Apr. 07, 2024

Last week we did a special Easter lesson about Holy Week, but the week before in Matthew we ended with Jesus answering a question from the Saducees concerning the resurrection. We pick up in Matthew 22:34 with a Scribe asking Jesus which is the greatest commandment.

Matthew Lesson 38 Study Questions

1.    Planned to trap Jesus. In asking Jesus to choose ____ great commandment, they hoped to make Jesus show _______ for another area of the law.

2.    Jesus said to him: Perfectly understanding the ________ of the law, Jesus had no difficulty answering. Instead of promoting one command over another, Jesus ________ the law in its core principles: love the LORD with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself.

3.    On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets: God’s moral expectation of man can be briefly and powerfully said in these two sentences. If the life of God is ______ in our life, it will show by the presence of this ______ for God and others.

4.    What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He? This was similar to the question Jesus asked of His disciples in Matthew 16:13-15 (Who do you say that I am?). Jesus __________ His opponents with the need to decide who He was, __________ Himself to the Old Testament understanding of the Messiah (the Christ).

5.    The Son of David: This is one of the great Old Testament titles of the Messiah. Founded on the _________ God made with King David in 2 Samuel 7, it identifies the Christ as the _________ descendant of King David’s royal line (see also Jeremiah 23:5-6, Isaiah 9:6-7, and Luke 1:31-33).

6.    How then does David in the Spirit call Him “Lord”: The Pharisees were _________ right in saying that the Messiah is the Son of David. But they didn’t have a complete understanding of who the Messiah is. He is not only David’s Son (a reference to His humanity), but He is also David’s ______ (a reference to the deity of Jesus, the Messiah). 

7.    No one was able to answer Him a word: The religious leaders hoped to trap Jesus and _________ Him in front of the Passover pilgrims that crowded Jerusalem and heard Him teach. Yet Jesus __________ them instead.

8.    Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples: Jesus spoke to these groups, but He spoke _______ the scribes and Pharisees. Of course, these hardened opponents of Jesus listened; but in a sense Jesus was __________ speaking to them. Instead he intended to warn the people and His followers about them.

9.    Whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do: Jesus said that _________ was due to the scribes and the Pharisees; not because of their conduct, but because they sit in Moses’ seat. They should be respected because they hold an office of ___________, ordained by God.

10.    All their works they do to be seen by men: The religious leaders were guilty of ____________ their righteous deeds. They acted out the _________ spirit Jesus spoke against in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:1-6).

11.    He who is greatest among you shall be your servant: Normally, people estimate __________ by how many people serve and honor them. Jesus reminded His followers that in His kingdom it should be different, and that we should estimate greatness by how we _______ and _______ others.

12.    You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: The religious leaders kept people from the kingdom of heaven by making human __________ and human religious _______ more important than God’s Word.