Overview

In this section, you will become more familiar with some of the identifying features of the Gospel of Matthew, and you will also get a feel for "Matthew's" particular style of writing. Remember that even though we do not know who wrote this gospel, we will use "Matthew" to identify this particular gospel and the gospel writer.

Objectives for this section

As you go through the resources for this section, you will gain a better understanding of the following aspects of the Gospel of Matthew:

Origins of the gospel: where and when written, original language, etc.

Who was Matthew writing for (his audience); what was his purpose in writing.

Matthew's writing style so that you will begin to recognize a few differences/similarities between Matthew and the other gospels.

How Matthew portrays Jesus of Nazareth

Steps for achieving the objectives

Hint: If you complete all of the reading by the end of Week 7, you will be well prepared for completing the assignments due in Week 8. Remember: Procrastination = STRESS!!! :-/

Complete the following steps in the order listed and by the due dates listed below.

Read Frontline: The Gospel of Matthew: Jesus as a teacher even greater than Moses

Read "Gospel of Matthew" in The Complete Gospels (pages 61 - 120)

Watch "I Came Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword." (One of the "hard sayings" of Jesus that people tend to ignore. (Matthew 10: 34 - 39)

Matthew: Writing Prompt and Background Information

In The Gospel of Matthew, we have an unusually clear picture of how a gospel writer shapes his portrayal of Jesus' life and teachings according to the writer's particular beliefs, audience, and purpose.

There are several very important examples of how Matthew is doing this in the "Introduction to The Gospel of Matthew" in your textbook. (Please read this Introduction carefully!) Matthew is trying to make the case that Jesus represents the true and authentic line of Moses, the prophets, and Israel as a whole - over and against the other Jewish sects/groups of the time (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, etc.).

This is why Matthew repeatedly inserts sections of scripture from the Hebrew Bible (called "Old Testament" by Christians) - to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of those ancient scriptures (even if Matthew sometimes makes a complete mess of things in the process. For example: Read Matthew 21:6-7 to see that Matthew has Jesus riding on both a colt and a donkey at the same time in his slightly misbegotten attempt to have Jesus fulfilling a passage found in Zechariah.)

In our Discussion Forum for Matthew, we are going to consider the Sermon on the Mount. This Sermon is one of the most beloved and well-known messages of Jesus. Our textbook says, "The famous Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5 - 7) sets forth a Christian interpretation of the Jewish Law."

But really, this statement is not quite accurate because Jesus was a Jew who was often speaking to largely Jewish audiences - and there WAS no Christianity and that time. Therefore, Jesus' re-interpretation of Jewish Law was Jesus' own interpretation - not a Christian interpretation (see 5:21 - 48 for examples).

And it is worth noting that sometimes Jesus' teachings are not the same as Christian Church teachings. For example: Many churches take a very hard stand against homosexuality as being against Christian principles. However, Jesus never spoke about or against homosexuality, but he did speak constantly of love and compassion for ALL people - most especially marginalized people.

Jesus paid no attention to social or religious boundaries, he violated Jewish purity laws, and he demonstrated over and over that the compassionate spirit of God's law is far more important than the letter of religious laws (especially given that religious laws are sometimes cruel and exclusionary). Clearly, Jesus was opposed to hypocrites of every size, shape, and color and he called his followers to live according to higher standards.

Writing Prompts:

Please read Chapters 5 - 7 very carefully, and then do the following:

Write a summary (including chapter and verse) of how Jesus says we should live and how we should not live. What things are necessary and what things are not necessary?

What are some of Jesus' main points (including chapter and verse) about religious hypocrisy?