Meeting Jesus in Matthew
MEETING JESUS IN MATTHEW
CHRIST CHURCH WORKSOP,3RD February, 2018, (M. Throup)
JESUS THE TEACHER
Matthew perhaps more than any other of the gospel writers shows Jesus to be a teacher who teaches with God-given authority. After his time being tested in the wilderness the very first thing Jesus does is to teach in the synagogues Matthew 4:23 and the first major block of discourse – the Sermon on the Mount – is Jesus, teaching.
Moses, of course, was the great archetypal teacher of Israel, thought to be the author of the first five books of the Bible. And in Jesus’ birth narrative, Matthew has already picked up on parallels between Jesus’ early life and Moses’, not least flight from a murderous king, being in Egypt and then coming out of Egypt. So Matthew is saying that Jesus is at one level a type of new Moses. Jesus, like Moses, will set God’s people free. The parallels between Jesus and Moses are perhaps clearest in Matthew 5-7 – the Sermon on the Mount. Here, Jesus like Moses goes up the mountain. He quotes the 10 commandments and the law which God gave to Moses. The disciples, who represent the new Israel, sit at his feet and learn from him.
But if at one level Jesus is a new Moses, on the grounds of his own teaching we see him claim to be much more even than Moses. Matthew 5 verse 17:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
This is an outrageous claim – Jesus in one sentence says he has come not to abolish the Law or the Prophets (which implies that he could abolish them) but to fulfil them: in other words, Jesus says ‘all the Old Testament points to and has its ultimate meaning in me!’ Now to make such a claim, Jesus is either a super egocentric egomaniac with some serious issues, or he is in fact God in person. The fact that he always puts others first suggests he is not a super egocentric egomaniac, and, as the disciples come to realise, this guy is in fact God in person. As we read on in to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus demonstrates that he is in fact greater than Moses. Whereas Moses received the 10 commandments and the Law from God, Jesus like God himself, puts himself in the position of Law-giver, Matthew 5:21-22:
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'
22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
In other words, here’s the Law that Moses received from God – ‘But I tell you’ – I’m going to go one further and expand on that, show you what it’s really about and effectively give you a new code of ethics to live by. Jesus – in the position on Law-giver i.e. God’s role, rather than Law-receiver, i.e. Moses’ role. The logic behind what Jesus is doing here in Matthew is brought out in the letter to Hebrews:
3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future.
6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. (Hebrews 3:3-6)
Jesus, then, is the one true teacher or rabbi of Israel and he is constantly coming into contact with false teachers – Pharisees, scribes and others, who have no intention of practising what they preach – they are a ‘brood of vipers’ and ‘whitewashed tombs’ – seemingly perfect on the outside but corrupt and decaying within. Just like the prophets of Israel denounced false teachers who led the people away from God, so Jesus denounces the false teachers of his day.
JESUS THE HEALER
So Jesus is the one true teacher of Israel but Matthew also shows his healing miracles. In chapters 8 and 9 we get Matthean triads – stories grouped in threes – so in chapter 8, the healing of the leper, the Centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother in law; in chapter 9 the healing of the ruler’s daughter, the woman with a severe haemorrhage and two blind men. Before that, in Chapter 9 though, there’s a very significant healing story which again points to Jesus’ authority and the fact that he is none other than God in person:
“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.
2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
5 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?
6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." (Matthew 9:1-6)
As healer, Jesus goes to the very root of every human malady. The world is the way it is – not in a good state – and humanity is in the way it is – again, not in a good state – because of the Fall and the presence of darkness in us and in the world. It’s not that the man is a paralytic because of some sin he has committed, as if being disabled were some kind of judgment from God – in John 9 Jesus says of the man born blind that his condition hasn’t come about by his sin or anyone else’s – rather, illness, disease, disability is all part of life in a world that has wandered from God’s purposes. Jesus heals the man entirely – starting with his heart, his soul ‘Your sins are forgiven’ and then getting to his physical condition ‘Get up, take your mat and go home’. Which healing is the more important? The healing of the heart or the healing of the body? So, Jesus starts with the heart and the physical condition comes next.
In terms, again, of Jesus’ authority, just as he taught with authority ‘not like the scribes and authorities’, just as he occupies the position of Law-giver and so is greater than Moses and none other than God in person, again, by forgiving sins Jesus is understood to be making himself equal to God. It’s an outrageous claim and the teachers of the law are outraged – “This fellow is blaspheming!” Whether Jesus technically commits blasphemy here is something for scholars to debate – but the take away point is simply this: Jesus claims a level of authority that belongs within the divine sphere. Only God forgives sins. If he is not the Son of God, if he is not God in person, then what he does here is shocking; but of course, the reality is even more of a shock – this man is in fact the Son of God, God in person, this man – and no other human being – is able to forgive sins, he’s able to heal the heart, and able to restore the deepest recesses of our souls, as well as being capable of making broken bodies work again.
JESUS THE SAVIOUR
We saw this morning the four unlikely women in Jesus’ genealogy as pointing to the reality that God brings outsiders into his story, into his purposes, he loves and blesses the unloved, he reaches out to the unlovable, and he loves them. No matter how unworthy we are, no matter how bad we think we are or indeed we may be – if we are open to Jesus, if we are open to renouncing evil, if we truly repent – that is, turn our back completely on the wrong things we have done (metanoia) – then Jesus will be our Saviour, he will save us and bring us life. Theologian Paul Tillich puts it like this: ‘to accept that while unacceptable, God accepts us’.
The offer is salvation in Christ is there, but will you accept it and follow Jesus?
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (Matthew 16: 21-25)
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
27 Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"
28 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (Matthew 19:23 – 30)
Jesus’ saving death:
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
52 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
53 They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:50-54)
Just as the apostle Paul makes it clear in Romans that Jesus’ death brings us life, just as Peter in 1 Peter 3:18 explains that “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” Matthew brings home the same message by referring to three events that happen around Jesus’ death: (i) the curtain in the temple is torn in two from top to bottom; (ii) holy people are raised to life; (iii) the centurion (a gentile/foreigner + others) make a statement of faith – ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’.
Again, in Old Testament prophecy it is Yahweh, God himself who is ultimately the Saviour and Redeemer of Israel and Jesus (which means ‘God saves’) is closely identified with God in his condition as Saviour. Once more, Jesus is God in person, only he is capable of changing the destiny of humankind and this happens on the cross, where time and eternity collide and where the death of one person opens up the gateway of life to all.
JESUS THE SHEPHERD
1