Please read the remaining chapters of the Gospel of Matthew (Ch. 15-28). Pay special attention to Chapters 21-23, chapters that particularly well show Jesus' challenge to the religion of the scribes and Pharisees. Choose a verse or summarize a passage that seems particularly important to you and explain why you choose this verse. How does this verse/passage ties to the theme that Matthew is a "gospel for those who think they don't need the gospel"?
Matthew 23:1-12 really stood out to me. In this passage, Jesus is reminding the people that there is only one Teacher, one Father, and one Messiah. He warns the people not to get caught up in different things that are happening around them and stay true to their faith. I think this is something that people should pay extra attention to today. Jesus also goes on to say that the Pharisees and Sadducees were hypocrites and portrayed one way of living and lived the complete opposite. This is how Matthew kept to his theme of the gospel for those who think they don't need the gospel. The Pharisees and Sadducees felt that they knew everything about the Scriptures, but Jesus showed them that they had a lot to learn.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 22:15-22 has always stuck out to me. Jesus is questioned on paying taxes.... and He answers in such a way as to tell the Pharisees that they are totally missing the point. By them giving Jesus the coin, they prove that they already follow the Roman rules, and are trying to set a trap for Jesus. He tells them to give to Caesar what is Caesar's.... but also to give to God what is Gods. I bet that made the Pharisees think. What can I give to God? Am I currently giving anything to God? Matthew is showing that he's writing for those who think they don't need the gospel by telling that the Pharisees thought they knew the answer to the question already. Being under the Romans, of course you have to pay taxes! But Jesus, in His radical way, asked them to give to God in heaven what was due. This was a more difficult and higher calling than just paying taxes to Rome.
ReplyDeleteIt also goes to show that we honor God by obeying our earthly authorities as well.
DeleteI chose Matthew 21:12-17. I think it is a very important passage because it reminds people to get back on track to praying to God. It also reminds people that a temple or a church is a Holy place and should not be used for anything else. I think it is important to understand that because today's generation sometimes forgets the true meaning of a church. It ties in the theme of Matthew because he makes a point sometimes we lose track of what is important. It also teaches the priest that they are not always right.
ReplyDelete"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence! Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so the outside of it may also become clean." (Matthew 23:25-26).
ReplyDeleteI chose this passage because of the strong message that I and others can get out of it. I interpret it as saying that you can show your love for God and pray daily, but you have to truly mean it on the inside. You can't go around just saying that you love God and His teachings without actually meaning it. Some people might not be able to tell the difference, but God will be able to tell if you truly mean your words or not.
Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites many times. He made sure that his message was very strong.
DeletePractice what you preach!
DeleteThe passage that stood out to me the most was Matthew 24:4-8 "4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains."
ReplyDeleteJesus is telling the disciples when the end of times will be without telling the disciples when the end of times will be. He tells them of the signs to look for and tells them how to prepare. He ends by saying that only God knows when the end of times will be. Not even the angels in heaven nor the Son of God knows this. This stood out to me because there was a billboard right outside of Aberdeen that said "The end of the world with me May 21, 2011". This was the predicted time. t was of course wrong and the people that made the prediction said that they were off by a bit, ad that the end of times would be in October. This changed again when the world didn't end in October.
I have always found it interesting that people "predict" the end of times. No one knows but God. Plain and simple.
Its as if He's got the whole world in his hands. Only He know what has happened, what did happen, and what will happen. No plans conceived by man will change those either.
DeleteI chose all of chapter 22. It's really hard for me to pick just one passage from here because throughout the whole chapter the Pharisees and the Sadducees are asking Jesus questions to try and trick him but Jesus is able to answer every question, which really jumps out at me. Its interesting to read the chapter and see how Jesus responds, Jesus had every right to just ignore them, he didn't have to answer there questions but, he chose too replay to every question they asked and every answer he gave left them speechless. Not only does Jesus answer there questions he fires questions right back at them but unlike Jesus they were not able to answer. I guess you could say that Jesus is the king of comebacks.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 23:27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean".
ReplyDeleteThis verse popped out to me as a great verse of Jesus' challenging of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus points out that although the leaders are wearing beautiful garments alluding to their piety, but in their hearts and minds are full of evil. They are a beacon of how to live, but instead of leading people towards the Way, they taught what they thought the way to be.
The first part of Matthew chapter 19 really felt important to me because it was about divorce. My parents are still married but I have quite a few friends and family that have divorced parents. So at first it really stood out to me and as I read it, my view of divorce was enlightened a little bit. The Pharisees asked Jesus if it was lawful for any reason for a man to divorce his wife. Jesus said that only if there has been marital unfaithfulness, but other than that when a man marries a woman they become one person. This idea was very interesting to me, and it also saddened me because it appears that many people don't believe in this anymore, because there are so many divorces in today's world.
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