POST OVERVIEW. An introductory overview to the commentary on the gospel of Matthew.

In the last several months, I have been reading through the gospels, including repeated readings through “Matthew.” The frequency of the readings over a short period of time has revealed to me some new and fascinating insights into the life, death and resurrection of our Lord, and I am hoping to publish a series of posts about those insights. As we begin this series of posts, it would be good to make some broad observations about Matthew and set some expectations about what we will discover.

OBSERVATIONS

AN EXTRAORDINARY MAN. One of the things that we notice about the gospel of Matthew (and it is probably true of all the gospel accounts) is that every scene with the Lord Jesus portrays something that could only occur with Jesus. That is, no encounter with Jesus is ever ordinary. In every instance, the action that takes place or the conversation that occurs or the teaching that Jesus does testify to His being utterly unique and in no way like the ordinary people whom He encounters. Mere mortals circle around Him and say and do things that mere mortals say and do. We recognize these actions and words as those of ordinary children of Adam because we are also ordinary children of Adam and we, like them, are beset with the same feeble imperfections.  Whether the people are higher or lower on the human scale of things makes no difference. When ordinary people are in the same space as Jesus, it is blatantly obvious that Jesus is from another realm. He is the One who is completely other. Even though the other characters in the gospel have the same general appearance as Jesus, it is evident that sharing a similar appearance is where the similarity ends. Jesus’ regal other-ness is one of the features of Matthew’s gospel that we will emphasize as we progress through the book.

AN EMPHASIS ON HEALING. Perhaps more than any other gospel, Matthew highlights Jesus’ healing ministry. From the very beginning of His ministry into His passion week, Jesus is actively involved in healing all those who come to Him. And regardless of the disease or demon-possession or even death, Jesus never fails to heal all who come to Him. We will be sure to note this as we make our way through the gospel and seek to determine why Jesus heals so many.

JESUS AS THE PROMISED DAVIDIC KING. The gospel of Matthew has a decidedly Jewish feel and is thought to have been written with Jewish people in mind. One of the characteristics of the Jews of the first century was the anticipation of the soon-appearing Messiah, the Anointed One. For the Jew, the Messiah was expected to be a warrior-king like David who would re-establish Israel as the chief of the nations. Matthew presents Jesus as the long-awaited Davidic King, but not the King that the Jews anticipated. As we read through “Matthew,” we will be alert for those times when Jesus is presented as the promised King.

JESUS TEACHES HIS DISCIPLES. This gospel record has several long discourses in which Jesus teaches His disciples. In Matthew, Jesus trains His disciples for the ministry that they will be expected to fulfill as His followers after He has ascended to heaven. Therefore, He gives instruction about the characteristics of a true disciple, about the real meaning of the Ten Commandments, about prayer, about overcoming anxiety, about the kingdom of heaven, about forgiveness and about the end of the age and His return, among other topics. His teaching is meant to prepare His disciples for their role as His witnesses in the world.

EXPECTATIONS

The apostle Matthew did not write his gospel account of the ministry of Jesus Christ to simply be a biography about a man that he greatly admired so that others could also admire Him. Instead, Matthew writes about a Man who said things that no one else has ever said, who did things that no one else has ever done, and who lived among men as one who in every way manifested Deity. Matthew gives us an eyewitness account of Jesus’ teaching, His compassion and His character. The gospel writer documents Jesus’ predictions of His own death and resurrection and then reports how these predictions were fulfilled exactly by His death on Golgotha and His resurrection on the third day. In short, Matthew tells us the amazing story of Jesus so that his readers will see that Jesus is the Messiah and the Davidic King.

As we progress through this gospel record, then, we expect to frequently read things that lead us also to believe this Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We expect Matthew to give us clear, objective evidence whose only explanation is that Jesus is the heaven-sent Davidic King.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 11/4/2024                   #711