Incredible depth and detail that opened up the Mass Readings for me.
Please please put it on a DVD..
Great introduction to the catechism. Left me wanting more. We need a explanation on every paragraph.
walk you through the whole passion, but highlight key elements of the passion in the Gospel of Matthew showing you two things. First, what are the unique elements in Matthew's Gospel? There are certain things that are only in Matthew's passion. And second, even more importantly, how does the passion of Christ fulfill the Old Testament? In other words, what do each of the events in Jesus’ passion mean from a Jewish perspective? How would they have been received in a first century Jewish setting, especially Matthew being a very Jewish gospel, and what was he fulfilling in carrying out these actions? So what I'll be doing is I’ll walk through basically seven key points of the passion narrative. And I want to use key verses to show you how Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament and revealing himself to be the long awaited Messiah, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the whole world.
So let's begin. I'll be taking verses from Matthew chapter 26 through 27, which is the passion narrative. And I think I said three full chapters but it is in fact just two full chapters, but they’re long chapters! So let's walk through that together. The passion narrative in the Gospel of Matthew begins first and foremost with the handing over of Jesus by Judas and the account of the Last Supper. And one of the things you will notice in Matthew's passion narrative is that he emphasizes over and over again that the Last Supper was a Passover meal. So let's begin with the Passover. For example, in Matthew 26:17 it says:
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?” He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.'" And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover.
Okay, so pause there. Matthew goes on to recount the words of institution and the Last Supper. Why is he stressing so much that the Last Supper was a Passover meal? Well in a first century Jewish context anyone would've known that the Passover meal was the annual memorial of the deliverance of the 12 tribes of Israel from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. So, on the Passover night the lamb was sacrificed, unleavened bread was eaten, and Israel was finally set free. They were redeemed. They were delivered. And they began their journey home to the promised land. So when Jesus institutes the Eucharist, the Last Supper, in the context of the Jewish Passover meal, he is, in a sense, inaugurating the new Passover. And so his Passover is similar to the old Passover. It takes place on Passover night, involves the sacrifice of the lamb with the Apostles preparing the Passover meal, but is also different because in this Passover meal, Jesus identifies himself as the new Passover lamb. This is my body. This is my blood. And then he commands the disciples to carry out this Passover meal. And so the question is, what's new about the new Passover? Well, one key element I want to highlight here...I could go into a lot more depth. My book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, I have a whole book on this...but for tonight I just want to emphasize one point. The old Passover began in Egypt and ended in Jerusalem, in the earthly promised land. It was a journey from Egypt to Canaan. But the new passover of Jesus, in his passion, begins in Jerusalem, and where does it end? Well it ends with his resurrection and his ascension into the heavenly promised land.
So Jesus now is inaugurating this new Passover of a new Exodus that is ultimately going to lead to him passing over from this world into heaven, into the life of the Trinity, into the heavenly realm of the father, into the heavenly promised land. So that's what his whole passion is about: setting in motion that new Exodus with a new Passover. It also shows you that if he is the true lamb that we have to eat his flesh in the Eucharist. That's point number one. Matthew is showing us the new Passover.
The second observation I want to make about Matthew's Gospel is in the account of the garden of Gethsemane. After he tells us about the Last Supper in Matthew 26:30 and following, Matthew gives us an account of Jesus' agony in the garden and notice he highlights two elements here. First he says this:
when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.
So the Mount of Olives was a mountain east of the city of Jerusalem where Jesus and his disciples travel across the valley east of the city, and they go to this mountain of olives. And there Jesus predicts that they're going to betray him, that they're going to abandon him, and then he begins to pray. And Matthew tells us that Jesus went with them to a special place called Gethsemane, and there he said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray, and his agony begins. So what is the significance of the agony in the garden taking place on the Mount of Olives in the garden of Gethsemane? Any first century Jew reading the passion of Christ would've known that the Hebrew for Gethsemane meant an oil press. So Jesus goes over to the mountain of olives into the garden where they would press olives to make oil, and that's where his passion begins. That’s where his agony begins. As he begins to take the sufferings and the sin of humanity upon himself, and he asked his disciples, “pray that you not be put to the test.” He says “my soul is sorrowful even unto death. Wait here. Keep awake with me.” So why does Matthew emphasize in his passion narrative that Jesus’ agony takes place on the mountain of olives and in the garden named after an olive oil press? Well one possibility is that in ancient Jewish tradition they believed that the tree of life that was placed in the garden of Eden was actually an olive tree. So if you read ancient Jewish writings outside the Bible like the life of Adam and Eve they actually say that the tree of knowledge was a fig tree and the tree of life was an olive tree. So Matthew may be highlighting here not just the historical fact that Jesus is on the Mount of olives, and that he goes to his passion in the Garden of olives, in the garden of Gethsemane, but he may see our connection with the Jewish tradition of the tree of life. Because what does Jesus do? He's going to go to the wood of the cross, and pour out his life for the sins of humanity so that we might have the forgiveness of our sins, and that we might be restored to paradise. We might be restored to Eden. So it's fitting that if the fall of Adam and Eve took place in a garden where the center of the garden was an olive tree, that Christ now is going to redeem humanity in a garden where olive trees grow. In a sense, he's going back to Eden as the new Adam in order to inaugurate not just the new Exodus in a new Passover, but the beginning of a new creation where he’s going to make all things new, through his passion, through his death, and through his resurrection. So that’s the second fulfillment: new Passover and also new Adam.
walk you through the whole passion, but highlight key elements of the passion in the Gospel of Matthew showing you two things. First, what are the unique elements in Matthew's Gospel? There are certain things that are only in Matthew's passion. And second, even more importantly, how does the passion of Christ fulfill the Old Testament? In other words, what do each of the events in Jesus’ passion mean from a Jewish perspective? How would they have been received in a first century Jewish setting, especially Matthew being a very Jewish gospel, and what was he fulfilling in carrying out these actions? So what I'll be doing is I’ll walk through basically seven key points of the passion narrative. And I want to use key verses to show you how Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament and revealing himself to be the long awaited Messiah, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the whole world.
So let's begin. I'll be taking verses from Matthew chapter 26 through 27, which is the passion narrative. And I think I said three full chapters but it is in fact just two full chapters, but they’re long chapters! So let's walk through that together. The passion narrative in the Gospel of Matthew begins first and foremost with the handing over of Jesus by Judas and the account of the Last Supper. And one of the things you will notice in Matthew's passion narrative is that he emphasizes over and over again that the Last Supper was a Passover meal. So let's begin with the Passover. For example, in Matthew 26:17 it says:
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?” He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.'" And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover.
Okay, so pause there. Matthew goes on to recount the words of institution and the Last Supper. Why is he stressing so much that the Last Supper was a Passover meal? Well in a first century Jewish context anyone would've known that the Passover meal was the annual memorial of the deliverance of the 12 tribes of Israel from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. So, on the Passover night the lamb was sacrificed, unleavened bread was eaten, and Israel was finally set free. They were redeemed. They were delivered. And they began their journey home to the promised land. So when Jesus institutes the Eucharist, the Last Supper, in the context of the Jewish Passover meal, he is, in a sense, inaugurating the new Passover. And so his Passover is similar to the old Passover. It takes place on Passover night, involves the sacrifice of the lamb with the Apostles preparing the Passover meal, but is also different because in this Passover meal, Jesus identifies himself as the new Passover lamb. This is my body. This is my blood. And then he commands the disciples to carry out this Passover meal. And so the question is, what's new about the new Passover? Well, one key element I want to highlight here...I could go into a lot more depth. My book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, I have a whole book on this...but for tonight I just want to emphasize one point. The old Passover began in Egypt and ended in Jerusalem, in the earthly promised land. It was a journey from Egypt to Canaan. But the new passover of Jesus, in his passion, begins in Jerusalem, and where does it end? Well it ends with his resurrection and his ascension into the heavenly promised land.
So Jesus now is inaugurating this new Passover of a new Exodus that is ultimately going to lead to him passing over from this world into heaven, into the life of the Trinity, into the heavenly realm of the father, into the heavenly promised land. So that's what his whole passion is about: setting in motion that new Exodus with a new Passover. It also shows you that if he is the true lamb that we have to eat his flesh in the Eucharist. That's point number one. Matthew is showing us the new Passover.
The second observation I want to make about Matthew's Gospel is in the account of the garden of Gethsemane. After he tells us about the Last Supper in Matthew 26:30 and following, Matthew gives us an account of Jesus' agony in the garden and notice he highlights two elements here. First he says this:
when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.
So the Mount of Olives was a mountain east of the city of Jerusalem where Jesus and his disciples travel across the valley east of the city, and they go to this mountain of olives. And there Jesus predicts that they're going to betray him, that they're going to abandon him, and then he begins to pray. And Matthew tells us that Jesus went with them to a special place called Gethsemane, and there he said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray, and his agony begins. So what is the significance of the agony in the garden taking place on the Mount of Olives in the garden of Gethsemane? Any first century Jew reading the passion of Christ would've known that the Hebrew for Gethsemane meant an oil press. So Jesus goes over to the mountain of olives into the garden where they would press olives to make oil, and that's where his passion begins. That’s where his agony begins. As he begins to take the sufferings and the sin of humanity upon himself, and he asked his disciples, “pray that you not be put to the test.” He says “my soul is sorrowful even unto death. Wait here. Keep awake with me.” So why does Matthew emphasize in his passion narrative that Jesus’ agony takes place on the mountain of olives and in the garden named after an olive oil press? Well one possibility is that in ancient Jewish tradition they believed that the tree of life that was placed in the garden of Eden was actually an olive tree. So if you read ancient Jewish writings outside the Bible like the life of Adam and Eve they actually say that the tree of knowledge was a fig tree and the tree of life was an olive tree. So Matthew may be highlighting here not just the historical fact that Jesus is on the Mount of olives, and that he goes to his passion in the Garden of olives, in the garden of Gethsemane, but he may see our connection with the Jewish tradition of the tree of life. Because what does Jesus do? He's going to go to the wood of the cross, and pour out his life for the sins of humanity so that we might have the forgiveness of our sins, and that we might be restored to paradise. We might be restored to Eden. So it's fitting that if the fall of Adam and Eve took place in a garden where the center of the garden was an olive tree, that Christ now is going to redeem humanity in a garden where olive trees grow. In a sense, he's going back to Eden as the new Adam in order to inaugurate not just the new Exodus in a new Passover, but the beginning of a new creation where he’s going to make all things new, through his passion, through his death, and through his resurrection. So that’s the second fulfillment: new Passover and also new Adam.