The Gospel of the Kingdom

Matthew is setting the stage for Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in chapter 4. In , Matthew records the account of Jesus in Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Remember that phrasing, The Gospel of the Kingdom.

Matthew 4:23b ESV

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

- Remember that phrase: “The Gospel of the Kingdom”

Notes for the Gospel of the Kingdom -

Along with proclaiming the kingdom of God Jesus was healing every disease and every affliction among the people. Healing along with with preaching this gospel is not incidental for Jesus. Instead it is absolutely purposeful.

The Gospel of the Kingdom is a powerful phrase because it describes the all consuming nature the gospel. I think many of us have been taught a weak gospel. I say weak because it is leaning mostly to one aspect of the kingdom, the spiritual aspect. Jesus came not only to take care of sin but the consequences of sin, the effects of sin. There is spiritual healing but there is also physical healing as well. Jesus came not only to restore the personal spiritual brokenness that results from sin, but the physical, emotional, relational, institutional, psychological brokenness that results as well. His kingdom is being brought to bear over all things, now it might be slower than we would like but he is doing it and using us to do it (which is probably why it is taking so long). - Jesus is healing every ailment that is being brought to him therefore his fame is growing all through out the region and rightfully so.

Matthew 4:23c–24 ESV

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.

- Jesus is healing every ailment that is being brought to him therefore his fame is growing all through out the region and rightfully so.

Matthew 4:23–25 ESV

- Jesus is healing every ailment that is being brought to him therefore his fame is growing all through out the region and rightfully so.

Imagine if there was a physician in town to whom you could take every disease, every ailment, every cancer, every broken bone, every psychological issue and he was able to make them well. That is what this is like I imagine. And I imagine that the hype about Jesus that these verses describe is real. If there was social media this would probably be trending and trending for a good little while due to the nature of this trend. The fact that Jesus healed every disease, every ailment, every pain, every epileptic, every paralytic, every person who was oppressed by demon make Jesus desirable to most people.

And these folks are following him everywhere he goes. But the question is how does he have the time to do this.

Let us consider another aspect of this crowd. Matthew describes the crowds as coming from all over the place — Galilee, the Decapolis, Judea, Jerusalem, and from beyond the Jordan. Upon seeing these crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciple came to him. He open up his mouth and taught them saying…and Jesus begins to teach. But lets think about this. Using the process of elimination, it is probably not night time because there were no street lights and thus too dark and too dangerous to be sitting outside giving a lesson. So most likely, it is daytime. If it is day time, in those days people worked from sun up to sun down. Now the question is “why in the world aren’t these folks at work?” “How do they have the time leave their homes and follow Jesus around Galilee?”

This is where we need to understand the social and economic climate of the time as it will give us a deeper understanding of what Jesus is about to say.

Social and Economic Context

As you know probably know, Palestine was under the rule of the Roman empire. At a cursory reading of the New Testament it can be difficult to understand the weight of the Romans hand upon Ancient Palestine. It can seem as if they had a lot of flexibility and freedom because they were allowed to worship their own God without any interference from the Roman government, at least that was my thinking, “The Romans weren’t so bad.” Well...

The Romans were oppressive

During this time their were three classes of people

The Wealthy

“Middle Class”

The Poor

The Wealthy

This was the smallest demographic. About 2% of the Roman population were wealthy and most of the wealth was in Rome, not in Palestine. And this wealth was exuberant and lavish. There were some Jews who were wealthy as well and their wealth was just as gaudy. One example given was that when they bundled branches for burning at the tabernacle, they would tie strings around the made of gold to bundle them for burning. It is likely that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea belonged to that “class of people.”

Bribery was a way of life in those time, many

The mentality of the Romans was — Everybody else owed them. Thus they taxed the people of Judea and surrounding territories and taxed the like crazy. For example, we are used to paying property taxes, sales tax, income tax. Folk were not only responsible for paying those taxes but paying other taxes like fishermen for example, were responsible for paying fishing pole taxes, that is tax for owning a fishing pole. Or if you were a maker of nets, you had to pay taxes on the nets you made. In fact, in the Roman empire, because everyone else owed them you were taxed for just existing. You were taxed about 50% percent of what you possessed if you lived in Galilee.

This wasn’t too much of a problem for the wealthy, because they were able to pay of tax collectors and the political elites used taxes paid for their lavish life styles.

Middle Class

The Middle class were folks who owned shops or had businesses they ran out of their houses.

Joseph, Jesus’ step-father was probably in this category

The Poor (this composed most of the population in Palestine)

These were day laborers, folks who came into the city in the morning to hire themselves out. Similar to what can been seen in some areas where folks will congregate and wait for someone to come and say, “I need this many men for this job today.” So if you were lucky, you got picked for that particular job that day

So there was no guarantee of employment

Most survived off of begging and sweating

And if you were lame, blind or incapable of working and had no help then you were left to die

To be poor is to be powerless

Remember the Romans said that everyone else exist for their well being (The Roman well-being that is) which meant no government programs so the destitution of the poor was worse than it is for us today.

So why weren’t those folks at work in the middle of the day, how did they have the time to follow Jesus around for days at a time? Because they were poor and were unable to find a job. And if they were looked at or given attention to it was primarily because they’re sweat was needed for that particular day. Otherwise, these folks were literally left to die.

So , Jesus seeing these crowds sits down and opens his mouth and begins to teach them

Im not sure about now-a-days but back then whenever a Rabbi taught he sat down to teach

After seeing these crowd of poor, destitute, desperate, and hurting people he makes it a point teach them.

The first thing that comes out of his mouth is blessed are the poor in Spirit.

This is a paradigm shift, because what Jesus said is a contradiction in terms

The Paradigm Shift

is a paradigm shift for these folks. What Jesus just said is a contradiction in terms.

To be poor in anything and to be blessed did not go together. They had no category for that. Yet Jesus describes a realm in which those who are poor in spirit are blessed, because to those who are poor in spirit belong the kingdom of God.

They are blessed because the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is theirs.

The contradiction in terms continues, blessed are those who mourn

Jesus us speaking to them in terms that they understand yet he associating those terms they couldn’t fathom being associated with.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus describes a realm that is contrary to the norm and he prescribes a life that is contrary to the norm.

This word is for us. In the gospel of his kingdom, he does the same for us...

-Terms like Identity, Love,

Terms like love, humility, foolishness, greatness

In the gospel:

To be weak, is to be strong - His “power is made perfect in weakness.”

Which means we can admit...

We don’t know

We don’t know how

We can’t

We messed up

We failed

I personally hate failure, I hate being wrong

The gospel of the kingdom flips this notion that you have to have this image of perfection or always rightness on its head, and says that in the kingdom of God to know and embrace that you don’t have it all together is the best place you can be because you are embracing your natural state of being that it contingent. Our existence is utterly and completely contingent upon God, but we often drink the kool-aid of human secularism and say we got this, I got this! Nah dawg we don’t. and that is OOOKKKKKKK

To be guilty, is to be forgiven

Which means we can...

Admit our sins against God to God - There some of us who live as if God can’t see our sins. He can. There are others of us who think that some of our sins are to big and too gross for God to forgive. God forgave David after he impregnated a married woman and killed her husband to cover it up. He forgave Nebuchadnezzar who responsible for destruction of the temple, for the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of thousands of Jews.

Admit our sins against to one another -

To be last, is to be first

Jesus changes the paradigm personally and individually but he does so corporately and systemically

The current social system is to leave poor folks to die

Jesus changes that in his preaching to the poor, healing the sick and diseased, setting free the oppressed

He bucking both systems, because the kingdom isn’t Roman, nor is it Jewish, it isn’t American its Christ

And in this is the Gospel of the Kingdom, Jesus came not only to deal with in in our hearts but sin in this world as well and we get to be apart of it.

Jesus all the more solidifies this paradigm shift in his incarnation

We too were left to die in our trespasses and sins but Jesus came to set us free, give us life, and life abundantly forever.

Matthew 5:3–12 ESV

“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 meek, 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 are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matt 5

So concerning the first four “Blesseds”, those poor and sick that he was ministering to and sharing the gospel with, they knew some of those terms really well. They knew what it was to be poor, to mourn, to be meek, to be hungry and thirsty -- yet Jesus was doing something with those terms that they couldn’t imagine. He associates blessedness to them. He is pointng to something deeper and more profound than physical lacking in terms that they understand.

Those who are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers - is describing the kingdom in terms not only the poor understand but those who are that are in positions of privilege understand. These terms are more universally relatable.

Lastly, lest one becomes disillusioned and think that the kingdom of God is a place of ease and relaxation. He says blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

Matt 5:13-16

Notice what Jesus does here — He says blessed are THOSE…for THEIRS is… He is speaking in the third person.

Jesus is doing TWO things here:

He is offering this kingdom to them. He saying, What I am describing to you is yours to have

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world.

You who are persecuted for righteousness sake, because you live like Jesus, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

In other words,

As salt of the earth, you preserve goodness and make life taste better for people

As light of the world, you shine light in dark places

This is both spiritual and physical

Being Spiritual Salt - we seek to walk righteously and above reproach personally as well as encouraging one another to do the same.

Being Physical Salt - Preserving good and right practices and ethics in people, places and systems you. Including family, peer group, in the places you work, in the community that you live, etc. Also being physical salt means making life taste better for people, particularly those who find themselves in hard situations. That means if you see someone in a hard situation relationally, emotionally, take the time to listen and pray for wise counsel and if what they say is beyond you point them to a professional counselor. Counseling is not a bad thing. These mena dn women are trained to help people deal with issues that are beyond personal rectifying. If their are folk around you struggling and hurting due