Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 301 to 325 of 344 results

301. The Parable of the Tenants

Matthew 21:33-46

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... ). Some writers think that these may refer to the “latter prophets” and reflect the division in the Old Testament between the former and latter prophets. Any correspondence, however, is accidental. Finally the owner sends his son (called a beloved son in the synoptic parallels), with the hope that they will respect his son. However, the tenants reason that if they kill the son they will get his inheritance. So they seized the son, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Some question how property ...

302. The Lord's Supper

Matthew 26:17-30

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... Jews, over a period of time, began to remove the leaven a day early, and this gave rise to the improper designation of Nisan 14 as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. A famous controversy centers around the fact that the Synoptics present the Last Supper as a Passover meal whereas John (18:28; 19:14, 31, 42) places the crucifixion on the day before Passover. Some writers hold that the apparently contradictory passages may be harmonized; others think that John adjusted his material to emphasize ...

303. The Healing of a Boy With an Evil Spirit

Mark 9:14-32

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... or another example of Jesus’ power over demons; it is also intended to instruct Mark’s readers (the church) about their task of continuing the work of Jesus. More specifically, this story immediately follows the mountaintop transfiguration in all three Synoptic accounts, probably because the writers intended an analogy between this incident and the incident in Exodus 32 in which Moses returns from his mountaintop encounter with God to find faithlessness on the part of Israel. That is, the reader is ...

304. The Rich Young Man

Mark 10:17-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

10:17–31 This is perhaps one of the most famous incidents in the ministry of Jesus and is found in all three Synoptics. Each of the three versions of the story contains interesting variations. For example, only Luke (18:18) describes the man as a “ruler,” and only Matthew (19:20) describes him as young. There are other individual features of the three accounts (see notes), and Mark has his share, but all ...

305. The Withered Fig Tree

Mark 11:20-25 (26)

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

11:20–25 This passage completes the story of the barren fig tree begun in 11:12–14 and includes sayings on faith and prayer that appear at various points in the Synoptic Gospels but are grouped together here by Mark. In the Matthew 21:18–22 parallel to the fig tree story, the withering occurs at once, but Mark has spliced into the fig tree incident the condemnation of the temple in 11:15–19 to ensure that the two events should ...

306. Peter Disowns Jesus

Mark 14:66-72

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... While Jesus stands firm before the highest religious authorities in ancient Judaism, Peter crumbles in the face of a mere serving girl (cf. Luke’s version, which mentions first a girl and then a man questioning Peter, 22:56–58). In all three Synoptic versions of the story, Peter denies Jesus three times, underscoring his complete failure. In the Markan and Matthean versions, Peter’s final denial is described as involving strong oaths, and this makes the third denial climactic in the series (cf. 14:71 ...

307. The Birth of Jesus Foretold

Luke 1:26-38

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

The Births of John the Baptist and Jesus Foretold: One of the problems in comparing the Synoptic Gospels is accounting for the distinctive features of the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. On the one hand, Matthew mentions an angelic announcement to Joseph (1:20), the Magi (2:1), a star (2:2), the flight to Egypt (2:13–14), and the slaughter of the infants (2: ...

308. Mary Visits Elizabeth

Luke 1:39-45

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

309. Mary's Song

Luke 1:46-56

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

310. The Shepherds and the Angels

Luke 2:8-20

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... today” it is in connection with the birth of the messianic son of David. The angel calls the newborn infant “Savior,” “Christ,” and “Lord.” These titles call for some discussion. Savior: Although John’s Gospel refers to Jesus as “Savior” (4:42), among the Synoptics only Luke calls Jesus Savior. Mary calls God “my Savior” in the Magnificat (1:47), while here in 2:11 the title is applied to Jesus. The only other Lucan references to Jesus as Savior are in Acts (5:31; 13:23). This title ...

311. Jesus Heals Many

Luke 4:38-44

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... –42, 49–56). Jesus states in Luke 7:22 that “the dead are raised” without any apparent reference other than that of the Nain widow’s son. The word “raised” is in the plural, so presumably other resuscitations are in mind. Outside of Luke (and the Synoptic tradition) there is the dramatic account of the raising of Lazarus in John 11:43–44. (Of course, Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead is a related miracle, but it was not performed by him, nor was it part of his public ministry, so it is ...

312. The Parable of the Sower

Luke 8:1-15

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... is the theme of hearing and obeying the Word of God (see vv. 8, 15, 18, 21). Luke has obtained these materials from Mark. A comparison of the parallel passages in Matt. 13:3–50 and Mark 4:2–34 highlights the different emphases that the three Synoptic evangelists are able to bring out of what is essentially the same material. The Marcan collection begins with the Parable of the Sower and its interpretation (4:2–20), to which is added the Parable of the Lamp (vv. 21–25) and two kingdom parables (vv ...

313. A Lamp On a Stand

Luke 8:16-18

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

314. Jesus' Mother and Brothers

Luke 8:19-21

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

315. Six Woes

Luke 11:37-54

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... Of course, when Luke writes a connection with the “son of Bareis” may have been seen.) In the OT, however, it is the prophet Zechariah who is the “son of Berekiah” (Zech. 1:1). Gundry (in commenting on Matt. 23:35, p. 471) suggests that the Synoptic tradition may have conflated the two Zechariahs. In any case, the two murders, that of Abel and that of Zechariah, are taken from Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible, and from 2 Chronicles, the last book of the Hebrew Bible (whose order differs ...

316. The Rich Ruler

Luke 18:18-30

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... know the commandments: When asked the same question in 10:25 Jesus gives a different answer (see 10:26–28). How to account for the differing ordering of the commandments is not easy. Matthew follows Mark, but Luke reverses murder and adultery; while all three Synoptic Gospels differ from the order found in the OT. 18:21 since I was a boy: The rich ruler claims to have observed the commandments faithfully since he had come of legal age (Fitzmyer, p. 1200). However, the real significance of the laws of the ...

317. Jesus the Lamb of God

John 1:29-34

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (v. 29). The apparent reference to his sacrificial death comes unexpectedly at this point and (except for v. 36) has no known parallel in John the Baptist’s teaching. Yet even in the Synoptics, John’s baptism is said to be “for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3). The Coming One that he proclaims “will clear his threshing floor, gathering the wheat into his barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:12 ...

318. The Next Two Days: The Call of the Disciples

John 1:43-51, John 1:35-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... originated with Jesus. “Amen” was customarily used to conclude a statement or a prayer, but Jesus used it instead as an introduction. The doubled “amen” occurs only (and always) in the fourth Gospel, but appears to have the same meaning as the single “amen” of the Synoptics. On the Son of Man: In the Greek translation of Gen. 28:12, Jacob saw the angels going up and down “on it” (i.e., on the ladder or stairway), but the original Hebrew is ambiguous and some of the rabbis read the text as ...

319. The Claims of Jesus About Himself

John 8:48-59, John 8:31-41, John 8:42-47

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... to be speaking with the voice of God, as if he himself were “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (cf. Exod. 3:6). The use of the “I am” form in relation to Abraham recalls Jesus’ dispute with the Sadducees in the synoptic Gospels, where he defended the belief in a future resurrection (Mark 12:18–27 and parallels). Jesus’ argument on that occasion was that God had said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and that God was “not ...

320. Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

John 11:38-44

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... of the resurrection to new life, whether of Jesus or of those who belong to him. In itself, the raising of Lazarus is not qualitatively different from Jesus’ other miracles of healing. A resuscitation is a kind of “superheating,” and the two instances in the synoptic Gospels in which Jesus raised the dead (i.e., Mark 5:35–43; Luke 7:11–17) are not singled out from his other healings for special attention. It is only as a sign that the raising of Lazarus stands supreme among Jesus’ miracles. But ...

321. The Disciples' Grief Will Turn to Joy

John 16:17-33, John 16:5-16

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... in the sermons of Acts (where it is characteristically future, Acts 10:42; 17:31). Judgment is identified here, as elsewhere in this Gospel (5:29 being the only exception), with Jesus’ victory over Satan, especially in his Passion (12:31; cf. 14:30; in the Synoptics, cf. Mark 3:23–27). Because the Passion is almost upon him, Jesus can claim that the world’s evil ruler now stands judged (v. 11; cf., “now” in 12:31). What is this world that the Counselor and the disciples will confront? Is it the ...

322. The Death of Jesus

John 19:28-37, John 19:17-27, John 19:38-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... (i.e., probably the crossbeam; in all likelihood, Golgotha was a customary place for crucifixions, where large vertical stakes were permanently in place). There is no interest in the Via Dolorosa as such, and therefore none in Simon of Cyrene, who, according to the Synoptics, was at some point conscripted to help Jesus carry the cross (Luke 23:26) or to carry it for him (Mark 15:21; Simon and his sons are evidently known to Mark’s readers). Instead, the action shifts immediately to the place of execution ...

323. The Burial of Jesus

John 19:38-42, John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

324. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

John 20:10-18

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... see: two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot (v. 12). This second experience of Mary, even more than her initial discovery of the open tomb, corresponds to that of the women as a group in the synoptic Gospels (cf. Mark 16:5, “they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side”; Matt. 28:2, “an angel of the Lord came down from heaven”; Luke 24:4, “suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them ...

325. Faith and Deeds

James 2:14-26, James 2:1-13

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... is found in Scripture, for Jesus generally interpreted the Old Testament rather than speaking without any reference to previous revelation. The specific command that James cites, Love your neighbor as yourself, is a favorite of both Jesus (he cites Lev. 19:18 six times in the synoptic Gospels) and the church (Rom. 13:19; Gal. 5:14). It was frequently seen as summing up the law, but James’ reason for citing it may be in Proverbs 14:21: “He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to ...

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