Reading the Gospels Together The Storyline of Matthew’s Gospel – Part 2 Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus. To modern readers this seems to be a peculiar and perhaps even boring thing to do. Who cares about genealogy? But if you are attempting to argue that Jesus really is the Jewish Messiah then it is important that you locate Jesus within Judaism. And besides, genealogies have been an important feature of Jewish people for a long time. There are genealogies from Genesis through the books of Chronicles. Knowing and having the right roots is critical to Jewish people. So Matthew provides his readers with the ammunition that need to claim Jesus’ Jewish heritage. But Matthew is also a bit creative with this genealogy of Jesus. He breaks it into three equal parts beginning with Abraham through David, from David to the exile in Babylon, and from Babylon to Jesus. Each of these three sections has 14 names. In order to accomplish that, Matthew needs to fudge a bit with the actual genealogy since if we go and trace things out in the OT we will discover that it doesn’t work out so neatly. Why three sets of 14 names? Numbers were important in the ancient world and the number three was a divine and perfect number as was the number seven. So Matthew genealogy is made up of three sets of 14 which can be further broken down to six sets of seven. And Jesus is the capstone of this “perfect” genealogy. Besides that, Matthew has chosen to highlight four women in this genealogy. Why these women? At least in some way they are all a bit scandalous. And as his genealogy ends Matthew will turn his attention to telling the story of the birth of Jesus. In that birth story another woman will appear and there will be scandal surrounding her too. So, there are very good reasons why Matthew would begin his gospel with this genealogy even though for our modern ears this seems strange and unhelpful. We need to think of Matthew’s first readers and see how this would have impacted them. Matthew now turns his attention to the birth of Jesus. Matthew tells the story from the point of view of Joseph, the male Jewish head of the family. And with the mention of scandalous women in his genealogy Matthew informs his readers that the birth of Jesus is not without the pretentions of scandal too. Matthew understands Jesus family to have been living in Bethlehem. Jesus’ mother, Mary, is betrothed to Joseph. Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant and he knows that he is not the father. Joseph could have exposed Mary and she likely would have been stoned for her transgression but he chooses instead to dismiss her quietly. But God intervenes in a dream telling Joseph that the child Mary is about to bear has been miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. Joseph is to take this child of Mary and make him his own giving him the name of Jesus which means Savior. And Matthew backs it up with the first of his many OT proof texts pulling this one from the book of Isaiah where Isaiah had spoken of a young woman bearing a son who was to be called Emmanuel which means God is with us. Joseph is obedient to God and does what God has revealed to him. Certainly it was likely that there was scandal and controversy surrounding the birth of Jesus. We can read of other stories of his birth that are not so nice in materials outside the Bible. If Matthew is intent on grounding Jesus in his Jewish background then this story is crucial for him and for his readers. The birth of Jesus in peculiar but it is not scandalous. This birth comes from God. Jesus has solid credentials and is a true Israelite. But Matthew is not finished with the birth story. He now introduces his readers to King Herod and tells a story of how Jesus was threatened with death even from his birth. Into this wonderful birth story Matthew introduces a dark and foreboding threat. King Herod is threatened by this birth and when Magi from the east who have seen the rising star of Jesus come to look for him, Herod seeks to kill Jesus. Introducing Magi into the story is a rather strange thing, but it does hint at how the Gentile world can recognize Jesus the Messiah when the Jewish world cannot. For a second time Matthew uses an OT proof text to support his view by quoting from the book of Micah and its reference to Bethlehem. But Herod will not succeed. Once again in a dream Joseph is warned and he and Mary and the baby Jesus flee to Egypt. For a third time Matthew finds an OT proof text to support what has happened this time from Hosea who had written, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” The cruel and sinister nature of King Herod is revealed as he attempts to kill Jesus by slaughtering all the baby boys in Bethlehem who are two years old and younger. And for a fourth time Matthew pulls an OT proof text out to support what has happened. The time the text comes from Jeremiah and speaks of Rachel weeping for her children. Herod is not successful and after his death for a third time God speaks to Joseph in a dream and tells Joseph that it is safe to return home. But a return to Bethlehem is still dangerous so for a fourth time Joseph is told in a dream to take the child and his mother and resettle in Nazareth in Galilee. And Matthew quotes a sixth OT proof text about how Jesus will be called a Nazorean. The problem however is that there is no OT text that says this. Readers of Matthew’s gospel will need to ponder this reference. At any rate Jesus is safely relocated in Nazareth and Matthew brings his birth story to an end. As readers of Matthew’s gospel reflect back over Matthew’s birth story of Jesus something begins to jump off the page for them. This story sounds a lot like the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was sent as a slave into Egypt. This Joseph like the Joseph of old is a dreamer and an interpreter of dreams. And this story sounds a lot like the story of the birth of Moses. Moses also was threatened with extinction by a cruel ruler. And so Matthew has constructed a wonderful story that links Jesus with his Jewish past and also brings to mind some of the high points of Jewish history as it centers on Joseph, son of Jacob, and Moses. We will soon see how important Moses will be in Matthew’s gospel. So Matthew has created a beginning for his gospel. It addresses some things that Mark did not choose to include. Matthew’s beginning provides Jesus with solid Jewish credentials. Matthew’s beginning tells the story of Jesus origin, scandalous as it might have been for some, and yet a strong argument that from the very beginning this was God’s doing. And Matthew sets the birth of Jesus in the light of the birth and near death of Moses. There is something very brilliant about what Matthew has done for his readers by placing this material at the beginning of Mark’s gospel. It is not without great thought that Matthew has told this story in the way that he has.