Jesus in the Four Gospels

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Here is yet another pericope which shows us the differing perspectives of Mark and Matthew:

Mark (8:27-30)

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Matthew (16:13-20)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Quoting myself from earlier:

A little later after the talk about leaven (8:14-21), we finally get to the story of Peter confessing Jesus in Caesarea Philippi. Mark’s version of the story is interesting in that Peter proclaims Jesus as “the Christ,” but not the “son of God,” a title no human character in Mark’s narrative would ever use for Jesus up until the very end of Jesus’ life. As we’ve noted a number of times already, Mark has already set the stage for both titles at the very beginning: this is, after all, “the good-news of Jesus Christ, son of God.” Mark then closes this brief episode with yet another warning of secrecy from Jesus: here we have Peter getting it (halfway) right, but Jesus shuts him up all the same, just like the demons who call Him by His real identity: the “son of God.” The messianic secret all over again. Apparently, Mark’s Jesus is not a very good evangelist.

One could say that Peter’s confession of Jesus as Messiah is really the bridge between the first and the second half of the gospel, since immediately afterwards Jesus becomes increasingly fixated on His impending death. And it is in the second half of the gospel that we begin to see the exact nature of Jesus’ being Christ. Mark opens the following section with the words: “And he began to teach them.” It’s a bit of an odd narration, since Jesus has been teaching ever since the beginning of the story. It is better to take this as a cue from the narrator that we are now at a turning point.

You can see that for Mark, the Caesarea Philippi pericope acts more as a vehicle for his own motifs, such as the messianic secret. Matthew’s Peter, by contrast, instead of just saying that Jesus is the Messiah, also adds “the Son of the living God.” Again, Jesus’ identity is not so much of a secret in Matthew as it is in Mark. Also rather than just ordering him to keep quiet as the Markan Jesus does, Matthew’s Jesus, in keeping with the overall positive portrayal of the disciples, praises Peter for his confession (which was not prompted “by flesh and blood”) and promises to build the Church “upon this rock.”

This brings us to the theme of Matthew being the ‘Church’ gospel. For Matthew, the Ekklēsia is something that is highly important. In fact, his Jesus gives the following advice:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

(18:15-20)

This theme - of Matthew being the Church-oriented gospel - is the key to his portrayal of the disciples as the ones who hear Jesus and get things right (and are praised for it), in contrast to the blind and deaf buffoons of Mark. As I mentioned earlier:

For Matthew, solid knowledge is a necessity, and he gives clear instructions on how to achieve it. Whereas Mark puts into question the easy categorization of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders,’ Matthew leaves no doubt as to who ‘gets it’. The Matthean Jesus requires no less devotion than the Markan Jesus, but He requires less puzzling. To go back to the example of the two houses, Jesus’ reputation as leader rests upon those who hear His words and those who act on them. It is as if Matthew could not risk ‘tarnishing’ and calling into question Jesus’ legacy by showing the disciples as ignorant hearers.
 
Matthew thus emphasizes the idea of ‘tradition’; his gospel depends upon an unbroken chain, this transmission of teachings from Jesus Himself to His disciples to the readers of the gospel. The disciples are the links which connect Jesus and the audience. Since for Matthew, knowledge of Jesus’ status as Lord (not ‘Teacher’) stands as the ultimate goal for his audience, and since the disciples must transmit this knowledge, they understand him quite well. They do so because, ultimately, Jesus’ teaching depends on them.

The pericope is particularly interesting since it harkens back to the parable of the wise and foolish builders. This episode shows Peter as being like the wise man who builds his house on rock (Peter = rock, get it? :D); in other words, he is the living example of someone who hears and acts upon Jesus’ words. As a reward for this (there is that reward-punishment theme again!), Peter is chosen to be the foundation for the Church, which will build upon him. He, and the other apostles, are thus set as the intermediate material between Jesus and the hearers of the gospel.
 
Sorry for the slight drift, but whatever made you think I moved? Well, technically me and my family did back in March, but I’m still in the confines of east Japan.

Back to regular programming.
 
Hokomai said:
Isn’t the bit about “I and the father are one” in John? I was asking why Mark seems to overlook this critical piece of information (given that Mark could have had no idea that a New Testament would one day be put together, with another author providing this fact.
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The theory that Makes the most sense to me is Mark is a collection of ST Peters sermons.
This accounts for the unevenness of the narrative.

The content of the narrative is throughly Peters.
If this is true the humility of Peter literally jump out at you.
He is offers his own sins as example of. Christ Salvanoic nature.
What it lacks in Knowledge of Jewish Law Matthew
the thoroughness and beauty of Luke.
and the brilliant theology of John.
It makes up for in humility of a common man chosen by God to accomplish great things
 
patrick457 said:
Matthew thus emphasizes the idea of ‘tradition’; his gospel depends upon an unbroken chain, this transmission of teachings from Jesus Himself to His disciples to the readers of the gospel. The disciples are the links which connect Jesus and the audience. Since for Matthew, knowledge of Jesus’ status as Lord (not ‘Teacher’) stands as the ultimate goal for his audience, and since the disciples must transmit this knowledge, they understand him quite well. They do so because, ultimately, Jesus’ teaching depends on them.

The pericope is particularly interesting since it harkens back to the parable of the wise and foolish builders. This episode shows Peter as being like the wise man who builds his house on rock (Peter = rock, get it? :D); in other words, he is the living example of someone who hears and acts upon Jesus’ words. As a reward for this (there is that reward-punishment theme again!), Peter is chosen to be the foundation for the Church, which will build upon him. He, and the other apostles, are thus set as the intermediate material between Jesus and the hearers of the gospel.
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Still, this positive portrayal does not mean that Matthew is willing to let the disciples completely off the hook. He has his own version of the disciples’ failure, which often comes across as being more harsher than Mark’s - precisely because he has a more upbeat view of them. For instance, Matthew’s version of the walking on water has Peter asking Jesus to let him walk on the water as well, which ultimately fails. Then there is also this:

After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.

Peter swears that he denies Jesus, ironically adopting a form of speech which Matthew’s Jesus Himself condemns:

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
 
The Jewish Jesus

Many people have noted the fact that Matthew is the most ‘Jewish’ of the four gospels. In fact, the whole gospel begins with: “The book of the genesis of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.” The word biblos geneseōs is often translated as “book of (the) generation,” which certainly does have that meaning; however, anyone who would have read this originally would have been struck by that phrase. It is a rather overt reference to - guess what? - the book of Genesis. In other words, Matthew begins his work - rather properly, one could say - at the ‘beginning’. He then singles out David and Abraham, two important figures in Hebrew history, as the most important forefathers of Jesus, and proceeds to give a genealogy of Jesus (very Jewish of him to do so) that clearly imitates the “begats” familiar from Genesis. The author constructs his list in three sets of fourteen, both highly significant numbers in ancient numerology, including Jewish numerology. David’s name, for instance, when written in Hebrew, adds up to fourteen: daleth-waw-daleth = 4+6+4. (There is a rather interesting explanation of the various elements in Matthew’s genealogy here.)



Also, there is the characterization of Jesus throughout the gospel as a new Moses, somewhat in a midrashic sort of way: both had an evil king seeking to slaughter them; ones goes out of Egypt while the other goes into it; Jesus is portrayed as giving His intepretation of the Law from a mountain (Matthew 5-7) because Moses received the Law from a mountain. Not to mention Matthew’s penchant - one could even say obsession - for quoting the Old Testament every now and then, showing how even the slightest of Jesus’ actions “fulfilled what was spoken” by the prophets, as well as his very Jewish avoidance of the word “God” and preferance to use a euphemism (Matthew speaks of “the kingdom of Heaven” in contrast to Mark and Luke’s “the kingdom of God”). Some even see the gospel as being composed of five blocks of narrative alternating with five discourses (which are marked off with the phrase “when Jesus had finished…”), which could be a subtle reference to the five books of the Torah.

Matthew uses these devices to demonstrate how, in his view, Jesus did not just fulfill, but also interpreted the Scriptures. The Sermon on the Mount makes His relation with the Mosaic Law explicit: He has come not to annul Torah but to fulfill it. The righteousness He demands of His followers is not less, but more than that demanded by the Law. In a series of antitheses (“you have heard it said…but I say to you…”), Matthew shows how Jesus’ interpretation of Torah yields a greater righteousness “than that of the scribes and the Pharisees,” and how (rather paradoxically) it is more demanding than what the Law stipulates:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

In cases like these, Jesus quotes a particular commandment, only to give a more stringent interpretation of it. He does not get rid of the laws of Moses; He retains them, but also teaches that they must be completely internalized - which makes it all the more difficult to follow. If killing is a temptation, how hard is it to avoid anger? If adultery is hard to avoid, how much more lust?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Many people misunderstand the passage ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ It is not a kind of harsh system of retribution, but an attempt to moderate retributive systems so that they would not spiral into greater violence: “if you must retaliate, do not retaliate to any extent greater than you have suffered.” If your eye gets hurt, you may exact retribution by hurting an eye, but not two eyes. If you lose one tooth, you could make the other lose a single tooth as well, but not any more than that. If one member of a given tribe is injured by a person of another tribe, you are not allowed to kill ten members of the offending tribe in retaliation.

Matthew’s Jesus is again raising the hurdle here, making it more demanding. While the Law did allow for some retribution, His intensification of that Law meant that His disciples could not even exercise that privilege. On the contrary, they are to “turn the other cheek,” give all of their clothes when only a single item is demanded of them, and to walk two miles when the law requires only one. Jesus in Matthew thus teaches that people should not just obey the Law of Moses, but even more than that - they are to walk the second mile, to go beyond what the Law requires and internalize its intent.
 
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Furthermore, Matthew even seems to suggest by way of allusion that Jesus is the Torah personified. According to the traditional Jewish understanding, the Torah was eternal: some rabbis believed that it existed in the mind of God long before it was even revealed to Moses - the Torah created long before the world was created, it is said - and will endure forever, in the “world to come.” Torah was wisdom and the fulfillment of its comands. Study of Torah was as righteous as the performance of sacrifices in the Temple, and the reason for the sabbath rest. The divine presence (the Shekinah) dwells upon those who gather to study Torah as it does upon the righteous. To become a Jew is to take on the yoke of Torah: in fact, Israel and Torah are two inseparable concepts.

Matthew, in turn, has Jesus associate Himself with wisdom (11:19) and declare Himself to be even greater than the temple (12:6). He invites those heavily burdened to take on His “yoke” so that He could give them “rest” (11:29-30). He promises His disciples that He will forever be with them (28:20), and He tells them, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (18:20). For Matthew, Jesus is thus the medium of the divine presence.

This characterization of Jesus ties in with Matthew’s portrayal of the disciples as intelligent hearers. In the Septuagint, the “congregation” of Israel is sometimes described as an ekklēsia. The word occurs about a hundred times in the protocanonical books of the Septuagint, and where the Hebrew original is available for comparison, it always translates the word qəhal “a gathering” (i.e. an assembly) or words from the same root (although qəhal are sometimes also translated using other words such as synagogē). In effect, Matthew’s Jesus brings to life a new, reconstituted Israel: just as those who gathered to hear Moses speak to them from God were His ekklēsia, so too those gathered to hear Jesus speak from God comprise a new ekklēsia, with the disciples taking on the role of the scribes.
 
The Retreating Jesus

Another peculiar quirk of Matthew is his portrayal of Jesus as the someone who turns back from the face of danger. Repeatedly in the gospel, Jesus is threatened by some force, and rather than confronting the danger head-on, He retreats. The first time Jesus does so could be considered the flight to Egypt (2:13-15), but that action may be attributed more to the agency of Joseph. The motif becomes more obvious in 4:12, where we read: “Now when he heard that John had been handed over, he withdrew into Galilee.” Up to this point Jesus has been in Judaea to be baptized by John (3:13-17) and then in the wilderness battling the Devil (4:1-11), but when He hears about John’s arrest He “withdraws” (Matthew’s term of choice for this is anachōreō, used for a military retreat) from the scene of action to go back into the Galilee. This is a rather puzzling portrayal: Jesus is one hero who does not aggresively charge, but cautiously “retreats.” We can find this repeated throughout the gospel:

He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known.

(12:9-16)

[W]hen Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

(14:6-13)

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

(15:1-21)

The incident in chapter 12 is very curious. Under Mark’s hands we would expect this to be an instance of the messianic secret (cf. Mark 3:1-12), but Matthew’s presentation of the episode makes it seem as if Jesus had ran away from the Pharisees because they are plotting to kill Him, and He tells the crowds to keep His activities a secret, perhaps in order to avoid arrest. All in all, the word anachōreō appears ten times in Matthew (it shows up only once in Mark, once in John, and twice in Acts); six of those ten times it is used to describe Jesus’ “withdrawal” (2:13, 22; 4:12; 12:15; 14:13; 15:21).
 
Note, however, that the pattern includes more than just the “retreat.” Going back to 4:12-17, we see Jesus retreating from a threat of danger, but He doesn’t just hide someplace. Rather:

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

In Matthew, this is the point at which Jesus’ ministry begins. Jesus withdraws from danger so that He can take His message elsewhere. The same happens in 12:15-23 (Jesus, running away from the Pharisees, cures all those who tag along with Him and begins a more intensified ministry) and 14:13-14 (Jesus hears the death of John and retreats, but also heals the sick and teaches the crowds). Jesus’ retreat is a strategic one: it regularly leads not to the end of His ministry but to its beginning or intensification.

Matthew, once again, holds up Jesus as a role model for His followers. He has emphasized via his portrayal of the disciples how those who follow Jesus must be imitators of Him - to be learned “scribes” who brings out the new and the old (13:51-52). Chapter 10 mainly consists of Jesus’ exhortation to the disciples on how to preach (as an aside, note how some of the material which in Mark appears in the “little apocalypse” section and a few others appears at Matthew’s gospel within this context):

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
 
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

Matthew’s Jesus here advises His disciples (and by extension, the readers of the gospel) to “flee” (pheugō) persecution, and makes sure that we know that He is advising them to follow His example: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master … Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” Matthew’s Jesus thus gives emphasis on the necessity of His disciples and the gospel’s audience to be “good scribes,” just as He was. Yes, persecution and tribulation will come, and they must endure it, but more than that, they should also retreat in the face of danger, but retreat in order to carry out the ministry elsewhere.
 
Matthew and the other Jews



Now, finally, I should say that there is a somewhat ‘dark’ edge to Matthew’s gospel that we also must pay attention to.

Matthew’s earnestness can pose a difficulty for modern readers of the gospel. Because of his clearly-defined, dualistic worldview, his narrative needs ‘enemies’ in order to draw his Protagonist and his disciples more sharply. Most often, the characters who fill in this role are Jewish authority figures like the Pharisees or the chief priests. Matthew is absolutely certain that Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaism and makes his case for it (the “Jewish Jesus” motif we have seen earlier); for him, rejection of Jesus is the rejection of the correct understanding of Judaism.

Not all of the people within the gospel, not to mention later Jewish readers of Matthew, are convinced, however. Matthew was probably written around the time when the tensions between Christians and other, non-messianic Jews were reaching to a point: by the time the Temple was destroyed in AD 70, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism (the spiritual descendant of the Pharisaic schools, all the other ‘Judaisms’ of the Second Temple period having gone extinct), twins of the same womb, have started to go their separate ways. Both laid claim over the heritage of Israel and struggled to define themselves in the context of the turmoil of the era and over against each other. The more Christians argued in the context of the synagogue that Jesus is the Messiah, the more non-messianic Jews found it impossible to put up with them. The end result was that Christians were finally expulsed from the synagogue and were labeled by their colleagues as minim, ‘heretics’. (e.g. the Birkat ha-Minim) In this context, the gospel has been interpreted as reflecting the struggles and conflicts between Matthew and others of his ilk and other Jews.

There are times within the gospel when Matthew’s earnestness and surety could become sharply polemical. Matthew contains some of Jesus’ most virulent statements in all the New Testament: for instance, Jesus’ haranguing the scribes and the Pharisees in chapter 23. Judas’ identification of Jesus as “Rabbi” could even be seen in this light. Not to mention that the gospel contains the most infamous line within the Christian Scriptures: “his blood on us and on our children.” (27:25) Another overarching theme throughout the gospel is the rejection of Israel’s Messiah. Prior to Jesus’ crucifixion the Jews are mainly called Israelites, the honorific title of God’s chosen people (cf. 8:10; 9:33; 10:6; 10:23; 15:24, 31; 19:28); after it, they are called Ioudaioi “Jews” (28:15), a sign that through their rejection of the Christ the “kingdom of Heaven” has been taken away from them and given instead to the new Israel, the Church, which is open to both Jew and gentile alike. There is also a shade of the “retreating Jesus” motif which we’ve seen earlier: in Matthew, Jesus retreats from the Jewish people (cf: 23:39) into the circle of His disciples, and then intensifies His mission (which was originally directed only towards the “house of Israel”) by ordering His followers to “make disciples of all nations.” (28:19)

The end result of this is, ironically, that the most Jewish of the four gospels has been used as a proof-text for many of the atrocities perpetrated against Jews throughout history.
 
patrick457 said:
Not to mention that the gospel contains the most infamous line within the Christian Scriptures: “his blood on us and on our children.” (27:25)
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Now there might be a level of irony here in this comment, as within the gospel, Jesus’ blood appears in the context of innocence (cf. 27:4) and forgiveness: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (26:28) In one sense, this is like the blood of Abel which cries out for vengeance, and yet unlike. (23:33-36)
 
Almost done with Matthew. Anyone got anything? And this time folks, please ask something that’s on-topic.
 
"God with us"



Matthew’s gospel begins and ends with a declaration: God is with us. When Matthew begins the narrative proper he provides us a quote from Isaiah (7:14), which he links with Jesus’ birth.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
**and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).** When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

(1:18-25)

At the very end:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

(28:16-20)

Matthew’s version of the resurrection exhibits yet again his thematic difference with Mark. Whereas Mark, with his love of ambiguity and irony, (originally) ends his gospel with a cliffhanger, with the women ultimately not relaying the news of the Resurrection to the male disciples “for they were afraid” and with Jesus absent, literally disappearing from the tomb and from the narrative, Matthew chooses to end on a more happy, more certain note. Jesus Himself appears to confirm what the angel at the tomb said to the women (here described as being afraid “with fear and great joy,” 28:8); the women do relay the news to the disciples; the disciples do make it to the Galilee. Matthew’s narrative shows us what Mark’s “young man” only hints at.

Just as the Matthean Jesus’ words were heard and enacted upon by His followers, they in turn must now become the bearers of His words. For Matthew, because the disciples proved to be intelligent hearers, they are now to be the new “scribes” and the new “teachers.” Because Israel has turned its back on its Messiah, their mission is no longer confined to it as it had been before (10:15; 15:24); they are now to carry out the ministry to “all nations.” The gospel implicitly connects its own existence to the ability of the disciples to hear, understand, and pass on the teachings of Jesus: were it not for them, Matthew’s gospel would not have existed. They will, we can assume, indeed make more disciples, who will separate themselves from the goats whose houses built on sand are doomed to be washed away.

Jesus then ends by declaring that He will be with them always “until the end of the age.” The crucified and risen Jesus, by promising to be with the Ekklēsia as they move out into history, proves true to the name Isaiah gives Him: “God-with-us.”
 
Addendum 1: The Passion in Matthew

Out of the three synoptics, Matthew and Mark are the closest to each other (Matthew has 600 of the 660 verses in Mark), and it shows in their respective passion narratives. But even then, the two are not exact clones of each other: Matthew does share a lot of material that Mark has, but he shapes the story in his own way according to his own perspective.

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”

(Mark 13:32-37; 14:1-2)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

(25:31-46; 26:1-5)

In contrast to Mark’s rather abrupt way of introducing the passion proper via the narrator, Matthew pauses for a moment and lets the narrative catch its breath. We see here another common Matthaean characteristic: Matthew prefers using direct speech over narration, so that the information divulged by the narrator in Mark is in Matthew a piece of dialogue by Jesus. Another example of the quirk is in 15:22, where the Canaanite woman describes her daughter’s affliction herself (cf. Mark 7:25-26, where this is told via narration) - in fact, Matthew’s pericope of the Canaanite woman, when compared to Mark’s Syrophoenician woman, is composed of more dialogue.

In this piece of dialogue, Jesus calmly tells His disciples about what is to happen, as if giving the signal allowing them to occur. Matthew marks the moment with the editorial phrase that has occurred five times in the gospel: “And it happened when Jesus had finished all these words.” Unlike the other instances, this final instance carries the word pantas, ‘all’. For Matthew, Jesus’ teaching is almost over. The only thing that is left for Jesus to teach His disciples is His obedient death. The wording also seems to subtly compare (once again) Jesus with Moses: in Deuteronomy 32:15, we are told: “When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel…” Just as Matthew linked Jesus to Moses at His birth and His ministry, He will now again do so at His death.

By having the passion begin with Jesus’ prediction of His doom (the most succinct prediction of the event in the gospel), Matthew portrays Jesus as being in full control of the events that are about to cascade over Him and His disciples. In doing so the author stresses the majesty and authority of Jesus. Contrasting with this deliberation and certainty is the confusion of Jesus’ opponents. Matthew, like John (but not Mark), explicitly identifies “the high priest” as Caiaphas, the person who held the office from AD 18 to 36. In contrast to Mark’s simple reference to an ongoing plot, here the leaders come together in counsel. This is Matthaean irony at play: while Jesus, with prophetic knowledge, declares openly to His disciples what will soon happen (even at the point of naming the exact time), at the same time the leaders huddle privately and decide not to arrest Him on the feast.
 
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And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

(Mark 14:3-9)

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

(Matthew 26:6-13)

In true Matthaean fashion, Matthew only reports what he sees as essential and so does not include the little incidental details that Mark describes (the fact that the ointment was nard, its value of 300 denarii, etc.) While Jesus is in the house of “Simon the leper” (as in Mark, we are not told who this person is - but the reader of Matthew is not likely to forget that the first great miracle of Jesus in this particular gospel is the curing of a leper; 8:1-4), a woman comes comes to Jesus with reverence and anoints His head with an expensive ointment.

This act confirms what Jesus had just told His disciples, for this anointing is intended as a burial anointing (compare Matthew’s more explicit wording with Mark’s). In fact, in Matthew’s version of the empty tomb story, the women are not said to come with the express purpose of anointing Jesus’ body (as in Mark 16:1), but to “see the tomb.” This unnamed woman, in Matthew’s eyes, had thus fulfilled a sacred obligation. Still, Jesus’ interpretation of this act (anointing His body in preparation of His death and burial - obviously contrary to the usual custom) implies that He envisions Himself dying as a criminal, whose body will not be buried with proper honors. Some people have also seen further symbolism in the fact that the ointment was poured over Jesus’ head. Since anointing the head with oil was part of the ancient Israelite coronation ritual (cf. 1 Samuel 16:12-13), was Matthew perhaps alluding to Jesus’ status as the “anointed” king?

This pericope stands out because of its (almost out-of-character for Matthew, rather negative) portrayal of the disciples. While Mark’s version has “some” who protest against this lavish act, Matthew explicitly names the protesters as the disciples. At first glance, the disciples’ complaints seem to be in line with Jesus’ final parable about caring for the “least,” but a closer reading shows that they lack an in-depth spiritual perception of the moment. The disciples will have many opportunities to show their concern for the poor and needy, but the moment of the passion is here and calls for urgent response. Whereas in Matthew (as mentioned time and again before) the disciples are all in all, a more clever and knowledgeable bunch than Mark’s buffoons, the passion is still a stumbling-block for them. Only the woman understands that the kairos, that ‘time’ when God’s decisive grace will come which is given some attention in Matthew’s gospel, has come in the form of Jesus’ suffering.

The pericope ends, as in Mark, with a tribute to this unnamed woman. Which is rather ironic, given that while Jesus says that whenever “the gospel” (Mark) or “this gospel” (Matthew; we need not automatically assume that Matthew’s gospel is being meant here) is preached, “what she has done will also be told in memory of her,” both authors do not give us the woman’s name.
 
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