Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2776 to 2800 of 3160 results

Matthew 21:12-17

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... sanctuary than the outer court. It was there that the commercialism was rampant—hardly a house of prayer for the non-Jew. The second statement is from Jeremiah 7:11. Beare comments on the setting in Jeremiah, which tells of worshipers who committed all sorts of evil deeds (“steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,” v. 9) yet came to stand before God in his house. To them God says, “Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?” For Jeremiah “the ‘bandits’ were ...

2777. The Authority of Jesus Questioned

Matthew 21:23-27

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

21:23–27 The chief priests and the elders came to Jesus as he was teaching in the temple (probably in one of the porticoes that lined the Court of the Gentiles) and asked by what sort (Gk. poios) of authority he was doing these things (e.g., riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, cleansing the temple, etc.), and Who gave you this authority? The chief priests and elders represented the Sanhedrin, whose authority would not be questioned in Israel. Jesus countered by asking them a question ...

2778. The Parable of the Tenants

Matthew 21:33-46

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... plural) in verses 34 and 36, whereas Mark 12:2, 4, and Luke 20:10, 11, have “a servant” or “another servant.” A third trip is recorded by Mark and Luke on which “another” (Mark) or “still a third” (Luke) is sent. Differences of this sort are the “natural consequence of oral tradition” (Tasker, p. 205) and in no way affect the meaning of the parable. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third (v. 35). All three forms of violence were common in Jesus ...

2779. The Lord's Supper

Matthew 26:17-30

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... e., “I am not the one, Lord, am I?). The betrayer is one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with Jesus. In Eastern cultures, the sharing of a meal established a bond of intimate fellowship. To betray that relationship would be treachery of the worst sort. The bowl (Gk. tryblion) was a deep dish containing the broth into which the guests dipped pieces of bread or meat. The seriousness of the betrayal is seen in Jesus’ statement that although the Son of Man will go as foretold in Scripture, woe to that ...

2780. The Image of Gold and the Fiery Furnace

Daniel 3:1-30

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... which we get “symphony.” 3:12 The expression sim teʿem in v. 10 means “to give a command,” or “to make a decree,” but here in v. 12, sim teʿem with ʿal means “to pay respect to” or “to pay attention to.” Is there some sort of wordplay here? Both expressions occur within the speech of the Chaldeans. The king makes a decree or gives a judgment (sim teʿem) that has an impact on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In response, they refuse to pay him a favorable judgment or respect (sim te ...

2781. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... would pray toward Jerusalem (1 Kgs. 8:35). In the LXX, Daniel deliberately opens his windows, which may be understood as an act of defiance. However, the MT simply notes that his windows have been opened (6:10). It is possible that this indicates the sort of windows that could not be closed: holes cut in the wall (Montgomery, Daniel, p. 274). In that case, he is neither trying to flaunt his spirituality nor trying to conceal it; he is merely following his usual custom. Of course this is also a necessary ...

2782. Daniel’s Prayer

Daniel 9:1-19

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... addition to being worthy of praise, God is faithful, for he keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands (9:4). This verse is almost identical to Nehemiah 1:5, and the second part calls to mind Deuteronomy 7:9. A covenant is a sort of contract, treaty, or agreement, such as the ones God made with Noah (Gen. 9:1–17), Abraham (Gen. 15; 17), Moses (Exod. 20–35), and David (2 Sam. 7; Pss. 89:1–37; 132). God is still a covenant-keeping God, for he made a new covenant in the ...

2783. The Healing of a Demon-possessed Man

Mark 5:1-20

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... as ministering to people who are in various ways religiously “unclean.” The man is likely a Gentile, and he lived among the tombs; both circumstances would make him unclean. In the next story, Jesus is touched by a woman suffering from some sort of menstrual disorder that rendered her unclean according to Jewish purity laws. Finally, Jesus raises—and touches—a dead girl. Dead bodies also were unclean and rendered whoever touched them unclean. In all these cases of the “unclean,” Jesus is shown ...

2784. John the Baptist Beheaded

Mark 6:14-29

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... in 8:27–28) about who he really is. Now of course all three opinions are wrong in Mark’s view; yet he cites them to show, not only that people were blind to Jesus’ true significance, but also that the people did recognize in Jesus some sort of special significance like that of the OT prophets. The notion that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead (v. 14) may have been meant literally or figuratively, but in either case what is indicated is that Jesus seemed to be proclaiming the same message ...

2785. The Healing of a Boy With an Evil Spirit

Mark 9:14-32

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... . The opposition of the teachers of the law (unique to Mark) is likened to the rebellion of the Israelites in Moses’ time, but the disciples (again, with whom the readers are expected to identify themselves) are shown to be in danger of the same sort of spiritual blindness, which appears in their inability to deal with the problem at hand. The language used in Jesus’ rebuke in 9:19 (see note), O unbelieving generation, is intentionally similar to the terms used to describe the unbelieving Pharisees in 8 ...

2786. Paying Taxes to Caesar

Mark 12:13-17

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... the tax gatherers who worked for the Romans and their client rulers (the Herods), as well as other Jews, particularly from the upper classes, who (as do most wealthy people) benefited from a stable and strong government. The Herodians (v. 13) probably represent this sort of Jew who had a stake in the ability of the Romans to govern Palestine successfully. Other Jews chafed under the Roman yoke, not only because of the common feelings of national pride or because of the heavy taxation required to operate the ...

2787. Marriage at the Resurrection

Mark 12:18-27

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... resurrection life, with some holding a view like Jesus’ and some expecting that the resurrected dead would have their earthly relationships restored to them. Jesus’ saying in verse 25 does not mean that the resurrected dead will be spirits without some sort of body, but that in their resurrected body they will not renew earthly relationships like marriage and begetting of children. Second, in likening the resurrected to the angels, Jesus may have deliberately chosen an analogy designed both to gall the ...

2788. Whose Son is the Christ?

Mark 12:35-40

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... to the law of God that they were supposed to represent was obscured by their pompous attitude, and the honor they received become more important than the honor due to God. The rabbinic material deriving from the scribal tradition also contains warnings against the sort of abuse Jesus speaks of here, indicating that Jesus’ condemnation was well deserved by some (see note). The reference to the scribe robbing a widow of her home (v. 40) probably has to do with a scribe sponging off devout people who felt an ...

2789. Gethsemane

Mark 14:32-42

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... is that they pray for strength to go through the coming ordeal without failing. The word fall into here can be translated “enter” and resembles the wording of the Lord’s Prayer in Matt. 6:13; Luke 11:4, which includes the petition to be spared the sort of ordeal that might cause one’s faith to collapse, probably referring to persecution. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak: The allusion is to Ps. 51:12, and the meaning has nothing to do with the human spirit versus human flesh. Rather, the ...

2790. The Death of Jesus

Mark 15:33-41

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... while longer, but simply for cruel sport. The wine was offered to Jesus by means of a sponge on the end of a stick probably because Jesus’ cross held him up too high to be reached easily. 15:37 The phrase a loud cry implies a strong cry, not the sort of faint gasp expected from a man who had endured such torture as Jesus; and the reader is probably intended to see the cry as a hint of the victory of the cross. Cf. Luke 23:46 and John 19:30, which give varying versions of this last cry. 15 ...

2791. Jesus Questioned About Fasting

Luke 5:33-39

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... the wrong kind of people, he also had adopted wrong habits. The major difference between the outlook of the Pharisees and the approach taken by Jesus was that whereas the former were separatistic and exclusivistic, Jesus called people of every sort to himself. Jesus was not interested in isolating himself from sinners, but was interested in bringing change to the lives of sinners. Thus, the difference in religious philosophy between Jesus and the Pharisees was fundamental, making conflict inevitable. 5:33 ...

2792. The Parable of the Sower

Luke 8:1-15

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... ). Jesus’ parables could have been interpreted by Mark (or the tradition before him) as analogous to Isaiah’s strange message (Isa. 6:9, an instance of a riddle or parable). (In Hebrew the word māšāl could mean riddle, proverb, parable, or any sort of enigmatic or paradoxical saying; see Raymond E. Brown, “Parables and Allegory Reconsidered,” NovT 5 [1962], pp. 36–45.) Just as Isaiah’s parabolic word was to produce obduracy (for that was its purpose, as is attested in Isa. 6:10: “Make the ...

2793. The Transfiguration

Luke 9:28-36

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

9:28–36 Several features of the transfiguration have led commentators to conclude that this passage has some sort of typological connection to Exodus 24 and 33–34, passages which describe Moses’ ascent up the mount where he meets God and then descends with a shining face. The following specific parallels between Mark’s account (9:2–8) and Exodus are evident: (1) the reference to “six days” (Mark ...

2794. The Parable of the Great Banquet

Luke 14:15-24

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... of God? To those surrounding Jesus at table the answer probably seemed clear enough. Those virtually guaranteed admission would be those in whose lives God’s blessing seemed most apparent: one’s friends, relatives and rich neighbors (v. 12 above), the very sort of people with whom anyone would most wish to associate. However, Jesus’ Parable of the Great Banquet (vv. 16–24) suggests that those who enter the kingdom and enjoy the great banquet may be more like those usually not invited to feasts ...

2795. More Than Conquerors

Romans 8:28-39

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... is verified in the person of Jesus Christ who died, was raised to life, and is now at the right hand of God, and is interceding for us (v. 34). It is easy to miss the significance of God is for us, seeing in it some sort of vague benevolence, analogous perhaps to a congressperson who is “for” his or her constituents, though none of them may be known personally. Its meaning is appreciated only when one realizes the extent to which God went to demonstrate its truth. Recounting the stubbornness of humanity ...

2796. To the Church in Pergamum

Revelation 2:12-17

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... the believers who remain true to my name, even though they evidently were pressured, perhaps by the leaders of the imperial cult, to renounce your faith in me. The language used by John suggests an active resistance to such adverse pressure, of the sort exemplified by Antipas … who was put to death in your city. The contrast drawn between Antipas, who like Jesus is called faithful witness (1:5), and the city, where Satan lives, is notable. The contrast envisions the location of a conflict between God ...

2797. To the Church in Thyatira

Revelation 2:18-29

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... teaching. The harsh, polemical rhetoric used by John to characterize Jezebel’s teaching reflects his own intolerance against such forms of religious anarchy (cf. 1 John 2:18–19). John’s reference to sexual immorality denotes theological infidelity of the sort that misleads my servants. There is little evidence in the passage to aid the interpreter in reconstructing who Jezebel was and what she actually taught; however, the use of common catch-phrases to describe this movement and those used to ...

2798. The Beast out of the Earth

Revelation 13:11-18

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... place within the anti-Christian kingdom, including temporal, material well-being. At the same time, however, the “mark of the beast” brands one as an opponent of God’s kingdom and as destined for eternal judgment. Not only does this sort of dualism, a feature of apocalypticism, make starkly clear the trade-offs one is faced with in everyday existence, it underscores the implicit relationship between daily choices made and allegiances held. Actual choices reflect real commitments; and decisions made in ...

2799. Restitution for Wrongs

Numbers 5:5-10

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

... of the ritual ordeal: If guilty, the woman will have bitter pain from the water, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away. If not guilty, the woman will be cleared and able to have children. 5:29–31 These verses contain a sort of postscript, the law for a husband’s jealousy, which summarizes the section in characteristic Priestly style. The husband is declared innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin. Verses 11–31 will seem odd to modern readers for ...

2800. The Test for an Unfaithful Wife

Numbers 5:11-31

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

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