Matthew 21

The end approaching

Chapter fifteen Jesus continues to get on the bad side of the Pharisees by rebuking them in debates and performing miracles even healing a gentile. After one more time of calling the Pharisees hypocrites in chapter sixteen Jesus decides it is best to get on the move again before the Pharisees arrest Him. As they were going though we get a moment between Jesus and the disciples that shows the humanity of the situation as well as teaches us a valuable lesson. The disciples noticed that they did not have any bread because they had forgotten to take it with them after Jesus had fed the 4,000 (His second miracle of the sort). Jesus then says in verse 6

Matthew 16:6 “Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.””

So, when Jesus says this all the disciples kinda gather around and start trying to figure out what Jesus means by telling them this and what they come up with is that He is telling them this because they forgot the bread. After hearing all of the parables that Jesus has given so far the disciples still think that Jesus is talking about bread here. If there was ever a time Jesus was frustrated, I believe it was now. Look at verse 8.

Matthew 16:8–11 “But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.””

I can just imagine Jesus like pinching the bridge of His nose as He looks at them saying guys do you really think I am concerned about bread? You have witnessed me create bread out of thin air essentially twice now. If I was concerned about bread I would just make more bread.

I always think it is fun to see these human interactions between the characters we read about in scripture because at the end of the day these disciples were people just like us not special scholars or holy people, they were average guys. Jesus did that on purpose. He chose some of the most average guys He could to show that all of us can follow Him. You do not need to be specially equipped to follow God and be His disciple you just need a willing heart.

Now then, what was Jesus trying to tell His disciples here? It explains it clearly in verse 12, but what He is saying is be cautious of the doctrine that the Pharisees are teaching. It can spread and change the whole lot of people just like leaven can dough. We also need to be cautious of false doctrine in our world today. The internet is full of people who believe they have a word from God and they are going to share it with you. Be wary of that. We can’t just take everyones insights as truth. We need to double check people and ensure that the doctrine they teach is from scripture and not from man.

Now if you remember last week we said that when Jesus gets back on the boat with Peter after walking on the water the disciples all started to get an idea of who Jesus was, they started to realize that this wasn’t just some guy. Now lets look at verse 13

Matthew 16:13 “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?””

So, He asks them who people are saying He is and the disciples give Him a few answers like a prophet or John the Baptist or Elijah, but then Jesus asks them who do you say that I am. Peter speaks up and answers saying that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Look at verse 17 at Jesus’ response.

Matthew 16:17 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus tells us a very important bit of doctrine here by saying that flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. It is not by the will of man that anyone can figure out who Jesus is. We of our natural instincts cannot come to the knowledge of Jesus as our savior on our own apart from God. It is only the Father who reveals the Son to us. Just as it is only through the Son that we can have a relationship with the Father, it is only through the Father that we can know who the Son is. We who believe in Christ have been chosen and set apart from the world for His kingdom and that is an encouragement to you. It is nothing that anyone has done to earn it, but out of His abundant love for you He chose you. So act like it. Act like a person specifically chosen for the kingdom and live in a way that is fitting of the calling you have recieved.

Now that the truth of who Jesus is has been revealed to the disciples He finally lets them in on the full plan.

Matthew 16:21 “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”

I think this is very important to note here as we are still a ways off from the crucifixion. You see many people in the world from times past and still today believe what is called open theism. This means that God reacts to what happens hear on Earth. Maybe He knows what the possible outcomes are, but He does not know what we will choose perfectly every time and so He must adapt His plans to meet what we do. In the case of Jesus people will say that we are operating under a sort of back up plan. That at first God intended to just offer salvation to the jews and keep it as it had been previously, but then Satan got in the way and corrupted the jewish leaders so God had to go to plan b which was the church as we see today. This I believe is a disrespect to God. God knows all things and is never surprised by what happens on earth. Every decision that you make is known to God and so God knew that the jewish leaders would reject Christ and it was always a part of His plan from the beginning that Christ would die for us on that cross. We can look back on the Old Testament and see prophecies about His death hundreds of years before His birth. We are not a plan b. You are not God’s plan b. You were always a part of His eternal plan of salvation since before the beginning of time.

Now after He says these things Peter pulls Him to the side and rebukes Jesus. Peter tells Him that He cant say these things that this will not happen to Him. Let’s look at Jesus’ response.

Matthew 16:23 “But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.””

Your translation may say a stumbling block or even possibly a snare instead of an offense. What Jesus is saying though is that Peter is trying to stand in the way of God’s plan. Peter is trying to stop what God has willed. As a human being it is not possible for us to be successful in in thwarting the will of God or truly getting in His way as His will is perfect and will come to pass, but that does not stop us from trying when we don’t like what His will is for our lives. When we see that His will involves something that goes against our own hopes or dreams that God wants to change the direction of our life, we try to get in the way, why? Just like Peter our minds are on the things of man rather than the things of God. We are focused on our own ambition and our own desires rather than how can we glorify the kingdom of God in our lives. To glorify God we must first sacrifice ourselves and be willing to live a humble life in servitude to Him. Look at verse 24

Matthew 16:24–26 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

We have to deny ourselves and recognize that we may not be the most successful people in the world, we may not be the most popular, we may not be the most famous or rich or powerful. We may in fact be the least of all our friends if we choose to follow Christ. And think of this imagery that Jesus is using right now. Jesus is refering to taking up your cross well before He faced cricifixion Himself. Imagine the disciples after witnessing what Jesus went through. After seeing Christ physically bear His own cross for their sins. His symbolism strikes home even more when we think about what He was looking ahead to in His life.

That is what we are called to as a disciple of Christ. We are called to deny ourselves, abandoning the pursuit of pleasure and luxury in favor of a life devoted to God. In favor of hardship and cost in this world. Again it is kind of funny because last Sunday night with our men we discussed this exact same passage and I shared with them this analogy. Imagine you are planning a vacation, when you do that you have to pay money up front a lot of times or you at least have to start setting money back to be able to afford it. Before you go on the vacation this cost is a burden. It hurts and you dread having to give up your money sometimes. But, you know that what you are giving up your money for will be worth it. Then you go on the vacation and you don’t even think about the pain you went through to get here you just enjoy the vacation and have a great time. This world is the same. As a believer we are called to sacrifice our whole life over to God. Saying that no matter what He is calling for us to do in our lives will will obey Him and glorify Him no matter the cost. This will be painful in the moment but we can take joy in the fact that we have an eternal life with Him where all our struggles will be wiped away and made right and joy and peace will abound. The cost is great, but it is worth every penny.