Conversations with Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew (Anglican Association of Biblical Studies) - Softcover

John Yueh-Han Yieh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0819224200 ISBN 13: 9780819224200

Publisher: Morehouse Publishing, 2012

Synopsis

This book invites readers to enter the narrative world and the historical context of Matthew s gospel to encounter Jesus Christ in his mighty works and words. Focusing on particular social and theological issues, such as eschatology and Jewish-Christian conflict, it shows how Matthew used Jesus stories and teachings to instruct and sustain his racially-mixed church to meet the severe challenges posed by Pharisaic opposition, Roman suspicion, and intramural tension. It is worth noting that the church today faces similar challenges in its need to articulate its faith and identity, to bear strong witness and unity, and to carry out its missions to baptize and teach the world. Matthew was convinced that the best way to accomplish Jesus final mandate to share the gospel with the world is to become faithful and informed disciples of Jesus. Sponsored by the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars, the Conversations with Scripture series was created just for Episcopalians. Each book is based on the finest biblical scholarship, written from a uniquely Anglican perspective, and designed for people in the pews eager to learn more about Scripture and how it applies to their lives today. Each book focuses on exploring the historical and critical background, and taps into the rich tradition of Scripture in the Book of Common Prayer.

About this title

About the Author

The Rev. John Yieh is a well known and response Anglican Chinese biblical scholar and Professor of New Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and has taught at Bangor Theological Seminary and Andover Newton Theological School. His most recent book is Making Sense of the Sermon on the Mount.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CONVERSATIONS WITH SCRIPTURE: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

By JOHN Y. H. YIEH

Morehouse Publishing

Copyright © 2012 John Y. H. Yieh
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8192-2420-0

Contents

Chapter One

A New Gospel

Attending a memorial service is an intense spiritual experience. As we all know, bidding farewell to the deceased is emotionally draining, and no words of comfort are ever sufficient to sooth the grieving family. Oftentimes we simply cannot accept the fact that our loved one has gone. It is also true that, as we try to cope with the sorrow, the gathered family and concerned friends are vital supports. Their presence enables us to bear the unbearable, because they remind us that we do not have to face death alone. Prayers, scriptures, and hymns also bring some release, because they reassure us of God's promise of peaceful rest and eternal life. There is hope beyond death.

Eulogy performs a special function in the memorial service. It often provides a curriculum vitae of the deceased's family background, life experiences, and great accomplishments, and reveals memorable characteristics and special qualities of the person in the eyes of the family and friends. As we listen quietly to eulogies, vivid memories of the deceased will surge and episodes of past encounter will replay in our minds. Suddenly the person seems to have come back to life in our midst, and we are ushered into an experience of communion, a moment of grace that is authentic and heartwarming. Eulogies are informative, relational, and emotionally affecting, so they often bring laughter, tears, tranquility, and some catharsis to people in mourning.

To their readers, the gospels in the New Testament functioned like eulogies of Jesus. Of course, the authors of the gospels were convinced that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and they had experienced his powerful presence in their lives as Lord and Savior. Each author remembered, celebrated, and highlighted some aspects of Jesus' life and death for their readers; each had a special relationship with Jesus and held a particular perspective on his legacy. When we read the gospel of Matthew as a eulogy of Jesus, therefore, we get to know about its author as well as Jesus, and our beliefs and lives will inevitably be challenged and reshaped by its author's point of view.

Why Another Gospel?

Since the early nineteenth century, New Testament scholars have preoccupied themselves with the historical questions of who Jesus was and what he actually said or did in his life. To some, such as Bultmann, Crossan, and Borg, these gospels are "faith-tainted" reports, devoid of objectivity, so researchers have to play cool-minded detectives peeling off layers of post-Easter theological interpretations in order to uncover the core facts. Reading the gospels thus becomes a scientific process of evidence gathering, the kind of forensic analysis we see on television that reconstructs the scene of a crime. To them history and faith belong to separate realms; believers will need to take a giant leap of faith from history to confess Jesus as personal Lord.

Other scholars, such as Bornkamm, Johnson, and Meier, acknowledge the mixed nature of the gospels, but they also insist that there is no such thing as objective history without personal prejudice or, at the very least, bias. Every journalist reports news from one point of view, every photographer shoots a picture from one angle, and every historian comments on an event with one perspective. Gospels contain historical reports of Jesus based on Christian experiences, so historical facts and faith interpretations cannot be clearly separated. Nor should they be, because Christian faith is not fantasy but commitment to Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who once walked on earth as a man. The one who proclaimed the kingdom of God from Nazareth and the proclaimed Lord of the church are the same person. These scholars thus propose to see Jesus through the lens of early church authors whose witnesses are recognized as partial but honest. In other words, they read the gospels as documents of history and faith, critically but not skeptically.

Regardless of their positions on the debate, most scholars agree to the following sketch:

* Jesus was a Jew growing up in Nazareth near Sepphoris, Herod Antipas' first capital city, and became a wandering teacher in Galilee, a fertile region in the southern part of the Roman Syrian province in the early first century.

* Like John the Baptist, who preached judgment and repentance by the Jordan River, Jesus announced the arrival of the kingdom of God and traveled from town to town to urge his compatriots, who interacted daily with Gentiles but took pride in their status as the chosen people of God, to change their lifestyle and do righteousness according to the law.

* He befriended sinners and tax collectors, debated with the Pharisees and the priests, and confronted hypocrites and money lovers.

* He performed miracles with compassion and power, healing the sick and casting out demons, so he attracted a significant number of followers.

* He initially chose twelve men to follow him as disciples, explaining to them the mystery of the kingdom of God and sending them on missions to proclaim his kingdom messages.

* While in Jerusalem, he was arrested and convicted as a blasphemer by the high priest and a rebel king by the Roman governor, and then was crucified.

* But his followers believed that he was raised from the dead, so they continued to talk about him and wrote down many extraordinary things he had said and done (see Luke 1:1–2).

After Jesus' departure, his followers began to eulogize him and share their memories of him with others. Some remembered his compassion and power in performing miracles, having been cured of painful diseases or freed from demon possessions. Others testified how their lives were changed by his incisive teaching on God's mercy and justice, or spoke of how their minds were enlightened by his fascinating parables regarding the mystery of the kingdom of God. Very soon, the stories of how the righteous Jesus suffered and died in the hands of Caiaphas the high priest and Pilate the Roman governor was recollected and written down in some detail to commemorate his innocent death and to explain God's purposes. It was thus that miracle stories, teaching discourses, and passion narratives came into existence. The early churches also used these sacred memories to defend Jesus' credentials as the Messiah, to preach his gospel of salvation, and to encourage believers to bear witness to him. In other words, it is in the efforts to justify their faith in Jesus under polemic, missionary, and educational circumstances that the early churches began to conserve and expand their eulogies of Jesus. Before Matthew composed his gospel, moreover, several oral traditions and written sources had already been established and circulated among the churches. Would it not be easier simply to make copies of those earlier eulogies? Why did he decide to write a new gospel? What did he hope to accomplish with it?

In one sense the author of Matthew did make "copies," using at least three earlier eulogies in order to compose his gospel. What were these earlier accounts he drew on? In 1924 the scholar B. H. Streeter at Oxford proposed the "four sources hypothesis," a theory that many scholars still support today, to explain the agreements and disagreements among the first three New Testament gospels (also known as the "synoptic gospels.") He meticulously argued that Matthew used the gospel of Mark as its narrative basis but expands it with sayings taken from two anonymous sources, Q and M. Q stands for "Quelle" in German and is a hypothetical source consisting of Jesus' sayings found in both Matthew and Luke. M refers to other materials available only to Matthew, while Luke also uses Mark, Q, and a further special sourced called L. Mark, Q, M, and L are thus the four earlier sources used by the two longer gospel accounts, Matthew and Luke.

Why do scholars believe that Matthew had access to Mark's gospel and used it as the narrative basis for his own? There are several important reasons.

* Eighty percent of Mark's materials occur in Matthew's gospel in exactly the same sequence.

* Mark's Greek has limited diction and simpler syntax than Matthew's, with stronger Aramaic influence.

* Mark gives a less complimentary portrayal of the disciples than Matthew does.

Given their massive similarities in contents and wording, therefore, Matthew and Mark most probably have a relationship of literary interdependence. But which is the source and which is a later rendition? Considering Matthew's more sophisticated Greek in terms of grammar and style, it is more likely that Matthew gave Mark some extra literary polish rather than the other way around. The more positive image of the disciples in Matthew also indicates his later date, on the ground that a later author would change his source traditions to honor rather than to embarrass disciples who, like Peter, have become respected apostles of the church. Matthew may also have quoted a great number of sayings of Jesus from the Q source, which includes over two hundred verses of sayings that reflect such distinctive themes as wisdom Christology, apocalyptic prophecy, and imminent judgment. It is true that no one can be certain whether these sayings were preserved in oral or written forms and how they became available to Matthew and Luke, but given the similarities, it is highly possible that both Matthew and Luke had access to this body of material. In short, Matthew probably knew Mark's gospel and the Q sayings along with his special source, M. So he decided to combine all these sources to compose a new and longer gospel. If we study Matthew side by side with Mark and Luke, this opportunity to compare and contrast brings his distinctive perspective and concerns into sharper relief.

Alone among the gospel writers, Luke states clearly that he has investigated his source materials and organized them into "an orderly account" so that his readers "may know the truth concerning the things" about which they have been instructed (Luke 1:3–4). His intended readers are novices who have been taught something basic about Jesus Christ; his purpose is to provide new believers with historical, reliable, and coherent knowledge of what has happened to Jesus so that their faith can be reinforced. For Luke, therefore, faith should seek to understand, while knowing historical truth is equally important to pursuing spiritual experience. John also tells his readers that he has chosen some most important materials in his disposal to report in his gospel so that they may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and "through believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). It seems that John assumes that some of his readers are not yet firm believers, some might not yet be fully convinced that Jesus is the Messiah or the Son of God, and others might not know that believing in Jesus can bring them eternal life. That is why he hopes to show them who Jesus really is and what benefit the faith in him can bring. Like Luke, John considers reason and faith compatible and complementary to each other. Understanding helps bring forth faith, and believing in Jesus is key to eternal life.

Unfortunately, Matthew (like Mark) does not declare his intentions in the same explicit way. In order to find out why Matthew wrote his gospel, we need to look for clues in the way he presents the story of Jesus, especially as it compares with Mark.

How Is Jesus' Story Presented?

There are two methods of reading Scripture that can help identify the special ways in which Matthew presents his story of Jesus. The first is to look into the literary structure of the entire gospel to see how Matthew begins and ends his story of Jesus, and where he places the climax of the story. We should also look for repeated themes in the narrative that might reflect his special concerns or messages. In other words, we should look into the literary composition and narrative development of Matthew's gospel to see what the narrator tries to say (or hint) to his readers. Scholars call this "narrative criticism." The second method is to compare key "pericopes" (self-contained episodes or passages) that have parallels in Mark or Luke to observe how Matthew used the same materials in ways that may reflect his particular tendencies and perspectives. These tendencies and perspectives are then explored in the particular social- historical settings of his church to discover what his main reasons and purposes might be. This method of research is called "redaction criticism."

First of all, let us look at Mark's version, from which Matthew drew much of his story, for comparison. It is a relatively short story about Jesus' adult life with a focus on his death; one scholar has described it as "a passion narrative with a long prologue." It begins with Jesus' baptism by John and a powerful ministry in Galilee but appears to end anticlimatically with his crucifixion in Jerusalem and the discovery of the empty tomb. To some readers, it reads like a tragedy. It can be divided into two halves by geographical settings, Galilee and Jerusalem. Unlike Matthew's gospel, which begins with Jesus' birth, Mark begins with Jesus' adult ministry. Beginning with a citation from Scripture, he identifies John the Baptist as the voice in the wilderness who will herald the coming of the Lord, and suggests that Jesus' ministry in Galilee has indeed fulfilled God's promise to lead God's people on a new Exodus from exile back to God (Mark 1:2–3). Mark 1–9 tells the story of Jesus in Galilee, where he preaches the coming of the kingdom of God, exercises a stunning power to heal the sick and cast out demons, and claims a divine authority to forgive sins. With striking wisdom he also outwits the learned Pharisees and scribes over issues of the law. People are so amazed by his wisdom and power that they begin to wonder whether he might be the prophet of the end time, or the Messiah himself. A turning point takes place near the end of Jesus' ministry in Galilee, when he raises a serious question to his disciples in Caesarea Philippi: "But who do you say I am?" (Mark 8:29). Peter confesses him to be the Messiah, but immediately Jesus commands them to keep quiet about it and predicts three times that he must suffer and die in Jerusalem (8:31; 9:31; 10:33–34). Why must the mighty miracle worker in Galilee be humiliated and executed in Jerusalem? The answer can be found later in the narrative.

Jesus' predictions indicate that he knows very well that he will meet with rejection, suffering, and even death in Jerusalem, but he goes there anyway. His journey to Jerusalem is thus a conscious decision. Why is he willing to face death? Because he is convinced that his death has a higher purpose: "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). His death on the cross will serve as a ransom to redeem God's people from their sins. The idea of giving up his life as a ransom foreshadows the mystifying words Jesus says to the disciples at the last supper about the bread and the cup: "Take, this is my body ..." and "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many." These words and actions evoke the Jewish custom of sharing the paschal lamb before the Passover commemorating God's miraculous rescue of their forebears from Egypt. The idea of serving even unto death also evokes the "suffering servant" of the Lord in Isaiah who will receive the Spirit of God to "bring forth justice to the nations" (Isa. 42:1–4). Like the servant, Jesus keeps silent before his accusers, is blindfolded and tortured, and is struck, spat on, and mocked. These close parallels to the Servant Songs of Isaiah in Mark's passion narrative indicate that Mark regards Jesus as the suffering servant who "poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isa. 53:12). In other words, Jesus may look like a victim of religious conspiracy and political expediency, but his death is voluntary and vicarious—the righteous Messiah who lovingly and courageously dies on the cross to save the sinful, and whose death will bring about the new creation. Like the paschal lamb that was sacrificed, he heralds the new Exodus for God's people. Like the suffering servant who endures rejection and tortures, he brings forgiveness and healing.

Mark's emphasis on Jesus' vicarious death matches the theological content of Peter's proclamation to Cornelius, the Italian centurion and God-fearer in Caesarea. Thus it is a fuller account of the early Christian kerygma, or message: "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name"(Acts 10:43). In contrast to the popular expectation of the Messiah to conquer the world by the power of his mighty angels, Jesus changes the world by exercising his messianic mission with humiliation, suffering, and self-sacrifice on the cross. Why did Mark characterize Jesus as the crucified Messiah? One reason may have been the need to defend the church's faith in Jesus as the Messiah despite his apparent weakness and death in the hands of the Jewish leaders and the Roman governor. Jesus' voluntary death as a ransom to redeem the world offers a robust answer to the question of mockery from the priests and the scribes: "He saved others; he cannot save himself" (15:31). Mark may also have a pastoral reason. He wanted to reassure Christians under persecution in the Roman Empire that they have a sympathetic partner in Jesus, who has suffered like them but has conquered sin and death with perfect faithfulness to God and tireless compassion for people.

Let us now turn to Matthew's portrayal of Jesus to discover his purposes in writing his gospel. It contains the same stories of Jesus' ministry in Galilee and Jerusalem as those in Mark, but he adds other traditions such as the nativity stories, the five long discourses of Jesus' teaching, and an appearance by Jesus after the resurrection. Hence Matthew is both richer and longer. Rather than beginning as Mark does with the adult Jesus preaching and healing, he starts with Jesus' miraculous birth in Bethlehem. Jesus' "biography" according to Matthew can be divided into three major sections:

* Section 1: Family background, unusual birth, and special preparation (1–4).

* Section 2: Major thoughts, activities, and accomplishments in public career (5–25).

* Section 3: Suffering, death, and legacy (26–28).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from CONVERSATIONS WITH SCRIPTURE: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEWby JOHN Y. H. YIEH Copyright © 2012 by John Y. H. Yieh. Excerpted by permission of Morehouse Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0819224200
• ISBN 13: 9780819224200
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 148