1 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,500 Hi everyone. Welcome to logical Bible study 2 00:00:14,500 --> 00:00:17,800 podcast. This is a special bonus episode 3 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,200 where I want to introduce you to the gospel of Matthew. 4 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,300 That's my favorite gospel and it's the gospel that you're 5 00:00:24,300 --> 00:00:27,100 about to hear a lot of in the liturgical year. 6 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:30,300 So, over the next couple of months, we're going to be moving 7 00:00:30,300 --> 00:00:32,200 systematically through that gospel. 8 00:00:32,900 --> 00:00:37,200 So it's worth diving into the background of the Gospel to find 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,700 out who the author was what his intentions are and things. 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,600 Like that, that will help us really understand why he writes 11 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,400 the way that he does in comparison to the other gospels. 12 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,500 So firstly, when will you hear the gospel of Matthew the First 13 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:55,800 Gospel during the lectionary on weekdays? 14 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,100 It's red semi continuously in the middle part of the year. 15 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:03,700 So from ordinary time, week 10, right up until ordinary time 16 00:01:03,700 --> 00:01:06,200 week 21. And usually, depending on when 17 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,700 Easter is in that year, that means from around June to 18 00:01:09,700 --> 00:01:13,900 August, From Monday, through Saturday Saturday every week, 19 00:01:13,900 --> 00:01:15,800 you will hear from the gospel of Matthew. 20 00:01:16,900 --> 00:01:20,100 So on ordinary time week 10 Monday, it starts at Matthew 21 00:01:20,100 --> 00:01:25,100 Chapter 5 and then it finishes with chapter 25 ordinary time 22 00:01:25,100 --> 00:01:29,200 week 21 Saturday. During the weekdays, it goes 23 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,300 through most of each of those chapters. 24 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:35,100 Although, it leaves out a little bit occasionally and the first 25 00:01:35,100 --> 00:01:37,800 four chapters of the Book of Matthew usually get to here 26 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,300 around Christmas. And then the last few chapters 27 00:01:41,300 --> 00:01:44,400 of the Book of Matthew usually get to here around Easter. 28 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,400 You'll all see here some of it during Lent and Advent. 29 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,100 So there's bits of Matthew scattered all throughout the 30 00:01:50,100 --> 00:01:54,100 year. On Sundays, you'll hear a lot of 31 00:01:54,107 --> 00:01:58,100 the Gospel of Matthew, if it's year a of the liturgical cycle. 32 00:01:59,900 --> 00:02:03,600 So, here I is the gospel of Matthew, and if you listen, if 33 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,900 you only go to mass on Sundays and that's your only exposure to 34 00:02:06,900 --> 00:02:12,400 the gospel of Matthew during year a, you will hear 55.5% of 35 00:02:12,500 --> 00:02:15,000 the Gospel by just going to Sunday mass in, yay. 36 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,800 So just over half If you go to all the weekday masses as well 37 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:25,300 as the weekend Messes in year, a by the end, you would have heard 38 00:02:25,300 --> 00:02:31,800 85.5% of the Gospel of Matthew. So it's a big gospel, one of the 39 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,400 largest, but you do get to hear most of it if you go to mass 40 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,300 every single day, so who's the author of The Gospel of Matthew? 41 00:02:40,100 --> 00:02:43,500 The early church was unanimous that the author is the Apostle 42 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:45,700 Matthew or sometimes called Levi. 43 00:02:45,900 --> 00:02:49,400 He is the tax. Up, who Jesus calls from being a 44 00:02:49,408 --> 00:02:51,800 tax collector to becoming an apostle. 45 00:02:52,700 --> 00:02:56,500 This view that Matthew the tax collector is the author of The 46 00:02:56,500 --> 00:02:59,500 Gospel was uncontested for most of Christian history. 47 00:02:59,500 --> 00:03:01,300 Pretty much everyone agreed. It was Matthew. 48 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,300 Now in recent centuries, particularly the last 200 years. 49 00:03:05,300 --> 00:03:08,400 Some Scholars have started to doubt this idea, that it was 50 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,400 actually the Apostle Matthew. And the reason for that is 51 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,800 because of the assumption that the gospel of Mark was written 52 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,600 first most Scholars. Believe Mark was written first 53 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:23,900 but we know that Mark was not an apostle and we know that there's 54 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:26,600 a lot of similarities between Marx writing in Matthews 55 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:30,200 writing. So if Mark wrote first and he's 56 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:34,500 not an apostle and then Matthew at a copy, departs from the 57 00:03:34,500 --> 00:03:37,900 gospel of Mark, why would the Apostle Matthew do that? 58 00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:41,300 He would know that Mark is not an apostle. 59 00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:45,100 Why would the Apostle Matthew feel that it's necessary to copy 60 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:47,000 from someone who's not an eyewitness? 61 00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:48,700 Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. 62 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,400 Now obviously that depends on whether it really is true if the 63 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,000 gospel of Mark was written first. 64 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:56,900 And that's certainly not settled. 65 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,900 But even if that is true, there is an explanation for this. 66 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:04,100 It could be that Matthew borrowed from Mark, even though 67 00:04:04,100 --> 00:04:07,200 he knew that Mark was not an eyewitness because he would have 68 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:11,800 known that Mark is primary source for his gospel, was 69 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,400 Peter, the Apostle? And that appears to be the case. 70 00:04:14,700 --> 00:04:18,399 Mark, wrote down the things he heard from Simon, Peter and 71 00:04:18,399 --> 00:04:22,200 Matthew certainly Simon, Peter and he trusted him, and he held 72 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,500 him in high regard, based on the things that Matthew himself says 73 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,700 in his gospel about Peter. So there is a solution there. 74 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,900 Certainly it was written by a Jewish Christian of some sort 75 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,400 and we know that because of three main reasons. 76 00:04:36,700 --> 00:04:39,200 If you look at his gospel, the author seems to have known 77 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,500 Hebrew, many of the quotations from the Old Testament from the 78 00:04:42,500 --> 00:04:46,300 Hebrew version, rather than the common Greek Septuagint version. 79 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,800 Also, he has a keen interest in showing how Jesus fulfills Old 80 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,600 Testament Prophecies of the Messiah. 81 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:57,800 There's almost 200 allusions to the Old Testament in the gospel 82 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:00,600 of Matthew. Also, the author is quiet. 83 00:05:00,700 --> 00:05:03,200 Millia with Jewish rituals and customs. 84 00:05:04,300 --> 00:05:06,600 All of this would fit. What we know of Matthew here was 85 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,200 a Jewish Christian and he was a tax official who would have been 86 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,900 familiar with many languages. So although it doesn't prove 87 00:05:13,900 --> 00:05:18,700 that it's Matthew or the data seems to fit with identifying 88 00:05:18,700 --> 00:05:23,200 the author as Matthew. What about the date of the 89 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:25,800 Gospel of Matthew? That's a little harder to work 90 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:30,100 out the internal evidence suggests that the gospel was 91 00:05:30,100 --> 00:05:33,500 written before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. 92 00:05:34,700 --> 00:05:37,500 So there's two pieces of evidence that would give it this 93 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,500 early date. So firstly, Jesus in The Gospel 94 00:05:41,500 --> 00:05:45,400 of Matthew spends quite a bit of time, predicting the destruction 95 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,800 of the temple, particularly towards the end of the Gospel. 96 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,400 So in the gospel Jesus is predicting that the temple is 97 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,800 going to be destroyed but then Matthew doesn't add an editorial 98 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,700 comment along along the lines of and Jesus predictions were 99 00:05:59,700 --> 00:06:01,900 fulfilled. So that would suggest that 100 00:06:01,900 --> 00:06:03,400 Matthew. We're still waiting for them to 101 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,500 be fulfilled at the time that he was writing. 102 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,900 And we all we do know that later in his Full, there are certain 103 00:06:10,900 --> 00:06:13,900 things where Matthew does make it at Oriole comments and he 104 00:06:13,900 --> 00:06:17,400 says things, like and this rumor has continued until this day. 105 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,400 So that's in chapter 27, but he doesn't do that. 106 00:06:20,500 --> 00:06:22,900 He doesn't make some sort of editorial, closing, comment 107 00:06:22,900 --> 00:06:26,000 about the Prophecies of the destruction of the temple. 108 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,200 So that would suggest it hadn't happened yet. 109 00:06:28,300 --> 00:06:33,100 When Matthew was writing. Also there's a significant 110 00:06:33,100 --> 00:06:37,900 emphasis on the Sadducees in the gospel of Matthew, but after the 111 00:06:37,900 --> 00:06:41,200 destruction of the temple in 90 ad the Sadducees, no longer 112 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:43,900 existed. So there wouldn't be a point of 113 00:06:43,900 --> 00:06:46,900 talking about the Sadducees because Matthews audience 114 00:06:46,900 --> 00:06:49,300 wouldn't really be having any issues with the Sadducees. 115 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,500 It's much more likely that Matthew included the episodes of 116 00:06:52,500 --> 00:06:56,500 the Sadducees because his current audience was facing 117 00:06:56,500 --> 00:06:58,800 them, which means it was before 70 AD. 118 00:06:59,100 --> 00:07:00,900 So those are some interesting bits of evidence. 119 00:07:00,900 --> 00:07:05,100 We can use, can we narrow it down a bit further than before? 120 00:07:05,100 --> 00:07:09,700 70 AD, it's not easy because Scholars of all Persuasions Of 121 00:07:09,700 --> 00:07:13,100 split on a number of things. So, conservative, Orthodox. 122 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:15,900 Scholars have different opinions about when to place Matthew 123 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,200 Progressive critical Scholars. Have different views about it as 124 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,600 well. One of the key questions is 125 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,100 whether Matthew was written before the gospel of Mark or 126 00:07:25,100 --> 00:07:31,400 after it, it seems that Mark was written around a.d. 55, if 127 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:35,300 Matthew is written first and then Mark borrowed from Matthew 128 00:07:35,300 --> 00:07:38,100 and that is the traditional view that most of church history 129 00:07:38,100 --> 00:07:40,700 held. Then Matthew's gospel was 130 00:07:40,700 --> 00:07:44,500 written first, and that would Place Matthew's gospel in around 131 00:07:44,500 --> 00:07:48,500 a D50. So very early, but if the gospel 132 00:07:48,500 --> 00:07:51,200 of Matthew was written after the gospel of Mark, and that's the 133 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:54,600 Common View today, even amongst most conservative Scholars. 134 00:07:55,300 --> 00:07:58,200 Then that would mean the gospel of Matthew was written around a 135 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,000 D60. Now there is an interesting 136 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,500 quote from the church father irenaeus he says that Matthew 137 00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:11,200 wrote his gospel while Peter and Paul were preaching in And so, 138 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,000 that will place the composition of Matthew between Paul's 139 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:19,300 arrival in Rome, which was a d-58 and the death of Peter and 140 00:08:19,300 --> 00:08:23,400 Paul, which occurred sometime in ad 65 or 66. 141 00:08:24,300 --> 00:08:27,500 So, that would mean, Matthew is, if this quote is correct, then 142 00:08:27,500 --> 00:08:32,700 Matthew was written between AD 58 and AD 66 so around 80 60. 143 00:08:32,700 --> 00:08:37,400 Again although that quotes this some dispute about how literally 144 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:43,500 we should take irenaeus as words that What's the audience here 145 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:45,700 again? There's different views about 146 00:08:45,700 --> 00:08:49,700 who Matthew is writing to. So, for a long time in church, 147 00:08:49,700 --> 00:08:53,100 history, people thought that Matthew was writing for Jewish 148 00:08:53,100 --> 00:08:57,300 Christians, who lived in Israel in particular, because there's 149 00:08:57,300 --> 00:09:00,700 an ancient tradition and lots of church fathers quote, this, that 150 00:09:01,100 --> 00:09:04,300 Matthew was, originally originally written in Hebrew or 151 00:09:04,300 --> 00:09:06,300 Aramaic. Now, we don't have the original 152 00:09:06,300 --> 00:09:08,900 copies in Hebrew or Aramaic, but that was a belief. 153 00:09:09,300 --> 00:09:12,400 And if Matthew was writing in here, Or Aramaic then the only 154 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:14,900 people who would understand those languages were Jews in 155 00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:18,700 Israel. But that is disputed and some 156 00:09:18,700 --> 00:09:21,400 scholars believe that Matthew's gospel was written for a 157 00:09:21,408 --> 00:09:26,200 community of both Jews and Gentiles in the area of Syria, 158 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,200 particularly the city of Antioch. 159 00:09:30,900 --> 00:09:33,600 There's a couple of bits of evidence in the gospel itself, 160 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,700 that would suggest that Matthew was writing to Antioch. 161 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,600 We can't prove it, but there is this interesting phrase towards 162 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,400 the start of the Gospel. It says that when Jesus started 163 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,300 his ministry in, Galilee his Fame, spread throughout all of 164 00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:52,500 Syria and that's in 4:24. None of the other three gospels 165 00:09:52,500 --> 00:09:55,800 mentioned this all of Syria phrase, so that might suggest 166 00:09:55,800 --> 00:10:01,000 that Matthew had a Syrian concern in mind on For that. 167 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,400 The book seems to focus heavily on Peter and history suggests 168 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,600 that Peter was the bishop of Antioch before being the bishop 169 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,500 of Rome. So perhaps Matthew is 170 00:10:10,500 --> 00:10:14,000 highlighting stories from Peters life because he knows that those 171 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,000 in Antioch will be interested in Peter. 172 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:20,300 Thirdly, we do know from the book of Acts that some Jewish 173 00:10:20,300 --> 00:10:23,300 Christians did flee from Jerusalem to Antioch. 174 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,200 And from there, they started to preach to Gentiles. 175 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:30,100 So there was quite a big group of Christians at Antioch, both 176 00:10:30,100 --> 00:10:31,900 Jewish. And Gentiles, we see that in 177 00:10:31,900 --> 00:10:35,600 Acts chapter 19, none of that is conclusive, but that seems to be 178 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,100 what most Scholars say about it. Today, we can say, with 179 00:10:39,100 --> 00:10:41,900 confidence that Matthews original audience, whoever they 180 00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:45,600 were, they lived somewhere in the Syria, Palestine region. 181 00:10:46,500 --> 00:10:50,500 That's where we would find a unique mix of Jewish and Gentile 182 00:10:50,500 --> 00:10:52,400 concerns which are covered in the gospel. 183 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,900 Of course, like all the gospels, we shouldn't read too much into 184 00:10:55,900 --> 00:11:00,200 who the audience was because it's likely that All of the 185 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,500 Gospel, authors intended, their gospel to be circulated around 186 00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:05,900 the known world. And so really, they're writing 187 00:11:05,900 --> 00:11:09,800 for everyone. What was Matthews purpose in 188 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,400 writing? Well, we know that Matthew was 189 00:11:13,900 --> 00:11:16,700 what was certainly regarded as the First Gospel to be written 190 00:11:16,700 --> 00:11:19,500 and it was certainly the most widely used in early 191 00:11:19,500 --> 00:11:22,200 Christianity. It was the one that most of the 192 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,000 church fathers, most of the ones who are developing early 193 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,300 theology. They turn to Matthew first. 194 00:11:27,700 --> 00:11:30,900 It was the primary gospel used in theology as well as 195 00:11:30,900 --> 00:11:34,800 catechesis and instruction. So for that reason, it's often 196 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,400 called The catechists Gospel. It continued to be held in very 197 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:41,700 high esteem out of all the gospels. 198 00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:43,800 That was the one that they turn to First. 199 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,100 Matthew's main purpose in writing appears to be to help 200 00:11:48,100 --> 00:11:51,300 his readers understand two things, although probably more 201 00:11:51,300 --> 00:11:53,000 than this. But those two primary things 202 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:54,600 that he really wants to get across. 203 00:11:54,900 --> 00:11:57,600 Firstly, the nature of the kingdom of God, what is the 204 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,900 kingdom of God? And secondly, to help his 205 00:11:59,900 --> 00:12:04,100 readers realize that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah of the 206 00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:08,500 Old Testament? When we turn to Matthew, there's 207 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,700 some features that will find. So firstly, it's a very 208 00:12:11,700 --> 00:12:14,200 well-written and very well organized gospel. 209 00:12:15,700 --> 00:12:18,300 That was actually a great advantage in assisting with 210 00:12:18,300 --> 00:12:21,100 memorization in a predominately oral culture. 211 00:12:21,100 --> 00:12:22,800 Remember that? Most of Matthew's audience 212 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:27,200 probably couldn't write. So Matthew it appears 213 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,900 deliberately structured. His gospel in such a way that it 214 00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:34,500 would be easily memorized and then passed around via oral 215 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:37,300 tradition. It definitely appears that 216 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:41,200 whoever wrote the Gospel was very smart, very well cultured. 217 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:43,700 And very good at writing, which would fit what we know of the 218 00:12:43,700 --> 00:12:48,400 Gospel of Matthew as a tax collector, when you look at the 219 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,300 gospel of Matthew, it's broken down into chunks, and it tends 220 00:12:51,300 --> 00:12:55,500 to alternate between chunks of Jesus works and people's 221 00:12:55,500 --> 00:12:59,100 reactions to him. And then a chunk of discourse, a 222 00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:02,800 long discourse that Matthew gives Matthew wants his readers 223 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,100 to understand that both Jesus works. 224 00:13:05,100 --> 00:13:09,500 And his It's are important in achieving our Redemption. 225 00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:12,900 Matthew has a focus on Jesus words more so than any of the 226 00:13:12,900 --> 00:13:17,300 other gospel writers. Interestingly Matthew appears to 227 00:13:17,300 --> 00:13:21,300 provide an outline of his book or a table of contents for his 228 00:13:21,300 --> 00:13:23,500 book. Remember, we said it's very well 229 00:13:23,500 --> 00:13:27,100 structured and it appears, he's deliberately shown his readers 230 00:13:27,100 --> 00:13:30,300 how to read his gospel as, in his show, in his readers, where 231 00:13:30,300 --> 00:13:34,800 the divisions are And he does that by repeating key phrases 232 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:38,500 all throughout his gospel, to Signal the end of a section and 233 00:13:38,500 --> 00:13:40,700 it appears that there was carefully planned in advance. 234 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,100 The most common view among Scholars today, is that Matthew 235 00:13:44,100 --> 00:13:48,000 deliberately uses this key phrase when he wants to Signal 236 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,400 the end of a section. So, the phrase is when Jesus 237 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:56,000 finished these He uses that phrase five times and it's 238 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:01,100 always at the end of a sermon. So the predominant view, then if 239 00:14:01,100 --> 00:14:04,200 we're going to divide Matthew up into groups, is that Matthew 240 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,400 deliberately has broken his own Gospel up into five units 241 00:14:09,300 --> 00:14:11,500 because at the end of each of these five units, we find the 242 00:14:11,508 --> 00:14:18,000 phrase when Jesus finished these So, here's the five units that 243 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,800 will see there's five discourses. 244 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,100 And between each of these five discourses, there are sections 245 00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:26,600 of Jesus going around and doing Deeds, but the five discourses 246 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,800 are The Sermon on the Mount chapters 5 to 7. 247 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:34,500 The missionary sermon in chapter 10 Parables of the Kingdom, 248 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,900 that's in Chapter 13. There's a long sermon about 249 00:14:36,900 --> 00:14:39,400 those. The fourth sermon is the 250 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,700 ecclesial sermon on life in the community. 251 00:14:41,700 --> 00:14:44,800 That's in chapter 18 and the final sermon is the 252 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,800 eschatological sir. In chapter 24 and 25. 253 00:14:49,300 --> 00:14:51,600 Some Scholars have gone even further and have said that 254 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,500 Matthew has deliberately picked the number five, as in his 255 00:14:54,500 --> 00:14:58,300 deliberately divided, his book into five, because he wants his 256 00:14:58,300 --> 00:15:02,000 readers to recall the five books of Moses. 257 00:15:02,300 --> 00:15:05,600 Clearly Matthew is presenting Jesus as the new Moses, and the 258 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,500 final Moses. And so some Scholars think that 259 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,700 Matthew has deliberately written his gospel to almost be like a 260 00:15:12,700 --> 00:15:16,100 new pentateuch, a new Torah. That's a little more 261 00:15:16,100 --> 00:15:18,100 speculative, but it's an interesting idea. 262 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,000 One thing that's really important to emphasize when we 263 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,100 deal with Matthew, is that it's very well structured but it's 264 00:15:25,100 --> 00:15:27,500 not necessarily structured chronologically. 265 00:15:28,700 --> 00:15:32,600 Matthew has grouped events and sayings in Jesus life thin 266 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:34,600 matically. Not chronologically. 267 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,700 He brings together events and sayings which probably did not 268 00:15:38,700 --> 00:15:42,100 occur at the same time, but he includes them as part of the 269 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:46,700 same discourse or as part of the same narration because they 270 00:15:46,700 --> 00:15:50,000 cover the same basic topic. And this is pretty common with 271 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,400 ancient biographies. The gospels are ancient 272 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:54,700 biographies. They weren't written the same 273 00:15:54,700 --> 00:15:57,500 way that we write biographies today, where we are concerned 274 00:15:57,500 --> 00:16:02,100 with Chronological Precision, ancient biographies, tended, to 275 00:16:02,108 --> 00:16:07,100 be more concerned with getting helping people to get to know 276 00:16:07,100 --> 00:16:10,900 the person that the biography is about and that meant that they 277 00:16:10,900 --> 00:16:14,900 could group, things more along the lines of theme. 278 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,100 So they could say all the things that Jesus said about Penance, 279 00:16:20,900 --> 00:16:22,900 Matthew might have group those together even if they were 280 00:16:22,908 --> 00:16:25,500 separated by a couple of years. And then all the things that 281 00:16:25,500 --> 00:16:29,300 Matthew said about other Jesus said about, Sacrifice. 282 00:16:29,300 --> 00:16:31,000 Maybe he's grouped all those together. 283 00:16:31,100 --> 00:16:33,900 That's probably not how we would write a biography of Jesus. 284 00:16:33,900 --> 00:16:36,300 If we were to do it today, but that was quite common in that 285 00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:39,300 culture. That particular comes out. 286 00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:42,200 If you compare Matthew's gospel to Luke's gospel, although they 287 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,100 both have the same broad chronology, obviously, Matthew's 288 00:16:45,100 --> 00:16:48,700 gospel starts with his birth and ends with his death. 289 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:51,500 If you look at Luke's gospel, Luke appears to have 290 00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:53,500 deliberately set things out chronologically. 291 00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:59,100 And he actually places he splits things apart which On together, 292 00:16:59,100 --> 00:17:02,100 in the gospel of Matthew, the best explanation for that is 293 00:17:02,100 --> 00:17:04,900 that Luke has tried to be chronological as possible. 294 00:17:05,300 --> 00:17:07,800 Whereas, Matthew has occasionally group things 295 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:13,000 together on the basis of theme rather than chronology. 296 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,000 So just keep that in mind as we go through. 297 00:17:16,099 --> 00:17:18,900 What about the themes? What does Matthew commonly 298 00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:21,599 talked about? Well, it's a big gospel and he 299 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:24,300 talks about all sorts of things certainly. 300 00:17:24,300 --> 00:17:27,800 There is one big theme that comes through and that is the 301 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:30,900 kingdom of God, or sometimes it's translated the kingdom of 302 00:17:30,900 --> 00:17:32,700 heaven, but it's the same basic idea. 303 00:17:34,100 --> 00:17:37,900 Clearly, that is the main theme. The word Kingdom appears over 50 304 00:17:37,900 --> 00:17:42,300 times in the gospel of Matthew. What is the kingdom of God? 305 00:17:42,300 --> 00:17:44,300 While? It's a multi-faceted concept, 306 00:17:44,300 --> 00:17:47,700 it's very hard to summarize. Actually whole books have been 307 00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:50,700 written about what Jesus view of the kingdom of God. 308 00:17:50,700 --> 00:17:56,500 Was, its basic idea is that the kingdom of God occurs when God's 309 00:17:56,500 --> 00:18:00,700 Will, and rain is done on Earth through the Messianic people, 310 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,900 that's the basic idea and we'll look at unpacking that a bit 311 00:18:03,900 --> 00:18:06,100 more as we move through the gospel of Matthew. 312 00:18:06,900 --> 00:18:09,900 The kingdom of God was considered to be according to 313 00:18:09,900 --> 00:18:13,800 Matthew, a fulfillment of Daniels Visions where God rules 314 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:17,300 over the Earth, through the son of man that's a vision in Daniel 315 00:18:17,300 --> 00:18:21,900 and also themes about the davidic kingdom, clearly Jesus. 316 00:18:21,900 --> 00:18:24,800 When he sets out the kingdom of God, it's in some sense. 317 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:28,600 A continuation of the kingdom of David, all of those themes about 318 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,600 Jewish hopes of the Kingdom Come Together in Matthews 319 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,100 presentation of the kingdom of God. 320 00:18:33,300 --> 00:18:37,500 Also in his gospel, there's a strong focus on Showing how 321 00:18:37,500 --> 00:18:40,800 Jesus fulfills Old Testament Prophecies of the Messiah, 322 00:18:41,500 --> 00:18:43,000 particularly in relation to David. 323 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,600 So, Matthew often goes out of his way to show how Jesus 324 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,300 fulfills prophecies from the Old Testament even obscure 325 00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:55,800 prophecies that you wouldn't have at first glance assumed 326 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,800 were about the Messiah, but Matthew clearly has perceived 327 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,700 through the help of the holy spirit that Jesus has fulfilled. 328 00:19:01,700 --> 00:19:05,200 These and he wants his audience, who are familiar with the Old 329 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:09,000 Testament to know that Jesus is the Fulfillment of those. 330 00:19:09,900 --> 00:19:12,400 Matthew also has some important things to say about the 331 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,900 relationship between the old and new covenants. 332 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,700 And that comes out particularly in The Sermon, on the Mount, 333 00:19:18,500 --> 00:19:20,800 which makes sense because his audience might have been 334 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:25,000 struggling to understand as Christians. 335 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,600 What should the relationship be with the legal and liturgical 336 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,200 traditions of Israel that they were surrounded with 337 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,600 particularly if this occurred before the destruction of the 338 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,700 temple. So Matthew spends a bit of time 339 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,300 I'm unpacking. What Jesus had to say about the 340 00:19:39,300 --> 00:19:43,200 law. Jesus is presented in Matthew as 341 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,200 the one who fulfills all of Israel's longings. 342 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,700 He is considered to be the greater Moses and the greatest 343 00:19:48,700 --> 00:19:52,100 Solomon. Matthew also talks about the 344 00:19:52,100 --> 00:19:55,100 church a lot. He talks about how the church 345 00:19:55,100 --> 00:19:57,600 should be structured and led by the apostles. 346 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:01,000 And basically, he depicts the church as the new Messianic 347 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,200 Community led by Jesus. So in fact, it's the only gospel 348 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:10,000 to use the word church. And Matthew also deliberately 349 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,400 includes many of Jesus teachings about what it means to be a 350 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,700 Christian disciple. In your particular, he says a 351 00:20:16,708 --> 00:20:20,400 Christian is one who does the father's will? 352 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,000 That's a theme that keeps coming up over and over in Jesus, 353 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,800 teaching in Matthew Jesus, teachings. 354 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:29,300 There's a lot of them in the gospel and it covers a broad 355 00:20:29,300 --> 00:20:31,500 range of things. There's a moral and spiritual 356 00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:35,500 matters that are covered in particular, the disciples are 357 00:20:35,500 --> 00:20:39,100 challenged to put God in his kingdom first in their lives. 358 00:20:39,100 --> 00:20:42,300 That's in chapter 6. And in fact, Jesus says he wants 359 00:20:42,300 --> 00:20:46,600 them to pursue a righteousness that exceeds even the Jewish law 360 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:51,100 that's in chapter 5. He says Christian disciples are 361 00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:54,200 to aim for unconditional love and we see that in The Sermon on 362 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,100 the Mount as well. So The Sermon on the Mount best 363 00:20:57,100 --> 00:20:59,800 captures. What Jesus teaching is about how 364 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,000 to live as a member of the kingdom of God as a member of 365 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:04,600 the Messianic. Community. 366 00:21:05,700 --> 00:21:08,900 So it's a really interesting gospel and it's the gospel that 367 00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:14,000 I think yields the most useful insights for us. 368 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,900 If we're willing to put in the hard work and really think about 369 00:21:16,900 --> 00:21:18,900 what the text means on the literal level. 370 00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:21,900 So there's a lot of great spiritual benefit from doing a 371 00:21:21,900 --> 00:21:24,700 proper study of the Gospel of Matthew, which is what we 372 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:28,800 attempt to do in this podcast. So if you want some more 373 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:32,700 resources on the gospel of Matthew, there's three that I 374 00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:35,400 would recommend, of course, there's so many commentaries on 375 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,700 the gospel of Matthew. Lot has been written about it 376 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:40,200 three that I have found really useful. 377 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:45,100 So firstly, the gospel of Matthew from the Catholic 378 00:21:45,100 --> 00:21:48,100 commentary on sacred scripture so they have done a commentary 379 00:21:48,100 --> 00:21:49,600 on every single book of the Bible. 380 00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:52,900 And this particular one on the gospel of Matthew is written by 381 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,900 Curtis Mitch and Edwards. Three who are first-rate 382 00:21:55,900 --> 00:21:59,000 Catholic Scholars. I have found that really useful 383 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:03,000 in preparing the podcast every day for the gospel of Matthew, 384 00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:05,200 so I'll put a link to that in the show notes. 385 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:07,100 If you're interested in getting that commentary. 386 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,100 Also there's a book from the 1980s called gospel and Kingdom 387 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:15,200 by Graham goldsworthy. Now this is a book that's 388 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,500 actually more about the Old Testament than the Book of 389 00:22:18,500 --> 00:22:20,600 Matthew. However, it does an excellent 390 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:25,100 job of describing what the Jewish view was about the 391 00:22:25,100 --> 00:22:27,300 kingdom of God and how God sets up. 392 00:22:27,500 --> 00:22:30,000 The kingdom in the Old Testament and points towards its 393 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,300 fulfillment in the new. So, if you want to do a good 394 00:22:32,300 --> 00:22:36,800 study on the kingdom of God, particularly the book gospel and 395 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:42,500 Kingdom, or it also comes in a three book set called the 396 00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:46,800 goldsworthy, trilogy really, really good biblical theology. 397 00:22:48,300 --> 00:22:51,800 And another book that I found, really interesting and helpful 398 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,200 in understanding why Matthew writes the way he writes 399 00:22:55,300 --> 00:22:58,400 particularly, in relation to his last sermon, the eschatological 400 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:03,000 sermon is a book called Rapture and times error that leaves the 401 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,200 Bible behind, and that's behind by a Catholic scholar called 402 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,300 David Curry. So, if you're interested in 403 00:23:09,300 --> 00:23:11,300 Prophecy, and you're particularly interested in what 404 00:23:11,300 --> 00:23:15,700 Jesus says, about the signs in the heavens, and the stars were 405 00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:18,300 not, give their light. And all of that language, It's 406 00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:21,200 used in connection with the destruction of the temple and 407 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,400 that some people have thought is a prophecy about the end of the 408 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,200 world. It's quite a fascinating 409 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,300 discourse to look at. And I think this book by David 410 00:23:30,300 --> 00:23:33,600 Curry does an excellent job of unpacking Jesus view of the end 411 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,000 times which comes up a few times in the Book of Matthew. 412 00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:40,900 And certainly, those resources will lead you to other really 413 00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:43,900 good quality resources as well. So I'll put a link to those in 414 00:23:43,900 --> 00:23:46,900 the show notes for today. So, I hope you found that 415 00:23:46,900 --> 00:23:50,000 introduction to the gospel of Matthew, really interesting. 416 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,400 And if sets you up, well, for the coming weeks, I think, if 417 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,400 you approach the gospel of Matthew with an open mind, you 418 00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,700 will learn so much. And it will really deepen your 419 00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:02,400 relationship with Jesus as the Messiah. 420 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,500 So, we'll start to look at the gospel of Matthew systematically 421 00:24:05,700 --> 00:24:07,700 from tomorrow. Thanks for listening.