The Message of Matthew

THE MESSAGE OF MATTHEW

CHRIST CHURCH WORKSOP,3RD February, 2018, (M. Throup)

PART ONE: MATTHEW’S MESSAGE

Four gospels one Jesus – Churchill paintings, four gospels = four portraits

When Matthew tells the gospel story, what does he communicate about Jesus’ identity, personality and character?
What does he tell us about the significance of Jesus within God’s purposes and plans for the world?

To answer these questions, it helps to understand what kind of a book ‘Matthew’ is. In common with the other gospels, it is historical insofar as it records the events surrounding the historical person Jesus of Nazareth; it is biographical insofar as it concerns the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and it is theological insofar as it explains the truth of God as revealed in Jesus.

From the outset, it also helps to kick some false assumptions into touch and to recognise a few things, for example:

Though ‘Matthew’ is historical, it is first century history – we should not expect it to conform to modern Western conventions; [family tree]
On the other hand, that is not to say that Matthew and the gospel writers are ‘primitive’ – far from it! [structures/poetry]
Though ‘Matthew’ is biographical, it does not intend to give an exhaustive account of Jesus’ life on earth cf. John 20: 30-31 – what John says explicitly is true implicitly of the other gospels, each account is highly selective; [Matthew = magi / Luke = shepherds]
The way we read is also selective: each of us comes to a particular text with our own ‘baggage’, our own perspectives and viewpoints – we need to recognise our own biases and be open to considering other ways of understanding the same text; [R Deines – G. warrior, Ex 15.3]
The fact that ‘Matthew’ is primarily theological means that the gospel is more concerned with theology than it is, for example, with providing a watertight lawyer-like precise chronology/geography of every moment and movement of Jesus’ life. [broadly speaking, the gospel follows J. movements from the north Galilee region journeying to south Jerusalem to his death]

There are a few basic assumptions and observations that we can make in relation to ‘Matthew’:

Matthew was a follower of Jesus who had eye-witness experience of events. As a Jewish Christian, he is concerned to stress that as Messiah (Christ), Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promises in the Old Testament [this happened to fulfil the words of the prophet… formula quotations]
Matthew draws on Mark’s gospel as a source (c. 90% of Mark is repeated in ‘Matthew’), but includes a birth narrative, a resurrection narrative and a lot more of Jesus’ teaching, bringing in his own perspective to show that Jesus is the Son of God and the true teacher of Israel; [Ch. 13 – Parables; Ch. 23 – opposition – false teachers]
Key passages on the Great Commandment and the Great Commission point to Matthew’s focus on discipleship and mission, two key themes in the gospel;

So, Matthew paints a portrait of Jesus highlighting what he sees to be important both for him and his readers. Matthew’s gospel is historical but it is also deeply theological – this can be seen, remarkably, in the very first verse of the gospel!

Βίβλος γενέσεωςἸησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ Δαυὶδ υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ.

“Book of genealogy/genesis of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham”

The appearance of the name of the first book of the Bible at the outset of the gospel suggests that Jesus is the key to the new creation or the renewal of creation. Reading between the lines, Matthew refers us back to Genesis and therefore does something similar to John at the beginning of his gospel. In linking Jesus to creation, Matthew also has points of contact with Paul (e.g. Romans 8, Colossians 1 = read texts).

Jesus Christ – we need to recall that ‘Christ’ is a title rather than a name, it is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew mashiach – Messiah, the promised descendant of David who would be the true King of Israel, securing its long term peace and prosperity. This title is linked to Son of David -

Son of David – the Messiah would be of David’s lineage, this title, therefore, establishes Jesus’ messianic credentials as the true king of Israel.

Son of Abraham - again, this underlines Jesus’ Hebrew credentials but it also hints that Jesus will fulfil God’s covenant with Abraham, can anyone remember what God’s promises were to Abraham? So, Jesus fulfils the Abrahamic covenant, culminating in the promise to be a blessing to the nations (cf. Matthew 28:18-20).

MEANING IN MATTHEW’S METHOD

As we commented earlier, the gospel writers must be understood in their first century context, but it is important not to imagine that they are in any way naïve or primitive. There is meaning in their method, that is, the way in which they write communicates deep truths. Three examples just illustrate this:

(a)‘Bookending’– Matthew 1:23 Jesus as Immanuel with Matthew 28:20;

(b)Gematria – the way in which Matthew organises Jesus’ genealogy; [board?]

(c)Five discourses – Torah? Psalms? Mid-point = chapter 13 (parables) accept or reject Jesus

There are ten occasions on which Matthew introduces a quotation from the Old Testament by saying “this was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet…”

PART TWO: FOUR UNLIKELY WOMEN, THREE WISE MEN AND ONE TRUE KING

In chapters 1-2 of Matthew’s gospel we are presented with Matthew’s message about Jesus in a nutshell.

Family Tree

Genealogies are the bits in the Bible in places like Genesis that we just kind of skip past because they’re so boring! Actually, though, family trees can be really interesting. By tracing our ancestors we hope we can better understand who we are – so there is a question about establishing identity. [Throup family tree disappointment]. Also, if you’ve watched ‘The Crown’ or ‘Victoria’ you’ll be aware of how important the family tree is for establishing someone’s credentials to the title and throne. Similarly, by showing Jesus’ family tree through the lineage of Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive father (though he is never referred to as Jesus’ father, since that is God the Father himself), Matthew is effectively laying claim to Jesus’ title as ‘Christ’ = Messiah = the promised Son of Davidand by going all the way back to Abraham (Jesus is also a ‘son of Abraham’), Matthew hints that the promises made by God to Abraham will be fulfilled in and through Jesus.

We saw earlier how the genealogy in Matthew is set up to communicate both overtly and more subtly that Jesus is the true Son of David, long awaited and prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures. Given that Matthew is seemingly trying to establish Jesus’ credentials as the Messiah, it is perhaps a little strange, then, that he includes in the genealogy what one commentator has called ‘a strikingly unconventional group’ (R.T. France) and what another refers to as a group caught in ‘embarrassing’ (R. Burridge) circumstances. I’m talking about the four unlikely women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and ‘the wife of Uriah’ i.e. Bathsheba. Why are they so unlikely to be included in the family tree of the Jewish Messiah? Well, they were all foreigners, all vulnerable people, all victims of circumstances and all caught up in some questionable moral situations. They were all outsiders and yet God by his grace and mysterious workings, brought each of them into his sovereign plan of salvation. All four women were at one time in their lives disgraced and yet here they are remembered in the story of the Messiah and thus, we might argue, they are made holy by God’s grace.

So, by including four foreign, slightly dubious, slightly dodgy women in Jesus’ family tree Matthew signals a few things: (1) God brings unlikely people into his plans and purposes to play their part in his story. This is something which the church has at times struggled with and, interestingly in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus reminds us of how wrong we get it when we are judgmental and look down on others! (2) The mention of the women confirms the earlier reference to Jesus as a ‘son of Abraham’ and the undercurrent that through him all nations will be blessed. He is King of all nations and his Kingdom will build bridges between nations and peoples; (3) That the women are unlikely characters to feature in the genealogy of the Jewish Messiah perhaps parallels the fact that in some respects, Jesus is quite an unlikely Messiah. For example, though born in Bethlehem (as Matthew is keen to remind folk) Jesus is brought up in Nazareth [Donald Trump’s comments in relation to certain nations parallel John Chapter 1 Nathanael says to Phillip], again, Jesus is not the military Messiah that Jews expected (in popular texts such as Psalms of Solomon 17: 21 Behold, O Lord, and raise up to them their king, the son of David, at the time, in the which you choose, O God, that he may reign over Israel your servant.

22 And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers. And that he may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample (her) down to destruction.

(Pss17:21-22OPE)). Not the military leader who would overthrow Roman rule and secure material prosperity for Israel. (4) There is also a sense in which the inclusion of the four unlikely women associated with sexual scandal provide a foil to Mary, mother of Jesus, the origin of whose pregnancy is called into question by Joseph, until the angel puts him right. Even these women who were (rightly or wrongly) associated with sexual scandal have a place in God’s plan for the world. How much more Mary, who is in fact entirely free from any wrongdoing, but who will undoubtedly be looked down on by people who will accuse her of sexual immorality.

So those were our four unlikely women, and, perhaps, one might be attempted to add Mary to make five, since she, at one level, is fairly unlikely, being young of no particular family of note and since Matthew is keen on the number 5 (as well as the number 3, 14 (7) etc.). How about the three wise men though? What do we know of them, and why does Matthew mention them? [READ MATTHEW 2:1-12]

Centuries later in Church history the magi or wise men were given names, but we don’t know who they were – nor do we know technically that they were three, rather, there are three gifts which prompted the traditional association of three wise men, there may have been more. They are, strictly speaking, magi from the east, (perhaps modern day Iraq or Iran) rather than ‘kings’:

“Most modern commentators see the undescribed and mysterious magi as representatives of the best wisdom of the Gentile world, its spiritual elite: and while the Jewish leaders reject their Messiah, the Gentiles from outside the Land of Israel are anxious to greet him”. (Davies and Allison, Matthew, p. 228)

The reference to the star is interesting at a number of levels: (1) “The testimony of the Scriptures is supported by the testimony of nature” (233) ; (2) There is an important messianic text in Numbers 24:17 ‘A star will come forth out of Jacob, and a sceptre will rise out of Israel’ which was interpreted by Jewish communities in the first century to refer to the ‘Christ’. Though the star in Numbers is a metaphorical star, from very early on in Christian times (Irenaeus/Origen) there is evidence that the star in Matthew 2 was understood in connection with the star in Numbers 24 – the literal star in the sky which rests over the birth place of the Messiah is called ‘his star’ and so points to the prophecy about the metaphorical ‘star’; (3) There is some evidence of strange celestial goings on around the time Jesus was born: (233) – “…as modern astronomers now know, Jupiter (the ‘star’ of kingship) and Saturn (the ‘star’ of the Jews cf. Tacitus Hist. 5.4) were in conjunction three times in 7 B.C.”

Matthew thinks the visit of the wise men is a significant part of the birth story because (a) the fact that they are foreigners again underlines that as ‘son of Abraham’, Jesus fulfils God’s promise of bringing salvation to the whole world and all nations; (b) they come declaring Jesus to be ‘the king of the jews’, which again underlines the ‘son of David’ claim. The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh are mentioned three times in the OT in connection with Solomon, again suggesting Jesus’ Davidic sonship. Of course, the presence and words of the magi infuriates Herod, a kind of client king of the Romans who can’t claim true Davidic lineage (in fact he is of mixed race) – their reverence towards Jesus and the attitude of Herod plus the scribes and Pharisees is a prelude to and foretaste of the conflict which would ensue between the One true King of Israel and false leaders, eventually culminating in Jesus crucifixion; (c) finally, the magi seem to be saying that they are coming to worship this King of the Jews (more than just pay him homage), which points back to Jesus being Immanuel – God with us, the Son of God – God in person.

*** The words ‘who will shepherd my people Israel’ in Matthew 2:6, reinforce the Davidic sonship of Jesus, but Moses also remembered as a shepherd (Isa 63.11; LAB 19.3, 9; Mek. on Ex. 14.31; Exod. Rab. On 2.2)and in the remainder of Matthew 2, the gospel writer is keen to show that Jesus is a kind of new Moses – much of his early life paralleling the life of Moses, the great liberator of God’s people.***

Can you guess what picture this is?

Davies and Allison, p. 254:

“Leonardo da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi highlights an aspect of Matthew’s text that other artists – and some exegetes – have missed: Mt 2.1-12 has not only a foreground but also a background. In da Vinci’s painting, behind the magi and Jesus and Mary there are buildings in ruin and horsemen at joust. The meaning is manifest. The world into which the Messiah comes is in chaos and decay; things need to be righted. This is also an element in Matthew’s story. When Jesus is born, Jerusalem, instead of being overjoyed, is troubled at the news. And there is upon Israel’s throne a wicked and illegitimate ruler. And innocent blood is about to be shed (cf. 2.13-23). In brief, the world is ill. Is it any wonder that the first word of Jesus’ public proclamation in ‘Repent!’ (4.17)?”

So, to conclude, four unlikely women and three wise men all pointing to the true identity and true significance of the one true King of Israel, and Saviour of the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the eyewitnesses Grand Rapids, Mi: Wm B. Eerdmans, 2006.Burridge, Richard. Four Gospels, One Jesus? London: SPCK, 1994.

Davies, W.D. & Dale C. Allision Jr.Matthew Vol. II (ICC) Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1988.

Marsh Clive & Steve Moyise Jesus and the gospels London: T&T Clark, 2005.

Wansbrough, Henry. An Introduction to the New Testament London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015.

Wenham, David & Steve Walton. Exploring the New Testament Volume 1: The Gospels and Acts London: SPCK, 2001.

Wright, N.T. The New Testament and the People of God. London: SPCK, 1992.

______Jesus and the Victory of God London: SPCK, 1996.