Matthew Book Club

New to this blog?

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I am no longer making posts, but if you would like to use this blog as a reading guide to the Gospel of Matthew, feel free. Just begin with the posts in August, 2010. I will be glad to answer questions or engage in dialogue if you wish to use the com box.

Now that you have read through Matthew's Gospel....

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At right are two different versions of Matthew's Gospel.

One is a remnant from a very early papyrus copy, still in the original Greek.

The other is a medieval illumination, with a translation into Latin.

You have read the Gospel in English, either from a printed book, or perhaps online, with the assistance of a blog.

In all these forms, in season and out of season, the Gospel endures.

As you conclude this reflection on the Gospel, ask yourself the following questions:

How have I been drawn closer to the person of Jesus?

How has my faith in who Jesus is grow or changed?

How has my understanding of the Gospel, as it is proclaimed in the liturgy, deepened?

How has my understanding of how the Gospel was written, and how it has been passed down us, changed or deepened?

Chapter Twenty Eight - Quick Notes and Facts

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Matthew’s gospel is the only one where Jesus first meets the apostles in Galilee, rather than in Jerusalem.

The women go back to the tomb to finish the burial rites, which they could not perform on Friday due to the coming of the Sabbath.

Chapter Twenty Eight - Question 4

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What is the connection between Jesus’ resurrection and his commission to the apostles? What do these “marching orders” mean for the church?

Chapter Twenty Eight - Question 3

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How does Matthew counter the argument that the body had been moved?

Chapter Twenty Eight - Question 2

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How does the earthquake here function in the narrative?

Chapter Twenty Eight - Question 1

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Compare this account of the Resurrection to the other three (Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24, John 20 and 21). How are they alike and how do they differ?

Chapter Twenty Seven - Quick Notes and Facts

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The church has made it very clear in the last 50 years that the actions of any Jews in Jesus' death do not reflect on the whole Jewish people. (The Romans crucified him, but we have always let the Italians off the hook.)
The idea of "Messiah" was connected to political and military kingship. This was what threatened the Roman authorities and led to Jesus' sentence.

INRI abbreviated over some crucifixes stands for Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum - Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. It is ironic, to us and in the mind of the writer of the Gospel, as we know of Jesus' true identity and role. It also reminds us that Jesus was convicted and sentenced as an insurrectionist.
Pilate's reputation among the Romans was as a fierce and ruthless governor. In fact, he may have been seen to be too cruel and therefore ineffective in subduing a conquered people.

Chapter Twenty Seven - Question 5

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How does Matthew set up the account of the Resurrection in this part of the narrative?

Chapter Twenty Seven - Question 4

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Matthew records two earthquakes (although both seem to be symbolic, not actually on the Richter scale.) What point does this earthquake make?

Chapter Twenty Seven - Question 3

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As you read of the crucifixion, spend some time with the scene. What thoughts and feelings are evoked in you?

Chapter Twenty Seven - Question 2

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"Golgotha" was called the "place of the skull" because according to tradition Adam (the owner of the first skull) had been buried there. What symbolism does this hold for the readers of this gospel?

Chapter Twenty Seven - Question 1

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As you read this, look for all the ways that Matthew's account makes Pilate the reluctant executioner.

Chapter Twenty Six - Quick Notes and Facts

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Passover is a feast celebrated on the lunar calendar. (Which is why Easter is, as well.) It is one of the three great pilgrimage feasts in Judaism. While the Temple still stood in Jerusalem, it brought Jews together from all over Europe, Asia and Africa. The Hebrew word is Pesach and from this comes our word Paschal.
The anointing at Bethany is not done by Mary Magdalene, although this woman and Mary are often confused, especially in art and legend.
The Passover meal in Exodus both pre-figures and celebrates the covenant between God and the people of Israel at Sinai. Jesus' language in the institution of the Eucharist follows in this tradition - both pre-figuring and commemorating his sacrifice on the Cross, the New Covenant.

Lambs were sacrificed at the Temple and eaten for the Passover. Christian tradition, once the Temple had been destroyed, and reflecting on Jesus' death at the Passover, named Jesus as the ultimate Paschal lamb.
If the Jewish authorities had wanted to kill Jesus for blasphemy, they could have. (See the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7). Written in a Roman world, the accounts of the Roman condemnation of Jesus (for insurrection) seem to be skewed to not lay too much blame at the feet of the Romans.

Chapter Twenty Six - Question 3

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As you read the accounts of the betrayal, arrest and trials of Jesus, what emotions are evoked in you? Imagine yourself as a character in one of these scenes. Who do you find yourself to be - and why?

Chapter Twenty Six - Question 2

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We have two thousand years of the experience of the Eucharist and Eucharistic theology to draw upon. Try to put that all aside and ask yourself, What impact did the Last Supper have on the disciples? On the early church?

Chapter Twenty Six - Question 1

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Look over the story of the anointing at Bethany. How does this story fit into the whole Passion narrative? What themes can you identify which reflect the Gospel up to this point and pull us into the telling of the Passion?

Chapter Twenty Five - Quick Notes and Facts

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We get our English word "talent" from the coin mentioned in this parable. The interpretation that one should not waste one's gifts and abilities became so common that the word for the coin came to mean what we call a ‘talent.'

Chapter Twenty Five

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Read each one of these parables in light of what you have heard in the gospel.

How does the parable reflect themes that you have seen earlier in the gospel?

How does the parable reflect the tone of judgement and justice seen in chapters 23 and 24?

What do you think was the message of the parable for Matthew's community?

What is the message of the parable for each of us, and for the church of the present day?

Chapter Twenty Four - Quick Notes and Facts

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The most earthshaking (almost literally so) event in Judaism between the Exile in 580 BC and the Holocaust was the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. It forced Judaism to completely realign its worship and practice without the practice of Temple sacrifice. Because of the perceived necessity of the Temple to Jewish religious life, the absence of it called into question the viability of the faith itself. Read Matthew’s commentary on the Temple, written about ten years after its destruction in this light.

“The desolating abomination” recalled the statue of Zeus set up in the Temple during the Greek occupation of Jerusalem. The rededication of the Temple, after the Maccabean revolt forms the basis for the feast of Hanukkah. These events took place about 160-170 years before Jesus' birth.

One of the most significant crises in the early church was the delay of the return of the Lord. We expect it to be ages until he comes. They were mystified it had taken more than a decade or two. (And at the point Matthew's Gospel was written, it had been about fifty years.)

This relief from the Victory Arch of Titus shows the looting of the Jerusalem Temple. Titus later became a Roman Emperor himself. The Arch still stands in Rome, helping to bring this long ago event into our present.

Chapter Twenty Four - Question 3

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What is the message in this chapter for those who are impatient with the delay of the Lord’s return? What is the message for those who are too eager to see it? What can each of these approaches teach us in this age?

Chapter Twenty Four - Question 2

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We live in a time of uncertainty, to some extent, and with the possibility of greater destruction than the first century even imagined. What effect does this have on our faith? How does it affect how we see the world?

Chapter Twenty Four - Question 1

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Why did the disciples so badly want to know the outcome? What was happening in their world that made this important? Are we patient or impatient about the coming of the Lord? Or do we not care at all?

Chapter Twenty Three - Quick Notes and Facts

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Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing the Sh'ma (Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one....) and the Ten Commandments. They are bound to one's arm and forehead when praying, according to the commandment in Deuteronomy 6.

Tassels are worn by observant Jews, peaking out from underneath their regular clothes. They are attached to a tallit, a prayer garment. Both the tallit and the kippah (head covering) are reminders during the day that one is under God's authority and called to pray to God.

Matthew's gospel was written about ten years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, so Jesus' words here must have had an eerie quality in Matthew's community.

Chapter Twenty Three - Question 3

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Some scholars think that Matthew was reflecting the conflict between Jesus and his contemporaries, but using it to fashion a commentary upon the leadership of the church in his own day. What can you imagine was going on in that church, if this is true? How should this chapter be heard by the church leadership of our own day?

Chapter Twenty Three - Question 2

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What is the bottom line of what Jesus is preaching here? How do you think that Matthew's community heard it? How do we?

Chapter Twenty Three - Question 1

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Many scholars consider this chapter to be the centerpiece of Matthew's gospel. What stance is Jesus making vis á vis the religious leaders of his time? What are the consequences for Jesus?

And so, back to Jesus, later in his career

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After reading chapters one and two, you might have noticed that the Nativity account in Matthew is not 'cozy.' There is the threat to Mary, when Joseph thinks she has committed adultery. There is the need to flee to Egypt (and, according to Matthew's account), find a new home in Nazareth.

With those crises in mind, read slowly through chapter 23. Keep in mind that "scribes and Pharisees" does not mean "all Jews." Jesus is contending with the religious leaders of his day, but he is doing it from within the Jewish tradition, not from the outside.

However, many of the issues raised here did become contentious in the early church - particularly as it welcomed the Gentiles to faith in Christ. The heart of the question is what is the real fulfillment of the Law - outside appearance or inner conversion?

Chapter Two - Quick Notes and Facts

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Note that we only guess at three magi because they bring three gifts. Later tradition has given them names (Balthasar, Caspar and Melchior) and ethnicities (one from Europe, one from Asia and one from Africa.)

A great deal of ink has been spilled trying to connect the ‘star’ with a known astronomical phenonmenon. It could have been any of a number of events, or none of them, and merely a device in the way the author tells the story.

The gifts are all symbols which tell us of the child’s significance and fate: gold is a gift fit for a king; franckincense for worship of a god; myrrh was a common extract used in preparing the dead. The song, “We Three Kings” has a verse that explains each one.

There is no mention of this massacre of children in any other contemporary source.

It seems, in Matthew’s narrative, that they lived in Bethlehem before the birth and then re-settled in Nazareth when they returned from Egypt.

Chapter Two - Question 5

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Who is more important in how this story is told? Mary or Joseph?

Chapter Two - Question 4

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There is a theme of disruption in this story (escape from murder, being a refugee). Why do we see the Christ in all this trouble? Wouldn’t it make more sense to gloss over any difficulties and prove that God is always more powerful than any trouble?

Chapter Two - Question 3

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The absolutely most important event for the people of Israel was their rescue from slavery in Egypt by the hand of God. Why do you think that the author would want us to know the Jesus, too, was brought from Egypt?

Chapter Two - Question 2

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There is a great deal of parallelism between the way this story is told and what we hear of Moses in Exodus. Compare the “massacre of the innocents” in Exodus 1 with this. What are the parallel conclusions that the gospel writer wants to leave us with?

Chapter Two - Question 1

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Like chapter 1, the story told here is different from Luke’s Christmas story. Compare this chapter to Luke 2. Any similarities? How do they differ?

Epiphany - and flight

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As we mark the Christmas season, we hear from this chapter a great deal. The Feast of the Holy Family, celebrated first, tells of the flight into Egypt. The Feast of the Epiphany tells of the visit of the magi.

Both of these, told together, set up the balance between the Jewish and Gentile themes. Jesus, like the Hebrew people before him, takes refuge in Egypt, and then returns. The magi represent all the nations who come to recognize him.

As you read and reflect on this chapter, see the themes take shape and continue to draw the lines between them and the other chapters you have read.

Chapter One - Quick Notes and Facts

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The geneology in Matthew puts Jesus squarely in the Jewish tradition. It begins with Abraham, the patriarch and first believer in the one God. There are fourteen patriarchs, fourteen kings of Israel (putting Jesus in the line of King David) and fourteen “unknowns.”

There are also four women mentioned other than Mary. All have something “wrong” with them. They include a deceiver in the name of justice (Tamar in Genesis 38), a prostitute (Rahab in Joshua 2), a foreigner (Ruth), and an adulteress, (Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah in 2 Samuel 11).

Betrothed couples were allowed in Jewish culture to have sexual relations before the formal wedding. Joseph knew, however, that since he could not be the father of Mary’s child, to denounce her would make her liable to death by stoning, or at least, disgrace.

Compare the story of Joseph in Genesis to this Joseph. There seems to be a deliberate attempt by the author to evoke the story of the first Joseph. His dreams lead to the story of the Exodus, and the deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The dream of the New Testament Joseph also points to salvation. (The baby's name is announced, and is significant, for one thing.)

The name “Jesus” is really the Hebrew “Joshua.” (Jesus is the Latin equivalent.) It would have been pronounced Y’shua. It means "God saves".

Chapter One - Question 2

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Matthew and Luke tell a different story of the angel’s message about Jesus. You might like to read Luke 1 and compare the two stories. How do they differ?

Chapter One - Question 4

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On a strictly human level (and he was just a guy), what do you think Joseph’s emotions were?

Chapter One - Question 3

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What is Matthew trying to communicate about this baby? Write down all the things that you can that Matthew thinks it is important for us to know.

Chapter One - Question 1

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We tend to think of “begats” as pretty boring pieces of literature. However, you might have fun doing a little investigation:

Compare this list with Luke’s in Luke 3:23 and following. How are they the same? How do they differ?
Look up the stories of the “wrong” women in Matthew’s list. Why do you think that Matthew took pains to include them?

Now, for the Nativity

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When this blog began, I started with chapter three, omitting the Infancy Narrative.

Of course, in the fourth week of Advent, this is a great time to return to chapter one (which we also heard read in church on Sunday.)

Matthew sets up the themes of the gospel in the way that he relates this narrative. We've explored those themes in the last months: the Jewish character of both the gospel and its probable first readers/hearers; the relevance of this Jewish Messiah for all of humanity; the true nature of the Jewish law and its fulfillment.

As you read chapters one and two in these two weeks, keep those themes in mind. "Connect the dots" between what you read in the Infancy Narrative and the ways that those themes are developed in the subsequent chapters of the gospel.

Chapter Twenty Two - Quick Notes and Facts

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Very observant Jews would have refrained from carrying Roman coins, because with the image of the Emperor on them, they were idolatrous and sins against the first commandment. (They sometimes defaced the image of the Emperor on the coin, as well.) When Jesus asks to see a coin, this hyper-observant Jew readily produces a ‘sinful’ one, so Jesus is able to show up the man’s own hypocrisy.

Sadducees did not believe in life after death. They were actually more in line with ancient Jewish tradition on this matter than the Pharisees. A belief in the afterlife grew slowly in Judaism over the millennia. Before this idea took hold, Jews believed that dead was dead. (For example, see Psalm 6:5 or Psalm 115:17.

In this passage Jesus quotes God in his appearance to Moses at Sinai. (See Exodus 3.)

The question about the “greatest commandment” is in the tradition of scholarly disputation. Jesus quotes two passages from the Law, Deuteronomy and Leviticus, to form his reply.

Jesus’ question about David’s son seems to be less about proving a point about the Messiah than showing his own powers of disputation.

Chapter Twenty Two - Question 4

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The “Greatest Commandment” was rooted in the Jewish tradition. Jesus says nothing new here. In our modern context, how seriously do we take this commandment? Do we give it lip service or pay attention to living it?

Chapter Twenty Two - Question 3

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The crowds were astonished by Jesus’ teaching on the Resurrection. What does life after death, and the promise of the resurrection of the dead mean to you? How does it factor into your life of faith? (i.e. How much attention do you give to it?)

Chapter Twenty Two - Question 2

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The parable of the wedding feast parallels the one of the tenants in the vineyard in the last chapter. What do you think of the tone of this parable? How did Matthew’s listeners hear it? How should we?

Chapter Twenty Two - Question 1

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This chapter is one of disputation and debate. What is Jesus’ stance toward the religious leadership? What is he trying to call them to? How do they resist?

Chapter Twenty One - Quick Notes and Facts

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Hebrew poetry uses parallelism, which is common in an oral tradition, since the imagery has a better chance of sticking in your consciousness. The quotation from the ‘prophet’ here uses that technique. Strangely, Matthew, coming from a Jewish background, doesn’t recognize that the same thing is being said twice. So, he gives us the odd image of Jesus riding both the ass and the colt, sort of like a circus trick.

This particular quotation is really a pastiche of two passages, one from Isaiah 62 and the other from Zechariah 9.

The Temple in Jesus’ time had three courtyards - one for men, one for women and one for Gentiles. The Temple authorities got a ‘cut’ from the merchants, who set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles. However, it made it impossible for non-Jews to worship there. This is what Jesus objected to.

The story of the cursing of the fig tree makes more sense in its original place in Mark. (Here it just looks like Jesus had a tantrum.) Read Mark 11:12-25 and see how this story is a commentary on what is happening at the Temple.

Chapter Twenty One - Question 5

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Jesus quotes Psalm 118 in this section. (The stone which the builders rejected....) Read all of Psalm 118, which we sing every Easter. Does the mood and feel of this psalm lend texture or perspective to this parable?

Chapter Twenty One - Question 4

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What point is Jesus trying to make in the parable of the tenants in the vineyard? What significance do you think it had for the people of Matthew’s time? What significance does it have for us?

Chapter Twenty One - Question 3

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What is the point that Jesus is trying to make in the parable of the two sons? What point can we take away from it?

Chapter Twenty One - Question 2

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Jesus’ anger is featured (at a heightened pitch, even) in the accounts of the cleansing of the Temple and the cursing of the fig tree. How does this anger strike you? Does it square with your image of Jesus, or challenge your image of him?

Chapter Twenty One - Question 1

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The entry into Jerusalem (commemorated every year on Passion - Palm - Sunday) has intimations of the coming disaster. How do you see it played out in Matthew’s account?

Chapter Twenty - Quick Notes and Facts

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The theme of blindness and the dense disciples is taken from Mark. You can compare this section to chapters 8 to 10 in Mark’s gospel.

Chapter Twenty - Question 5

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What is the reaction of the healed men? What is the message of the gospel writer to us?

Chapter Twenty - Question 4

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Compare the reaction of the disciples to Jesus’ prediction of the Passion and the blind men. Who recognizes whom and what does that mean for the disciples and for us?

Chapter Twenty - Question 3

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Jesus talks about having to ‘drink of the cup’ in his rebuke to the brothers. What is he referring to? What would this symbolism have meant to the early church? What does it mean to us?

Chapter Twenty - Question 2

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The mother of James and John asks for something quite natural - a good place for her sons. (“It is not what you know, it is who you know....”) Jesus tries to make a point. What implications do his point have for our accommodation to the prevailing culture?

Chapter Twenty - Question 1

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A contract for wages is a legal agreement. What is Jesus saying about our ‘contract’ with God? How does it strike you? Who do you side with in this dispute?

Chapter Nineteen - Quick Notes and Facts

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In the Mosaic law, divorce is permitted. In ancient Judaism, only the husband could initiate a divorce. Women had no way to contest a divorce. Unless her family of birth took her back, she would have no support. Husbands controlled the children; a divorced woman had no access to them.

The ‘Matthean exception’ is unique to this account of Jesus’ teaching on divorce. The Greek word is porneia, from which we get the word pornography. But scholars don’t know from the context exactly what the word means here.

It means "uncleanness", but is the meaning "unlawful degrees of relationship", or "adultery" or some other sort of perverse behavior? Much ink has been spilled, but we don't know what the original author of the gospel intended in using this word. (Remember that porneia is a Greek word, while Jesus spoke in Aramaic. So, the specific meaning could easily have been lost in translation.)

The inclusion of a teaching on celibacy here is very much outside the mainstream of Jewish thought. (The first command in the Scriptures is to “be fruitful and multiply” so the expectation was that everyone would eventually marry.) However, there were Jewish sects, like the Essenes, who practiced sexual continence. Also, in the ancient world, castration was a common practice, especially of slaves. Jews found this completely abhorrent, but Jesus’ contemporaries would have undoubtedly have met or seen eunuchs.

Chapter Nineteen - Question 5

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Is the advice given to the Rich Young Man intended for anyone else? (Like us?)

Chapter Nineteen - Question 4

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Do you see exaggeration and hyperbole in this chapter? If so, what is an exaggerated point and what should we take as a literal guide for living?

Chapter Nineteen - Question 3

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Twice in this chapter Jesus mentions the renunciation of marriage and family. Why does this have a place in the Kingdom?

Chapter Nineteen - Question 2

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Look at the question of divorce from the perspective of 'what is just?' Does this change how you view this text?

Chapter Nineteen - Question 1

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What are your reactions in reading the teaching on marriage and divorce?

Chapter Eighteen - Quick Notes and Facts

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Gehenna was the Jerusalem garbage dump, and fires burned there almost continuously to get rid of the refuse. No one chose to live there, since it had been the site of Canaanite human sacrifices (usually of young children.) That reluctance to live there continued into the twentieth century. However, in modern Jerusalem, it is now a residential neighborhood.

Observant Jews tried to avoid all conversation with Gentiles and public sinners like tax collectors. They would certainly avoid touching them and never eat with them.

The number seven is one signifying completion, not a quota. Jesus’ multiplication of that number is a kind of hyperbole, and a reflection of God’s endless mercy.

Being sold into slavery was a very common way to settle debts.

Chapter Eighteen - Question 3

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What are the implications for disciples of Jesus’ teaching on temptation, sin and forgiveness?

Chapter Eighteen - Question 2

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Read through this chapter and note all the times that Jesus uses exaggeration to make his point. What were the reasons for this? What do you think the effects are?

Chapter Eighteen - Question 1

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Jesus makes some radical statements about ‘citizenship’ in the kingdom. Pair this section with the one right before it in chapter 17. What is Jesus trying to say about God’s vision for us?

Chapter Seventeen - Quick Notes and Facts

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Elijah left the earth in a fiery chariot, according to 2 Kings 2:11, rather than just dying. In legend, Elijah is supposed to come back again before the Messiah returns. For this reason, a place is always set for Elijah a Passover seders, in hope that the Messiah is to come quickly.

Both Moses and Elijah received revelations from God on holy mountains.

Matthew's accounts of the predictions of Jesus' Passion are met with grief. In Mark, the original account, it seems that the disciples never quite ‘get' what Jesus is trying to tell them.

Chapter Seventeen - Question 3

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Look at the scene where Jesus cures the boy the disciples could not. What went wrong with their approach?

Chapter Seventeen - Question 4

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See if you can spot the political sarcasm in the story of the temple tax. What point is Jesus trying to make about their ‘status' in the Kingdom?

Chapter Seventeen - Question 2

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What are the parallels and differences between the account of the Transfiguration and the appearances of the Risen Lord?

Chapter Seventeen - Question 1

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Put yourself into the scene of the Transfiguration. What would you have seen, heard, felt, thought?

Chapter Sixteen - Quick Notes and Facts

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"Adultery" is a motif used often to describe the faithlessness of the people and their attraction to other gods. At various points, when the people stray from the God of Israel, God's reaction is like a spurned spouse. (See Exodus 32.)

Yeast was seen as a corrupting agent. While it was handy to make bread rise, it is still bacteria (although they didn't know it) and a yeast starter that went bad was a green, moldy mess. During the Passover, Jews eat nothing with yeast. This is to remember the unleavened bread of the Exodus, but also is a sign of a pure people, uncorrupted by foreign elements.

Elijah and Jeremiah were both important prophets. Elijah was expected to return to earth, since in tradition he didn't die, but left the earth in a fiery chariot.

The ‘commission to Peter' in verse 18 is the primary foundation for the organization of the Catholic church. This verse, in Latin, (Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portæ inferi non prævalebunt adversus eam) is inscribed in the dome of St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican.

Chapter Sixteen - Question 3

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Jesus gives Peter a particular status in his commission to him, ...on this rock I will build my church.

What significance does this have for the church? For you?

Chapter Sixteen - Question 2

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The next section is borrowed from Mark and is the central piece of Mark's gospel. As you read it ask yourself:

What does Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God mean to him? What does it mean to you?

Jesus answers that to follow him means to follow him to the cross. How does this strike the disciples? How does it strike you?

What do you think ...those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it means to us as 21st century Americans?

Chapter Sixteen - Question 1

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What is Jesus' approach to "signs and wonders?" How do you think that miracles fit into his ministry? (Did he work miracles to prove anything?)

Chapter Fifteen - Quick Notes and Facts

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The Pharisees (or at least not all of the Pharisees) were not explicit enemies of Jesus. However, they were obviously critical of his approach. Much of their arguing sounds very hostile to us. However, in the cultural context, disputation is the way that teaching on the Law was refined. (Even in modern yeshivas, it sounds like a huge fight is going on, but that is just the way that learning takes place.)

In the Law, there are strict dietary laws and rituals about eating. (That is why the washing is mentioned.) Various foods are not kosher and can never by eaten, such as pork and shellfish. Also, there are rules such as the prohibition of eating milk and meat in the same meal.

The Canaanites were the original inhabitants of Palestine. (We also know them as the Phoencians and Palestine is a Latin name for the "Land of the Phoenicians".) Abraham was called by God to leave his ancestral land (modern Iraq) and settle in the land of Canaan. The Hebrews returned to Canaan when they escaped slavery in Egypt. Even though this was the Promised Land, the original population didn't disappear and continued to live right next to the Jews.

The feeding miracle is such an important story that it reappears. A repetition like this is called a "doublet."

Chapter Fifteen - Question 4

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How is the feeding miracle connected to the healing as well?

Chapter Fifteen - Question 3

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Jesus climbs another mountain, only this time he doesn't teach, but heals. What is the connection between this story and the Sermon on the Mount?

Chapter Fifteen - Question 2

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The incident with the Canaanite woman is important on several levels.

What would the significance of this story be to Gentile members in Matthew's community?
What does this story tell us about the role of women and Jesus' relationship to them?

Chapter Fifteen - Question 1

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Jesus argues with the Pharisees about the Law. What point is he trying to make?

Chapter Fourteen - Quick Notes and Facts

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Herod had married his brother's wife, and John preached against this, saying that it was indecent. The daughter, Salome, has gone down in history as a seductress, but that is tradition and not straight out of this passage. Also, in legend, her performance is sometimes called the ‘dance of the seven veils.'
The feeding miracle is recorded (although the timing and the details differ) in all four of the gospels. It is one of the most enduring and remembered stories.
In the early Christian church, loaves obviously had a connection to the Eucharist. Fish were a common symbol for Christ, since (icthys) the word for ‘fish' in Greek is an acronym that stands for ‘Jesus Christ, son of God, Savior.'

Chapter Fourteen - Question 6

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The chapter closes with another round of healing. What is essential to any healing, according to the gospel? How does this bear itself out in those who encounter Jesus?

Chapter Fourteen - Question 5

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Have you ever felt like Peter - ready to take a risk and then be in way over your head? What is Jesus' answer to this?

Chapter Fourteen - Question 4

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Jesus' command over the waters is demonstrated again. What is the symbolic value of this story?

Chapter Fourteen - Question 3

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Jesus goes off to pray. What does his retreat from people to do this show to us?

Chapter Fourteen - Question 2

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Look at the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. First, what is Jesus' simplest solution to the problem? Second, what is the writer of the gospel trying to explicitly remind us of?

Chapter Fourteen - Question 1

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Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist come back to life. Why would this have put a chill in his bones?

Chapter Thirteen - Quick Notes and Facts

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The numbers in the parable of the sower are exaggerations. The estimate of a good yield in those days was about ten-fold.

Mustard seeds are indeed small, and the bushes lush, but not quite the ‘greatest of all.' Exaggeration was one way to keep interest when telling the story.

The brothers and sisters of Jesus mentioned by name here are a conundrum for Catholic tradition. Catholic doctrine teaches that Mary remained a virgin always, and so never had other children. The explanations for this are that 1) "brother and sister" meant more than siblings, but also cousins or 2) Joseph had children from a first marriage, and then was widowed before marrying Mary. (This is represented in many medieval and Renaissance paintings which show Joseph as an old man.)

Chapter Thirteen - Question 4

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Jesus spent his ministry inviting people into God's Reign. What attraction does it have for you? Is it precious enough, like the pearl of great price, to risk the rest of what you possess?

Chapter Thirteen - Question 3

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People in the synagogue in Nazareth don't seem all that impressed with Jesus? What holds them back?

Chapter Thirteen - Question 2

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Why do you think that Jesus spoke in parables?

Chapter Thirteen - Question 1

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The parables in this chapter all tell us of aspects of the Kingdom of God. Read through them and note for each

What is the Kingdom of God like? What aspect is being presented?
How can we recognize the Kingdom?
How can we explain or deal with those who ‘get it wrong' or who don't get it at all?

Chapter Twelve - Quick Notes and Facts

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In the Jewish law, it was strictly prohibited to do any kind of work on the Sabbath. Picking grain definitely fell into that category. However to relieve suffering is permitted, and anything to save a life is commanded.

The bread of the Presence was special bread placed each week in the sanctuary of the Temple.

"I desire mercy and not sacrifice" is a paraphrase of Hosea 6:6. Hosea was a prophet from the north who preached in eighth century before Jesus. The prophetic tradition often critiqued the Jerusalem Temple, accusing the worshipers of not obeying the true spirit of the Law, but resorting to expensive sacrifices thinking that this would appease God.

Jesus worshiped at the Temple, but he criticized the hypocrisy of some who also worshiped there. The prophets did, as well.

Jonah preached (reluctantly) to pagans, who listened to his word about God. The "Queen of the South" was the Queen of Sheba, who came to be one of Solomon's wives.

Chapter Twelve - Question 6

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Once again the chapter ends with a ‘bottom line' statement about discipleship. What is the criterion for discipleship that Jesus is looking for? What does it mean for us?

Chapter Twelve - Question 5

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Why does Jesus invoke the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:1-10) and the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1-13) in contrast to the people ‘in this generation?' What is Jesus looking for instead?

Chapter Twelve - Question 4

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What does Jesus mean about ‘blasphemy against the Holy Spirit'?

Chapter Twelve - Question 3

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The Pharisees accuse Jesus of exorcizing demons because he himself is using demonic power. Why do you think that they made this accusation? What is Jesus' answer to their charges?

Chapter Twelve - Question 2

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What is the connection between Jesus' work of healing and the quote from Isaiah? How does one illuminate the other?