Matthew

By Alyce M. McKenzie

In this Gospel, Matthew tells the story of Jesus, who is the presence of God and has come to call the faithful to a new level of righteousness. He challenges his disciples to live each day as participants in God's kingdom--be poor in spirit and pure in heart, turn the other cheek and love one's enemies. Through his teachings and healings, Jesus breaks the bonds of evil and sin and frees each one for a life rich in celebration and service. By his resurrection, Jesus continues to be present, even until the end of the age.

Interpretation Bible Studies (IBS) offers solid biblical content in a creative study format. Forged in the tradition of the celebrated Interpretation commentary series, IBS makes the same depth of biblical insight available in a dynamic, flexible, and user-friendly resource. Designed for adults and older youth, IBS can be used in small groups, in church school classes, in large group presentations, or in personal study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 1998
• ISBN: 9781611643381

Alyce M. McKenzie

Alyce M. McKenzie is Professor of Homiletics at the Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. She is the author of a number of books including Preaching Proverbs: Wisdom for the Pulpit and Parables for Today, both published by WJK.

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4).

1 Matthew 1:1–25

The Lineage, Birth, and Naming of Jesus Christ

Who is Jesus Christ? This question serves as a beacon to all who struggle to be faithful to his memory, alert to his presence in their lives, and open to the future to which he beckons. The question of Jesus’ identity runs like a scarlet cord through the whole Gospel of Matthew. It is raised in the very first verse, unwinds gradually through the Gospel narrative, and comes to a bold climax in the final scene, often called the Great Commission (28:18–20). There, at the end, Jesus is clearly seen as Lord, the true Son of God. He claims all authority in heaven and on earth, sends the disciples to make new disciples in his name, and promises to be with them to the end of the age.

The issue of Jesus’ identity is crucial for all who read Matthew’s Gospel because our own identity is caught up in his. To recognize that Jesus is Lord is to become a disciple. To know who Jesus is and to call him Lord is to acknowledge Jesus’ living authority over every aspect of life—personal, relational, political, economic—and to join his mission to the world.

The Genealogy

Matthew opens his Gospel by naming Jesus as Messiah, or Christ, a term that means anointed (1:1). Matthew announces to his readers that Jesus is God’s anointed one, a divine agent sent on a holy mission by God; in Matthew’s mind, Messiah is basically equivalent to another title for Jesus: Son of God. Indeed, Messiah and Son of God appear together in two pivotal passages: Peter’s confession (16:16) and the high priest’s accusation (26:63).

For Christians today, to call Jesus the Christ and the Son of God seems obvious, taken for granted—almost as if Jesus Christ were his first and last names. But in the earliest days of the Christian church, there was no such obvious link. How did a carpenter’s son named Jesus from an ordinary family in the ordinary village of Nazareth come to be called Messiah and Son of God? Matthew begins his answer to this question by unfolding Jesus’ family tree or genealogy. At first glance, this seems like a deadly dull way to start an account of an exciting life. We are tempted to skip over the genealogy and get to the real action of Jesus’ ministry. But Matthew includes the genealogy for good reason—to make three important affirmations about Jesus’ identity.

In the first place, Matthew includes the genealogy to show that Jesus—though he may seem to the world like an ordinary man—is in fact a king, the son of David, a legitimate descendant of the royal line. Second, Matthew demonstrates that Jesus was in every sense an authentic Jew, the son of Abraham. Messiah was first and foremost a Jewish term, the one in whom the hopes of Israel were fulfilled. Matthew traces Jesus’ heritage all the way back to the very beginning of the Jewish people—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As the son of David, the son of Abraham, Jesus stood in continuity with the great Jewish tradition, the history and legacy of Israel.

Matthew’s third reason for including the genealogy is to show that in Jesus the Messiah, God makes a new beginning. In Jesus Christ, we participate in that new beginning, regardless of our former religious background. This affirmation is conveyed in Matthew’s use of the word genealogy (Greek genesis), which Matthew chose to make the connection in readers’ minds with the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures, where in the beginning … God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). In Jesus, God provides a new Genesis.

The Genealogy of Jesus

What can we learn from the genealogy in Matthew? There are several insights to be gleaned:

1. Jesus is an expression of the old, an embodiment of the time-honored traditions, the long history of faith, and the ancient hopes of Israel. He is the Messiah whom the Hebrews have been expecting through the centuries. Faith in, and obedience to, Jesus is a fulfillment, not a denial, of the heritage of Israel. Later, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will say, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill (5:17).

All history is in God’s hands; since the election of Abraham, history has been moving toward Jesus as its goal. —Eduard Schweizer, The Good News according to Matthew,