Summary Chapter 42 New Jerome Biblical commentary
By Jorge Cespedes
The final version of this gospel was copied from a previous manuscript; it is not probable that the author was an original witness. The final works seem to be a combination of an original Gospel with other works. The root of all this tradition makes it possible that the Apostle Matthew is the actual author; this situation is suggested by Papias. Reading the beginnings of this Gospel it is clear that the author was a leader and teacher in the Church. The final version of the Gospel as it is known today can be the product of a school of biblical studies. And it is suggested by some scholars that this work of a communitarian redaction was controlled by one leader that in this case is the evangelist.
It is suggested that the gospel was intended for a Christian-gentile audience, and that it was written after the break down of Jewish-Christian traditions. But even when the redaction process could take place outside Jewish traditions, it is very possible that many of the members of this community though of itself as Jewish. But what the majority of scholars agree on is that this Gospel has a very strong Jewish-gentile focus. And it places a very important emphasis on the evangelization of the Gentiles.
It is very probable that this Gospel was composed after Mark, but before 110 AD. Many persons agree on the date of 80 or 90. It is possible that the place of composition is the environment of Judea, even when others environments as Syria had been suggested, this possibility need further investigations.
The author is faithful to traditions but does not hesitate to present new perspectives of this material. There are very different intentions for writing this gospel some of these can be the instruction of Christians, liturgical functions or just the elaboration of material material for the missionary work. Narrations and discourses are the principal categories involved in this Gospel. At this time was, the famous polemic of Jania was developed, this consist of the struggles of saving he Pharisaic tradition and on the other hand, the Christian community trying to develop its own identity. This situation can be the source of the clear polemic in this Gospel. The Gospel has five big Discourses: 1- the Sermon on the Mount (5-7) the missionary discoursed (10) the parable discourse (13) the community discourse (18) the Apocalyptic judgment discourse (23-25). It is very probable that in some way Mark’s intention was to provide a of first hand material to the leaders of the Early Church, and he developed this material inside the living history of Jesus Christ.
Two principal ideas are presented in this Gospel; 1- Jesus is the messiah 2-the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And both ideas have an intrinsic connection. From the beginning of the Gospel it is possible to note these topics. Jesus is the son of God and God with us. This is revealed in climactic moments as at the Baptism (3: 17) and the confession of Peter (16: 16). The confession of Jesus as the Son of Man has a tremendous importance in the development of this Gospel; this has its culmination in chapter 28. The kingdom of Heaven is the core of the Christian preaching. All the discourses center around this idea. The Kingdom of heaven is the fulfillment of the promise of Salvation by God to human beings. Justice, peace and joy are three of the characteristics of this Kingdom. Matthew put an special emphasis on the legal aspects of the preaching of Jesus who comes to affirm the Torah and to give the authentic interpretation of this law.
Matthew shows a special concern for the development of the Early Church and in the redaction of his Gospel makes abundant uses of quotations from the Old Testament. Chapter 18 has been seen as a series of guidelines for leaders of the Church. In some way he delineates hierarchy in the Church when He presents Peter as the head (10:2) this gospel is very realistic about the problems and the temptations that any member of the Church can face, even when human members of the Church are not perfect, this church is called to a mission that goes to all the world.
To Matthew, Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant presented in the Old Testament. For this reason he uses very frequently the expression: “this happens to fulfill what was spoken by…” These citations are present frequently in the narrations of the childhood of Jesus. To Matthew Jesus came not to destroy the hopes of the Jewish people, but he is the fulfillment of the promise. When tensions are evident in the development of this Gospel, some scholars propose as a solution a scheme of the history of Salvation: Abraham – Jesus - The Church. But these different explanations as just possible solutions to the tensions that are found in this Gospel and this will always remain.
Different outlines of this Gospel had been proposed, one make a division in three parts. This tries to follow structure of Mark very closely but for this reason, can be vague. Another schema is in chaps. In some way this is presented as an effort to complement the Gospel of Mark. Perhaps the most unified outline is presented by H. Lohr, it uses the concept of inclusion, this suggests that in this Gospel are narratives such as sermons built up around a central section and each one in this section has seven parables.