We continue our reading notes on Matthew’s Passion narrative, in the weeks leading up to Easter.
Author: timmacbride
Matt 26:31-46
We continue our reading notes on Matthew’s Passion narrative, in the weeks leading up to Easter. Remember, the focus of these two weeks is the text itself. There aren’t many verses to read each day, so spend time reading the story slowly and reflectively.
Matt 26:31-35
This section contrasts the agony and faithfulness of Jesus as he goes to do his Father’s will with the weakness of the disciples and the betrayal of Judas.
Matt 26:17-30
We continue our reading notes on Matthew’s Passion narrative, in the weeks leading up to Easter.
Matt 26:17-19
26:17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.'” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.There is a well-known issue of chronology here, between Matthew (along with Mark and Luke) over against John. John describes Jesus’ last supper as taking place before the Passover, and the crucifixion taking place on the Passover day – the day of preparation for the Passover meal, when the lambs were slaughtered. If Jesus was crucified when the lambs were killed, that (of course) makes a theologically significant point!
Matt 26:1-16
For the next two weeks (leading up to Easter) we’re going to be reading through the “Passion Narrative” in Matthew’s Gospel (chapters 26-27). It will be a little different in structure from other series as I want to give the Gospel text more space to speak. Rather than a packaged “devotional reading” it will be more like a running commentary on the story as we go. Why? Firstly, it’s an important story and I don’t want to get in its way too much. And also because there isn’t a lot of direct, “what’s in it for me?” application in each episode. Rather, it’s the story of how Jesus suffered in our place, and then rose again to conquer death. So the big picture won’t need a lot of explanation every day! Use these two weeks to remind yourself again of the central story of our faith, and what it cost God to redeem us.
Exodus 12 – The Passover
This is one of the most famous scenes in the world: Jesus’ last supper, reinterpreted through Renaissance eyes. (For a start, in the original they would have been lying down on their sides, and in a much smaller room!) What’s the story behind this scene? Why is Jesus celebrating this ritual meal? And for us – how did we get our communion service out of it?
The Lord’s Supper has a long history. It traces its roots back to the Passover, recorded in Exodus chapter 12. Yet as Christians we do not, now, simply celebrate a Passover meal. It was redefined – decisively – by Jesus just before his death. So what we’re doing today is looking at the Passover meal in Exodus 12, I and then a little later next week we’ll look at its transformation by Jesus as recorded in Matthew’s gospel. (We begin a pre-Easter series in Matt 26-28 next week.) But we must start with…
Exodus 5-11 – The Plagues (part 2)
You need to read yesterday’s post first, as we’re taking a two-part look at the plagues, and what they tell us about God. His actions + scriptural interpretation = revelation.
God ‘undoing’ creation
The second piece of interpretation we find in the story of the plagues comes through the “creation language” used by the biblical author. In fact, the plagues can be thought of as God undoing creation just a little bit. For example: when God created the world, one of the first things he put in it was water. Before he even said “let there be light,” there was water. In Genesis chapter 2, before God formed Adam, he caused streams to come up from the earth and water the ground. The Garden of Eden had a river to water it, which split into four streams, one of which perhaps significantly flowed to Egypt. Water is presented in Genesis as one of the fundamental ingredients of life, which God provided for us.
Exodus 5-11 – The Plagues (part 1)
We’ve seen this week how God answered Moses’ question what is your name by saying, effectively, watch this space. In the chapters which follow, God now proceeds to reveal something of himself through the ten plagues visited on Egypt – plagues designed to force Pharaoh to let God’s people go.
But why ten? I mean, if you gave God only one shot at this, I think he’d get it on the first go. Like David’s first stone killing Goliath. Why draw it all out? Why all the big, showy miracles?
Exodus 3 – Watch this space
Yesterday we read of how Moses asked God for his name – he wanted a name for this God who was going to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. More than a label, Moses wanted to know the character of God, and whether he could be trusted. God’s answer was enigmatic:
14- God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”Rather than being evasive, the whole “I am who I am” answer tells Moses and Israel to “watch this space.” You’ll see what kind of god I am by what I’m about to do.
Now we’ll have to read the rest of Exodus – and indeed, the rest of the Bible – if we want to know it all. But already in chapter 3 we get some previews of how God is going to reveal himself in the near future. Here’s a lightning-quick summary (courtesy of Alan Cole’s commentary on Exodus):
Continue reading
Exodus 3 – What’s in a Name?
This week we’re looking at some highlights from the story of the Exodus, focussing on the Passover feast, as a way of setting the scene for our Easter series in Matthew the following week. We pick up the story in Exodus chapter 3.
What’s in a Name?
What’s in a name? Is it just a label to distinguish us from the person next to us, or does it have a deeper significance, a deeper meaning about who we are?
I don’t think people these days place too much significance on the meaning of the names they give to their children – more on how it sounds with the surname. At least I think that’s how my parents approached the task of choosing names. Because mine means “honouring to God,” whereas my sister’s means “prophetess of doom ignored by men.” Either that or they were just mean.
Hebrews 12:22-29
Yesterday, we began our “tale of two mountains” from Hebrews 12. You need to reed that one before you begin today’s. Because today it’s all about a different, contrasting mountain.
Mount Zion
Because we (and the original audience of Hebrews) have not come to the terrifying sight of Mt Sinai. Instead:
12:22-24 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.The writer takes us to ‘Mount Zion’, which in a physical sense is the mountain on which Jerusalem was built. But in a symbolic sense, ‘Mount Zion’ is the dwelling place of God. And just in case we were tempted to think of the literal mountain, he describes it as ‘the heavenly Jerusalem’.
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