Jesus Verse by Verse

an expanded commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

Jesus Verse by Verse...

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23:9 The practice of calling a priest ‘Father’ is therefore totally wrong.
23:13 We can both enable and hinder others from entering God’s Kingdom. Causing others not to enter the Kingdom by our words, actions or example is one of the most serious sins. The Pharisees were a very small group, but the Gospel records give much time to describing Christ’s interaction with them- for legalism and discouraging others from entering the Kingdom is such a serious sin, which we can so easily commit.
23:22 God is a personal being, located in Heaven- not a whisp of ‘spirit’ nor an abstraction.
23:33 An allusion to the promise in Eden of Gen. 3:15. All who oppose Jesus are the descendants of the serpent, and those in Christ, as the descendants of the woman, will overcome them in the end after suffering from them in the short term.
23:37 Did Jesus think up this idea from watching the hens in his mothers’ yard in Nazareth?
23:39 This may mean that when Jesus returns, those who rejected Him will be resurrected and then will recognize Him. But it will be too late. At the day of judgment, nobody will be indifferent. People may shrug their shoulders now or even reject Jesus, but in that day they will desperately want one thing- to be with Him. But for those who rejected Him in this life it will be too late. Hence the rejected will bang their teeth in self-hatred.