The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Jesus Strengthens His Disciples’ Resolve:   Mt.11:2 – 13:58

        ‘Why do people reject Jesus?  Was ministry meant to be this hard?’  I asked these questions after being a Christian for a few years.  My parents had not received Jesus.  Other friends of mine were resistant.  A good friend who led me to Jesus had even decided to stop being a Christian. 

        What did Jesus have to teach me through this?  A great deal.  It was similar to what he taught his disciples in Matthew 11:2 – 13:58.    Jesus takes four major actions in this section.  Some people accept him.  Others reject him.  In each case, Jesus interprets the responses of people and helps us to understand especially why people reject him.  He intends for his disciples to not lose heart and not to develop overconfidence.  Yet he does want us to press forward with him in his mission.

        First, in Mt.11:2 – 24, Jesus says that people have not lacked evidence.  John the Baptist hears about the stir that Jesus’ disciples had caused in their short term missions trip to Israel (Mt.10).  He sends his own disciples to Jesus and asks Jesus questions about his identity.  Jesus points to both the Old Testament hopes for Messiah (Isaiah 35 and 61) and the miracles that he does to inaugurate those hopes.  One or the other would not be enough.  But when you put them together – both the historically anchored prophetic hopes and Jesus’ miracles – they make a powerful case.

        Second, in Mt.11:25 – 12:21, Jesus indicates that some people do not come to him because they want spiritual power over other people.  The Pharisees wanted to maintain Jewish traditions, even if it meant people going hungry on the Sabbath and enduring crippling physical problems.  The Jewish priests drew their identity and role from the Jerusalem Temple by claiming that the Temple revealed the God of Israel and by controlling the religious traffic and trade there.  But Jesus claims to reveal the Father, and therefore he is greater than the Temple in Jerusalem.  He calls himself the Lord of the Sabbath, the one who completes humanity.  But those in power and invested in certain cultural traditions viewed Jesus as a threat to their social order.

        Third, in Mt.12:22 – 45, Jesus argues that people are locked in stubborn self-contradiction when they reject him.  He demonstrates his power over Beelzebul and the demons by healing a demon possessed man.  But people who don’t believe him interpret him in strange ways.  They say Jesus is allied with the devil himself, and just manufacturing these exorcisms.  Then they ask for another sign, as if they are willing to believe another miracle.  In reality they aren’t.  No one can satisfy their criteria because they have inconsistent judgments. 

        Fourth, in Mt.12:46 – 13:58, Jesus says that people don’t receive his word because they love titillation for its own sake, and/or wealth and comfort, and they are unwilling to receive others with true hospitality.  Jesus makes clear that people’s responses to his word are the critical factor.  Some people are good soil and receive his word in an honest and good heart (13:8, 23).  But others are akin to the road (13:4, 19), rocky soil (13:5 – 6, 20 – 21), or thorny soil (13:7, 22).  Others reject Jesus’ kingdom because they don’t want to use their resources to welcome unwanted guests (like birds of the field drawn to one’s garden) and view it all as unclean (like a woman ‘hiding’ yeast in flour, an act which will of course be revealed).

        Jesus’ disciples of all ages need to be aware of these factors.  If people responded so badly to Jesus back then, when he was physically present, how much more will they respond badly to him now?  Ministry is neither simple nor easy.  Yet Jesus calls us to have just as much resolve when things are hard as when things are going well.  A person who receives his word in an honest and good heart will still produce fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold.