Love One Another

On July 5th Michaela will lead a discussion based on the material from lesson 23 in the gospel doctrine manual. Here is a link to the teachers manual and here is a link to the class member study guide.

Waiting for the Lord

On Sunday June 28 we will discuss Matthew 25. It is lesson 22 in the gospel doctrine instructor's manual. And here is a link to lesson 22 in the gospel doctrine class member study guide.

Matthew 24 focused on the Parousia, the physical presence of the Lord, usually translated as the second coming.

In Matthew 25, Jesus suggests what attitudes and actions to have while we, as believers, wait for that moment of renewal. I think this chapter points to what Tom Griffith has called the vertical and the horizontal pull of the atonement. In other words, while waiting for the bridegroom to return, we are invited to look up to Christ (vertical) and out to the poor, the sick, and the captive (horizontal).

There are three passages in Matthew 25:

The parable of the foolish and wise virgins

• How does this parable relate to Christ's lesson in Matthew 7.22-23?
• What does this parable suggest about how we are to wait?
• What does this imply about how we live our faith each day?

 The parable of the talents

• First, remember that a talent is a substantial sum of money. While it's impossible to say what the precise equivalent is, some suggest that a single talent is worth a million US dollars today. Many translations use the phrase "bag of gold" (instead of "talent") to underscore the amount in question.
• How is this parable related to the Parousia (Matthew 24) and to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins?
• What prevents the slothful servant from investing the money he is given? How might this be relevant to us?
• In the preceding parable, the foolish virgins are foolish because they go into the market instead of waiting; in this parable, the unprofitable servant is unprofitable because he doesn't go into the market while waiting. How might you explain this apparent contradiction?

The sheep and the goats

• This passage relates what will happen when the Son of Man comes in his glory: he will divide the wise from the foolish, the profitable servants from the unprofitable ones, the sheep from the goats.
• Like many websites that discuss sheep and goats, this one states, "If you look closely at sheep and goats, you'll notice their physical differences and be able to distinguish between the two." The implication is that the difference isn't readily obvious: you have to "look closely" to distinguish sheep from goats. What does this imply about the judgment described in Matthew 25.31-33?
• How is this passage (Matthew 25.31-46) connected to the parable of the talents? (By the way, the answer to this question is, I think, the key to understanding the parable of the talents.)

June 21

The lesson for June 21 is lesson 21. Michaela is slated to teach.

Accepting the King

Gospel doctrine manual lesson 20.

Lesson for June 14. Taught by Corry.

In class we will focus on passages from Matthew 21 and Matthew 22.

Jesus enters as king in Jerusalem. He choreographs a triumphant entry that makes him a fulfillment of prophecies found in Genesis and Zechariah and comes with supporters from Bethphage and Bethany (where he had recently raised Lazarus from the grave) who herald him as "Son of David." He then goes to the temple where he overturns the tables of the money changers and calls the temple, "My house."

After Jesus cleanses the temple, the religious leaders ("chief priests and elders") in Jerusalem question his authority. They had authority through their schooling and moral living; Jesus was just an upstart without the proper credentials! Jesus's responses suggest that they have gotten in the way of their own salvation, that their understanding of religious authority prevents them from recognizing divine authority from the Father.  He offers several examples of how religious people fail to recognize Christ as king:

1) They put themselves in the place of God
Read the parable of the husbandmen/tenants (21.28-46)
Who do the different people represent?
How might people today be guilty of "killing the son" in the way the tenants do in this parable?

2) They don't want to change or give up the life they have
Read the parable of the wedding banquet (22.1-14)
Who are the first guests and why don't they come?
Who replaces them?
What's up with the garment story (verses 11-14)?

3) They put their ultimate faith in worldly structures
Read the account of the imperial head tax (22.15-22)
The coin in question is a denarius. Read about it here. What is its significance?
What does Christ's response imply about political power structures?
What should our commitment be to them?
What ultimately will change the world, according to this passage?