From the Gospel of Matthew
We usually talk about faith in Jesus. Scripture also talks about the faith of Jesus: he is "the founder and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). He went first, and he lived it all the way through. This page looks at what his own faith looked like in the Gospel of Matthew, so that we can learn to share it.
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Look at what he did. Following Jesus doesn't mean copying the outward details of his life, and it is more than agreeing with true things about him. It means sharing his faith: trusting the Father the way he trusted the Father.
Jesus' own name for God was Father: "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth" (11:25). He knew the Father the way only a son can: "no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (11:27). And he shares that Father with us. He teaches us to pray, "Our Father" (6:9).
ReadMatthew 11:25-27; Matthew 6:9; Matthew 7:21
In the storm, with the boat being swamped by the waves, "he was asleep" (8:24). When his frightened disciples woke him, he asked, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" (8:26). In the wilderness he refused to force God's hand: "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test" (4:7). And in Gethsemane, facing the cross, he trusted the Father with what he feared most: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will" (26:39).
Even on the cross his cry was a prayer: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (27:46). Those are the first words of Psalm 22, a psalm that goes on to say that God "has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him."
ReadMatthew 8:23-27; Matthew 4:5-7; Matthew 26:36-46; Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:1, 24
Whatever the day held, he went to be alone with the Father: "he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone" (14:23). He gave thanks to the Father out loud, "yes, Father, for such was your gracious will" (11:26), and he taught us to pray in secret: "go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret" (6:6). Mark adds that he rose "very early in the morning, while it was still dark" to pray (Mark 1:35).
ReadMatthew 14:23; Matthew 11:25-26; Matthew 6:5-6; Matthew 26:36
At the Jordan he went into the water "to fulfill all righteousness" (3:15). In the wilderness he lived "by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (4:4), and he would worship and serve God alone (4:10). When Peter tried to talk him out of the cross, he answered, "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (16:23). And in the garden he prayed the words he had taught his disciples: "your will be done" (26:42).
ReadMatthew 3:13-15; Matthew 4:1-11; Matthew 16:21-23; Matthew 26:42; Matthew 6:10
At his baptism the Father's voice said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (3:17). On the mountain the same voice added, "listen to him" (17:5). Jesus said that all things had been "handed over to me by my Father" (11:27). John's Gospel records him saying it outright: "I and the Father are one," and "the Father who dwells in me does his works."
ReadMatthew 3:16-17; Matthew 17:5; Matthew 11:27; John 10:30; John 14:10
His faith turned outward. "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (9:36). He "had compassion on them and healed their sick" (14:14). And he summed up his own life this way: "even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (20:28).
ReadMatthew 9:35-36; Matthew 14:14; Matthew 20:25-28; Matthew 11:28-30