Matthew Mark Luke John

By Rick Hoover

You have wanted to read through the Bible but it's so big and long! Do it with a friend who can point out details you might not notice on your first visit. As one reader said, "Rick offers refreshing new insights into the Scriptures I thought I knew so well."

The first five books of the New Testament are a kind of Torah 2.0. The four Gospels and the book of Acts are narrative stories making a good introduction to the life of Jesus and to the historical beginnings of the Christian Church.

With Rick you'll find "a friend both eloquent and observant; who with an easy eloquence opens our eyes again and again to things we never would have seen ourselves."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelican Wings
• Release date: Feb 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463544624

Rick Hoover

I'm a retired deacon in the Episcopal Church. I served at a parish in central Florida. I've worked in radio, television and several jobs that included public relation efforts. As a Christian, I have discovered one of the things I enjoy most is spending time in a prayer closet with Jesus, learning to be still so He has space to speak. I shared about my first month as a Smashword author at my blog:https://deaconrick.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/editing-the-author/

Book preview

READERS ARE SAYING…

In your possession is a delightful companion piece to the Gospels and Acts! While not exhaustive, it is thought-provoking in it’s simplicity. Deacon Rick is a master communicator who, through the Spirit, brings freshness and wisdom to enlarge one’s thinking. As a good spiritual director, he blesses us with thoughtful preparation, inspired insight and theological lessons quietly inserted and logically interwoven. He gently nudges and says, Look here, Now, look there. What do you see now? How does he do this? Through a lifetime spent in the Bible, through a heart open to the Spirit’s leading and through an agile mind willing to think deeply and creatively. Deacon Rick never fails to teach, to provide new thought, to inspire. Savor and enjoy!

Rev. Kay Ruhle, Rick’s co-deacon, colleague, friend and student

Lakeland, Florida

This book by my friend, Rick Hoover, has taken me by surprise. Rick offers refreshing new insights into the Scriptures I thought I knew so well. He skillfully brings a historic background, Old Testament comparisons and affirmations, along with an extraordinary ability to make The Greatest Story Ever Told, even greater. This book will put any believer on a fast track to understanding important, foundational truths. For the Pastor, Church Leader, or Sunday School Teacher, in my opinion, it is required reading.

Arthelene Rippy

Christian Television Network

Clearwater, Florida

Being a John Wayne fan, Rick’s book caught my attention from the very beginning and never lost it.

I have known Rick for over 30 years. His wisdom and understanding of the Word of God has always made me listen to what he has to say. In this book Rick takes us places throughout the Gospel that bring us to a greater understanding of the writers that God chose to deliver His message to us. As you read through this I know that you will gain (as I did) a more thorough love of the Word of God and a greater understanding of what His writers were expressing.

Pastor Bob Martin

Grace Fellowship

East Peoria, Ilinois

The author tells us that what we are holding in our hand …is not a commentary, exactly; explaining further that it is, rather, a more conversational text from one fellow traveler, or friend, to another. Indeed, as I read the book, I found this to be so. And in Hoover we find a friend both eloquent and observant; who with an easy eloquence opens our eyes again and again to things we never would have seen ourselves. In sum, it is a pleasure to read; well written and insightful.

Samuel W. Setliff

Anyksciai, Lithuania

An insightful study guide. Through extensive research and study, he has been able to unpack some of the information we often stumble over in our comparisons of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and their recorded acts. Rick’s book is a rich read that will challenge, inspire and provide a platform for spiritual growth.

Phyllis Benigas

Missionary to Belgium

If you like to imagine the what and why when reading a story, you will thoroughly enjoy Rick Hoover's latest book. In his down to earth and easy to read style, he sets the scene and lets you imagine people, places and conversations, both verbal and non-verbal while reading through the Gospels. You will find yourself mulling, having a few AHA moments and being drawn into a more personal picture of the familiar passages. It's all soooooo good!

Cathy Hembree, old friend who likes to read!!!

Murrysville PA

MATTHEW MARK LUKE JOHN

Reflections on The Four Gospels

and

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

Rick Hoover

Copyright © 2020 by Rick Hoover

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible™,

a Public Domain translation available at worldenglishbible.org

Some material here originally appeared in shorter form in

The Journey daily devotional published by

Bible Reading Fellowship. Winter Park, Florida.

CONTENTS

Starting the Journey

Introduction: Symbols of the Evangelists

The Gospel of St. Matthew

The Gospel of St. Mark

The Gospel of St. Luke

The Gospel of St. John

The Acts of the Apostles

Eyewitness Testimony

Learn What This Means

About the Author

Starting the Journey

As a child of the 20th century, I have enjoyed watching movies. I have enjoyed watching them brand new in theaters. And I have enjoyed re-watching them later alongside special interviews and commentaries that pointed out details planted on the screen by the scriptwriters, directors, and actors. (For instance, John Wayne so enjoyed making Red River in 1948 that he kept wearing the special prop belt buckle made for his character in that film every time he made another western. He even wore it while starring in Hatari! in 1962, a modern story about wild game hunters in Africa. He was still wearing it making True Grit in 1969.)

But this book is not about movie belt buckles. It is about the Bible.

It is not a deep, scholarly study on the Bible. There are plenty of serious books like that already available. My book is intended to be more like one of those companion features that accompany movies, to help fans appreciate them later on, or even at a first viewing. I have confined my reflections to the first five books of the New Testament. These are the narrative texts, the movie stories. The later letters from Paul and others are plain and straightforward. Their sentences are pretty easy to grasp. The story-narrative books more often sketch and hint at matters that are not always openly discussed. They are more like pictures that require some close examination to catch all the details. A familiarity with things commonly understood or remembered by the first readers of the Apostolic era can be missing with readers in our day. This casts a strange air over some of the described incidents causing modern students to get frustrated when trying to understand them. Such factors contributed to my own early discouragement trying to read this most important Book.

I was raised in church and went to Sunday School classes ever since I can remember. I heard the stories about Noah and Moses and David and Goliath. I heard the stories about Jesus being born in a manger, turning water into wine, and calling fishermen as disciples. But when I was in my mid-20's I still had not read the Bible completely for myself. I was embarrassed by this.

I enjoyed reading all kinds of books but the Bible intimidated me. It was such a big book! Such a long book. Even if you get a recording of somebody reading it to you it takes more than 70 hours to listen to it all! That also had put me off. So I set the goal of tackling the Bible and reading it all the way through before I was 30 years old.

I finally made it through (and by my self-imposed deadline). Then I did it again, in several different translations.

As a boy, I had wanted to be a writer. Now I have actually written several books about the Bible (that's astonishing to me, too). And I was eventually invited by editors of the daily devotional publication, The Journey, to submit some short reflections on the Gospels. They kept coming back asking me to write more. I ended up writing material about all four Gospels. Then I went on, by myself, to write about the historical church narrative in Acts. In this book I have expanded on my first drafts, taking advantage of being able to write beyond the limitations of a daily word limit. (It has become, by far, the longest book I've done.) It is not commentary, exactly. It is more like going to a movie with a friend.

At the Disney World EPCOT park in Florida, and at other Disney parks around the world, a method called Circle Vision is used in some attractions. These are big round rooms with nine huge movie screens surrounding the audience in every direction. There are no seats. People stand so they can easily turn and look at the screens all around them. The movies presented in the Canada and also the China pavilions are travelogues showing scenery from those lands. While watching, sometimes I've heard audiences laughing or reacting to something I missed because I was looking in the wrong direction at the wrong screen at that moment. You just can't see everything at once in these unique theaters.

I've done Lectio Divina Bible studies with groups where similar things happen. We've all read or heard the same verses together, but each person has seen something different and shares new perspectives with the rest of us. This happens even when there are no seminary level scholars in the group. The Holy Spirit highlights details to the entire group from what each of us has seen, even when some are reading a passage for the first time.

I offer this book to be read in that way. I wrote so we could watch the movie together. I want to be a companion traveler with you, to point out some of the things I've seen before. I wish I could hear your own contributions, too, as we go on this trip. It's hard for anyone to see it all the first time.

But do me a favor. Once you've made it through reading these first books of the New Testament, pay that experience forward with another friend. I think lots of people want to read the Bible but hesitate to start, out of the same fears I had. It is easier to begin if there's someone to share the experience with. Let's do it.

Rick Hoover

Christ the King Sunday, 2019

Introduction: Symbols of the Evangelists

St. Michael is the patron saint for the Scottish village of Linlithgow. The village has two parish churches. One is Roman Catholic, the other is Church of Scotland. Both of them are named St. Michael's.

St. Michael's (Scottish) has a stained glass window devoted to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four evangelists who wrote the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament. Here is a close-up of their faces.

As was common practice in traditional church art, each Evangelist has a second figure close by. These figures have the features of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.

Here is another example of those four figures. This time the second figures are pictured below the evangelists.

I was not raised in a church that paid any attention to such old decorations and traditions. Whenever I came across this one, I always found the assortment of beasts an odd way to identify the four Gospel writers, much less Jesus himself.

Then I stumbled upon the apparent source of this tradition.

The earliest written discussion assigning these four figures to the four Gospels dates back to the year 398 AD. It is found in the preface that St. Jerome wrote for his commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew.

First, he drew attention to the vision Ezekiel described in the first chapter of his book.

Ezekiel 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. The four of them had the face of a lion on the right side. The four of them had the face of an ox on the left side. The four of them also had the face of an eagle.

St. Jerome next pointed to the fact that St. John reported seeing the same thing in his visions of Heaven.

Revelation 4:6 In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 7 The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.

St. Jerome finally took note of how each Evangelist had begun their Gospel, and connected the dots with the four faces of these visions.

The first face of a man signifies Matthew, who began his narrative as though about a man: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham. The second face signifies Mark, in who the voice of a lion roaring in the wilderness is heard: A voice of one shouting in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. The third is the face of the calf which prefigures that the evangelist Luke began with Zechariah the priest [sacrificing the cattle brought as offerings was of course a priest's duty — RH]. The fourth face signifies John the evangelist who, having taken up eagle's wings and hastening toward higher matters, discusses the Word of God.

St. Jerome was writing only five years after bishops at a Church council had finally made a declaration of the canon of the New Testament's 27 books. Their decision formally and finally rejected various other documents floating around claiming authorship by one disciple or another. St. Jerome took the four faces in the Biblical visions as yet another confirmation that the four Gospels recognized by the Church Fathers were sufficient to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

…By all these things it is plainly shown that only the four Gospels ought to be received…

I am grateful to have finally found such an early explanation of this long-honored tradition. Now the faces of these four images serve me as such Christian symbols and art were always intended to do: they are visual shorthand reminding me and always pointing back to what God has said in His Word, and to the gift given to us in Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of St. Matthew

St. Matthew, a tax collector in Capernaum, was one of the first disciples recruited by Jesus. A tax collector named Levi is mentioned in Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 as one of Christ's disciples. That is apparently Matthew's birth name. The name Matthew means Gift of Yahweh. Perhaps Jesus gave this disciple a new name as he did with Simon Peter.

Little is known about Matthew's background. But he was the only disciple who had held a government job with the Roman Empire. Any Jew willing to take such work was considered a traitor and despised by the Jewish people. So there is some irony in the fact that Matthew ended up in a position of honor with his Gospel account being given the first place in the canonical histories. The lead position may also be due to the fact that, unlike Mark and Luke, Matthew had been an actual disciple and companion with Jesus. (St. John, also a disciple, was the last to put his account down in writing, and is given the final place in the traditional order of the Gospels.)

Matthew 1:1-17

St. Matthew begins with a genealogy to show that Jesus descended from Abraham and David. It has been noted that Matthew dropped certain names from this list that are mentioned in the Old Testament records of Israel's kings.

It seems odd that a tax collector, whose whole career had been about keeping accurate counts, would seem to miscount the number of generations like that. No consensus has been reached about why Matthew did this (though the missing names tend to be those of disobedient kings). Some note that the declared total of 42 generations is equivalent to six times seven — or six weeks of seven days. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. On the cross, Jesus announced, It is finished before entering his rest. A restart and a new order began on the first day of the new week with his resurrection. Perhaps Matthew was intending to echo the order of God's plan for His Kingdom in his genealogy list.

It also served notice to the Jewish audience that Matthew was writing for. Jesus was one of ours, in David's line exactly where the Messiah was expected to be found. Arguments have been attempted that claim Jesus deliberately tried to fulfill one Messianic prophecy or another during his ministry. But it is hard to argue that any child ever has much to say about the timing and location of its birth in the world. Jesus was fulfilling prophecy from the beginning.

Matthew 1:18-24

The first figure Matthew introduces, and thus the first figure we meet in all the Gospels, is Joseph. Only Matthew and Luke include stories of him and no words of his are ever quoted. But it could be said that his declaration of love for God is one of the loudest in the whole Bible.

At the Last Supper, Jesus gave the simplest of all identifying characteristics for love. If you love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15) Joseph, given extraordinary instructions in dreams by God's angelic messengers, simply changed what he was thinking of doing and obeyed. There was no argument or discussion like Zechariah, or even Mary, had when they were met by angels. Joseph's response was all in his actions. In this, Jesus' human father-figure led by example, giving Jesus early lessons in obedience.

Two simple verses reflect Joseph's heart of submission to God. The angel in the dream told Joseph to name Mary's child Jesus. (1:21) In verse 25, After Mary gave birth to the baby, Joseph did so. Matthew writes simply, He named him Jesus.

This simple episode summarizes the entire message of the Gospels and the Bible as a whole. From the beginning, God's plan was that He would direct our steps, and we would be free to respond as He had asked. It was not puppet-like remote control that God desired. He wanted us to express our love and devotion through choosing to let Him shape our lives and perfectly fulfill them. God honored Joseph's position within the community. Everyone would expect Joseph to say by what name the child would be known. Joseph was doing the same thing, honoring God by giving Jesus the name chosen by his Father.

There was a very practical reason for Joseph's presence with Mary during this time. Though Scripture is quite clear that Mary was a virgin and conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, Jewish law put her at risk if she were found to be pregnant before marriage, while still single. Joseph's humble willingness to stay at her side provided protection for her and the baby Jesus, even though scorn and rumors would follow her for years.

Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew wrote his Gospel years after Christ's earthly ministry and decades after his birth. He reports Christ's birth only in summary and the lack of detail closes the door on getting answers to some of our questions, like just who were those wise men who showed up asking to see a king of the Jews? Calling these men kings themselves, as well as saying there were three of them, came much later. (Some Syriac Orthodox traditions say there were twelve.)

We might have a clue to why these Gentile searchers, the first worshippers of Jesus, knew about him at all. The only other wise man mentioned in the Bible, who also lived in the East, was Daniel. He had been taken into Babylon at the time the nation of Israel was conquered, 600 years earlier. Daniel was promoted as chief of the wise men, the magi of Babylon. When Babylon was itself conquered by Darius, he retained Daniel in his high position as a counselor and administrator. Daniel's reputation thus would have earned the attention of the Chaldean astrologers. Their successors apparently kept note of this respected government official's prophecies, such as that found in Daniel 9:24-26. They noticed when an unusual star-event seemed to point to Daniel's native land of Israel. Jewish Scriptures also recorded another early seer who had predicted such a sign in the heavens. (Numbers 24:17 - Balaam's vision to Amalek.)

A recent documentary on The Star of Bethlehem making use of computer-driven astronomy software pinpoints the likeliest date and candidate for the star that led the Magi to Bethlehem. What is ironic is that the Gentile wise men traveled hundreds of miles to track down this new king. Herod and his courtiers, a few miles away, had noticed nothing and didn't bother to accompany the visitors as they went on to their destination.

Matthew 2:13-18

Not that Herod was completely unconcerned about news of a King of the Jews. When the foreign visitors failed to return with a report, Herod ordered the massacre of all male children two years of age or under in Bethlehem. Herod, a descendant of Esau, was paranoid about opposition from a true Jewish claimant to the throne.

The fact that Herod killed children as old as two years of age suggests that the wise men had showed up long after the birth of Jesus. St. Luke records that when Joseph and Mary took the baby Jesus to the Temple to mark the completion of 40 days of purification after the birth (Luke 2:22), they could only afford two turtledoves as their sacrifice. If the wise men with their gift of gold had already showed up, the poor couple would have been able to pay for the usual full sacrifice of a lamb. (Leviticus 12)

The wily maneuver by the wise men to avoid leading Herod to the Christ child suggests an explanation for the oddest choice Jesus made when choosing his band of disciples. The important roles played by the likes of Peter or John or Matthew are clear to us. Others among the disciples are mostly anonymous to us now. We hear nothing and know almost nothing about James the Less, or Simon the Zealot, or Thaddeus. They may have made important differences to the people they met in their seasons of ministry but we have virtually no records of them.

The disciple who puzzles us most is the one who betrayed Jesus: Judas Iscariot. Why did Jesus pick that man and keep him close for three years??

When the wise men failed to report back to Herod, Herod unleashed a massacre on all the baby boys of Bethlehem. In his intention to kill Jesus he decided the lack of information about the particular baby’s whereabouts was a minor nuisance.

When the time finally came for Jesus to surrender to his enemies, God provided an insider who could lead the arresting soldiers right to him and avoid a repeat massacre of innocents. Judas had one assignment and Jesus kept him close until it was time to call on him to act.

The murder of the Bethlehem children displays God's commitment to giving a free will and choice to mankind. The massacre echoes the influence and actions of Satan at the first altar of worship in Genesis. Cain was angry that his own effort and offering was rejected, so he murdered his brother. Now Satan stirred up another of his followers to kill his fellow man in anger over God's choice. That anger would chase Jesus his whole life. But God did not rescind His decision about giving man his free will. The choices made in each generation would plainly reveal to all Creation, and through all time, where the hearts of men were. That evidence would be reviewed in a final judgment at the end of time.

Joseph received further instruction and another reminder that, as a servant of God, his life was not about him. He would have to leave his own country in order to protect the baby that had been placed under his care. Commentators surmise that this is where the expensive gifts brought by the wise men came in handy. Joseph would need some resources to support his family as he abandoned his established carpentry business [some scholars think Joseph was actually a stonemason] and customers to start over in Egypt. The move set up the fulfillment of another prophecy out of any control by Jesus. (Hosea 11:1)

Matthew 2:19-23

Herod's threat to the baby Jesus passed with his own death. Once more, Joseph was given a dream and angelic direction. At last, he could return home with Mary and the young child. He chose Nazareth as the place to settle down. In doing so, he inadvertently obscured the fact of Jesus being born in Bethlehem. That village had been named in prophecy. (Micah 5:2) Not being aware of Joseph's early moves with his family, later religious critics would object to Jesus' ministry because no prophet comes from Galilee. (John 7:52) Thus, in the strangest way, Herod's hostility served to create cover for Jesus as he grew up.

With this last move, Joseph disappears from the narrative. In Luke's Gospel, Joseph is with Mary on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old. (Luke 2:41-42) But there is no mention of him when Jesus goes with Mary to the wedding at Cana, or in any of the episodes that follow in the accounts of his ministry. Still, Joseph's obedience and his care to follow the instruction of the angels in his dreams had lasting effect. By taking steps to protect the young child, Joseph made it possible later for multitudes to encounter Jesus, who were healed and delivered from demons by him. Indeed, with his decision to resettle in Nazareth, Joseph put Jesus close to the Sea of Galilee where he would call fishermen as disciples, and change their lives.

Joseph's life was not about Joseph. But it was not without purpose. Or blessing. That blessing continues for us to this day.

Matthew 3:1-5

As with Joseph, we are told remarkably little about John the Baptist. Matthew begins his account with John already in mid-ministry, baptizing at the Jordan river. He quotes the central theme from John's message and then goes on to quote the prophecy about him in Isaiah.

Matthew's report about John's diet has created uncertainty. Locusts, the insect, were allowed in the Jewish kosher diet. (Leviticus 11:22) But these would have been rare in a wilderness region. On the other hand, locust trees were everywhere, and the fruit they bear is the carob pod. It tastes like chocolate. They would go nicely with honey.

The sweetness of his diet was balanced by the austerity of John's life and message. Nevertheless, his message drew crowds from the whole nation. Clearly, the Holy Spirit was at work in gathering hearts to repentance, in preparation for the King's arrival.

Matthew 3:7-12

John was not impressed just because large crowds came to hear him. He was discriminating about whom he was going to accept and receive. He didn't mind sending some folks away with scornful rebukes.

Luke records more specific details of John's teaching. It mirrored the second half of the Ten Commandments, giving attention to ethical behavior between people. John was saying something that Matthew would report from Jesus later. The way we treat other people is how God sees the way we are treating Him. Merely standing in the right line is not what earns us points. John said God could put rocks into nice lines if that was all He wanted. If people were going to repent, John was telling them there should be some obvious changes in their behavior that gave evidence of it.

The Apostle John, in his Gospel, quotes the Baptist as saying he did not know Jesus was who he was at first. (John 1:31) This is not apparent from Matthew's report. One would expect that Mary and Elizabeth had told their sons the unusual history they shared as cousins. I would expect there would have been family reunions and visits each year when Mary and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem as their children grew up.

Be that as it may, John clearly had no illusions about his own position or importance. He was simply an advance man whose job was to prepare the way for the real attraction.

Matthew 3:13-17

Matthew is the only one to record John's momentary confusion the day Jesus stepped up to be baptized by him. John clearly thought and expected it should be the other way around. His humble attitude was a testimony to his belief in his own preaching. Being sent with the call for the people to repent in no way excused him from needing to do the same thing.

But Jesus was not there to do the work John had been sent to do. Being baptized in water was another step of his identification with us. Jesus never asks us to do something he has not also done. He sets the example and model for us so we can see what God is looking for.

As Jesus came out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended on him. There is no indication of how many people witnessed this. (Some think Jesus and John were virtually alone.) But the anointing echoes the one given to David in front of a small crowd of his brothers. There were few people to hear the initial declaration. A more public awareness would come after a season of testing for David. It would be the same for Jesus.

God made his approval known as John raised Jesus out of the water. His statement of being pleased with Jesus covered the life Jesus had lived to that day. Jesus had shown humility, trust and obedience to his Heavenly Father's will in this initial season of preparation. Now it would be time to show continued humility, trust and obedience in a season of public ministry. But first the promise made by submitting to baptism would be tested. Jesus always pointed out the distinction between what we say and what we do. His baptism was a statement that God was in charge of his life. The question now was did Jesus mean it? Even if things got difficult?

Matthew 4:1-11

The forty days in the wilderness and Satan's temptation of Jesus can be seen as a test of the covenant represented by Jesus' baptism. Different Gospels give the temptations in different orders. But all of the accounts describe the temptations as suggestions that Jesus do something. In every case a self-oriented motive was offered to him. Is Jesus hungry? Does he want attention for his ministry? Does he desire to be given charge of his Father's Kingdom? Satan has a quick and easy plan to enable Jesus to obtain each of these goals.

And, in themselves, each of Satan's suggestions seems to make sense. They are doable. They promise quick results. They would require no further consultation or consideration beyond Jesus' own, personal situation.

The only reason any of the recommendations might be problematic is that each one violates an express statement or commandment of God the Father — the one Jesus has just publicly signaled his intention to obey by getting baptized.

Because Jesus has already spent years reading the recorded will of God for His people, he is able to see at once where each temptation offered by Satan violates that express will. Having made the commitment to do only what his Father wants, even above his own will, it is easy for Jesus to make a quick decision each time. He is not going to change his baptismal promises and decisions just because keeping them has become more difficult. Like the vows taken in marriage, Jesus intends to obey his Father's will for better or worse, until death.

Jesus ends the conversation resolutely. You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only. And so the devil leaves.

That would be victory enough. But Matthew reports more. Behold, angels came...

There is still more. ... and served him. As He had done the day Jesus was baptized by John, God confirmed His attention to, and approval of, Jesus' conduct.

With that season of preparation settled, it was time for Jesus to begin his ministry.

Matthew 4:12-17

Part of the reason that Jesus kept on the move during his life on earth was to avoid giving his enemies a chance to cut his life short before he could accomplish the job he had been sent to do. Matthew now notes the abrupt end to the ministry of John the Baptist. Taking note of this development, Jesus made a move out of Nazareth and closer to the Sea of Galilee, to the waterfront village of Capernaum. Matthew observes how this move clicks with a word that Isaiah seemed to have written almost as an aside. (Isaiah 9:1-2)

The passage in Isaiah occurs just a few lines before the more well-known (today) verses that celebrate the fact a child is born to us. (v. 6 ff) Perhaps Matthew was indirectly drawing attention to this greater prophecy, expecting that Jewish students familiar with the Word of God would find it when they checked the minor prophecy that Matthew pointed to.

Although John was now in jail, his message remained urgent. Matthew describes the formal start of public ministry by Jesus, noting that he picked up the cry John had been sounding to the nation: Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. This was more true than ever since it was now the king himself who was declaring it so. Of course, at first, few recognized Jesus for who he was. Isaiah had foretold that the people would see a great light. But it would be awhile before there were many who would respond by walking in or following that light.

It was time for Jesus to begin fishing. So he headed for the seashore to search for his catch.

Matthew 4:18-25

The two eyewitnesses of Jesus who left us written accounts of his life are Matthew and John the Apostle. John encountered Jesus first (though he wrote last). He was a disciple of John the Baptist and one of the first two eventual disciples who talked with Jesus shortly after he was baptized. Even at the Cana wedding the disciples had not yet begun to gather around Jesus. John notes Cana was the first miracle sign Jesus did and, thus, the first public work he performed even before he had formally called anyone to follow him.

Matthew was a later recruit (he records the moment at chapter 9 verse 9). He had only the second-hand story of the official calling of the first disciples as they were fishing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He says the fishermen immediately put down their nets and followed. This was sudden enough, but easier to understand if Jesus was someone they already knew and had been talking with around Galilee. When Jesus said it was time to go, they were ready.

This order of events foreshadows one that we all share. First, we hear about Jesus, getting to know him and talk with him. Then, for all of us, the moment comes when Jesus interrupts what we are doing and bids us to follow him to a new life.

Verse 4:23 has a mind-boggling summary of what Jesus began to do. His proclamation of the Kingdom certainly would have drawn attention. Some might still have been inclined to argue about the presence of a Kingdom. But how could anyone argue with someone who was "healing every disease and every sickness among the people? The word Matthew uses is elsewhere translated as many as, thoroughly, whatsoever." Matthew is reporting a stunning, undeniable accomplishment and demonstration of authority and power.

It is no wonder that news about this wonder-working new rabbi dominated the conversations that spread all over Judea and the neighboring territories. When the light is turned on, darkness must retreat.

Matthew 5:1-12

So what was the message Jesus began to preach? Matthew informs us with the longest record of a public sermon in the Bible.

It begins with an attractive list of benefits, the nine blessings and the nine rewards they bring. Some of the connected dots here seem reasonable (those who mourn will be comforted). Others are not as intuitive (reproaches on earth bring rewards in Heaven). Why does Jesus lead off with these declarations?

In Eden, the trouble began when Adam and Eve trusted what their own eyes could see, rather than doing what God had told them to do. A call to repent from that behavior is repeated throughout the entire Old Testament.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding.

Isaiah 30:21 When you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way. Walk in it.

Jesus began his formal ministry by repeating John the Baptist's cry to repent. Now, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells us the details Jesus taught of how to live in the Kingdom that he was restoring.

If some of the blessings seem odd or unexpected to us at first, that is a sure sign that we are still depending on our own understanding and our own eyesight to guide our steps. Jesus has to spell out and reestablish God's original rules because we have forgotten them and cannot find them in the darkness. Actually, we were always blind. We have become so accustomed to darkness that we have assumed that condition is normal and everyone must find their own way.

To humbly recognize that we are a danger to ourselves (and others) if left to find our own way is to become poor in spirit. This is the very factor that Jesus says will finally reconnect us to where God wanted us to be all along. Everything else follows this first step.

Matthew 5:13-16

After announcing a number of blessings that those living in God's Kingdom can personally expect, Jesus makes two declarations about our purpose in God's Creation. Both of the metaphors Jesus used say that our purpose is not self-centered, although this is the default orientation to which original sin inclines us.

Notice, too, that Jesus is speaking to a people who have not yet chosen to necessarily submit to him as their king or leader or savior. Even before they have made this decision, Jesus makes a definitive statement about what they are, about who their Creator always intended them to be. They may be poor examples, weak examples, but Jesus tells them this is what they are.

You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world.

Neither salt nor light exists for its own benefit. Their entire value lies in the effect they can have on other things. Already in Jesus' day it was well known that salt forestalled decay in foods. It can also trigger thirst for the water our bodies need. When darkness hinders our ability to see a way safely around dangerous obstacles, light on the path can be a lifesaver. That is how God calls us to serve Him, as His representatives in His work of restoring a fallen world. Paul summarizes it this way: We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (II Corinthians 5:20)

Jesus tells us from the start that we may end up being bad salt with no flavor or effect. We may be poor, weak, hidden lights. We may fail to fulfill the purpose for which God has placed us among other people. Failing like that does make us worthless for the task God has set for us. Nevertheless, at a foundational level, salt and light are what we are. That is what God intended us to be in His Creation, and that is how He wants to use us.

Matthew 5:17-20

Jesus has begun his teaching by listing the personal benefits promised to us, and by identifying our purpose for being placed here among all the other people we encounter during this life on Earth. These two factors cover the essential basics of discipleship: the reward offered to each individual that responds, and the work that we will be called upon to share. Signs like physical healings in this temporal life testify that the larger promises and purposes can be counted on before they are seen. They invite us to walk by faith and not by sight.

Even the blessings Jesus talks about can only be seen in the context of our encounters with others. To mourn, or be gentle, or merciful, is evaluated by contrast with how other people are doing. Nothing Jesus taught suggests that God looks at us in isolation. When we are thinking only of our own circumstances and how we feel about them, we are not seeing our situation as God sees it. This is true whether we think our situation is good or bad.

It would be understandable if the crowds hearing this fresh, young rabbi were to think he was giving them a new start, a fresh page of instructions to fit this Kingdom of God he was talking about. But Jesus was not presenting a new message no matter how unfamiliar it sounded at first. And he moved quickly to address this point.

"Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill."

Jesus made it clear that he was not there to overturn the very law and prophets that had foretold his coming. The prophets had been right then, when they first spoke to Israel. They were still right now. If Jesus was going to change anything that the Jews already honored in God's Word, it was only to tighten the focus and raise the bar even higher. Although he would face numerous arguments from the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus upheld their right to be honored and heard when they upheld God's Word. He just said the people would be expected to live lives that were even more righteous than these teachers.

Matthew 5:21-26

Jesus said that he was not ignoring the already given words of God. He began to use a phrase that demonstrates that he and the people have all heard the Holy Scriptures and are well familiar with them. He repeats this reminder over and over as he begins to unfold his teaching.

To emphasize that he is in no way abandoning the law and prophets, Jesus goes straight to the single most important one of the Ten Commandments for community, one that most extremely affects how people relate to one another. The commandment against murder fits with his declaration about what God does intend our personal relationships to be, i.e., salt and light, a help and blessing to each other.

By starting here, Jesus demonstrates how being salt and light for other people works. He reveals the way murder develops in the heart of man. It grows out of frustration and anger, which leads first to critical speech, and finally to physically striking out to harm and remove the person who is seen as an obstacle to some selfish, personal desire of ours. By turning a light on this sequence of growth, Jesus desires to help us throw salt on these roots so they won't grow at all, bearing a fruit that will ruin us. The teaching does not guarantee the results Jesus wants. As he later illustrates in a parable, good seed needs to be received by good soil in order to bring forth the desired harvest. But at least we are offered the seed, the salt, the light. That's why we are here on earth, to share it with others in hopes of reconciling them with the Heavenly Father. That is our purpose within God's Kingdom.

Jesus extends the implications, casting light on how anger and verbal strife affect not only our relationship with people, but, when that relationship is askew, also affects our relationship with the Heavenly Father. Jesus makes the connection from the one level to the other clear by using the words translated into English as therefore.

He also extends responsibility for taking initiative. If you are fine, but know someone else is holding something against you, you are to take the first step, if necessary, to settle things and restore peace as best you can. This is a further demonstration of being salt and light. You are there to stop God's servants from being spoiled and rendered useless, regardless of whether you are the one initially at fault or not. We are always to be a conduit of healing and restoration whenever we encounter brokenness from sin.

We can see the importance Jesus puts on our getting this. His phrase is variously translated as verily, truly, in truth, most certainly I tell you... The Hebrew word behind all these translations is AMEN! Jesus wants to underline what he is telling us. There is no good alternative available if we ignore his directions here. The salt and light are gifts of mercy and grace intended to save us. And we are charged with sharing those gifts with others. All human lives depend on their being given a chance to respond and turn from the ways that lead to death.

Toward the end of his Gospel, in chapter 25, Matthew records a tremendous prophecy from Jesus. Jesus says that on Judgment Day we will stand before him while he reviews our lives and all the things we have done or left undone. Jesus says he will sum them up in one way:

Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40)

Jesus stresses the importance of how we conduct ourselves and serve one another on earth, because, in that behavior, he sees how we truly think about him in our hearts.

Amen.

Matthew 5:27-32

The second commandment that Jesus zeroes in on follows the one about murder in the original list delivered to Moses. Many victims of broken marriage have said the pain of divorce and sexual infidelities has been worse than the sorrows accompanying the death of a loved one. The pain comes not just from the separation but the ongoing rejection as life otherwise continues.

A high school friend reminded me of this while I was writing this book. I had gotten word that he had died. He had been a local entertainer in our hometown, always ready with a joke. My brother, still living in my hometown, sent me a picture of my friend's gravestone. The date of death my friend had ordered the stone cutters to chisel into it was some twenty years earlier. It was the date that his own divorce had been finalized. Behind all the smiles, through all the years, had been a broken heart for the love that died.

By his teaching on adultery, Jesus was again providing salt and light, warning us against decisions that would bring us pain. He turned the light up so we would see the early danger signs more clearly.

In spite of his unmistakable words, many in the Church have, over the years, resisted the simple meaning of his instruction. And Jesus followed it immediately with another instruction many have found equally difficult to accept.

Jesus is not speaking in parables here. His language is as plain as we could desire. It is so plain it is painful. We are familiar with being told we