Jesus is a King . . . albeit a weird one.

Steve Brown:
Jesus is a King…albeit a weird one. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We are here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Justin Holcomb to do the teaching this week. Justin is an Episcopal priest, an author, and professor at Reformed Theological Seminary.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you guys had a great week-end and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. Man, we have a great week ahead and you’re very fortunate to be listening right now. Justin Holcomb is one of the voices of Key Life, but maybe you didn’t know Justin is also a Bishop. And so, he is the Bishop of the Central Florida Diocese of the Episcopal Church. And I was there when they did it unto him. He, you know, this is a first for me. I’ve never done recordings with a Bishop in my entire life. The first funeral I ever did was with a Bishop, but that’s as close as I’ve ever come. And it is great. And that service was absolutely amazing. You should have been there. But anyway, Justin, and you’ve heard his voice often on this broadcast. He’s sitting down with me, and we’re going to be talking about the Gospels. We’re going to give a day to each of the Gospels. And another surprise is that if this goes bad, it’s not our fault, it’s Justin’s daughter’s fault. Sophia, his daughter, is sitting here, and believe it or not, she did all of the research for the gospel theme that we’re going to be teaching. So, Sophia, we can blame you if it goes bad, right?

Sophia: Certainly, I hope not, but… If it goes bad, you can blame me. It’s all my fault.

Steve Brown:
Okay, let’s go, we’re going to start. Well, before we do anything else, we pray on Mondays. So, let’s do that. Father, we come into your presence surprised that we’re here. They told us if we were good enough, you would accept us and we believed them. And we tried, and finally gave up, and we’re just leaving when you said come back, welcome child. And so, we’re here because of your invitation, not because we’re good, and we praise you for that. Father, you know everybody who’s listening to this broadcast, and you know the hard places and soft places. And you’re a sovereign God over all of that. Remind us that you’re sufficient. And then Father, as always, we pray for this broadcast, and this week, Justin and I are sinners. And we know that. Forgive us. We want to see Jesus and Him only. And we pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Justin Holcomb: Well, you weren’t actually kidding, Steve, because if things do go wrong, it really is because all the notes came from Sophia. She was taking a New Testament class in her school. And at the end of the day, I’d go out and grab a cigar and she’d come out and chat with me. And she’d start telling me stuff that she was learning in all the New Testament, but particularly the Gospels. And I thought, that’s really good stuff. I didn’t know that. And she was telling me stuff that she learned and I thought. And then when we were thinking about doing a week of teaching, I thought, I asked her, I was like, could you put some of those things together that we talked about that were in your notes? And so, she did.

Steve Brown:
And Sophia, it is such good material. Thank you for doing that for us. It really is. Okay. Let’s start with the first one, Matthew.

Justin Holcomb: Matthew. You said it. Jesus is king. And that actually is a really distinctive to Matthew, as what’s the big nugget that Sophia gave me is that there are five discourses in Matthew and the whole of Matthew is structured by these discourses. Sophia, what, what are these five? What does it mean that there are these five discourses in a sentence or two? What’s the big deal and significance of that?

Sophia: Yeah, so the five addresses in Matthew, they can symbolize, they symbolize the Pentateuch and the first five books of the Old Testament. And that is what the Jews in Palestine would associate this with. So, it was showing that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Torah.

Justin Holcomb: So, he’s the fulfillment, I mean.

Steve Brown:
Amazing.

Justin Holcomb: She brings this out and I’m like, Oh wait, there’s five addresses. Oh, okay. So, it’s the Pentateuch, but in those five addresses, it goes through the entire history of the Old Testament. So, the whole point that Matthew’s trying to make and Matthew’s writing to Jews, is that Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel’s hope and what was the pinnacle of Israel’s hope, was the covenants from Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, that there would be a king forever. So, the Old Testament ends with this promise of a Davidic king and Jesus is the fulfillment of this. And so, Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel’s hope in God’s promise. So that’s where the Jesus is King part comes in, but the key about Matthew, Sophia, Matthew is what, what does he call himself throughout all of Matthew?

Sophia: What does Matthew call? He calls himself a tax collector and sinner.

Justin Holcomb: The tax collector. He could go around talking about himself as Matthew, but what he does is he goes around, he uses Jesus called the tax collector the tax, he’s like emphasizing the fact that he is part of the hated class that Jesus would call a tax collector. Tax collectors were considered traders. They were the people that nobody wanted because they were exploiting already poor people to help the Romans dominate them. I mean, he was a traitor to all the Jews. So, for Jesus, the King, the Hope of Israel, to be calling a tax collector is the shock. And then throughout Matthew, you have all of these things about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. That’s actually a depiction of the gospel because in a Mediterranean culture, eating isn’t just getting, you know, your taste buds stimulated or filling your belly. It actually was, if you were to eat with someone, you are saying we’re equals, which is the picture of the gospel. If Jesus eats with them, why was that so, why were all the Pharisees shocked? It’s like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re eating wrong, Jesus. Are you saying you’re like them, and that they’re like you? Because to eat with them would just say, they are like me, and I’m like them. He’s like them as fully human. And this is a picture of the gospel that Jesus was treated as if he was a tax collector and sinner by eating with them, and they were treated as if they were sinless and faithful like Jesus was. And so, in eating with sinners and tax collectors is an illustration of the great exchange of the gospel. So, the King eating with tax collectors is the whole point of Matthew.

Steve Brown:
And the reason that, one of the reasons that Jesus was crucified because they didn’t expect that kind of King. They expected swords and horses and power and strength and the restoration of Israel to its proper place among the nations. And then Jesus, and we’re going to see later when we see Jesus as a servant. But he was a King who was counterintuitive to kingship. Jesus is always doing that, isn’t he?

Justin Holcomb: Well, this is what he did when he took off his outer garments and then washed the feet of his disciples. He says, you know, he knows his authority, identity, and his destiny.

Steve Brown:
And he states it.

Justin Holcomb: I’m from heaven. I know who I am and I know where I’m going, which is, that’s a King moment, where he’s saying who he is and what he’s going to do. And then the very next thing he does is he washes his disciples feet. I mean, that was an action that was left for the lowliest of servants. And that’s what’s just so shocking is he’s not the kind of King anyone ever imagined. One thing I want to highlight is, one more passage, one passage which is Matthew 26: verses 26 through 30. That’s where Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper. And when he gets to the cup, there’s something distinctive that’s only in Matthew, it’s not in Mark, it’s not in Luke, it’s not in I Corinthians, where he says, you know.

This is, here’s the bread, this is my body. Here’s the cup, drink this.

So, everyone knows that passage, but in Matthew Jesus says.

Drink this, all of you.

Three extra words added.

Drink this, all of you.

No, it’s not Mark, not in Luke, not in Corinthians. It’s noteworthy because what’s happening is Jesus is highlighting who’s included and who’s around the table. Right before this in Matthew 26, Judas is mentioned and Judas says it’s me and then right after this Jesus prophesies Peter’s betrayal and failure And so, what is beautiful in this, all of you, and I called New Testament, one of our friends Reggie Kidd. And I’ve called New Testament scholars said, is this on purpose? And they said, it is on purpose because Judas is on the front, peter’s on the back end. And so, what you see is the extravagant mercy of Jesus, the king with tax collectors. Not only eating with tax collectors, but eating with people who will sell him for silver. And when the things get rough, they will deny him a drop of a hat.

Drink this, all of you.

A beautiful thing is that all of our Anglican liturgies, that’s actually what we say in every Eucharistic prayer is.

Drink this, all of you.

All of you as an invitation, come ye sinner, come and feast, but all of you as an invitation. And that’s the message that Matthew wants. We’re all tax collectors. We all get to go to the feast with Jesus where he’s always inviting us.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, that is so good. And if you’ve been listening to this, you’re beginning to see that from Genesis to Revelation, the message of God’s mercy and God’s grace is for you. I’m reminded of the time when the Anglican priest was serving communion and an old woman came forward and thought about her sins and backed away from the altar. And he said, take it woman. It’s for sinners. It’s for you. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. And thank you Justin Holcomb. What a fantastic way to study the Gospels. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this exact approach before. And guess what? Steve and Justin will continue this conversation tomorrow and through Thursday. You don’t want to miss that, so make sure to join us. Well, they say any landing you can walk away from is a good one. And that’s true, but there are some choices, some landings that you don’t walk away from the same. Some of our mistakes are so bad, we end up questioning our salvation. Well, Steve addressed those issues in a sermon called I’m Still Here and You are Too. If you’re struggling with these questions, or maybe you know somebody who is, please let us send you this CD, for free. Just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free copy of the CD called I’m Still Here and You are Too. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You could charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950. And, as always, if you can’t give, we do understand. But if you would, please do pray for us, would you? Always needed and appreciated. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. Both of those organizations assure financial accountability. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.