Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

The Beginning of Jesus' Last Week 1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,  Jesus had often reiterated that it was not yet time for him to reveal the true nature of who he was and what his purpose was.  Now is the time.   "If Jesus had not deliberately suppressed the popular enthusiasm over Him and His credentials as Messiah – if Jesus had wanted it, this would have happened long ago and many times ." (Guzik) “ Jesus could not have chosen a more dramatic moment; it was into a city surging with people keyed up with religious expectations that he came .” (Barclay) 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.  Jesus already knew what lay ahead of him and that he would be arrested, mocked, tortured and crucified.  (Matthew 20:19) So this was one of the last teachings he would give, and in this ...

Two Blind Men Receive Sight 29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.  Large crowds continue to follow Jesus with each step of he and his disciples on their way toward Jerusalem, which was about 10 miles from Jericho. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The accounts in Mark and Luke mention only Bartimeus, but that doesn't mean there weren't two blind men.  It could be Bartimeus was the louder or more outspoken of the two.  Though they couldn't see Jesus, they could certainly the hear the commotion about Jesus when he went by.   They called out to Jesus saying, " Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us ."  They not only call Jesus "Lord", but also the "Son of David", a messianic title.  Instead of just saying "heal us", they ask him to have mercy on them.   " The blind men probably echoe...

A Mother’s Request 20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. It is interesting that right after Jesus predicts his death that James and John's mom comes to ask this particular favor of Jesus.  She does come in a very reverent fashion and James and John are with her.  You wonder what they are thinking at this point?  " She “was a regular member of the disciple group who accompanied Jesus (Matthew 27:56), so her involvement in her sons’ ambitious ideas is hardly surprising.” (France) 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” Jesus returns her curious question with a question in return.  He asks her, "What is it you want?"  Jesus does this quite frequently.  And then quite boldly the woman answers that she wants her sons to sit at the seats of power on the right and left of Jesus in t...

  Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time It is clear Jesus knows he is going to die, and has now told his disciples three times.  He wants them to know as well, though they still not get the reason of purpose of his death.   17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them,  This was not a surprise to the disciples. Even if Jesus had not specifically told them, their movement south from Galilee at about the time of the Passover feast made it easy to figure out that Jesus and the disciples would be in Jerusalem for Passover. (Guzik) When it says "going up", Jerusalem was on at a higher elevation than the area around it.  This is why some of the psalms are called "songs of ascent", as the Jewish believers went up to Jerusalem for the annual festivals.  18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death...

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ Today we study the second half of the parable, "the workers in the vineyeard".  We will see what happens when the landowner settles up with each man based on what he promised them.  The foreman was charged with paying the workers.  It was customary for the owner to settle up by the end of that day for all those he employed.   Curiously he begins with the workers who were hired last and had only worked an hour. Jesus will use this detail as one of the main teaching points of this parable. The assumption was he paid each one a denarius, the standard daily wages for a day laborer.  " The men who were hired at the eleventh hour – who worked only about one hour – were obviously elated about being paid first, and being paid for a full day. " (Guzik) 9 “The workers who were hired about five ...

Matthew 20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.  Jesus once again teaches in parables.  He starts with the familiar phrase " the kingdom of heaven is like "  Basically he is saying, " This is what heaven would be like here on earth if God were fully in control ."   " To hire laborers for his vineyard : The landowner went to the marketplace, which was the gathering place for day laborers. A man who wanted to work came there first thing in the morning, carrying his tools, and waited until someone hired him. Early in the morning : This is literally “at dawn,” usually reckoned to be about 6:00 in the morning. (Guzik) 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. " These workers hired at the very beginning of the working day agreed to work for a denarius a day, the common daily wage for a workingman. This was an entirely normal arrangement. " Guz...

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Having riches can be hard in the sense they tend to make one so focused on the pleasures in this life that they forget to look forward to the riches in the next life.  Riches can also breed complacency and self sufficiency to the point where they don't need anyone, even God.  Finally, sometimes riches are sought at the expense of seeking God.   24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Some have tried to interpret this phrase about the camel entering the eye of the needle literally, but to no avail.  Jesus is using hyperbole here, which he often did when he taught. It is easier for a camel ... - This was a proverb in common use among the Jews, and is still common among the Arabians. (Guzik) " To denote that a thing was impossible or exceedi...

The Rich and the Kingdom of God 16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” The young man asks a question that a lot of peoplel ask.  Everybody for the most part wants to receive eternal life, but want to know what they need to do to get it.  The man respectfully calls Jesus "teacher", which means "rabbi". " All three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) tell us this man was rich. Matthew tells us he was young (Matthew 19:22), and Luke tells us he was a ruler. " (Guzik) 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” Jesus gives the man a very surprising reply.  He defines goodness as only to be found in God alone.  Notice he doesn't even attribute this kind of goodness to himself, though we know he is good.  So right away Jesus dispels the young ruler's notion of what goodness is.   To make his poin...

The Little Children and Jesus 13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. With all of the miracles Jesus was doing, it was natural for people to bring little children to him.  It shows their love for their kids and faith in Jesus.  For whatever reason, the disciples rebuked the people. Maybe they thought Jesus did not have time for little children, or that he was more interested in adults.   In Luke's version of the this story he uses the term " infants " for children.  The assumption is that either parents or guardians brought these infants to Jesus.  This is confirmed when the text says he "took them into his arms".   “ It was a Jewish custom to bring a child to the elders on the evening of the Day of Atonement ‘to bless him and pray for him’ (Mishnah Sopherim 18:5).” (France) We also see the practice of laying hands on someone. When the people brought the...

Since divorce is a sensitive topic, as many in the church have gone through painful divorces, I will do my best to stick to the scriptures for helping us to deal with this topic in the church today. I am going to use the commentary of other scholars on this subject amply to give a really good idea of the context, which is super important as we approach this controversial topic in the church today. Note this was what Jesus taught on divorce, not Paul or Peter. 19 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.  "The records of Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on the Galilean ministry of Jesus, and only emphasize His presence in Jerusalem right before His crucifixion and resurrection. Yet it would be a mistake to believe that this trip from Galilee to the region of Judea was unusual for Jesus. The Gospel of John tells us of many previous visits He made to Judea and Jerusalem. (Guzik) 2 Large crowds followed...

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” When Peter asks this question he thinks he is being generous by agreeing to forgive his brother seven times.  " The Rabbis discussed this question, and recommended not more than three times…Peter’s seven times is therefore generous, but Jesus’ reply does away with all limits and calculations.” ( France) 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. The term "seventy-seven times" is generally understood to mean (70x7=490). When Jesus responds he is not being literal.  He is NOT saying that on the 491st time someone sins against you that you should withhold forgiveness. " Jesus answered unexpectedly, saying we are to forgive the repentant an unlimited number of times. Unlimited is surely the idea behind up to seventy times seven. " (Guzik) 23 “Therefore, the kin...

Dealing With Sin in the Church 15 “If your brother or sister sins ( against you ), go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.  There is debate about whether the words " against you " should be included in the text.  It is about 50/50 in the different translations I checked out. NIV takes it out, NSRV leaves it in. I would go with leaving it in, because it seems to make more sense in the context of the whole passage. Note the importance of " just between the two of you ".  We all know how much havoc gossip causes in the church.  Often it goes like this.  "I am going to tell you this but it is just between me and you, you can't tell anyone else okay."   Usually it isn't long before person is texting or calling their friend with this new info.  We usually don't go the person who has sinned against us because we are angry and/or don't want to risk " the relationship ".  Bu...

  The Parable of the Wandering Sheep 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. It is likely that the "little one" referred to is the child Jesus originally took into his arms, but it does have application for any new believer in Christ.  We know that angels have a couple of different purposes.  One, they glorify the Father in heaven.  Second,they are God's messengers to do God's bidding. I.e. We see the angel Gabriel's role in the birth of Jesus.  " Angels are always ministering before him, and ready to execute his will and pleasure; so as the argument is not only drawn from the indecency and undutifulness that such despising must import, but also from the danger of it. Your heavenly Father so loveth these little ones, that he hath given his angels a special charge concerning them; and these angels being continually in the Lord’s presence, are ready both to ...

Causing to Stumble 6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.  Most commentators think "little ones" not only refers to children young in age, but also "little children"  who have humbled themselves to and come to Jesus as a little child.  Note "causes" seems to be intentional.  "I t is a wicked thing to sin, and it is a far greater evil to lead others into sin. But leading one of Jesus’ little ones into sin is far worse, because you then initiate someone intoan instance or a pattern of sin that corrupts whatever innocence they had. " Guzik " The stone, and anyone attached to it, was sure to sink and never come up again. And, this was a big millstone. “Most millstones were hand tools for domestic use…here it is the heavy stone pulled around by a donkey .” (Carson) “I n the deep part of...

18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” As we have seen Jesus loves to say things that challenge the status quo.  He is always re-defining the "haves" and "have nots".  It reminds me of a phrase I heard tossed around a lot growing up, " Children should be seen rather than heard ."  Luke and Mark's gospels tell us that when the disciples were arguing about who would be greatest in the kingdom, Jesus knew their thoughts asked them the question, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven".    In the previous stories in Matthew, Jesus had singled out Peter and said that on his confession he would build the church.  Then Jesus took only three disciples to the mountain, where he was transfigured before the three with Moses and Elijah making an appearance as well.  Perhaps Jesus found this an opportune time to teach them about humility.   2 He called a l ittle child to him...