Who is This Jesus?

Matthew 8: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+8&version=NIV

            One of the questions that drives Matthew’s story is, “Just who is this Jesus?” The question focuses around two issues in chapter 8.

            The first issue is ritual purity. Some background: much of the book of Leviticus deals with questions of ritual purity, that is, under what conditions is an Israelite allowed to enter the tabernacle. Now entering the tabernacle was a big deal: the sacrificial system was the way that one was set right with God and affirmed in one’s membership in the people of God. To be disallowed from the tabernacle was a devastating turn of events. (Sometimes this preacher wishes that people understood attendance at the Lord’s house in the same way: a privilege and a blessing that ought to be the desire of our hearts.) Jump ahead from Leviticus a millennium and a half to Jesus’ day, and Jesus was faced with the Pharisees, a group for whom ritual purity was one of the defining markers of being a good Jew. And not just when a Jew wanted to go to the Jerusalem temple, but every day!

            What does all this have to do with Matthew 8? First, contact with a diseased body meant that a person lost his ritual purity, and Jesus touches a leper! In the Jewish mind, ritual uncleanness is contagious and Jesus should have become unclean. But Jesus subverts those expectations and demonstrates that in His case, it’s His purity that is contagious and the man is healed. Second, Jesus interacts with a Gentile, and not just any Gentile but a Roman army officer, the very oppressor himself. And Jesus, far from becoming unclean, Jesus declares him more faithful than anyone in Israel. Third, there are demons and hogs (the epitome of unclean animals) at the end of the chapter. Clearly, Jesus understands ritual purity very differently than the most prominent leaders of Israel, leading them to wonder, “Just who is this Jesus?”

            The other issue is the stilling of the storm. There the disciples explicitly ask, “What kind of man is this?” That the wind and wave obey Him makes Him more than just any other man. (Seems to me that’s a good story to ponder in these days of pandemic: our Triune God continues to be the one who commands nature. We might not understand why He doesn’t use that power immediately to settle this crisis, but it’s good to be reminded God has never stopped being God.)

            So, here is Jesus, demonstrating authority over Moses’ Law and over nature itself. The participants in the story will only slowly grow in their understanding of who Jesus is, but how blessed are we that we know already: that Jesus is the Son of God!

Easily Misunderstood

Matthew 7: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mat+7&version=NIV

            Two things call out for comment in Matthew 7 because they are so often misunderstood.

            The first is right there in verse 1, “Judge not.” It seems like for some people this is the only part of the Bible that some folks know. To hear them talk the sum total of Christianity is toleration. Whenever a Christian would condemn sin, out comes, “Hey, now! Don’t judge.” As if the Scriptures have nothing to say about human behavior.

            Now, to be sure, Christians could stand to be a little more careful in how they judge, that is, in the way they name and condemn sin. Sometimes we do come off as shrews, always willing to decry moral decay. St. Paul puts one limit on it in 1 Corinthians 5, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.” (1 Cor. 5:12-13). This is pertinent. A lot of Christians point out into the world and identify sin as something out there. But the three uses of the Law don’t include the Law as a club. No, the Law in its most important use is a mirror, showing us our sins.

            That’s really Jesus’ point in Matthew 7:1-2. He’s not saying absolutely that Christians never judge anything. Christians do judge and discern and even condemn. However, we do it carefully and humbly, recognizing that we ourselves are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. What a difference there is between judging something from an attitude of superiority—that I am better than you because you are wrong and I am right—and judging something with an attitude of humility—that we are both struggling to live as God’s holy people. If we have to judge better to remember that we also face judgment for our shortcomings.

            The second passage that we often misunderstand is verses 7 and 8, “Ask and you will receive.” There’s a strain of Christianity that wants to pluck this verse out and make it seem as if God will give us whatever we ask for, as if we are the best judge (there’s that word again!) of our own needs. Verses 9-11 help us understand this better, because Jesus is clear: our Father in heaven will give us good gifts. The word that matters is good gifts.

            I’ve always loved Martin Luther’s explanation of the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism, where he teaches about the introductory words, “Our Father who are in heaven,” “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” A child asks with boldness and confidence, yes. Ask and you will receive. But a child also asks with humility, knowing, “I’m not an adult and there are some things I don’t know.” And a child asks with trust, believing that a parent will take care of him. This is a beautiful promise, to be sure, but to act as if God is nothing more than a giant Santa Claus in the sky, reduces that promise. God is the giver of every good gift, and we leave the definition of good to Him.

What's Your Motivation?

Matthew 6: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mat+6&version=NIV

            So, if we are to be the light of the world (5:14), then why does Jesus spend so much of chapter 6 seemingly warning about being that light? “Don’t be merciful in public; don’t pray out loud; hide it when you fast.” Jesus is here speaking to motivation. Let me give you a small example. My family has always prayed before we eat, even in restaurants. We think it’s an important part of our witness. On the other hand, we don’t make big deal about it. We don’t stand up, join hands, and pray at the top of our lungs. Our point is not to draw attention to ourselves, but if anyone is looking, we want them to know we are Jesus’ people.

            The question becomes, “Why are you doing what you’re doing?” Are you doing it to impress other people? Wrong motivation. Are you doing it to impress God? Really wrong motivation! Are you doing it out of love for God and love for neighbor? There you go! As the saying goes “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Change integrity to righteousness and you have the right lesson. Faith doesn’t care about the praise. Faith does what it does because it’s motivated by love.

God's New People

Matthew 5: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+5&version=NIV

            Matthew 5 begins the Sermon on the Mount, the first of five long discourses that break up Matthew’s story. Many, many have been written about this long passage. (The Sermon fills 3 chapters in the Gospel.) But for our consideration today, I’d simply point out that the Sermon is the charter for how God’s new people—who they are, their role in the world, and how they are to live out that vocation.

            Significantly, Jesus begins with the Beatitudes, the eight (or nine, depending how one counts them) statements of blessedness of God’s people. Less than a call for action, the Beatitudes are a description of God’s people. They are the poor in spirit, meek, merciful, peacemaking people. They live between two ages, one foot in this fallen age and one foot by faith in the age to come. So, you notice that the first and eighth Beatitudes are in the present tense (“Theirs is the reign of heaven”), while the middle ones are in the future tense (“They will be…”) Colossians 1:13 describes it this way, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”  In the next paragraph of the Sermon, they are described as light and salt for the world.

            Let me make a few quick points: first, it is very helpful to be reminded that we live between the ages, more to the point, that we live in the new age of God already by faith. When Christians fall into despair over the condition of the world, it is often because they have forgotten that they are already living in that age, that they have been redeemed and renewed, that they are in on God’s project. The surest antidote for despair is to remember that Jesus’ death destroyed the power of the old age, dominated as it was by sin, death, and the devil, and that His resurrection was the dawn of the new creation. Of course, we have this by faith, not by sight, so it’s an easy thing to lose track of—one of many reasons it’s important to stay connected to Word and Sacrament!

            Second, we have a role in God’s plans for the world. Jesus’ likens His people to a city set on a hill. It’s the church that shines as a beacon of hope for the world. In troubled times, that’s an important thing to hear. How we respond to and hold up under difficult circumstances speaks loudly to the world that God is up to more in the world than our eyes can see. Our peace and our hope are part and parcel of our witness. That Jesus compares us to salt is interesting, too. Salt has often been used to preserve food, and there is something about the church that preserves the world. Our witness of patient endurance brings others to the Lord, and for the sake of those who will believe the Lord preserves the earth (.

Jesus Begins His Vocation

Matthew 4: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+4&version=NIV

            In His baptism at the end of chapter 3, Jesus takes up His vocation as Messiah. Being identified as God’s Son means being identified as Israel (Exodus 4:22); Israel’s calling was to bring blessing to all the peoples of the earth (Genesis 12:3); and Jesus takes up that calling in His person “to fulfill all righteousness: (Matthew 3:15).

            Jesus’ time of temptation in the wilderness builds on this calling. Israel had their 40-year testing in the wilderness, and Jesus’ has His 40 days. Israel made a lot of mistakes in the wilderness, complaining about the food; doubting the Lord’s Word, putting Him to the test. Jesus did not: He is perfect trust in the Lord.

            More than that, Jesus’ temptation echoes Adam’s temptation in the Garden, with allusions to the fruit that was good for food, and doubts about what God’s Word really said, and questions about whether one could be god for himself. And again, Jesus endures and is faithful in a way that Adam had not been.

            Jesus will take up Israel’s vocation and He will do it on behalf of the whole human race, all of Adam’s children.

            And take it up He does in the second half of the chapter. 4:15 marries both themes: Jesus works in a space that is still clearly Israel (the land of Zebulun and Naphtali) but right on the border with the nations (Galilee of the Gentiles). And He embraces His calling in three ways First, He preaches the nearness of the reign of God, that is, the nearness of the time when God will assert Himself in the world. One of the ways Jesus shows the nearness of that time is through a ministry of healing. Finally, He calls disciples, which will become His work of reconstituting Israel around Himself, although that doesn’t become clear until chapter 10.

            The comfort here is clear. First, when temptation engulfs us—when we are tested by doubt and pride assails and we are on the same road as Adam and Israel—we know that we have a Savior who walked this road already and whose perfect faithfulness is counted as ours. That’s not to say that our choices don’t matter; it is to say that this is what forgiveness look like: when we are weak, He is strong in our place. Second, wherever Jesus is, there the reign of God is breaking in. When we ponder His Word, when we eat His Holy Supper, we are assured that God is near. And, third, when Jesus is near, there is light—even for those who live in the land of the shadow of death.

The Story Behind the Story

Matthew 3: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+3&version=NIV

            To hear what Matthew is saying you have to have a number of Old Testament stories in your ears—the stories of Adam, who first brought the calamity of sin on humanity; Abraham, who vacillates between faith and unfaith; Moses, who brought Israel out of bondage and to their promised land; David, Israel’s greatest king and the benchmark for all other kings; and the exile, where Israel’s unfaithfulness was punished and purified.

            Many of those stories are in the background in Matthew chapter 3. For example, John is cast in the role of Elijah. Now Elijah was a prophet during the reign of Ahab, a good 300 years before Judah was taken to exile. But the seeds of that exile were present in the days of Ahab. For in Ahab’s day, the people of Israel were trying to serve two gods—the Lord and Baal—and Elijah was the one who called them to choose (1 Kings 18). In a similar way, John calls Israel in his day to choose, to repent; either they are God’s people or they’re not.

            There are also echoes of the Moses story here. It is no coincidence that John is located in the wilderness near the Jordan. It’s a reminder that Israel had to spend 40 years in the wilderness because of their rebellion and that, after they had served that time and were ready to do what the Lord had said, they entered the land in a reenactment of the Exodus by crossing the Jordan. Part of  John’s message was, “It’s time to be God’s faithful people again.”

            And, the stories of Adam and Moses are there in the second half of the chapter, as Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.

            Why does this matter? Well, first because it’s the appropriate background to understand the stories of the Gospel. Second, because Matthew is at great pains to demonstrate that Jesus is the fulfillment of everything that God had been up to since the beginning. And third, because of the twofold assurance it gives us—first that God does indeed keep his promises (for us as for Israel), and second that we continue to live in the same story, that we are called by grace to be God’s holy people, His treasured possession, the means by which He extends His gracious rule into the world. Those are important assurances in troubled times: no matter how bad things get (whether it’s COVID-19 or any other garden variety trouble), we live in the confidence that God has kept and will keep His promises. And no matter how bad things get, or maybe, especially when things get bad, the world needs a people who live in hope, who act in love, and who manifest patience and generosity.

Once More on the God Who is in Control

Matthew 2: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+2&version=NIV

            Matthew 2 continues the theme of a God who is, ultimately, in control. Still, for the people “on the ground,” those living the story, it sure seems like God is nowhere to be seen. I mean, the Magi make their trip (at God’s prompting—He puts the star in the sky, after all), and they end up in the wrong place. Joseph does everything God tells him to and ends up fleeing for his life and the life of his family to Egypt of all places. And the mothers of Bethlehem—what did they do to deserve such pain? No wonder they’re weeping and refusing to be comforted! Where’s God in all that?

            Well, the star reappears and it reappears so specifically that the Magi find not just the right town but the right house. Joseph and the holy family do escape, because God warns him in a dream.

            The slaughter of the boys of Bethlehem is harder to understand, until you look at the whole chapter of Jeremiah 31, which is one of the few chapters in Jeremiah filled with messages of hope, speaking of how God would bring the people of Israel back from their exile, how he has loved them with an everlasting love. In hard times that is an important message to have in our ears and in our hearts: “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful’” (Jeremiah 31:3-4).

            Or consider Isaiah 61:1-3. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

            The Gospel of Luke quotes just this passage about Jesus. It seems that part of the message of Matthew 2 is this: don’t lose sight of what’s going on here. Yes, Herod perpetuates a horrific slaughter, but the target of that slaughter is Jesus, and Jesus escapes because He is fated to die a different way, on a cross, for the forgiveness and healing of the whole world. And just as Jesus came through suffering and death to new life, so God will somehow bring His people and ultimately the world through suffering and death to new life, too. That doesn’t give the mothers of Bethlehem a free pass; it doesn’t wipe away their grief and pain. But it does, at least, give the confidence: God will bring something good—some time and in some way—out of our grief.

Lessons from a Genealogy

Matthew 1: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+1&version=NIV

            Matthew starts his Gospel with a genealogy, because who doesn’t love a list of names that are hard to pronounce and that no one has ever heard of?

            Actually, though, there is a lot going on in this seemingly obscure list of names. There are two lessons here that are common to all genealogies in the Bible. First, there’s a lesson that the God of Israel keeps His promises. I’ve observed in my sermons the last couple of weeks that the Lord has His own sense of timing, sometimes taking decades, other times centuries, sometimes even millennia to reveal what He has been up to. A genealogy makes the same point: from Abraham to David—about a thousand years; from David to the Exile, another 400 or so years; from the Exile to Jesus—again 600 years. But He keeps His promises because in Jesus we have the descendant of Abraham through whom all the people of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:3).

            The second lesson here is that the Lord keeps His promises in anonymous ways. I make a point of this every year with our confirmation classes: God most often works in a hidden way through what otherwise look like normal processes. For example, He says that He gives us life. All we see is the ordinary process of childbearing, but in faith we understand that God is hidden in the process, giving each of us life as surely as He breathed the breath of life into Adam (Gen. 2: 7). The same lesson can be applied today: we see doctors and nurses scrambling to bring healing, and in faith we see that they are the hands through which God brings healing. The names of people we have never heard of in genealogies—Azor, Zadok, Akim, Elihud, Eleazar, Matthan,and Jacob (Matt 1:14-15)—make the point.

            Matthew wants to make a third point, too. He wants to make a point about order. His account of Jesus’ genealogy is explicitly structured: 14 generations, 14 generation, 14 generations. Any Jew of Matthew’s era would see the point immediately. (Matthew seems to have written to a predominantly Jewish audience; certainly of the four Gospels he is most concerned to show Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s ancient promises to Israel.) The point is this: 14=2 x 7, so Jesus’ ancestors form 6 sets of 7; 7 is, in Jewish numerology, the number of God’s completeness; and Jesus begins the 7^th and final sequence in the pattern. Matthew’s point is clear: the God of Israel has always known what He was doing, and what He was doing was leading to the coming of Jesus.

            As always, there’s more to say. There’s more to say about this genealogy, and I haven’t even mentioned the second half of the chapter! But this is enough to ponder for today: the God whom we worship is the God that keeps His promises, often in hidden ways, even when the world seems to be spinning out of control.