Matthew

1.     First Impressions

·       What do you see in this book that tells you about the original reader?

Throughout the book of Matthew it is clear that the author is to a large extent aiming his book at a Jewish audience. Jesus is very much portrayed as the fulfillment of the predicted Messiah. He is the King who fulfills the expectations of the Old Testament prophecies and Matthew shows how he does this. The original Jewish reader will be expecting the Messiah and Matthew reveals to the Jews how although Jesus is not what they expected, He is the true Son of God and the one they have been waiting for. What a revelation to get if you were living there!

·       What do you see in this book that tells you about the author?

The author of Matthew is unknown and somewhat debated however I agree with the most recognized writer for this book, Matthew, the disciple of Jesus. Before Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple he was a disliked tax collector for the Roman government. His position and Jewish heritage supports the style of writing of Matthew. There is a focus on Jesus as the fulfillment of the Jewish Messiah, Jewish customs and commonly known things are not explained and it is documented in a topical and careful way.

·       What are the main themes, and repeated ideas in this book, and what is a one sentence summary of the “main idea?”
I almost just want to say… JESUS! Two of the main themes of Matthew are the fulfillment of the promises and prophecy in the Jewish scriptures by the man Jesus as well as the kingdom of God. In Matthew 2:2 it says,” Where is the newborn king of the Jews?...we have come to worship him.”  One repeated idea in Matthew is that Jesus is the Messiah, the King of the Jews (27:11). I think the key verse of Matthew which sums up the message is found in Matthew 27:37, “A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: ’This is Jesus, The King of the Jews.’” In one sentence I would summarize Matthew by saying: Jesus is the true Messiah, the fulfillment of prophecy and the King of the Jews.  I was just reminded of what Carl said in class about the first letters in Hebrew of ‘King of the Jews’ spelling YHWH. I don’t have any other evidence of that but either way the proclamation of who Jesus is, is just overwhelmingly amazing. He is man, He is God, He is Jesus, He is the Messiah and He is our Salvation!

·       What is the primary reason this book was written?

I think Matthew was written for a number of reasons one of which is simply to document the story of Jesus. More than that though I think the author wanted to explain to the Jews that Jesus was the true Messiah and why He was. The old testament is directly quoted 53 times in Matthew and in Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts  we see that the old testament is quoted and alluded to almost 130 times, more than any other book in the New Testament. The author’s main purpose was to present Jesus to the Jews showing Him to be the descendent of David who was God’s son, sent as the Messiah to the people who were waiting for him and unfortunately missed Him.

2.     Theme Tracing

·       What does this book show about the character and nature of God?

It is so interesting to see God in human form.  I realized for the first time that I’ve always just seen God in a much less concrete manner. Below is a list of quite a few of the things I’ve seen in them:

He had such humility in coming to earth

He was without sin (does not fall into temptation matt 4)

In the beatitudes we see God blesses (chapter 5)

He is Compassionate (14:14)

He is the omniscient provider (6:32-33)

He is an abundant provider (14:19-21/15:37)

He is the healer (8:3, 17/9:22)

He has all authority (7:29)

He is omnipotent, God of the impossible (8:26/14:25/19:26)

He is the forgiver of sins (9:2)

Hides and reveals things (11:25/ 16:17)

Jesus’ humanity, humility and love can be seen so clearly in his words to God before the crucifixion, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”(26:39) He is so selfless!

Possibly one of my favorite verses is 11:28-30 because it shows so much of God’s character. It speaks of Him as a teacher, humble, gentle at heart, giving rest and being kind.

There is so much more and I love digging into the character of God found in the gospels, there is so much displayed in everything that happens and all Jesus says and does.

·       What does this book show about God’s redemptive plan for mankind?

Well, most obviously is Jesus! He is here! God’s plan in sending his son to come among humans and be light, teaching and turning their hearts to God is recorded in Matthew. The death and resurrection of Christ bringing salvation and a new covenant between man and God is seen in Matthew. This is the biggest mark in God’s redemptive plan. We are no longer under the Law of Moses but have salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  This door to relationship with God is amazing.  There is so much redemption other than the obvious seen in Matthew. The small things of God’s plan in taking Joseph and his family to Egypt and the way Jesus restores the lives of many people through healing, casting out spirits and giving them something to live for. In matt 8:11 we e how God plans to bring all people into his kingdom and wants relationship with Jews and Gentiles alike, it says, “And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world-from east and west- and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

3.     Application questions

·       Personal application: One of the main things I can apply from Matthew I saw when Satan tempts Jesus. He questions His identity. He repeatedly says ‘If you are the Son of God…’ Did Satan need a Jesus to prove to Him that He was the Son of God? No, of course not, He knew very well who Jesus was! Why then? Well, I think it is because when we question who we are we often question who God is. Satan fools us in the same way by questioning our identity. I am the daughter of the King, the mighty God and Satan knows this but unless I stand firm in my identity in Christ I will question myself and take my focus off of who God is and onto who I am. Honestly, I am not much without God and without God I will fall. So I just found it interesting that Satan even tempts Jesus by questioning His identity. I have seen so many people turn to put their lives and identities in other things and I know what it is like to struggle with that. It is so cool that never once does Jesus even comment on that, He doesn’t even need to address it because He knows who He is , He knows who His Father is and  He knows that because of that He can be victorious.  We are the same; I want to stop justifying myself but rather just walk in the freedom of the knowledge of the greatness and character of my Father.

·       Point of Passion:

There are several things concerning education which can be taken from some of the things said in Matthew. Firstly, the primary goal of education should be to see salvation and discipleship as the next step we can deduce this from Matthew 28:19-20. In Matthew 6:19-20 it speaks about not storing up treasure on earth but rather in heaven and I think it is so important to teach the value of things correctly, education must have a view that includes an eternal perspective .

Matthew 10:24, 25 is the passage concerns education in a very clear way, it says, “Students are not greater than their teachers, and slaves are not greater than their master. Students are to be like their teacher and salves are to be like their master…”

That is pretty clear students are under their teachers but are to become like their teachers, there is much responsibility to be taken in both cases!