Part 14: A Disruptive Kingdom
A Disruptive Kingdom
Zachary Klein
A Study on the Kingdom of God Kingdom of God; Authority; Righteousness; Service; Faith Matthew 5–7; Matthew 8–9
A Disruptive Gospel
Introduction
The title of this message is “A Disruptive Kingdom.” The term “disruption” is one that carries a lot of different connotations for different people, and in different contexts. The word essentially means “a disturbance” or “interruption”, but it carries a little more force than a commercial interrupting your favorite show. “Disruption” can raise fears of chaos, instability, and unpredictability. But it sometimes bears a positive sense, associated with ideas of transformation or radical progress away from a stagnant past and towards a better future. What we can definitively say is that our feelings towards “disruption” are grounded in our perspective - if we are frustrated with the current state of something, we are likely to have positive inclinations towards disruption; if we are invested in the status quo, then we are likely to view any disruptive force as catastrophic.
I have chosen to emphasize this idea of “disruption” as we continue our study of the Kingdom of God, now into the Gospel of Matthew. If you’ve been tracking with me so far, this might seem like a surprising twist. The last several messages I have repeatedly and strongly emphasized that the concept of the Kingdom of God in the New Testament is firmly rooted in the Old Testament expectation, as prefigured in creation (Genesis 1:26-28), and especially as communicated through God’s prophets. I have pounded this pulpit and tried to show clearly that the “kingdom” of the Gospels, from beginning to end, is the same kingdom that the Jewish people expected and longed for ever since they entered the Captivity. From the centrality of God’s covenant with Abraham (Matthew 8:11), the hope of a regathered people of Israel in their covenant homeland (Matthew 19:28, Acts 1:6), the focus on Jerusalem and the throne of David (Luke 1:32, Matthew 5:35), the restoration of nature (Matthew 19:28, Acts 3:21), and the righteous rule of God’s anointed one over the nations (Matthew 8:11, 28:18) - all of these expectations are preserved and move seamlessly across the divide between the Testaments. At no point do we find Jesus contravening , reinterpreting, or “spiritualizing” the prophetic conception of this kingdom - instead, he holds his hearers and his disciples accountable to “believe all that the prophets have spoken.” (Luke 24:25-27) Even as we look ahead into the book of Acts, in Peter’s sermons at Pentecost, we find the Old Testament kingdom expectation alive and while in the apostolic church.
So what is the “disruption”?
One of the keys to understanding the Gospel of Matthew, as well as the other Gospel accounts, is to appreciate the crisis that Christianity represents to this Old Testament expectation. As Christians, we profess that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the fulfiller of the prophets’ visions, the redeemer and savior of humanity, and the rightful King of God’s Kingdom. And yet, we have to face up to the reality that the vast majority of the prophecies and predictions of what the Messiah would do, and what his kingdom would look like, have not come to pass. There is no throne in Jerusalem. Israel remains caught between exile and bloody conflict. Creation still groans, disease and famine still rage, and the nations continue to rage against the God of Heaven, seemingly without repercussions. To a faithful Jewish believer, saturated in the Old Testament expectation, this state of affairs would be unimaginable in the aftermath of the Messiah’s arrival. And this is not merely a problem for Jewish questioners - liberal theologians and skeptics alike have pointed to the fact that Jesus, in his life and ministry, did not bring about the Messianic vision as the prophets foresaw it.
A common response from many Christian traditions has been to “roll with punches”, acknowledging that Jesus did not literally fulfill many of kingdom prophecies, but that these were never supposed to be taken literally. The expectation of a kingdom on Earth, of a regathered national Israel, and of a restored creation were simply “shadows” of the spiritual reality that Christ brought about through his death and resurrection. One of the many challenges to this response is that it undermines the integrity of the prophetic Scriptures themselves - as we have discussed before, the standard for a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:22) is clear and inflexible: “if the thing does not come to pass, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken.”
But as we will see as we continue our study through the Gospel of Matthew, there is no need to reinterpret or spiritualize the prophetic expectation. The structure and flow of Matthew’s narrative, especially as it pertains to the kingdom of God (or “Kingdom of Heaven”, in Matthew’s preferred wording) provides a definitive solution to this problem. The Old Testament expectation, far from being a “shadow”, is reaffirmed in the story of Jesus’ kingly presentation and mission, as seen in Matthew’s Gospel. But Matthew also highlights the disruptive aspects of the Kingdom, the ways in which Jesus subverted and refuted the establishment of his day, and the consternation and confusion that this disruption brought to Israel’s populace and leadership. Messianic expectation notwithstanding, the long centuries of exile, subjugation, and geopolitical intrigue had brought the nation into a strange sort of normalcy, with some Rabbis bickering over esoteric matters of the Law while other factions sought to ingratiate themselves with Gentile overlords. Into this uneasy status quo, steps the Man from Galilee. The drama that follows is inevitable; Matthew is building towards a climax, a “point of no return”, where Israel will be faced with a stark decision: what to do about Jesus of Nazareth, the King of Jews?
Setting
The text we are going to be surveying today is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. To be clear: we will not be studying the Sermon in its entirety this morning. Instead, I hope to show you how this well-known section fits into the “argument” of Matthew, and to highlight several points of “disruption” in Jesus’ teaching concerning the kingdom of God.
The immediate context of the Sermon is the Galilean ministry of Jesus, which is summarized in Matthew 4:23
Matthew 4:23 LSB
And Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
What is the “Gospel of the kingdom”? It is helpful to remember that the word “gospel” is simply a transliteration of the Greek word for “good news”. As Christians, we have a conception of “the gospel” that we believed and that we preach, the “good news” of Jesus, dying for our sins and risen from the dead. As wonderful as that message is, it is important to recognize that this is not the “good news” that Jesus preached in his early ministry. In fact, Jesus will not introduce the idea of his death on the cross until Matthew 16:21 (after the incident on the Mount of Transfiguration), and when he does so, it is always in private settings.
In context, the “good news of the kingdom” is the same message that John preached by the Jordan: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). Jesus himself preaches the exact same words in Matthew 4:17, and later he will send forth his disciples to preach the same message to the cities of Israel (Matthew 10:5-8).
There is a parallelism, in fact, with where these two phrases (“the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, and “the gospel of the kingdom”) are placed within the Gospel of Matthew, as can be seen in this listing:
Matthew 4:17: Jesus says “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”
— Matthew 4:23: Jesus preaches the “Gospel of the Kingdom” and heals
——Matthew 5-9: The Sermon on the Mount (and healing ministry)
— Matthew 9:35: Jesus preaches the “Gospel of the Kingdom” and heals
Matthew 10:7: Jesus (through his disciples) says “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”
This parallel (or “chiastic”) structure surrounding the Sermon on the Mount is a common feature of Hebrew literature, which is not surprising considering the strong Jewish emphasis and style of the Gospel of Matthew. It is designed to frame and focus the readers attention on the central material, and it helps us to see that the “Gospel of the kingdom” is integrally connected to the proclamation that the “kingdom is at hand” , and that both of these themes form the background and underlying argument of the Sermon on the Mount.
With that in mind, let’s turn to the beginning of Sermon, beginning in chapter 5 of Matthew.
Matthew 5:1–2 LSB
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
Before we “dig in” to the Sermon itself, I want to point out a couple of significant elements. First, we have Jesus’ movements, which are worth studying on their own merit. Jesus withdraws from “the crowds” and ascends a mountain. His disciples follow, and from the mountain, Jesus begins to “lay down the law” to his followers. This withdrawascendteach sequence is a striking parallel to Israel’s first prophet and lawgiver: Moses, who withdrew from the people to ascend Mount Sinai and receive the Law from Yahweh. Here, we see Jesus visually re-creating the Sinai encounter, except now he is both the ascender and the giver of the Law. This is one of the many ways in which Jesus is shown to be the “prophet like Moses”, who was predicted in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.
It also reminds us of the fact that Israel, at this moment, is still living under the auspices of the Mosaic Covenant, with its conditional blessings and cursings based on the people’s obedience to the Law. As Moses was Lawgiver of the Old Covenant, Jesus is setting himself up to be the Lawgiver of the New Covenant. And in the remainder of the Sermon, Jesus is going to lay out the righteous requirements of the kingdom of Heaven. He has already called the people to repent; now he will explain in detail what a life of kingdom repentance looks like.
Lastly, it is important to recognize that this Sermon is immediately addressed to a Jewish audience. This can be seen both from the context of the Sermon, as well as its contents; for example, Jesus contrasts his hearers with “the Gentiles” (Matt 5:46, 6:7, 6:32), refers to Temple worship practices (Matthew 5:23-24), and shows special concern for Jerusalem (Matthew 5:35). This is not to say that the Sermon has no application to anyone else, but it is important to keep this audience in mind in order to track with Matthew’s argument, especially as we look at his “sending forth” of the disciples only “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6).
Disruptive Citizens
Matthew 5:3–12 (LSB)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The first disruptive truth with which Jesus confronts his disciples is the fact that kingdom blessings require kingdom righteousness. This should not have been shocking - the Mosaic Covenant explicitly conditioned blessing upon obedience to the covenant (Lev 26:1-13, Deuteronomy 28:1-14)
Jesus is upsetting the Jewish wrong expectation that their Jewish heritage alone entitled them to the blessings of the promised kingdom (cf Matt 3:9, 8:11-12), and that their heavily augmented and reinterpreted applications of the Law would qualify them as righteous before Yahweh (Mark 7:13, Isaiah 29:13-14). Instead, like Moses at Mt Sinai, Jesus is confronting his hearers with the reality that kingdom blessing is contingent upon a righteous standing before God, not merely a family tree.
We don’t have time to go through all of these “blessed” statements, or Beatitudes, today. But one thing I want to point out is that virtually every one of these blessings are themselves rooted in Old Testament kingdom prophecies. A list of these is included in your handout. Again, we see that Jesus is affirming the kingdom expectation of the Old Testament, even as he disrupts the assumptions of his Jewish audience about who will enjoy those blessings.
Notice that verses 3 and 10 both end with the exact same phrase: “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Again we see the Hebrew-style parallelism at play, in this case bookending the “Blessed are… for they…” statements. The parallelism is showing us that all of these statements have a shared focus or theme. And because of this shared theme, we can look at these particular Beatitudes collectively; they all refer to the same people - a people who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are lowly, who thirst for righteousness, and so on - and they all look forward to the same kingdom - a kingdom of comfort, of earthly inheritance, of righteousness, and so on.
Old Testament anticipation of the Beatitudes
| Beatitude | Old Testament Allusion/Background
| “Poor in spirit… [shall have] the kingdom of heaven” | Isaiah 61:1 (LXX reads “poor” instead of “afflicted”)
| “Those who mourn… shall be comforted” | Isaiah 61:2
| “The lowly… shall inherit the earth” | Psalm 37:11, 9, 22, 28, 34
| “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… shall be satisfied” | Isaiah 51:1, 55:1-3
| “The merciful… shall receive mercy” | Exodus 34:6, Micah 6:8, Hosea 6:6
| “The pure in heart… shall see God” | Psalm 24:3-5, Deuteronomy 6:5
| “The peacemakers… shall be called sons of God” | Psalm 34:14
| “Those who have been persecuted… “ (as the prophets) | 2 Chron 24:21, Nehemiah 9:26, Jeremiah 20:2
Theirs is the Kingdom - Present or future?
The first and last Beatitude in our parallel structure differ somewhat in that they use a present tense “is the kingdom of heaven”, instead of the future tense used consistently in the rest of the clauses. This has led some interpreters to argue that Jesus is stating that the kingdom of heaven had already begun. However, this is too strong of a claim to be made from the usage of “is” (present tense). Jesus has already declared (and will again, following the Sermon) that the kingdom was “at hand” (Matt 4:17, 10:6). As we discussed last time, the term “at hand”, when used in this context, refers to the nearness or even imminence of a thing, not its arrival. It is used in the same manner to refer to the future Second Coming of Christ, in the epistles (Romans 13:12, James 5:8, 1 Peter 4:7).
Additionally, all of the blessings that are bracketed by these “is” statements, are future realities. And as we will see as we go on, Jesus consistently refers to the kingdom as a future hope (Matt 6:10, 33), and to be preceded by judgement (Matt 7:21-22), as John the Baptist had warned (Matt 3:7-10).
In context, it is better to understand the present tense “is the kingdom” blessing as a positional statement, or guarantee, which will only be realized together with all of the other blessings of Beatitudes. The kingdom of heaven is surely coming, as Jesus declared, and those who will inherit it can rest assured that all of these blessings are theirs as well.
Inherit the Earth
One of the more striking Beatitudes is Matt 5:5:
Matthew 5:5 LSB
Blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.
This phrase comes directly out of Psalm 37:11, which itself is a kingdom-focused Psalm, and the promise of “inheriting the land” (Earth/land are both valid translations of the Hebrew ereṣ as well as the Greek gē ). It’s especially significant to our study, because it literally “grounds” Jesus’ depiction of the kingdom of God, in a way that is fully in line with the Old Testament expectation. As we have discussed many times in this series, the very concept of the kingdom of God stems from the creation of humanity, where man was tasked to rule the Earth on God’s behalf (Genesis 1:26-28). Adam’s first job was to tend an earthly garden (Genesis 2:15). The Abrahamic Covenant guaranteed to Abraham that his descendants would occupy a particular part of God’s earth as their “everlasting” homeland (Genesis 12:6-7, 15:18-21, 17:8); this was reaffirmed in the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:10) and again in the new Covenant (Jeremiah 33:11-15). Restoration of God’s people to their land was a central feature of the kingdom expectation of the prophets (Jeremiah 16:15). At the same time, Yahweh had made it clear to the people their enjoyment of this promised land was conditioned upon repentance and humility before God (Lev 26:1-13, 40-45; Deut 28:1-14, 30:1-8). Jesus is reminding his audience that submission to the will of God is the path to exaltation in God’s kingdom (Matthew 23:12), just as it was in the days of Eden.
Disruptive Righteousness
Matthew 5:17–20 LSB
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus preempts the accusation that his teaching would undermine or contradict the Old Testament Scriptures (“the Law and the Prophets” is one of terms used to refer to the entirety of the Hebrew Bible - cf Matt 7:12, 22:40). To the contrary, Jesus emphasizes that he has come to fulfill everything that the Law required, and everything that the Prophets foretold, regarding the coming Messiah. In so doing, Jesus affirms that he intends to literally accomplish everything that was expected of him, in the prophetic writings.
However, it is in his affirmation of second “half” of the Old Testament, the Law, that Jesus makes yet another shocking and disruptive claim. Not only does Jesus require the Law to be obeyed and taught, he goes so far as to say that no one will enter the kingdom without a righteousness that surpasses those of Israel’s religious elites, the scribes and Pharisees. We should avoid the temptation of reading this merely as a “dig” at the well-known antagonists. At this point in Matthew, Jesus has not yet been shown in conflict with these bodies (though we know from the other synoptics that he had already locked horns with them by this time). In the context of Matthew’s narrative, the concept of a righteousness that was even greater than that of the nation’s most strident law-keepers is intended to shock and unsettle, similar to the disciples response to Jesus’ interaction with the Rich Young Ruler (Matthew 19:25-26): “Who then can be saved?” How can anyone achieve this kind of righteousness?
I have stressed in previous messages in this serious, the Old Testament concept of righteousness connected with the kingdom of God is consistently a righteousness that comes from God - literally, “Yahweh’s righteousness”. This can be most clearly seen in the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa 45:24-25, 61:2-3) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:5-6, 33:15-16, 51:10). The righteousness of the kingdom - the righteousness that surpasses that of Israel’s religious leaders even on their best day - is a righteousness to be brought about by God himself. Last time, we saw how this concept was pictured in the baptism drama between John and Jesus - the unrighteous baptized the righteous, according to Jesus, “to fulfill all righteousness”.
In fact, Jesus has already informed his hearers that this righteousness was to be provided to those who sought it:
Matthew 5:6 (LSB)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Disruptive Prayer
Matthew 6:7–13 LSB
“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
“Therefore, do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
Here we have the famous “Lord’s Prayer”, or the “Disciples Prayer” if you want to be pedantic about it. It is a remarkably concise and forceful prayer - in Greek, each of these statements are imperatives, literally demanding God to take action.
We don’t have time for to do justice to this text in its entirety, so I will highlight two important aspects for our subject:
Matthew 6:9 (LSB)
Hallowed be Your name.
In English, we easily can read this clause as being an honorific. But in fact, it is another imperative. It is a demand for God to “hallow”, or sanctify, his own name. What does that even mean?
Far from being a mere pious pleasantry, this is perhaps the most disruptive prayer request one could possibly make. The idea of God making his name holy comes straight from the prophet Ezekiel. In chapters 36-39, Yahweh is angered at the disgrace brought upon his name by the nations who deride his covenant people. Of course Israel was exiled as judgement for their own sin, but as they languished in captivity, the Gentile nations became dismissive and derisive towards the God of Israel (Ezekiel 36:20). Yahweh has had enough: he declares that he will regather his covenant people, and that he will restore not only their physical fortunes, but he will transform them spiritually so that they will never bring shame upon the name of Yahweh again.
Ezekiel 36:21–28 (LSB)
“But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, to which you have come.
“I will prove the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” declares Lord Yahweh, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
“And I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments.
“And you will inhabit the land that I gave to your fathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
Observe how the vindication and sanctification of Yahweh’s name is inextricably linked with regathering and establishment of Israel as a nation in their covenant homeland (“that I gave to your fathers”), and with inward cleansing and Spirit-indwelling. The stated purpose for this restoration: “I will prove the holiness of My great name… Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh.”
A few chapters later, we read:
Ezekiel 39:25–29 (LSB)
Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Now I will return the fortunes of Jacob and have compassion on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name.
“So they will forget their dishonor and all their unfaithfulness which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them tremble.
“When I return them from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall prove Myself holy through them in the sight of the many nations.
“Then they will know that I am Yahweh their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then collected them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.
“And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel’s vision for full and total regathering of Israel (“I will leave none of them there any longer”) is fully in line with the larger corpus of Old Testament kingdom restoration, which is elsewhere described as total and final (“they will not again be uprooted from their land”, Amos 9:15). Thus, we see that the call to “hallow” the name of God is synonymous with a call for the realization of the Old Testament eschaton.
In light of God’s stated intention to one day “prove himself holy” and vindicate his name before the nations, this first disruptive prayer request logically leads to the next:
Matthew 6:10 LSB
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
As we said before, Jesus is setting out this model prayer for a time before the coming of the kingdom of God. Indeed, the coming of the kingdom is inextricably linked to the time when God acts to “hallow” his name before the nations, as Ezekiel foresaw. The cry of every hopeful citizen of God’s kingdom is this: Let your kingdom come!
This request is paralleled, in typically Hebrew poetic style, with the second clause: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The kingdom’s coming is equated with the realization of God’s will on Earth. But lest we think that this merely refers to the “universal kingdom” - the sovereignty of God over all things, in all times - Jesus specifies: “as it is in heaven.” The kingdom of God is not merely an abstract acknowledgement of God’s will being worked out, it is concrete and it is specific. In the fully-realized kingdom of God, people, nations, and creation itself will be in perfect alignment with God’s will, in the same way as in the very dwelling place of God.
This has massive, cosmic implications. It calls us back to the Garden of Eden, when God looked upon his handiwork and, filled with satisfaction and artistic joy, declared it all “very good” (Genesis 1:31). In the creation week, God spoke, and exactly what he spoke came into being - “as it is in heaven”. Jesus wanted his hearers to long for the day when once again, creation would measure up to God’s “very good” design. This is the kingdom expectation of the prophets, and indeed of the very created order itself (Romans 8:19, 21). This is a disruption that brings healing and life to a broken, dying world.
Disruptive Priorities
Matthew 6:31–33 LSB
“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
“For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
This next disruptive truth comes as the climax of a powerful and challenging discourse on possessions and perspective. Jesus is urging his followers not to invest themselves and their resources into things that are perishable and temporary, for selfish purposes. Rather the resources and blessings God provides to his people in this pre-kingdom age, should be used to secure eternal riches in the kingdom of God. This leads naturally into the subject of “worry”, as humans naturally desire to know that our needs are going to be met.
Of course Jesus is not opposed to working to supply one’s needs, and those of one’s household - the Old Testament required as much (Proverbs 6:6, 27:23-27, 31:21; cf Genesis 3:19). But with the vivid reality of the kingdom of God “at hand”, with all of its bountiful blessings, it would be madness to allow the worries of the future, and even the immediate concerns of the present, to distract one from doing whatever possible to secure their place in this kingdom, and to invest in its everlasting economy.
What does it mean to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”? This question, to be honest, was what motivated me to begin this study in the first place, several years ago. Often this passage is cited in a proverbial sense, meaning something along the lines of “put God first in your life”. While this is obviously a good admonition (to put anything other than God first, is idolatry), in light of what we’ve seen about the nature of the kingdom of God, and the righteousness that is connected with it, I think we can see that this command is far more immediate and concrete in Jesus’ telling. Jesus is telling his audience that the kingdom is “at hand” - so place that first, over and above all the things that might distract or pull you away from it. Look for, desire, and work to be part of that kingdom, and for God’s righteousness to be applied to you. How will they do this? Remember the Beatitudes. By being poor in spirit, merciful, pure in heart, and hungry and thirsty for God’s righteousness. This is what Jesus is calling to people to do - all of this is part of the lifestyle of repentance in light of the “at hand” kingdom of heaven.
Lastly, we have the promise that “all these things will be added to you.” Again, this verse is often used in a very abstract, almost motivational sense. And unfortunately, I think many times this verse is understood as a type of “prosperity gospel”, where God promises to provide physical blessings, in this life, in exchange for some level of spiritual service. I believe this is wrong and dangerous way to interpret Matthew 6:33, and it removes it entirely from its context in Matthew’s story. Jesus has already informed his audience that they may face persecution and hardship prior to the coming of the kingdom - deprivation is certainly a part of that, in many cases. Of course it is true that God provides for his people - Yahweh Yireh (Jehovah Jireh) is one of his names in the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, God’s provision in nature was part of Jesus’ logic in this discourse. But the fallenness of creation and of humanity, as well as the mysterious working of God in the world, are very much part of the reality that we (and Jesus’ audience) live in. Sometimes the people of God do go without basic necessities, and sometimes God chooses not to meet those needs (Hebrews 11:37-38).
So how are we to interpret Jesus promise of “all these things”? I believe the answer is in the same manner as all of the other promised blessings in the Sermon on the Mount. From beginning and end, we see that Jesus is laying out present living in light of a future reality. “All these things” is part of that future reality, along with the comfort, inheritance, satisfaction, and every other blessing that comes with the kingdom of God. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly emphasized the fruitfulness and plenty that would characterize the kingdom. “The plowman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed,” Amos predicted (Amos 9:13). The land would be as fruitful as the Garden of Eden, according to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:35). Every man will have his own vine and fig tree (Zechariah 3:10). Of course, we know from Scripture and experience that God provides for our needs, but we also understand that we are not transactionally exchanging spiritual service for physical goods. God provides because it is in his nature to do so (Matthew 7:11, James 1:17), not because we have earned them through acts of service. The promise of Matthew 6:33 is rooted in the unrestricted provision and blessing of God, which will be fully realized when his kingdom breaks forth on the Earth. How shortsighted it would be to allow the temporal concerns of life to distract and cause one to miss out on the unmitigated goodness of God.
Disruptive Judgement
Matthew 7:21–23 LSB
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
The unqualified phrase “that day”, when spoken by Jesus (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, Luke 10:12, 17:31, 21:34) usually refers to the time of wrath and cleansing known in the Old Testament as the “Day of Yahweh”, or Day of the Lord. The prophets foretold an intense period of God’s judgement upon Israel and the nations (Isaiah 2:12; 4:4; 5:16; 13:6-19; 42:1, Jer 33:14-16; Dan 7:26-27), prior to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. John the Baptist had echoed these warnings in his Jordan ministry (Matthew 3:7-12). Jesus is once again confronting his audience with the sobering truth that they must face the judgement of God, and that mere professions of allegiance and even great works of service will not suffice to gain them entry into the kingdom.
Disruptive Signs
(Matthew 8:1-9:35)
Immediately following the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew provides several accounts of the miracles of Jesus. We will look at just one of these as we close, but I want to briefly point out something about the nature of these miracles. Of course, we know that the miracles of Jesus served to authenticate him and his message (John 14:11), and we know they were acts of love and compassion. But miracles are actually very significant to the theme of the kingdom of God in the Bible.
We sometimes don’t realize that miracles don’t just happen “all the time” in the Biblical history. They are actually concentrated in specific moments in the Bible’s story. There are “spikes” of miracles a strategic times, and very few in between. The first spike is of course the Exodus from Egypt - the plagues and other miracles through Moses. It was at this time that God first set apart Israel to be a nation and a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6).
There is another spike in miracles at the time of the Conquest of Canaan, as the covenant people took possession of their promised land.
Miracles are few and far between after this time, until we reach the ministry of Jesus. What is especially significant is that Jesus’ miracles are almost entirely restorative in nature. Healing of disease, casting out of demons, raising of the dead, calming the seas - all of these are acts that bring wholeness and order to a fallen creation. They are, in effect, glimpses of the kingdom and the “New Creation”. It should not be surprising then, that these “kingdom miracles” are paired with the “kingdom gospel” that Jesus preached, in the first phase of his ministry.
Matthew 9:35 LSB
And Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Disruptive Faith
Matthew 8:5–13 LSB
And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,
and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.”
And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not good enough for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
“For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.
“And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;
but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.
I want to close with this particular account, a relatively famous miracle involving a Roman centurion with, in Jesus words, “great faith”.
I have stressed that the Sermon on the Mount is distinctively Jewish in its context and its content. This is important to appreciate, because its integral to how the Sermon and associated events are presented in Matthew’s Gospel, especially the “sending forth” of Matthew 10, which we will look at next time. Jesus explicitly commissions this message to be preached only to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6). The Sermon refers to Jewish religious practices, Jewish places, and a Jewish expectation. It is directed to a Jewish crowd - a crowd that significantly, never once responded to Jesus call to repentance (Matthew 7:28 reports their “astonishment”).
And that emphasis is what helps us see this last, disruptive kingdom truth: that a Gentile, a member of the oppressor’s occupying army, can through faith, approach the Jewish king of the Jewish kingdom, and be warmly, lovingly, received.
The Jewish nature of the kingdom of God, as envisioned in the Old Testament and, at least so far, affirmed in the New Testament, is inescapable. If we take these prophecies at face value, it is undeniable that they revolve around Jerusalem and the covenant people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus is presented as the ultimate monarch in the Davidic lineage, whose reign will extend from Jerusalem.
And yet, almost all the way to the start of our story, there is that wonderful promise: “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
Abraham was justified before God, not because of his parentage, but because of his faith (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:11-12). Faith, not in an abstract sense, but a concrete one - that God would do what he had promised. And yes, that promise included physical, national blessings for his physical descendants, blessings that were passed down through the patriarchs and that remain in force to this day (Jeremiah 31:35-36).
But God’s design has never been for one family, one nation, or one land, to be the exclusive recipients of his kingdom. “The earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea”, Isaiah thunders (Isaiah 11:9). David sings, “Let all nations be blessed in him; Let all nations call him blessed.” (Psalm 72:17b)
The disruptive kingdom of God is not appropriated by ancestry or pedigree. It is not seized upon by self-exaltation, self-improvement, or by political intrigue. The kingdom of God is promised to those who, in meekness and brokenness of spirit, seek and hunger for the righteousness and vindication of Yahweh. The kingdom of God belongs to those who will approach him in child-like faith, with the simple confidence that God will do what he said he will do.
As Jesus stated in another Gospel writer’s account, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Luke 18:16)
This is the disruptive kingdom.