Monday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

The Gospel of Matthew

The way the Gospel of Matthew is put together is as follows.

Matthew had the Gospel of Mark and rewrote it.
Matthew had sayings of Jesus that people shared with each other (it's called Q)
Matthew has some stories no one else had such as the birth narrative in Bethlehem and the Magi who came to see baby Jesus.

Matthew was probably written by a committee so there isn't just one author. Matthew was interested to show how the church was built and the Gospel has Jesus speaking of "The Kingdom of God". That became a phrase that led to the concept that became the institution.

Because of Matthew's emphasis on Church the people who put the New Testament together put Matthew first. It is the church's Gospel.

The image of Jesus in Matthew is that of a teacher. Jesus is like the new Moses. He went to the Mount and brought the "beatitudes" like Moses went up to the mountain and brought the 10 Commandments.

Like Moses who came out of Egypt, when Mary and Joseph heard that Herod was trying to kill children two years and younger they fled to Egypt and when Herod died the Holy Family came out of Egypt (as Moses had) and traveled back to Bethlehem.

This Gospel positions Jesus as a Royal figure, unlike Luke who saw Jesus as a person who was open to common people.

The Gospel was written about the same time Luke was written and I put that date at 85 AD (50 years after Jesus' death on the cross).

It is an interesting thing to look at the Gospels in a comparative way. They do not portray Jesus in the same manner and often contradict each other.

Which is your favorite Gospel; Matthew or Luke? Maybe it's Mark or John. I really don't care for the image of Jesus in the Gospel of John; he seems almost arrogant.

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below. I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster