Growing Deeper

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

After Jesus healing so many, he looks on the crowds and his heart goes out to them. They have been longing to be cared for but their leaders have left them feeling tired and thrown away. So Jesus looks on them with compassion, which doesn't mean he just feels for them but that he does something about it.

Matthew has demonstrated Jesus' authority over various things; illnesses, demons, nature, and sins. But as the old adage goes "two things are always certain. Death and taxes." Is there anything that more certainly has a hold over us than death? So what happens when Jesus' authority is put up against death itself?

Continuing the theme of authority, Jesus claims the authority to forgive sins. But, of course, there's no way to know if he's telling the truth right? Further, there is only one being that can forgive sins and that is Yahweh alone!

The cost of following Jesus is high. Every potential follower of Jesus should know that. It is precisely because the disciples follow Jesus that they find themselves in the middle of a massive storm. But with a word Jesus rebukes the sea and it becomes calm. Who is this that the winds and the sea obey him!?

After completing the Discourse on Discipleship, Matthew highlights interactions that Jesus has with various people. What is notable about the first three is that they would be considered outsiders among Matthew's primary audience. Why would Matthew bring these to the forefront and what do these healings say about what Jesus is like and who he is?

In the last section of the Discourse on Discipleship, Jesus puts before us four different choices. Just like in Deuteronomy, he has laid before us life and death and calls us to choose life by following him.

Matthew 7:1-12 contains three well-known teachings of Jesus. Unfortunately they are also heavily misused and misunderstood teachings of Jesus.

Continuing Jesus' discourse on discipleship, we discuss what it means to store up treasures "in heaven". We also how Jesus calls us to remember God is first and foremost or Father and how that affects an anxious heart to know the creator of the universe cares for his people.

We continue through Jesus 'Discourse on Discipleship' and discuss what the true heart of the disciple should be when we give, pray, and fast.

Jesus continues his discourse on discipleship explaining that he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. What does this mean exactly? Well, thankfully he gave us at least six examples after that to show us what he meant. He is saying that he has come to show what the law always pointed to and how it was provided to reveal our hard hearts and to show us the true heart of God. Therefore, if we are to seek God, we should not throw away the law but pursue the heart of God which it reveals.

After Jesus has passed the test in the wilderness, he begins to proclaim the kingdom of heaven is here and starts collecting disciples. In this chapter, Jesus begins his kingly manifesto to which he calls all of his disciples to. Jesus begins by proclaiming blessings but it is upon people who would be considered losers in their society. But Jesus is emphatic that it is to and through these types of people (the meek, the poor in spirit, etc.) that the kingdom is coming. Dive in with us and see if you can see the Sermon on the Mount with fresh eyes.

After coming out of Egypt and passing through the waters, Jesus is taken into the wilderness to be tested just like Israel before him. As Israel's representative, the question that hangs on the scene is: "Will he fail the test the way every other human before him did, or will he pass the test as the true Israelite?" After fasting for forty days, Jesus enters into a battle of sorts with the slanderer. However, Jesus does not use force to combat the slanderer but the word of God. By being obedient to God's word, Jesus emerges victorious and begins his ministry proclaiming the same thing John was saying "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here!"

Matthew enters a new character onto the scene of John the Baptist. He shows John as preparing the way for God, Yahweh himself, to come and reign as king. The character who enters onto the scene as an answer to this, is Jesus. In other words, Jesus is not only the Messiah but Yahweh in the flesh. But there are others who stand by watching. They believe they are the chosen ones of God and put their hope in their heritage. But John tells them that the true children of Abraham aren't necessarily genealogically descended from Abraham but those who "bear fruit in keeping with repentance."

Matthew quotes all kinds of OT texts and says that they are fulfilled in Jesus’ story. But what if those texts were never Messianic in nature? Is Matthew just picking random texts out of context and forcing them to fit his story or is there more to is?

After 600 years of darkness, the Jewish people have been ruled over by one oppressor after the next. We thought Yahweh was the God of the Exodus. How long will Yahweh let this go on? Matthew writes his gospel into that darkness and proclaims the faithfulness of God. He is doing an act of new creation and fulfilling his covenant promises to David and Abraham through Jesus the Anointed One! Light has broken through the darkness and God has come to dwell with us again!

Yahweh is going to set things right. He must or he is not good. But for those who find their hope in him, he is a refuge and to them he will restore the blessings of Eden.

What happens when God’s people repent? Does he just cease being mad at them? Does he just stop allowing calamity? No, God desires to pour out blessing upon his people but he won’t stand for them to continue in their sinful way.

When the locust swarm comes and takes away everything, what opportunity does that give us? Yahweh doesn’t just take things away for the sake of taking them away. Joel sees it as an opportunity for us to look towards God and put out hope and trust in him.

In the face of Babylon, Habakkuk remembers what God has done in the past to trust in who he will be in the future. Faith isn’t blind. It’s seeing how God has already been faithful and trustworthy in the past and then trusting he will be the same in the future despite the present circumstances.