The Gospel of Matthew
images from top left:
1)Jesus' Geneology
2)Joseph sees the angel in a dream
3)The Magi visit the infant Jesus
4)The Holy Family flees to Egypt
5)Herod's soldiers massacre the infants at Bethlehem
6)John the Baptist preaches in the desert of Judea
7)Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist
8)Jesus finds new disciples
9)Jesus is tempted by the devil
10)Jesus preaches in the sermon on the Mount
11)Jesus drives out a demon
12)Jesus gives sight to the blind
13)The Pharisees debate with Jesus over his teachings
14)Jesus feeds five thousand people
15)Jesus walks on water during a storm
16)Jesus reveals himself in the Transfiguration
17)Jesus rides in on Passion Sunday
18)Jesus celebrates his last supper
19)Jesus is questioned by Pilate
20)Jesus is crucified
21)Jesus is raised to life
22)Jesus commissions is disciples on top of a mountain
To see the images sources go back to the other Web Assignment Section one here.
The Gospel of Matthew serves as a link between the Old and New Testaments. He starts out describing how the line of David includes Jesus Christ. Matthew wanted to show to his Jewish Christian audience that Jesus was the culmination of God's participation in the revelation of creation and of salvation history. Matthew claims that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. His Gospel is strongly anti-Pharisee and anti-Scribe, which can be interpreted anti-Semitic, or hostile towards Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group. Around the time that Matthew wrote his Gospel, the Romans had won a war over the Jews. The Jews lost the sacred city of Jerusalem and their sacred Temple. The Jews who fought the Romans felt they were fighting for God, while the Jewish Christians didn't participate because of their non-violent policies. The Pharisees excommunicated the Jewish Christians for their lack of support in the armed conflict. Matthew communicates to his audience that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and the divine plan. In his Gospel, Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection were written first. After that, the miracles, parables, and teachings of Jesus were written in varied order. His infancy narratives profess Jesus as the Incarnation of God, or "God made flesh." This means he is united in some way with everyone through his Incarnation. We can learn three things from Jesus' infancy narratives. God loves is so much that he became one of us to show us how to live each other as God loves us. God became one of us to lead us back to God. And through the mystery of the incarnation, humanity and divinity are joined together. The temptation narrative reminded Matthew's audience of their history in the desert. They realized that trusting God instead of turning from God was the only way they would complete their journey. We are in a similar situation. Like Christ, we may find ourselves in a situation where sin is very tempting, but we need to realize we may be too weak to fight off temptation. The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five major teachings given by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. In it, he teaches about the Beatitudes. They express how God expects people to live in relationship with one another and are an expression of the Ten Commandments. They yield a more communal understanding of the law of love that promotes attitudes of justice and compassion than the ten commandments. They contain the secret for happiness and announce that holiness is found not only in keeping the law but also in having loving relationships. We must live the countercultural values of Jesus in our lives. For the Jews, God's name is too sacred to say, so Matthew never used it in his Gospel. He referred to the Kingdom of God as the Kingdom of Heaven. In the Judgement of Nations passage, Jesus tells us that we must not only change our inner selves but also work to change the injustices in the world. As Christians, we believe that God has absolute ownership over everything.