NEW TESTAMENT HOMEWORK
If you have the time, read all of Matthew 14-28. If not, you can just focus on the following passages that we did not see in Mark:
1. Matthew 17:24-18:35
2. Matthew 20:1-16
3. Matthew 21:28-32
4. Matthew 22:1-14
5. Matthew 23:1-28:20 (there are some overlaps with Mark here but enough differences that it’s good to read it straight through).
1. Remember that Jesus said many more things than Matthew records. He records what is important to his audience. Notice the “community relationships discourse” in chapter 18. What message does Matthew really want to communicate to his audience?
2. What was your favorite parable or teaching of Jesus that you read in these chapters and why?
3. What really surprised you in these chapters that you had not known about or thought much about before?
4. Now that you have read both Matthew and Mark, draw an image or scene that you think captures Matthew’s portrait of Jesus well and then one that you think captures Mark’s portrait of Jesuswell. Be ready to share what you have done with a group of students in class on Monday. (If you do not want to draw you can find another way to artistically represent Matthew’s portrait of Jesus and Mark’s portrait of Jesus, such as a poem or song or an image you find on the internet, but try to do something that shows Matthew’s and Mark’s distinctive portraits.)
