Looking for Jesus according to Matthew

[JLG]

1) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 7: When Jesus finishes these sayings, the effect is that the crowds are astounded at his way of teaching, for he is teaching them as a person having authority, and not as their scribes.

- Imagine you were there listening to Jesus!

- Knowledge vs Ignorance

 

[JLG]

2) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 8: A scribe wants to follow Jesus wherever he goes but Jesus warns him the Son of man has nowhere to lay down his head.

- Apparently this one wants to follow Jesus but he is used to a certain standard of living and it doesn’t work with Jesus.

- Jesus knows what we think when we think!

- He follows his Father’s interests not his that’s why he is going to build a world for us not destroy the Earth and there will be no seats for those who are destroying it: remember the Israelites: they didn’t get into the promised land, they stayed at the door!

 

[JLG]

3) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 9:

- Jesus forgives a paralytic’s sins!

- The scribes think Jesus blasphemes!

- Knowing what they think, he cures the paralytic to show them he can also forgives people’s sins!

- And the crowds are struck with fear and they glorify God!

- Religious leaders = superficial? Liars? They have seen or heard about Jesus’ miracles and they know what he does and who he is?

 

[JLG]

4) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 9: The Pharisees don’t understand why Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners!

- Apparently they can’t understand he has come to help sinners to recover!

- Really strange people!

- The question is: what are they good to? Nothing!

- They are only leeches!

- They don’t help anybody!

- On the contrary!

- Jesus wants people to listen carefully to his message and be saved, religious leaders do business and want people to listen to them to serve their own interests and go to destruction exactly as it happened each time when Jerusalem was destroyed!

 

[JLG]

5) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 9:24

“The
τὸ (to)
Article - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

girl
κοράσιον (korasion)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 2877: A little girl, a young girl; a girl, maiden. Neuter of a presumed derivative of kore; a girl.

is not dead,
οὐ (ou)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

but
ἀλλὰ (alla)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

asleep.”
καθεύδει (katheudei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2518: To sleep, be sleeping. From kata and heudo; to lie down to rest, i.e. to fall asleep.

- Another powerful verse! When someone you appreciate a lot dies, how do you think about the situation?

 

[JLG]

6) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 9:27-30

- We see two blind men, they know who Jesus is and what he can do and they don’t want to miss the opportunity so they keep searching him and he asks them a question and THEIR EYES RECEIVE SIGHT like a gift but they had to struggle to get it! Do we really strive to take the opportunity Jesus gives us before it is too late? If we want Jesus to come to us, we have to sincerely come to him and look for him! It is a personal choice and it is our decision, not others! Jesus warned the inhabitants of Jerusalem and those who escaped were saved, the others died or were taken into slavery! It doesn’t matter if people listen to their religious leaders or not, they decided and they paid the price, that’s it!

 

[JLG]

7) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 9:32-34

- People bring him a speechless man possessed of a demon!

- Jesus expels the demon!

- The speechless man speaks again!

- The crowds are amazed!

- As usual, the Pharisees oppose him!

- They call him the ruler of the demons!

- Can we say, on the one hand, GOOD SENSE from NORMAL PEOPLE and, on the other hand, BLINDNESS from RELIGIOUS LEADERS!

 

[JLG]

8) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 9: Jesus goes to different cities and villages and teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the Kingdom and curing people!

- Jesus is a good example of hard work for God to follow, the religious leaders are not as they are busy looking for their own interests!

 

[JLG]

9) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 9: Jesus feels pity for the crowds because they are shepherdless then he says that the harvest is great but with few workers so it is necessary to beg the master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest!

- Jesus is clear: the religious leaders are good to nothing, they leave the people ignorant!

- They must be taught!

- Searching is also important!

- It is essential to look for God!

- We can’t stay passive and say: I didn’t know!

 

[JLG]

10) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 10:

- Jesus tells his disciples that he is sending them as sheep among wolves!

- So he wants them to be cautious as serpents but innocent as doves!

- He warns them that men will hand them over to local courts and will scourge them in their synagogues!

- Think about who are the WOLVES!

-And Jesus tells us to be careful about them because once again they have their own interests which are not ours!

 

[JLG]

11) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 11: All the same, wisdom is proved righteous by its works.

- It is not possible to compare Jesus’ wisdom and the religious leaders’ wisdom!

- Sometimes it is necessary to open our eyes and our ears to really see and hear because people are used to man’s tradition! It is like when people come back from work and switch on TV, it makes noise but they don’t really see it or hear it!

 

[JLG]

12) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 11: Jesus thanks his father for having hidden his Word from the wise and intellectual ones and have revealed them to young children.

- This is an important verse: God’s Word is not for the intellectual or those who think they know everything!

- On the contrary, if we want to understand God’s word, we need to be open-minded like young children and learn and study again and again God’s word!

- We must do more than just reading but scrutinize God’s Word as much as we can and daily, not once in a while!

- The more we look at it, the more we will get used to it and to the context and the more details which at first seem just details will appear as essential to our understanding!

- And some details are the keys to understand the whole, if we don’t get them we miss the whole part!

- We must become specialists of the Bible by studying it carefully and with our heart thus we can receive the help of God to open our eyes and ears!

- If we don’t make the effort to get closer to God, how do we want him to get closer to us!

- Think about some faithful servants of God in the Bible: they were not amateurs in term of faithfulness but they strove to become so!

 

[JLG]

13) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 11: Jesus is mild-tempered and lowly in heart, following him means refreshment and he invites us to take his yoke which is kindly and his load light!

- Do the religious leaders make Jesus’ yoke KINDLY and his load LIGHT?

- Can they help us find REFRESHMENT for ourselves?

- Not according to what Jesus says!

 

[JLG]

14) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 12: The Pharisees are looking for a way to accuse Jesus so they ask Jesus if it is lawful to cure on the Sabbath!

- So Jesus tells them about a sheep that has fallen into a pit on the Sabbath and he asks them if they are not going to save it!

- And he adds that a man is more valuable than a sheep!

- The problem is that the religious leaders are looking for their own interests!

- So they take care about their own sheep!

- But they don’t care about ordinary people!

- So ordinary people can go to destruction, it’s not their problem!

 

[JLG]

15) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 12: Jesus speaks about his servant whom he has approved and to whom he has given his spirit and he will bring justice!

- God chose his servant, not them!

- God approved him, not them!

- God put his spirit upon him, not upon them!

- He brings justice, they bring injustice!

- He doesn’t quarrel, they quarrel!

- He brings hope, they can only bring disappointment!

 

[JLG]

16) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 12:

- A good tree produces good fruit and a rotten tree produces rotten fruit!

- Jesus calls the Pharisees offspring of vipers!

- He says they can’t speak good things because they are wicked!

- And the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks!

- Or is that people forget what is a fine fruit and get used to rotten fruit?

- Or a mixed fruit?

- Strange!

- Is it like nature when we live in cities: we don’t see it anymore!

- We get used to concrete or artificial life!

- More and more people prefer video games instead of real life!

- Strange!

- We don’t see anymore!

- We don’t hear anymore!

- We don’t touch anymore!

- We don’t taste anymore!

- We don’t smell anymore!

- And we are supposed to be superior animals, aren’t we?

- Do we know anything?

 

[JLG]

Why fear ? I would say this .
And the crowds were awe struck and they glorified God !

As Christians we should have a reverence for God and worship Him, but why would we fear him ?

- My answer:

- Usually people fear what they don't know!

- They had trouble to understand him!

- They had ears but they didn't hear!- They had eyes but they didn't see!

- Maybe it can also be connected to respect!

- When Jesus comes back as a warrior many people will try to hide if i am not wrong!

- If we do our best to be faithful to God, there is no need for fear!

- If not, we can find good reasons!

 

[JLG]

17) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 12:

- The Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign!

- But he tells them they will only get the sign of Jonah the prophet!

- Jesus always fights against the religious leaders!

- “wicked and adulterous”: definitely strong words!

- But also a warning for faithful people meaning get away from them if you don’t want to share their destiny!

- When Jesus was on earth, very few accepted to lose their position and believe in him and follow him!

 

[JLG]

18) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 13:

- Jesus goes back to his home territory!

- He begins to teach them in their synagogues!

- And they are astounded of his wisdom and his powerful works!

- Why? Because he is the carpenter’s son and his mother is called Mary, and his brothers are James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and they also know his sisters!

- They don’t understand anything because they don’t want!

- Moreover, they don’t understand Jesus because he doesn’t belong to their world!

- He is not proud like them!

- He is not selfish like them!

- They do their will, he does his Father’s will!

- Two irreconcilable words!

- It is as if Jesus is speaking a foreign language to them!

- And they don’t want to learn it!

- They are too lazy!

- And you can’t be lazy if you want to do God’s work!

 

[JLG]

19) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Matthew 15:

- Some Pharisees and scribes come from Jerusalem to see Jesus!

- They don’t understand why his disciples overstep man’s tradition of former times!

- That is they don’t wash their hands (the arms to be exact) when about to eat a meal!

- It is never enough for the Pharisees!

- And Jesus asks them the same question but about the commandment of God because of their tradition!

- Man’s tradition is an illusion!

- It goes against God’s word!

- It is made to divert people from God’s word!

- The religious leaders have been working well to change the words from God’s word into empty words!

- It is up to us to look for the roots!

- The original is always better than the copy!

- With the copy you never find the way through darkness!

- People may prefer to stay blind and deaf!

- But reality always comes back and shutting one’s eyes and ears is useless!