I stepped into CEN class a little late but still caught Pastor Murray discussing Matthew 12:38-13:23. It would be the last class until after Labor Day.

Notes:

12:39-41: God saves even the horrible Ninevites by his grace. The “something that is greater” Christ is referring to in 41 is himself and his church.

v. 42: The Jews have a memory over thousands of years. The “queen of the South” was probably Sheba. They were still strutting over Sheba visiting Solomon thousands of years prior. Now the visiting queen who heard Solomon comes to condemn Solomon’s children. One can imagine this didn’t make the Pharisees happy.

v. 43-45: The present generation is externally clean yet satanic inside. They see the Son of God right in front of them but they reject him.

Pastor Murray then took an aside, saying that this shows that the admonition “judge not that you be judged” in Matthew 7:1 is not absolute. We, those saved, will judge and condemn.

v. 46: Cross-reference with Mark 3:20-21, where his family says, “He is out of his mind.” They are worrying about the family name and that Jesus is getting too involved in politics.

v. 49: Jesus shows that the blood tie that matters is the blood He shed for us. The bloodline of ancestry doesn’t matter.

v. 50: The will of his Father is that we believe what Christ has done for us. Either our deeds save, or Christ’s deeds save.

13:2: Jesus gets out into the boat to force people to spread out along the bank and perhaps have the water reflect the sound towards those on shore. He wants to be heard.

13:10: “Jesus, why isn’t your teaching more practical? Why can’t you teach clearly like Ft. Wayne seminarians?” :)

v. 13: Whether Jesus was speaking in parables wouldn’t have mattered to the unbeliever. They would still disbelieve. They have cultivated and intentional ignorance.

v. 15: They are deaf to the Gospel. They are legalists.

I brought up that the “lest they should” in verse 15 this sounds like “lest he reach” Genesis 3:22-23, where God actively prevents them from eating the Tree of Life. Pastor Murray agreed that in the NIV it does sound this way, but this wasn’t the case in Matthew verse 15, but rather Jesus stating that he’d heal them if they’d see, hear, and repent.

v. 16: Blessedness is a high priority for Matthew.

v. 17: We are blessed! We have the plain teaching of Jesus right in front of us in his word. His disciples and the reader are greater than the prophets for having this word when they did not.

The explanation of the parable of the sower he left to the class to read on their own.

Vespers followed. Cantor Muth said they would be getting their new LSB hymnals in a couple of days.