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Matthew 11
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Chapter 11
IV.
THE MYSTERY OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
A. NARRATIVE SECTION
1
When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.[*a]
The Baptist’s question. Jesus commends him
2
Now John in his prison had heard what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him,
3
‘Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?’
4
Jesus answered, ‘Go back and tell John what you hear and see;
5
the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor;[*b]
6
and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me’.
7
As the messengers were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No?
8
Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Oh no, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces.
9
Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet:
10
he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way before you.[*c]
11
‘I tell you solemnly, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.
12
Since John the Baptist came, up to this present time, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm.
13
Because it was towards John that all the prophecies of the prophets and of the Law were leading;
14
and he, if you will believe me, is the Elijah who was to return.[*d]
15
If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen!
Jesus condemns his contemporaries
16
‘What description can I find for this generation? It is like children shouting to each other as they sit in the market place:
17
“We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t be mourners”.
18
‘For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He is possessed”.
19
The Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”. Yet wisdom has been proved right by her actions.’
Lament over the lake-towns
20
Then he began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent.
21
‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22
And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you.
23
And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell.[*e] For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet.
24
And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.’
The Good News revealed to the simple. The Father and the Son
25
At that time Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.
26
Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.
27
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
The gentle mastery of Christ
28
‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.
29
Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.[*f]
30
Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
Chapters of Matthew
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