Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2976 to 3000 of 3852 results

2976. Eschatological Discourse: Being Prepared for Jesus’ Return

Matthew 24:36-51, Matthew 25:1-13

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Jeannine K. Brown

... parables of chapter 25 (which cap all of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew) will highlight the way to be prepared: faithful and merciful living. Interpretive Insights 24:36 nor the Son. This phrase is not included in some Greek manuscripts. Yet it is very likely original to Matthew, since it is easy to understand how early Christian scribes copying Matthew might have found these words troubling (showing Jesus to lack knowledge of the timing of his own return) and omitted them. 24:37 so it will be at the ...

2977. Jesus Is Tried before Pilate and Sentenced to Death

Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 27:11-26

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Jeannine K. Brown

... Christian scribes copying the New Testament to hold Jesus’ name in reverence, it is easy to understand how they might omit that name when used to refer to a criminal. It is less discernible why some scribes might add the name if it was not originally in Matthew. For this reason, it is likely that both prisoners to whom Pilate refers have the name “Jesus,” a quite common Jewish name in the first century.2The choice between the two men named “Jesus” is set before the people: Jesus Barabbas or Jesus ...

2978. The Resurrected Jesus Is Vindicated by God and Given All Authority

Matthew 28:1-10, Matthew 28:11-15, Matthew 28:16-20

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Jeannine K. Brown

... ’ prediction of his resurrection picks up the three passion predictions in 16:21; 17:22–23; 20:17–19, each of which mentions Jesus’ resurrection. 28:7 go quickly and tell his disciples. It would have been noteworthy to Matthew’s original audience that women were the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, given that male testimony was considered preferable to female witness, since women were considered weaker in character and less rational than men and so less reliable (e.g., Josephus, Ant. 4 ...

2979. The Actions of the Triune Godhead Prove Jesus’s Divine Office

Mark 1:9-15

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Grant R. Osborne

... latter view has merit. There are two negative elements (the wilderness, Satan) and two positive elements (the animals, the angels). In the contest Jesus clearly emerges victorious. The picture of the angels caring for the one who is greater than Elijah demonstrates his heavenly origins, already stated by God in 1:11. This can depict worship but more likely indicates serving food to Jesus; in Matthew 4:2 he fasted for the forty days. 1:14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee. Jesus does ...

2980. Jesus Inaugurates the Disciple Band and Conquers the Unclean Spirits

Mark 1:14-20, Mark 1:21-28

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Grant R. Osborne

... Testament (see Luke 4:16–27). Teaching and worship were the primary activities, so when Jesus “began to teach,” he was functioning as a first-century rabbi/teacher (he is called “rabbi” in 9:5; 10:51 [rabbouni]; 11:21; 14:45). Originating within the Pharisaic movement (Hillel, twenty years before Jesus, was an early example), rabbis developed the rules for purity and life known as the oral tradition. Because of his teaching, Jesus was considered to be one of them. Although Matthew’s Gospel is ...

2981. More Parables of the Kingdom

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29, Mark 4:21-25

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Grant R. Osborne

... 4:8, 20 and receive “even more” teaching and understanding (thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold). Those who do not open their hearts to the kingdom truths (like the first three soils in the opening parable) lose even what little understanding and blessing they originally possessed. This would be especially tragic in this Jewish context because those Jews who reject Jesus lose their covenant place in the olive tree (Rom. 11:17). 4:26–27 A man scatters seed . . . whether he sleeps or gets up, the ...

2982. Gentiles Exemplify True Discipleship

Mark 7:31-37, Mark 7:24-30

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Grant R. Osborne

... 41) and his deep emotions as he brings the power of heaven to bear on the man’s plight.6(5) Mark once again (as in 5:41) gives Jesus’s command in Aramaic to heighten the drama of the scene, involving the reader in the original event.7Jesus is the authoritative voice that unlocks heaven, calling the ears to “open.” The effect is immediate, and the cure is effected. 7:36–37 they kept talking about it . . . “He has done everything well.” This is a particularly strong section, perhaps acting as ...

2983. The Gentiles Are Included in God’s Provision

Mark 8:1-13

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Grant R. Osborne

... warns the reader to obediently live in fear lest one miss God’s “Sabbath rest”—eternal rest with God. The solution is to center on the decision of “today” (3:7, 15; 4:7–8) to “enter that rest” (4:11) and hold firmly to “our original conviction” (3:14). 4. Approach God his way, and do not demand what God will not give. In 3:5 the Pharisees are described as having “hardened hearts” because they rejected God’s work in Jesus. Here that rejection means both refusal to accept Jesus’s ...

2984. Realizing the True Nature of Jesus the Christ

Mark 8:27-30

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Grant R. Osborne

... take place as the Suffering Servant. Interpretive Insights 8:27 the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Jesus once more withdraws from Galilee and goes twenty-five miles north into the Gentile region of Caesarea Philippi on the southern foothills of Mount Hermon. Originally called “Panacea,” it contained a famous shrine to the god Pan but had been rebuilt by Herod Philip and renamed after Caesar Augustus and himself. Jesus most likely wants privacy with his disciples as he begins his final journey. 8 ...

2985. Praying in Faith

Mark 11:20-25 (26)

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Grant R. Osborne

... was a natural image for Jesus to use to depict God’s judgment and forthcoming destruction of the temple and the land as well as his judgment upon a faithless people. 11:22 Have faith in God. It is commonly thought that this was not originally a part of this section and was added by Mark. However, the sayings of verses 22–26 constitute a valid response to Peter’s statement in verse 21, and Jesus builds on the authority behind his actions and invites the disciples to participate in that authority ...

2986. The Christian Shema: Loving God and Neighbor

Mark 12:28-34

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Grant R. Osborne

... 52). The first two sections are part of the controversies of 11:27–12:37, with (1) verses 28–34 ending on a note of victory and clarification of Jesus as the ultimate rabbi/teacher of Torah, and (2) verses 35–37, which may originally have been a controversy narrative2and clarify Jesus even more as the royal Messiah and cosmic Lord. Interpretive Insights 12:28 One of the teachers of the law . . . Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. Mark is decidedly different from Matthew. In Matthew ...

2987. Jesus Is Crucified

Mark 15:21-32

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Grant R. Osborne

... because it was the regular site for executions. The current popular site, “Gordon’s Calvary,” is judged by most archaeologists as less likely than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (outside the northern wall of the ancient city) to be the original place of execution.1The one thing we know for certain is that it was on the main road coming into Jerusalem, since the Romans always chose the main thoroughfare so that executions provided a warning for all. 15:23 they offered him wine mixed ...

2988. On the Cross Jesus Is Mocked and Dies

Mark 15:33-41

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Grant R. Osborne

... shouts in agony of soul, not at the pain of his death but at the only time in eternity that he is bereft of his Father’s presence. Mark has the Aramaic form (Eloi), Matthew the Hebrew (Eli). It is impossible (and unimportant) to know which is original. Mark’s emphasis is on the personal anguish, the cry from the heart of Jesus (Aramaic); Matthew stresses the formal quotation of Psalm 22:1 (Hebrew). In Psalm 22 David is the righteous sufferer lamenting his plight; yet in the second half of the psalm he ...

2989. The Resurrection of Jesus and the Promise of Victory

Mark 16:1-20

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Grant R. Osborne

... the third day (8:31; 9:31; 10:34). So the “seeking” women are set in contrast with the reality of the resurrection, for they are seeking a corpse (cf. Luke 24:5). The dramatic tone is strengthened by “the Nazarene,” which emphasizes the humble origin of the risen one and prepares for the Galilee reference; they center on the earthly, not the heavenly. Then the angel speaks of “the crucified one” when the women should be talking about “the risen one.” The mistaken act of the women (coming to ...

2990. The Birth of God’s Son Announced

Luke 1:26-38

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R.T. France

... one to be born (prophetic forerunner as compared with Son of God) and in the scale of the miracle involved (a woman beyond normal childbearing years compared with a virgin without sexual intercourse). The direct and authoritative statement of Jesus’s supernatural origin and of his status as Son of God provides the reader of this Gospel at the outset with essential, privileged information with which to make sense of the story that will follow. Historical and Cultural Background A Jewish girl would normally ...

2991. Mary’s Song—the Magnificat

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

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R.T. France

... ” [2:29–32]). Their familiar Latin names derive from their use as canticles in church worship since the early Christian centuries. They have been valued as expressions of joy in God’s saving work that can be applied far beyond their original context, even though each is clearly designed to reflect the specific circumstances in which they are uttered in Luke’s narrative.2Their language and structure reflect those of the Old Testament psalms, with their poetic parallelism, so that their Semitic style ...

2992. The Boy Jesus in the Temple

Luke 2:41-52

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R.T. France

... speak of Jesus’s “wisdom” and of the “grace (favor) of God,” themes that have been illustrated in the story of 2:41–50. But this time we hear also of Jesus’s good reputation in the village (“favor with . . . man”). His supernatural origin did not make him into the enfant terrible that some later Christian legends made him. We will discover in 4:16–30, however, that there was a limit to his fellow villagers’ approval once the true nature of his mission became clear. Theological Insights ...

2993. John the Baptist

Luke 3:1-20

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R.T. France

... basis before each act of worship, not as a one-time rite of initiation. John’s innovative practice may have been modeled on the baptism that non-Jews were required to undergo in order to become Jewish proselytes (though some argue that this practice originated later); see below on 3:8 for the implications of this background. Interpretive Insights 3:2 the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. There was only one high priest at a time, but Annas, whom the Roman governor deposed in AD 15, continued to ...

2994. Jesus’s Manifesto

Luke 4:14-30

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R.T. France

... ears. Interpretive Insights 4:15 He was teaching in their synagogues. It is questionable whether at this time most local communities, especially one as small as Nazareth, would have a synagogue building as such (though Capernaum certainly did [7:5]). The term meant originally a “gathering,” which may have been in a suitable large building or in the open. Such gatherings on the Sabbath were the natural place for a man with a religious message to find an audience. 4:16 He stood up to read. Worship ...

2995. Power over Illness and Death

Luke 7:11-17, Luke 7:1-10

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R.T. France

... . Israel is where the Messiah should expect to find faith, but this non-Jew puts Israelite faith to shame. Luke is gradually building up the theme of Jesus as a “light to the Gentiles” (2:32), and here is a foretaste of a church in which racial origin will cease to be the defining factor. 7:12 a dead person was being carried out. Cemeteries were located outside the towns. Burial normally took place within twenty-four hours of death, and it was an event for the whole community. 7:13 his heart went ...

2996. “Who Is This?”

Luke 9:10-17, Luke 9:1-9

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R.T. France

... . Mark 6:31–34 makes it clear that this was a deliberate attempt to find respite from the crowds, but that popular insistence thwarted the planned retreat. Bethsaida, which was outside Galilee proper, had recently been developed into a sizable fishing town (the original home of Peter and Andrew [John 1:44]), but the location of this incident in a “remote place” (9:12) suggests that they went to a rural area within its territory rather than to the town itself. 9:12 Send the crowd away. This ...

2997. Discipleship and Mission

Luke 10:1-24, Luke 9:57-62

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R.T. France

... , compare 14:26. 10:1 The Lord appointed seventy-two others. They are “others” compared with both the Twelve (9:1–6) and with the advance guard sent in 9:52. Textual evidence is divided between “seventy-two” and “seventy” as the original text, but the rounder number is more likely to have been a “correction” for the surprisingly precise “seventy-two.” There is no obvious symbolic reason for this number. Genesis 10 probably lists seventy nations in the world (seventy-two in the Greek ...

2998. Divided Loyalties

Luke 12:1-12, Luke 12:13-21

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R.T. France

... the Holy Spirit”), who have cause to fear. For the true disciple, death is not something to be afraid of. Teaching the Text In 12:1–12 we find seven distinct sayings (12:1, 2–3, 4–5, 6–7, 8–9, 10, 11–12), which may originally have been independent before Luke brought them together here. Any or all of these can be a suitable unit for teaching, but it is probably fairer to Luke to treat them together and aim to draw out some of the aspects of judgment outlined in “Theological Insights” above ...

2999. Interpreting the Times

Luke 12:54-59, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:35-48

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R.T. France

... the basis of God’s judgment. Does this suggest a distinction between those who have heard and rejected the gospel and those who have never heard it? The phrase “I have come to . . .” (12:49; cf. 5:32; 19:10) implies a mission that originated elsewhere, and it has been used to argue that the Synoptic Gospels also support the idea, familiar from the Gospel of John, of Jesus’s preincarnate divine existence.1 Teaching the Text There are three main sections in this passage, which may be taught either ...

3000. Table Talk

Luke 14:1-14

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R.T. France

... 14]). Many manuscripts here have “donkey” instead of “son” (the Greek words are not dissimilar), producing a more natural pairing. But the very unexpectedness of “son” (surely no one would leave their son in a well until sunset!) suggests that it may be the original text. The argument is, as in the two previous incidents, that human welfare takes priority over Sabbath rules. 14:7 picked the places of honor at the table. In 20:46 Jesus will single this out as a typical trait of scribes: they ...

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