Introduction
This week we embark on another
journey into the experience of God's Word. In the months to
come, we will, with the help of the Holy Spirit, be listening to
and absorbing the story of Jesus as told by sacred NT book,
the Gospel According to Matthew. In this first leg
of our journey, we will consider some general and introductory aspects
of this Gospel.
The Gospel according
to Matthew is the first of the sacred books in the NT
canonical order. It is listed before the other three Gospels,
Mark, Luke and John. It was initially believed
that this was so because it was the first to be written, a view
that goes back to the late second century A.D. Matthew
was held in great esteem by the church; no other Gospel was so frequently
quoted in the noncanonical literature of earliest Christianity.
Even though most scholars now believe that the Gospel of Mark
was the first to be written, the high estimation of Matthew's
Gospel remains. The New American Bible introduction
to this Gospel cites, as a reason for that high regard, the way
in which Matthew presents the story of Jesus, "the
demands of Christian discipleship, and the breaking-in of the new
and final age through the ministry but particularly through the
death and resurrection of Jesus."
The first question that
often comes to mind is: Who is the author? The answer is:
we don't know. Nothing in the text names the author. The title,
"According to Matthew," was not part of the first
addition. The author nowhere claims to have been an eye witness
to the events that he describes. Scholars no longer hold to the
traditional opinion that the Gospel can be attributed to Matthew,
the tax collector, who is told by Jesus, "follow me" (9:9)
and whose name is on the list of apostles (10:3). Further doubt
is cast upon the traditional belief (that Matthew the apostle is
the author) by Mark 2:14, where the same tax collector is named
Levi.
There are things, however,
that we do know about the author, based upon the words of the Gospel
itself. The following characteristics of the author seem to
be suggested:
1. He seems to have
been Jewish in background and in interests.
2. He showed a special
interest in the Hebrew Scriptures as a witness to the person and
activity of Jesus the Christ.
3. Much of Jesus'
teaching in the sermon on the mount is analogous to Jewish halakah,
which is advice on how people are to behave.
4. The Matthean community
assumes that the Jewish Sabbath is still to be observed (cf. 12:1-14;
24:20) by Christians.
5. The evangelist
stands in opposition to Jews who have control of "the synagogues"
(6:2,5; 23:6,34).
6. Matthew is particularly
concerned with determining the proper relationship between Jesus
the Messiah and the Torah.
What is the date of Origin
for the Gospel According to Matthew? Scholars by an large
say that the very latest would be 100 AD. But more likely
it is between 85 and 90 AD.
If, as most scholars agree,
the author of this Gospel was not a personal eye witness to the
words and events of this Gospel, from what sources did the author
bring together all the relevant data for the Gospel of Matthew?
One present-day hypothesis seems to hold to the following schema
to answer this question. The arrows below indicate what source
has influenced what Gospel.
"Mk"
"Q" |
