The Jesus of Matthew’s gospel not only takes other characters in the story off guard, he takes us off guard, he keeps us on our heels, bewilders us, challenges us. This uncanny ability of Jesus to get into our heads is maybe one of the reasons that even many who have long since cast aside belief in Jesus still feel haunted by him.  But sometimes, as Christians we are haunted as well. Precisely when we feel discombobulated by Jesus that our discipleship to Jesus is most likely to either become significantly less or significantly more authentic. It’s when we come face-to-face with the Jesus of Matthew’s gospel that we turn away from our Jesus-haunted lives to the joy-filled life of following the way of a Galilean Jew.

Perhaps it is in the text we consider this morning that we become most aware that this business of following Jesus is rather different than we imagined. Particularly for those who have gotten used to the idea of a Jesus who came offering grace to take the place of legalistic religion of the OT, it is important that we hear Jesus well. As his disciples, Jesus us calls us to “do and keep” the Torah.

Discussion Questions:

• How does Jesus’s command to “do and keep everything” that those who sit on the seat of Moses say (Matthew 23:1-3) help us understand what it means to be a disciple ?
• The scribes bound leather pouches (“phylacteries”) holding bits of scripture to their hands and foreheads in order to be seen to be literally obedient to Deut 6:8.  What might it look like for us to keep this command?
• The scribes and Pharisees developed rules and regulations to ensure that they did not profane the name of the Lord (the 3rd of the 10 commandments) when taking oaths. How does Jesus teach us to protect the holiness of God’s name? What are some examples?
• Deeply embedded in the Torah is the idea that God’s people should orient their lives around loving and serving God and people.  If this truth were to become explosively alive in our lives, what would change?
• Jesus says that the kind of obedience required by the scribes and Pharisees feels like a heavy burden to be carried. But obedience learned from him not only surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt 5:17-20) but feels light and easy (Matt 11:29) – like rest for the soul.  Why?