A Year Dedicated to Matthew the Evangelist Matthew''s Gospel is best known for the Magi story, the Sermon on the Mount, the Last Judgment scene ("the sheep and the goats"), and the risen Jesus'' command to "make disciples of all nations." Jesus is portrayed as the great teacher, and many of his teachings featured in Matthew have strongly influenced Christian theology and practice throughout history. In the Year A (2011, 2014, 2017, 2020, 2023, etc.) in the Catholic Church''s lectionary of Scripture readings for Mass, the Gospel passage almost every Sunday is taken from St. Matthew. In the New Testament we meet St. Matthew only indirectly through the Gospel that bears his name. Matthew''s Gospel is one of the longest books in the New Testament and has exercised great influence in Christian life over the centuries.
It has even been called the most important book ever written. On the one hand Matthew''s Gospel is often described as the most Jewish Gospel, and on the other hand Matthew is sometimes accused of being anti-Jewish. How to resolve and explain this apparent contradiction has been one of my special concerns as a biblical scholar. I''m convinced that we can understand the paradox of Matthew''s Gospel best when we place it in its historical context in late first-century Judaism. After a brief introduction to what can be said with confidence about the author of this Gospel, this volume provides in six chapters a narrative analysis of the entire Gospel. These chapters focus on the Gospel''s key words and images, characters, plot, literary forms, indications of time and place, and theological message. The next two chapters treat its place within late first-century Judaism (as a "Jewish book") and the Gospel''s major theological themes (as a "Christian Gospel"). The final chapter offers suggestions for preachers, teachers, and all who love Scripture about how Matthew''s Gospel might be used more effectively in the church today.
Questions for reflection and discussion are provided in each chapter, and the volume can be used easily by Bible study groups. It has been my privilege to teach many courses on Matthew''s Gospel and to write a large commentary and many articles about it. This Gospel corresponds nicely to my two great interests as a biblical scholar: Judaism in Jesus'' time, and the New Testament. My full-scale commentary The Gospel of Matthew was the first volume published in the Sacra Pagina series (Liturgical Press, 1991), and has been reprinted (with an updated bibliography) in a paperback edition (2007). I am grateful to Loyola Press for the invitation to synthesize my views on Matthew''s Gospel and present them to a wider audience. Part One Meeting St. Matthew 1 The Evangelist and His Gospel We know St. Matthew principally (if not entirely) from the Gospel that traditionally bears his name.
The Evangelist seems to have been Jewish in his background and interests. He delights in showing how Jesus fulfills Israel''s Scriptures. He not only quotes several biblical passages explicitly but also provides many allusions to and echoes of Scripture. The many ethical teachings of Jesus that this Gospel writer conveys were at home in first-century Judaism and are reflected in the later rabbinic writings. Matthew stands in opposition to certain other Jews whom he calls "hypocrites" and who control "their synagogues." He is especially concerned to portray Jesus as the authoritative interpreter of the Mosaic Law (Torah) and one who opposes the interpretations of it put forward by the scribes and Pharisees. Matthew''s major theological themes (kingdom of heaven, righteousness, eschatology) and titles for Jesus (Messiah, Son of David, Son of Man, Son of God, Lord) have deep Jewish roots. And yet nowhere in the Gospel does the Evangelist identify himself by name or claim to be an eyewitness.
The title "According to Matthew" seems to have been added in the second century when the connection was made between this Gospel and Matthew the tax collector, who became one of the twelve apostles. This ascription raises more questions than it answers. Why was this same tax collector called Levi the son of Alphaeus in Mark 2:14? Where did a tax collector get such an extensive Jewish education as this Evangelist clearly received? Why did he rely on written sources such as Mark''s Gospel and the Sayings Source Q in writing his own Gospel? But even if the traditional ascription is dubious, why then was this Gospel associated with Matthew the tax collector? Had he done missionary work in the area in which the Gospel was composed? Was he regarded as that community''s patron saint? Was he responsible for handing on some of the special traditions found only in this Gospel? Scholars have wrestled with these questions for centuries. For our purposes it is enough to refer to the Evangelist behind this Gospel as "Matthew" and to try to learn as much as we can about him from a careful reading of the text that has borne his name for many centuries. The community in which and for which Matthew originally wrote appears to have been predominantly (if not exclusively) made up of Jewish Christians. The Evangelist assumes that they keep the Jewish Law as interpreted by Jesus (5:17-20) and observe the Sabbath rest (12:1-14; 24:20). He has no need to explain to them the Jewish practices of ritual purity (15:2) and the customs of wearing prayer shawls and phylacteries (23:5). He situates Jesus'' views on marriage and divorce in the context of contemporary Jewish debates about the grounds on which a Jewish man might divorce his wife (5:32; 19:9).
During his earthly ministry Matthew''s Jesus insists that he has been sent "only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (15:24; see 10:5-6), and only after his resurrection does he send his disciples to "all nations" (28:19). From what we can learn about the Evangelist and the community for which he wrote, it seems fair to describe this Gospel as the most Jewish of the four Gospels. This is probably why it eventually was placed first in the New Testament--because it provides the perfect bridge between the Old and the New Testaments. However, it soon circulated in Christian communities throughout the Mediterranean world, became a Gospel for all Christians, and has exercised such enormous influence throughout the centuries that it has been called the most important book ever written. On the basis of possible allusions to Matthew''s Gospel in 1 and 2 Peter and in early patristic writings ( Didache , the letters of Ignatius), it appears that Matthew''s Gospel was composed before a.d. 100. The earliest date would be around a.
d. 70, since there seem to be references to the destruction of Jerusalem that occurred then (21:41; 22:7; 27:25). These allusions plus the Evangelist''s use of Mark''s Gospel (which was written around a.d. 70) indicate that this Gospel was composed around a.d. 85 or 90. The Jewish character of Matthew''s Gospel suggests a place of composition in the eastern Mediterranean area.
It must have been a city where Greek was spoken and read, with a large Jewish population and a substantial Jewish Christian community. The best candidate is Antioch in Syria, though Caesarea Maritima in Palestine and Damascus in Syria are also possible. Matthew set out to produce a revised and expanded version of Mark''s Gospel. As a careful editor, Matthew often corrected and improved Mark''s Greek and omitted what apparently he considered unnecessary details. He also wanted to include more of Jesus'' teachings that were available to him (and to Luke also) through what modern scholars have designated as the Sayings Source Q, as well as the many other traditions unique to this Gospel and now designated as M (for Matthew). This Evangelist has been correctly described as both a transmitter and an interpreter of traditions. While most of his material was already traditional by his time, Matthew edited it and gave it a distinctive shape in order to address the historical crisis that all Jews experienced after the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in a.d.
70. The three great pillars of Judaism in Jesus'' time were the Jerusalem temple, the land of Israel, and the Mosaic Law (Torah). But after the disastrous Jewish revolt of a.d. 66-73, the temple and the city were in ruins, and the land was even more firmly under Roman control than before. And so all Jews had to face the question, How best can the Jewish heritage be rescued and preserved? Some Jews (Zealots) prepared for another military rebellion. Others (apocalyptists) looked for divine intervention in the near future, while faithfully observing the Torah in the present. Still others (scribes and Pharisees, the forerunners of the rabbis) gathered the traditions surrounding the Torah in order to make possible a more perfect observance of it.
In this context Matthew put forward Jesus of Nazareth as the authoritative interpreter of the Torah, and the movement gathered around him as the best way of carrying on Israel''s heritage as God''s people. Matthew sought to address the new situation and the new questions that had arisen for Jewish Christians like himself in the late first century. He did so by emphasizing Jesus'' place in the Jewish tradition and community. Matthew''s Gospel is a revised and expanded version of Mark''s Gospel. Almost everything in the sixteen chapters of Mark is included, though often in a somewhat compressed form. In the first twelve chapters Matthew does not follow Mark''s sequence very closely. But from chapter 13 onward he is more careful in observing Mark''s outline. On the whole, his geographical outline is taken from Mark.
After movements in various places are describ.