Sermon and Worship Resources

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Matthew 18:15-20

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

Humility and Forgiveness: We come now to the fourth major discourse of Matthew. It ends with the usual formula in 19:1–2 (cf. 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 26:1). Chapter 18 reads very much like an early church manual and deals with subjects such as humility (vv. 1–4), responsibility (vv. 5–7), self-renunciation (vv. 8–10), individual care (vv. 11–14), discipline (vv. 15–20), fellowship (vv. 19–20), and forg...

2. A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman

Matthew 9:18-26

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

9:18–19 As Jesus continues to teach, a Jewish ruler comes to him in behalf of his daughter who has just died. Kneeling before Jesus, he declares that if Jesus will but come and touch her she will be restored to life. This ruler of the synagogue (as Mark and Luke both identify him) was an important person in the Jewish community. To seek the help of one who would be considered a dangerous heretic b...

3. A Mother's Request

Matthew 20:20-28

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

The Last Who Are First: It is important to note the close tie between chapter 20 and the verse that precedes it. The saying about the first who will be last and the last who will be first (19:30) is repeated at the end of the first section of chapter 20 (v. 16). This Semitic device is called inclusio, and because the order is inverted it is also an example of chiasmus (for other examples compare 7...

4. A Prophet Without Honor

Matthew 13:53-58

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

Parables of Jesus: In chapter 13 we come for the first time to Jesus’ favorite method of teaching, the parable. The seven parables recorded in this chapter form Jesus’ third discourse as arranged by Matthew, There are in the first three Gospels about sixty separate parables. In the LXX the Greek parabolē almost always translates the Hebrew māšāl, which denotes a wide variety of picturesque forms o...

5. A Tree and Its Fruit

Matthew 7:15-23

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

7:15–20 For several hundred years before the time of Christ it was generally believed that prophecy had ceased. The period between the two Testaments is sometimes called the silent years. With John the Baptist the prophetic voice returned, and in early Christianity prophecy flourished. To the crowd that gathered on the Day of Pentecost, Peter explained that the phenomenon of tongues was the fulfil...

6. A Warning Against Hypocrisy

Matthew 23:1-39

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

Hypocrisy Denounced: The last of Matthew’s five major discourses begins with chapter 23 and runs through chapter 25 (see the standard closing formula at 26:1). It differs from the others somewhat in that there is a break and change of scene between chapters 23 and 24. The first section (chap. 23) is directed to a wider audience (cf. vv. 1, 13, 37); in the second (chaps. 24–25) Jesus speaks to his ...

7. Adultery

Matthew 5:27-30

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Ethics and the Law: Matthew’s Gospel has a didactic purpose. Special emphasis is given to the message of Jesus. One of the distinct features of Matthew’s Gospel is that the teaching of Jesus is collected into five sections. The Sermon on the Mount (chaps. 5–7) is the first of these blocks. The others are Instructions to the Twelve (chap. 10), Parables of the Kingdom (c...

8. An Eye for an Eye

Matthew 5:38-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

9. Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7:7-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

7:7–11 Earlier in the sermon (6:5–15) Matthew brought together a portion of Jesus’ teaching on the subject of prayer. Now he expands it by stressing how important it is for believers to be persistent in prayer. The present imperatives, “keep on asking,” “keep on seeking,” and “keep on knocking” (Williams) indicate that prayer is not a semi-passive ritual in which we occasionally share our concerns...

10. Before the Sanhedrin

Matthew 26:57-68

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

The Final Evening: The Passion narrative is the account of the suffering and death of Jesus. It normally includes all the events beginning with the garden scene in Gethsemane and finishing with the burial. The centrality of the cross in early Christian preaching is reflected in the major emphasis given to it in each of the four Gospels. Matthew 26 records the events of Wednesday and Thursday of th...

11. Clean and Unclean

Matthew 15:1-20

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

15:1–2 Knowledge of Jesus and his ministry had by this time spread throughout Palestine. Scribes and Pharisees came all the way from Jerusalem to question him about his activities. The scribes were Jewish scholars who copied the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament and consequently became the professional interpreters of Scripture. The Pharisees were a religious order, primarily laymen, who devo...

12. Divorce

Matthew 19:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

19:1–6 When Jesus finished his discourse (as recorded in chap. 18), he left Galilee for the last time and went to the area of Judea that lay east of the Jordan. Great crowds followed him there and he healed them. Some Pharisees came to him to test him (note the same use of peirazō in Matt. 22:18, 35) by asking him if the law allowed a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason. The Pharisee...

13. Divorce

Matthew 5:31-32

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

14. Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

6:25–34 Since serving God rules out serving money, the logical conclusion is that followers of Christ should not be anxiously concerned about food and clothing. God takes care of the birds who neither plant nor gather a harvest into barns. He also dresses the flowers of the field in garments more beautiful than Solomon with all his wealth could secure. Children of the kingdom are certainly of grea...

15. Fasting

Matthew 6:16-18

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

6:16–18 A third highly esteemed religious duty among the Jewish people was fasting. In addition to the fast on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:31 is interpreted in this way), there were fasts connected with mourning (e.g., 1 Sam. 31:13), with times of distress (e.g., Ps. 35:13), with preparation for a theophany (e.g., Deut. 9:9), and with other times of special significance. Fasting was thought to s...

16. Gethsemane

Matthew 26:36-46

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

17. Giving to the Needy

Matthew 6:1-4

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

6:1 The three most prominent religious obligations of Jewish piety were almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. The first eighteen verses of chapter 6 deal with these acts of religious devotion. In each case there is a wrong way and a right way. The followers of Jesus are to avoid all ostentatious display and to quietly fulfill the obligations in an unobtrusive manner. In carrying out religious duties th...

18. God's Chosen Servant

Matthew 12:15-21

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

Opposition Mounts: In chapter 12 Matthew relates a number of incidents that reveal the basis for Pharisaic opposition to Jesus and his ministry. Jesus vindicates his disciples’ plucking grain on the Sabbath (vv. 1–8), restores a paralyzed hand on the Sabbath (vv. 9–14), moves away when he hears of a plot against him (vv. 15–21), refutes the Pharisees’ claim that he drives out demons by the power o...

19. Jesus Again Predicts His Death

Matthew 20:17-19

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

20. Jesus and Beelzebub

Matthew 12:22-37

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

21. Jesus and John the Baptist

Matthew 11:1-19

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

11:1–6 Verse 1 of chapter 11 marks the transition to a new section in Matthew’s Gospel. Once again we find the same formula that was used at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (kai egeneto hote etelesen ho Iēsous; cf. 7:28). Up to this point the public ministry of Jesus has met with success. Now the atmosphere changes, and hostility begins to manifest itself. Having finished giving instructions to...

22. Jesus Anointed at Bethany

Matthew 26:6-13

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

23. Jesus Arrested

Matthew 26:47-56

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

24. Jesus at the Temple

Matthew 21:12-17

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

21:12–13 The temple in Jerusalem consisted of an inner sanctuary (called the naos) surrounded by a series of courtyards. In descending order they were the Court of the Priests, Israelites, Women, and Gentiles. The entire temple area was designated as the hieron. It was in the outer court that the temple authorities arranged booths (called the Bazaars of Annas and belonging to the family of the hig...

25. Jesus Before Pilate

Matthew 27:11-26

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

27:11–14 Standing before the governor (in the New Testament hēgemōn is used of Roman legates, procurators, and proconsuls) Jesus is asked if he is the king of the Jews. The title reflects a gentile perspective: Jews would refer to themselves as Israel. As in 26:25 and 64, Jesus answers sy legeis (lit., “You said [it]”). The ambiguity of the answer has been interpreted to mean that Jesus is in fact...

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