Chapter 3: The Gospel of Matthew
Torah Transfigured
§6 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS FULFILLED
Matthew as interpreter of Scripture
While Mark was subtle, Matthew goes our his way to be overt in his reference to the OT. “Matthew successfully organized the Jesus tradition in a form that made it clear, harmonious, and accessible.” Matthew takes care to ensure his readers know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies in the OT.
§7 THE END OF EXILE
Israel’s Story in Matthew’s Narrative
- The Genealogy. While cumbersome and a bit clumsy, the genealogy serves important functions. 1) Ensures continuity between Israel’s story and Matthew’s story. 2) “The genealogy also periodizes the story of Israel into three great chapters leading up to the birth of Jesus, each chapter encompassing fourteen generations:23 chapter 1, from Abraham to David; chapter 2, from David to the exile; and chapter 3, from the exile to the Messiah.” 3) “Matthew’s genealogy equally introduces four anomalies into the story, through the appearance of four women in the list of Jesus’ ancestors—Tamar (1:3), Rahab (1:5), Ruth (1:5), and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah (1:6).” some have suggested they are included because of disreputable sexual behavior. That doesn’t stand up to examination. More pertinent is that all four are non-Israelites. “Thus, in the genealogy Matthew already hints at a major theme of his gospel: the story of Israel is open to the inclusion of Gentiles.”
- Christological fulfillment: Jesus enacts Israel’s destiny. “Another way that Matthew carries forward the story of Israel is through a typological identification of Jesus with Israel: Jesus becomes the one in whom the fate of Israel is embodied and enacted.” Jesus’ baptism and the wilderness temptations are also echoes of Israel’s story. “At the end of his time in the wilderness, Jesus has rightly embodied the covenant faithfulness Israel was meant to render to God—and he has done it, in Matthew’s elegant narration, simply by reciting the very Scriptures through which that covenant faithfulness was originally defined and commanded.”
- Jesus demands a higher righteousness that included obedience to the Torah. “Distinctively among the Evangelists, Matthew insists that the commandments of the law remain fully in force.” In spite of this emphasis, Matthew’s Jesus casually disregards the food laws and other parts of the law. Mathew suggests that the commandment to love is more important than the law.
- The hermeneutic of mercy. “Thus, for Matthew, the story of Israel is carried forward through a particular, prophetically shaped, interpretation of Torah within a community called to embody the mercy of God. Such a community might also remember Psalm 24:10 LXX: “All the ways of the LORD are mercy (ἔλεος) and truth for those who seek his covenant and his testimonies.”
- Lost sheep and the resistance of Israel. In Matthew, Jesus’ mission is to save the “Lost sheep” of Israel. He uses two explicit references to OT passage about lost sheep.
- Covenant renewal and the ingathering of Israel. “Matthew’s last supper scene creates a complex overlay of intertextual echoes, recalling both the blood-spattered covenantal banquet of Exodus 24 and the blood-secured messianic promise of deliverance found in Zechariah 9.”
§8 JESUS AS EMMANUEL
“In nearly every paragraph of his Gospel, Matthew seeks to show—whether explicitly or implicitly—that Jesus’ life, teachings, death, and resurrection constitute the fulfillment of Scripture.” He uses many concepts in that vein.
- Israel Embodied.
- Moses typology. Lots of obvious reference to Moses in Matthew. Matthew’s ending to the 5 discourses is a strong echo of Moses' endings for his three extended teachings. “… in Matthew’s concluding commissioning scene, Jesus assumes the roles both of Moses (authoritative teacher departing) and of God (continuing divine presence). Both ranges of signification are triggered by the very same narrative typology.”
- "Great Davids greater son.” In the birth narrative Matthew has many obvious references to David. The rest of the gospel has more references, but more subtle.
- "Take my yoke upon you.” There are some allusions that identify Jesus with divine Wisdom. Matthew does not quote Sirach 51 directly, but it seems clear that there is a strong connection.
- The righteous sufferer. There is little direct reference to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah.
- “They shall call his name Emmanuel.” … the most distinctive feature of Matthew’s narrative Christology: its bold identification of Jesus as Emmanuel, “God with us.” The use of the Isaiah quote leads to the idea that Jesus came both for salvation and judgment. Matthew’s point is that in the person of Jesus, Israel’s God is present with the people. “… through these references to worshiping Jesus, Matthew is identifying him as nothing less than the embodied presence of Israel’s God, the one to whom alone worship is due, the one who jealously forbids the worship of any idols, images, or other gods.” Jesus’s last words (“I am with you always”) have many OT references. Hays looks at three in detail. “Matthew highlights the worship of Jesus for one reason: he believes and proclaims that Jesus is the embodied presence of God and that to worship Jesus is to worship YHWH—not merely an agent or a facsimile or an intermediary.”
§9 MAKING DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS
The Church’s Mission in Matthew’s Narrativee.
“… the kingship of Jesus confounds and transforms expectations about Israel’s coming messiah; correspondingly, the church, the community of Jesus’ followers, finds itself standing also in a paradoxical and surprising relation to the powers and cultures of the world around it.”
- Light to the Gentiles. Many illusions to Isaiah texts that imply that the Gentiles will be part of Jesus’ mission.
- Justice to the Gentiles.
- Gentiles in the eschatological judgment. Matthew changes a typical viewpoint of the eschaton to include Gentiles being gathered.
- Making Disciples of all the nations.
- Summary. Matthew presents the pagan world as a mission field for the disciple of Jesus.
§10 THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE TORAH
Matthew’s .Scriptural Hermeneutics
- Scripture as Israel’s story.
- Scripture as summons to transformation of heart, radical obedience, and mercy. Much like the Pharisees, but with a completely mindset.
- Scripture as prefiguration of Christ.
- Scripture as a call for mission to the nations.
“ In the light of Jesus’ rising, Israel, Torah, Messiah, and the nations all assume a new shape. All must be understood anew if all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Jesus whose story Matthew tells.”
Quotes From: Richard B. Hays. “Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels.” Apple Books.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/echoes-of-scripture-in-the-gospels/id1136901922