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Dead Theologians Society the Gospel of Matthew Session 1 – Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2

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Dead Theologians Society the Gospel of Matthew Session 1 – Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2 Dead Theologians Society The Gospel of Matthew Session 1 – Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2 Scripture in the Catholic Life - “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ” – St. Jerome - NAB Translation is used during Mass - RSV-Catholic Edition is also recommended o Helpful because many Protestants use the standard RSV o This edition is also used in the English Catechism of the Catholic Church - Lessons from the Catechism o Articles 115-117: Method of interpreting Scripture . First, look for the literal sense of the Scripture Use of literary tools, language, genre, customs, etc What was the intended purpose of the author (God)? . Spiritual Senses Allegorical Sense: how does this relate to Christ? o Temple of Solomon pointing to the Christ as the eternal temple Moral Sense: how does this relate to me personally? Anagogical: how does this relate to the future? o Three basic rules to interpreting Scripture as a Catholic (Articles 112-114) . Be especially attentive to the content and unity of the whole Scripture Scripture is a unity by virtue of the unity of God’s plan . We must read the Scripture within the living tradition of the whole Church Conversely, Protestant theology ascribes to the perspecuitous interpretation of Scripture (Scripture interprets itself) Catholics believe that Scripture is interpreted within the context of our living faith – The life of the Church helps interpretation . Be attentive to the analogy of faith – “the coherence of the truths” We cannot come up with interpretations contrary to the teachings of the Church - Application of Scripture in our Life o The purpose of our study is not “to know” Scripture but to put this Scripture into practice and allow it to make a difference in our lives o Psalm 1:1-3 – “Blessed (happy) is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked … but his delight is in the law of the Lord … He is like a tree … in all that he does he prospers.” o “You want to see? Then listen first. Hearing is a step towards seeing.” – St. Bernard of Clairvoux . We must meditate upon the Scripture o “God’s words grow with the reader” – St. Gregory the Great o “Be doers of the Word and not hearers of the Word only” – Letter of St. James . The Word of God is like a mirror – it reflects to us ourselves as we are Introduction to Matthew - Catholics take care not to “harmonize the four Gospels” o Respects the individual nature of each author - An author is never properly named o The consensus of the early Church added his authorship o Notice how the false gospels often claim “I, so-and-so, write to you” - Little is known about Matthew (“Levi”) o Tax collector (Matt 9:9) o Chosen to be one of the twelve Apostles o Appears in Acts 21:3 at Pentecost o Tradition holds that he was martyred, but there are no details - Dating of the book o Consensus is somewhere between 50-70 AD . The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem took place in 70 AD . Jesus is the fulfillment/replacement of the OT. Jesus is the new temple. Theory is that if Matthew knew of the Temple’s destruction that he would have mentioned such a major centerpiece of his writing - Style o Point out how past events have enduring significance . Matthew 24: foretells the destruction of the Temple o Jesus is the true Messiah of God o Establishment of the Church as the Kingdom of Heaven on earth o Fulfills OT covenants o Jesus is cast in the role of the New Moses o Son of David sitting on His everlasting throne - Audience o Jewish o Assumes that you know the OT very well - Structure o Chronicles the life of Christ in five sections – imitation of the Pentateuch (“The Books of Moses”) o Prologue (Chapters 1-2 – The Birth of the King) o Book 1 – Announcement of the Kingdom . Narrative (Chapters 3-4 – John the Baptist and Jesus’ early ministry) . Discourse (Chapters 5-7 – Sermon on the Mount) o Book 2 – Establishment of the Kingdom . Narrative (Chapters 8-9 – Miracles: Commissioning of the Twelve) . Discourse (Chapter 10 – Missionary instructions) o Book 3 – The Kingdom Defined . Narrative (Chapters 11-12 – Jesus confronts an evil generation) . Discourse (Chapter 13 – Kingdom Parables) o Book 4 – Transfer of the Kingdom’s Authority . Narrative (Chapters 14-17 – Travels and ministry: instructing the Twelve) . Discourse (Chapter 18 – Life in the Christian Community) o Book 5 – Announcement of the End of the Old Kingdom . Narrative (Chapters 19-23 – Events and Teaching in Judea) . Discourse (Chapters 24-25 – Olivet Discourse/Judgment on Jerusalem) o Conclusion – Victory of the King . Narrative (Chapters 26-28 – Passion Week) CHAPTER 1 – Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham Why start with a genealogy? - Matthew has to get over a few hurdles o Must show some connection to some important people o Must explain Mary’s socially unacceptable pregnancy - God is showing that Christ is a new beginning o Genealogy is similar to the creation/beginning of Genesis o “Genealogy” is the same word used in the Greek translation for “Genesis” (from the Septuagint) o Christ’s work will impact the whole world just as Adam had done - References to David and Abraham o Covenant with David: 2 Samuel 7 . Involves a blessing to the Gentiles o Covenant with Abraham: Genesis 12 . “Through you, all the world will be blessed” . Assures that all the Gentiles will also be blessed o Foundational covenant oaths - “Who is your father?” o Genealogies are not just a family pedigree but are also used to make a point . Some names are actually left out . Matthew is forcing you to see something particular V. 17 - “14 generations” 3 sets of 14 or 6 sets of 7 7 is the number of completion, fullness and covenant . v. 18 – beginning of the seventh seven – of the fullness of time o Letters of the Hebrew alphabet have numeric values (A=1, B=2, etc) . “David” = “DVD” = “464” = “14” o David brought to mind the glory days of Israel o Jesus is to be the Son of David fulfilling the covenant that “your descendant shall sit on the throne” - Third Cycle of the genealogy begins with the Deportation to Babylon (587 BCE) o Why would Matthew bring up the bad memory of the Deportation? o Division of Israel in 930 BC (North and South) o Daniel 9: “70 years will not be enough … it will be expanded to 7 times 70 years” . Though the Israelites came back physically, they had not yet returned spiritually - Women were not typically mentioned in genealogies o Four are mentioned in this genealogy o “Shady ladies” – women with questionable backgrounds . Tamar – daughter-in-law of Judah (Genesis 38) Pretended to be a prostitute . Rahab – Canaanite and a harlot . Ruth – Moabite who was not of the Israelite community . “The wife of Uriah,” aka “Bathsheba” o Could he not have mentioned Sarah and Rachel? . This was an inclusion of sinners into the people of God . The women chosen all had unusual marital or sexual relationships . Matthew is setting up the reader for something “You have not rejected Solomon as the Son of David after all of this. You now have no grounds to reject Jesus on the grounds of suspicion of fornication or any other inappropriate relationship Getting us ready for the “virgin who was conceived by the Holy Spirit” o V. 16 – “Jacob, the father of Joseph …” . In the OT Jacob was a father of Joseph . Joseph was cared for by his sister Miriam “Mary” - The Conception of Jesus o V. 18 – betrothal . Period of time between the covenant of marriage and actually living together . Could be up to a year . Could only be terminated by death or divorce o V. 19 – “just man” . Who did Joseph think was the unworthy partner in the relationship? Himself or Mary? . Suspicion Theory Joseph suspects Mary of adultery and seeks to divorce her according to the law (Deut 24) But he is going to do it secretly as to avoid the punishment of the law (Deut 22) that says the penalty for adultery is death Joseph wants to protect Mary from death Problem: a “just man” would carry out both parts of the law, not just one . Reverence Theory (embraced by the Catholic Church) Joseph was already informed of the divine miracle and considered himself unworthy to be a part of this incredible work His resolve to separate quietly is viewed as an effort to avoid exhibiting Mary publicly The angelic vision encourages him to embrace his role . Parallel of the two Joseph’s In both cases they share the same name Both have fathers named Jacob God spoke to both through dreams Both were “righteous and chaste” Both saved families by bringing them to Egypt o V. 23 – quotation of Isaiah 7:14 “The virgin shall conceive …” . A formula quotation: Matthew does this to help the reader who might not make the immediate connection Original quote literally refers to the birth of Hezekiah The allegorical sense of Scripture leads Matthew to conclude that this is a reference to Christ . “God is with us” cf. Matthew 28:19-20 o Jesus is focused on the Exile and bringing about a new Exodus o V. 25 – Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity . “he knew her not until …” This word does not imply marital relations following Christ’s birth. Used to indicate a select period of time “to, until” o 1 Timothy 4:13 “til I come …” Point of the text is to clarify the virgin birth and not to make a commentary on later actions CHAPTER 2 – The King in Exile Foundations: One of the central events of OT is the Passover of Exodus.
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