Here are some things you should be aware of before we get going:
1. Ideally you should set aside 90 minutes when you will not be distracted to do this study. The only tools you will need for this class are a computer and a decent internet connection. If you have discovered this study on a website other than facebook, I recommend that you log onto facebook and start an account. Then become friends with BIBLE STUDY at this link. I will suggest a few books as we go along that may be purchased for further learning, but the study itself will only contain web links and web-based exercises that are free of charge.
2. This is primarily structured as an individual learning experience. This means that the primary goal is for you to personally learn from the words of Jesus in Matthew 5-7 and apply the learnings to your daily life. This is not primarily a format intended to foster an abundance of discussion and opinion sharing. That said, there will be some opportunities each week to interact with the other students in one way or another. Also, as the teacher I have committed to personally address any questions that are sent to the Bible Study Facebook inbox. Please send correspondence regarding this study to that inbox so that I can make sure to reply. It may get lost in the shuffle otherwise.
3. You may find it helpful to take notes as you go along through the study. You can go old fashioned with a pen and paper or use MS Word or another publishing program to capture notes in another window.
4. The last thing to be aware of is that this is my first effort to lead a study/class in a completely virtual setting. We will know much more at the end of the study than we do now about how to best use the technology we all share. I’ve decided to launch a Facebook GROUP page as well as the Facebook Profile. The group page will allow for easier sharing and messaging throughout the community. Please join the Facebook Group page at this link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67456313544
Now…off we go. When you are ready to begin the first week’s study proceed to the instructions below.
Week one. Section one. Context.
Take a few minutes to relax. Make sure you are ready to learn. Minimize your distractions. Get comfortable. Ready? Let’s begin.
Read the three quotes below. Take time to think about each of them:
“Words build bridges into unexplored regions.”
“As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice”
“For God's will gave men their form, their essence, and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will.”
Now, pick the quote above that MOST RESONATES with you. Which one do you like the most? There is no right or wrong answer. Which one is most compelling?
Once you have your favorite quote selected, hi-light the entire quote with your cursor and click “copy.” Then paste the entire quote into a search query at www.gooogle.com to discover who said your quote. When you have the answer return back here…
Got your answer? What, if anything changed once you learned the author? Did it make you like the quote more or less?
I begin our study in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 with this exercise for two reasons: 1.) First we will be studying words attributed (and I believe actually spoken by) Jesus. It is impossible to separate the words of someone from the life they lived. To study someone’s words is to study their life. 2.) Secondly, the most important rule in any Bible study is the rule of CONTEXT. The quotes above mean something different to you when reading them in their original context as opposed to on their own. This means that it is impossible to know what a section of Scripture means without seeing it within the larger context of the whole. In this regard, our little study is already flawed. We cannot really understand Matthew 5-7 without seeing the context of Matthew 1-4 (and later Matthew 8-28). So, let’s do the somewhat unexpected this week and begin our study of Matthew chapter 5 by learning about Matthew 1-4. We will begin with the words of chapter 5 next week.
Week one. Section two. Matthew 1-4.
Here are some basic things to know about the book of Matthew:
1. This is a book written to Jewish people and by a Jewish author sometime between 50 - 90 A.D. It must first be understood in its original context before we can start to translate it to our lives today. We must learn, as best we can, to think like a first century Jew. For most of us, this will be the hardest part of studying Matthew. Simply because the Bible contains timeless truth doesn't mean it is timeless. It is a very "timed" collection of books. This book (Matthew) reflects a real time and place in human history. It does not pretend to be a fable or fictional literature. You may choose to decide that Matthew is lying about Jesus or possibly misinformed, but you cannot discount him as an author of fiction. He is carefully reciting what he believes is the real history of his people - not centuries after the fact, but a decade or two after he personally lived many of the events that he writes about.
2. The first century Israelites (Jews) believed through their own Scriptures (what we often call the Old Testament) that they were themselves the chosen and special people of YWHW, the one true and living God, Creator of all that is. (They created the word YHWH for him because they wanted a word impossible to pronounce. In their thinking, He was too holy and powerful to even say his name aloud.) They believed that they were destined to be blessed by YWHW and to become a Kingdom that would bless the world because of promises in their holiest Scriptures to their "fathers" Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...and later to their great prophet and deliverer, Moses. Under King David they were given a taste of this blessed Kingdom, but it did not last for long.
3. Though they believed this, they also historically wandered from YHWH and served false gods. As a result, their Scriptures taught them that YHWH scattered them as slaves and refugees throughout the ancient world. By the time of Jesus, some of the Jews had made it back to their homeland to live as pseudo-free people under the sometimes oppressive , but always restrictive rule of Caesar and the Roman Empire. (At the time of Jesus' birth, Caesar ruled Israel through a proxy King named Herod.)
4. In this historical context, two strong images began to emerge giving hope to the people of Israel. These two ideas based in their Scriptures, particularly their prophetic books, were closely connected one to the other. The first was the hope and promise of the "Kingdom of God" - a time when YHWH himself would reign in Israel and bring to fulfillment Israel as both a blessed nation and a nation bringing blessing to the entire world. He would reign justly and ransom his people from their oppressors (Rome). This would come when a great King emerged to lead the people back to YHWH. From the line of David, a Messiah (Christ in the Greek language) would come to restore Israel to its rightful place in history - God's people ruling God's planet in peace and justice. The idea of Messiah was rather clearly understood in first century Palestine: The Messiah is the future political leader (King of the Jews) who will one day come to usher in the very real rule of YHWH (Kingdom of God). So-called Messiah's had come onto the political scene over the decades leading up to Jesus. They had all met the same fate. Caesar, the King of Rome, killed them as traitors to the Empire. He did this because that is what they all were - failed revolutionaries. Jesus is seemingly to be just another story of another so-called Messiah being killed by the real King of Rome. The question we will try answer in this study is why is the world still so interested in this failed and executed Messiah? Why was he so different than the other political rebels of his day whose names were lost in history? Why are you staring at a computer screen 2,000 years later to learn about him?
We want to study Jesus' own words in his longest and most famous teaching - the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7. To do that we need to briefly study the four chapters leading up to chapter five in the text. I'll have you read a section by clicking a link to biblegateway.com, then I'll offer a few brief thoughts on the section you just read. I could share much more about each section, but remember this week is all about learning just enough to study Matthew 5-7 in context in the upcoming weeks.
Click here and read Matthew 1:1-17. Then return back to this study.
Enjoy that did you? Pretty compelling stuff, right? (I hope the art of sarcasm conveys as well in print.) Who starts a book with a long list of hard-to-pronounce names? The answer is that a first century Jewish historian preparing a case for Messiahship does. A person's ancestry in this world reflected who he was and who he could become. Matthew traces Jesus ancestry back to Abraham, which would have been typical for any Jewish person. Abraham is their "father" for a reason. The nation all came (and still comes) from him. Being from Abraham reminds us that Jesus, like all Jews, carries the promise to be blessed and be a blessing. But Jesus also comes through David, the greatest King of his nation. And not just through David (the promised Messiah was to come through David's direct line), but directly through David's royal line - not from some forgotten offshoot. Jesus comes to the world through Solomon and the other legitimate Kings of Israel. Matthew is saying that Jesus has a royal birthright. He is in line to be the real King of Israel. This gives him the perceived legitimate right, more than some crazy revolutionary wannabe Messiah, to be the rightful King of Israel and dispose of Herod, the pseudo-King appointed by Caesar to rule Israel on his behalf. For the last 200 years, Israel had had puppet kings with no direct family line to David. And now one with a claim has been born. Christmas, as it turns out in the real world, is really about political revolution.
Numerology is also important here. It was believed that seven was a whole, perfect number. It was a number, according to the ancient Jewish mind, that iced the cake in terms of God's blessing. So, when we see in the list of names three groups of seven doubled (14), or even more obviously, six groups of seven names with Jesus beginning the seventh group (the seventh seven) that should be read as a (somewhat) hidden code for Matthew's readers to take careful note of the rest of his story.
The last note in this section is that Matthew notes several women in the genealogy of Jesus. This is unorthodox because women, to the ancients' shame, were not regarded as worthy of mention. If you were to mention a woman in a genealogy, she had better be a great hero or saint. Matthew, knowing where his story is about to go - to an impoverished pregnant teenager - shows the ugly and raw side of Jesus' heritage. He comes from Abraham and David, but also from Rahab, a foreign prostitute. From Tamar, a scheming prostitute and from Bathsheba, a cheating adulterous. Matthew is saying very clearly in this list of names that a rightful King of the Jews has been born in Israel and that we should expect God to work in that classic way he always has - within the messy and cold reality of the human race.
For you Lord of the Rings fans, there is some helpful imagery with Strider becoming King Aragorn. Think of him (from the books or the movie) when we first meet him. A rightful King disguised as a common freedom fighter in the shadows of the Inn of the Prancing Pony. Then see him at the end of the trilogy as he is reinstated to his proper place as the King of his people. Here's an optional youtube clip from the end of Return of the King. Tolkien hated that people saw LOTR as Christian allegory, but loved that his faith messily bled all over his work and characters. For you armchair theologians watch the clip looking for Christ triumphant, for his love for the church (his bride) and then be surprised to see Christ in the small things again at the end of the clip. For those of you who aren't into such things - go onto the next scripture link below the video.
Now read Matthew 1:18-25 and return when you are done.
Of the four earliest and most reliable accounts of Jesus' life, only two contain stories of his birth. Luke tells the story from his mother's perspective. Matthew tells it from his father's. I am convinced that the author of Matthew would never be able to understand the gooey sentimentality that the western Christian world has made of Jesus' birth. He carefully is painting the picture of the birth of a radical political revolutionary. He is given the name "Jesus" which is the same as the name "Joshua." Though a popular name at the time, the two-fold meaning is clear. Jesus means God Saves or God Rescues. Jesus is born to rescue his people from Roman oppression and save them from their exile. Secondly, he is named after Joshua, the great militant leader, the ultimate General of Israel who stepped in to do what Moses could not - to destroy the enemies of the state and provide a nation of God's people. This is all revolutionary foreshadowing of who Jesus will become.
But then he is given another name - Immanuel. This name is uncommon. Nobody would dare name their son Immanuel. It means "God With Us" and has both divine and messianic undertones. Remember, the nation is waiting for YHWH himself to come to rule through the hand of Messiah. The Jews believed somehow that God himself would rule in residency over their Kingdom. Calling Jesus "Immanuel" sets the table for him to be Messiah, the King who brings God himself to Israel. Matthew goes so far as to tell us about the virgin birth as he builds the case that God is visiting Israel through the person of Jesus. I believe in the virgin birth in part because Matthew is bold enough to mention it here. It does very little to actually add to his argument and, to be honest, it is very pagan and non-Jewish concept to have a baby fathered by a god and mothered by a human. He must have fully believed it to be true or he would never have married a popular pagan idea to his carefully constructed Jewish argument. Some say that he added the detail so that he could then say that the Isaiah 7:14 verse had been fulfilled in Jesus. This, I think, is unlikely because there is no evidence of anyone before Matthew using Isaiah 7 as a prophecy predicting the Messiah would literally be born of a virgin. In other words, it's not like he is stretching his story to meet some popular belief about Messiah's origin. No, to Matthew Jesus is Joshua - the common man called to revolution, and he is also Immanuel - the most uncommon man to walk the earth, conceived by the Holy Spirit of God to bring YHWH and his rule (Kingdom) to earth.
Let's move on and read chapter two in it's entirety at this link.
Jesus was born smack in the middle of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). There was virtual "peace" throughout the vast Roman Empire in part because all attempts at rebellion and national/tribal independence were immediately and violently put down. Matthew is saying in chapter two that there is a rightful King in Israel (Jesus) and that there is a fraud King (Herod). This is, as N.T. Wright puts it, pure "political dynamite." (If you buy one commentary on Matthew, I recommend N.T. Wright's Matthew for Everyone, Part One. Amazon link: Matthew for Everyone: Chapters 1-15
)Matthew is basically conspiring to commit treason against Rome as he inks this chapter. It's not about three wise men coming to see a cute baby. It's about Matthew saying two things to his readers: 1.) Even foreigners acknowledge that Jesus is a better and more worthy king than Herod or Caesar and 2.) Jesus will not just be Israel's King, but he will one day rule the entire world under the Abrahamic promise that Israel will bless and be a blessing. In other words, we are only in chapter two - the hero is only a few days old - and Matthew has declared civil war and world war for his audience.
After the Magi account, Matthew begins to do a most remarkable literary and historical feat. He's going to show us through the events of Jesus' life that Jesus himself is Israel's fulfilled story - the story that could have been had God's people not wandered away from Him. Joseph is warned to run away with his family to Egypt to escape Herod's evil infanticide. (Again, we usually conveniently leave the dead babies out of the Christmas story. Matthew could not afford to. He is showing us that Jesus had a price on his head from day one. He was a threat - a real political threat.) Jesus embodies Israel as he goes to Egypt just as Jacob (called Israel) had done way back in Genesis. He goes to escape certain death just like Israel did, but he cannot stay "enslaved" in Egypt. He must be called back to the promised land to save his people. Here Jesus embodies the exodus of his people and returns home when it is safe. Herod is dead, but his sons now rule and they are cut from the same paranoid, power-hungry cloth as their father.
Now we skip ahead about thirty years to see the revolution unfold before our eyes. Read Matthew 3 by clicking here.
Messiah was predicted to have a fore-runner who would come a few steps ahead of him to prepare the people, not just for the revolution, but also for the lasting reign/rule of YHWH (the Kingdom of God). The idea was that God would come to rule and reside only after the people turned from their sin (mainly living as a nation apart from him) and recommitted to "clean house" and live expecting YHWH to return and rule.
Enter John the Baptist. (Literally, John the Dunker or John the Plunger.) John comes preaching a clear Messianic message rooted deeply in the prophetic Scriptures. His message is clear and uncompromising: Repent (this means turn around and live in a different way) because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
Side note here on Matthew's use of the Kingdom of Heaven vs. Kingdom of God. Most all would agree that the two terms are interchangeable. Heaven would be understood primarily as the time and place where God resides and reigns. Perhaps Matthew is sticking closer to the Jewish tradition than his gospel counterparts in not using the name of God frequently and replacing it with the word "Heaven." What is most foundational for us is this. This is important and you will be unable to understand Matthew 5-7 without this idea: The meaning of the word "Heaven" in Matthew is probably not the first thing you think of when you think of the word Heaven. Matthew is in no way primarily referring to a happy place where you go when you die. He is using the word Heaven to describe the real time and place where God fully reigns and resides on earth. He was not expecting us to die and go onto heaven, but rather Matthew (repeating the words of John the Baptist and Jesus) was expecting Heaven (YHWH's residence and reign) to come crashing into on our present time and place. This is why John (and later Jesus) say that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. It is coming soon. What Israel has longed for is on its way - both promises are coming at once: Messiah and Heaven (God's reign).
(Here again I am compelled to suggest a book to read. This is optional to the study, but for those of you interested in learning more about the Kingdom of Heaven as it relates to the Sermon on the Mount I highly recommend Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy. It is marginally academic and some who don't read much non-fiction may struggle through it, but it is worth the effort. Amazon Link: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
)In John the Baptist's story we are also introduced to the antagonists of Matthew's book, the Pharisees. I will say more about them in the coming weeks. For now, let's just say that they were seen as the good religious people of their world. They generally worked hard to gain the approval of God and man. It would have been shocking for Matthew's readers to see the Pharisees having conflict with God's Messiah. If you fashion yourself a good, Bible-believing evangelical Christian today you would have likely had much more in common with the Pharisees than Jesus' early followers, at least on the surface.
John's call was for everyone to repent (change) to prepare for Messiah - even the good, religious Pharisees. His message of coming judgement was met with mixed reviews - generally those who most needed an immediate salvation from a hard life resonated with his message more than those who had their lives seemingly put together. He baptized them in Jordan River as a commitment to new life and clean living as they waited for YHWH's reign and Messiah.
And then Jesus reemerges. Not the baby Jesus anymore, but the grown man. He comes to be baptized by John in the Jordan River. (The same River that Joshua, his namesake, had to cross centuries before to declare war on the enemies of Israel. Like Joshua the General, Joshua the Messiah passes through the same River again embodying Israel's story.) It is his embodiment of Israel that leads him to baptism. He repents for a nation. He takes their place. It is Joshua, the political revolutionary declaring war on oppression who undergoes baptism for the sake of his people. (Jordan River below)
N.T. Wright draws another parallel from Israel's history this way: "Israel came through the water of the Red Sea and was given the law, confirming their status as God's firstborn son. Jesus came up from the water of baptism and received God's Spirit, God's wind, God's breath, in a new way, declaring him to be God's son, Israel-in-person."
Again, there is more to see in this story, but our goal is to get to chapter five with a contextual understanding of Jesus the Messiah. We are almost there. Time to read chapter four and then return back to this page.
For everyone in his day drinking the Matthew Kool-aid, chapter four sends their heads spinning. Maybe this Jesus is Messiah. They start to say. Maybe he will deliver us from Rome...free us...give us a Kingdom. The temptation account shows those longing for revolution that Jesus is utterly different than any other so-called Messiah to ever come to popularity. The temptations Jesus faces in his 40 days in the wilderness are foundational. (Again he is embodying Israel's 40 years in the wilderness under Moses, but with fidelity to God instead of wandering away from him.) He is primarily being tempted as to HOW he will be Messiah. He is being tempted to become popular by giving into the power structures that traditionally rule the world: the economic, political and religious powers. He will be tempted to become Messiah in these ways for his entire life, but he will refuse to take power when it is offered to him. In chapter four he chooses the road that leads to the cross. He will come to power through death and ask those who follow him to do the same. Here Matthew introduces a foundational idea to his reader: Jesus is not going to do anything the way you thought Messiah would. He's going to seemingly do it all upside down and backwards. That's simply the way he is, so get used to it. He is Messiah, but you have no real idea what that means yet.
Jesus returns from the wilderness and begins his teaching ministry with the same words of John the Baptist, "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Everything else Jesus will ever say is embodied in this message. This is his central life-long theme. There is nothing more important in his teachings. It all stems from this idea. He is saying to turn to God because God has turned to you and He is on his way to fully reside and reign in Israel. This central message also ties into the temptation account that precedes it. Again, from N.T. Wright:
"His message of repentance was not, therefore, that they should feel sorry for personal and private sins (though he would of course want that as well), but that as a nation they should stop running toward the cliff edge of violent revolution, and instead go the other way, toward God's Kingdom of light and peace and healing and forgiveness, for themselves and for the world."
And then Matthew unleashes the ace up his sleeve. The "proof" that Jesus is both Joshua and Immanual - Messiah and YHWH in the flesh. He brings Heaven to earth with him by healing the sick, casting out demons and supernaturally reversing the broken order of things. John the Baptist could say that the Kingdom of heaven is "near" in terms of time because Jesus was on the way, but Jesus can say also that the Kingdom is "near" in terms of proximity. Where Jesus goes, the healing and wholeness of Heaven follows close behind. He's not just Messiah...he's a miracle man. And only a miracle man Messiah can say that God is coming with authority. The result is the same thing that would happen today. People flock to him - especially those who are sick, hurting, poor and hopeless. Crowds flock to him, but Jesus has no real use for crowds.
And then Jesus shows us his strategy to bring Heaven to earth. He's going to do it by a process called discipleship. We will begin with the idea of discipleship next week and launch headfirst into the "beatitudes" of Matthew 5.
Week one. Section three. Assignments.
Here are your assignments for the week:
1. If you have a photo of you with a person of power (president, king, senator, etc.) post it on your facebook account and tag Bible Study so we can go there and see it. Under the photo say something about how it felt to be so close to a "king". (You can also post it on the facebook Group page.)
2. When you have finished the study, as a reminder to your friends and in a sign of solidarity with the other students, try posting this in your facebook/twitter status. "Just joined King Joshua's political revolution. More at http://facebookbiblestudy.blogspot.com"
3. Go to the new facebook Group page and start or join a discussion based on week one. Remember the covenant that we all agreed to before posting.
4. Commit Matthew 4:17 to memory. If you aren't used to memorizing things, it can help to write it down on a note card and carry it in your pocket all week. Pull it out when you are in line or at a stop light and read it over and over until you don't need the card anymore.
I'll try to give you a bonus item each week for you over achievers out there. Here's the beginning of a message by Greg Boyd (no relation) on the Upside Down Kingdom:
