Exploring My Strange Bible - An Open-Minded Faith - Gospel of Matthew Part 17

Episode Date: August 20, 2018

This episode addresses faith in a story about Jesus healing a blind man in Matthew Chapter 9. In the Gospels, the word “faith” and specifically "having faith and trust in Jesus" really has a specific meaning. We see that different people have very different experiences with Jesus. Why the different reactions and responses? We address that question and more in this episode…

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. All right, well, in this episode, we're going to continue exploring the gospel according to Matthew. We're actually bringing to a close in this episode a major section of the gospel of Matthew.

We've been in a section of stories about Jesus from Matthew chapter 8 through 9. He's collected nine stories about Jesus healing the eyes of some blind men, which leads to a conversation with the people around them about faith or trust. If there's one religious word that's so overused, it's hard to know what it means anymore. It's the word faith. But in the Gospels, the word faith and specifically having faith or trust in Jesus has a really specific meaning and nuance. And that's what we're going to explore in this story. What we're going to see is that different people could come up to Jesus, the same Jesus, and have very different experiences

of him. Some people would walk away angry, convinced that he was a madman. Other people would walk away unimpressed, thinking that he was a rebel or a social subversive. Other people walked away completely changed, even healed after their interactions with Jesus. Why the different reactions and responses? And Jesus boils it down to whether or not someone is willing to have an open mind of a posture of trust and faith in him. And somehow that posture of openness unlocks the healing power and love of Jesus in our lives. This is a very powerful story, and it's very personal. The story of the healing of these blind men opens up a whole universe of implications for what it means for you and I to follow and continue to trust Jesus as each day goes by. So let's open our minds to what a posture of faith might look like for you today towards

Jesus. So let's go to Matthew chapter 9 and learn together. and learn together. Today's significant because we are at a turning point as we've been going through. We started last fall and we're going to be going for a while, but we're at a turning point because if you've noticed, if you've been following with us for the last nine Sundays, been following with us for the last nine Sundays, we have just been in stories about Jesus, one week after another. And there are stories that actually, if you've been paying attention, they all have a similar pattern, all of the stories in the last nine Sundays. It's been of somebody coming to Jesus, and they have some crisis. They have something wrong, either them or someone that they care about. And they come to Jesus, and then Jesus, he either does or says something awesome, usually both. And then

what happens is they walk away from that encounter just totally transformed. There you go. That's the basic plot line of almost every story that we've been doing in the last nine Sundays. And Matthew, as we're going to see, he's intentionally collected these nine stories all here together in these chapters. And we're coming to the conclusion of that body of stories. And then next week, we're going to be offered a new territory, a new kind of plot line begins in the gospel according to Matthew. And each of these Sundays, each of these, mostly these have been stories about people getting healed by Jesus physically, although sometimes it's just some kind of spiritual transformation that they undergo. And every one of these has given us some new angle on who Jesus is, some new facet of his personality or of his identity. And we're kind

of, it's like a mosaic, or think of like a stained glass window. Every story is contributing a piece that gives a new color, right, a new hue of who Jesus is and makes up this robust portrait. And so these stories right here, we have two more stories today, and they're short, aren't they? robust portrait. And so these stories right here, we have two more stories today, and they're short, aren't they? Right? There's a story of two blind men getting healed by Jesus, and then a story about this man who can't talk, and he's oppressed by spiritual evil, and then he's healed by Jesus. And then we have all these responses. And actually, I think it's these responses. There's two stories, but there's three responses to Jesus. Did you see it as we read through the story? There's three very different kinds of responses to Jesus, and they all illuminate something about who Jesus is, and that's

what we're going to focus on today. So who, look at, there's three responses. There's the blind men, there's the crowds. Did you notice the crowds response? And then we have the response of the religious leaders, the Pharisees. Three very different responses to Jesus and his words and his activity. I just want to take a brief minute to look at each of the three, and then that will open up a whole bunch of stuff for us to track down, and that will be fun, I think. It will be fun for me, for sure. And for that guy. He's having fun right now, and some of you will be doing that later this

afternoon. When it's 80 degrees, really? Come here at 5 p.m. and see how pleasant that is in the building. Okay, sorry. Okay, three responses. Blind men, the crowds, and the Pharisees. First of all, look at these two blind men. Look at verse 27. What's their response to Jesus? What do they call Jesus? When they see Jesus, well, when they see Jesus, they don't see Jesus coming. When they know that he's around and in their presence, they start following him. What do they say to Jesus? What's their response to him? They call out, they say, have mercy. And what do they say to Jesus? What's their response to him? They call out, they say, have mercy. And what do they call Jesus? The son of David. So their response is to call out for help.

And then they call him by this title, the son of David. Now, have you heard that title before? Maybe you have, you know, just in general. but you haven't heard it in the Gospel of Matthew. This is the first time that any of the characters in any of the stories call Jesus by this name, Son of David. What does that mean? They're Jewish, and they've grown up on the Jewish scriptures and hearing them in synagogue, and so they know all about the promise that God made to David. And maybe some of you do too. It's the promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7. And it's a promise that God made that from David's line would come a future king who would lead the people of Israel to justice and mercy and would set up God's kingdom over the nations of the world and bring peace and so on.

He's called the Messiah as the developing portrait of this figure goes on in the story of the Bible. And so this is the promised messianic king. That's what this title means, the king who comes from the line of David to make everything right. And so these blind men recognize Jesus as the son of David. They're the first people in the story to call Jesus by that title. But it's not the first time that you've heard that title before. Put your thumb right here and just go back to the first sentence

of the Gospel according to Matthew. Go back to page one of Matthew. And look at the first words of the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew begins his account. He says, this is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the what? The son of David. Do you see the connection there?

So Matthew, he's telling you, right? Matthew is not like reading a spy novel or something, right? He just gives you the punchline in the very first words of the book. Here's what this book's about. It's about a man named Jesus of Nazareth. And here is Matthew's claim about him. And then everything in the story that follow is going to substantiate that claim. Here's Matthew's claim.

He is Israel's, Jesus is Israel's Messiah, substantiate that claim. Here's Matthew's claim. He is Israel's, Jesus is Israel's Messiah, which means that he is the son of David who is promised by the prophets and the scriptures and so on. Now Matthew's made that claim, and now you as the reader, you have heard that claim about Jesus's identity. And it's interesting, then the story, it's not a spy novel where you're discovering things along with the characters. It's like you're, it's kind of like the one-way glass, right? That's what you are as you read the Gospel according to Matthew. It's like you're in this observation room and you're watching all the stories take place and you're like, oh, these idiots, you know, like they don't get it, you know,

clearly. And then you're, but you're watching people in the story slowly come to recognize who Jesus is. And these, go back to chapter 9 then with me, these, who, this is brilliant on Matthew's part, who are the first people to recognize the messianic identity of Jesus? Who are they in the story? Who are the first people to see Jesus for who he really is? Do you get it? That's brilliant. That's brilliant, isn't it? It's the blind who see before they actually see. It's the blind who see Jesus for who he really is before anybody else in the story. It's blind people who see Jesus. So I made a pun earlier

that you all laughed at, right? They see Jesus coming, but in a sense, that's true. That's Matthew's point. And so what's going on here? There's something going on inside of them that enables them to have this insight. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. So that's the first response. It's the blind who see Jesus for who he really is. That's the first response. Look at the second response of people. It's the crowds. Go down after Jesus heals the man who can't talk and he's demon-possessed and so on. And he heals that man.

And then look at verse 33. What's the response of the crowds? How do they respond to Jesus? What does Matthew say? He says they're amazed. And then their amazement is captured with their words. They say, nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel. And they're not just talking about the mute man speaking or the blind man seeing, although it is true. There is not any story in the Old Testament of someone whose eyes are non-functioning,

right? They're born that way or whatever. Their eyes are broken, and then they are transformed and able to see. There are stories about people becoming blind all of a sudden and then seeing again, but the idea of someone having broken eyes and then they're healed and transformed. This is Jesus. This is the first time in Jewish history where something like this is happening. So what's their response? Their response, it's not that they see Jesus for who he really is, but what do they recognize? They recognize like there's no categories for Jesus. Never seen anything like this. Nothing like this has ever happened. There's this openness to Jesus. Jesus doesn't fit any categories that they have already. Jesus is,

he is his own category. And the things that Jesus is doing is just remaking everything they've ever thought they knew or whatever. So you have the blind who see. Then you have the crowds who Jesus is redefining everything they thought they knew. And they have no categories for him. And their minds are blown. It's the second response. And then immediately Matthew gives you the third response here. The religious leaders.

Do you see? The Pharisees. And here's what they say, they say, it's by the prince of demons that he dries out demons. Now that's an interesting response. So they're clearly, they're responding to the fact that Jesus just healed this man who was not able to talk and who was oppressed by demons, spiritual evil. So really, it's to stop and just make sense of their response to Jesus. They just, they watch Jesus. Can they deny that Jesus just did this thing in front of their eyes? Can they deny that?

No, they can't deny that. Is Jesus powerful? Yes, right? Like that, Jesus is clearly powerful to do that for this man. But they immediately conclude that Jesus must be evil. Why do they conclude that? Because opposite, in contrast to these blind men who see Jesus for who he really is, and in contrast even to the crowds,

who they recognize they've never seen anything like this, but they're open, clearly. They're stunned, and they're allowing Jesus to remake their ideas about everything. But these Bible teachers, that's what Pharisees are, they're local Bible teachers, and they are coming from a place that they have already concluded who Jesus is. Do you see that? They recognize who Jesus really is, the blind. The crowds are open to who Jesus is. These guys have also concluded who Jesus is.

And it's not good. And so they've already made up their minds about who the God of Israel is. They're Bible teachers, right? They are leading the people of Israel in knowing and following the God of Israel. And so they see Jesus, and this is not the first time that they've been in conflict or they're suspicious of Jesus. We've seen that in these stories already. And so they believe they know the God of Israel already,

And so they believe they know the God of Israel already, and that Jesus is not only not on the God of Israel's side, but now they're coming to conclude that he is against the God of Israel, he's a false teacher, he's leading the people astray, and so on. And so they have this mindset already. They have already made up their minds about who Jesus is and who he's not. And so they observe the same exact events. Like, just think about this. You have the same event happening in front of all these people. And for some, these events lead them to see who Jesus is, the Messiah, the Son of David. For some, these events are blowing their minds and challenging everything. And those same exact events

make this group of people even more closed-minded than they already were in the first place. It's the same event, but three very different responses here. You have, you could say it this way, you could say you have the open minds of the blind, they're open to Jesus. You have the blown minds, right, of the crowd, and they're just like, holy cow, what is this? And then you have the blown minds right of the crowd and they're just like holy cow what is this and then you have the closed mind of the bible teachers because they are they think they already know everything they need to know about the god of israel and jesus doesn't fit into any of the boxes that they have and so they they box him out they conclude that he must be evil do you see that there are three very different responses.

And Matthew has chosen to close this account, as we're going to see, a whole collection of stories about Jesus' power and healings and so on, with this story of these three responses to Jesus. And what sets them apart? What sets the positive responses apart from the negative responses? What sets the positive responses apart from the negative responses? And go back and look at the story about the blind men. What do, after they call on Jesus as the son of David, Jesus proceeds to have a conversation with them, a little lecture. Jesus is prone to this, do you notice? It's like these really intense moments and everything's like, whoa. And then Jesus stops and like, hey, let's have a little talk.

And then he talks about it. And what do they end up talking about? Faith. Faith. Jesus says, do you believe that I am able to do this? Yeah, yeah. That's why we're here. They replied.

And so he touched their eyes and says, according to your faith. Faith. So right at the center of these three really different responses is this conversation and teaching of Jesus about faith. So right at the center of these three really different responses is this conversation and teaching of Jesus about faith. So what is it that makes people respond in these different ways, or what separates these responses apart? And it's faith. And this is not the first time we've seen faith come up in these stories, is it? Again, if you've been following the last nine Sundays, there was the story about the Roman soldier and his faith. There was the story about the lack of faith of the disciples

and the boat and the storm and that whole thing. There was the story of the faith of the paralyzed man and his friends, the faith of the woman who had the bleeding. That was last Sunday. Faith is a big theme in these stories. So it's like you have the Jesus stained glass window, of the woman who had the bleeding that was last Sunday. Right? Faith is a big theme in these stories. So it's like you have the Jesus stained glass window, and all these stories are giving us new insights into Jesus.

And then you also, from these stories, have a faith stained glass window. And we've been getting this really robust definition of what faith in Jesus looks like. And so here's another story that's going to help us see another angle on what it means to have faith. So before we say what faith is, if we think we already know, let's let the story define what faith is not. Whatever faith is, it marks these blind men, and I think the crowds also in a certain way, but it's clearly not what the Pharisees have going on. So what is faith not, for sure? It's not having a closed mind. See, the Pharisees have already made up their minds about who God is, what the world is like,

and it doesn't, Jesus doesn't fit. So they place Jesus in a box about a conclusion that they've already drawn because they already know who Jesus is and what he's about. He must be evil. Do you see that? It's a closed mind. So whatever faith is in this story, it's the opposite of thinking that you already know everything that you need to know. Which means that faith in this story, it's really, it's beautiful. And it's not something we would normally think of as a part of faith. Faith is about openness. One aspect of faith is that it's a commitment to be open to Jesus, but just open in general, right? Like, just openness to new ideas, to new ways of thinking about myself and thinking about who God is and about other people. It's a commitment to open-mindedness. Now, I'm pretty sure that none of us saw that coming, right, in a way.

But really think about that. To trust someone, that's what faith is. If you're trusting someone in any relationship, you're opening yourself. You're making yourself vulnerable to someone when you really trust in them and begin relying on them and bank on them. You're opening yourself. And

what you're doing is you're refusing to make a conclusion that you already know who this person is and what they're all about. And you say, well, actually, probably I don't know everything about this person and what they're all about. And so I'm going to open myself. I'm going to open, like maybe this person has new things to add to my life, and they have new things to say that I've never heard before. That's faith, right? And that's what I think the crowds have going on, and that's what these blind men have going on. They hear about Jesus. Who knows what they heard? They heard some reports. Should we believe them? Oh, he's been healing other people. Maybe he could hear us. No way. Is that possible? No, that's never happened in the history of Israel. There's never been blind

people healed in the history of Israel, but somehow they've got it in their minds that maybe, maybe the world is the kind of place where this Jesus could heal and transform me. That's a very hopeful, open-minded view of the world and of God, isn't it? It's a view of the world that there's possibilities. Because of Jesus, there's possibilities in the world that I haven't even imagined before. That's faith in these stories. It's the opposite of closed-mindedness. It's open-mindedness. Through Jesus, whole new possibilities open up, and it's a commitment to hold that trust in Jesus. You guys with me? Here? It's beautiful. It's beautiful.

And so let me just pause real quick here. And this happens to me sometimes, and I try to pay attention to it. I'm not the most observant person in the world, so I probably miss all kinds of cues. But over the last few months, I've had almost the same exact conversation with about half a dozen different people here around Door of Hope. And when I see that, I try and pay attention to it because I think there's something that Jesus wants me to see in that. And so it's been a conversation with people around Door of Hope who are newer Christians. They're new to following Jesus in the last year or two. And so that's always very

interesting to me, and I'm stoked that there's so many people like that around Door of Hope. And so I always want to hear people's stories, and how did that happen, and what's it been like. And a focus point in many conversations has been about what this person's friends or family think about their decision to follow Jesus. And they're all negative, like really negative. And sometimes it's funny, like the crazy things that people's family members think that they're signing up for, right? And especially Door of Hope, because we're not a part of a big denomination or something like that. I mean, they're like, what is this door of hope? You know, what is this church? They think we drink magic Kool-Aid or something together.

You know, and we're all going to move to Eastern Oregon or something and buy property together. Like, that's people's perception. That's the perception of these friends and family members that I was talking to. Like, why would you join something like that? Why would you follow something like that? Why would you follow something like Jesus? And it brought up for me a memory, really, that I had forgotten, but a significant one for me.

When I was 20 and I decided to follow Jesus, and it was all new and fresh to me, and the Bible was all new, and I remember I was just reconnecting with a family friend. It was a neighbor that had lived on our street over on 22nd and Hawthorne when I was growing up. And she's a really cool lady, and we would watch her daughter and so on, and we became friends growing up.

And so I was reconnecting with her, and I remember telling her about this whole new thing going on in my life and Jesus and following Jesus and how amazing it was and I I remember she she started crying we're having dinner right with some friends and she started crying and she was sad and she I mean she was like I'm you know I'm happy for you but I am I mean I'm I'm grieved that you would choose to adopt such a closed-minded view of the world.

I mean, clearly we had a history of being honest with each other, right? But I remember she told me that. Like, why would you choose to adopt such a narrow, closed view of the world? And I actually don't remember how that conversation ended, but that moment stuck. That was a while ago. But that moment stuck for me. And especially because, I mean, I'm not sure what to say except this. My experience of following Jesus has been exactly the opposite. Exactly the opposite. It's been through following Jesus that my mind has opened. Really. Quite literally. I was a horrible student. I swear Jesus turned my brain

on. But I became a Christian. I actually started reading books, something I really had never done before. And quite literally, my mind opened. But really, if you really are looking at who Jesus is and you're listening to his teachings, your mind can't remain closed. You can't be a closed-minded person and follow Jesus. I'm convinced of it. Because you'll miss everything that he's trying to say and do to you, you. And it's actually through following Jesus that my mind is open to other people, to relationships, and to history, and to nature. It's actually through Jesus that my eyes have opened to the world. My experience has been like the blind man. And so it requires an open mind to follow Jesus,

because you just have to open yourself to him in the first place, and that this world is the kind of place where a dead, executed man can conquer death and rise from the dead. Like, that's a whopper, right? So you have to deal with that one, like, whoa, I didn't know the world was like that, and now I have to make room for that, in my view, of the world. And then the implications of that, that he's still alive, and that his presence is real in the community, and that the scriptures bear witness to him, and so on. You guys with me here? Like, it requires an open mind to hear some new ideas and some new things, and then to actually follow Jesus and his teachings

and his vision of what it means to be a human being and have your life restored by him, that also requires a very open mind because it means you can't assume that you already know what it means to be a human being. What does it even mean to be a normal human being? You have to allow Jesus to redefine that, which requires an open mind because we have all these habits and patterns of how we live

and we think that's normal, and Jesus comes along and is like, no, that's really actually screwed up and destructive. Here's a new way to go. You guys with me here? Faith requires an open mind. And it's precisely when we assume that we already know how the world works and who God is and what humans are like and so on, that's exactly when we become like these religious leaders. We close our minds to Jesus. And that's faith. And so it just raises a question here.

This is a brilliant story. These two stories right here, these three responses of Jesus, the blind who see, open minds, the crowds whose minds are blown, but they're open to Jesus, and then you have these closed-minded Pharisees. And so the question is, how do you know which response you are? First of all, as if we can even be that self-aware, which most of us aren't a lot of the time, but if we could come to know what response we are, how do you keep yourself in a place of trust and open-mindedness to Jesus? How do we get ourselves there? I'm going to put that question on pause.

Let's come back to the story. I want to point out some things that are really awesome, and they'll lead us on a trail back to this question. You guys with me? Okay, look down with me. So we have these two stories. This is really cool. We have these two stories. The two blind men are healed, a conversation about faith. Then you have

the man who can't talk, he's demon-possessed, he's healed. And you have the response of the crowds and the Pharisees. Look at the next sentence right after it, verse 35. right after it, verse 35. Jesus went through all of the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. He saw the crowds.

He had compassion on them. They were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to the disciples, that's next week. We'll talk about that next week. Anyway, sorry. Sorry, George. Okay, so look at verse 35. Verse 35.

He goes through the towns, teaching, proclaiming the good news, healing. Now, you may not know it. You may not remember it. But you've read that exact sentence before. If you've been following through Matthew or reading through it, you've read that exact sentence before. If you've been following through Matthew or reading through it, you've read that exact sentence before, but not right here. Do you remember? So keep your thumb here, but keep a finger here. Go back a few pages to the very end of chapter 4.

Chapter 4. And chapter 4 was where Jesus was introduced onto the public scene. Right? After he was baptized, through the wilderness, and then he comes out in public announcing the kingdom of God. Look at chapter 4, verse 23. Jesus went all throughout Galilee doing what? Teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Have you read that sentence? It's like verbatim. It's the same exact wordings, except one little word. Here it says he's up in Galilee in the north. In chapter 9, it says he just went throughout their villages and so on. Do you see that here? Now, this is awesome. This is really cool.

So we have, we just read this, and we're going to geek out for a few minutes here. But you know, I like to do this. So here's chapter 9, no, no, no, excuse me. Chapter 9, verse 35. And then all the way back here, we had chapter 4, verse 23. These two, they're exactly the same.

Jesus went traveling around, teaching, and proclaiming what? Gospel, the good news about the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. And so here, this is interesting. This doesn't happen very often. You have like a little summary statement of who Jesus was and what he was all about, right here and right here. And what's in between these?

So first of all, let's just make sense. We've got Jesus. Let's make no mistake. What's he doing? Look at these two again. What's he doing? Jesus, cruising around, what's he doing? Teaching.

Teaching. And what else? Proclaiming. Teaching's he doing? Teaching. And what else? Proclaiming. Teaching. Just look at him. Teaching and what else? He's not just teaching. What else is he doing with his words?

He's proclaiming. Or we could say preaching. He's teaching and preaching. And they're different. This is kind of me. This is kind of Josh White. Right? So Jesus has it all in one person.

Dorophobe takes two people. Right? So I do this and kind of do this. Josh does this and he kind of does this. And so this is about explaining and exploring and putting pieces together, trying to make connections and see the big picture and help understand the coherence of whatever. And preaching is about calling and summoning and challenging and so on.

And Jesus is teaching and preaching about what? So gospel or good news, the gospel of what? About what? About the kingdom, right? Kingdom. And then after teaching and preaching the good news, announcement of good news of the kingdom, what else? What else does it say? Healing. Healing. Okay. Now, this is outstanding. Look at what follows chapter four? Chapter five. So chapter five, What follows that? 7. What is Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7? We call it the Sermon on the Mount. It's the first and largest block of teaching so far in the Gospel of Matthew.

And what is the Sermon on the Mount? It's like the most condensed, concise collection of Jesus' teachings about the good news of the kingdom anywhere in the Gospels. The material that Matthew has pulled together here is actually, if you read Mark and Luke, you'll find the same teachings but kind of scattered into different pieces

all over the Gospels. Matthew's collected it all right here. If you want to know what Jesus had to say on an average day as he went around teaching, here you go, just read Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, and you'll get the idea. It's Jesus teaching, explaining, and then calling people to follow him and to come under God's reign and God's kingdom. Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7. And then what comes after chapter seven

and nine now what is what have we been doing since uh we came out of the sermon on the mount about 10 weeks ago we've taken there's there's 10 stories right here in matthew chapter eight and nine 10 stories and all of these stories have that plot line that I explained earlier. Someone in a crisis, they come to Jesus, he says or does something awesome, they walk away transformed. People's minds are blown. There you go. There's ten stories that Matthew has collected right here. And then at the end of the stories, he tells you about these one, two, three responses to Jesus. And there you go.

Now, it's even more cool. Are you still at chapter 4? Okay. So Jesus went teaching, preaching, healing. Chapter 4, verse 24, after the little summary. News about him spread all over Syria. People brought to him all those who were ill, with diseases, suffering, pain, demon-possessed, seizures, paralyzed. He healed them. So we also have the crowds. Right?

The crowds. Go to the last sentences of chapter 7. Go to the very end of chapter 7. So says he crowds his teaching and preaching it gives you a whole big block of jesus teaching on the king now go to the end of chapter 7 and lo and behold who should appear right there at the end chapter 7 verse 28 when jesus finished saying all this who's's there? The crowds. The crowds. And what's their response? Here we go. It's the same. Their minds are blown. Oh my gosh. They were amazed at his teaching. Hear about his words. We've never heard anyone teach like this before. When the rabbis teach, they always teach, well, here's what I learned from my teacher. This is what Rabbi so-and-so said, and Rabbi so-and-so, and so on. But Jesus just speaks

as if he's not just his own rabbi, like he speaks with the authority of the God of Israel. He walks, he talks like he owns the place, right? And that's the, so here you go, you have the crowds again here. And then Matthew tells you these ten stories of people getting healed. And then here we are, go to the end of chapter, go all the way back to where we were again. And who should appear at the end here also? The crowds. And what's their response? Not to Jesus' words this time, but to all of Jesus' actions.

What's their response? Right there. Their minds are blown. Do you see this here? Crowds. Look at this. Look at this, you guys. Look at that. That's the thing of beauty right there. This is called literary art. Really. Or I call this the theological architecture of Matthew chapters 4 through 9. That's my geeky term for it. But you realize, like, Matthew, he's not, you're not just watching through a video camera. These events take place.

Matthew is trying to tell you something. place. Matthew is trying to tell you something. And specifically, he's trying to, I mean, this is the, tell him what you're going to tell him. Tell him. Then tell him what you told him. That's what Jesus, that's what Matthew's doing here. Who, if you want to know, who is Jesus? Like, what did Jesus do on an average day? What did he talk about? What kinds of things was he doing? And Matthew, he just puts it all together. Here's what Jesus did. He went about teaching and preaching about the good news of the kingdom. And when people encountered him, they walked away transformed and healed. And so here you go, teaching and preaching. Here you go, the stories of the transformation and healing. Everybody's mind is The stories of the transformation and healing.

Everybody's mind is blown except for the closed-minded people who do not have trust or faith. What are you going to do about it? There you go. Here's Jesus. That's what Matthew's saying. If you want to actually know who Jesus was

and what he said and what he did, here's Jesus. Matthew chapter 5 through 9, here's Jesus. Matthew chapter 5 through 9, here's Jesus. And when people see and hear the real Jesus, nobody remains neutral. You cannot be neutral in your response to this Jesus. It provokes something. It's either going to be an open mind, a blown mind, or a closed mind. Which one are you? That's what Matthew's doing here. It's brilliant. And so let's come back to our question here. If we have the open mind, the blown mind, and the closed mind of the Pharisees, the question I'm asking is how do we get ourselves into this category? And specifically, how do we get ourselves into this category?

Because this, my drawing gets messy now. This is what faith is. It's about this open-mindedness. It's this refusal to think, I already know how the world works, and I'm not open to hearing anything new or entertaining anything new. Instead, you have this view of trust, which is this commitment that when I see the real Jesus, am I open to seeing that the world is different than the way I thought it was? And what it means for me to live as a human that's totally different than what I thought it was. And am I open to hearing the explanation of the kingdom but also the challenge and the summons to follow Jesus and to actually do it?

Because to hear Jesus explain the kingdom, that requires an open mind. But then to actually respond to his summons and his call, right, and come under his healing, loving authority and let him remake me and how I live as a human being, like that journey also requires a very open mind. Because you can't assume that you are ever right about anything at all and that you always are open to hear new things from Jesus. So how do we get ourselves into this

category? Let's look at this conversation then. I think we have a fuller view now. Let's go back into this conversation that Jesus has with the blind men. Back to chapter 9. Look at the story of the blind men here. So as Jesus, he went on, these two blind men, they see Jesus before they see.

Have mercy on us, son of David. So then Jesus went in a house. We're told he went indoors. And these guys follow him. And then Jesus asked them this question. And this is the only time that Jesus, in these stories right here, asks someone a question before he responds to them.

It's fascinating. He says, do you guys trust me? Do you trust me that I'm actually able to do this? And they quickly, it seems, respond like, yeah, that's why we're here. So, again, remember, faith in these stories is not just about your words or a mental activity. Faith is what you do. You know what you believe by how you live, the choices that you make. And so they're like, yeah, we're here. We trust you. We're open to you. And then look at what Jesus says. He says, he touched their eyes and he said,

And then look at what Jesus says. He says, he touched their eyes, and he said, according to your faith, according to your trust, let it be done to you. And their sight was restored. So just pause,

and just reflect on that. Why did Jesus have this little conversation? And why did he have it beforehand? And what is, do you trust me? Yes, we trust you. Then according to the degree of trust that you have, let it be done. And then their eyes are opened.

What's that about? Now some of us, you maybe are familiar with this line because it's connected to a couple other lines of Jesus about faith, particularly with prayer. If you have faith or trust and believe, anything you ask for will be granted by my Father, something like that. And so these are sayings of Jesus that I think are easy for us to misunderstand, or at least taken, I think, in the direction that he did not mean for us. I think for some of us, we walk away from this and we go, okay, all right, the burden's on me. Jesus has spiritual power, and to access it, I need to muster up enough faith that, like, I get to the level that Jesus is like, okay, now we can play together or something. And then it's like, and then Jesus's power becomes available to me. And so for some people, that's how they frame it or think about it. And so, you know,

you're a Christian or you're praying about something, there's something happening in your life, and you're like, Jesus, help me, or help this person, or something, and nothing happens. What do you do with that? And according to this frame of mind, it would be, well, you didn't have enough faith, so you need to muster up some more. And you're like, okay, I'll keep trying. How do you know when you've reached enough? You know, like what, you guys know what I'm talking about here. That's a very, and I actually think that's a misunderstanding of this story. Because it treats Jesus as just passive. He's like a vending machine, right? This dispenser of spiritual power.

And really, it's all about you and your effort and your ability to pull yourself up and just have enough faith and put enough faith coins in the vending machine, and then Jesus will dispense his power with some bells and whistles. Ding, ding, ding. You know, that kind of thing. So, and I just think that's, anytime we take a story about Jesus and we make it mostly about ourselves and our effort, it's not this anymore. It's not this. These are stories that are meant to tell us something about Jesus first and foremost. Our response is very important, but it's not the key to everything. Jesus is the focus and the key to everything. This story, it's my conviction that this story is trying to tell us something about Jesus and how he works with people.

And we see it in this moment, but we've seen it actually through all of these stories, right? When Jesus, Jesus, lots of very different kinds of people come before Jesus. And they have all kinds of different stories and backgrounds and different degrees of trust, different degrees of openness to Jesus, right? You have the Roman soldier. Remember, he came and Jesus was like, holy cow, I've never met anybody who trusts me this much, not even Israelites, right? And then you have stories about the disciples who spend the most time with Jesus, and they have the least amount of trust. Remember the scene on the boat, whatever.

He calls them you who have little faith. Little faith people is what he calls them. So you have people with all these different levels of faith, and Jesus works with all of them. But he works with people precisely where they're at. He doesn't approach people with formulas. He approaches people and meets them at exactly that level of trust that they have. And he meets them there and he works with them in that space.

He doesn't just wait for everybody to pull them up by their bootstraps and then they can come to him. He goes to people, right? And he encounters people, and he works with them where they're at. And so it seems to me what Jesus is saying here is like I'm here, teaching and preaching and announcing the good news of the kingdom, and it's provoking all of these different responses. And the degree to which the presence of the kingdom and the presence of Jesus, the degree to which it will transform people is precisely connected to the degree that they trust him. If people come to Jesus with a deep surrender

and trust and openness, like I don't know everything, I actually don't really have much of a clue about what's going on inside my own heart or mind, much less the world. Jesus, I need you to redefine reality for me and who I am. Just a deep trust and surrender. That experience becomes very transformative. But others, like the disciples who approach Jesus with a shallow level of trust,

the disciples who approach Jesus with a shallow level of trust, it's not that, like, they don't get to be with Jesus or the baby Jesus and smile on them or something like that. It's that Jesus can only do so much for people who don't trust him very much. And then you have people like the Pharisees who don't, they're not open to Jesus at all. And so they, Jesus does nothing for them. they're not open to Jesus at all. And so Jesus does nothing for them. It's not that Jesus doesn't like them. It's that Jesus, apparently, it seems to me, Jesus honors where people are at,

and he honors their choices. And so if people don't want to trust Jesus, he apparently is not going to force the issue. But when people come to him with a deep sense of surrender, they find themselves totally overwhelmed. So it's kind of like this. This is where my mind went as I was pondering this. So I was playing Legos. Legos is where my mind went. So I was playing Legos with my three-year-old, almost four-year-old son the other day. And he asked me to build a barn. He says, Dad, I want to build a barn with a door for my cows to go in and out. He has his little Lego

cows. So I'm like, sweet, that's a good, that's an afternoon well spent right there. So let's build the barn. And so building the walls, and he likes to build the walls and so on. And so then we get to the barn door and so he's like dad you know build a barn with a barn door so i'm like okay here's what you do you build the walls in a little bit but then you stop and then you build the wall up and then you close the door at the top and then we have these hinges and so on right here and so and so he's like yeah build the barn with the barn door dad yeah okay here we go So here's how you do it. So I start building the wall, and then I stop and start building up here, and he looks at me and he's like, no, Dad, no. I'm like, what do you mean? And he starts filling in, filling in the gap right here. He was like, you got to keep

building it. I was like, what? But buddy, you told me you wanted me to build a barn with a barn door. He's like, yes. I'm like, well, yeah, exactly. So we got to take these guys out? No, dad, no. You can't. That's not how you do it. I'm like, what?

Buddy, remember you said you wanted me to build a barn with a barn door? Yes, cows. I want my cows to go in and out. I'm like, yeah, but you need to, you can't build in the door. Like, you have to leave that space open. You can't put any blocks there. So I'm going to take these blocks out. No, dad, what are you doing? Like, you know, and really, this really happened. And I was like, I'm building a Lego barn with a crazy person. That's what's happening to me right now. And I'm not just begging him. I can't tell these stories for too many years longer. You guys know that.

They're going to dry out because he's clueless right now about the world. But one day he'll be aware. And I'm not just begging on him. We have lots of friends who also have three and four-year-olds. They're all crazy. They're all like this. They're all irrational. But just like that moment was so poignant for me because I was just stuck. I was like, God, you want me to help you build a barn. I'm building you a barn door, but you don't want me to build the barn door. Actually, what do I do? So I just was like, well, hey, look at these trucks. The trucks, whatever, I just moved on, and he would move on in about 10 seconds, and it was all over, but it was just like this moment

where I can't work with you. What can I do with that? He says he wants to do this, but when it actually comes to what it takes to do it, it's clear that he has a different vision altogether. He wasn't open to me. You know, in that moment, he didn't trust whatever. He didn't trust me. You guys see where I'm going here? And if I'm just going to bulldoze him, I'm just going to be like, no, listen to me. Take those out and we'll build the barn door. I was like, what? That's a jerk move. So I just, I choose to honor his choice.

All right, buddy, we'll just go do something else. That's what I think is happening right here. According to your faith, let it be done to you. Jesus honors where people are at. He honors the degree of trust or lack of trust that they come to him with. He's not going to pull a jerk move. He's not going to coerce the issue. He's just going to keep teaching. He's going to keep summoning you to him with. He's not going to pull a jerk move. He's not going to coerce the issue.

He's just going to keep teaching. He's going to keep summoning you to follow him. And it's this partnership, right, where he takes the initiative by his sheer grace to just keep inviting you, keep inviting you, but he will let us sit in our half-baked trust if that's what we choose and sit in the half-baked trust, if that's what we choose,

and sit in the consequences of that. And so here's Jesus. Here he is. He's here to announce the good news of the kingdom. He didn't wait for us. He just came and did for us what we can't do for ourselves. He lived for us. He died for us. He was raised for us. And his presence is available to us in the person of his spirit. And he didn't sit around waiting for us to get our act together. He just did that for us. But he calls us to respond. And so here's Jesus,

right? We've been sitting in this for months now. Well, what are you going to do about it? sitting in this for months now. Well, what are you going to do about it? Which response are you? Open mind? Just simply a blown mind, but you're not ready to do anything about it? Or a closed mind? How do you know which one you are? Well, just, you know, think of the paralyzed man and his friends. How do you know what trust was? Well, look at what they do. They are desperate to get in front of Jesus, and they do whatever it takes. So how do I know if I have an open mind to Jesus? Well, am I actually following him? Let's start there. So not just believe in him, but follow him. What does that mean? Well, here you go. Let's go read this, right. And let's really go let this sink in. Because here's apparently what it means to come under Jesus

and to let him live and die and be raised for me and to experience his life-transforming power. And so if I'm committed to having an open-minded response, it means, think of the list that Jesus worked through in his teachings. When it comes to money, do I assume I already know everything I need to know about what I do with money, or do I let Jesus redefine what I do with that, which as a disciple of Jesus means giving a lot of it away, actually as much as I can handle. Am I willing to hear Jesus talk about sex, which is very different than how our culture processes it. A high degree of sexual

purity and integrity if I say I'm going to follow Jesus. And if I'm not going to follow Jesus, why not? I apparently must think I have a better vision of what I ought to do with my body than Jesus does. Okay, well, let's talk about that. Like, do you really? Or why do you think that? And if you do think that, maybe you're actually not willing to follow Jesus. Maybe you're actually in this category, but you don't know it. What do you do with conflict in relationships and issues of forgiveness and bitterness? What do I do? You guys with me here?

You actually know how much you trust Jesus by just, look, study your life and study your decision-making habits. Trust Jesus, but just look, study your life and study your decision-making habits. And you'll know if you truly believe that Jesus is who he says he is and that you're going to follow him. Now, is there margin for error? Oh, my goodness, lots. That's why this is not about us and our effort. It's about Jesus and his announcement of good news. Are you with me? So which response are you?

The same exact church community will be full of people who are having their lives totally overhauled by Jesus. They're having their minds stimulated, but they're not yet following and experiencing the reality. And also a church community can be full of people whose minds are closed to Jesus and they don't even know it. Because they say they believe, but there's no sense of Jesus' vitality or presence or power and no evidence of life transformation taking place. And all of these people are constantly around Jesus as he goes around. So which one are you?

And I cannot answer that for you. But this matters. So let's, we have time to process this. And I just encourage you in this time of worship and of prayer to just be honest with yourself and be honest with the real Jesus about where you are at and where you are following him, where you're not, and if not, why not, and where do you fit here. And I just trust that Jesus's presence and spirit will do what he needs to do in this time because he's gracious and he's kind and he works with us. He works with us by his grace. Amen? Thank you guys for listening to Exploring My Strange Bible, the podcast. We're going to keep exploring the gospel according to Matthew in future episodes.

So we'll see you next time. Thank you.