Matthew 1:1-17
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
The two lists are in reverse order and give a different set of names from David on wards. Compared with Luke.
The point for Matthew, is to show Jesus as the true King, descended from the royal line of David, as God had promised. He may be listing he heirs to the throne, while Luke list
Each of the four Gospels has its own special emphasis. Although Matthew comes first, it is the one that many readers today find most difficult. But for the first Christians it was most important to show that the new faith was rooted in Judaism, and this is what Matthew, with all its quotations from the Jewish Bible, does. The Gospel is a 'bridge', connecting Jesus with what has gone before.
The author a Jewish Christian writing for a church mainly composed of Jewish Christians, concentrates his skills on presenting Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah - the Christ predicted in the Old Testament. He carefully records what Jesus said about his kingdom, a radically different concept from the idea of Messiah current in his day, when most Jews expected a political leader who would free them from Roman domination.
Matthew concentrates on Jesus' teaching, careful structuring his material to alternate narrative and reaching, which he arranges in five main sections.
Chapter 5-7 Sermon on the Mount: discipleship. 10: mission. 13: Jesus' parables 18: his disciples relationships 24-25: the future.
How?
Jesus is the Lord, Jesus is the Messiah.
No comments:
Post a Comment