Matthew 20:20-34 - A lack of understanding

20:20,21

The mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to ask if they could sit at His right and left hands in His kingdom. Mark has it that James and John themselves asked. What is likely is that they put their mother up to the task. On the plus side at least they now realised that Jesus was coming into His kingdom, even despite the cross. However, they had clearly not grasped the part about the first and last etc.

20:22,23

Moreover, the two disciples hadn’t a clue what they were actually asking for. His glory was on the cross, and they were in effect asking to be on the crosses either side of Jesus! That was certainly not what they intended. And Jesus told them that they did not know what they were asking for. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”. Then we get another surprise. In their present state they certainly were not able to share in Christ’s sufferings, but soon they would. James would be the first martyred, John would live to old age, but suffer much along the way. And Jesus would enable them to do this. However, they would not be on the other two crosses. The occupants of these two places had already been chosen by the Father. The cross was a planned event.

20:24-27

The other ten were indignant when they learned what had happened. However, Jesus had a lesson for all twelve of them. They were not to lord it over each other like the Gentiles high officials did. In the world people like to get to high positions, and when there to advertise the fact that they have “made it”. We are not to be like that. Reaching a high position is not the ultimate goal in life. If we do reach a high position  we are not to use it to achieve our own ends, we are not to stress any supposed superiority over others. Instead we are to live as servants. It is to be our aim to serve others. And if we do find ourselves in a position of authority we are to lead as servants.

20:28

Jesus then points to Himself as the supreme example of this. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Now we take this “ransom” part too far. Jesus is simply saying that He gave His life and this has set us free. Some ask “who was the ransom paid to?” This is taking things too far, especially if they talk about paying a ransom to the devil. God did not pay a ransom to the devil! The price that was paid was the taking the punishment that should have been ours.

20:29,30

As usual a large crowd followed Jesus as they were going out of Jericho. Mark (Mark 10:46) and Luke have one blind man, Matthew mentions two. Matthew does not name either of them, while Mark does name one, Bartimaeus. It may be that there were two, but one of them was known to the disciples (or at least to Mark). The supposed difference in accounts may be no difference at all, so I do not propose to worry about it! They cried out to Jesus, “Have mercy on us Lord, So of David!”.

20:31-34

The crowd told them to keep quiet, but the blind men cried out all the more. They knew that they had the chance of being healed, so they were not going to be put off by the crowds. This was their chance! Jesus responded to them, asking them what they wanted. Jesus will respond to people that we think He should not respond to. The blind men asked Jesus to give them their sight back. Jesus gave them what they wanted, and they were immediately healed. Notice that Matthew gives a truncated account, compared to Mark and Luke.

Matthew 20:1-19 - Thank goodness God is generous"

20:1-16

The gospel is based on the grace of God. Sometimes this means that people will appear to be unfairly blessed in some way. So Jesus tells a parable explaining how the kingdom works. All the workers got what they were promised, those who had worked all day and those who had started much later. The owner had the right to pay whatever he liked, in the same way God is free to bless however he wants. “Are you envious because I am generous?” Thank goodness God is generous!.

20:17-19

On His way to Jerusalem, Jesus tells His disciples about His impending death and resurrection. Note He will be handed over to the religious leaders and the Gentiles.

Matthew 19:16-30 - Wealth

19:16-20

Jesus continues to react differently than our preconceptions might imply. We now have a rich man who comes to Jesus. He seems to know that he still lacks something, so asks how he can get eternal life. It seems that he thinks he has to earn it, for he asks what good thing must he do. Jesus  points out that there is only one who is good. So if he wants to be like God he has to obey the commandments. The man looks for further clarification, so Jesus reminds him of the ten commandments. The man thinks he has kept all these, but realises there must be something missing.

19:21,22

Jesus knew the idol that the man had, wealth. In order to be perfect, or complete, he needed to sell his possessions and give to the poor. Then he would have treasure in heaven. The man was not willing to do this and went away sad.

19:23-26

The disciples were shocked, they associated wealth with God’s favour, Jesus tells them that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom. Wealth is deceptive and can capture our hearts. However, it is not impossible, God can save anyone.

19:27-30

Peter pipes up as usual, the disciple had left everything and wondered if it was worth it. Jesus assures them that it is definitely worth it.

Matthew 19:13-20 - Eternal life

19;13-15

Further teaching comes in the reaction to little children. The parents wanted Jesus to bless the children, but the disciple saw them as a nuisance. Jesus wanted to bless them. We need to realise that Jesus, and therefore God, often wants to bless more than we do. In fact the kingdom belongs to those who we might be inclined to reject.

19:16-20

Jesus continues to react differently than our preconceptions might imply. We now have a rich man who comes to Jesus. He seems to know that he still lacks something, so asks how he can get eternal life. It seems that he thinks he has to earn it, for he asks what good thing must he do. Jesus  points out that there is only one who is good. So if he wants to be like God he has to obey the commandments. The man looks for further clarification, so Jesus reminds him of the ten commandments. The man thinks he has kept all these, but realises there must be something missing,

Matthew 19:1-12 - Marriage and Divorce

19:1-3

Jesus then left for Judea. Large crowds continued to follow Him.The Pharisees continued to seek to trap Jesus. In the meantime Jesus had healed many people.The Pharisees asked if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason.The background to this was Deut 24:1-4, where Moses said a man had to give a divorced wife a certificate.

19:4-8

Jesus points them back to the beginning in Genesis.God intended marriage to be lifelong. Now look at how different the interpretation of this verse by Jesus is, compared to that of the Pharisees. Jesus tells us that God gave this because “our hearts are hard”. He also says Moses “permitted” divorce. The Pharisees saw it as a command. So the ideal if 19:4-6 stands and is the guiding principle, the one we are to seek to live by. But because we are sinners sometimes divorce will happen, sometimes may even be necessary. So the Law was given to ameliorate the consequences, to give the wife some protection. The Pharisees saw it as a way of life! They saw divorce as part of the normal course of events. The sinful heart will twist every good law to evil purpose. We see this with secular laws, especially in the area of finance. 

19:9

Jesus now tells us that “anyone who divorces his wife, except for adultery, and marries another woman commits adultery.” If we read this as a rule about divorce and remarriage we are missing the point. The liberal group on divorce, the “burn the toast” sect were doing this: If they fancied another woman, then they would give their current wife a certificate of divorce for some reason or other, then marry the other woman, claiming all the while to be following the Law of Moses and so they were a good Jew. Absolute nonsense, you are an adulterer, says Jesus. The human heart is deceitful above all things and will twist anything round to turn good into evil.

19:10-12

The disciples were, evidently, infected by the spirit of the age, seeming to think that the lifelong commitment of marriage was not such a good idea after all. How can two people possibly be happy together forever? We need to beware of being infected by the spirit of the age. “This teaching is not meant for everyone”. Jesus does not mean that marriage as a lifelong relationship is only applicable to some marriages. What He means is that not everyone will get married. He mentions some who were born eunuchs and some who were made eunuchs. Now this includes physical eunuchs, but I believe we can give it a wider application. There some for whom marriage may well be impossible for reasons from birth, disabilities of some sort or other (of course, not all disabilities make marriage impossible, far from it). For others the circumstances of life will just mean it never happens, sometimes for definite reasons, sometimes for no discernible reason, it just never happened. Then there will be those who renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom.

I have written two longer discussions of the practical implications on Jesus’ teaching on divorce:

Mark 10:10-12 - Adultery and divorce - Part 1

Mark 10:10-12 - Adultery and Divorce - Part 2

Matthew 18:15-35 - Forgive others

18:15-20

Jesus is totally realistic and knows that sin will take place in the church, so here he gives instruction on how it is to be dealt with. The aim is not to condemn people but to restore them, but this depends on the sinner having a penitent attitude. So the sinner is to be given a chance to repent. First the person is to go to the sinner and point out their sin. This is to be done privately, the aim is  not to humiliate the brother. If he repents then he has been won over. If that fails, then go with one or two others, given  further chance. If that fails the matter is to be brought before the whole church. If the sinful brother still refuses to listen, only then is he to be treated as a pagan or tax collector.

We naturally feel wary of judging people, but Jesus assures them that if a proper procedure is followed with a proper heart attitude, then God is with them.

18:21-35

The section finishes with another parable, one reminding them that we are all forgiven sinners, and that should colour our attitude at all times. Forgiveness was considered something of a shocking thing, but that is only when we forget that we are all forgiven sinners. Note that the debt of hundred silver coins (or denarii) was not an insignificant amount, only in relation to the man’s own forgiven debt. We are forgiven sinners so we should be a forgiving people.

Matthew 18:1-14 - A new heart

18:1-5

The disciples still have much to learn, and the next lesson is about to happen. The disciples asked Jesus “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Why did they ask this at this point, was it because Jesus has seemed to denigrate the religious leaders, the ones who they might have assumed were the top notch in the kingdom.

Jesus tells them that they need a radically different approach. They needed to welcome people who were considered to be of no importance, and could offer no immediate benefit. So He uses the example of a little child. The disciples needed to change.

18:6-9

As well as welcoming the undervalued, they needed to be careful not to cause them to stumble. The Pharisees were very strict, and Jesus has seriously criticised them. However that did not mean that sin was not serious, and needed to be dealt with seriously. Sin is serious.

18:10-14

Sometimes the weak would wander, in such a case we are not just to write them off, but to make an effort  to restore them. So he gives the parable of the lost sheep. God wants to save the lost.