Matthew Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The disciples ask Jesus who is the greatest in Heaven. Jesus calls over a small child, and tells them that unless they become like little children, they’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles themselves like the child will be called the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Also, whoever welcomes a child welcomes Jesus; and if anyone causes a child to sin, it would be better for them to tie a millstone around their necks and be drowned in the sea. Jesus reiterates his earlier teaching that if your hand or foot causes you to sin, it’s better to cut it off and enter heaven crippled than not at all.

Jesus warns the disciples about being contemptuous of children, because “their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” He then tells a story about a shepherd who has 100 sheep; one sheep wanders away, so the shepherd leaves the other 99 to go track down the lost one. When he finds it, he is way happier about that one than he is about the other 99 that didn’t wander off. “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

Jesus then tells them that if someone “sins against them”, i.e. wrongs them, then they should go and “show him his fault, just between the two of you.” If he doesn’t listen, then get one or two witnesses or mutual friends to go with you, so that maybe with multiple points of view the matter can be explained more clearly where he will understand and change his ways. If he still doesn’t listen, take the matter to the church. If he still doesn’t listen, and “refuses to listen even to the church”, then wash your hands of him and treat him no different than you would a pagan or tax collector, and he is basically thrown out of the church until he repents and changes his ways.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. … if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done by my father in heaven.” Anywhere two or three people come together in Jesus’ name, Jesus will be there with them.

Peter asks Jesus how many times he’s supposed to forgive his brother when the brother wrongs him. Up to seven times? Jesus says no, up to 77 times. Jesus then tells a story about a servant who owed his master a giant fortune of ten thousand talents, and wasn’t able to repay it. The master was prepared to sell the servant into slavery and take everything he owned to recoup the debt, but the servant begged him not to and promised to pay everything back if the master would be patient with him. The master took pity on him, and forgave the debt altogether. The servant then went out and found another servant who owed him 100 denarii (equal to 1/500th of a talent), and choked him against a wall and demanded his money back. The other servant begged him to stop and asked for him to be patient, he’d pay all of it back. The first servant ignored his pleas and had him thrown into prison. The other servants thought his hypocrisy was unbelievable, and told the master, who was also outraged. “You wicked servant,” he said, “I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” The master then threw him into prison to be tortured until he could repay the debt. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Commentary

Children: ignorant and gullible, or innocent and unpretentious? Most would choose the former – I’ve said the same myself – but when I think back on my own childhood, I don’t actually recall being all that gullible. I didn’t know much about science and intellectual knowledge and so forth, nor did I really care unless it was related to a topic I was interested in (dinosaurs!), but when it came to dealing with people, you don’t need intellectual knowledge. If someone was trying to get one over on me – a parent, one of my more dubious relatives, somebody at school – if they were lying to me or tried jacking me around, I usually saw through it right away, 90% of the time. In fact I’ve found that my ability to do this has actually diminished as I’ve gotten older; either I won’t get the “he’s lying” signal like I used to, or I’ll get the vibe but discount it and ignore it because I don’t want to seem rude (which usually winds up with me getting screwed over, but hey! nobody thought I was rude while it was happening!). I don’t really hang out with a lot of children, but from my personal highly unscientific anecdotal evidence, I’d say that kids really aren’t that stupid, and won’t automatically just believe whatever you tell them. (Keep in mind that I’m talking about intelligence in regards to human relations, eg being able to detect lies, not intelligence in regards to education, eg chemistry class.) Does any of what I’ve just said even make sense? Moving on.

When Jesus talks about the children’s “angels”, the notes say that he is referring to guardian angels, and that them “always seeing the face of God” means that they have constant access to God. So does that mean that once the kid grows up, their guardian angel could start to lose access to God, e.g. gets more distant from God if the kid does? Are they interconnected some way? The notes imply that, although the actual passage doesn’t. Also, I didn’t know that the bible actually said anything about guardian angels.

Re the 99 sheep thing: If I were one of the good sheep, I’d be kind of jealous and angry about the bad sheep getting all the attention. The good sheep did the stuff they were supposed to do, and as a reward get basically ignored by the herdsman. The bad sheep runs off, does whatever he wants, pulls the herdsman away from all the other sheep that need him so now they’re deprived of his care until he gets back, and as a reward gets all the attention and the herdsman is “so happy” when he comes back and doesn’t even get mad. It’s basically the prodigal son, but with sheep. If I were one of the good sheep, I’d be tempted to become one of the bad sheep since apparently they’re the only ones who get appreciation or attention. Of course, I get that God isn’t exactly analogous to the shepherd because the shepherd can only be in one place at a time, so if he gets pulled away to go stray sheep hunting the other sheep are deprived of his care until he gets back, whereas the same is not true of an omnipresent God. But still.

Re: “you” shall bind/loose – in chapter 16, when Jesus originally gives this power to Peter, the “you” is singular*. When he says it again here, it’s plural. So, at the original giving of the binding/loosing power, Jesus was speaking only to Peter. Here, he apparently says that all of the disciples have this power. When he says, “if two of ‘you’ on earth agree about anything you ask for”, it isn’t clear whether he means any two of the disciples, or any two people in general. The “you” is plural, but that’s not helpful because the sentence could still mean either meaning. The next sentence (“where two or three gather in my name I’ll be with them”) is more clear and apparently means any two or three people, no matter who they are.

Then, we again have the problem of Jesus saying that you’ll get whatever you pray for. The notes say that the “if two of you agree about anything” etc line refers only to the apostles, and that specifically it refers to their ability to bind and loose (ie the “anything” isn’t “anything at all”, it’s “anything to do with binding and loosing”), which I guess could make sense since that that’s the antecedent event. The notes say that this verse (“if two of you agree” etc) applies specifically to binding/loosing in regards to church discipline (ie throwing out of the church someone who commits a wrong and doesn’t repent and won’t listen to the victim, the witnesses, friends, or the church). Basically, excommunication.

Re: The story about the crappy servant who owes his master thousands and thousands of dollars, begs for time, and the master feels compassionate and lets him off altogether. Then, the crappy, dirtbag servant immediately turns around and hunts down some poor sap that owes him like 50 bucks, and starts whaling on him and demanding his money back as of yesterday. How many of us know this person in real life, raise your hand? Yeah, pretty sure we all know one. The notes say, “God is very forgiving, but he also judges those who refuse to forgive.”

*I got conflicting info when I tried googling it, so I used the expedient of looking it up in the KJV; in KJV English, singular “you” is always rendered as “thee” or “thou”. Plural “you” is always rendered as “you” or “ye”. This method seems pretty accurate, but I’m not an ancient language scholar so YMMV. [/disclaimer]

Matthew Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Jesus, Peter, James, and John go up on a high mountain. When they get to the top, Jesus is transfigured. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” Just then, Moses and Elijah appear, and start talking to Jesus. Peter tells Jesus that it’s amazing, and volunteers to build three tabernacles or memorials on the site in their honor, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Before he’s finished talking, a brilliant white cloud envelops all of them, and they hear the voice of God say, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Peter, James, and John are terrified, but Jesus reassures them and tells them not to be afraid. By the time they stop cowering and look up, Moses and Elijah are gone. Jesus tells them not to tell anyone about what they have seen, until after he has been raised from the dead. According to prophesy (or rather, based on a teensy bit of prophesy, and a bunch of later tradition), the prophet Elijah is supposed to appear before the coming of the Messiah, and the disciples ask Jesus why this doesn’t seem to have happened. Jesus tells them that it did in fact happen already; Elijah appeared and was not recognized, and was put to death, and the disciples suddenly understand that John the Baptist had been Elijah.

When they come back down off the mountain, a man approaches Jesus and begs him to have mercy on his son, who has terrible seizures which often cause him to fall into fires or into the water. The man says that the disciples with Jesus had tried healing him already, but hadn’t been able to do it. Jesus is a little frustrated by the disciples; he tells the man to bring his son over, and Jesus heals him easily. The disciples ask why they hadn’t been able to heal him, and Jesus tells them it’s because they have such little faith. He tells them that if they only have faith as small as a mustard seed, they will literally be able to move mountains with it. Jesus, Peter, James, and John rejoin the rest of the disciples in Galilee. Jesus warns them that he is going to be betrayed and killed, and after three days will be raised back to life. The disciples are devastated at hearing that he’s going to die.

Jesus and the twelve disciples head to Capernaum, and a tax collector asks Peter whether Jesus pays his temple tax. Peter defends Jesus saying that of course he does. When he goes to tell Jesus, before he can speak Jesus asks him, “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes – from their own sons or from others?” “From others,” Peter answers. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus replies. “But so we may not offend them,” he continues, he tells Peter to go down to the lake and go fishing, and the first fish he catches will have a four-drachma coin in its mouth, enough to pay the temple tax for both of them.

Commentary

Jesus seems to go up on mountains a lot to pray. (eg before walking on the water, plus the sermon on the mount) I guess it’s to get some alone time away from the crowds, except in the sermon on the mount the crowds kind of came with him.

God’s voice from the cloud reiterates the same words he spoke at Jesus’ baptism. With an added admonition to Peter (and I guess James and John, but it seems like mostly Peter) to quit being so dense and getting distracted by tabernacles and such and to pay attention. (Also, semi-relatedly, there are two disciples named James. One is John’s brother, the third disciple Jesus picked out, and one is James the son of Alphaeus, one of the last disciples Jesus picked out. I always use “James” to refer to James, John’s brother, disciple #3, who is the one with Peter and John in this scene. I always use “James the son of Alphaeus” to refer to James, the uh, son of Alphaeus. Just so everyone can tell who’s who.)

We’ve already established that Peter is now the official leader of the disciples, and apparently the brothers James and John are in some sort of leadership role too, as they’ve been selected by Jesus to go with him to the Elijah/Moses thing. James and John were the third and fourth disciples Jesus chose; Peter and his brother Andrew were the first and second. I’m curious why Andrew was left behind.

The whole part-law-mostly-tradition thing about Elijah is similar to the whole law vs tradition contest we saw back in chapter 15. According to the notes, apparently there’s like two sentences in the OT that imply that Elijah has to reappear before the Messiah comes. Apparently the teachers of the law stretched those two sentences out into this whole big thing. At least that’s the way I understood it. But I’m confused, because A) we basically have Elijah appear twice, once as John the Baptist and once as himself on the mountain, and B) How does the whole Elijah=John thing work, anyway? Is John the Baptist supposed to be a reincarnation of Elijah? Or did they simply have the same job – both spent their whole lives predicting Jesus – and the job is what’s the same, not the two people themselves somehow being the same person?

Re: the temple tax. According to the notes, every adult male had to pay a “temple tax” once a year, which was a small tax used for the upkeep of the temple. The amount per person was equal to two days wages, so…. around $100 in modern American money? (7.25 an hour * 8 hours a day * 2 days = 116$ for two days’ wages). Not so bad as taxes go I guess. Anyway, if someone then came up to me and said to that I’d find a fish with $200 in its mouth, I’d be, shall we say, extremely skeptical. But if it turned out to be true…. I’d be the happiest person ever (free money and got one over on the government!) and I’d probably frame the fish and throw a party. Matthew never says if Peter actually went fishing and caught the lottery fish, though.

Matthew Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The Pharisees and Sadducees are once again asking Jesus for a big miracle to prove he’s the Messiah. Jesus tells them that they know how to interpret the weather, e.g. red clouds at night means it will be fair weather the next day, etc. “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” Jesus says they’ll get no sign except the “sign of Jonah.”

Later, at dinnertime, the disciples discover that they forgot to get any bread. Jesus warns them to be on their guard against the “yeast” of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples think he’s talking about the bread, or lack of, and discuss among themselves what it could mean. Jesus gets annoyed, and pointedly reminds them of the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand, and tells them it doesn’t matter if they brought any bread or not because the Father will provide for them. He explains that the “yeast” he was warning them about was the Pharisees corrupt teachings… not their bread.

Next, Jesus and the disciples go to the pagan city of Caesarea Philippi, in the mountains north of the Sea of Galilee. On the way there, Jesus asks the disciples who people say the Messiah is. They respond that some people think the Messiah was John the Baptist, others say it was the ancient prophet Elijah, and others say it was one of the other ancient prophets. Jesus asks who they think the Messiah is, and Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus blesses Peter, saying that this knowledge was revealed to him by the Father. He says, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus then warns all the disciples that he will soon die; he must go to Jerusalem, where he will suffer many things and be killed. He says on the third day he’ll be raised back to life. Peter gets angry, and says that Jesus must not be allowed to be killed. Jesus rebukes him angrily.

Jesus tells them that anyone who would follow him “must take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Commentary

Totally feelin’ sympathy for the literal-mindedness of the disciples here. If I were talking about bread, and somebody came up and warned me about bad yeast or whatever, I too would assume that they were talking about bread. I could have an entire conversation about it, and be totally oblivious to the fact that they meant it as an obvious metaphor about something completely different. Just like the disciples!

Fun fact: Caesarea Philippi was named after our old buddy, king Herod’s brother Philip. The older, original city it replaced was called Paneas, after the Greek god Pan.

Were the Jews really waiting on a Savior? I mean, I get that they wanted a mighty warlord or whatever to free them from the Romans and restore them to their former ancient glories, but was that part of their actual religion, or was that just sort of a folk-story thing? Like King Arthur for the Jews – a cherished hope among the people, but certainly nothing official? Matthew seems convinced that it was part of the official religion, in fact an integral part, and quotes a bazillion ancient prophecies to prove it. Trouble is, half the prophecies he uses don’t seem to have anything to do with the events he’s trying to match them to. Or at least, that’s the way it seems to a person such as myself who doesn’t know jack about ancient Jewish culture and who has never read any of the OT prophecies except for single sentences quoted here and there. Maybe once I read the OT, and get the prophecies in their full and original context, they will seem more applicable. Are modern Jews still waiting for a Messiah or Savior, or have they given up on the idea?

Re Jesus’ speech to Peter: In Jesus’ speech, the NIV uses the word “hades” instead of “hell”, but the KJV uses “hell”. I used “hell” here, because, just being honest, “Hades” sounds stupid and last I checked the Jews didn’t believe in greek mythology and wouldn’t have used the term anyway.

“Peter” means “rock” in Greek (cf. “petra”), so Jesus is making a play on words here. (Which is kind of awesome, to have a pun-making Messiah.) Peter has been sort of the unofficial leader of the disciples: Peter and his brother were the first two disciples Jesus picked; Matthew gives him the top spot when detailing the order of the disciples; he was the one that walked on the water to meet Jesus; and just now, when Jesus asks the disciples in general a question, Peter is the one who answers for them. So evidently, he’s been sort of their de facto leader. And now, apparently, he’s the official leader. On Peter specifically, Jesus will build his church.

Re: the gates of hell not prevailing against it. Why gates of hell? Why not “armies” of hell? Or “powers” of hell, or “demons” of hell? Why “gates”? Gates don’t really overcome anything… they’re just doors. Or is this just a dramatic figure of speech and I’m being over-literal again? Second, how could hell overcome the church? As in, what would that look like? The only scenarios I can come up with are, 1) Eradicating the church (which would certainly count as “prevailing against it”), and/or 2)Leading the church into error (if the church can be misled into abandoning the truth of the kingdom and can be made to teach falsehoods, I daresay that would count as “prevailing against it” as well.) So apparently, the church is protected against eradication, and against error (or perhaps more accurately, against lasting error, since everyone makes mistakes and they’re still just people. Or perhaps, the protection is actually against doctrinal error. Wrong actions, while probably inevitable, would presumably go against the doctrine/teachings.)

Re: having the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What are the keys? It can’t be the bible, because the bible wasn’t written yet; the earliest part of the NT wasn’t written until thirty years later, and the OT, while already written, is becoming more and more obsolete every day that Jesus lives. Jesus says Peter will have the power to bind and loose on earth, and that what he binds and looses on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven too. So maybe that’s his key. As far as Jesus giving Peter such power, it’s like he’s turning him into a mini-Jesus. Or perhaps making him Jesus’ official earthly envoy, which makes sense given that immediately afterward Jesus warns them about his imminent death. What does Jesus mean by binding and loosing? He says “whatever” Peter binds, not “whoever” Peter binds, so apparently Peter isn’t deciding who goes to heaven and who doesn’t. The notes in my bible say that it means Peter has the authority to announce guilt or innocence. Whatever that means.

Re: Jesus predicting his death. I feel sympathy here for Peter. If my leader/friend said that someone was out to kill them, I’d get mad and want to protect them too. I’d also feel confused if the leader/friend got angry about it and said I shouldn’t. That’s what happens when bad news hits: everybody gets upset.

Re: some people not tasting death before the Son of Man comes back in glory. I take it this refers to the Resurrection.

Matthew Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Some Pharisees confront Jesus, saying that he and his disciples break tradition by not washing their hands before meals (although it’s not part of the Law, but only a tradition). Jesus counters by asking them why they break the Law itself to follow such traditions: The Law says to “honor your father and your mother”, and that anyone who doesn’t must be put to death. Yet their tradition says that a son can withhold support from his parents, which breaks the law. Jesus says that the hypocritical Pharisees fulfill the prophecy that says, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

Jesus then addresses the kosher and dietary laws. He says, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean’.” Food just goes in the mouth, to the stomach and through the body. But the words that come out of the mouth come  from the heart, and evil thoughts and sinfulness are what actually lead to “uncleanness”. Eating certain foods or not washing your hands doesn’t have anything to do with it. The Pharisees get offended, and Jesus calls them “blind guides” and says, “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Jesus then heads north, towards the cities of Tyre and Sidon in Lebanon. On the way, a Canaanite woman accosts him, saying that her daughter is demon-possessed and begs Jesus to heal her. At first Jesus is silent, so the disciples step in and tell him to tell the woman to go away. The lady begs some more, and Jesus says that he was sent “only to the lost sheep of Israel”, and that it isn’t right to take bread from the children and toss it to the dogs. The woman responds that “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Jesus is impressed by her faith, and heals the daughter.

Later, he heads back south, back to the Sea of Galilee. Many sick and crippled people are brought to him, and he heals them. He preaches for three days. At the end before going home, Jesus says that the people, “have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” His disciples wonder where they’re supposed to get enough food for four thousand people out in the middle of nowhere. Just like last time, Jesus asks them what food they have with them. They only have seven loaves of bread and a few small fishes between them. Jesus takes the small amount of food, prays over it, and gives it back to them. The disciples then pass it out to the people, and it miraculously becomes enough food for everyone. There are seven baskets of leftovers.

Jesus and the disciples then leave and sail southwest to the small town of Magadan.

Commentary

I think this is the first prophecy directly quoted by Jesus. All the other ones have been quoted by Matthew.

And, ok, ouch. What’s the deal with the totally crappy treatment of the Canaanite lady? Jesus says here that he’s been sent only to the Israelites, but earlier he said that he was going to the Israelites and the Gentiles – Israel first, and then the gentiles later. He certainly didn’t say that he was never going to the gentiles at all. Maybe what he meant here was that he was that this current trip is only for the Jews… not that his existence in general is only for the Jews.

Ok so then, he outright calls her a dog. Wtf? He’s healed non-Jews before, like the Roman guy, without making a big deal out of it. He’s also been healing large numbers of people most every time a crowd gathers around him, which is frequently, and surely some of those hundreds of people have been non-Jews. So what’s the deal? Is this all just a literary device by Matthew to tell his Jewish audience that the Messiah is the Messiah to everybody (intro’ing the concept by playing to their racism, then flipping it on them by having Jesus heal the Canaanite anyway), or did Jesus really just turn into a jerk for a minute?

Matthew never tells whether Jesus actually made it to Tyre and Sidon, or whether he was just staying in that general region without going into the cities themselves. Besides the Canaanite lady, Matthew never says what else Jesus did while he was up north. Presumably he would have followed his usual routine of preaching and healing, though. Also, it seems like they’ve spent half their lives on a boat. They must have crossed the Sea of Galilee a dozen times by now. So far, though, Jesus has stayed on the northern side. He’s preached throughout northern Israel, and had one short sojourn up to Lebanon, but hasn’t gone to southern Israel at all. It’s possible some of his disciples went south, on the mission trip that never was, but I don’t think so or else Herod would have heard of them way sooner. Jesus has been preaching for months now, maybe a year, and Herod has only just now heard about it. So apparently neither Jesus or the disciples have been south yet.

Also, I didn’t know (or had forgotten) that there were two instances of miraculously feeding thousands of people with only a small amount of food. I don’t really have anything new to say about it that I didn’t say last time. I still wonder what they did with the leftovers.

Matthew Chapter 14

Chapter 14

While Jesus has been preaching in northern Israel, back in Jerusalem, John the Baptist is still in prison. After the old King Herod, who was king back when Jesus was born, died, his oldest son Archelaus became King. After Archelaus died, the second oldest son, his brother Herod (named after their father), became king. The new king, Herod Jr., has been having an affair with his brother Philip’s wife Herodias… who incidentally is also a niece to both brothers. (She’s the granddaughter of their father the old king Herod Sr., whom she is also named after.) John the Baptist was appalled by this, and told the king to his face that it was both immoral, and illegal by OT law. Herod had him arrested, which is why he’s been in jail all this time. However, John was so popular that Herod didn’t want to risk having him executed and setting off a popular uprising.

On Herod’s birthday, Herodias’ daughter dances at his party, and Herod likes it so much that he promises her that she can make a request for whatever she wants, and he’ll grant it. Prompted by her mother, she asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The king is frightened, but doesn’t want to look stupid by going back on his word in front of all his guests, so he gives it to her. His guard beheads John and gives the girl his head on a platter, which she carries back to her mother.

After John’s execution, Herod begins to hear word of Jesus’ preaching and miracles up north. Jesus also hears word of John’s death. Listening to reports about Jesus’ miraculous powers, Herod thinks that maybe Jesus is John the Baptist reborn, and becomes frightened.

Jesus, meanwhile, is preaching to a large group of thousands of people. It’s getting late, and the disciples want to send everyone home so that everyone can get something to eat for dinner. Jesus says that they don’t need to leave because they can all eat here, and tells the disciples to give them some food. The disciples only have five loaves of bread and two fish between them, not even enough for just themselves let alone thousands of people. Jesus takes the small amount of food, prays over it, and hands it back it back to the disciples. The disciples pass it out, and miraculously it becomes enough to feed everyone. When everyone is done eating, there are twelve baskets of leftovers. All told, the group included five thousand men, and an unrecorded number of women and children.

After eating, Jesus dismisses the crowd and tells the disciples get in a boat (they are on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, which everybody calls a lake because it is such a tiny sea) and to go on ahead of him across the water while he goes up on a mountain to pray. Jesus finishes his solitary praying by the evening of the next day, and the disciples’ boat is halfway across the lake. Jesus walks across the lake toward the boat, walking on the water. The disciples see and are terrified, thinking it’s a ghost. Jesus tells them not to be afraid, it’s just him. “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus tells him to come, and Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking across the water toward Jesus. But then the wind starts to pick up, and he gets scared and starts to sink. Jesus catches him, and asks him why he started to doubt.

They land on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, in a town called Gennesaret, where the people immediately recognize Jesus.

Commentary

The genealogy of Herod & co. is a horrible incestuous mess, and I may have gotten the specifics of some of the relationships wrong. Matthew says Philip was Herod’s brother, but the notes say they were half-brothers. Herodias is the granddaughter of Herod Sr. (AKA Herod the Great); and the brothers Philip, Herod Jr. (AKA Herod Antipas), and Archelaus are her uncles. She married Philip, and had an affair with Herod Jr. It’s not clear whether Philip just doesn’t know about the affair, or knows but for some reason doesn’t care. Philip isn’t mentioned as being at the party, so he may not know; but on the other hand, apparently it’s common knowledge on the street, if John the Baptist knows about it, so maybe Philip knows but simply doesn’t believe it. I feel like I’m typing a script for “All My Children” or something.

Incidentally, the notes say that Herodias’ daughter’s dance was probably a skanky lapdance/stripper type thing, and that’s why Herod liked it so much. Except the Bible never uses the word “skanky”.

Anyway, John the Baptist was mentioned as being alive as recently as chapter 11; it’s not clear if he’s been killed since then, or if he’s actually been dead for a while and Jesus is only just now finding out about it. Matthew likes to tell stuff out of order, and has a somewhat annoying habit of leaving out entire storylines (like the mission trip that got a ton of buildup but then was totally ignored and never spoken of again *irritated glance in Matthew’s general direction*), so it’s probably the latter.

I’ve heard that the feeding of the five thousand was just the “miracle of sharing”. I guess it’s possible, but if everyone were just eating their own food, I don’t get why Matthew would have bothered to write about it. Or why the people themselves would have taken much note of it. For the sharing thing to work, the majority of the people would have had to be carrying food with them, with only a minority of people foodless and receiving the shared goods (because if it were flipped, with the majority having nothing and only a minority having some food, there still would not have been enough to go around). Most people don’t just walk around with their pockets full of snacks or carry dinner food with them everywhere they go, and I’m guessing the Israelites were no different. So I was initially skeptical that everyone would just magically have tons of food handy that they could bust out and eat, and even have enough for sharing with others. But,  Matthew describes the location as being remote, so it’s conceivable that a lot of the followers could have brought some food with them. I wonder what they did with the leftovers.

Matthew says the people of Gennesaret instantly recognized Jesus, but if Jesus had previously preached there in person Matthew didn’t record it. Matthew didn’t record every town Jesus visited, so that’s entirely possible. If Jesus hadn’t preached there in person, their recognition would most likely have come from hearing his disciples, on their totally detail-less mission trip. Their recognition was too quick to be just from hearing rumors.

Matthew Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Jesus is mobbed by crowds again, and the press is so thick that the only way he can get enough space around him to be able to preach is to get in a boat and to speak from a few feet off shore (they are standing by a lake), while the crowd stays on the shore. He then tells them many parables.

He tells the story of a farmer who is sowing his seed by scattering it across a field. Some of the seed falls on the path and gets eaten by birds. Some falls on rocky ground with thin soil, and although they sprout quickly, as soon as the sun comes up the plants get scorched and die because they have no root in the shallow dirt. Some of the seed falls among thorns, and die because the weeds grow up around them and choke them out. Some of the seed falls on good soil, and that seed manages to grow and produce a crop, and gives the farmer a bountiful harvest.

After he tells the story, Jesus’ disciples ask him why he’s speaking in parables, instead of just saying things straight out. Jesus says that knowledge of heaven has been given to them, the disciples, but not to the crowds. “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” He quotes a passage from the OT which says that people hear but don’t understand, and see but don’t perceive. “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Because of the spiritual dullness of the people, if Jesus tried to explain right out what he meant, the people would not be able to understand him, so he uses parables instead.

But, the disciples are luckier. Their eyes and ears have been able to see and hear, and they are blessed to be able to listen to the Messiah in person, which any of the ancient prophets would have longed to be able to do. Jesus then explains what the parable about the farmer meant: When a person hears the message about the kingdom of God, but doesn’t understand it, Satan comes and snatches it away. That’s the seed on the path that gets eaten by birds. Some people receive the word and have an initially enthusiastic response, but their faith has no root and disappears at the first sign of trouble. That’s the seed that fell on the rocky ground with shallow soil. Some people are full of worries, or deceived by wealth, which drowns out the message. That’s the seed that fell among the thorns and weeds. Some people hear the word and understand it, and that’s the seed that fell on good soil.

Jesus then tells the crowd another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who planted a crop of wheat, but while he was sleeping an enemy came in and sowed weeds all throughout the crop. The man’s servants ask him if he wants them to pull up the weeds, but the man tells them not to because while they’re pulling out the weeds they might uproot the wheat along with it. He tells them to let both grow until they’re full grown at harvest time, at which point he’ll have them go through and collect all the weeds to be burned, and harvest all the wheat.

Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which is the tiniest of all seeds, yet when planted grows into a giant plant that’s so big that birds come and nest in it. The kingdom of heaven is also like yeast, where it takes only a small amount mixed in with bread dough to work its way through the whole batch.

Jesus’ use of parables fulfills the prophecy that the Messiah will speak in analogies and “will open his mouth in parables.” Jesus leaves the crowd and goes to the house where he and the disciples are staying. He explains the parable of the weeds to them: The farmer that sowed the wheat is him, the Messiah. The sons of the kingdom are the wheat. The weeds are the sons of the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, when the angels will “weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace.” The righteous will then live in the kingdom with their Father.

He goes on to compare the kingdom of heaven to a treasure hidden in a field; when a person finds it, they hide it again, go sell everything they have, and buy the field. The kingdom of heaven is also like a merchant looking for pearls; when he finds one of great value, he sells everything he has in order to buy it.

The Kingdom of heaven is also like a net full of fish. When the net is full the fishermen go through the catch, and sort the good fish into baskets but throw the bad ones away. At the end of the age, the angels will come and separate out the wicked, and throw them into a fiery furnace.

Jesus asks the disciples if they’ve understood everything he’s explained to them, and they all say yes. Jesus tells them that “every teacher of the law who’s been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Later, Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth to preach. Everyone there is surprised at his wisdom, but instead of being willing to listen to his teachings, they get offended at his supposed uppityness that someone they all knew growing up would think that he’s now a prophet. Isn’t this the carpenter’s son, they ask? Don’t his parents and brothers still live here? How could someone ordinary like Jesus possibly be a prophet? Jesus replies that only in his hometown is a prophet without honor.

Commentary

Matthew’s chapters are getting longer and longer as we go on. I guess that’s because he’s actually present at the events going down now and has more to say about them, as opposed to writing about the birth of Jesus and such, which he wasn’t present for and was just summarizing what he heard secondhand.

Re the disciples being lucky because they’re not so spiritually dull as the crowds. Did Jesus pick his disciples specifically for that reason, i.e. because they weren’t so spiritually clouded as the others? Or did he select them for other reasons?

I have to admit, I’m terrible at riddles. I suck at them, I don’t like them, and I get very impatient and frustrated and wish that the riddles would stop and the person would just get to the point already. I’m glad that Jesus explained most of his parables (the seed in the field, the one with the weeds and wheat, the net full of fish), because otherwise it would have been a coin toss whether I would have understood them or not; I might have managed to eke out a correct interpretation, but most likely it would have been straight up guessing. Of the ones he didn’t explain, the one about the mustard seed and the yeast are at least pretty clear – tiny faith grows into big faith. But the one about the treasure in the field I don’t get. Why not just take the treasure? Why buy the whole field just to get the treasure? The notes in my bible say that the treasure symbolizes the kingdom of heaven, and it’s of such great value that the person is willing to sell everything else to get it, which makes sense I guess, but still. Instead of going through the whole thing of re-hiding the treasure until you can come back with a bunch of money to buy the field it’s in, why not just take it when you find it? Or would that be considered stealing?

When the disciples all claim that yes, they’ve understood perfectly everything that Jesus has told them, I can’t help but feel skeptical. Did they really understand, or were they just saying that so Jesus wouldn’t be mad at them or think they were stupid?

Matthew Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jesus is walking through a grain field one Sabbath day with his disciples, who apparently are back from their mission trip. They’re hungry, and pick and eat some of the grain as they are walking. Some Pharisees see them, and accuse them of breaking the law by working on the Sabbath. Jesus asks the Pharisees if they remember what King David did once when he was hungry. He went into the temple, and unlawfully ate bread that was meant for the priests. He asks the Pharisees if they’ve read the Law, and do they recall the part where the priests are supposed to prepare certain sacrifices on the Sabbath, yet that doesn’t break the rule against working. Jesus tells them that the Son of Man (i.e. himself) is the lord of the Sabbath, and that if the Pharisees had known what the OT verse, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” meant, they would not have condemned the innocent.

Jesus then leaves and heads toward the synagogue. On the way, a guy with a shriveled hand, who apparently is a friend of the Pharisees, sees him and tries to think of a way to get him in trouble. He asks Jesus a trick question – “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Going by the OT Law, the answer must be “no”; the guy knows that Jesus will probably answer “yes”, and thus hopefully get in more trouble.) Jesus asks the man, if he had a bunch of sheep and one fell into a hole in the ground on the Sabbath, would the man rescue it? Of course he would. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Jesus then tells the man to stretch out his hand, which the man does, and Jesus heals him. The Pharisees are incensed, and start plotting to kill Jesus.

Aware of the Pharisees anger, Jesus leaves the area. Many people follow him out, and he heals all the sick people among them, warning them not to tell anyone who he is. This fulfills the prophecy that the Messiah “will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.”

A demon-possessed man is brought to Jesus, and Jesus heals him. Everyone is amazed, and they say that Jesus must surely be the Messiah. But the Pharisees claim that Jesus is actually a prince of demons himself, and that he uses the power of the devil to drive out demons. Jesus replies that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and that if Satan is driving out Satan, then his kingdom would be divided against itself and would fall. It’s obviously some other, opposing, power that is driving them out. I.e., God. Jesus points out that in the past some of the Pharisees themselves have driven demons out; what power did they think they were using to do it? Anybody who drives out demons does so through the Spirit of God.

Jesus asks how anyone can break into a strong man’s house to rob him; you first have to tie the strong man up, and then you can take his stuff. He says that anyone who isn’t with him is against him. “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” He reiterates his earlier teaching that you can know a tree by its fruit, and asks the Pharisees, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” He says that “men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Some of the Pharisees ask Jesus for a miraculous sign to prove he is the Messiah. Jesus condemns them as a wicked and adulterous generation, and tells them that they will not receive any sign except the “sign of Jonah”. Jonah lived three days and nights in a fish, and Jesus will spend three days and nights “in the heart of the earth.” After escaping the fish, Jonah went to the city of Nineveh and warned the people there to repent of their evil ways, which they did. Come judgement day, the people of Nineveh themselves will rise up in judgement at the current generation, because the Ninevites repented upon hearing God’s word, and the current generation hasn’t. Even the Queen of Ethiopia will condemn the current generation, because she traveled all the way from Africa to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, but the current generation has someone even greater than Solomon yet won’t listen to him.

Jesus says that when an evil spirit is driven out of a person, it wanders around restlessly seeking a new host. When it can’t find one, it will decide to go back to the person it left. “When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is even worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

While Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, “his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.” When someone tells him they’re waiting, Jesus asks, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” He points at his disciples and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Commentary

It’s nice to see the Pharisees get a little payback here, when Jesus asks them, the teachers of the law, if they’ve bothered to ever actually read it. And then quotes it at them along with a full explanation of why they’re wrong. Zing! The Pharisees sound like those type of people who always have to be right about everything, and when they get caught being wrong, they can’t admit they were wrong but instead get increasingly defensive. They also sound super self-righteous, and the whole “sin police” thing they have going is really annoying. I wonder what the shrivel-handed jerk‘s reaction was to being healed. Semi-relatedly, I’m surprised that the Pharisees would be friends with a deformed person, because they seem way too full of themselves for that. Most likely they weren’t really friends at all, and the guy was just trying to suck up to them. Out of all the people Jesus has healed so far, I’m curious how many have actually thanked him, versus how many have taken it for granted.

What DOES “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” mean? It’s supposed to be a quote from Hosea 6:6, which I read, but still can’t make sense of. Is it saying that God desires mercy, which doesn’t make sense, or is it saying that people desire mercy, i.e. they desire to receive mercy rather than to give sacrifices? Another subtle hint from Jesus that the OT Law is over now, maybe?

This is the third time Jesus has healed people and told them not to tell anyone. I still don’t get why, because he’s healed hundreds of people in highly public ways by this point, so asking three of them to keep their cures on the downlow isn’t exactly going to keep his actions a secret. Matthew says it fulfills a prophecy, but seems to me like the prophecy he quoted, about Jesus being gentle and meek, doesn’t really have that much to do with having a few of his healed people keep quiet.

The whole “can’t rob a strong man without tying him up first” thing I don’t get at all. I mean, I get the literal meaning, but I don’t see what Jesus is trying to get at with it. Are the demons supposed to be spiritually “tying people up to rob them” or something? Or is Jesus referring to himself and the crucifixion, e.g. the devil is going to capture Jesus so that he can take over his house ie the world?

The Pharisees asking Jesus for a big miracle to “prove” that he’s the Messiah is reminiscent of when he was tempted in the desert, and the devil asked him for the same thing. And seriously, they just SAW a miracle not twenty minutes ago, when Jesus cured the demon guy. AND they saw him cure the shrivel-handed jerk. AND they’ve been around while he’s done miracles and healings, quite publicly, all throughout the region. So the demand for another, better, miracle is pretty dumb and superfluous of them.

Re: Jesus’ brothers. I was taught that in Hebrew/Aramaic, male cousins are called “brothers”. So Jesus’ “brothers” mentioned here wouldn’t be brothers in the sense that they are sons of Mary, but rather they are “brothers” in the sense that they are male relatives. I’ve also heard a theory that Joseph could have been an elderly widower, and Mary was his second wife after his first wife died. Joseph’s children from a previous marriage would be Jesus’ step-brothers, if that were the case. For the record, I tend to subscribe to the idea that Mary stayed a virgin even after Jesus was born, and didn’t go around having a whole passel of other children after Jesus’ birth.

And, what’s the deal with anybody who does God’s will being “brother and sister and mother” to Jesus? Someone please explain it to me because I have no idea what that means.

And now, we’ve arrived at the unforgivable sin. Jesus initially refers to “the” blasphemy against the Spirit, which apparently refers to the Pharisees attributing the good works of the Holy Spirit (the driving out of the demons), to the devil and to themselves. So apparently it’s blasphemy to attribute the Holy Spirit’s powers to Satan or yourself. Dictionary.com defines blasphemy thusly:

1. impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.
2. Judaism: a. an act of cursing or reviling God.
b. pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) in the original, now forbidden manner instead of using a substitute pronunciation such as Adonai.
3. Theology . the crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.
4. irreverent behavior toward anything held sacred, priceless, etc.: “He uttered blasphemies against life itself.”

1 and 4 are the definitions I usually think of; 2b is irrelevant here, although 2a might be relevant; 3 seems to be the way Jesus is using the word, at least at first. Going on, Jesus says that “anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” What does “speaking against the Holy Spirit” mean? Is it the same thing as before, i.e. giving credit to Satan or yourself for powers that belong to the HS? Or does “speaking against” mean insulting the HS?

I googled it, and every online source I’ve looked at says that blasphemy against the HS means rejecting God’s grace or forgiveness, which would by definition preclude the person from being forgiven because the sin itself consists of rejecting forgiveness. However, I have a hard time seeing how that understanding would mesh with the description of “speaking against” the HS given by Matthew, which makes it sound like blasphemy against the HS consists of speaking ill of it or insulting it.

Although, I guess “speaking against” could mean “rejecting”, rather than “insulting”. Thesaurus.com defines “speak against” as “to oppose.” So maybe I’m taking it too literally and the other understanding is right.

Matthew Chapter 11

Chapter 11

After Jesus is done giving his disciples their marching orders, he sends them off to spread the word around Israel, while Jesus himself stays in Galilee and continues to preach there. John the Baptist, who is still in prison, hears about Jesus’ activities, and sends some of his followers to Jesus to ask him if he’s the Messiah. Jesus tells the followers to report to John the Baptist what they’ve seen of Jesus’ actions: the lame walk, the blind see, the sick are cured, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. John the Baptist’s followers accept this, and go back to tell him.

Jesus then speaks to the gathered crowd, telling them about John the Baptist. Many of them had been out to visit John the Baptist themselves, when he used to preach in the desert to a steady stream of people who went out to listen to him, before he was arrested. Jesus asks them why they went to the desert to see him? It wasn’t because they just liked the countryside. It wasn’t because he was rich, because the guy basically wore rags. No, they went to see him because he was a prophet. In fact he was the messenger of the Messiah, according to the ancient prophecies.

Jesus says that many other prophets had come before John the Baptist, and they were all prophesying the same thing: the Messiah. Jesus says, “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'” What he means by this is that the prophets have been “playing a tune” for people, but everyone just ignored them.

He goes on to reprimand the unrighteous for their duplicitous response to John the Baptist and to himself. When John the Baptist preached, he fasted and never drank, and they accused him of having a demon. When Jesus came, and did eat and drink, they accused him of being gluttonous. Wisdom will show the error of such duplicity.

Jesus gets angry at all the cities who have seen and received firsthand his healing and other miracles, but still refuse to repent. He calls out the coastal towns of Bethsaida and Korazin by name, saying that if the great miracles he had worked there had been done in the heathen cities of Tyre and Sidon instead, the heathens would have believed instantly and repented in sackcloth and ashes long since. The town of Capernaum is even worse – Jesus has been preaching there the longest, and they have had the most time to learn about him and have received his most powerful miracles (including returning the dead to life). If such miracles had been done in Sodom, which was destroyed by God for its sinfulness, Sodom would have believed instantly and would still stand to this day. But Capernaum refused to believe, and on Judgement day it will be more bearable for Sodom than it will be for Capernaum.

Jesus then praises God for having “hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealing them to little children.” He says that all things have been committed to him by the Father, who is fully known only by the Son (Jesus) and those to whom the Son reveals him (e.g. through teaching). He finishes his speech by saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Commentary

I thought John the Baptist acknowledged way back in chapter 3 that Jesus was the Messiah? Why send out his followers to ask him again; was he just double checking? Perhaps he himself was convinced, but sent his followers to see Jesus in person for the sake of convincing /them/? Unrelatedly, Jesus also implies that John the Baptist will be the last prophet, and that there will not be any more after him.

I also thought it was interesting that Jesus yells at the cities for not repenting, rather than for not believing in him. Although I suppose the former would include the latter as a prerequisite. But, what’s the deal with him accusing everybody of not believing in him? For the past few months he’s been basically mobbed by crowds everywhere he goes, to the point where sometimes he has to jump on a boat just to get some peace and quiet for a sec. Are all the people listening really not believing? Why would they keep listening, then? Curiosity? Maybe it’s one of those things where they kinda believe in a non-committal sort of way, but aren’t willing to “put their money where their mouth is” and act on it? Or is not about belief at all, but rather about repentance again, i.e. they recognize him as the Messiah, but don’t repent of their ways? Or all of the above!

Also, Jesus seems super impatient. I guess it makes sense if he knows he only has a very short window of time available, but for someone who’s used to hearing about hippie, lets-sit-in-a-circle-and-sing-songs cuddly Jesus, suddenly meeting impatient Jesus with a temper was something of a shock.

Matthew Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jesus gathers all of his disciples. By this time, he has 12 of them. There are Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John, the four of whom he initially recruited back at the start of his ministry. There’s also Matthew the tax-collector, from Capernaum. Since leaving Capernaum, Jesus has acquired seven more new disciples. These are Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus (called that to differentiate him from the other James), Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot (so called because he was a member of the anti-Roman Zealot party), and Judas Iscariot. All told there are now twelve of them, and they’re called the Apostles.

Jesus sends them on a mission to go throughout Israel preaching. They are to go only to the Jews (preaching to the gentiles will come later), and heal the sick, raise the dead, and cure the lepers and the demon-possessed. They are not to bring with them any money, extra clothes, bags of stuff, extra sandals, or any of the usual travelling preparations. Instead, whatever town they go to, they are to find a righteous person and stay with them until leaving for the next town. If the people welcome them, the apostles are to bless them. If the people are unwelcoming, the apostles are to “shake the dust off their feet” and leave. Such faithless towns will fare worse than Sodom and Gomorrah come Judgement Day.

Jesus tells the apostles that he is “sending them out like sheep among wolves”, and that therefore they will have to be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Jesus warns them to keep their guard up, because people suck and will definitely throw them in jail, report them to the judges, have them flogged, etc. Jesus tells them that when they get taken to court, not to get anxious about what to say, because the Holy Spirit will give them the right words.

Jesus also warns them that his message, in fact his very existence, will cause turmoil. Some will believe the message and some won’t, and this will cause strife among families when one brother believes and the other doesn’t. Or when the children believe and the parents don’t (or vice versa). Many people will hate the apostles and their message, but they must stand firm. When they are persecuted in one place, they should flee to the next place and continue spreading the word. They won’t have time to get to every city.

Jesus says that a student is not above the teacher, and servant is not above the master, but it’s enough for the student to be like the teacher and the servant to be like the master. “If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!” Jesus says not to be afraid of the people who are, either wittingly or unwittingly, acting like or influenced by the devil. Because “there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.”

He tells the apostles to “proclaim from the rooftops” everything that Jesus has taught them, and not to be afraid of anything because people can only kill the body, but not the soul. They should fear only “the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” Whoever acknowledges Jesus in front of other people, Jesus will acknowledge them before God. Whoever disowns him, he will disown.

A second warning is given about his coming causing strife and fighting; he says that he has not come “to bring peace, but a sword.” Family members will turn against each other when some believe and some don’t, and people must love Jesus more than they love their families. Anyone who doesn’t “take his cross and follow” Jesus isn’t worthy of him; “whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Anyone who welcomes Jesus’ disciples welcomes Jesus himself, and will be rewarded.

Commentary

You know people suck when even Jesus is warning you against them. Gotta give him credit though, he didn’t try to sugar-coat anything. He said straight out that they were signing up for jail, harassment, floggings, crappy judges and even crappier treatment. But they were still willing to do it. I daresay they must have been pretty convinced about Jesus’ authenticity to be willing to go through all that (and this is before he’s crucified.) It’s like joining the Marine Corps: you know ahead of time it’s going to suck and be pure pain, but you do it anyway because you believe in it.

Among the passel of new disciples/apostles that Jesus has suddenly acquired is the unnamed follower that volunteered to join Jesus back in chapter 8, but it’s still unclear which one that was. It would have had to have been either Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, or Judas Iscariot. Also, what’s the difference between an apostle and a disciple? I guess apostles are sort of the leaders of the other followers? Are there any other followers? Matthew refers continually to large crowds of people that come to listen to Jesus, but nobody except the twelve apostles seem to live with him or follow him continuously.

Also, note that Jesus says that receiving his disciples is the same as if the person received Jesus himself. More on that later.

Also, Matthew lists all the disciples two by two, in pairs. They probably went out in six groups of 2, while Jesus stayed behind and preached alone.

I thought it was interesting the Jesus ordered the apostles to flee from the persecutors, rather than fighting back. I personally would be mightily tempted to fight back, but I suppose it makes sense since the apostles are supposed to be messengers and not an army. I was also confused by the reference to “the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” At first I thought it meant the devil, but on second reading it more likely means God. It’s somewhat ambiguous, though.

The references to in-fighting among families strike a chord. The fact that Jesus is willing to cause such fighting is actually a point in his favor, because it shows that he would rather get the correct message out, and cause some discontent, than try to please everybody and never cause an argument by giving a weakened, false “won’t make waves” kind of message.

Matthew Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee again and goes back to Capernaum. He cures a paralyzed man, and tells him his sins are forgiven. Hearing this, the teachers of the law accuse Jesus of blasphemy. Jesus replies, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He tells the paralytic to get up, take his mat, and walk home – and the man obeys. Everyone is amazed at his miraculous cure.

Jesus then leaves, and on his way passes a tax collector’s booth. Jesus tells the tax collector, Matthew, to follow him, and Matthew unhesitatingly does so. They go to Matthew’s house and have dinner, and many of Matthew’s tax collector friends come and eat with them. The Pharisees accuse them of eating with sinners, and Jesus replies that he is there for the sinners; healthy people don’t need a doctor, only the sick do.

Later on, some followers of John the Baptist ask Jesus why his followers never fast. Jesus says that the guests of the bridegroom (himself) don’t mourn while they are with him. He says that the time for mourning and fasting will come after “he is taken from them.” Then he says that you don’t patch old clothes with unshrunk cloth, because the patch will shrink in the wash and mess up the clothes. You don’t put new wine into old wineskins because the skins will burst, but instead you put new wine into new wineskins.

While he and John the Baptist’s people are talking, a synagogue ruler comes up to Jesus, kneels in front of him, and says that his daughter has just died. He asks Jesus to heal her. Jesus and his disciples get up and head to the guy’s house. On the way, a woman who has a disease that’s made her bleed for 12 years follows them; she sneaks up on Jesus, figuring that if she can just touch the edge of his cloak she will be healed. Jesus sees her, and tells her faith has healed her, and she is cured.

They get to the synagogue ruler’s house, and a surprisingly jolly funeral crowd of hired mourners and funeral musicians and such is overrunning the place. Jesus tells them the girl isn’t dead but is asleep, and evicts the crowd to the outside. Jesus goes to the daughter’s room, holds her hand, and brings her back to life.

Afterwards, two blind men follow him as he is walking, asking Jesus to have mercy on them and heal them. Jesus asks them if they believe he’s able to do it. They say yes, and Jesus touches their eyes and gives them their sight. Just like he did with the guy with leprosy, he warns them sternly not to tell anybody about it. However, unlike the guy with leprosy, they don’t do what he says, and instead immediately tell everybody they see.

Later that same day, a man who was mute and possessed by demons was brought to Jesus, and Jesus healed him. The crowd, which  constantly follows Jesus now, sees and is amazed. The Pharisees start to mutter among themselves that Jesus must be a “prince of demons” to exercise such power over demons. Jesus continues to teach throughout the region, preaching and healing. He tells his disciples that “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”, referring to the fact that the crowds that surround him everywhere he goes are ripe to hear the good news, but there is only one of him and only so many disciples to spread the word.

Commentary

So, we finally meet Matthew. It sounds like Matthew must have seen Jesus cure the paralyzed guy (or at least heard about it basically immediately) since he was so close by.

Wasn’t John the Baptist put in prison, like, ages ago? What happened with that – presumably he’s still in there, right? His followers seem remarkably unconcerned about it. They never mention it, anyway.

I have no idea what the thing about unshrunk clothes and burst wineskins means. It’s like he is talking in riddles and I am riddle-impaired. The new wineskin represents the new covenant, maybe? And the old wineskin represents the old law, which will “burst” if you try to shove the new law in it? Maybe? What does any of that have to do with fasting?

I think this is the first time Jesus has brought somebody back from the dead. Also, once again he tells two people not to tell anyone he healed them. What’s the point? He’s famous for healing and he just brought somebody back from the dead for cryin’ out loud, so what’s the point of trying to keep the healing of these other two guys secret? Or is he just trying to test their faith and see if they obey him?

Anyway, the chapter ends with a nice setup for chapter 10, which begins with Jesus splitting up the disciples and sending them out to different areas to preach.