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Soon after the new dynamic gospel story of 'Mark' arrived in Antioch of Syria, the Christians there reacted first with delight, but then with a certain amount of dismay. It was good to have everything about Jesus in 'one long story', but, it wasn't good enough! Mark's story was lacking in 'Jewishness'; it didn't emphasise how Jesus had fulfilled all the promises of God to Israel enshrined in the Scriptures; and so much of Jesus's teaching had been omitted! Now, in the aftermath of 70 CE, the non-Jesus Jews had banished the Christian Jews altogether from the synagogues, it was a vital necessity for the Christians to show them they were wrong. The battle between the two groups for ownership of the Jewish Scriptures deepened, and they hurled acrimonious accusations at each other, each blaming the other for God's 'punishment' in allowing the Romans to destroy the Temple, - in 70 CE. One side accused the Christians of breaking the Law about circumcision when they allowed Gentiles into their ranks, and the Christians blamed the Jews because they had rejected God's Messiah, Jesus.

The Christian community gathered its material together, and a scribe, now known as 'MATTHEW' compiled a new version of the gospel story, sometime in the mid-eighties. Matthew was highly skilled in the Jewish story art of 'Midrash' - the art of taking a story already well known, and retelling it differently to make the listeners think again. His story-telling is full of poetry, but his theology was different from that of either Paul, or Mark.

One of the first tasks tackled by Matthew was to answer the vicious taunts from 'them down the road', that Jesus had been illegitimate. This is possibly true. There are hints to that effect in Mk. 6.3, and in John 8.41, but Matthew set out to prove that this did not matter. He began, differently from Mark, by introducing Jesus as a descendant of Abraham, father of the Hebrew peoples, and launched into a typical Jewish genealogy, which few people bother to read, but which makes a valid contribution to the debate. Hidden among the lengthy list of men's names, is an unusual inclusion of four women! But what women! Tamar prostituted herself in Gen 38; Rahab of Jericho, a foreign prostitute, helped the Israelite spies before they captured that city; Ruth was the foreign Grandmother of no less a person than David, the King; and 'the wife of Uriah', Bathsheba, was the adulterous mother of King Solomon. So what was impossible about Mary? God had shown how some irregular births had indeed been used by Him, to further His plans for His people! Jesus was no exception!

Matthew then began his story of Jesus, with one of the two 'Birth Narratives' which we must disentangle from the other in Luke's gospel. Matthew's purpose was to tell a midrash story, to root Jesus firmly into the whole story of Israel, from its very beginning. Mary was formally betrothed to Joseph, but pregnant, 'from the Holy Spirit', (because God works through human activity). Joseph, knowing he was not responsible, was about to carry out the Law, as in Deut.22.23-27, and to divorce Mary from the betrothal contract, but then he had a dream! Remember the original Joseph, in Genesis 37! God used dreams to communicate with people, and Matthew's Joseph wakened, and married Mary. She was now respectable; Joseph formally 'adopted' the child by presiding over his circumcision, and naming him, Jesus; and Jesus now had the royal Davidic family heritage from which God's kingly Messiah would appear.

At last, Matthew could introduce the 'key' to his complete gospel. In quoting a prophecy from Isaiah, he introduces Jesus as Emmanuel, which, he explained, means GOD WITH US. It ends in ch 28 with Jesus's last words to his disciples, 'I am with you always, to the end of the age'. Everything now in Matthew's story was written to show that in Jesus God had been among His people, as the prophecies foretold.

There are no angels, nor shepherds in Matthew's story, but there is a 'star', and a visit by the 'wise men', magi, from the east. If there is 'history' in this, they are Zoroastrians from Iran who did indeed use gold, frankincense and myrrh in their own religious rites, but there is nothing astronomical about the star! Attempts to identify it with a conjunction of two planets in 7 BCE are mistaken, and miss completely the point of Matthew's story. Matthew once again rooted this in the Scriptures, Numbers 24.17, 'a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall come out of Israel'. This is royal talk, and points to Jesus as the King of Israel, (exactly the accusation later nailed above his Cross).

The 'magi' conjures up the Scriptures again, in Ps. 72.10, & 15: - The kings of Sheba will bring gifts including gold from Sheba, and fall down before him, (ie. before the God of Israel), - and in Is. 60.3, & 6, - nations will come to his light, and kings to the brightness of his dawn, on camels from Sheba, bringing gold and frankincense. Mention of Sheba conjures up memories of the Queen of Sheba's imperial state visit to King Solomon, (the most magnificent king in Israel's history), and suggests a meeting of 'kings'. Not only are the Scriptures prominent in this story, but the 'wise men' can also include all the sages of Israel's Wisdom tradition, which culminated in the later years of Judaism as The Law. Most of Jesus's teachings in this gospel are presented in the style of the great Wisdom teachers of Israel. In Matthew's story the 'wise men', apparently gentiles, fail to understand the Jewish Scriptures, and arrive at Herod's court in Jerusalem to find the new King. Bethlehem, the city of David, (Matthew was the first to identify this as the birthplace of Jesus), was found by recourse to the prophecy of Micah, and there, the magi found the child with Mary. In the 'battle of the kings', Herod lost! Thanks to the dreamer, Joseph, again, God's plan was not thwarted by Herod. Like the Joseph in Genesis, Matthew's Joseph was the means of 'saving' God's plans from disaster, by taking the child to Egypt. (Another midrashic tale). It also gave the opportunity to quote Hosea's prophecy, 'out of Egypt I will call my son' (Hos. 11.1).

And then the scene is set to present Jesus as the 'New Moses', saving God's people from slavery of sin, just as the original Moses had saved them from the slavery of Egypt. This is the vivid picture which Matthew paints of Jesus.

At last, Matthew is ready to incorporate Mark's gospel into his own. (Only 50 of the 665 verses in Mark have been omitted by Matthew! - (one of the reasons why Mark's gospel so quickly fell out of use). Mark's structure is in Matthew's order, the Baptism, Galilee, Caesarea Philippi, more teaching, and the passion story. Into this, however, Matthew has inserted his own theme of Jesus, the New Moses, and lots more of Jesus's sayings and parables, to the extent that he has lost the dynamic of the story as told by Mark.

The five big sections of Jesus's teachings are carefully arranged, reminiscently of the five books of the Mosaic Pentateuch, chs 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount, ch 10, the discourse on mission, Ch 13, a collection of teaching parables, and ch 18, instructions for the community, (Matthew''s community, but put into the mouth of Jesus who was still ''with them' in Antioch). Each of these blocks ends with the refrain, 'When Jesus had finished all these sayings ...' and each is followed by stories about Jesus, the Messiah in deed as well as in word. The fifth section in chs 24 -25, is about the future of the community - again in Antioch, and includes, (again put into the mouth of Jesus), the bitter denunciations of the 'hypocrites', - in the synagogue down the road! It is the saddest section in this gospel, and has given rise to much Anti-Semitism in the last two millennia. This fifth section ends, 'When Jesus had ended all these sayings ...', and leads into the passion story. For Matthew all this 'Teaching' was at the heart of the mission at Antioch, and he concluded his gospel with Jesus's command to go to the nations, (at last), and 'teach them to obey everything I have commanded you'. Matthew's Jesus was the great Teacher; their response was to be obedience.

There are other traces of Moses in Matthew's presentation of Jesus:

1. Moses had a miraculous birth story, of evading death from Pharaoh, as Jesus did from Herod.
2. Moses led the people through the Red Sea waters to a new life of freedom, as Jesus set the example of going through the waters of Baptism to a new life in Christ.
3. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness, always seen as a place of spiritual discernment and learning, as Jesus did for 40 days, during which he was 'tempted'.
4. Moses had faced three great crises while leading his people through the wilderness, - no food, (God provided the manna) - no water, (also provided, even though the were putting YHWH 'to the test'), -- and his people making a golden calf to worship, instead of YHWH; Jesus was likewise tempted to turn stones to bread; he did not jump off the pinnacle of the Temple, saying it is wrong to put God to the test, and when invited to embrace and worship Satan for political power, he quoted the Law, that it is wrong to worship any other god!
5. Moses organised the people into the twelve tribes, giving authority to the leaders to sit in judgment over their people; Jesus appointed his twelve disciples, and promised they would sit on thrones, apocalyptically, with authority to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
6. Moses went up Mt Sinai to receive the Law they were to obey; Jesus went up a mountain to preach the 'Sermon', of Laws to be obeyed. Jesus was, however, greater than Moses and on several issues spoke with greater authority, ..'in former times you have heard it said that ....., but I say unto you ...' and he gave the old Law greater depth.
7. Moses returned from Sinai with Ten commandments; Jesus gave us ten Beatitudes.
8. (lastly), Moses died on a mountain, looking ahead to the Promised Land', and giving his last instructions to his successor, Joshua; The Risen Jesus left his disciples, with their last instructions from him, on a mountain!

Other issues to note in Matthew's gospel include:

1. Jesus's mission is concentrated on the Jews all the time, until the end when the 'nations' are also included.
2. Matthew's emphasis on the ethical teaching of Jesus, and obedience of all Chrisians has led to a different theology from Paul's, and Mark's writings; it almost suggests that salvation is for those who obey, but Paul's dynamic theology states that Christ died on the Cross for sinners who then try to obey, in gratitude for what Christ has done for them.
3. Like the wise man who built his house on rock in the Sermon, Jesus appointed Peter, to be the stable rock, leader of the new community. (Peter was the well-loved and respected leader in Antioch when Paul had left in anger).
4. All the disciples are presented in more favourable light than in Mark; They are worthy by now, of greater respect!
5. The passion story shows more polemic against 'them down the road', in the development of 'Jew-das', the betrayer, who asked for money, and then broke the Law by hanging himself. (cp I Cor 15, Paul's account of the Resurrection appearances which report an appearance to the 'Twelve', - including Judas?)
6. Matthew's portrayal of Pilate is a whitewash compared to historical records describing him. Matthew is now, much more concerned to disassociate his Community from 'them down the road', and also to say to the Romans that Christians attach no blame for the death of Jesus to them, the Roman authorities.
7. The empty tomb tradition is elaborated from Mark's version, again to counter the ridicule and taunts of the Jews that the disciples themselves fabricated the story. In Jewish thought, there could be no separation of 'body' and 'soul', so had the tomb not been empty, there could not have been a resurrection!

Matthew's gospel is a Jewish gospel, but rejected by those Jews who clung to the Old Law. It was a 'middle of the road' gospel among the Christians, acceptable to both the more conservative Jewish Christians, and to the growing Church which did include some gentiles. It became beloved by all, perhaps because of the legacy of Peter in Antioch, and when the compilers of the New Testament went to work, it was readily seen as 'the' gospel of the Church'.

It reflects a new development in the life of the continuing Church, as it became independent of the synagogues, in that it spells out clearly the 'rules of life' for the community, as they strove to follow Jesus, both in his teachings, and as the Great Example for all.