Water and Mountains (Part 4)
symbolism in Matthew 21-24:2 ish
Introduction
This is the fourth blog post tracing Jesus’ path of travel and several themes in Matthew chapter 14-25 ish. If you missed the previous blogs, here are links.
I’ve been exploring repeated themes in Matthew’s gospel. It’s remarkable! Matthew seems to outline how Jesus is the Way by using mountain and water references like directions to following Christ. Matthew also combines family terms and separation terms to explain what this new family of God is to keep out and diligently pursue. We cast out sin; we pursue and welcome the least of these.
New Bits
Matthew, chapters 21-25, continues the children's theme with an added variation. God’s children are now named as the sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors. They believed and followed John’s gospel of repentance. In contrast to them are those selling things in the temple. Matthew seems to be using these salesmen and robbers to describe the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, elders, scribes, and teachers of the law.
These two categories of people—sinners & salesmen—add to what Jesus has already said about following him. Those who follow Jesus are like reborn children who’ve passed through a watery baptism of trials and tests. They stand firm through these trials by taking in Jesus like food and being healed by him. This new spiritual family learns how to say “no” to what causes sin and “yes” to giving up everything to pursue the least of these as the greatest of all. This returns our spiritual eyesight to us.
In chapters 21-24:2, Matthew brings in another symbol: the Temple. The Temple here may refer to the physical structure, Christ’s body, and/or the Church. John 2:19-21 clearly says that Jesus used the temple to refer to his body. Then the Apostle Paul refers to the Church as Jesus’ body. 2 Corinthians 2:26 says we are the temple of God. And Revelation 3:12 refers to believers as pillars in the temple of God. Micah 4 references the temple as a mountain where we acquire the Lord’s teaching. (Btw: Micah 4-7 has many parallel symbols in this section of Matthew: mountains, a fig tree, vineyard, temple, serpents, sea, childbearing, dishonest scales, judgment, etc. Jesus even quotes Micah 6:8 in this passage. Coincide? I think not.)
All this to say, what Jesus says and does in the temple is like what he does in and among those who follow him.
Another newish element in this section is the fate of those who don’t produce fruit. I’m going to refer to this fate as Judgment.
Chapter Summaries
Here is a summary of Matthew chapters 21-24:2 and some possible meanings.
Ch 21:1-11 Children & Mountain: Jesus rides up into Jerusalem to fulfill prophecy. Crowds welcome him with hosannas.
Possible Meanings: Those who have given up everything to follow Christ recognize him as the coming king. By following Jesus they’re cured of their spiritual blindness (Matt 20:29-34) and welcome Christ into their lives, i.e. their temple. There, Jesus cleanses them, like Jesus does the temple.
Ch 21:12-17 Salsemen, Cleansing, Temple, Healing, Children: Jesus enters the temple and drives out the salesmen. He says his house is to be one of prayer. Jesus heals people in the temple. Then the chief priests and scribes protest the children’s hosannas. Finally, Jesus goes to Bethany.
Possible Meanings: Matthew previously explained how followers of Christ are to cut out what causes sin and to pursue the least of these. Here Jesus does just that. Jesus casts out the salesman and heals the lowly. This is like a snapshot of what Jesus does in the hearts of those who follow him.
Salesmen represent the religious leaders here. They are the opposite of the healed children of God. The salesmen use the temple for their own gain. The children of God’s kingdom welcome Jesus’ cleansing healing, but the salesmen reject Jesus’ cleansing process.
Ch 21:18-22 Fruit, Sea, Mountain, Judgement: Upon returning to Jerusalem, Jesus sees a fruitless fig tree. He curses it and it withers. The disciples are amazed and Jesus tells them that through faith they can cast a mountain into the sea.
Possible Meanings: Jesus shows what happens to those who don’t produce fruit. The salesmen/religious leaders are those who are not producing fruit. By the power and authority of Jesus, they will wither and die like the fig tree. Isaiah also uses mountains as something that Christ will make low (Is 40:5), so maybe Jesus is saying that through faith, the proud earthly rulers will be humbled by trials and testing. This hints at the judgment to come to those who do not follow Jesus.
Ch 21:23-27 Temple, Water (baptism) & Judgement: Jesus begins his sermon in the temple when the chief priests and the elders question Jesus’ authority. Jesus likens his authority to John’s by asking if John’s authority was of God. The chief priests and the elders refuse to answer the question because they didn’t believe in John’s baptism; however, the people did.
Possible Meanings: Matthew seems to be pointing out that Jesus’ authority comes through a baptism of repentance, which the chief priests and elders don’t recognize. Maybe this is why Jesus chose to be baptized. Those who wish to follow Jesus must begin with baptism. The religious leaders don’t see that they have anything to repent of, thus they didn’t believe in John’s baptism. As a result, they can’t understand Jesus’ authority. This makes them unable to produce fruit like the previously mentioned fig tree. Therefore, Jesus will soon judge them to wither and die like the fig tree too.
Ch 21:28-46 & Ch 22:1-14 Sinners, Fruit, Marriage, & Judgment: Jesus next tells three parables: the Willing & Unwilling Sons, the Wicked Tenants, & the Wedding Feast. The three parables contrast two groups: those who pretend to be willing but aren’t versus those who have a change of heart; those who don’t produce fruit and murder the heir versus those who will produce fruit; those who reject the wedding invitation versus the outcasts who are invited and who put on the wedding clothes. Matthew says the religious leaders know Jesus is talking about them. Jesus tells them, “Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Possible Meanings: Matthew seems to use these three parables to further contrast the healed sinners and salesmen. The salesmen pretend to obey God on the outside but don’t in their hearts. The salesmen don’t produce fruit in keeping with John’s baptism of repentance and they will eventually kill Christ. And the salesmen refuse to attend the wedding banquet of Jesus and his Church. The part about the stone seems to foreshadow how Jesus will judge the salesmen. They will be cast out and rejected.
Ch 22:15-22 Authority & water: The Pharisees & Herodians try to trap Jesus by asking him if they should pay taxes to Ceasar. Jesus replies, “Render to Ceasar that which is Ceasars and to God what is God’s.”
Possible Meanings: This echoes Matt 17:24-27 where Peter catches a fish to pay the temple tax. This also harkens back to Matt 21:23-27 where the religious leaders ask Jesus by whose authority he cleansed the temple. Jesus here differentiates between earthly authority and heavenly authority. The religious leaders’ authority is earthly and Jesus’ followers must pay their dues to it. However, Jesus’ authority is heavenly and cleanses people’s hearts like John’s baptism of repentance. Jesus’ authority also dresses us for the wedding where Christ will be the groom.
Ch 22:23-46 Marriage & Children: Now comes three tests. The Sadducees test Jesus about marriage. Then the Pharisees test Jesus about the greatest commandment. Then Jesus tests the Pharisees about why David called the Messiah (the son of David) his lord.
Possible Meanings: Sandwiched between these tests, Jesus states what’s at the heart of the religious leaders’ issue. First: They don’t understand that the law protects marriage. They use the law about marriage for their own purposes. If they did understand the heart of the law, they would understand that marriage on earth foreshadows the church’s marriage with Christ. Second: They rate God’s laws in order of importance for their own purposes. If they understood what God’s laws were for, they would love God and his people more than having the power to rate God’s laws. Third: They use their heritage to defend their status. But if they understood the significance of their heritage, they would accept the Messiah as lord over the children of Abraham, including David and themselves. In conclusion, the religious leaders neither know the scriptures nor the power of God (Matt 22:29).
Ch 23:1-11 Children & Authority: Jesus tells his followers to obey the religious leaders but don’t act like them. The religious leaders don’t practice what they preach. They weigh down others with things that they themselves aren’t willing to do. And they make a show of their religious lives. They love other’s respect and regard. Jesus tells his disciples not to call each other “fathers,” “instructors,” or “Rabbis” but to be servants and slaves to each other.
Possible Meanings: Again, this harkens back to what Jesus has said about authority in Matt 19:27-30 and 20:24-28. Jesus’ disciples must pay their dues to the religious leaders to not give offense (Matt 17:27). However, Jesus’ disciples are not to lord their authority over others like the Gentile authorities do. Rather they are to act like servants and slaves to each other. This is what separates the sinners from the salesmen. God’s power cleanses. Earthly power lords and robs. Those who sacrifice everything for the least participate in heavenly power, which cleanses through watery trials. Those who use God’s people for gain fall into the same category as the Gentile rulers. They are like outsiders who produce no fruit and know nothing of scripture or God’s power.
Ch 23:12-39 Temple, Washing, Children: Jesus speaks many woes to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They lead people away from God’s kingdom. They make people worse instead of better. They designate certain parts of the temple as more binding than others. They tithe 10% of their spices but don’t act justly, mercifully, and faithfully. They look clean on the outside but are dead inside.
Possible Meanings: Oh my! This gets interesting. Because the religious leaders don’t believe in John’s baptism of repentance, they refuse to be cleansed of their sins and follow Jesus’ Way. They, like salesmen, use God’s children to create an earthly system of power and respect for themselves. They portion out some of their wealth to God, instead of sacrificing everything to treat others justly, mercifully, and faithfully (Micah 6 quote here.)
If the temple symbolizes God’s people and all this talk of “oaths” refers to what has more binding power in the temple, then Matthew seems to be saying that the religious leaders are using their power to designate who has greater power to “bind and loose on earth” than others. Remember Jesus used this “binding and loosing” terminology in Matt 16:19 and 18:18 to refer to casting out sin and sacrificing everything to seek the lost. The religious leaders seem to be using their “binding and losing power,” not to get rid of their own sin and pursue the lost, but to exalt themselves over others. Jesus corrects their thinking on this in verse 11 by showing how God is represented in the whole temple. All of God’s children who follow Christ have God’s power to bind and loose on earth and heaven.
Ch 23:29-36 Washing, Children, Temple, & Judgment: Jesus continues his woes to the Pharisees. He says they pretend that they don’t repeat their forefathers’ mistakes. Jesus calls them a brood of vipers. How will they escape judgment? Jesus says they will murder the prophets, teachers, and sages that Jesus sends to them. Jesus ends this rant by wishing that he, like a mother, could gather Jerusalem to himself like a child, but the Jews would have none of it. So her house will be left desolate.
Possible Meanings: This part parallels John’s message in Matt 3:7-12. Both Jesus and John comment on the religious leaders’ lineage. In John’s message, the religious leaders are claiming special status through being part of Abraham’s family. Jesus says the religious leaders fail to see how they are just as wicked as the generations that came before them. Let me put John and Jesus’ messages together for you: while the religious leaders claim to be part of God’s family, they don’t believe they are sinners like God’s family was; therefore, they aren’t really God’s family. John and Jesus both call the religious leaders a brood of vipers, which eat their young. It’s like John and Jesus are calling the religious leaders murderers who are unable to produce fruit-bearing children. Therefore, they will be left desolate.
Ch 24:1-2 Temple, Mountain, & Cleansing: Jesus leaves the temple. His disciples draw his attention to the beauty of the temple. Jesus says it’s all coming down.
Possible Meanings: This could have several meanings. 1) Jesus’ physical departure from the temple symbolizes that after his death, the temple curtain will be torn in two and eventually the temple itself will be destroyed. 2) This could also mean that Jesus will cleanse his Church through the destruction of his own body 3) This could also mean that we are cleansed when we follow Jesus’ example in sacrificing everything for the sake of God’s children. This echoes the previous cycle of mountain top and watery experiences. Jesus has just come down from the mountain of Jerusalem where he cleansed the temple. He will now cleanse his people through his own mountain-top death. And we are to follow him.
Conclusion
Matthew Chapter 21-24:2 contrasts God’s children with those who trip up God’s children. It also explains the differences between Jesus’ power and the religious leader’s power.
Those who are God’s children follow John’s baptism of repentance; those who are religious salesmen deny that they need to repent and pretend they are different than all the other leaders before them.
Jesus’ power cleanses us from the inside out; the religious leaders’ power is merely for show and it’s used to bind and lose the wrong things.
Jesus’ power comes from sacrificing everything and becoming a servant to others. The religious leaders’ power is merely to establish earthly systems of power for themselves.
Jesus’ power produces fruit in keeping with repentance that serves as our clothes for our wedding with Christ. The religious leaders’ power produces no fruit. Those who follow the religious leaders’ way will be cut off and thrown out of God’s presence.
This was quite a sobering section. Wasn’t it? Stay tuned for the next segment. The link below will be available after next week.