Matthew 28

Greetings,

The Resurrection
 1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was [...]

Matthew 27

Greetings,

Judas Hangs Himself
 1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
 3When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and [...]

Matthew 26

Greetings!

The Plot Against Jesus
 1When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2“As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
 3Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name [...]

Matthew 25

Greetings,

The Parable of the Ten Virgins
 1“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took [...]

Matthew 24

Greetings!
Roughly 40 years after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, the city of Jerusalem was completely demolished by the Romans.  They had put up with rebellion from the Jews for a long time and finally had enough.  Jesus predicted the destruction in this passage. 
The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. is not mentioned in the Bible, [...]

Matthew 23

Greetings,
The “Seven Woes” denounce false religion in the strongest possible terms.  Jesus hammers the Jewish leaders relentlessly.

Seven Woes
 1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what [...]

Matthew 22

Greetings!

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

It was customary at that time to send two invitations to a wedding - one to request someone’s attendance and another to announce that it was ready.  In this story, there are three invitations sent.  Not only do the invitees ignore the extra invitation but they even kill the servants!  This [...]

Matthew 21

Greetings,

The Triumphal Entry
 1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything [...]

Matthew 20

Greetings!

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
 3“About the third hour he went out and saw [...]

Matthew 19

Greetings!
Some people claim that Jesus was silent on homosexual behavior so it must be acceptable.  This is called arguing from silence, and it is poor reasoning because Jesus didn’t specifically mention other evils such as child sacrifice, drunk driving, pedophilia, etc. yet those are obviously wrong.  Also, Jesus is God, so He is the author [...]

Matthew 18

Greetings!

The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus’ disciples were very human - just like us.  They didn’t understand his real mission and were concerned with their own status and position. 
 1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
 2He called a little child and had him [...]

Matthew 17

Greetings!
The Transfiguration
Chapter 16 ended with Jesus saying, “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”  That verse sometimes  confounds people because they wonder why Jesus didn’t return before the disciples died.  The problem is solved by reading the [...]

Matthew 16

Greetings!
The Demand for a Sign

Jesus does miracles left and right until the leaders ask him to do it for show.  Then He stops.  Many people say, “If only I could see a miracle then I would believe.”  But the truth is that we could rationalize away any miracle.  All we need is already there is we [...]

Matthew 15

Greetings!

Clean and Unclean
 1Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
 3Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, ‘Honor [...]

Matthew 14

Greetings!

John the Baptist Beheaded
 1At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
 3Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of [...]

Matthew 13

Greetings!  This first parable (”a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson”) is one where Jesus explains what it means (starting in v. 18).   He spoke in parables to disguise the message from the Pharisees who had already decided not to believe him (they attributed his powers to [...]

Matthew 12

Greetings!

Matthew 12
Lord of the Sabbath
 1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 3He answered, “Haven’t you read what [...]

Matthew 11

Greetings!

Matthew 11
Jesus and John the Baptist
 1After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. 2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone [...]

Matthew 10

Greetings!

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
 1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
 2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; [...]

Matthew 9

Greetings! 

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

He returned to his “own town,” Capernaum.  I wonder if He knew this man already?   
1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your [...]