The Gospel of Matthew- Rando's Seminary Studies

[Amazing Rando]

Hi everybody! :hi: I've just begun my seminary studies at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (http://www.emu.edu/seminary) and, for one of my elective courses, have enrolled in The Gospel of Matthew, a semester-long intensive look at the gospel from an inductive approach. This means looking at the gospel from the inside out and seeking to understand what the gospel itself has to say. This is opposed to a deductive approach, which seeks to bring outside ideas onto the gospel and superimpose them over it. We try to avoid this because the real voice of Matthew the storyteller gets lost under the avalanche of personal agendas, and his ideas often get commandeered and forced into areas and doctrines that Matthew may never have meant to convey.

The official course description from the seminary catalogue can be found by clicking here (http://www.emu.edu/catalog/graduate/seminary/2003-2005/3.pdf#page=30). Throughout the year, in addition to the inductive book study, we'll also consider the "critical" questions, such as authorship, date and place of composition, purpose, original readership, social/historical/religious context, etc.

I'd like to post some of my coursework up here for several reasons- first, to give outsiders an idea of what it is that we do and study in seminary; second, to get some feedback on my ideas and insights; and third, ah, well I forget my third reason. But If I remember, I'll post it!

So now that you've got a bit of background into the course and its goals, here's my first assignment- Read/skim the gospel and briefly answer the following four questions:


1. What are the characters in the story? What kinds of characteristics do they have?

The main character around whom the story revolves is Jesus. Determining just who or what he is and why he came is one of the central mysteries of the story. Jesus is apparently correctly identified early on- but by evil spirits, whom he warns not to disclose his identity. Jesus is uniquely concerned with the plight of his people, the nation of Israel, and calling them back to repentance, almost in the mode of an Old Testament prophet, though it is clear that he is unlike those prophets in some critically important ways. He is proclaimed and demonstrated to be unique among the Israelites through his unique relationship with God the Father. In demeanor, Jesus is compassionate and sympathetic to the plight of the suffering and oppressed, but is intolerant of hypocrisy and self-righteousness, especially as demonstrated by the religious leaders and those in authority.

Secondary characters are the twelve disciples Jesus has chosen to reveal himself most fully. He is training them for future missionary work through his sending them out to preach the gospel, and by fully explaining the truths of the parables that he withholds from the general public. These twelve are often portrayed as slow to understand Jesus, however. Time and time again, they fail to grasp his message and understand who Jesus really is. Jesus frequently expresses disgust with their seeming density and slowness to comprehend his lessons. The disciples, unenlightened as they are, do however have a desire to follow Jesus through trials and hardships, even when they do not know what the outcome of their quest will be. They are generally good natured and love their master, even as he tests their dedication and loyalty through the ultimate trials and persecutions toward the end of the story.


2. Is there any significance to the setting of this story? If so, what sort of significance might there be to the setting?

The story is set in the ancient Roman province of Judea, formerly known as Israel, the ancestral home of the Jewish people. The significance of this setting cannot be underestimated. It was here that the Jewish people were once united under the mighty King David, and here that the God of their ancestors has chosen to make his dwelling place in the Temple of Jerusalem. Jerusalem itself is a deeply symbolic place due to the history it possesses as well as the presence of the Temple. It is here that YHWH, the God of Israel dealt with his people in his holy Temple. Jerusalem takes on added significance during the execution of Jesus and the other events prior to and following the Jewish feast of Passover as Jesus, through a series of discourses and deeds, implicitly identifies himself with the God of Israel.


3. What is the plot (conflict) to this story? How does this plot engage the attention and retain the interest of the reader?

There are two main conflicts apparent in this story, but in many respects, they are the one in the same.

The most readily visible conflict is between Jesus and the religious authorities. This conflict begins almost as soon as Jesus has come on the scene as a public religious leader (chapter three of the gospel). These Pharisees and to a lesser extent, Sadducees view Jesus as a challenge to their authority and seek to oppose him first privately, then publicly, and then finally, to kill him because of the threat he poses to them. All throughout the gospel, these religious authorities try to trap Jesus in his words, to stump him, and ultimately, to destroy him because of his scathing condemnation of their sins and their hypocrisy. On every occasion when he is directly confronted, Jesus emerges victorious, either dazzling his adversaries with his brilliant rhetoric and knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, or infuriating them by pronouncing God’s vengeful judgment upon them. It takes a betrayal from inside his inner circle of disciples for Jesus to finally and fatally fall into the clutches of his adversaries.

The second conflict/plot line that is woven throughout the gospel is a romance between Israel and her God. This is a continuation of one of the main themes of the Hebrew Bible. God desires a covenantal relationship with his chosen people, and promises them blessings and his undying love if they will remember him and acknowledge him. But the people break this covenant time and time again as they forget God’s blessings on them and their ancestors and reject God and his servants. This plot line is summed up very well in the parable of the wicked tenants in chapter 21. Though less obvious to a surface reading of the text, this conflict is nonetheless a strong driving force that grips the reader’s attention.


4. Can you observe any specific sorts of literary techniques that Matthew uses to tell his story? What are they? What impact do they have on the reader?

As a storyteller, Matthew betrays his primarily Jewish focus in his gospel by making extensive use of the Hebrew Scriptures in proving that Jesus is the Christ. This is done through prophetic allusions as well as deliberate parallels to many points throughout the Hebrew Bible.

Matthew divides his gospel into several sections, using long oral discourses by Jesus as his dividing points. This shifting back and forth between episodic narration and recounting lengthy verbal discourse sometimes has the effect of disorienting the reader and confusing him or her when certain parts of the discourse are seem disjointed or unconnected in places.

So what do you think?

[Jaltus]

You make some good points, but you neglect to mention that Matthew intentionally uses the LXX over the MT a few times in order to better explicate his point. IIRC, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus, and Jesus' response is from the LXX of Isaiah, a significant point because it differs in the ordering and priority of the issues therein.

[Amazing Rando]

You make some good points, but you neglect to mention that Matthew intentionally uses the LXX over the MT a few times in order to better explicate his point.

IIRC, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus, and Jesus' response is from the LXX of Isaiah, a significant point because it differs in the ordering and priority of the issues therein.

Jaltus- it was an inductive study, using nothing but the gospel text and trying to see what it had to say. There's no way I could have known that. Hopefully, we'll get into that later in the course. Are you saying that Matthew had both the MT and the LXX available to him when he was composing his gospel? That's very interesting that he would have used it selectively to make his case. If you're saying what I think you're saying, it seems sort of dishonest of Matthew if you ask me. :nsm:

[Amazing Rando]

Here's inductive study number 2:

Assignment: Mattew 1:17-25, 2:1-23

1. What do you see as the function of the genealogy of 1:1-17 and the following narrative of 1:18-1:25? Or, in other words, why does Matthew start his narrative in precisely this way? What does the beginning communicate to the reader about the significance of the story to follow and/or about the story that will unfold?

2. Draw character sketches of Joseph, Herod, the magi, and the child. Be as specific as you can- cite the language of the text and/or use ch./v. references where possible. You may use the following questions to help you think about the question of "character":

-What does this character do or say to show you who they are?
-What characteristics or personality traits would you assign to someone who does or says what this character does or says?
-Does Matthew want his reader to evaluate this character positively or negatively? What tells you this?

1. The beginning of Matthew is distinctive among the gospels. The genealogy of verses 1-17 in the first chapter seems to serve several functions. Verse one is a summary of the next fifteen verses, and it relates several key facts about Jesus:

a. “Jesus Christ” uses the Greek term for the Hebrew word “Messiah” meaning “Anointed One.” This shows (if nothing else) that Matthew believed that Jesus was someone very special. We have to wait a while to get into the story to discover just who or what the Messiah was to be.

b. “The son of David” shows that Jesus was in the lineage of King David, the prototypical Hebrew king (which if I recall correctly, was one of the prerequisites for being the Messiah).

c. “The son of Abraham” tells us that Jesus was Jewish, a full-blooded member of the Hebrew people. This is clearly very important to Matthew because he begins tracing Jesus’ lineage at Abraham rather than farther back as Luke does.

Another interesting fact to note is that in verse 17, Matthew states that there are fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile, and fourteen from the exile “to the Christ.” This is somewhat problematic, because there are not fourteen generations in each interval as Matthew states. It would seem that fourteen is a ceremonial number, deliberately inserted by Matthew to further emphasize completeness in God. If nothing else, this genealogy is here to emphasize Jesus’ uniqueness and special place in the history of his people.

The birth narrative of verses 18-25 is used to set the scene for the rest of the story. It furthers the theme from the genealogy about Jesus’ uniqueness by relating how he was born in the most extraordinary of ways. His mother, Mary, was apparently a virgin when she conceived him, an observation that naturally made Joseph her husband suspect she’d been unfaithful to him, even though they were not yet married, but he is prevented from divorcing her by an angel who appears to him and furthers the theme of this child’s uniqueness by declaring that his wife is pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

In verse 21, we finally get a glimpse of just what makes the child special. We are told that Jesus, a name which means “The Lord Saves,” will “save his people from their sins.” Though at this point, we have no idea just what that means. Matthew cites a verse from Isaiah (the first of many Hebrew Scripture citations) tells us that all that has happened has occurred so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. This scriptural fulfillment is a theme Matthew is to emphasize heavily throughout his story.

2. Joseph, as the lineage shows, is a member of the house of David. He is betrothed to Mary, but has not yet had sexual intimacy with her (1:18). He is “a righteous man” (1:19) who, when he is convinced of Mary’s unfaithfulness, decides not to disgrace and shame her publicly. Joseph is also pious and attentive to the Lord, as exhibited in verse 24 by his obedience to the angel’s command. In addition, it is also obvious that he cares deeply for the well-being of his little family, as shown by his care not to disgrace Mary in public, and his uprooting the family and fleeing Herod’s wrath into Egypt in verse 14. Matthew has a positive view of Joseph that he wishes to impart to his readers, as shown by the complimentary adjectives he uses for him as well as the obedience on Joseph’s part that he recounts.

Herod, on the other hand, the King of Judea, is clearly portrayed in a negative light throughout the narrative. He is shown to be an insecure man by his fear of the promised “King of the Jews” (2:3). He is also a liar. Herod tells the Magi that he wishes to worship the newborn king (2:8), when in fact his actions later betray his true intentions. After he realizes the Magi have tricked him, he orders the slaughter of all the infant boys in the vicinity of Bethlehem (2:16).

The Magi are seen through Matthew’s eyes to be seekers. They come on their journey under the mysterious guidance of a star that appears to be traveling through the night sky, leading them toward the Christ child. We are not told where they come from other than the cryptic “from the east” in verse 2:1, so Matthew leaves it up to the reader to guess their identity. One thing is clear- they are quite rich. They offer the baby Jesus gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh (2:11), gifts offered only to royalty or the extremely powerful. Furthermore, they are humble, as they are not afraid to bow down before the one whom they believe is to be king.

The Christ child is, as I already pointed out, very special... but at this point we don’t know much about him other than the fact that he will someday “save his people from their sins.” Matthew goes out of his way to lay the groundwork for a special story about a special man, and this opening is no exception. His genealogy, virgin birth, the angelic vision, and the Magi’s bowing to him all attest to the high position with which Matthew regards his hero.