Beginning with the heralds of a desert-dwelling, camel-clothed, locust-eating prophet, Jesus bursts onto the scene with good news that demands a response: repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near! The cry of the prophet lays way for the long-awaited King. Matthew shows us that this is the ultimate King: the one who will fulfill the hopes of the world, the one who will suffer to set the world right, the one who is God with us, the one whose life—and death—and resurrection—invites response. Over eleven weeks, we’ll traverse from the desert wilderness to the city of Jerusalem, witnessing the varied ways that—men and women, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, religious and non-religious—respond to the life-changing invitation of Jesus, all-the-time beckoning our response, too.