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Lesson 77 Ch23
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Matthew’s Gospel is a Jewish account containing a number of Jewish cultural expressions that were inherently understood by Jews in that era but can be confusing to gentiles in the modern Church that is so many centuries removed. Taught by Tom Bradford.

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THE BOOK OF MATTHEW

Lesson 77, Chapter 23 Continued 2

Because I had the great privilege of being raised in a Christian household from my earliest age, my family and I spent every Sunday in Church. Child Psychologists and most parents (especially moms) can verify that even when a child isn't paying the best attention, it is quite astounding how much they hear and store away, often subconsciously. During Church services, even while I was coloring some masterpiece upon the Church program, using a hymnal for a suitable table, as the Preacher spoke I, too, absorbed things that just became part of my understanding of Christianity without even knowing it was occurring. During that era when the Church still talked about sin, one of those things that took root within me was: a sin, is a sin, is a sin. Any sin, no matter how trivial, is an offense to God and so (in that respect) there is little difference between stealthily sliding a nickel off my father's dresser to buy a candy bar than there is in brazen armed robbery of a bank. And while this thought probably kept me from not escalating my childhood criminal career into pilfering dimes, as it turns out learning God's Torah reveals that this nearly unconscious belief I had of all sins being equal in God's eyes, wasn't entirely true.

Because the New Testament assumes that we already have the knowledge and wisdom of the Torah as our foundation for understanding, then when we read about Yeshua's many encounters with His fellow Jews and His numerous confrontations with the Jewish religious authorities it is within the principles of the Torah and that broad Jewish cultural context of understanding that we must comprehend His words. So as we continue today in Matthew chapter 23 and Jesus is pronouncing 7 "woes" upon the Synagogue leadership (Pharisees) we'll do it by adding in more instruction about what His words would have meant in the cultural background of His 1st century Jewish listeners… who knew of nothing but the instruction of the Old Testament (since that is all that existed in Christ's era)… because that is exactly the intended meaning that we are to absorb and act upon even though we must adapt that to apply in the 21st century.

Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 23.

RE-READ MATTHEW CHAPTER 23:23 – end

This begins what is called the 4th woe; it is the 4th of 7. As a reminder, in our last meeting I likened the meaning of "woe" to the word "plague", while not intending to suggest that the meaning of those 2 words are the same, but rather only to paint a better word picture in our minds. The Baal Shem Tov Hebrew version of Matthew begins with Oy lachem, which has a meaning that sort of combines the words pain and a rarely used Hebrew word meaning war. It is more than a strong indictment of the Pharisee leadership, it is a severe divine judgment pronounced upon them that I think was meant to call to mind the plagues of judgment that God sent upon Egypt many centuries earlier. I also imagine that on the Remez level (the "hint" level) of interpretation the Jewish leaders and the listening crowds were not meant to miss the connection that just as the plagues were delivered upon Egypt to affect the leadership (the Pharaoh) in such a way as to cause the release of God's people from their burdensome bondage that they might go and properly worship Him, so it is that Christ is pronouncing a "plague" upon the Pharisee leadership that they might release God's people from their burdensome Traditions that were keeping them away from proper worship of Him. And, therefore in a certain sense, I think Yeshua is implying a similarity between what the Pharisee leadership were doing to the Jewish people, to what Pharaoh did to all Israel.

Yeshua says that the Scribes and the Pharisees pay their tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. While the requirement to tithe upon the produce of the land is contained in the Law of Moses, the reality is that mint, dill, and cumin are spices and were not classified as "food" or "produce of the field" per se. Rather it had become another Tradition that even the spices that grew (some of them wildly and not through cultivation, although some were expensive to purchase) were to be tithed upon. Since tithing is a subject that I very infrequently talk about, we'll take just a few moments to do so. And I must say in advance, it is perhaps the topic that gets some Christians most visibly perturbed because we so badly don't want to hear it or obey it.

Most produce of the field was tithed at the rate of one-tenth.

CJB Leviticus 27:30 "'All the tenth given from the land, whether from planted seed or fruit from trees, belongs to ADONAI; it is holy to ADONAI.

However, such giving and gifts (korban in Hebrew) were not as straightforward as this statement in Leviticus 27 makes it seem. There were different rates for different kinds of produce (or animals) and for different times; but never less than one-tenth. We won't get into that today, but if you are really interested you can learn about it in the TorahClass.com lessons on the Book of Leviticus. Over time as Hebrew society evolved and fewer people were rural farmers, and more were city dwelling merchants and tradesmen, and as they scattered at far distances from the Temple that made regular sacrifices and offerings impossible, then the standards and means of "tithing" also evolved. Thus a general standard of 10% of either the actual harvest or the value of the harvest or of whatever one's labors and business produced was to be given to the Temple. The concept of money (coins) as being "frozen labor" that could be given instead of produce or animals was created (a very good way to look at it, to my estimation). Although some of that tithe became diverted to the Synagogue, it was not in any official way that is known nor that the Temple would have sanctioned. Thus tithing is a word that combines the idea of biblically mandated giving with the rate of giving at a minimum of 10%; it was the standard in Yeshua's time, and it has carried over to Christianity from as far back as it can be traced.  

So, yes, you and I have a biblically mandated (an Old and New Testament mandated) instruction to give at least 10% of our increase. But to whom or to what do we give? That question is not so easily (or honestly) answered. The mandate was certainly not, in Bible times, meant to be taken as "any religious organization". And, yet, because there is no Temple to give to today (nor has there been for nearly 2000 years), and because the body of God worshippers has grown exponentially, is present in the farthest reaches of our planet, and the organizations that were created to lead God's people… both Church and Synagogue… have evolved, then while the concept of tithing lives on, the exact application of it has had to evolve as well. To my way of thinking, tithing 10% of our increase (our incomes) to a specific or to various Believing organizations properly represents the spirit of the Law of tithing.

I have spoken much to you over the years about the Synagogue in ancient times. One of the several things I said was that the Synagogue can nowhere be found in the Bible as a God-ordained religious organization. Rather, biblically the Temple and its activities were not just the center but the only authorized place of Israelite religious leadership, ritual, and communal meeting. The Synagogue concept was born out of necessity; the conditions necessitating it essentially caused by human sin. It was created by the Jews that were hauled off to Babylon. The Temple had been destroyed, the Priesthood disbanded, and so the Jews had all means of proper worship and ritual… and especially of sacrificing to atone for their sins… ended. This was a direct and intended punishment from God, and He used a foreign nation and foreign king to deliver this judgment. Thus we can read in Daniel that Daniel instituted the practice of praying 3 times per day towards Jerusalem.

Then we read of the disheartened exiles meeting together. And out of this the Synagogue system was eventually born; it was an alternative means of having communal worship and prayer. Yet, it was an entirely manmade organization, not ruled by Levite Priests but instead by laymen… in Christ's day it was Pharisees and Scribes. It has fascinated me that by the time we get to the New Testament era, the Synagogue had become the unquestioned center of Jewish communal worship, prayer, and learning. Although no sacrificing occurred at the Synagogue, it played a prominent role in everyday Jewish life… religious and otherwise. Yeshua was raised under the Synagogue system because that was at the core of Jewish culture. Never do we find any New Testament writer nor Yeshua Himself ever speaking against the Synagogue system as something that ought not to exist (even though the Temple was back and operating under Levite Priests), nor was the Synagogue portrayed as being against God's will.

I tell you this to say that we must look upon the Church similarly. The Church, as an organized institution, is not God-mandated. In fact, it is not an off-shoot of the God-ordained Temple but rather is modeled after the manmade Synagogue system. Biblically speaking the Body of Christ is people… not buildings nor even organizations or institutions. Thus some Christians say that when going strictly by the letter of the biblical Law, they have no obligation to give to the Church because the Church as defined today is merely an institutional organization that has infrastructure that the leadership seeks to be supported. I would agree; except that Jesus taught us to look beyond the letter of the Law and to the spirit of it. So what I am about to say to you is my opinion and interpretation, however I have no doubts about it. We are to support the organizations that serve the Body of Christ. That might mean the local fellowship you attend, or an online one that you follow, or some good Believers' based organizations that do God's work on earth. I also think that first and foremost, if you regularly attend a local fellowship, that is your first and most important point of tithing because as you must be aware, it is quite costly to operate a fellowship organization and structure in modern times… especially in the West. Choosing not to tithe at all is absolutely a sin; tithing is not optional.

The most often used Bible quote for this (because it is simple, unequivocal and straightforward) comes from the Prophet Malachi.

CJB Malachi 3:7-10 7 Since the days of your forefathers you have turned from my laws and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "But you ask, 'In respect to what are we supposed to return?' 8 Can a person rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How have we robbed you?' In tenths and voluntary contributions. 9 A curse is on you, on your whole nation, because you rob me. 10 Bring the whole tenth into the storehouse, so that there will be food in my house, and put me to the test," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "See if I won't open for you the floodgates of heaven and pour out for you a blessing far beyond your needs. 

Because I'm not in the habit of sugar-coating things, here's the bottom line: if you want to try to find a way around this command… be my guest. Many of you do. Oh, I have to pay for my child's college. Oh, I have to get my car fixed. Oh, but I really need a vacation. Do I pay on the gross or net of my paycheck? Since I don't know, I'll put it off. I'll start tithing when I get a better paying job. I can't tell you the same dozen or so reasons (thought to be good justifications) that I hear so often for not tithing. The duty to tithe is not because I tell you, but because God tells you. And, the consequences for not tithing are yours to bear; and you are promised by God that you will bear them. But it also negatively affects the body and fellowship you are part of and the many things that could (and should) have been done in Christ's name to show His love and mercy to so many who need it. There; that's your tithing sermon for this year.

So, after acknowledging that the Pharisees are punctilious about tithing, even to the point of tithing on spices they acquire to flavor their food, Jesus then throws down the hammer. He says but you have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah… namely…justice, mercy, and trust. Other versions say "weightier matters of the Law". And then they say justice, mercy, and faith (or faithfulness), and others replace mercy with kindness. What are the weightier matters of the Law? Does that mean the harder and more difficult things? And what law is being referred to? Jewish law (Halakhah) or the Law of Moses?

So should they NOT have tithed mint, dill and cumin and instead done these weightier things? No, says Christ, they indeed should have done them without neglecting the others. That is, they should have done justice, mercy, and trust in addition to tithing. It's not an either/or scenario… it's both.

But wait: I thought tithing on spices was Jewish Tradition while performing justice, mercy and trust was Torah based? The reality is that Christ is not telling them that their Tradition on this matter is a bad thing. It's only that when they point to that as their demonstration of righteousness, instead of doing justice, mercy, and trust, that's where the problem comes in to play. I have little doubt that Yeshua is drawing upon Hosea for His indictment against them.

CJB Hosea 6:4-7 4 "Efrayim, what should I do to you? Y'hudah, what should I do to you? For your 'faithful love' is like a morning cloud, like dew that disappears quickly. 5 This is why I have cut them to pieces by the prophets, slaughtered them with the words from my mouth- the judgment on you shines out like light. 6 For what I desire is mercy, not sacrifices, knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7 "But they, just like men, have broken the covenant, they have been faithless in dealing with me. 

Look: Tradition is fine so far it goes… Church or Synagogue. But Tradition can never be holy because it is man contrived and not God-ordained. Traditions can be enjoyable, or beneficial, and perfectly fine with God when they operate within the spirit of the Law of Moses. It's when Tradition, doctrine, and custom twist, turn, or effectively replace God's commandments that the trouble begins. And that is what Yeshua is accusing the Pharisees of.

So what did the idea of "weightier things" mean to Jesus and to His listeners? Such a debate was not new to the Hebrew faith, and continued well beyond His time. In the Targum Herios Beracot, we read: "In the words of the Law there are some things light, and some things heavy, or weighty; but those weighty things they omitted, and regarded those there light. Yes, they had no foundation in the law at all; and no wonder since in the place last cited, they say that the words of the Scribes are all of them weighty, and the sayings of the Elders are weightier than the words of the Prophets". 

While this quote is from much later Judaism, nonetheless this is precisely what Yeshua was damning the Pharisees and Scribes for doing. They made their own rules and Traditions more weighty, in general, than even the words of the biblical Prophets. Further, they omitted what was truly weighty for their own thoughts on matters. So another way of saying it, within the context that both Jesus and this Rabbi meant it, is that biblical Law had been overridden by the edicts of other Rabbis. It was reprehensible and it was grievous sin. This is why Yeshua issued a woe (a painful and severe judgment) against these leaders.

As to that weightier matter of justice, mercy and faithfulness or trust, a good place to start is the Prophet Micah who mirrors much of the sentiments expressed in Malachi.

CJB Micah 6:6-8 6 "With what can I come before ADONAI to bow down before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings? with calves in their first year? 7 Would ADONAI take delight in thousands of rams with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Could I give my firstborn to pay for my crimes, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8 Human being, you have already been told what is good, what ADONAI demands of you- no more than to act justly, love grace and walk in purity with your God. 

Part of the reason I wanted to use this passage is to show you how grace and love was always part of what God expects of mankind… not just the Israelites… but it is also something that institutional Christianity has for centuries claimed was a new innovation that only began with Jesus. That is, the old God… Yehoveh… was all about blood shed, retribution, and anger. That, my friends, is an 1800-year-old slander that is without biblical basis and it was devised to put a wall of separation between Jews and Christians. Also notice how Micah says that all God demands of humanity (Hebrew and gentile) is to act justly, love grace, and walk in purity. So, by the logic applied to a famous and most-quoted section of the New Testament, then here we have Micah abolishing the Law in favor of justice, love, grace and walking in purity with God.

I'm going to read to you a lengthy section of the Book of Acts that will immediately be familiar to you, but I want you to consider it in light of what Yeshua has said, and what Micah has said, what are the weightier matters of the Law, and what God wants of us all.

CJB Acts 15:7-20 7 After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, "Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he did to us; 9 that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their heart by trust. 10 So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear? 11 No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered- and it's the same with them." 12 Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 Ya'akov broke the silence to reply. "Brothers," he said, "hear what I have to say. 14 Shim'on has told in detail what God did when he first began to show his concern for taking from among the Goyim a people to bear his name. 15 And the words of the Prophets are in complete harmony with this for it is written, 16 '"After this, I will return; and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David. I will rebuild its ruins, I will restore it, 17 so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, that is, all the Goyim who have been called by my name," 18 says ADONAI, who is doing these things.' All this has been known for ages. 19 "Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood. 

Can you see the similarity of thought and principle here? Just as Micah was in no way abolishing the Law for either Hebrew or gentile, neither was Christ's brother James when he spoke of the things that Gentile Believers ought to do and not do. Rather, both scenarios and both men were instructing in the weightier matters of the Law that had to be observed, and pushing the lighter matters to the background but only as a relative measurement: not doing away with the one while replacing it with the other. What did Christ say about that?

CJB Matthew 23:23 …These are the things you should have attended to- without neglecting the others!

This is the mindset with which we are to approach obeying God:  obey the Torah, obey the Prophets, and obey God's Son, Yeshua. Not one or the other: all. Yet the reality is that we'll always be faced with choices in this world when we must put the weightier ahead of the lighter without neglecting either. Nor should we pretend that the weightier has replaced the lighter. Justice, mercy, and faithfulness are relationship terms. They apply to our relationships with God and with people. But how do we know what justice is? What mercy is? What faithfulness is… in the God's eyes? We study, first, the Torah and the Prophets to find out.

Yeshua sums up in verse 24 what the Synagogue leaders' condition is in His estimation. They are blind guides. They think they are leading others but in fact they don't know where they're going. They strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

While this is an illustration of a tiny creature versus a large creature, there's also other elements at play here. First, both are creatures deemed by the Law of Moses as prohibited to eat (not kosher). Second, when the text speaks of straining out a gnat, it is envisioning the common process of straining wine through a fine cloth prior to it being put into containers. The straining was to remove things like grape seeds, dirt, debris and of course insects before it was put into containers. The mental picture Yeshua painted was as though a camel had fallen into the wine vat, but the Pharisees didn't bother to strain it out… they went right ahead and swallowed it. Now obviously this was meant as metaphor and it was simply another way of Christ demonstrating the weightier versus lighter principle, and not getting the two mixed up, to get His point across. Verse 25 moves us to woe #5.

Once again Jesus says that the Pharisees pay attention to the less important while neglecting the more important. More metaphor is used: Christ isn't talking about actual cups and plates. This isn't about performing proper ritual law (that Jesus perfectly upholds). Rather this is about external ritual cleanness that ignores the more important internal state of a person. This continues Yeshua's theme of hypocrisy; the intentional outward appearance of righteousness while inside being full of wickedness and deceit. Just so we don't wander off and begin to apply willy-nilly what Jesus said, this is entirely aimed at leadership. It's not that hypocrisy doesn't occur at every level of human social order; but this entire chapter is pointedly directed to leadership because of the effect leaders in a position of power and authority have. They can ruin not only themselves, but many others as well.

While politics seems to be never ending talk over coffee or a dinner table, as important as politics are to our earthly well-being our spiritual well-being is far more important and often directly tied to what we see and learn from our spiritual leaders. Not because spiritual leaders have the power to determine our condition before God, but they can influence it for the better or worse.  They can convince us of lies to believe in that can trap us in the very spiritual bondage that Christ came to free us from. Political beliefs can nowhere be found in Christ's teachings; only spiritual beliefs. Bottom line: be very cautious whom you choose to learn your spiritual beliefs from. Should it turn out that they prove themselves clean on the outside but wicked on the inside, run from them and render everything you ever heard from them as suspect. Bibles are cheap and easily available in the West and almost everywhere else. All you have to do is to invest your time to read the truth for yourself. Measure your chosen teachers against God's Word and if doesn't line up… find another teacher.

The same point is more or less made in the 6th woe that begins verse 27. Yeshua employs the metaphor of whitewashed tombs to describe the false pretense of the Synagogue leadership. I cannot say it often enough: Jesus is in no way indicting all Scribes and Pharisees as a class of leaders: only the ones before Him and the ones like them. Nor is He indicting Israel. This has nothing to do with Israel or even the common Jews in general. Likely the "whitewashed" is referring to plaster being added to some tombs as an ornamental feature… to make them more beautiful. During this period the Jews for some reason became quite interested in creating beautiful tombs for the bones of the ancient Prophets, long dead and gone, as monuments (could it have been out of a sense of collective guilt?) In fact, one of the most outstanding examples of this lay below the City of David, in Jerusalem: Zechariah's Tomb, which can be visited to this day. It is known to have been built during this period of time and very probably was already built by Yeshua's day. I point this out because of what we'll encounter after a few more verses. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D., when the Priesthood was again disbanded, and a few years later the Rabbis became the new and undisputed leaders of the Hebrew faith (when Judaism could finally be said to be the name of the Jewish religion), revered Rabbis often were placed into expensive and ornate burial chambers upon their death. Sometimes the ornamentation can be shocking to see.

In a fascinating place in Israel called Beit She'arim are some tombs housing the remains of wealthy and influential Rabbis that can be visited today; I've taken several tour groups there. Much can be learned from the visit. Indeed plaster (whitewash) was used on the tomb walls, and the individual sepulchers many of the residents lay in were amazingly adorned and made out of expensive materials. In fact some were ornamented with recognizable pagan symbols that reveals the direction Judaism had already begun to drift. So the metaphor Yeshua was using of whitewashed (white plastered) tombs, was not hyperbole; it was something that was already happening.  

Woes 4, 5 and 6 are sort of summed up and their meaning made abundantly clear in case there was any doubt. Yeshua says:

CJB Matthew 23:28 28 Likewise, you appear to people from the outside to be good and honest, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and far from Torah. 

So to be certain that the Pharisees and the crowd didn't confuse His metaphors in place of the actual subjects of His ire, there can be no doubt remaining. It is instructional to see this verse in other Bible versions. The KJV says that the Pharisees are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. The NAB says they are full of hypocrisy and evil doing. The word that all of these versions is translating is anomia: it means without law. Lawless. Certainly a person that is lawless must also be full of iniquity, but by saying iniquity or evil doing it circumvents the literal meaning: not following the Law of Moses. Or, close enough is the CJB of saying "far from Torah". Lawless or lawlessness is the most literal translation, and when used in the Bible it always meant only one thing: disobeying the Law of Moses. Iniquity or evil doing leaves open the question of the cause of the iniquity or evil doing, or what the standard is for determining it. I'll leave it to you to decide the motives of Christian translators that chose to obscure the meaning of this rather straightforward Greek word that is attempting to communicate a well understood Hebrew thought and concept.

Then in verse 29 is woe #7. Yeshua says that it was their fathers who killed those Prophets for whom they had recently been making these fine tombs (which was but another act of hypocrisy). Of course the Pharisees say that had they been alive at that time, they never would have participated in such a thing. Right. In fact in simply denying what they would have willingly done, it is only a further evidence of the true evil nature of their inward selves. Hypocrisy can be hidden for a long time; but not forever.

"Go ahead and finish what your fathers started". Yeshua is saying He knows full well how this is all going to end. Their fathers (meaning the ancestors of the Pharisees) are to be blamed for killing the Prophets, something which Jesus is likening Himself to. And while the term "killing" is used in the English Bible versions, in reality these Prophets weren't killed, they were murdered. I must say, this feels a little like Christ is baiting these Jewish religious leaders into murdering Him.

This brings up a thorny issue that Cranfield and Davies at least touch on, and I think it is worthwhile for us to confront. There is a heavy implication, here, that God stores up His wrath and then at some breaking point He lets fly with devastating results. This has led to a doctrine within Christianity that more or less says that God's wrath in the End Times will only come when God has become sufficiently fed-up with Israel's disobedience and faithlessness towards Him. Interestingly, Judaism teaches that God's wrath will only fall when He has exhausted His patience with the Gentile world. Now, while it seems to be biblically true that God will use some measure of evil within both Israel and the world in general to decide when to finally act in full divine vengeance, our current passage remains as not about Israel (or gentiles) but about the Jewish religious leaders. Thus Christ says:

CJB Matthew 23:33 33 "You snakes! Sons of snakes! How can you escape being condemned to Gei-Hinnom? 

Wow. I sure don't want to be on the wrong side of matters when standing before Yeshua on Judgment Day. Those words alone are enough to melt us where we stand. So what can only be implied here is that these leaders are already judged; there is no escape or hope for them. Enough is enough. God's had it with them. They are hereby judged as irredeemable. Yes, dear friends, there does come a time when God can make a decision to let us rot in our sins without the possibility of atonement. And the instant of our death isn't necessarily that moment when all is decided.  I don't know where that line is or when the moment comes, and it is not a one size fits all matter. So my advice is to not come near enough to that line to have to worry about it. Or to try to time when you finally give up your wicked ways and the sins you enjoy best, to follow Jesus (like the way some try to time the stock market). Trust Christ now! Obey the Father now! And the rest will work out fine.

Being condemned to Gei-Hinnom was a Hebrew expression. It meant to be judged to the garbage dump where the fires never stopped burning in order to destroy the disgusting things that were in it. It was considered as about the worst thing that could happen to someone upon death. I'd say around half of the English translations that I checked used the word Hell instead of Gei-Hinnom; the word Hell is not present. Hell is a Christian concept of what this statement is thought to represent. Sometimes while we will find the Greek word Hades used in the New Testament (Hades is the Greek underworld of the dead), it isn't used here. Gehenna is the word used so again Yeshua is not only using the vernacular of the day, He is also using something that was present and known in His day. He was, after all, in Jerusalem at the moment, where Gei-Hinnom (the Valley of Hinnom) and the famous (and smelly) always-burning garbage dump in it was located.

We've now completed the "woes" section of Matthew 23. This chapter has been all about the theological disputes Yeshua is having with the Synagogue authorities; or more accurately, about Him arguing against Jewish Halakhah that these authorities foisted upon the people; something that had gone much too far. What long ago began as reasonable customs and good traditions borne out of trying to be fully obedient to the Law of Moses had become an Article of Corrections and Additions formulated by the Jewish Sages and religious leaders. Naturally this was not how the Halakhah was characterized by the leaders, rather it was said to merely be a proper interpretation of God's Word. And, by the way, much of their interpretation was quite correct.

The Traditions Yeshua was arguing against would become even more formalized as the centuries passed, and those who formulated those Traditions would soon gain absolute control over the entire Hebrew religious system; it remains so to this day.

We'll finish up chapter 23 next time.

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    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 8, Chapter 3 Continued 2 As we re-open Matthew chapter 3, we left off with verse 7, the mention of Sadducees and Pharisees coming to John ostensibly to be immersed by him, but in reality it was to investigate this strange man who seemed to…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 9, Chapter 4 As we work our way through the Gospel of Matthew and discover so many important details buried in the text, and also discover those present in Christian traditions and just as importantly in the ancient Jewish traditions, we are regularly going to…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 10, Chapter 4 Continued The Early Church Father Chrysostom said this about the temptations of Christ: "The devil begins with the temptation to indulge the belly. By this same means he cast out the first man, and by this means many are still cast down."  In…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 11, Chapters 4 and 5 Our previous lesson in Matthew chapter 4 left off at a time when Christ was gathering His first disciples. Teachers and Holy Men gathering disciples was nothing new; in fact John's Gospel says that Andrew was John the Baptist's disciple…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 12, Chapter 5 The Sermon on the Mount will be our topic for the next few weeks as it takes up Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. I think I can say without much objection that the Sermon on the Mount represents the most consequential…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 13, Chapter 5 Continued The richness and depth of instruction contained in the Sermon on the Mount is so breathtaking and yet foundational to the life of a Believer in the Father and in Messiah Yeshua, that after much time studying and researching it, I…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 14, Chapter 5 Continued 2 We have now completed studying 7 of the Beatitudes. It is usually said that there are 8 of them, but some Bible commentators say there are 9, and others say 10. My position is that the separating away of the…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 15, Chapter 5 Continued 3 I want to begin by acknowledging that we've spent the better part of 3 lessons covering only the first 16 verses of Matthew chapter 5; I know this is a very slow pace. I'm afraid that it is not likely…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 16, Chapter 5 Continued 4 Today we continue our careful and deliberate study in Matthew chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount. Last week we spent our entire time together on the pivotal verses 17 – 20 because these form the basis and the backstop…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 17, Chapter 5 Continued 5 We've been in Matthew chapter 5 long enough that a reminder of the setting and background for the Sermon on the Mount is in order.  The setting is the Galilee. It is the serene rural agricultural and shepherding center of…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 18, Chapter 5 Conclusion Despite the happy fiction that in Yeshua's day the Jewish people practiced a religion that was rather pure and Torah driven, in reality what they practiced was a religion based mostly on Tradition. Naturally the Jews were not a monolithic culture;…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 19, Chapter 6 Our duty, and our hope, as followers of the Messiah Yeshua is to place our feet into His footprints. The Sermon on the Mount is showing us the way. Matthew recognizes how crucial Yeshua's speech is and so takes 3 full chapters…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 20, Chapter 6 Continued We'll continue in Matthew chapter 6 directing our focus upon the Lord's Prayer of verses 9 – 13. Leading up to this prayer example that Christ presented to those listening to His Sermon on the Mount, He gave His listeners a…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 21, Chapter 6 Continued 2 As we continue today in the Lord's Prayer, we'll begin at verse 13. Verses 11, 12, and 13 are sometimes called the "we petitions". This is because of the use of the plural "us" to begin each of these verses.…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 22, Chapter 6 Continued 3 We ended last week by discussing Matthew 6 verse 19. Beginning with this verse and on into the first part of chapter 7 Yeshua deals with an array of matters that in modern vocabulary we would probably label as "social…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 23, Chapter 7 We have now completed 2 of the 3 chapters that Matthew devoted to Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount. Every now and then it is probably profitable to remind you that Matthew did not write in chapters; ending one and beginning another. Rather…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 24, Chapter 7 Continued As we continue in Matthew chapter 7, we will review what we covered in the prior lesson. Let's begin by opening our Bibles and reading the opening verses.  RE-READ MATTHEW 7:1 – 6 Around a century ago, Thomas Walter Manson, a…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 25, Chapter 7 Continued 2 Matthew chapter 7 concludes the Sermon on the Mount that began in chapter 5. I'm hoping that by this point a better understanding is being gained about the context and intent of Yeshua's long speech; a context that has been…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 26, Chapter 7 Continued 3 In our previous lesson in Matthew chapter 7, Christ continues His Sermon on the Mount by making this unnerving statement in verses 22 and 23. CJB Matthew 7:22-23 22 On that Day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord! Didn't we…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 27, Chapter 7 and 8 We'll conclude Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount today, which we have spent 17 lessons studying because of its incomparable value, and we'll also open the door into Matthew chapter 8. But first let's take a look back on the all-important…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 28, Chapter 8 Continued As we delve deeper and deeper into Matthew's Gospel, to this point we have found three elements to be always present and repetitive; therefore it is crucial for us to notice them and to understand that Matthew has constructed his Gospel…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 29, Chapter 8 Continued 2 We took another extensive detour last week in our continuing study of Matthew Chapter 8 to explore some of the Early Church Fathers in order to trace their viewpoint on the all-important matter of Believers in Christ having an obligation…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 30, Chapter 8 and 9 We are in the midst of several miracle stories of Jesus. The first involved cleansing a man who had Tzara'at. The second was healing a house slave of his infirmities (at the request of a Roman army officer), without Christ even…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 31, Chapter 9 We're going to spend a little more time today with the story that opens Matthew 9; that of the paralytic man who was brought to Christ so that he might be healed. Let's begin by re-reading verses 1 – 7. RE-READ MATTHEW…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 32, Chapter 9 Continued The subject that we'll focus on to begin today's lesson is a dispute between John the Baptist's disciples and Yeshua's disciples, ostensibly over the subject of fasting; this is what Matthew 9:14 – 17 revolves around. We'll go forward today in…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 33, Chapter 9 Continued 2 As we continue in Matthew chapter 9, we left off last time with verse 27 that says: CJB Matthew 9:27 27 As Yeshua went on from there, two blind men began following him, shouting, "Son of David! Take pity on…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 34, Chapter 9 and 10 We'll conclude Matthew chapter 9 today and get into Matthew chapter 10.  What we've been reading in chapter 9 has all been occurring on the shores of the Sea of Galilee; largely in Yeshua's new hometown of Capernaum, itself a…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 35, Chapter 10 Miracles are at the foundation of biblical faith. It begins with Creation itself as a miracle. After all, how does a Universe that never before existed have a definite beginning? Yet beyond simply declaring something a "miracle", we tend not to think…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 36, Chapter 10 Continued As we continue today in our study of Matthew chapter 10 there's a couple of important context items to keep in mind. First, Matthew lived and wrote well after the events he is speaking about. He was not the Matthew (also…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 37, Chapter 10 Continued 2 The topic of what Christ signified when He called Himself "the Son of Man" is how we ended our last lesson. In the Torah Class study of the Book of Daniel, lessons 20 and 21, I spent extensive time explaining…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 38, Chapter 10 and 11 Of the several passages in Matthew chapter 10 that we studied last week, verses 26 – 31 dealt with fear, death, and the problem of evil. In context it had primarily to do with what Yeshua's 12 Disciples might face…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 39, Chapter 11 From the panoramic view perhaps one of the main take-aways from all 4 Gospel accounts is that Yeshua was misunderstood by His own Jewish countrymen; and surprisingly by those one might think would have understood Him best. Since it is various individuals…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 40, Chapter 11 Continued Perhaps one of the more important, yet difficult to capture, statements made by Christ is found in Matthew 11:11 – 15. Another comes at the end of the chapter that we'll get to later. We're going to get pretty detailed and…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 41, Chapter 11 Continued 2 Before we continue in Matthew chapter 11, let's back-up a wee bit and reset the context. The first 19 verses of this chapter were about John the Baptist in relation to his connection with Christ. First, he was the foretold…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 42, Chapter 11 and 12 We wrapped up the prior lesson with a message of awareness to a sad but dangerous reality within Christianity in modern times, in which not only is it acceptable within the academic branch of the Church for agnostics or even…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 43, Chapter 12 We closed last week with discussing the establishment, purpose and ongoing relevance of the Sabbath. This stems from the opening verse of Matthew 12. CJB Matthew 12:1 One Shabbat during that time, Yeshua was walking through some wheat fields. His talmidim were hungry,…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 44, Chapter 12 Continued While every chapter of the Book of Matthew is packed with important information for the Believer, chapter 12 is one of the meatiest of them all. This chapter also helps us to recognize something I highlight in the very first lesson…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 45, Chapter 12 Continued 2 Of the several things Matthew continues to underscore in his Gospel, here in chapter 12 we seen this growing contrast… an unfriendly polarization, if you would… between Christ and the leaders of the Synagogue. As we read let's always remember…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 46, Chapter 12 Continued 3 Last week in Matthew chapter 12 we left off with the thorny issue of what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit amounts to. And the reason that is important is because even Christ's death on the Cross can't atone for it.…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 47, Chapter 13 Matthew chapter 13 begins this way: CJB Matthew 13:1 That same day, Yeshua went out of the house and sat down by the lake; 2 but such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there while…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 48, Chapter 13 Continued We began last week's lesson with a somewhat long dissertation about the true nature of parables because in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 13 is where Christ's use of parables begins in earnest. I'll briefly review.  One of the most important elements of…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 49, Chapter 13 Continued 2 Do you want to understand what the Kingdom of Heaven is like? Assuming you are Believers in the God of Israel and His Son, Yeshua, then little is more important in our faith journey than to pursue this understanding. In…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 50, Chapter 13 Conclusion "Communion with God by means of prayer, through the removal of all intruding elements between man and his Maker, and through the implicit acceptance of God's unity, as well as an unconditional surrender of mind and heart to His holy will,…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 51, Chapter 14 The first dozen verses of Matthew chapter 14 bring us back to the subject of John the Immerser; more specifically it tells us of his death. That he was in prison was already established back in chapter 11. Now chapter 14 begins…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 52, Chapter 14 Continued Keep your Bibles open and handy as we're going to do much reading today.  The beginning of Matthew chapter 14 was covered in the previous lesson. It is the story of the execution of John the Baptist. The request for his…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 53, Chapter 15 Today we start Matthew chapter 15. The first 20 verses represent perhaps one of the most controversial segments of any Gospel account. There is a parallel account of this same incident in Mark 7. We'll look it at as well because it…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 54, Chapter 15 Continued We'll continue this week in Matthew 15, one of the more challenging (and therefore controversial) chapters in the New Testament. At the same it is one of the most inspirational, instructional, and therefore among the most important for Believers to get…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 55, Chapter 15 Conclusion Before we continue in Matthew 15 today there's a couple of housekeeping issues I would like to get out of the way because I am regularly asked about it and enjoy the opportunity to offer an explanation. The first is my…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 56, Chapter 16 Who is Yeshua? What is Yeshua? This is a question that has yet to be fully answered to this point in Matthew, and even though most 21st century Christians think it is an answered and settled matter in The Church, it is far from…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 57, Chapter 16 Continued I began the previous lesson with the rhetorical questions: who is Yeshua? What is Yeshua? It is such a complex issue that as we go through this chapter I'll continue to weave-in some needed background about the historical Jesus so that…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 58, Chapter 16 Continued 2 We will continue to carefully work our way through Matthew in this chapter that is nearly a Gospel within a Gospel. Some of the more elite Bible scholars of the past make chapter 16 of Matthew among their most extensive…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 59, Chapter 16 and 17 Last week in our study of Matthew chapter 16 we ended with an important topic Yeshua raised beginning in verse 24, which is the high cost of being His disciple. Let's immediately go to our Bibles and read from verse…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 60, Chapter 17 We opened Matthew chapter 17 last week, which begins with one of the landmark occurrences within Yeshua's short ministry on earth: The Transfiguration. I promised that we'd try to untangle the meaning of it and we'll do that shortly. This is going…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 61, Chapter 17 Continued Last week we concluded our study of the opening portion of Matthew chapter 17 that focused on The Transfiguration. Truly this nearly unfathomable event of an epiphany of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus together is one of the most mysterious in the…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 62, Chapter 17 and 18 Last week we began to delve into the interesting story that ends Matthew chapter 17 about a certain tax collector coming to Capernaum where Yeshua was residing with Peter, and the tax collector asks the question " doesn't your Master…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 63, Chapter 18 We began chapter 18 last week and immediately the topic became humility. It is that humility is to be perhaps the chief virtue for anyone hoping to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Verses 1 – 14 are essentially an examination of Godly…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 64, Chapter 18 Conclusion We began to study Matthew 18:15 – 20 last week and shortly we'll re-read that section. Before we do that we need to set the context. This is necessarily going to involve some amount of sermonizing to go along with the…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 65, Chapter 19 We begin chapter 19 of Matthew's Gospel today, and it begins with a bang. Immediately some dicey subjects arise; dicey for the 1st-century Jewish community and they remain problematic for God worshippers to this day. The subjects are divorce, monogamy, and celibacy.…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 66, Chapter 19 Continued Marriage, divorce, polygamy versus monogamy, and celibacy… these were all important issues in Yeshua's time, and remain so in the modern era. While polygamy in the Western developed world is found only in smallish and offbeat remnants of our societies and…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 67, Chapters 19 and 20 In Matthew chapter 19 we find the story of the rich man who asked Yeshua how he could obtain eternal life. We find this same story in Mark and Luke as well, with only minor differences. Let's re-read it. RE-READ…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 68, Chapter 20 We began Matthew 20 last week and dealt with the Parable of the Fair Farmer who paid the same amount of money to workers that had labored from dawn to dusk equally as workers that had worked perhaps no more than an…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 69, Chapter 21 The first 20 chapters of Matthew have set the stage for what we'll encounter beginning in chapter 21. Those chapters could almost be set apart and in summation titled "How We Got Here From There".  Thus far we have learned much about…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 70, Chapter 21 Continued As we opened Matthew chapter 21 last week we read about what Christianity calls the Triumphal Entry. In this short but revealing action in Yeshua's life and mission, He enters Jerusalem riding upon a donkey, accompanied with the donkey's foal. This…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 71, Chapter 21 Continued 2 In Matthew chapter 21 Yeshua's journey to the cross is gaining speed as the proverbial snowball rolling down a steep hill. We find Him having now arrived at the place of His foretold and impending death: Jerusalem. In many ways…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 72, Chapter 22 Today we open Matthew chapter 22. It begins with quite a long Parable. Unlike some of the other metaphorical and symbolic illustrations that Jesus has been using to instruct and to reply, this is a true Parable in the Hebrew literary sense…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 73, Chapter 22 Continued Matthew chapter 22 records a series of hard-hitting verbal reprimands and instruction that Jesus had with some representatives of the Temple organization and others from the Synagogue organization. Generally speaking, these two organizations were populated and led by members of two…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 74, Chapter 22 Continued 2 When we follow Yeshua's career on earth and especially His Wisdom teachings, we find that just as in the manner our teachers taught us in elementary, High School and college, over time He built-up knowledge in His followers by starting…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 75, Chapter 23 In opening Matthew 23, if I were to give it a title, it would be "Exposing the Hypocrisy of the Leadership". It is an interesting reality that as a person gets older and knows that death is not far off, or at…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 76, Chapter 23 Continued Our study of Matthew 23 continues today, but bear with me before we re-open it's inspired pages. Early in the Book of Genesis we learned of a fundamental governing dynamic of God: He divides, elects, and separates. One of the most…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 77, Chapter 23 Continued 2 Because I had the great privilege of being raised in a Christian household from my earliest age, my family and I spent every Sunday in Church. Child Psychologists and most parents (especially moms) can verify that even when a child…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 78, Chapter 23 Conclusion As we inch closer and closer to Yeshua's death on the cross in Matthew's Gospel, there's so much context and background and many subjects that we encounter that are in need of explanation and fleshing out that at times we're going…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 79, Chapter 24 Before we dive into Matthew chapter 24, I think it is best to first offer you an exposition and summary of not only what we have learned thus far in Matthew about the crucial role that Jesus plays in Redemption History, but…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 80, Chapter 24 Continued Last week I installed a framework for us to try to better comprehend not only what we have learned thus far in the Gospels about Yeshua's role in Redemption History, but also about the several stages of it. And that beginning…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 81, Chapter 24 Continued 2 The Gospel of Matthew is a delight to teach because it offers such opportunities to provide application to our modern lives, as well as to prepare us for what lay ahead. Chapters 24 and 25 form what is nearly universally…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 82, Chapter 24 Continued 3 If the End Times matters to you; if where we likely stand in the timeline of Redemption History matters to you; then the study of Matthew chapter 24 and 25 are crucial to your understanding and I don't want to…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 83, Chapter 24 Continued 4 For the majority of New Testament commentators, the explanation of Matthew chapter 24 is among the most (if not the most) extensive required of all the Gospels combined. The main reason is because Yeshua speaks so considerably about the future…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 84, Chapter 24 Continued 5 Matthew 24:30 says: Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 85, Chapter 24 and 25 Verse 42 of Matthew chapter 24 sums up perhaps Yeshua’s most indispensable teaching about the End Times: CJB Matthew 24:42 So stay alert, because you don't know on what day your Lord will come.  Awareness, alertness, and preparedness form the recurring…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 86, Chapter 25 Continued In our previous lesson we ended with delving into the fascinating and illuminating Parable of the Talents. The most common method within Christianity (and often within Messianic Judaism) to study or preach this parable is by using allegories to separate out…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 87, Chapter 25 and 26 Last week the ending portion of our study was essentially a word picture of the final judgment that also goes by the name Judgment Day. This is one of those things that isn’t particularly pleasant for a Pastor or Bible…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 88, Chapter 26 Last week we began what is popularly known as the Passion Narrative, which essentially dominates the remaining chapters of Matthew’s Gospel. The circumstances of leading up to Christ’s execution, burial, resurrection, and the immediate aftermath represents probably the most focused upon portion…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 89, Chapter 26 Continued When we closed our study on Matthew chapter 26 last time, we had been looking at the rather strange act of the common Jewish woman in Bethany that had just poured a great deal of costly perfumed ointment on Christ’s head.…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 90, Chapter 26 Continued 2 We open today with what is known as the very intriguing Last Supper. Clearly from the way in which this event is covered in all the Gospel accounts, each writer sees it as dramatically meaningful for those who love and…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 91, Chapter 26 Continued 3 In our previous study of Matthew chapter 26 we took a careful look at a rather peculiar ceremony that took place at an unknown location within the city walls of Jerusalem, with Jesus and His 12 disciples in attendance. It…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 92, Chapter 26 Continued 4 When we left off last time in Matthew 26, Yeshua had just been identified by Judas and betrayed to the Temple authorities. It was nighttime, a short time after the Last Supper, and so it occurred within the first few…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 93, Chapter 27 Matthew chapter 26 concluded with a mixed group of Jewish religious leadership, representing both the Temple and the Synagogue authorities, gathering at night in an official capacity at the High Priest Caiaphas’s home with one purpose in mind: to find false allegations…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 94, Chapter 27 Continued Verses 11 through 26 in Matthew chapter 27 have been perhaps the chief source for persistent anti-Semitism within our faith; and this has been so for as much as 1800 years. The question these verses have been alleged to deal with…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 95, Chapter 27 Continued 2 As we are nearing the end of our extensive study of Matthew’s Gospel and all that has been revealed about Jesus’s life and teachings along the way, we have arrived at the epic Redemption History milestone that had it’s beginning…

    THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 96, Chapter 28 END Today, we shall conclude what amounts to a 2-year study of the Gospel of Matthew. Although there are some additional facts and events surrounding Christ’s death, resurrection is far and away the central matter of chapter 28, as it ought to…