The Gospel of Matthew is the earliest official account of Jesus the Nazareth.  Early reliable tradition linked it to Matthew, the tax collector, who was one of the twelve Apostles.In his book, Matthew emphasized that Jesus was the continuation and fulfillment of the whole biblical story about God in Israel.  Jesus was the Messiah from the line of David,  the new authoritative Rabbi like Moses.  Last but not least, Jesus was the incarnation of “God with us”. 

Structure

This book was designed with an introduction (Ch. 1-3) and a conclusion (Ch. 26-28), which functioned as a frame.  Within the frame, Matthew had five clear sections showing who Jesus is.  Each of these sections is concluded with a long block of Jesus’ teaching.  

Content

Ch. 1 to Ch. 3: Introduction

Matthew referred to the Old Testament frequently in the gospel he wrote.  In doing so, he linked Jesus’ story closely to the Old Testament story.  Matthew opened the book with the genealogy about Jesus, and highlighted that Jesus as the promised Messiah from the line of David and Abraham.  As God promised to Abraham and David, He would bring God’s blessings to the nations. From Jesus’ miraculous birth to his name (Immanuel), everything worked together to reveal that Jesus was not just a human.  He was God’s incarnation among us.  He was God with us.  He was the New Born King whom all nations worship, just as the wise men from the East worshipped Jesus at birth. 

Part 1 - Ch. 4 to Ch. 7: Announcing the Arrival of God’s Kingdom

God’s Kingdom is in essence God’s rescue operation for the whole world and the operation took place through Jesus.  Jesus came to the world to confront evil and darkness, and to restore God’s sovereignty over the world.  He created a new heavenly family, consisting of all who believe and follow Jesus. Matthew ended this section with one of the most significant teachings of Jesus - Sermon on the Mount (Ch. 6-7).  Jesus explained to his followers about what God’s Kingdom was all about, and how to live in this upside down Kingdom. 

Part 2 - Ch. 8 to Ch. 10: Jesus bringing God’s Kingdom into People’s Lives

This section is made up of nine stories. It showed how Jesus rescued and healed those who are sick, in danger or with physical challenges, with the grace and power of God’s Kingdom.  In between the healing stories, there were two stories of Jesus calling His disciples to follow Him. These stories taught us that, only by becoming Jesus’ disciple, people would truly experience His grace and power. Part 2 ends with Jesus sending out His disciple to spread the gospel.  Jesus taught them how to proclaim the gospel, and how to to react to people’s responses about the gospel. 

Part 3 - Ch. 11 to Ch. 13 Different Reactions toward God’s Kingdom

Part 3 is about people’s reactions after hearing the gospel.  Different people reacted differently. Some people, after witnessing Jesus’ miracles, were joyfully accepting that Jesus was the Messiah.  Others are more conservative and uncertain.  Most Israelite leaders, however, rejected the idea of Jesus being the promised Messiah. At the end of part 3, Jesus used parables to talk about God’s Kingdom and the different responses about God’s truth. Jesus told the audience that some would accept God’s Kingdom, while some others would reject.  No matter how people rejected, however, God’s Kingdom would still come and expand according to God’s will. 

Part 4 - Ch. 14 to Ch. 20: Two Different Expectations to Messiah

Jesus had fed a large crowd of people twice, among both the Jews and gentiles. Both miracles looked similar to how Moses fed the Israelites with manna in the wilderness.  After watching what Jesus did, some people became excited and were certain that Jesus was the Messiah. On the contrary, the expectation of Israelite leaders about the Messiah originated from Psalm 2 and Daniel 2.  In their mind, Messiah should be a king, who was going to deliver Israel from the Roman Empire.  To these leaders, Jesus was only a fake prophet and rabbi. Under such controversy, Jesus left and shared His identity only with the disciples. However, the disciples did not understand the connection between Jesus’ suffering and His victory.  At the end of Part 4,  Jesus once again taught about the upside-down Kingdom of God. The Kingdom treasured forgiveness over revenge,  and true wealth was gained by giving it away. Part 5 Ch. 21 to 25: The Crash between Two KingdomsIn Part 5, Jesus rode on a donkey and entered Jerusalem, while the crowds were hailing Him as the Messiah. Immediately, Jesus marched into the temple and created a massive disruption and brought the daily sacrifices to a halt.  In Jesus’ view, the temple was compromised by the hypocrisy of the  Israelite leaders.  Jesus was challenging their authorities. The leaders were deeply offended, and decided to kill Jesus.  Ch. 23 to 25 was Jesus’ final teaching before the crucifixion.  He criticized the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.  He prophesied His suffering, death and resurrection. He also prophesied how Jerusalem would revolt against Rome, and how the temple would be destroyed.  At this point, Jesus promised that He would return and build a Kingdom above all other kingdoms.  He also encouraged the disciples to continue spreading the Good News. The book came to consummation at the teaching of the risen Christ. He instructed the disciples to continue His mission,  and to bring people into God’s Kingdom through baptism and discipleship.