Reply To: Week 6 – Matthew

[Aurelia Alderson]

The book of Matthew is an official account of Jesus of Nazareth; His life, His death and His resurrection. This book was brought together by Matthew who took what the Apostles were teaching from their eyewitness accounts about Jesus, along with His teachings that they all had memorized. Matthew has then collected and designed this book to highlight certain themes about Jesus. He wants to show how Jesus is the continuation and fulfillment of the whole biblical story about God in Israel. And how Jesus is the Messiah from the line of David; that He is a new authoritative teacher like Moses; and that Jesus is Emmanuel. Matthew starts the book with the genealogy of Jesus, and how He is from the line of David, and He is the son of Abraham. Jesus is the new authoritative, covenant teacher who´s going to fulfill the storyline of the Torah. And so throughout this journey some accepted Jesus, some were neutral about Him, and some, such as Israel´s religious leaders, the Pharisees rejected Him and believed Him to be the blaspheming God. But these divers responses did not come as a surprise to Jesus, instead He focused on them. God´s kingdom is of ultimate value and it will not stop spreading despite all of these obstacles. So Jesus begins teaching about this upside-down nature of His kingdom, which turns all of our values, upside-down. Meaning that in the community of the servant King, you gain honor by serving others and instead of revenge, you forgive and do good to your enemies. And in Jesus´ kingdom you gain true wealth by giving your wealth to the poor. In all these teaching the book of Matthew shows us the promise and fulfillment of Jesus´ nature.