Overview: Matthew 1-13

The gospel according to Matthew. It is one of the first records of Jesus of Nazareth: his life, death and resurrection. The book itself is anonymous, but the oldest and most reliable tradition links it to Matthew, the tax collector, who was one of the twelve apostles Jesus named, and in fact appears within the book itself. For about 30 or 40 years, the apostles taught orally and transmitted their knowledge, as eyewitnesses of Jesus, along with his teachings that they had memorized. Matthew then gathered and organized all of this into this wonderful tapestry and designed the book to emphasize certain themes about Jesus.

In this video, we will cover the first half of the book. Specifically, Matthew wants to show how Jesus is the continuation and fulfillment of the entire biblical story about God in Israel: 1. that Jesus is the Messiah of the lineage of David; 2. that he is the new teacher with authority like Moses; 3. and not only that, but Jesus is: "God with us", or in Hebrew "Immanuel". Matthew has designed this book with an introduction and a conclusion. These function as a framework around five clear sections, right in the center, each of which ends with a portion of Jesus' teaching.

This design is very intentional and amazing. See how this works! Chapters 1 through 3 set the stage, connecting the story of Jesus to the story line of the Old Testament Scriptures. Matthew therefore begins with the genealogy of Jesus, which emphasizes that he is of the messianic descent of the son of David and that he is the son of Abraham. This means that he will bring God's blessings to all nations. Behind it we have the famous story of the birth of Jesus and how all the events fulfilled the prophetic promises of the Old Testament: that the nations would come and honor the Messiah, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

But even more than that, the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, the naming of him Immanuel, all of these work together to show that Jesus is no ordinary man. He is God with us. God becomes man. So you can see two of Matthew's key themes here in the introduction: 1. He is of the seed of David. 2. He is Immanuel. But Matthew also wants to show that he is a new Moses. Like Moses, Jesus left Egypt. He went through the waters of baptism and entered the wilderness for 40 days. Then Jesus goes up the mountain to teach his new teaching.

So, through all of this, Matthew was proclaiming that Jesus is the promised figure, greater than Moses, who will deliver Israel from slavery; he will teach them new divine teachings. He will save them from their sins and bring about a new covenant relationship between God and his people. This parallel between Moses and Jesus also explains why Moses structured the center of the book that way. These five main points emphasize Jesus as a teacher and he made a comparison. Jesus as a teacher is compared to the five books of Moses. Jesus is the new authorized teacher of the covenant who will fulfill the historical line of the Torah.

In the first part, chapters 4 to 7, Jesus enters the scene announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God. And this is really key: the kingdom is basically about God's saving plan for his entire world and it is happening through King Jesus. Jesus came to confront evil, especially spiritual evil and its entire legacy of demonic oppression, disease, and death. Jesus has come to restore God's rule and reign over the entire world, creating a new family of people who will follow him, obey his teachings, and live under his rule. Then Jesus begins to heal people and form a movement, a community.

And he leads his followers to a mountain or hill where he gives his first and main part of the teachings traditionally called the Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus explores what it means to follow him and live in the kingdom of God. It is an upside-down kingdom, where there are no privileged people. So, the poor, the nobodies, the rich, the religious, all are invited and called to repent, follow Jesus, and join his family. Jesus says that he did not come here to ignore the commandments of the Torah or the Old Testament. Rather, he has come to fulfill them all through his life, through his teachings.

He has come to transform the hearts of his people so that they truly love God and their neighbors, including his enemies. After concluding his wonderful teaching on the kingdom, the rest shows Jesus making the kingdom a reality in people's daily lives. So, Matthew has laid out here nine stories about Jesus, bringing the power of the Kingdom of God into the lives of hurting and broken people. There are three groups with three stories. They deal with people who are sick or broken, or who are in danger. Jesus heals or saves them through these works of grace and power.

So, precisely in the middle of these three, we see two parallel stories about Jesus' call for people to follow him. Matthew is making a point here: you can experience the power of Jesus' Grace only by following Him and becoming His disciple. After Matthew shows the power of the kingdom through Jesus, Jesus expands on his work, sending the twelve disciples, who will go do what he has been doing. This brings us to the second main part of the teachings of chapter 10. Here, Jesus teaches his disciples how to proclaim the kingdom and what to expect after they have done so.

Many in Israel are accepting Jesus with his offer of the kingdom, but Israel's leaders are not. They have much to lose if they repent and become disciples of Jesus. So Jesus knows that they will reject him and persecute his followers and that is exactly what happens. In the next part, chapters 11-13, Matthew has compiled a group of stories about how people are responding to Jesus and his message. It's a mix of things. Some stories are positive. People love Jesus and think he is the Messiah. Others are more neutral, like John the Baptist, or even members of Jesus' own family.

They make it clear that Jesus is not who they expected. Then there are the leaders of Israel. They are completely negative. They are the Pharisees and Bible students. Everyone rejects Jesus. They think he is a false teacher who leads people astray. They believe that he blasphemes when he makes these lofty claims about himself. But Jesus is not surprised or confused by all this variety of responses. In fact, he focuses on them, in the third part of the teachings, in chapter 13. Matthew gathered here a bunch of Jesus' parables about the kingdom: for example, about a farmer who sows seeds in four types of soil; or for a mustard seed; or a jewel, or a hidden treasure.

These parables are like comments on the stories you just read in chapters 11 and 12. Some people accept Jesus with joy, others reject him. But the kingdom of God has eternal value and will not stop expanding, despite all these obstacles. This is the first half of the gospel according to Matthew. There are some other things he should look for as he reads these chapters. Remember that Matthew presents Jesus as the continuation and fulfillment of the Old Testament stories. So, you will see how he quotes Old Testament Scriptures and you will find that they are placed at strategic points in the story that explain more about the identity of Jesus.

So stop, take a moment to look at these references, and read them in their Old Testament context. And very often you will discover really nice and interesting links. Finally, pay attention to the type of people who accept Jesus and follow him and you will notice that they are mostly unimportant, unknown or non-religious people. These people have been transformed by their faith in Jesus and follow him. It is the religious and the proud who are offended by him. How will this tension between Jesus and Israel's leaders play out? This is what the second half of the book of Matthew is about.