Trapped by the System – See the Bigger Picture!
I don’t know about you … but I for one am looking forward to
next weekend and the start of the six nations.
I will be rooting for Wales
and joining in with some of that great singing too! There is one song, however, to strike fear
into the hearts of Welsh supporters.
And that’s when the English crowd see a triumph within their
grasp and start to sing what has become almost the English rugby anthem – Swing
low, sweet chariot, coming for to take me home.
It’s one of those great spirituals that stirs the soul. And in an intriguing way it has something to
do with Matthew’s Gospel.
It’s been good sharing with Mike in preparing St John’s Assemblies and
when we met at the beginning of this term, Mike told me about the way St Luke’s
are taking a look at Matthew’s Gospel .
I thought it would be great to share in doing that – so at Highbury we
are going to be taking a look at Matthew as well.
A Book to Change the way you see the World
Some books you read for fun, some books you read for interest,
just occasionally you come across a book that makes you change the whole way
you see the world and what it means to live in the world.
There’s fun in Matthew’s gospel, there’s a great deal of
interest, but more than anything else Matthew’s gospel is the kind of book
that’s aimed at making you change the whole way you see the world and what it
means to live in the world.
You get the feel that Matthew’s gospel is put together by
someone who knew what it was to be up against it in a world that could be very,
very cruel, a world that seemed at times to be falling apart.
I guess, for me, it’s what makes Matthew’s gospel such a
powerful read today. Whether it’s
watching the news from Syria or sharing with someone who is up against it, or
encountering something, a diagnosis, a crisis at work, it can often feel as if
the world we live in is a world in danger of falling apart. But also it’s a world that makes you feel
trapped into it – a world that’s impossible to break out of.
Trapped in the System
Tradition has it that the writer of this gospel was the
disciple who in this gospel is identified as Matthew. He finds himself rejected by the Jewish
world of his family heritage, and he finds himself trapped in the ruthless,
brutal world of the Roman Empire’s occupation of Galilee . To build its magnificent buildings, to fund
the lifestyle of its citizens, the Roman Empire
had devised a system of raising taxes that involved franchising out contracts
to a tax-raising company of people called in Latin Publicani. The companies of Publicani would bid against
each other with the promise to raise as much money as possible for the Roman
authorities as cheaply as possible. The
company of Publicani winning the contract would then sub-contract down, and
down and down … until the people at the bottom would be drawn fro the local
population and be under great pressure to raise as much money for the Romans as
possible and would themselves get as little as can be.
Matthew found himself caught in that system. He was trapped
in a world that he couldn’t break out of.
It was a world that seemed to be falling apart.
He was Jewish and different Jewish people were struggling to
be Jewish in that world – the rich and powerful, the Herodians, the Saducees,
the High Priests – played the game with the
Romans and went along with Roman rule.
The Pharisees wanted a return to the ritual holiness and purity of the
law. Some reckoned a monastic rule was
what was needed. And not a few reckoned
they needed to take up arms against Rome .
Matthew was trapped in the world of Roman oppression.
Seeing the Bigger Picture
And then something happened.
Someone had time for him.
More than that someone gave him a whole new way of seeing
the world that made for him a world of difference.
That someone was Jesus.
And he had a simple message.
Repent. Not just say
sorry for things you have done wrong … but much more than that. The little word translated ‘repent’ means get
a whole new way of thinking, look at the world in an entirely different way,
make a complete about turn in your thinking about the world and your life.
And discover that there is a bigger picture, a bigger
picture that will help you to make sense of the world you live in.
What Jesus shared with Matthew was that that bigger picture
was nothing less than the Kingdom
of Heaven
It changed Matthew’s life.
And he took up the task of sharing the good news of the
Kingdom as one of the twelve disciples.
And there came a point, tradition has it, at which he put
the whole message, the Good News he had discovered for himself down in writing,
so that he too could tell the Good News of this Jesus.
Filling out the Bigger Picture – some brilliant teaching in Matthew
Matthew was a brilliant teacher … and he found the teaching
of Jesus was what helped him to grasp that bigger picture and so he built his
Gospel around five blocks of teaching.
And as a teacher he wanted to give all that teaching a
framework that would be memorable.
In our western way of thinking we think sequentially – we
start at the beginning, work through the middle and come to the end of a
story. We start an argument with the
first point, develop the argument through points 2, 3 and 4 and then reach the
conclusion.
The Middle Eastern way of thinking was different. [See Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle
Eastern Eyes]
The Eastern way of thinking often sees a different kind of
pattern where 1 is like 5, 2 is like 4 and the most important point is in the
middle.
The teaching of Jesus Matthew brings together fills out what
it means to live your life under the rule of God seeing that bigger picture of
the Kingdom of Heaven
That Sermon on the Mount is balanced with the fifth block of
teaching in 23,24,25 starting with woes, the middle of which is woe to you who
tithe and neglect the higher things of the law, justice and mercy. And it comes to an end with that appeal to
feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked and visit the
prisoner.
The second block of teaching is the commissioning of the
Twelve in chapter 10 and the fourth block of teaching is all about the Church
in 18.
That leaves the central block of teaching in chapter 13.
And that’s where Jesus fills out this bigger picture and
tells a number of stories, parables that are all about the Kingdom of Heaven
To grasp the bigger picture that can then enable you to see
the world in an entirely different way and so cope with a system that feels as
if has you trapped, you need to grasp what Kingdom means to Jesus.
To understand the bigger picture of the kingdom
you need to grasp the back story
Matthew realises that to do that you need to grasp the back
story.
Jesus did not just come out of thin air.
He came as the point at which the whole of that back story
reached its culmination. He came to
bring to fulfilment the whole of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.
The back story is the whole of the Old Testament
If you want to grasp what Jesus is about and the difference
this talk of the Kingdom of heaven can make in our world and in our lives you
need to grasp that back story.
Open Matthew’s gospel and he confronts you with the back story
in a brilliant way. It’s one of the
most important passages in the New Testament and it’s hardly ever read! Open the gospel at chapter one and you know
straight away who the story is about.
This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of
David, the son of Abraham:
So Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, the King in the
Kingdom.
How dull! Until you
realise that what Matthew is doing is summing up the whole story of the Old
Testament – in three parts –
Genesis 1-11 sets the scene –
From Abraham to David
From David to the Exile
From the Exile to Jesus the Messiah.
Remember the patterns and the importance attached to the
mid-point.
Isn’t it interesting – the first of those sections basically
includes the Law, the first part of the Jewish bible and takes you a bit
further through Joshua and Judges.
The second and middle part deals with the period when there
is a kingdom, at first under Saul, then united under David and Solomon and then
divided – until the north collapses first and then Judea and Jerusalem fall to
the Babylonians and the exile comes.
The final part is from the exile to Jesus – and basically is
the latest part of the Hetbrew Bible, the writings
If you want to know about kingdom and God’s way with
kingdoms then you need to get a handle on the middle section.
Interestingly, it’s not given the title in the Jewish bible
of the bit about the kings.. Instead
this story (including Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) is described as the
section of the Prophets.
Kings AND Prophets in the Old Testament
There were two kinds of people really important in the
period of the kingdom. The kings … and
also the Prophets. In some ways, you
could argue, the prophets took precedence!
Right at the outset the people wanted a king just to be like
the other nations. And the prophet,
Samuel, warned them that was very dangerous because you could get bad kins as
well as good kings.
The story of the kings is exactly that.
Even the greatest of the kings, David, does awful things
with Bathsheba and involving murder – he is confronted by a Prophet Nathan.
The task of the prophet is to challenge the king to return
to the ways of God, and to map out what it takes to be a king in God’s kingdom
and rule in the way God intends.
Passing the mantle on from Elijah to Elisha, to Prophet, to Prophet
The iconic figure among the prophets that came to
encapsulate what it means to be a prophet was Elijah.
He challenged the kings who did terrible things and mapped
out what it takes to be a king in God’s way.
And then he came to the end of his life and we arrive at the
significance of that spiritual and its references to a chariot taking you home!
As Elijah came towards the end of his days, he passed the
responsibility on. And there is a
wonderful account, he has as it were someone who is shadowing him. Elisha.
Sensing the end of his ministry had arrived Elijah wants to
go off on his own, but Elisha won’t have any of it: “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live,
I will not leave you.”
Elijah goes down with Elisha through the wilderness, and
comes to the Jordan . Elisha goes down into the Jordan with Elijah and across to
the other side. Then Elisha sees it – a
chariot coming for to carry Elijah home.
And as Elijah is carried away in that chariot he leaves his
mantle behind – his cloak. And Elisha
takes up the mantle.
Just as one king is succeeded by another, the Old Testament
story is of a the mantle being passed, as it were, from one prophet to another. To Amos, Hosea, Micah, to Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel – the mantle is passed on. With
the kings come prophets, speaking out against the powers that be, shaping how
they should rule – spelling out what it takes to be King in God’s kingdom
ruling in God’s way.
There’s been a long gap – without a king, there’s been a
long gap when the prophetic voice has not been heard.
And along comes John the Baptist.
John the Baptist takes up the mantle
In those days John the
Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ,
The way he dressed- clothing of camels’ hair, a leather belt
around his waist, the location in the wilderness of Judea, the words from
Isaiah, ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the
Lord!
All of this leaves you in no doubt – he is picking up the
mantle that has been passed on from Elijah.
He looks just like him.
The powerful way he spoke out against that ruling elite and
those struggling to make sense of that world – you brood of vipers. He could see that it was a world that seemed
to be falling apart – it’s not because of who you are, your antecedents – know
it’s what you do with your lives, how you live, the fruit you bear – that’s
what counts.
He has a clear message
Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven has come near.’
It’s very easy to think of repenting as something you do
when you are sorry for something wrong you have done.
The word here is very much more powerful than that. Getting a whole new way of thinking, seeing
the bigger picture, getting a whole new mindset, a whole new way of looking at
the world – the kingdom of heaven has come near – the way of God’s rule.
John knows one is to come after him who will take this
project very much further, to its ultimate limits, one who will fill out this
bigger picture and seal this whole new way of thinking not with the waters of
the Jordan or anywhere else – but with the power of the Holy Spirit and fire.
Then Jesus comes.
John the Baptist passes on the mantle to Jesus
And what he does is so significant.
He goes with John into the Jordan just as Elisha did with
Elijah.
He comes out from the Jordan ready for his ministry to
begin.
When we move on to Matthew 4:12 it is not until John has
been silenced – imprisoned by the son of the Herod the Great who had slain the
innocents, himself called Herod, that Jesus starts his ministry.
Matthew notices that Jesus goes to the very place where he felt
so trapped in this horrible world of
Roman oppression – to Capernaum – and what the prophet Isaiah had said is being
fulfilled – that in this land of Galilee where people are sitting in darkness,
the darkness of this brutal Roman oppression, a light shines in the darkness – the light has
dawned.
Then and this is most significant … Jesus has exactly the
message of John.
The prophetic voice of John speaking out against the powers
that be is not silenced.
Repent, get a completely new way of seeing the world, a new
outlook on life, a complete turnaround for the kingdom of heaven, God’s rule
has come near.
Jesus is the prophetic voice – but as the Gospel unfolds
something else becomes apparent – Jesus is ushering in a way of relating to
other people, a way of living in the middle of a hostile world, under God’s rule as people who belong to the
kingdom.
Jesus passes on the mantle to the disciples
He calls his disciples – to come under God’s rule in his
kingdom and he offers them a way of living in the middle of a very hostile
world, under this rule of God.
And he gives them the same message – to proclaim the Good
news, the kingdom
of God
And among those first 12 is Matthew.
His life turned inside out, he sees the world differently.
It is as if the mantle has been passed on from Elijah, to
Elisha, from John the Baptist to Jesus, from the disciples down through the
generations to us.
We are invited to take up the mantle
- not only seeing the bigger picture, but living it too!
And the message remains the same …
When we feel trapped by the system in a world where we can
see things are wrong but we can’t seem to break that system, then we too can
see a bigger picture.
We can see things in a very different way. We can live as citizens of the Kingdom of
Heaven and follow a way of living that is shaped by the teaching of Jesus in
the Sermon on the Mount and the rest of the teaching in Matthew’s gospel – the
way of the peacemaker, the way of one who hungers and thirsts after justice,
the way of forgiveness, doing to others as you would have others do to you,
feeding hte hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner.
The final twist in the tale
A King in the Kingdom who is with us to the end of the age
There is one final twist in the tale – those like Matthew
who did follow Jesus not only saw in him the Prophet to bring all that line of prophets
to fulfilment, they saw more than that in him.
They saw that he had what it takes to be king in the kingdom of heaven. All that those great prophets of old had said about what it takes to be king – that’s how Jesus had modelled his ministry and all he did.
Look to Jesus and find the King of the kingdom who asks us
to grasp the bigger picture, and live our lives as citizens of that Kingdom of Heaven
Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of
Judea , proclaiming, 2‘Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven has come near.’ 3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke
when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths
straight.” ’
4Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt
around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the
region along the Jordan ,
6and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan , confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for
baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do not presume to say to
yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from
these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10Even now the axe is lying at
the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is
more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing-fork is in
his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into
the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
Matthew 4:12-25
12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he
withdrew to Galilee . 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum
by the lake, in the territory
of Zebulun
15 ‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali
on the road by the
sea, across the Jordan , Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great
light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.’
17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven has come near.’
18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the
lake—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will
make you fish for people.’ 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and
his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets,
and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and
followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee ,
teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and
curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24So his fame spread
throughout all Syria ,
and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various
diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them.
25And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem ,
Judea, and from beyond the Jordan .
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