The Kingdom of Heaven Is Near

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Near

Matthew Chapters 3&4

 

Locusts and Wild Honey (3:1-17)

Matthew is the longest Gospel, but as the Gospel of John tells us, the world could not hold all the books it would take to tell the complete story of Jesus (John 21:25). And so even Matthew must carefully choose what he records for us. As curious as we may be about the early life of Jesus, we must not let that curiosity overshadow the choice that Matthew has made in jumping immediately from the birth of the Christ to the ministry of John the Baptist. Indeed, while only two Gospel writers record the birth of Jesus, all four tell us of John, so we must carefully consider what the writers found so important, and what important message they were trying to convey to us, their readers.

The Gospel of John gives us the summary: John came to testify, to bear witness to the light of the world (John 1:1-8). As echoed in Matthew, the Mark tells us that John came as fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy to prepare a way for the Lord, and that John himself told of the one who would come who would be more powerful even than he (Mark 1:1-8). And in Luke we find that, even before John’s birth, the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that John would come in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:13-17).

In connecting John with Elijah, Gabriel makes reference to the prophesied return of Elijah, which was to occur before the Day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5-6). So important was this connection that Matthew contains two individual accounts of Jesus explaining that Elijah had already return in the person of John (11:12-15; 17:10-13). For Matthew, at least, the role of John as Elijah, preparing the way for and bearing witness to the Lord, is clear fulfillment of scripture which identified Jesus as the Christ. This is not to say that the life of Jesus validated Old Testament scripture, or that the scriptures validated Jesus as the Christ. Instead it is to show that God has always been at work to redeem us. He has given us this message in the past through his prophets, and now through his son.

Tempted by the Devil (4:1-11)

The existence of the devil, the personification of evil, is to put it mildly, difficult to understand. In the book most closely associated with this question, Satan enjoys the privilege of the very presence of God, and it is worth noting that Job’s troubles only began when the Lord spoke his name (Job 1:6-8). At the edge of what we might consider blasphemy, Job cried aloud for an explanation (Job 7:17-21).

It is difficult to accept, but there may be things that will always be hidden from us in this life, perhaps due to the limits of our ability to understand. If we must accept this, then we must accept that the question of evil must certainly be among them. But when we read that even the Son of God was tempted, we are given the understanding that, whatever the answer to the question of evil, it must be fundamental to our humanity. And if we consider the question of humanity and evil, then we should consider a comparison of Jesus’ final rejection of the devil and his reaction to Peter’s plans for his life (16:21-23). When we put the things of man before the things of God, we ourselves become the very personification of evil.

Jesus Began to Preach (4:12-25)

John had come preaching “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” After John’s death, Jesus began to preach the same message. In the physical sense, the Kingdom of Heaven was never nearer than when Jesus lived among us. But our God has always called us to repentance and has always taken pleasure when we turn from our own ways and choose life (Joel 2:11-13; Ezekiel 18:23). This has always been the nature of God from the beginning of time, and that nature has been revealed to us through his son (Hebrews 1:1-3).

So Was Fulfilled What Was Said through the Prophets

So Was Fulfilled What Was Said through the Prophets

Matthew Chapters 1&2

 

A Record of the Genealogy (1:1)

The book of Matthew begins with the heading “A record of the genealogy…” As the verses that immediately follow are an account of the ancestry of Jesus, this heading may apply to the chapter, perhaps with an intentional allusion to the account of the lineage of Adam (Genesis 5:1-2). But the word translated genealogy also means birth, as it is used later in this chapter and in Luke, the only other Gospel to give an account of the birth of Jesus (1:18; Luke 1:14). And so, the heading may apply to the larger section containing the Nativity story. But the Greek word used here is genesis, which of course can mean beginning. If it is this meaning that the author intended, then the heading may apply to the entire book, and if so, it may suggest the primary intent of the author.

Scholars generally agree that the author of Matthew had two sources at his disposal (and it is almost universally assumed that the author was a man). These existing, respected sources contained respectively the actions and sayings of Jesus. When telling of the actions of Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew and Luke have many passages in common. Each of these Gospels, however, has more in common with Mark than with the other Gospel. This is the primary motivation for the idea that Mark was written first, and both Matthew and Luke quote Mark. The Two-Source Theory postulates the existence of another document, now lost to us, which contained the sayings of Jesus, and that the two Gospels quote this document in the same way they quote Mark. This document is referred to as Q, from the German Quelle, which means source.

This is not to say that the writers of Matthew and Luke were simply copyists; there is unique material in each Gospel and, more importantly, each Gospel presents the Message with its own emphasis. The writer of this Gospel, which is traditionally held to be the Apostle Matthew, has a uniquely Jewish perspective which is always connecting the life of Jesus to the Old Testament prophecy of the Christ, not with the intent to validate that prophecy, or even to validate the life of Jesus, but to show us a God who has always been active, all throughout history, and who has always intended our salvation.

Of Whom Was Born Jesus (1:2-17)

We may compare the genealogy given here to that given in Luke (Luke 3:23-38). There are some obvious differences, in that Luke places his after the birth, but before the active ministry of Jesus, and that Luke works backwards from Jesus, not stopping at Abraham but tracing all the way back to God himself. But there are also differences of substance. We can see, for example, that they differ on the name of the grandfather of Jesus, and that Matthew traces the lineage back to David through Solomon, rather than Nathan. Also, if we compare Matthew’s genealogy to the record of 1 Chronicles, we see that Matthew has omitted three generations between Joram and Uzziah (also called Azariah: 1 Chronicles 3:11-12).

To modern thinking, such differences are difficult to explain. But, if we cannot explain these differences, we must accept that they were not important to the original author or the original audience: an author so versed in the scriptures would certainly have been aware of these differences, and would know that at least some of his audience would be aware, as well.

We must, then, consider what the author did intend with this genealogy. Our best clue may be in the closing verse, which tells that there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Christ. This is obviously a mnemonic device. When the letters of the name David (DVD) are taken as numbers (4 + 6 + 4) the sum is fourteen, and the complete lineage is broken into manageable portions of fourteen names each.

This genealogy was meant to be taught; from its beginning, or at least by the time it reached its present form, the Gospel of Matthew has been an ecclesiastical text, meant for use in the church. The story it contains is certainly true in the historical sense (though it does not always employ modern historical method) but historical truth is not the message of the Gospel. The Gospel seeks a higher Truth, in that it seeks to convey the meaning of the historical events.

In the case of this genealogy in particular, we may understand at least one truth that it conveys. Though there are many covenant accounts in the Old Testament, some very important ones are represented here: the covenant with Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation (Genesis 17:4-5); the covenant with David of an everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7:12-16); and the covenant with the exiles of God’s eternal presence (Ezekiel 37:26-27). These all point to the Christ, the author of the covenant (Matthew 26:26-28).

What Is Conceived in Her (1:18-24)

As the Gospel writer connects for us the conception of Jesus with the prophecy in Isaiah, he knows full well that the word used there and translated virgin could simply mean a young woman (Isaiah 7:14). On this basis, there are those who would claim that there was nothing unique about the birth of Jesus. Joseph himself seems to accept the common explanation for the means by which a young woman would become pregnant out of wedlock, but was willing to handle the matter quietly (Deuteronomy 22:22-24; 24:1).

But Matthew will not let us make this mistake: the woman knew no man, her husband or any other, and the child was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Luke traces the lineage of Jesus all the way back to God, the origin of us all, but Matthew shows us God’s direct intervention in this world through the gift of his Son.

After Jesus was Born

Most of the early life of Jesus is unknown to us, but Matthew gives us a few glimpses. The Wise Men come innocently and awaken Herod’s paranoia (2:1-8); the star continues to lead them to the Jesus (2:9-12); the Wise Men and Joseph’s family escape the terrible slaughter (2:13-18); and the family returns Israel to make their home in Nazareth (2:21-23).

All along, the events are controlled by the direct intervention of God, and are connected to prophecy. This is neither to validate the prophecy by the unfolding events, or to validate the the events by connection to the prophecy, but to illuminate the salvific presence of God, demonstrated in history and effective even today.

The continual unfolding of God’s salvific intent is the major theme of Matthew, but let us not overlook the lesson of the Wise Men. Our tradition has fixed their number to three, and forced their presence at the manger, when in truth we do not know how many there were, or where they may have found the young family. We do not know much about them, at all.

They were almost certainly not Jewish by race or religion. In fact, their religion, prior to their encounter with Christ, would by our standards have been completely pagan. By our standards, it may have been after their encounter, as well. We know that Jesus Christ is the only way, the only truth, the only life, and that no one comes to the father but by him (John 14:6). What the story of the Wise Men teaches us is to remember that God calls us by his pleasure and his means, and not by our design.