“And behold, I am with you always!” are the last words Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew. We have come full circle: from Jesus’ birth as Immanuel, God-with-us, in chapter 1; to his glorious resurrection and great commission in chapter 28. But before the path to glory at the right hand of the Father, he passes through the suffering of the cross.
This concluding section of Matthew from chapters 21-28 deals with the last weeks of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It takes us from the Hosannas of the Triumphal Entry all the way to the mockery of the Crucifixion and beyond. At the centre of it all is Jesus and his authority. He enters the city of Jerusalem as king, and as its king, he pronounces a final and devastating judgement on the city and its rulers. The rulers, their hypocrisy exposed, make one last attempt to take power back for themselves by putting this king to death, demonstrating once and for all how little they understand of God and his purposes.
In the midst of all this confrontation, as readers, we are forced again and again to ask the question: what sort of king is this Messiah, and what does it mean for those who pledge allegiance to his kingship? This is a major theme of Jesus’ final teaching to his disciples in chapters 24 and 25, as he prepares his followers for the next phase of kingdom life, when they will be the ones sent out into the vineyard to prepare for his return, not knowing the day or the hour.
It is also a major theme of the Passion narrative itself, where Matthew makes it abundantly clear that Jesus concedes none of his authority, even in the most humiliating of circumstances.“This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” was the sign above his head as he hung on that cross. The crowds and religious leaders jeered. This was no king, only a sorry excuse for a man who claimed an authority he did not have. They could not have been more wrong. He was the one to whom had been given “all authority on heaven and earth,” and it was from this position of divine authority that he sent his workers out into the world, making disciples of all nations.