Background to Matthew:1-4
Caravaggio – Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602)
In Matthew 1-4 we meet Jesus Christ, who comes into the world as Israel’s God, their promised Priest-King, and as the embodiment of renewed Israel. And we see that, in this renewal of Israel, he has come to establish God’s promised Kingdom, and in doing so, se motion the fulfilment of all the purposes of God.
Matthew does not come in a vacuum, but as part of a story. In fact, it comes in the middle of the story. God’s purpose has always been to increasingly see his Kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But in the beginning, instead of ruling under God, multiplying and maturing in the world until the glory of God covered the earth as the waters cover the sea, Adam rebelled, dislocating everything. Yet the Lord never gave up on his purposes. He established one nation, Israel, from the family of Abraham and then one kingly dynasty, the house of David, to be the Kingdom through which he would rescue the world and see his original purposes fulfilled.
But that Kingdom, through its unfaithfulness, was deported and dispersed across the dominant empire of the ancient world. Still, God never gives up on his purposes or his people. He promised that after an extended period of incubation under the empires of the world, he will come and establish his Kingdom again in a way that will never be thwarted. So, we arrive in Matthew chapter one to a Jerusalem waiting for the return of the Lord and their restoration. But it is also in a mess. There are factions amongst its leaders, including an illegitimate priesthood and ‘King’, who are compromised with ruling powers, as well as religious zealots who are impatient with the Lord’s timing and hypocritically trying to manipulate the people to force the Lord’s hand. Will Israel be ready when the Lord does act? Will they be restored and ready to join in the Lord’s redemptive rule of the world? Enter Jesus Christ, Lord, King and a new Israel.
Table 1: Jesus re-running Israel’s history in himself1
Preparation questions for Matthew 1: The Genesis of Jesus
1) What does the shape of the genealogy suggest is important?
2) What does the inclusion of four Gentile women teach us?
3) What does the fact that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit teach us about the salvation he is bringing?
4) What do Jesus’ different names teach us about him? (Christ = ‘Anointed King’, Jesus = ‘Yahweh saves’, and read Isaiah 7 for what ‘Immanuel’ means in context.)
5) How do the two halves of the chapter fit together?
6) What do you think is the big point Matthew is teaching us about Jesus?
7) Write down any remaining questions that you have.
1 Table taken from Theopolis course notes on Matthew’s gospel