We started our journey through Matthew’s gospel two years ago, with the ‘Dangerous Promises’ of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Remember Abraham’s dysfunctional family? Abraham who was the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. Brothers who chose to learn the hard way what it means to repent.
Judah finally got there, didn’t he? Judah repented! It was like some sort of miracle: we remember his long arc of brotherly jealousy, terrible sin, slow-growing awareness, conviction of need, and then beautiful repentance in faith on his knees before Joseph, his wronged brother (and early Jesus-like figure). There it was, highlighted in Matthew’s gospel, the opening book of the New Testament, harking back to the opening of the Old: Repentance.
We also heard how the promised forerunner to this Messiah, John the Baptist, first arrived with God’s message of repentance! “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Also in that opening term, Matthew introduced us to Jesus, the main character in his biography. And the first message Jesus preached? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” Both Testaments, old and new with the same message: Repent.
We ended Part 1 with Jesus proclaiming his good news, healing every disease and news about him spreading all over, with huge crowds coming to follow him. And wondered how people will respond.
Then last year we continued in part 2: ‘Dangerous Life’, still waiting for responses. Matthew took us on a climb upward in chapter 5, climbing a mountain with the hordes, even the first disciples (from whom we still haven’t heard a word). We climbed for Jesus’ first big slab of recorded teaching, his famous ‘Sermon on the Mount’.
Matthew struck us with his portrayal of Jesus as a greater Moses, who we recall also went up a mountain, in order to come back down and teach huge crowds of God’s people. And as we listened to this Jesus, constantly quoting Moses but radically recasting his teaching, we got the eerie sense he was preparing us for some kind of greater Exodus… some ‘dangerous deliverance’ from a different type of slavery.
Even Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’ was shaped like a mountain, reaching its zenith with his famous prayer.
Initially, we were excited by his 9 beatitudes, or ‘flourishings’. We found courage in hearing about the meek inheriting the earth and his promise that for those of us hungry for righteousness, we’d be filled! That if we show mercy, we’ll receive mercy. Hope, straight out of the blocks, in chapter 5!
But then we stumbled over some of Jesus’ difficult teaching. What did he mean by saying that unless our righteousness surpasses the Pharisees, we’ll certainly not enter his kingdom of heaven? And his command to ‘Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect’? Is this even possible? And what to make of his warning in chapter 7 that ‘not everyone who says ‘Lord’ will enter the kingdom, but only the one who does the Father’s will’? Dangerous, this ‘life’ business, indeed.
And then we remembered that Moses had come down from his mountain to teach his people the law of God’s flourishing life, from the Lord who wants to heal us. And we learnt the better translation of Jesus’ actually-very-hopeful command: ‘Be whole, as your heavenly Father is whole.’ Jesus promised to lead us in living well, to live an integrated life, holistic, flourishing, holy as God himself is holy … whole!
Most of all, we were stunned to learn how Jesus showed us the way to such a flourishing life: at the peak of his prayer at the zenith of his teaching! Right in the middle of the middle of his sermon, the key to being ‘made whole’: repentance in faith! “Our Father in Heaven, forgive us our failures as we also have forgiven those who fail us.”
And now, we come to Part 3 in Matthew’s gospel. Chapters 8-12. With Jesus coming down from the mountain, the large crowds following him. He also comes down different to how Moses did - no stone tablets of law, because he’s come to fulfil the law! No tablets held in hands, but only Jesus’ healing hands. In fact, Jesus is the ultimate, walking example of the Father’s flourishing life that he’s just been teaching about.
What will happen? Will the crowds repent? Will his first disciples believe? Will anyone? Will we hear from God’s chosen people, Israel, responding in faith to Jesus’ vision of the Father’s flourishing life? Will Jesus find repentance – people changing their minds, individuals doing a U-turn with their life to follow in a different direction?
True repentance, we’ll see, is rare. Very rare. So rare, in fact, that even Jesus will be amazed!
Our ‘Big Idea’ for this series in chapters 8-12 of Matthew’s gospel is:
Jesus now embodies God’s loving kindness through miracles, which reveal the dangerous faith needed to enter his Kingdom of Heaven.
Our prayer is that as we journey together as four church families in this next phase of the life of Jesus, through the eyes of Matthew, we too will grow in our embodiment of Jesus. May we embrace his loving kindness to us and the dangerous faith necessary to enter God’s Kingdom for ever.
Your brothers in Christ,
Rev Peter Evans (Stanthorpe PC)
Rev Troy Wilkins (Mackay & Sarina PC)
Rev Dave Bailey (Rose City PC Warwick)
Rev Andrew Purcell (Callide Valley PC)
The Bible Project provides a great overview of Matthew’s gospel over two videos. (Transfers to bibleproject.com site. Opens in a separate window.)
- Matthew 1-13 https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/matthew-1-13/
- Matthew 14-28 https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/matthew-14-28/
Rev. Peter & Kylie Evans