Reading the Gospel of Matthew for God’s Mission
“The yearnings of Jesus are the yearnings of love for people just as they are in all their poverty and brokenness, with their masks and systems of defense, in all their beauty, too,” writes Jean Vanier. The stories of Jesus are powerful. They carry a beauty that can dismantle our deepest stubbornness. Life is full of distractions, and so in those busiest of times, it’s essential to come back to the Jesus stories we find in the gospels. The Gospel of Matthew has a unique way of shaping our sense of mission in the world because in it we find Jesus.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme,” so goes the old saying. This idea runs throughout Matthew. The author is frequently quoting or alluding to stories of the Old Testament. Jesus doesn’t just fall out of the sky. This story goes all the way back to God’s creation, and in addition, it connects all the way to our story.
Our story right now is the story of the Church. And the story of the Church is the story of Jesus. The story of Jesus is the story of Israel. And the story of Israel is the story of the God who made the world and is rescuing it from Sin and Death.
Matthew and the Jesus who teaches
When statements get repeated, it’s often a writer’s way of highlighting—bold and underline—something super important we better not miss. In Matthew, that statement is related to Jesus “teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and sickness.” It’s in chapter 4, as the story gets started in earnest, and shows up again in chapter 9.
If you have a red-letter Bible, you’ll notice that Jesus talks a lot in the Gospel of Matthew. In fact, Matthew contains three extended monologues of Jesus. One way we might understand these is as the core fundamentals of what Jesus taught wherever he went. These are found in chapters 5–7 (commonly known as “The Sermon on the Mount”), chapter 13 (a series of parables), and chapters 23–25 (about the end of everything and judgment of all things corrupt).
The Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel is a wise teacher. Unique among the Gospels, Matthew uses the language “kingdom of heaven.” Everywhere Jesus goes, he is illustrating that heaven isn’t somewhere we go when we die, but rather something growing right in front of us, if we have eyes to see it. Of all the things Jesus is recorded as saying, the Sermon on the Mount represents the very essentials of what discipleship in the way of Jesus looks like.
Matthew and the Jesus who announces gospel
From the very outset, we’re told that Jesus is the Messiah. That word “Messiah” (in Greek, “Christos”) shows up five times in the first couple chapters in Matthew. As much as we contemporary people associate that word with Jesus who forgives sins and saves the world, in the first-century world Jesus was the last person expected to fit the job description of “Messiah.” It’s a word that conjured images of King David, the warrior who united the kingdom and ushered in the golden era of Jewish peace and prosperity.
This is a word we might read as “The Good King.” For a people like Israel under the oppressive rule of Rome and Caesar, the word “Messiah” expressed all the deepest longings of God turning the tables. The Good King was expected the conquer God’s enemies, cleanse the temple, and reinstitute God’s law.
The Good News, that is, the gospel, is that Jesus is indeed the Good King Messiah—though in quite a different way than expected. When Jesus enters Jerusalem in chapter 21, it’s a ticker-tape parade of a politician. And rather than brandishing a sword against the Roman authorities, he becomes a victim of violence. The cross is Jesus’ embodiment of his non-violent ethic in the Sermon on the Mount. This is what the Good King looks like. The enemy vanquished by the Good King is Sin and Death. The temple that’s cleansed is God’s people, and the law reinstituted is God’s law of love.
Matthew and the Jesus who heals
Everywhere that Jesus goes, the curse of Sin and Death unravels. Human bodies here-and-now matter to God. One marker of God’s kingdom, as we see in the Gospel of Matthew, is that broken and sick bodies are healed. Words related to “heal” appear 16 times in this book. Healing is a primary item on Jesus’ agenda. It’s no hook or gimmick or novel piece of salesmanship. It’s simply what Jesus does.
The curse of Death unravels in the presence of Jesus. All the deepest goodness of Life (with a capital “L”) is contagious when Jesus is near. Matthew’s transition from the Sermon on the Mount is then a series of healings. A man with leprosy is cleansed. The servant of a Roman officer is restored. Peter’s sick mother-in-law is healed.
This is the restoration of God’s good creation. In chapter 12, when Pharisees confront Jesus with the question about the legality of healing on the Sabbath, Jesus not only heals the man right in front of them, “he healed all the sick among them.” Talk about making a statement.
Matthew and the God who is with us
Prepositions are everything. And the word “with” is one of the most significant in the story. One crucial linchpin to the Christian story is the plot point where God enters the stage as a human being. This is the Incarnation. The Gospel of John eloquently puts it this way: “The Word became human and made his home among us.”
Matthew takes a slightly different approach in talking about the Incarnation, though every bit as poetic. Matthew frames the story with this idea at the very beginning and the very end. It begins with a family tree, which functions a bit like the “previously on…” recap of your favorite serial TV show. It’s an artistic way of telling the entire Old Testament story in just a few lines. Surprisingly, it includes more than a few unsavory characters, as well as several women, which isn’t normal for ancient genealogies. And then the angel makes the bold declaration to Joseph that into this incredible mess of humanity, this child of Mary’s will be called Immanuel, “God Is WITH Us.”
That God is with his people is a theme of the story stretching all the way back to Exodus with the pillar of fire and the cloud that led Israel into the desert. It’s key to understanding the place of the tabernacle and later the temple in the place of Israel’s story. It’s what is lost and hoped for during the exile. And God is once again with his people once again in the person of Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew closes with Jesus saying, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Because of the mystical reality of God, we are never alone.
Matthew and the God who sends us
Along with the Sermon on the Mount and the parable of the sheep and the goats, one of the most popular passages unique to Matthew is what has come to be called “The Great Commission:” “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”
It’s a common passage used in talking about the missionary vocation of God’s people. And so, it’s important to read it in the context of Matthew. The Sermon on the Mount and the parable of the sheep and goats, among so many other teachings, directly connect to this call for discipleship and evangelism. They are all a piece of a single tapestry.
As you read the book of Matthew, allow yourself to be drawn into all the goodness of the man Jesus who teaches, announces God’s good news, and heals every sickness of the world. Likewise, may you find yourself sent teaching, preaching, and healing just as Jesus sent those first disciples.
If you want to go deeper into the Gospel of Matthew, be sure to check out:
The Gospel of Matthew for Everyone: Volume 1 and Volume 2 by N.T. Wright
The Gospel of Matthew by Craig Keener
There are so many resources related just the Sermon on the Mount. Just a few of them include The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, and Scot McKnight’s Story of God Commentary.