After that lead in I found it hard to follow that up. So here is gotquestions.org in their lead opening in a fine article from their website. 

“Matthew in the Bible was one of Jesus’ disciples. Matthew’s Gospel, along with the Gospels of Luke, John, and Mark, is an inspired—and thus accurate and true—history of the life of Christ. His Gospel is the longest of the four, and some scholars believe it was the first to be written.”

Matthew’s footprint is a big one in our study of the Gospel being the first written and the longest of the four gospels. Matthew deals with a lot of firsts. It seems like all the other books in the New Testament were always disputed as to the authorship. The tradition holds that this book was written by Matthew. As we’ve already written, it was the first one and it was the longest but there’s one other distinction that makes it stand out. Matthew was a tax collector and most tax collectors had a skill that very few other people had. Tax collectors were expected to be able to write in a form of shorthand, which essentially meant that Matthew could record a person’s words as they spoke, word for word and that enhances the possibility that because of that in chapters five through seven, the Sermon On The Mount is most likely almost certainly a perfect recording of that great message. Matthew wrote this book in the early period of the church probably  AD 55–65. This was a particularly interesting time in the early church because most of your Christians were Jewish converts so this focus of Matthew on Jewish perspective in this gospel is understandable. One other point and we’ve probably missed a few more but other point was that Jesus chose Matthew knowing that he was a tax collector. This particular fact helps us to understand that Jesus came for all people. We must remember that Matthew being a tax collector was one of the most despised people in that society at that time. Yeah, Jesus, sees in Matthew the possibility of good. Jesus accepts Matthew as he is, That should be a lesson for all of us to learn from. Consider these things as we move forward:

Matthews gospel puts an emphasis on Jesus as the Messiah, Matthew is very positive in his presentation of the Messiah. It is Jesus… he is the one who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and establishes God’s kingdom.

Going back and looking at some things again we see that this gospel of Matthew, which is considered the most Jewish of the four gospels demonstrates Jesus’s Jewish lineage and highlighting his fulfillment of Jewish law and prophecy. 

We’ve already mentioned the sermon on the mount and how it is most likely that what we are reading in Matthews account is the real thing Word for Word. The Sermon on the Mount where Jesus delivers teachings on ethics, righteousness, and the nature of God’s kingdom. 

The gospel begins with the genealogy, tracing Jesus’s lineage back to Abraham and David emphasizing his messianic credentials according to most biblical scholars. 

More important is that Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is Emmanuel, meaning “God with us,” pointing to Matthews, unwavering belief and faith of the divine nature of Jesus Christ. 

The gospel of Matthew includes accounts of Jesus, performing miracles, and healing the sick and demonstrating his power and compassion. We find here in this gospel of Matthew, there is a frequent use of the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” instead of “Kingdom of God”, a distinction that would have resonated with a Jewish audience according to some biblical scholars. 

Matthew closes his gospel appropriately with the “Great Commission.” this, of course is where Jesus instructs his followers to go and make disciples of all nations.

Life is Good

jk