Matthew 23 follows the section on the attempts of the religious leaders of Jerusalem to trap Jesus and this latter's remark about the Messiah (22:15-46). Jesus is the Wisdom of God who has come with the authority of the Son to judge the religious leaders of the Jews. In Matthew 23, Jesus makes explicit the judgment on the scribes and the Pharisees. It concludes with the lament over Jerusalem which in this chapter symbolizes the resistance to God's will seen in the actions of its leaders. Below is an outline of the chapter.

In Matthew 11:25-30, Jesus' prayer of thanksgiving becomes an occassion for teaching something about himself and the Father and for inviting all to find rest in Him. In these lines, He comes out as the Son through whom the Father has dispensed all the good things he intends for His children. Only those who have become children of the Father in their adherence to Jesus can know the Father's will as it is revealed through His Son.

Matthew 11:25-30 can be divided into two sets of verses. The first (vv. 25-27) has been called "The Messianic Shout of Joy" (Jubelruf). It is a Q logion that appears in Luke 10:21-22 with some differences. The parallel in Luke appears as Jesus' joyful response to the rejoicing of the seventy-two who return with a positive experience of their mission. In Matthew, Jesus rejoices right after he expresses woes over the towns which have rejected him. Within this saying is a verse that expresses the intimacy that exists between the Father and the Son (Matt. 11:26-27; Luke 10:22) and sounds like something taken from the Gospel of John.

The second set of verses (vv. 28-30) is from Matthew's store of materials, unique to him. Here, the key words or phrases are "give you rest", "yoke" and "burden" and the verb "learn". In "Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 1", Benedict XVI, working on materials provided by Neusner, concurs with this latter in showing that these verses go with the immediately following controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath and is better understood within the Sabbath theme1. However, he also adds that this second set of verses develop further the Messianic Jubelruf.

1. 1. Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth I, pp. 109-110

Matthew's account of the resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10) can be outlined as follows:

• Setting and witnesses (1)
• The Stone Rolled Away (2-4)
• Proclamation of the Resurrection (5-7)
• The Witnesses Meet Jesus (8-10)

Jesus' teaching on Mammon, Worry-Free Living and the Kingdom are found in the immediate context formed by Matthew 6:19-34 which follows the section on Pious Practices in the Sermon on the Mount. Below is an outline that illustrates how Matthew 6:24-34 appears within the Sermon on the Mount.

The righteousness that Jesus teaches his disciples is that of the children of God. Their obedience to the will of God should not be characterized by legalism but by love. In the following two examples, Jesus underlines generosity and kindness in regard to the talion law and the law about loving one's neighbor.

After Jesus calls his audience the salt and light of humanity (=world), he explains how: (a) by adherence to the will of God as expressed in the Torah and interpreted by Jesus himself and (b) by a life of faith that is more perfect than that of the scribes and Pharisees. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount unfolds these two requirements ending with a warning regarding those who just listen but not do what Jesus says (Mt. 7:27).

After the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount opens up with a declaration with the second person plural (You) as the subject: "You are salt ... you are light..." The idea in 5:11-12 is carried over here. Those who suffer persecution for the sake of Jesus are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Matthew 6:1-18 continues the Sermon on the Mount, but is a unit that can be distinguished from the following by the theme of "what to treasure" (6:19) and from the preceding by the pattern "you've heard it said ... now I tell you". To be sure, it is a continuation of the topic regarding the "justice that surpasses that of the Pharisees" (5:20). Now, however, the emphasis is on the contrast between "doing in secret" and "doing for show" . The passage can be outlined as follows:

Related Materials

• Mag-aral Tayo: Mga Gawaing Banal (Matt. 6:1-6.16-18)

At the climax of Eschatological Discourse in Matthew, Jesus speaks of the judgment of the Son of Man. It is a judgment on the "nations" and is therefore to be distinguished from the previous parables of judgment where members of the Matthaean community are targetted.

Introduction

The episode about the two greatest commandments appears in all Synoptic gospels in different contexts. In Mark and Matthew, it appears within a a series of disputations with the power groups of Jerusalem. In Luke, it appears in the context of Jesus' journey towards Jerusalem and introduces the parable about the Good Samaritan. Matthew follows the outline of Mark in presenting the episode. The Pharisees are out to "test" Jesus. In Matthew's gospel, this has been happening since the time Jesus heals a man with a withered hand in a synagogue (Matthew 12:14). The resolve then was to "destroy" Jesus (12:14). Since then, Matthew presents the question about a sign (16:1-4) and the question about divorce (19:1-12) as specific examples by which the Pharisees carry out their plan. After Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and the commotion he causes in the Temple, he is approached first by chief priests and elders who ask him about his authority, then by students and Pharisees and Herodians (22:15-22), Sadducees (22:23-33) and finally by the Pharisees themselves.