Session 6: Matthew 11-13

Session Six: Matthew Chapters 11-13

Introduction

Were stories recounted or read to you as child? Share what they were and who told the stories. Were they purely entertaining or were there lessons to be learned, like in the Bible, Aesop’s fables, Hans Christian Andersen or Grimm’s Fairy Tales?

What one warning would you give your younger self if you could send a message back in time?

Read Chapters 11-13

Reading Questions

1.       John appears a number of times in the gospel of Matthew. Why is it important that he is mentioned and even compared to Elijah (11:10-15)?

2.       Matthew 11:28-30 is often quoted when we need rest. How does Jesus define rest in these verses?

3.       How do the Pharisee’s define rest according to chapter 12:1-14? How does this idea of rest differ from Jesus’s in question 2?

4.       Jesus often declares ‘woe’ to the Pharisees. The Parable of the Sower describes four responses to the seed sown, what could be the four woes that he is exclaiming to those who listen?

5.       Matthew 12:21 specifically includes Gentiles when talking of Jesus. Who is included in the kingdom of heaven in the parable of the yeast (13:33), parable of the hidden treasure (13:44), parable of the pearl (13:45-46), and the parable of the net (13:47-50)?

6.       Verse 13:52 equates the disciples with the owner of a house. What are the treasures old and new brought out of the storehouse?

Old Testament Links

1.       Read Isaiah 35:1-10. How does Matthew 11:4-6 answer the question John’s disciples have posed?

2.       Jesus reveals the Father, according to Matthew 11:27. How did God reveal himself in the Old Testament?

3.       ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’, from Hosea 6:6 is quoted a second time in chapter 12, verse 7. The word mercy in some versions is translated love. Why would this be repeated?

4.       Matthew 13:34-35 are quoted from Psalm 78 and Matthew 13:14-15 are quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10. Read Psalm 78:1-8 and compare it to these quoted verses. What might Jesus be pushing his hearers to do?

Application

1.       How has God revealed himself to you? Are there things believers can do to deepen their understanding of God?

2.       Matthew 12:39-45 describes Jesus’s generation as ‘wicked’. How would he describe the current generation? How would he describe your church or family?

3.       In Matthew 12:46-48, Jesus puts his ‘natural’ family behind his followers in priority. How would that be received in today’s age? What priorities might people have that Jesus would put behind his ‘follower/brother’?

4.       In the parable of the weeds, the farmer permits the weed to grow alongside the wheat. How is Jesus’s instruction to let them grow beside the ‘wheat’ implemented today? What ‘bad’ might the ‘weeds’ be carrying out yet also sit next to us on Sundays?

5.       If we consider the church as the sower in the parable of the sower, how might that impact evangelization?