"Matthew 24-28"
Watch
Listen
Read
In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a high school senior skips school, reasoning that, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" I may not let my kids use that line to ditch school, but he has a point. As we race through our days, we lose sight of the forest when we fixate on the trees. Likewise, a through-the-Bible reading plan can keep us zooming through chapters without realizing how it fits together.
So before we wrap up the book, let's "stop and look around" at Matthew's gospel, noticing how five of Christ's sermons take center stage in this book. Each sermon’s design lends itself to teaching and memorization. And each ends by saying what happened "when he had finished" speaking (Matt. 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). Let's look at how these sermons have fit into the story of Jesus in Matthew.
The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7)
After Matthew's introduction took us from Christ's birth to his early ministry (Matt. 1-4), we got a window into the kind of teaching that grabbed people's attention. "And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him" (Matt. 7:28-8:1).
The Missionary Sermon (Matt. 10)
After Jesus chose his apostles, he sent them with a warning of persecutions (Matt. 10:16-25), a promise of providence (Matt. 10:26-32), and a sense of authority (Matt. 10:40). "When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples" he continued preaching throughout Galilee (Matt. 11:1). But controversy grew in the next set of stories, fulfilling the sermon's foreboding tone.
The Parable Sermon (Matt. 13)
Christ's parables painted earthly pictures to illustrate the kingdom of God. They hid the truth from some but illuminated it for others, and the difference between these two groups becomes even clearer in the next stories. "And when Jesus had finished these parables" he faced rejection in his hometown (Matt. 13:53-58) before turning to others, including Gentiles (Matt. 15:21-39).
The Church Sermon (Matt. 18)
Here, Jesus directed congregational life, prompted by a question about "Who is the greatest in the kingdom" (Matt. 18:1). "Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan" (Matt. 19:1), transitioning from Galilee to his Judean ministry.
The Sermon of Predictions (Matt. 24 & 25)
On Monday and Tuesday (Matt. 24 & 25), Jesus predicts the fall of Jerusalem and the temple (Matt. 24:1-34), then explains his final coming in judgment (Matt. 24:35-25:46). "_When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said … "the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”" (Matt. 26:1–2). So the final chapters of the book will lead us through the betrayal night (Matt. 26), crucifixion (Matt. 27), and resurrection of the Lord (Matt. 28).
All of these sermons share an underlying theme: separation. The Lord's trial gives us a final, literal example of what we've seen throughout the book — people deciding what they think about this figure. As a familiar hymn says, "What will you do with Jesus?"
Then at the end of the book, the disciples receive a commission to instill all of the Lord's teaching in new disciples throughout the world (Matt. 28:19-20). How fitting that this book of Christ's sermons closes with a command for _us_ to continue Jesus' ministry of teaching!
