What Jesus means here is that prior to the end of the world, the “holy place” will be desecrated again, and everyone in Judea should flee. If the “holy place” means the temple, then presumably it will have to be rebuilt again first. Or, the “holy place” could mean Jerusalem in general, or churches or synagogues in general, or the center of christianity (the Vatican maybe?), or something else. It’s very vague. It’s also unclear if the desecration is supposed to be a literal pagan altar, like the first time, or if that too is metaphorical and this refers to some sort of symbolic desecration instead. It’s also possible that it’s already happened; if I recall correctly, the Dome of the Rock mosque is built on top of the foundations of the Jewish temple, which I daresay would qualify as a pagan altar being put on it.

“Let the reader understand” – at first I thought Matthew simply let his editorial hand slip a little, and wrote an entreaty to “readers” when of course if Jesus had actually said it during his speech he would have had listeners, not readers. However, the notes say that this statement is actually addressed to readers of the prophecy of Daniel, not the readers of Matthew.

Re: “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Um, that generation has passed away. The notes say that “generation” could also be translated as “race”, but I couldn’t find any other bibles that translated it that way. (Full disclosure: I looked up the KJV, Amplified Bible, and The Message translations on biblegateway before I got bored.) The Amplified Bible translates it as “this generation (the whole multitude of people living at the same time, in a definite, given period) will not pass away”, so the NIV’s footnote about “generation” actually meaning “race” seems like just a face-saving maneuver since the prophecy is clearly not true.

What does “elect” mean? In chapter 22, the people who got to go to, and stay in, heaven were determined by their behavior or actions. It appears to still be the same here, but it’s hard to tell. The whole end-of-the-world prophecy thing is super vague and could mean almost anything.

Matthew Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Jesus gives a long speech condemning the corrupt Pharisees. He tells the listening crowd that the Pharisees are the teachers of the law; the people should follow what the they tell them, since they know the law, but shouldn’t emulate their actions, since “they do not practice what they preach.” They load other people down with the heavy burden of the law of Moses, but they themselves “are not willing to lift a finger.” Instead, they like to show off how “devout” and important they are by taking the most important seats at the synagogue, showing off their Torahs, and having people call them “teacher”. But Jesus tells the crowds that they are not to be called “teacher” or father or anything else, because the only father is the Father in heaven and the only teacher is the Messiah. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus then addresses the Pharisees, and accuses them of slamming the gates of heaven in people’s faces. Since they themselves cannot enter, they try to keep out everyone else also. They also break the very laws that they pride themselves on knowing. They tell people that if anyone swears by the temple or the altar, the oath means nothing. But if they swear by the gold of the temple or the gift on the altar, then the oath is binding. Jesus yells, “You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? … You blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus continues. They follow the small legalistic points of the law, like giving a tenth of their spices, but ignore the most important aspects of the law, like justice and mercy. Jesus angrily says that they clean the outside of the cup – i.e. are focused on outer appearances – while leaving the inside of the cup dirty and nasty. If they had focused on cleaning the inside of the cup, the outside would have become clean too. The Pharisees are like whitewashed tombs, clean and shiny on the outside, but full of dirt and bones on the inside.

Jesus tells them that he will send wise men and prophets and teachers. He already knows that the Pharisees and their ilk will kill and persecute them, but in so doing, they will take credit not only for their current killings, but also for all of the other killings that unrighteous hypocrites such as themselves have done over the centuries.

Jesus then laments for Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.”

Commentary

So, I guess Jesus isn’t as Zen about the Pharisees as I thought. This was quite an angry tirade. I guess he finally got fed up with them. Incidentally, almost every new paragraph began with the line, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” but I only quoted it the once to save space. His anger seems to have passed as quickly as it appeared; he ends the speech on a sad note, feeling sad and protective of Jerusalem.

Matthew Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Jesus tells the crowd in the temple of Jerusalem another parable: A king invites many guests to a wedding banquet for his son. However, the guests refuse to come; most just ignore the invitation, and some actually kill the servants that brought them the invitation. The king is outraged. He sends his army, destroys the murderers, and burns their city. Then he tells his servants to go out into the streets and invite all the common people to the banquet, since everything is already prepared and the original guests turned out not to deserve to come. So the servants go out and gather all the people they can find, good and bad, and soon the wedding hall is filled with guests. Then, the king comes in and sees one man who is not wearing wedding clothes. The king asks how he got in without wedding clothes, and when the man can’t answer, the king becomes angry and throws him outside into the night. “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

The Pharisees decide, yet again, to try and trick Jesus. First, they soften him up with flatteries about how he’s so honorable and Godly and blah blah, and then say, a trifle disgruntled, that he isn’t swayed by men because he pays no attention to who they are. They ask him: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? They know that if he says it’s right, they can claim that he’s “disloyal” to Israel; but if he says it isn’t right, he’ll get in trouble with the Romans. Jesus knows their intent, and calls them hypocrites. He tells one of them to show him a coin, and one of the Pharisees produces a denarius. Jesus asks them whose picture and inscription are on the coin, and they respond that it’s Caesar’s. Jesus tells them to, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” The Pharisees are amazed at this response, and leave.

Later that day, some Sadducees (who are a Jewish sect who disbelieve in resurrection), ask Jesus about the law of Moses. According to Moses, if a man dies without children, his brother must marry the wife and have children for him. What if the second brother also dies without children, and the wife then marries the third brother? And what if the third brother also dies without children, and so on and so on down to the seventh brother; when everyone is resurrected at the end of the world, whose wife will she be? Since she was married to all seven. Jesus tells them that they are in error because they don’t know the scriptures or the power of God. He quotes some scripture and tells them, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. … He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

The Pharisees hear about Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees, and decide to challenge him one more time. They send their best law expert to ask Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus replies, “‘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 commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Seeing the Pharisees gathered together talking among themselves, Jesus decides to ask a question of his own. He asks, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” The Pharisees all say that he’s the son of David. Jesus asks how it is then that David calls his son Lord? Jesus quotes a Psalm, written by David, where David calls the Messiah his Lord. “If then David calls him ‘Lord’, how can he be his son?” None of the Pharisees can answer, and from then on no longer dare to ask him any more questions.

Commentary

The chapters are getting longer and longer as we head into the grand finale.

Re: the parable about the wedding banquet: According to the notes, it “may have been” a custom in ancient Israel for the host to provide the wedding guests with wedding garments. Thus, the man noticed by the king who wasn’t wearing wedding garments would either had to have been A) A gate crasher, who wasn’t wearing the provided outfit because he hadn’t been invited; but since the king had invited basically everybody, the more likely explanation is that B) He was properly invited but voluntarily chose not to wear the proper garments, which is an insult to the host.

The original banquet guests are presumably the Jews, but they have an unfortunate habit of killing God’s prophets (i.e. his servants bearing the divine invitation), and even the ones who aren’t violent typically ignore the prophet’s messages (such as the Pharisees who ignore John the Baptist). The angry king (God) “burning their city” is a foreshadowing of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70AD. The new guests pulled off the streets and invited to the banquet are the Gentiles. This is all along much the same lines as Jesus’ parables in the previous chapter. The servants invite “both the good and the bad” to the wedding; later, the bad (exemplified by the guy who didn’t wear wedding clothes) are thrown out. It appears that goodness and badness amongst the partygoers is based on behavior, e.g. honoring the host by accepting the proper attire. (Interestingly, the beliefs of the guests are never mentioned, only their actions.)

I’ve heard this verse used to argue for predestination, particularly the “many are invited but few are chosen” thing. But I don’t think so. The verse appears to mean that many are invited to the wedding, but few are chosen to stay. However, being chosen to stay appears to be based on the behavior of the individual. If the guy had done the right thing, in this case not insulted his host by voluntarily wearing the wrong clothes, he would have been allowed to stay. Even the Jews, had they heeded and honored the prophets instead of murdering and ignoring them, would apparently have been allowed to go to the wedding banquet and allowed to stay. In both cases God/the king’s response is based on the behavior of the individuals, not on arbitrary “predestined” reasons. So I don’t think the argument for predestination holds up, at least not the arguments based on this verse.

One thing that does confuse me, though, is that the wedding banquet is for the king’s son, who is pretty obviously Jesus. Who is Jesus getting married to?

I was struck by the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees only ask questions to show off how much they know and to get people in trouble. The Sadducees ask questions because they actually want to know the answer.

If I were Jesus, I’d be getting SO irritated by all the constant “trick questions” and fake respect (like the jerk Pharisee lawyer sarcastically calling him “teacher”). I’d be tempted to start zapping Pharisees instead of plants. I’m pretty annoyed just reading about it, and if it were me in real life being treated that way, I think I’d rapidly develop some rage management problems. Jesus is pretty Zen about it, though.

Also, pointing out that David called his own son “lord”, seems like a nice setup to argue that the real Messiah must be “in David’s line” but not a biological descendant of him. Just like Jesus.

Matthew Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Jesus and his disciples arrive at the Mount of Olives, a mountain just outside Jerusalem. Jesus tells two of his disciples to go to a nearby village and fetch a donkey and a colt (the foal of the donkey) they’ll find there. He tells them that if anyone says anything to them about it, just say that the Lord needs them, and the owner will let them have them. This fulfills the prophecy that the king of Israel will ride on a colt.

The disciples put their cloaks on the backs of the donkey and the colt, and Jesus gets on the donkey. As he rides toward Jerusalem, a large crowd gathers along the way, many spreading their cloaks and palm leaves on the road in front of him as if he were royalty. They cheer as he enters Jerusalem, and the people inside the city ask the ones outside who he is. They tell them that it’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.

After entering the city, Jesus goes to the temple. The courtyard in front of the temple is filled with money lenders and people buying and selling stuff at tables. Jesus gets very angry, and drives them all out. He flips over the tables of the money lenders, and overturns the benches of some people selling other stuff. Jesus quotes a prophecy at them – that the temple has been made into a “den of robbers” – and evicts all of them. Now that there’s actual space in the temple area, the sick and injured start filtering in, and Jesus heals them. Children come in, and yell happily about Jesus being awesome while they run around and play. The chief priests see what’s going on and get mad, especially when the children say that Jesus is the “Son of David”. Jesus tells them that it fulfills the prophecy which says that says that even children will praise God. He then leaves Jerusalem, and goes to the small village of Bethany, on the side of the Mount of Olives.

The next morning, on his way back to Jerusalem, he sees a fig tree and decides to have figs for breakfast since he’s hungry. But when he goes up to the tree, there’s no fruit on it, just leaves. He gets angry and exclaims, “May you never bear fruit again!” and the tree immediately withers. The disciples are amazed, not that he reacted so angrily, but that his order to the tree actually worked. Jesus tells them that if they had enough faith, they could do the same thing. “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

After the fig incident, he continues on into Jerusalem. He heads back to the temple, and starts teaching the people there. The chief priests come up and demand to know who gave him authority to teach. Jesus tells them that he’ll answer their question, but only if they answer a question of his first. He asks them their opinion on John the Baptist’s baptism – was it from heaven, or from men? The chief priests have a quick huddle to discuss it; they know if they say it was from heaven, Jesus will ask why they didn’t believe John then; but if they say it was from men, the townspeople will rise up against them because they believe that John was a prophet. Finally, they tell Jesus that they don’t know. Jesus tells them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Jesus then tells a parable about a man with two sons, who asked one son to go out to their vineyard and work. The son refused, but later changed his mind and went. The man asked the second son to do the same thing, and the second son said sure, he’d go, but then he never went. Which one did what the father wanted? “The first,” the crowd answers. Jesus says it’s the same in real life. “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did.”

He tells another parable about a landowner who built a large vineyard and hired some workers to tend it while he was away. When harvest time came, he sent his servants to collect the owner’s share of the fruit, and the workers killed the servants. The landowner sent a second, larger, group of servants, but the workers killed them too. Last of all, the landowner sent his son, thinking that surely the workers would respect his son. But when the workers caught sight of the son, they decided to kill him and take his inheritance, and they killed him too. “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” The people in the crowd all agree that the owner will punish the workers and kill them, and get new workers who are not such evildoers.

Jesus quotes a prophecy that “the stone the builders rejected has become a capstone”, and tells the crowd that the kingdom of God will be taken away from them and given to others who will produce its fruit.

The chief priests and the Pharisees hear this and get angry. However, they’re afraid to take action against Jesus because he is so popular among the people, who believe he is a prophet.

Commentary

This was such a long chapter. Man.

I’m a little confused that the people in the villages immediately outside Jerusalem would recognize Jesus, but the people inside the walls would be clueless. However, I think this is just because of the confusing way Matthew wrote this part; his writing is unusually jumbled here. In the part about the donkey, he makes it sound as if Jesus were riding on both the donkey AND the colt at the same time, and it took me three or four times of reading it to figure out which one Jesus was actually on. In several sentences, it’s hard to tell who the sentence is even about. So, not Matthew’s greatest writing, here. Maybe Matthew was just tired when he was writing this part? Maybe it’s just clerical errors from all the many times the manuscript was copied later? Maybe since he was writing many years after the actual events, he just forgot stuff? Who knows. Anyway, long story short, a lot of this part is sort of jumbled. It’s doubtful that the Jerusalemites were really as clueless as they come off sounding here.

Sometimes I’ve heard this part quoted to show that Jesus basically stole the donkey. However, on close reading I don’t think that’s the case. Remember when I said in some sentences you can’t even tell who the subject of the sentence is? Yeah, right here. Here’s the exact passage: “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.'” (Matthew 21:1-3)

The bolded “he” is the crux of the issue – at first read it seems to refer to the Lord, which would mean he really did basically hijack the animals (i.e. “take the donkey/colt and tell the owner the lord needs them, and the lord will send them right away”). But grammatically, the end part doesn’t entirely make sense – the lord will send them right away to…. where? Send them back? OTOH, the “he” could also refer to the owner (or rather, the person “who says anything”). In which case, it means: Take the animals, and if anyone says anything, tell that person that the lord needs them, and that person will send them right away. “He will send them right away” would refer to the protestor letting the disciples have the animals right away. Which makes more sense grammatically than the “sending them back” interpretation. Long story short, this is another case of unusually sloppy and unclear writing on Matthew’s part.

I’m unclear on whether king Herod actually lives in Jerusalem or not. In the earlier chapters when he was sitting in his palace plotting or whatever I thought he was in Jerusalem, but now that Jesus is actually there, there’s apparently no sign of him. Herod Sr lived in Jerusalem back in chapter two, but Herod Jr’s location has never been specified; I just sort of assumed he lived in Jerusalem too, but evidently that’s not the case. Matthew refers to Herod Jr as a “tetrarch”, meaning that he is a ruler of only a fourth of the kingdom, so apparently his new capital is in whatever quarter of Israel he rules. That would put Jerusalem under direct Roman control, which seems to be true as well.

The temple area sounds like a flea market, with stalls for people selling random junk and bunches of people treating the place like a shopping strip instead of like a temple. It certainly made Jesus mad. It was a nice contrast between the crowds of shoppers, and the peacefulness of the sick and the children after they left. I wonder if any of the sellers and money lenders had the temerity to come back into the temple after Jesus left, or if they were too scared. The chief priests were probably charging rent for sales space, which would explain why they got mad; they were watching all their revenue running away.

So uh, what’s the deal with Jesus basically zapping the fig tree? o.o I don’t get it. (Why not just order the tree to make some fruit?)

Also, we again have Jesus’ assurance that you’ll get anything you pray for. Even though I’m sure basically all of us have prayed for something that we never got. The notes reference a later verse (1 John 5:14-15), which says that “if we ask anything according to his will” then we we are guaranteed to get “whatever we ask”. So I guess the “you’ll get anything you pray for” thing actually means “you’ll get anything you pray for so long as what you’re praying for is in accordance with God’s will”? Why didn’t Jesus just say that, or did he assume that the disciples were already in accordance with God’s will?

Lastly: the parables. The one about the vineyard workers who keep killing the owner’s servants and the crowd all agrees that when the owner gets back he’s going to kill them and replace them with non-murderous servants: According to the notes, the murderous workers are the Jews, who keep killing God’s prophets and will eventually kill Jesus, and the good workers who will be brought in to replace them will be the gentiles. Likewise, in the parable about the two sons, the son who says he refuses to do what his father wants but then changes his mind and does it anyway represents the heathens – the gentiles, prostitutes, and tax collectors. The son who says he’ll do what the father wants, but then doesn’t, represents the Jews, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law, who are basically out there doing their own thing while only paying lip service to God.

The prophecy about the stone the builders rejected being turned into the capstone (or cornerstone) of the building, I’ve usually heard explained to mean that Jesus was the stone – rejected, and then turned out to be the cornerstone. However, in context here, it doesn’t seem to be about Jesus at all; the capstone seems to be the gentiles, who will form the basis of the new kingdom. Jesus quotes the prophecy, and then says, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [the crowd at the temple] and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:42-43) So it seems the capstone/cornerstone is the gentiles, who are rejected by the Jews, but who will turn out to form the basis or cornerstone of the church. Which all ties back in with the preceding parables.

Matthew Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Jesus tells a story about a landowner who is hiring workers for the day for his vineyard. Early in the morning he goes and hires a group of men, agrees to pay them a denarius for the day, and off they go to the vineyard. Around the third hour of the day, he goes to the marketplace and hires a second group of day laborers, they agree on the same wage, and off they go to work. He does the same thing at the sixth hour and the ninth hour of the day. Around the eleventh hour he heads to the marketplace yet again and there are still workers there, who say that they’ve been there all day but no one has hired them yet. So he hires them, and off they go to work.

Evening arrives at the twelfth hour, and the owner directs his foreman to pay the workers, starting with the ones hired last. The workers hired at the eleventh hour are all paid one denarius, so the workers who’d been working since the morning expected to get more. But when their turn came, they also got only one denarius. They complained to the owner that the latecomers only worked one hour, whereas they had worked all day, and that it’s unfair to pay them the same. The owner responds that the pay is what they agreed to. “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Jesus says that in a similar way, in heaven the last will be first and the first will be last.

Jesus and crew start heading to Jerusalem, and on the way he warns them that in Jerusalem he will be betrayed, flogged, and crucified, as well as returned to life after three days.

The mother of the disciples James and John asks Jesus to let her sons sit at his right and left hand in heaven. Jesus tells her she doesn’t know what she’s asking, and asks James and John if they can drink the cup he’s going to drink. They assure him they can, and Jesus responds that they will indeed drink from his same cup, but that the places at his right and left hand are not his to give, having already been prepared for others by the Father.

The other ten disciples hear about James and John trying to advance themselves above the others this way, or rather their mother doing it for them, and get a little indignant. Jesus tell them to relax, because the first are last and the last are first. Leaders amongst the Gentiles might lord it over people, but among believers, whoever wants to be great must become a servant. In the same way, the Messiah did not come to be served by others, but came to serve them and give his life as a ransom for them.

Commentary

I’m probably completely missing the point here, but isn’t Jesus’ parable basically encouragement to be lazy? Why work all day when you can get the same pay by working only an hour? Is that a great endorsement for deathbed conversions, or what? Why bother with the whole “moral lifestyle” stuff, when you can live a life of partying and sin, repent and change your mind at the last minute just before you die, and boom! Welcome to heaven anyway!

The notes say the story about the workers is an example of undeserved generosity, which I dare say it is. It’s true though, that the workers did have a legitimate reason not to work until so late: nobody would hire them, and even though they were out there hustling for a job all day they didn’t find work until the last minute. They weren’t lazy or planning to take advantage of the owner’s generosity, they just couldn’t find an employer. So I guess there goes my theory of bible-sanctioned laziness and partying. Oh well.

However, I still don’t get how the “first will be last” thing will work in heaven. Wouldn’t that mean that the greatest Christians get the least honor in heaven, and the crappiest christians get the highest spots? Or is this another metaphorical type thing where he doesn’t mean it exactly literally, but is using “opposite day” mindbenders to try to get across that rank doesn’t matter in heaven?

Sort of like he did when talking to Peter, when he told Peter to forgive his enemies “77” times. He obviously didn’t mean that Peter should forgive the guy seventy seven times in a row and then on the seventy eighth time, too bad for the enemy! Never mind forgiveness, it’s payback time! No, he meant that Peter should forgive an unlimited number of times, and used the example as sort of hyperbole/analogy. In a similar way the “last first and first last” thing could be an analogy or exaggeration to get the disciples (and people in general) to quit fixating on relative rank.

Matthew Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Jesus leaves the Galilee region and heads south to the region of Judea, which is close to Jerusalem. While he is teaching, some Pharisees come and ask him whether it’s legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason he wants. Jesus responds that God made “male and female” and intended that upon marriage the man should leave his family “and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” The Pharisees reply that the law of Moses said that divorce was ok as long as the husband gave the wife a certificate of divorce. Jesus responds, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

The disciples are surprised at the hard line Jesus takes about divorce, and say that if it’s true then it would be better not to marry at all. Jesus tells them that some men don’t have sex because they are born with physical problems that prevent it; some men don’t have sex because they’ve been injured or castrated and can’t; some men don’t have sex because they have found themselves unable to accept this teaching about marriage, and have renounced marriage in favor of celibacy, the only alternative. If you can’t accept God’s teaching, it’s ok to be celibate.

A young man comes up to Jesus and asks what he has to do to get eternal life. Jesus tells him to obey the commandments, and the man asks which ones. Jesus tells him, “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.” The man says he’s always kept all of those commandments, and asks what else he needs to do. Jesus replies, “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.” The man leaves disappointed, because he’s rich and doesn’t want to lose all his things. Jesus says that it’s “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus says it’s impossible for a person to save themselves, “but with God all things are possible.”

Peter exclaims that he and the disciples really have given up everything and followed Jesus; what can they expect in heaven? Jesus says that at the end of the world the Messiah will sit in glory, and the twelve disciples will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus adds that anyone who has left houses or family or fields for Jesus’ sake, will inherit in heaven much more than they left.

Commentary

This is the first time Jesus has headed south. The impression is that he’s been staying up north to avoid Herod and the chief Pharisee leaders. Now that he knows his time is drawing to a close (all the hints of his upcoming death), apparently there is no longer such reason to avoid the south.

The disciple’s reaction to the no-divorce thing is kind of funny. What do you mean we can’t throw our wives out for whatever reason we want?! In that case I’m just not getting married at all! Jesus really does draw a hard line in the sand when it comes to divorce, though. No divorce except in cases of adultery, period. No re-marriage after divorce, period. I think the Catholics are the only ones who actually follow this.

Apparently, to get eternal life you have to follow the commandments enumerated by Jesus, and to be “perfect” you have to sell all your stuff. Which I guess means you can be saved without being perfect? I thought it interesting that Jesus only lists 5 of the 10 commandments. Does that mean people don’t have to follow the other ones anymore (which seems unlikely, given that the first commandment is not to have idols), or is Jesus just taking the other commandments as givens and only listing ones the new guy is unclear about?

Anyway, this chapter and the next are mostly just a bridge leading up to chapter 21, when Jesus enters Jerusalem itself.