Matt: 5
When counselling his disciples about their future missionary endeavours (10:16-23), Jesus warns them of the terrible opposition they will encounter. How does Jesus know? One reason is b/c of the opposition he is about to experience; and if it’s that way for him then it will be that way for them (Matt 10:25). Matthew depicts the rising opposition to Jesus and his teaching in chaps. 11-18.
It’s ironic that the towns in which Jesus did most of his miracles rejected him (Matt 11:20). I find Matt 11:20-30 to be a really interesting chunk of text for its theological implications. First, Jesus speaks of the final judgment being “more bearable/tolerant” (Matt 11:22, 24) for some than for others. That suggests that there are degrees of divine punishment. In other words, while any, every, and all sin is worthy of divine condemnation, God judges sin differently: some will receive harsher judgment than others—otherwise the language of “more tolerable” makes no sense (see also, for example, John 19:11). Second, we see evidence for divine “middle knowledge” that Christian philosophers speak of: God, being omniscient, doesn’t simply know the future, he knows exactly what would have happened if things had been different. Well here, Jesus says that if he had come and ministered in the days of Sodom or Tyre & Sidon— nations destroyed by God b/c of their sins—they would have repented and placed their trust in him, and would not have been destroyed. This brings me to a third implication: in his supreme holiness, God owes salvation to no one! These nations would have turned to Jesus had they been given the chance—but they were not. God owes absolutely nothing to anyone! That is a daunting truth! Fourth and consequently, God sovereignly chooses to reveal Jesus to some and conceal him from others (Matt 11:25-27). Thus, as the Apostle Paul exclaims, “Behold then, the kindness and severity of God” (Rom 11:22).
Jesus causes a big ruckus on the Sabbath. Ruckus #1: he allows his disciples to pick heads of grain to feed their empty stomachs (12:1-7). Now in the view of the Pharisees, they (and Jesus implicitly) were guilt of breaking the Mosaic Law by “working” (i.e., picking grain heads) rather than resting on the Sabbath. In response, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of misunderstanding the spirit of the Sabbath law, and that if one must “work” for self-preservation, so be it. Moreover, Jesus is the “Lord of the Sabbath” (12:8), so b/c of his disciples’ connection to him, they are not guilty of breaking the Sabbath. Ruckus #2: Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath (12:8-14). Again, b/c the Sabbath was to be a time of resting not working, the Pharisees think that Jesus has violated the Law b/c healing (I guess) qualifies as work. But Jesus declares that they still misunderstand the Sabbath: it’s actually lawful to do good works on the Sabbath (Matt 12:12; cf. Mark 2:27). But the Pharisees are none too keen with that answer, so they plot to get rid of Jesus (Matt 12:14).
What begins in private/semi-private (i.e., opposition to Jesus) becomes more public. In response to the healings that Jesus has performed, the crowds begin to openly wonder if Jesus is the “Son of David” (Matt 12:23; cf. Matt 1:1). The Pharisees, however, openly reject this notion, and instead accuse Jesus of healing people through the power of the devil (Matt 12:24). Notice: they do not try to deny his healings; they implicitly acknowledge that he has shown the power/authority to heal—which puts them in a bit of a corner. So, rather than deny the obvious (Jesus’ healings), they shift the question to 1 of source; and for them, Jesus’ source of power must be the devil. In response, Jesus simply turns their accusation around: “OK, then how are your people able to do it, especially since I’m a lot better at it?” (12:25-29). Moreover, such an extreme accusation is none other than the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit—calling the work of God through Jesus a work of Satan (Matt 12:30-32).
Chap. 13 is a long chapter which is comprised of parables about the kingdom. Most of these parables teach that the righteous and the wicked must coexist together—until the very end when God will separate and judge them. But maybe the most important point of Jesus’ parabolic teaching is their purpose. The disciples asked Jesus why he speaks to the crowds using so many parables (Matt 13:10). In his answer (13:11-15), Jesus essentially says that parables have a dual purpose. One side of the parable coin (so to speak) is to conceal God’s truth; the other side is to reveal God’s truth. In other words, when Jesus teaches in parables, people with open hearts are more apt to understand and accept his teaching, but people with hard hearts will be more apt to misunderstand and reject it.
In his continuing conflict with the religious leaders, Jesus remarks how they are more interested in obeying and having people obey their own traditions and rules, rather than God’s Law (15:1-20). While obedience to God has external entailments, ultimately, it’s what’s on the inside that counts (Matt 15:11). Hence, Jesus declares that their worship of God is “vain” (Matt 15:9) and not genuine. It is b/c of the misguided, erroneous, human-centered teaching of the religious leaders, and b/c of their continual opposition to Jesus, that, after the feeding the 4000 Jesus warns his disciples, “Watch out and beware of the [teaching] of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (16:6, 12).
While the rest of this section has a mixed bag of teachings, the latter part focuses on following Jesus, i.e., discipleship issues—like priorities and serving others (18:1-11), communal discipline (18:15-20), and forgiveness (18:21-35). At the close of this “sermon” (18:1-35), Jesus begins to set his sights on Jerusalem.