When I wrote the initial conclusion to this study of the Lord’s Prayer, the Sermon on the Mount, and Matthew’s Gospel I never intended on revisiting the writings for any reason other than for basic editing. Over the past few weeks, however, I’ve come to realize that something was missing; […] Read more
A long time ago — some two thousand years now — an unnamed student dared to make a request of his teacher. This student had seen his teacher engaged in prayer many times, in fact, he had most likely heard him pray as well, but on this day that student […] Read more
I usually walk my dog each day along one of the many local park trails and I allow my mind to wander. One day I found myself thinking about a lesson I learned during my time in the theater: the meaning of any sentence is largely determined by where the […] Read more
The words from the Lord’s Prayer ripple, not only through the pages of Matthew’s Gospel but also through the most famous of Jesus’s sermons, the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus sat down on the mountaintop to teach, I doubt that his disciples grasped the full breadth and depth of […] Read more
A number of years ago, in the hopes that I might learn a bit more about prayer, I began studying the disciples’ request in Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray,” and Jesus’s answer in Luke 11:2-4, the Lord’s Prayer. It wasn’t long before I felt compelled to reread the […] Read more
If Matthew had been recording the story of any other person, after the tomb was sealed, all he would have to write about would be the lives of Jesus’s friends over the next few days, months, and years. Such a story could possibly go on after their deaths, but eventually, […] Read more
Jesus, beaten senselessly, bleeding profusely, and stripped naked hangs on the cross for the world to see. Many people mock him, some ignore him, and his closest friends, those who were actually present, mourned him. Matthew writes, 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until […] Read more
Our deliverance from evil has been secured by means of Jesus’s deliverance unto evil. Matthew writes, 11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and […] Read more
It may seem redundant for me to say that the path leading toward the Father’s kingdom often runs through the valley of the shadow of death and close to our enemies who are enmeshed in evil, but redundant or not, it is true. A seminary professor once told me that […] Read more
Imagination is not required to see that the remainder of Matthew’s Gospel narrates a major battle in the war waged by the forces of evil as they attempt to bring God’s eternally powerful and glorious kingdom to its knees. The Father, from eternity past, planned that his Son, Jesus, by […] Read more