Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Community Discourse: Care for Others in the Kingdom

Matthew 18:1-9, Matthew 18:10-14, Matthew 18:15-20

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus confronts the disciples about their preoccupation with status and teaches that the kingdom community is to be not status focused but other focused, with Jesus in their midst, caring for the vulnerable and addressing sin that might harm the community. Understanding the Text Chapter 18 is the fourth of five major teaching discourses in Matthew (chaps. 5–7, 10, 13, 18, 24–25) and is...

2. Community Discourse: Lavish Forgiveness in the Kingdom

Matthew 18:21-35

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus stresses that the kingdom community is characterized by unlimited forgiveness based on God’s prior and lavish forgiveness, warning those who are not persistent in offering forgiveness that they will not receive it in the end. Understanding the Text In the second half of the Community Discourse (chap. 18) Jesus highlights the necessity of forgiving others in the Christian communit...

3. Eschatological Discourse: Being Faithful and Merciful

Matthew 25:14-30, Matthew 25:31-46

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus tells two more parables that demonstrate how his followers should be ready for his return: they should pursue covenant faithfulness and show mercy to the most vulnerable, who are hungry, poor, sick, and imprisoned. Understanding the Text Chapter 24 concludes and chapter 25 begins with a call to be prepared, since there will be no precursor signs for Jesus’ reappearing (24:36–51)....

4. Eschatological Discourse: Being Prepared for Jesus’ Return

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

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus predicts his return (parousia), which will usher in the end of the age and the final judgment, and warns that, because the time of his return is unexpected, his followers should be always ready for his return. Understanding the Text In the latter part of chapter 24 and the first parable in chapter 25, Jesus’ teachings turn from the signs portending the temple’s imminent destructi...

5. Eschatological Discourse: Prediction of the Temple’s Destruction

Matthew 24:1-35

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus predicts the temple’s destruction—a vindication of his own message and mission as the Son of Man—and warns his followers not to confuse the signs of its destruction with the event itself. Understanding the Text This passage begins Matthew’s fifth and final discourse containing Jesus’ teaching (chaps. 24–25) and is directed to the disciples. The focus of 24:1–35 is Jesus’ predicti...

6. Herod and Hometown Misunderstand Jesus’ Identity

Matthew 13:53-58, Matthew 14:1-12

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Although Jesus’ miraculous powers are acknowledged, this leads not to universal faith but rather to unbelief (in his hometown) and confusion over his identity (by Herod). Understanding the Text Matthew concludes the third discourse of Jesus’ teaching with the transition formula (13:53) that he also uses at 7:28–29; 11:1; 19:1; 26:1. In two pericopes (13:54–58; 14:1–12), Matthew narrate...

7. Jesus Adopted by Joseph

Matthew 1:18-25

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew confirms that Jesus belongs to Joseph’s genealogy by adoption, showing Jesus to be the Davidic Messiah and the embodiment of God’s presence to save. Understanding the Text Matthew concludes the genealogy from Abraham to Joseph by connecting Jesus’ birth to Mary, not to Joseph (1:16). In 1:18–25 Matthew “solves” this conundrum by emphasizing that Joseph names Jesus (1:21, 25), the...

8. Jesus Announces His Impending Suffering and Death

Matthew 16:21-28

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Though they have just confessed Jesus as the Messiah, the disciples struggle to understand his revelation that he will suffer, die, and be raised, and that they are to follow in his cruciform footsteps. Understanding the Text This passage begins a new section, signaled by the formula “From that time on Jesus began to [explain]” (16:21 [as in 4:17]), narrating Jesus’ journey to Jerusale...

9. Jesus as God’s Wisdom Is a Hidden Reality

Matthew 11:20-24, Matthew 11:25-30

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Rejection of Jesus as God’s wisdom both deserves judgment and fits a divine pattern in which truth is hidden from the wise and revealed to unexpected ones. Understanding the Text In this passage Matthew’s Jesus critiques various Galilean towns for failing to respond to his message of repentance (see 4:17). As in 11:2–5, the miracles that he has done are directly linked to this message ...

10. Jesus as Isaianic Messiah and Wisdom Embodied

Matthew 11:1-19

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew demonstrates Jesus to be the Messiah, who signals the kingdom’s arrival by his acts of healing and preaching of good news and confounds human expectations by embodying the wisdom of God. Understanding the Text This passage begins a two-chapter account of various responses to who Jesus is and to his kingdom message among the Jewish people of Galilee. Beginning with John the Baptis...

11. Jesus as the Isaianic Servant of the Lord

Matthew 12:15-21

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew shows Jesus’ withdrawal from his antagonists and his admonition to secrecy to be signs of his identity as the Isaianic Servant of the Lord, who will proclaim justice to all the nations. Understanding the Text Following the Sabbath debates between the Pharisees and Jesus, Matthew narrates that Jesus withdraws from controversy and turns to the crowd, which needs and receives his ...

12. Jesus as True King of Israel

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:1-12

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew contrasts Jesus’ identity as the Messiah—the true King who enacts Israel’s return from exile—with Rome’s client-king, Herod, affirming Jesus’ identity through Old Testament testimony, God’s protection, and worship of Jesus by the Gentile magi. Understanding the Text Matthew 2 narrates the political threat that Jesus’ birth creates for Herod and the ensuing need for Jesus’ family ...

13. Jesus’ Authority to Perform Miracles

Matthew 8:18-22, Matthew 8:23-27, Matthew 8:28-34, Matthew 9:1-8

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew encourages his readers to trust and follow Jesus wholeheartedly, as he shows Jesus’ power and authority to be greater than sin, the demonic, and even nature. Understanding the Text Matthew continues in this passage to emphasize themes of Jesus’ authority—here over sin (9:1–8), the demonic (8:28–34), and nature (8:23–27)—and faith as the appropriate discipleship response to Jesu...

14. Jesus’ Baptism by John

Matthew 3:1-12, Matthew 3:13-17

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: In introducing John the Baptist and narrating Jesus’ baptism, Matthew announces the restoration of God’s kingdom through Jesus’ own covenant faithfulness for all those who will repent. Understanding the Text Having narrated Jesus’ birth, Matthew fast-forwards to the events leading up to Jesus’ public ministry, including Jesus’ baptism by John (chap. 3). Matthew indicates that John the ...

15. Jesus Begins His Ministry to Israel

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus announces the arrival of God’s kingdom by preaching and healing and calls disciples to follow in his mission. Understanding the Text This passage begins a new section of Matthew’s story of Jesus in which Jesus begins to minister to the people of Israel in the area of Galilee (as signaled by the narrative formula at 4:17; 16:21). The inaugural message of Jesus—“Repent, for the kin...

16. Jesus’ Compassion and Authority to Do the Miraculous

Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 14:22-36

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew shows Jesus to be worthy of trust as the Son of God, as he acts in compassion and authority to heal the sick, feed hungry crowds, and even walk on the sea. Understanding the Text Matthew narrates Jesus healing the sick, feeding the five thousand, and walking on the water to demonstrate Jesus’ authority over sickness and even the natural elements. Through these miracles Matthew ...

17. Jesus’ Compassion and Authority to Feed and Heal

Matthew 15:21-28, Matthew 15:29-39

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew demonstrates Jesus’ compassion and authority in a miraculous feeding and in healing that extends even to a Gentile, indicating that trust is the right response to Jesus. Understanding the Text For a third time in Matthew, Jesus withdraws from controversy (15:21; see also 12:15; 14:13) to minister with healing to the crowds (15:22, 30–31). Given that Matthew focuses almost exclu...

18. Jesus Demonstrates Messianic Authority over the Temple

Matthew 21:12-17, Matthew 21:18-22

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ authority as Messiah over the temple and his critique of its leadership as well as the importance of unwavering faith in following Jesus. Understanding the Text In Matthew the account of Jesus in the temple immediately follows his entry into Jerusalem. Both stories highlight Jesus’ identity and authority as Israel’s Messiah, with the acclamation of Jesus as th...

19. Jesus Demonstrates Status Inversion in the Kingdom

Matthew 19:1-12, Matthew 19:13-15, Matthew 19:16-30

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew illustrates the inversion of status in God’s kingdom by narrating Jesus’ protection of women in his teaching on divorce, his valuing of children, and his stringent call to a rich man who would follow him. Understanding the Text Following Jesus’ fourth major teaching block (chap. 18), Matthew provides his usual formula to transition to a narrative section (19:1; also 7:28–29; 11...

20. Jesus Eats with Sinners and Heals the Sick

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:14-17, Matthew 9:18-26, Matthew 9:27-34

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew encourages his readers to trust and follow Jesus, whose healing power and mercy toward sinners signal the arrival of God’s kingdom. Understanding the Text The final section of chapters 8–9 continues to accent themes of Jesus’ authority to heal—with three healing accounts in this section—and faith as the appropriate response (9:22, 29). The call narrative of the tax collector Ma...

21. Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a Peaceable and Humble King

Matthew 20:29-34, Matthew 21:1-11

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: After mercifully healing two blind men, Jesus enters Jerusalem as a peaceable and humble king in concert with Zechariah’s vision of Israel’s king who comes to bring salvation. Understanding the Text This passage, which narrates Jesus healing two blind men outside Jericho (20:29–34) and thereafter entering Jerusalem in kingly fashion (21:1–11), introduces a new section of Matthew focuse...

22. Jesus Is Anointed and Celebrates the Passover with His Disciples

Matthew 26:1-5, Matthew 26:6-13, Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 26:17-30

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew contrasts the Jewish leaders and Judas, who conspire against Jesus, and even the disciples, who continue to lack understanding about Jesus’ impending death, with an unnamed woman who anoints Jesus for his burial, pointing toward his missional death to bring covenant renewal through the forgiveness of sins. Understanding the Text Chapters 26–28 narrate the passion and resurrection...

23. Jesus Is God’s Faithful Son in Gethsemane and at His Arrest and Trial

Matthew 26:31-35, Matthew 26:36-46, Matthew 26:47-56, Matthew 26:57-68, Matthew 26:69-75

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Although Jesus predicts and witnesses the disciples’ desertion and prays for God to change his fate, he as the Messiah, the Son of God, proves himself faithful to God’s will even to the point of suffering and death. Understanding the Text Matthew’s passion story continues with Jesus’ prediction of the disciples’ desertion and Peter’s denial (26:31–35), Jesus’ time of prayer in Gethsema...

24. Jesus Is the Example of Service for His Followers

Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 20:20-28

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus’ disciples are exhorted to renounce their concern for status, following the example of Jesus himself, who willingly suffers and dies to ransom people. Understanding the Text This passage narrates a final teaching opportunity for Jesus’ disciples before arriving in Jerusalem (20:29–21:11). The passage begins with a third passion prediction by Jesus (20:17–19; cf. 16:21; 17:22–23) ...

25. Jesus Is Tried before Pilate and Sentenced to Death

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

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Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Although Jesus is innocent of all charges and is truly the king of the Jews, he is delivered to be crucified by Pilate, the Roman governor, at the instigation of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, aided by Judas. Understanding the Text Following Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin, the chief priests and elders bring him to Pilate, the governor (27:1–2). Matthew narrates the self-inflict...

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