Matthew 1-4

After two weeks in Old Testament biblical narrative, you will probably find the next two weeks of gospel readings refreshing. Yet, your training in narrative will help you see the gospel with new eyes. We will spend a week in the gospel of Matthew and a week in the gospel of John, two very different viewpoints on the life and teachings of Jesus. Remember that narrative is history from a particular point of view trying to communicate meaning to a particular people. In Matthew's case, the agenda appears quickly with the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew is intent to show how Jesus is the fulfillment of OT prophecy and longings. Thus, his gospel quotes the Old Testament much more often than the others.

Matthew is one of the "synoptic" ("syn" meaning same or together, "optic" meaning seeing) gospels in that Matthew, Mark and Luke cover similar materials. It is important to remember that the gospels were written later than the letters of Paul and represent material that was being told in the early church for 40-60 years. There is such similarity that many think there were earlier written sources from which the gospels drew. While there are many similarities, there are times when details of the same event vary from gospel to gospel. Do these variances represent different written sources or different traditions in the way the events were told?

The Genealogy (1:1-17) is interesting for who it includes and does not. It is certainly a selective listing, but both the inclusion of women and Gentiles in the listing makes it unusual. Notice Tamar, Rahab, Ruth the Moabitess, and "the wife of Uriah" (also known as Bathsheba, with whom David had the affair and then did a contract murder of Uriah). It's quite a family tree of the famous and infamous that brings up both the glory and shame of Israel's past. In that way, Jesus' genealogy is unique yet remarkably similar to yours and mine.

The birth of Jesus narratives in the gospel of Matthew have several OT references (Ps. 130:8, Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, Hosea 11:1, Jeremiah 31:15) and tend to emphasize the males in the story (in contrast to Luke's emphases on females). Only Matthew tells the story of the wise men and the slaughter of the innocents (2:1-18).

In chapter 3, John the Baptist is introduced. The relationship between the two of them (as cousins and in following God's call)is most interesting. Some scholars think that some of the disciples of Jesus were first disciples of John. Their relationship is one of admiration and some question of each other. Jesus is baptized by John. How much water was Jesus baptized with? The normal way of baptism for Gentiles who converted to Jewish faith was a form of sprinkling, usually administered by shaking a water loaded cattail. The secular use of baptism was for the washing of utensils or the sinking of a ship. In Acts, people are "baptized in the Holy Spirit" with the key image being a "pouring". My personal opinion is that we will never know how much water should be used in baptism.

Jesus goes right from his baptism into the three temptations from the devil, which include responses from Jesus from the law in Deuteronomy. Notice that he is led into the desert "by the Spirit." His motivations and commitment are now tested. Will he use is miraculous power to meet his own physical needs, to win the people through manipulation or to make himself rich and famous by selling his soul? Every gifted person of power has to negotiate those temptations. I wonder when Jesus would have shared these temptations with his disciples. No doubt, he faced those issues many times, as do we.

Chapter 4 finishes with the beginning of Jesus' ministry and the calling of Peter Andrew, James and John. Jesus' ministry is an early hit among the people, including many rejected and often disgarded populations like Galilee, the Decapolis and "beyond the Jordan." It is now time to consider what your own call story might be. It doesn't have to be near as dramatic as Abraham, Moses or these early disciples. But the message is clear here that key to Jesus' ministry was to put the gift and the legacy of his ministry in the hands of ordinary people - people like you.