Bible Study series: Matthew 20:17-19. He is about to enter Jerusalem, where he will live out his prediction.
A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together. I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 20:17-19
17 Then while Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately, and on the road he said to them, 18 “See! We are going up to Jerusalem, and then the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and teachers of the law, and they will condemn him to death. 19 Then he will be handed over to the Gentiles, to mock and flog and crucify him. On the third day he will be raised.” (Matt. 20:17-19)
Comments:
Let’s again take this pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or section verse by verse.
17:
“going up to Jerusalem”: from the hill country in Judea to Jerusalem was a long climb up a main road from the east. See v. 29.
Jesus had already predicted his death in Matt. 16:21 and 17:22-23. In the first passage Peter took him aside and said it would never happen. But Jesus rebuked him: “Get behind me, Satan!” The second time, they were grieved when they heard his prediction. They didn’t focus on the promised resurrection, but on his death. Here they remain silent. That’s usually best if you don’t speak words of support. They were not quite catching on.
Jesus was predicted in the entire Bible. He fulfilled many of them about his first coming—even right now—and he will fulfill the rest at his Second Coming. Please see my post with a long table of the OT verses next to NT verses:
He also fulfills the OT by patterns and theologies and types. For example, he is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), fulfilling the lamb sacrifice at Passover (Exod. 12:21-23).
“disciples”:
He took the twelve aside privately because he did not want the crowd to misunderstand. If he had announced to them his suffering and death, they would have misunderstood it worse than the twelve did and maybe raised some sort of militia to attack the city.
18:
“Son of Man”: it both means the powerful, divine Son of Man (Dan. 7:13-14) and the human son of man—Ezekiel himself—in the book of Ezekiel (numerous references). Jesus was and still is in heaven both divine and human. It can rightly be translated as “Son of Humanity.”
4. Titles of Jesus: The Son of Man
“chief priests”:
“teachers of the law”: Some translations have “scribes.”
You may learn more about both groups at this link:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
This verse (plus the elders) will be literally fulfilled in Matt. 26:64-65, when the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law bring him into the council room and interrogate him and conclude that he committed blasphemy (Luke 22:66 // Mark 14:62-64), which deserves death (Lev. 24:10-16, 23).
19:
“Gentiles”: Jesus will be placed in the hands of Pontius Pilate and his guard. He and his guard are the Gentiles (non-Jews).
This is the first mention of crucifixion in this Gospel.
“flog”: it means to lash with a whip. It may allude to Is. 50:6, which says that the Suffering Servant gave his back to those who strike. After the flogging, they will kill him. They did this by executing him on the cross.
“mocked”: it can also be translated as “ridiculed, make fun of.”
“third day”: Some interpreters take this to mean literally seventy-two hours, because Jonah spent three days and three nights in the big fish (Jonah 1:17; Matt. 12:40), so Jesus must also spend seventy-two hours in the grave. But we over-read the intent here. The sign of Jonah was his coming out of the depths of the belly and the sea, which was a type of the resurrection. Let’s not over-analyze it. Jesus was crucified and died on Friday; he spent part of Friday and Saturday and Sunday in the grave—or his body did—and his body was raised from the dead early on Sunday morning: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—three days. They don’t have to be seventy-two hours. It was a Jewish custom to count a partial day as one day.
How do I prove that “three days and three nights” can be partial? First, in 1 Sam. 30:12 (literally “today three days”), the day before yesterday. Second, in Esther, a period described as “three days and three nights” (4:16) is concluded on the third day (5:1). (Thanks, R. T. France, p. 491, fn. 12!). Third, Jesus says he will rise on the third day (Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 27:64, and in Mark and Luke). Those verses in the Gospels where he quotes Jonah 1:17 and here where he says “on the third day” prove that he did not over-interpret Jonah, for the prophet was merely a sign and type. Jesus believed that three days and three nights could be partial. Fourth, even Paul said, “on the third day, according to the Scriptures”, that is, the OT (1 Cor. 15:4). So Paul must be using a semitic inclusive day out of three days of 72 hours. The days are partial.
Go to biblegateway.com and look up “third day.” It is amazing how many times the two words appear and how significant they are in many contexts.
Rising on the third day is the key to early apostolic preaching. All throughout the first five chapters of Acts, Peter and the others refer to it time and again. Paul referenced the resurrection when he spoke to the Athenians in Mars Hill (Acts 17:30-32).
1 Cor. 15:3-8 is all about the resurrection:
Paul omitted the fact that he appeared to women first. (No he did not do this put of malice.) Jesus appeared then to Cephas (Peter) and then the twelve. Next, he appeared to more than 500 at a time. Where did that happen? In Galilee? In or around Jerusalem? Probably the holy city. In any case, Paul recounted what he knew. And the resurrection is the key reality and doctrine. Never give it up as nonessential, people of God. It is the core of our faith.
GrowApp for Matthew 20:17-19
1. Jesus gave up his entire life for you, even going through the worst kind of abuse. What have you given up for him?
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SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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