Lent Part 2: Matthew 5-7

Welcome back, if you haven't read my first Lent post, then it is below if you so wish to read it. As always I am by no means the final word on this, the blog is a collection of my thoughts which I will welcome any discussion over. Here is part 2, enjoy.



Matthew 5 is famous for what are known as the beatitudes. Essentially this is a list of blessings which are found in Matthew and Luke, although Matthew is generally better known. To get a better understanding of the situation you can view this short video, kindly made for the bibledex channel by some of the faculty of the University of Nottingham.







For a more full reading of the sermon on the mount please see Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship. I would argue for an eschatological reading of the beatitudes. By this I mean we are not waiting for an end to suffering in the world we know, but in the new creation that is to come. We can see instances of this new kingdom or new creation breaking out in Acts 4:34-35. "There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need." While we have been aware of the poor, the mourners, the weak and the persecuted for a very long time, and in Deuteronomy 15:4 God Himself says that "There should be no poor among you," He later says in verse 11 that "There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor."



The real situation is that in the world, we hurt. In fallen creation not everything is as it should be. What remains is our ethics. Creation may have fallen but we are still expected to try and live up to the holy standard. We can't, but there was one who could. Matthew 5:17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No I came to accomplish their purpose." Or as the NSRV puts it, Jesus came "not to abolish but to fulfil." Across Matthew 5-7 Jesus lays out the ethical expectation of those who truly claim to love God. In each case, the Law is built upon. Jesus makes the radical case not for outward law abiding, but inner obedience of faith. The Gospel is about a change of heart. We no longer have to sin because of the Cross. We can opt out of what the world would have us do, and into what we were made to do. If you want to know what a heart changed by Christ should look like, Matthew 5-7 is a good place to start. I will make the point that this is a journey of life, so please do not feel like you have to suddenly be this 'Ultra-holy person', but instead strive towards this Christlike ideal. The road will be hard. Jesus said as much. "The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult." (Matt. 7:14)



I will make a mention of the Lord's Prayer, which comes up in the longer form in Matthew 6:9-13. I particularly like this prayer as Jesus gives us a nice formula to pray with. We pray knowing that God is already aware of what exactly our hearts desire. It can take the pressure off of getting every word right. Instead we praise God for who He is and we pray for our own inequities. First we get ourselves right, then we can help sort out everything else, or rather God can sort everything else out through us once our selves stop getting in the way.



Matthew 6:19-34 is a long passage but I would advise you read it, then read it again. I would suggest that the point is we order our priorities correctly. The rich man who will shall cover in a few weeks places his wealth between God and himself. We are told that we cannot serve two masters. God should take his rightful place as the centre and then we can order the rest of our lives. Once we have sorted out our relationship with our creator and saviour, we can then interact with the world properly. We realign what we think it means to be a human being with the ideal we are presented in Christ.



I will make a side note on Matthew 7:12. A point was made in a recent lecture that when the Golden Rule is stated, most cultures tend to portray it negatively. That is to say, don't do to people what you don't want done to yourself. Jesus brings this home but in a different shape. He says "do to others whatever you would like them to do to you."

There is a portion of behaviour that will appear in both instances. However when we really examine what you would have to do Jesus presents us with a method of looking outwardly to those that need us, instead of inwardly to our own desires. Hopefully my diagram made it clearer.



Bless you guys, thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts please comment, although all comments are moderated to cut out abuse etc. Hopefully you are getting excited for Easter, not only for the chocolate but for the Cross and the empty tomb.



Joe x





*Unless otherwise stated I have used the NLT Bible translation.

Lent Part 1: Matthew 1-4

Good afternoon everyone. Today I will finally begin my short series for lent. Over the next few weeks I hope you journey with me as I share some thoughts on the Gospel according to Matthew in the build up to Easter Sunday. My aim is to rediscover the story of Jesus once again and help share that with you, or anyone you feel should hear it. So, if you are still with me, let us begin.

Some 2000 or so years ago, a child was born in what is modern day Israel, just outside of Jerusalem. This child was to change world history, and if you believe the accounts found in the New Testament, also change everything. From Matthew 1 we can read that an angel appeared to Joseph, after it was discovered that his fiance was pregnant. Some background might help out. For the Jewish society at the time an unmarried woman would be disgraced if she was found to have slept with a man. Marriage and the customs surrounding it are traced back for the Jewish people to Moses and then even further to Adam and Eve. The institution, however misused and abused it had been, was still a binding tradition. Joseph, probably being a kindly sort of fellow, planned to send away Mary so as to spare her public shame. Then the angel comes to him.
- "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All of this occurred to fulfil the Lord's message through his prophet: "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel which means 'God is with us'". (Matt. 1:20b-23) -
I will draw out a few points:

1. The child is divine. Other places where God allows couples to have children throughout the Bible such as Zechariah and Elizabeth or Abraham and Sarah. He gives the couples the gift of a child, whereas here, Jesus is not Joseph's biological son, rather his adopted son, taking the full rights and inheritance of Joseph's biological sons. It is important to note here that a virgin birth if made up by the Gospel writers would only complicate what they are trying to say. The messiah should come from the line of David, King of Israel some 1000 years before. Jesus is adopted into this line as opposed to being an actual blood member. It would be much easier if Jesus wasn't from a virgin birth for the sake of this prophecy so the fact it goes against a trend should lend it some credibility. 
2. The name Jesus comes from a rendering of Joshua. The Hebrew behind this means salvation or deliverance. The prefix of Je comes from the Hebrew divine name for which we substitute "the Lord". So Jesus' name means the Lord saves. This was not an uncommon name although does betray his purpose. 
3. The name Immanuel is also Hebrew and I will revisit this point at the end of this mini-series when we come to Matthew 28. 

Then we have a section of the Nativity story and this not being the holiday season I will spare you the details of Matthew 2. Matthew 3 brings us forward around 30 years. We don't have any record in Matthew of what happened to Jesus during this time. John the Baptist, who is the child gifted to Zechariah and Elizabeth I mentioned earlier, is wandering the wilderness proclaiming the prompt arrival of 'the Kingdom of Heaven'. This phrase used by Matthew whereas Luke uses Kingdom of God. The terms can be seen as interchangeable and there is a lot of discussion about what these actually mean and when the Kingdom arrives and the manner of it arriving.

Jesus comes to be baptised by John. For a longer explanation of baptism, I would invite to a future Theology Network session in which we will be discussing this idea (more details to follow). John recognizes Jesus for who he is, the messiah whose way he has been preparing, going on to say that John is not worthy to baptise Jesus. Jesus then says that it is proper John baptises him, to fulfil all righteousness. This concept is a running theme in Matthew so watch out for its use. For now take righteousness to indicate good ethical behaviour before God. In Matthew 3:16-17 we have some trinitarian imagery. The spirit descends upon Jesus, by which we will later see he gets his ability to perform miraculous signs and miracles from. Also the voice from heaven proclaiming that Jesus is God's son. He is then whisked away into the wilderness to be tempted and have some alone time getting closer to God, a period of 40 days which we now replicate by practicing lent.

Matthew 4 gives us the temptation narrative. The first temptation is for Jesus to provide food for himself and not rely on God's providence. We will revisit this point in the next post as Jesus spends some words on relying on God for everyday things. We can see God doing such things when we visit the Garden of Eden and the Israelites in the wilderness being given bread from heaven and Quail.

The second temptation is to defy death, another example of something that is in God's power to command. The third and final is for Jesus to assert governance over the world. All of these temptations involve a warping of the created order. Humanity is not made to rule the earth but steward it in God's place.

Next Jesus calls his first disciples. At his word they follow. They leave families because they have been called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. They all realise that the greatest thing they can do when Jesus asks them to follow is to do so. They make no recorded protest, unlike some of the people in later chapters. The disciples are willing to follow him. They realise as is recorded in John's Gospel they have no where else to go, no other real option to take.John 6:67-69, the disciples see that Jesus has "the words that give eternal life" and when they truly see this, they cannot go. They are arrested by love.

I hope this hasn't been too long for you. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you will carry on with me as we journey through Matthew in a build up to the cross. I'm sorry I haven't included any further reading, but for now I too am still exploring. If you would like a discussion please get in touch, or leave a comment. I can have a look myself or put you in touch with someone far more knowledgeable than me. Take care and may God bless you,

Joe