Matthew 2:19-23
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
We started this study of the written gospels in chronological order by attempting to wrap our twenty-first century awareness around the first few decades of the Christian Era when there was little or no written gospel to be found. Even with the writing down of Mark’s account sometime in the fifth decade after the death of Jesus, there were still large gaps in comparison to what we have today.
Last time we began looking into Matthew’s gospel - written somewhere ten to twenty years after Mark’s – which would place it as many as sixty years after Jesus. We ran through some general introductory information on Matthew’s gospel but focused on his Judeo-centric purpose in writing his account. Matthew was a Jew writing for Jews. He had little or no interest in evangelizing the gentile world. He looked at the entire Jesus story through the lens of someone who believed fervently that Jesus was indeed the fulfillment of all the Old Testament messianic prophecies. Matthew wanted to show his Jewish compatriots – God’s original Chosen People – what they were rejecting when they rejected Jesus.
We closed last time by saying that we were going to look this week at some of the things that are unique to Matthew – and we will get to that – but there are a couple of areas I want to go into first. I don’t know how long each will take – but we’ll take as long as we need.
The first thing is Matthew’s story of the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it. Remember, only two of the four gospels have any birth story at all – Matthew and Luke. Both Mark and John begin their gospels by introducing John the Baptist and his meeting with a fully adult Jesus.
Even though Matthew and Luke both have birth narratives, they could not be more different from each other. We’ll look into Luke’s in some detail when we get there but, in brief, Luke’s version revolves around Mary – the center point of Luke’s narrative -- and on the miraculous nature of the birth - described in great detail with the stable and donkey and shepherds and such.
Matthew, however, focuses almost entirely on Joseph. In this gospel Mary is relegated to being little more than the necessary womb that bore Jesus. The actual miraculous birth is given only about one-half of one tossed off line: ...he had no marital relations with her [Mary] until she had born a son. That’s it’s - half a line with no detail at all. No angelic announcements, no census, no little town of Bethlehem – no much-of-anything actually.
What Matthew does give us is a long, long genealogy that precedes the birth, establishing Joseph’s lineage as a bonafide descendant of David – that long reading known as the begats, from the language used in the King James version. This – to the Jewish community – is going to be what is important. When Luke gets around to writing his gospel version he’ll include all the “traditional” (to us) Christmas elements because he will be writing to a primarily gentile audience. We’ll get into why all those things matter to the wider world when we study Luke, but this is Matthew’s gospel and Matthew doesn’t give a hoot for all that.
Matthew gives us one scant paragraph on Joseph and Mary and a child being born and four lengthy paragraphs establishing that child’s lineage. But then Matthew also gives us something no one else records. He gives us three Wise Men, come from afar, bringing royal gifts to the child. And why does Matthew give us this story when he gives us so little else? Because in the Hebrew writings it was long foretold that when the messiah – the promised savior -- arrived and God’s plan was fulfilled, there would be leaders come from distant nations to pay homage ... “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel.” -- That’s why. Matthew wants the Jews to know that even “foreigners” acknowledge that Jesus was born to be King of the Jews, just as the prophecies fortold.
But Matthew isn’t through yet – he has one more infancy story that no one else records – and that is the story of the flight to Egypt. A story that begins with those three wise men and a sneaky King Herod and a plot to kill the infant who is prophesied to be born to be King of the Jews. Joseph – Joseph again, not Mary – is told in a dream to take his wife and child and flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s terrible action that we call the Slaughter of the Innocents – the wholesale murder of all infant Jewish boys in an attempt to dispose of this possible threat.
And what does this story remind us of? From the first chapter of the Old Testament book of the Exodus:
Last time we began looking into Matthew’s gospel - written somewhere ten to twenty years after Mark’s – which would place it as many as sixty years after Jesus. We ran through some general introductory information on Matthew’s gospel but focused on his Judeo-centric purpose in writing his account. Matthew was a Jew writing for Jews. He had little or no interest in evangelizing the gentile world. He looked at the entire Jesus story through the lens of someone who believed fervently that Jesus was indeed the fulfillment of all the Old Testament messianic prophecies. Matthew wanted to show his Jewish compatriots – God’s original Chosen People – what they were rejecting when they rejected Jesus.
We closed last time by saying that we were going to look this week at some of the things that are unique to Matthew – and we will get to that – but there are a couple of areas I want to go into first. I don’t know how long each will take – but we’ll take as long as we need.
The first thing is Matthew’s story of the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it. Remember, only two of the four gospels have any birth story at all – Matthew and Luke. Both Mark and John begin their gospels by introducing John the Baptist and his meeting with a fully adult Jesus.
Even though Matthew and Luke both have birth narratives, they could not be more different from each other. We’ll look into Luke’s in some detail when we get there but, in brief, Luke’s version revolves around Mary – the center point of Luke’s narrative -- and on the miraculous nature of the birth - described in great detail with the stable and donkey and shepherds and such.
Matthew, however, focuses almost entirely on Joseph. In this gospel Mary is relegated to being little more than the necessary womb that bore Jesus. The actual miraculous birth is given only about one-half of one tossed off line: ...he had no marital relations with her [Mary] until she had born a son. That’s it’s - half a line with no detail at all. No angelic announcements, no census, no little town of Bethlehem – no much-of-anything actually.
What Matthew does give us is a long, long genealogy that precedes the birth, establishing Joseph’s lineage as a bonafide descendant of David – that long reading known as the begats, from the language used in the King James version. This – to the Jewish community – is going to be what is important. When Luke gets around to writing his gospel version he’ll include all the “traditional” (to us) Christmas elements because he will be writing to a primarily gentile audience. We’ll get into why all those things matter to the wider world when we study Luke, but this is Matthew’s gospel and Matthew doesn’t give a hoot for all that.
Matthew gives us one scant paragraph on Joseph and Mary and a child being born and four lengthy paragraphs establishing that child’s lineage. But then Matthew also gives us something no one else records. He gives us three Wise Men, come from afar, bringing royal gifts to the child. And why does Matthew give us this story when he gives us so little else? Because in the Hebrew writings it was long foretold that when the messiah – the promised savior -- arrived and God’s plan was fulfilled, there would be leaders come from distant nations to pay homage ... “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel.” -- That’s why. Matthew wants the Jews to know that even “foreigners” acknowledge that Jesus was born to be King of the Jews, just as the prophecies fortold.
But Matthew isn’t through yet – he has one more infancy story that no one else records – and that is the story of the flight to Egypt. A story that begins with those three wise men and a sneaky King Herod and a plot to kill the infant who is prophesied to be born to be King of the Jews. Joseph – Joseph again, not Mary – is told in a dream to take his wife and child and flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s terrible action that we call the Slaughter of the Innocents – the wholesale murder of all infant Jewish boys in an attempt to dispose of this possible threat.
And what does this story remind us of? From the first chapter of the Old Testament book of the Exodus:
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Here, Matthew is once more making an explicit claim that Moses and Jesus are linked – that Jesus is, in fact, the new Moses.
Among the things found only in Matthew there is a most interesting section in chapter 5 known as The Antitheses. These are those verses that begin, “You have heard it said....BUT...”
Among the things found only in Matthew there is a most interesting section in chapter 5 known as The Antitheses. These are those verses that begin, “You have heard it said....BUT...”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
These and a few others all go on in greater detail, creating short pericopes where Jesus does not contradict traditional teachings – Matthew’s Jesus is all about fulfilling the Law, after all, not changing it – but he does definitely amplify them – deepens our understanding of them -- extending the law into much greater detail than any obvious, first-glance understanding. For Matthew’s Jesus, simply fulfilling the simple surface appearance of piety is never enough. “Righteousness” goes much deeper than just surface observation.
We’ll come back to finish up with Matthew next week. I hope these discussions are encouraging you to read the gospels for yourself with a careful, discerning eye and ear – hearing some of what is being said behind the printed words.
We’ll come back to finish up with Matthew next week. I hope these discussions are encouraging you to read the gospels for yourself with a careful, discerning eye and ear – hearing some of what is being said behind the printed words.
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