CHAPTER 1
Here we go – New Testament time! The introductory notes tell me that this is the most widely
quoted and generally best regarded of the gospels, which is why it is placed
first. It was also long thought to be
the first one written, but modern scholarship now think that it came after
Mark.
Attributed to the apostle Matthew, the general sense is that
this can’t be true. Aside from the fact
that the odds are the apostles were illiterate; this one seems to rely on
author sources instead of his own memories.
(And you’d expect the actual apostle to rely more on his own
memories). It leans heavily on Mark and
the lost Q-source, a group of sayings that are common to Matthew and Luke. Mark is believed to have been written after
the destruction of the Temple, and this one is maybe a decade after that, after
Mark had already been disseminated widely enough to become a source for a new
gospel.
Anyhow, the story begins with Christ’s lineage, going all
the way back to Abraham. There is some
attempted paralleling. It’s 14
generations from Abraham to David. 14
more from David to the Babylonian Captivity.
And 14 more from that to Christ.
(Note: that means the average kid was born when his dad was 40, which is
hard to believe for the era, but no matter). The 14-generations thing is
clearly done for effect. In fact, it
takes 14 generations in the middle group because Matthew left out several kings
mentioned in Kings I and Kings II. So
that’s an error, but it’s one done intentionally for thematic purposes. The point is every 14 generations a big
change happens – and Christ is the latest big change.
Oh, by the way, the entire genealogy actually makes no sense
if you think about it. This genealogy,
as most do in that era, traces the family back through the father. Fun fact: Christ isn’t really the son of his
father, Joseph. Christ is a miracle
birth born to Virgin Mary. Therefore
Christ isn’t actually related to anyone listed above like this.
My first thought was – well, our notion of Christ comes from
a combination of the four gospels.
Maybe this one talks about his ancestry, and then the other gospels say
Mary was a virgin. But no. Right after this ancestry, Matthew point
black tells us that Mary was a virgin and the child conceived through the Holy
Spirit. We also get the Old Testament
Bible quote that explains the virgin birth: Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, the virgin
shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” Well, that’s what it says here, but looking
back, my Bible has the following for Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself
will give you a sign, the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall
name him Emmanuel.” They got the
Emmanuel name right – but Christ’s name isn’t Emmanuel, but Jesus. (Actually, it’s Joshua, Jesus is just a
Greek form of Jesus).
Anyhow, Jesus is born.
CHAPTER 2
Here they are – the Magi!
The footnotes tell me this word first referred to Persian priests, but
then came to mean anyone with more than human knowledge. These guys are astrologers.
And we get the story of the star of Bethlehem. My footnotes helpfully inform me that back
in the day there was a belief that a new star was created whenever a king was
born. That explains why King Herod is
so freaked out when the Magi (his astrologers) give him the news. Oh, if you’re wondering, Herod ruled from 37
to 4 BC. That puts a time stamp on this
story.
The story itself is silly.
The Magi go out looking for the star, and it guides them to a house in
Bethlehem. Oh come on! Ever tried to follow a star? They’re not moving. If it is moving, that should really be what
gets your attention, not its brightness.
(And this is all overlooking the non-science that is astrology). Well, they enter the house. No, not a manger, nothing like that. Joseph
and Mary have themselves a nice house.
I guess that’ll be a different gospel.
Well, the Magi give them gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Magi are supposed to report back to Herod, but think
better of it. Herod is infuriated, and
he figures the future king has been born in Bethlehem, and orders all male
children under two years of age to be killed.
For the record: there is no evidence of any such order occurring outside
Matthew. The order wouldn’t make much sense.
Why would Herod be so frightened?
Even if he believed in astrology and all that, he’s still got time. People can believe in astrology and still
assume it won’t 100% dictate the future.
(Clearly Herod thinks that’s the case, or it would be futile to kill all
the young male babies). But it sure
makes Herod look horrible, and he already had a horrible reputation when this
book was written). Also, it’s utterly pointless. Christ never is a king on earth anyway.
Well, the angels tell Joseph and Mary to vamos to Egypt, and
so they do. And all those kids left
behind in Bethlehem who are killed?
Man, they are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They’re acceptable losses. Yikes.
Joseph and Mary stay in Egypt until Herod dies, and then go to Nazareth.
This, Matthew tells us, fulfills an old prophecy that the Messiah “shall be
called a Nazorean.”
What to make of this story?
A few things. First, it
announces that Christ is a big deal even when he’s a newborn. More importantly, it tries to show Christ as
the fulfillment of a bunch of prophecies.
The prophet Micah said that the messiah would come from Bethlehem. I missed that when I read the Book of Micah,
but looking back – yep, there it is: at the top of Chapter 5. So you need Christ to be born in
Bethlehem. Problem: Christ was widely
enough known in his own town as a lad from Nazareth that you need to explain
how someone born in Bethlehem ended up in Nazareth. This story, with the
murdered babies, accomplishes that.
There was something in Jeremiah about the hope from the future coming
from Egypt, so this story has Christ’s family spend his earliest years in
Egypt. As for this prophecy of the
Nazorean, well, my footnotes tell me that nowhere in the Old Testament does
Nazareth rate a mention. I thought I
saw it in Isaiah, but apparently not.
This might just show our author’s imperfect knowledge of the old
scripture. Oops.
CHAPTER 3
Enter John the Baptist.
He’s supposed to be Christ’s cousin, but I don’t see that anywhere
here. That must come from a different gospel. Here, John the Baptist is just a preacher in
the desert, a latter day Elijah. The
Elijah comparison is made pretty clear, as John lives in the desert eating
locusts and honey; just like Elijah did during the Kings I famine.
John has a basic message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand!” Two things about
that. First, this involves maybe the
most famous mistranslation in the Vulgate.
The Vulgate was the Catholic Bible written in Latin by St. Jerome that
was the common Bible for 1,000 years.
But Jerome got a few things wrong, including this one. He didn’t have John say “Repent!” but “Do
penance!” This isn’t just a minor issue, as the Catholic Church traditionally
made good works central to going to heaven instead of faith. Doing penance is works-based; repenting is
faith-based. The mistranslation was a
core pillar of support for Catholic theology – and then just before the
Reformation they learned it was a mistranslation. Oops.
Second, John is calling for the end of the world as we know
it – and calling for it soon. Yeah, get
used to that. Plenty more where that
came from in the Bible.
John helps introduce us to some key themes. First, this is where we first meet the
Pharisees and Sadducees. John helpfully
calls them “You brood of vipers!” so right away we know that they’re bad
guys. Nice to get that cleared up so
quickly.
Oh, and John helps gear us up for the coming of Christ. He tells his audience, “I am baptizing you
with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than
I. I am not worthy to carry his
sandals. He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and fire.” So look out world
– Christ is coming. That’s actually a
scary way to introduce Christ, if you think about it. He is mighty, he will baptize you with fire (!) This is after his birth was so important
that the stars themselves took notice.
I tell you what, so far this doesn’t sound like a guy who will end up on
a cross. Yeah, we all know how the
story ends, but right now he sounds like an ass kicker extraordinaire.
Well, Christ asks John to baptize him, and John thinks that
is entirely backwards. “I need to be
baptized by you,” John says, “yet you are coming to me?” Yes, in fact, he is. So John does it and God announces to all
that this is his son, who is proud of.
Yeah, a lot of parents make a scene at their kid’s ceremonial rite of
passage.
CHAPTER 4
Now that Christ has been claimed by God, it’s time for Satan
to take a crack at him. Satan leads him
into the desert for 40 days, where Christ fasts. (Why does he fast? That’s
not clear – he just does. Why does he
let Satan lead him out there? It’s not
made clear. I guess Christ wants to
hear what Satan will say. He’s willing
to negotiate – even with the devil).
Satan gives Christ three temptations. First, he tells the fasting Christ to turn
stones into bread. No dice. “One does not live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Nice line.
Next, Satan tells Christ to prove he’s God’s son. Jump off a building, and let angels save
him. OK – uh, Satan? This one sucks. Whose idea of a temptation is to tell someone to jump off a
building? Christ doesn’t bite, saying
one shouldn’t test God. Trust him,
instead.
Finally, Satan offers Christ a lot of land. OK, this is a good one, Satan. Much better than that last lousy
temptation. But this temptation is also
rejected. “Get away, Satan!” Well, he’s given Satan a fair hearing, and
decided against him. Now Christ will
stay safely away from him from this time onward.
Instead, he begins his ministry. Apparently while Christ was in the desert, the authorities
arrested John the Baptist. It happened
offstage and we never really hear why, but regardless, John is now off the
scene. Christ goes off to the
shore. Matthew tries to provide some
cover for Jesus. He says he’s doing it
to help fulfill a prophecy by Isaiah that a light will arise from the coastline,
but this reads like a weak post-facto justification. The guy Christ had gone around with (and who it appears inspired
Christ to begin his work) has just gone to jail and Christ skips town. I can see why Matthew would want to claim
that it’s to fulfill a prophecy, but it looks like Christ is laying low.
He doesn’t lay low long, and begins his ministry shows just
how much John the Baptist influenced him.
His first words are, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.” That’s John’s line.
Now it’s Jesus to put together his Christ posse. He picks up four right here. He gets brothers “Simon who is called
Peter.” My, what a confusing way we
have for referring to St. Peter. Also,
he takes Pete’s brother, Andrew. They
are fishermen and Christ gets them with the famous line, “Come after me, and I
will make you fishers of men.” He then
picks up another pair of brothers, James and John. They are also fishermen.
We’re told, “they left their boat and their father and followed
him.” Aw, that’s a shame – they
abandoned their father. Well, four down
and eight to go.
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