All signs point to Jesus: A journey through the book of Matthew, week 1

 

Matthew Week 1, part 1 -Introduction 

If you are new to reading the Bible and don’t know where to start, a good place would be in the  gospel (one of the first four books of the New Testament) or something short and fairly easy to read like the book James. There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting in Genesis because I believe a knowledge of Old Testament is necessary to fully understand the New Testament. 

I was recently asked by someone who was new to reading the Bible, ‘where in the Bible does it start talking about Jesus?’  I love this question because although one can say it starts in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) , Jesus is actually mentioned in the Old Testament.   There are about 100 prophecies about Jesus in the  Old Testament that have already been  fulfilled.  Speaking of prophecies did you know that more prophecies of the Bible have already been fulfilled than those that are YET to be fulfilled? Just the one of many facts supporting the reliability of the Bible.  If you are questioning the reliability  of the bible by the way, there are many books and documents out there that support the reliability.  However, this is not the purpose of this particular discussion here.  This comes from a person who believes the Bible to be the absolute truth. 

 I will be using the Bible study method from the book, 'Women of the Word', by Jen Wilkin.   If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I highly recommend its and men, even though its directed to women, I think you can still get something out of it. 

Now I will attempt to give a  crash course in that method in the next few paragraphs here. 

When studying the Bible, one must remember it is first and foremost a book about God.  It is not a self-help book.  It is not a place to find the answers to all of your life dilemmas.  To quote Jen Wilkin directly, ‘ It is not a book about self discovery. It s a book about God discovery’.  God wants to make himself known through his word.  In learning about God’s character, we will eventually get to a place about self discovery, but that is not the focus.  

We learn about God with our minds and to quote Jen again, 'we can not love what we do not know'.  God created us with thinking minds and He intends for us to use them to love him.  God commands us to love with all our heart, soul, strength AND our minds.  God intends for us to study our bible, renewing your mind and thus transforming your heart. 

With that in mind, we need to approach it humbly and carefully.  Always pray before  you begin reading Bible keeping your mind free from distractions and open to his teaching.  Also keep in mind, the bible might not always be clear and it is not your job to automatically ‘get it’ the first time you read.    I think that’s what deters people from reading the Bible a lot.  Its hard to understand, written in a language used many years ago.  And that’s ok.  That’s why its good to get in the practice of asking many questions as you read.  Jen Wilken’s study suggests getting a loose leaf copy of the Bible passage, one you don’t mind marking up and get in the habit of underlining, highlighting, writing your questions in the margins.  Do this first, and resist the urge to go to any commentaries before you write down your own interpretations. 

As you read through the book of Matthew, I invite you to do this first, before reading on to my devotional/blog or blog devotional, blogvotional?  Anyway, try to practice this method as you read the book of Matthew with me. 

Now, back to our Matthew study, Its good to start any bible study by first getting some context  of the passage you are about to read.  So for this first week we will be getting some perspective first. 

When getting perspective of a particular passage (book or chapter) you are reading one must ask the following questions: 

Who wrote it?

When was it written?

To whom was it written? 

In what style was it written?

Why was it written?

Who? 

If you watched the series, the Chosen , you can appreciate the creative liberty they’ve taken portraying the characters of the gospel while still maintaining true to the gospel message.  If you haven’t watched it, SPOILER ALERT.  Yes, its possible to imagine Matthew as an obsessive compulsive tax collector with Asperger's who had an estranged relationship with his parents because of the occupation he had chosen.  We don’t know this for sure, but its fun to imagine this.  What we do know is  Matthew was an apostle of Jesus.  We know he was in his inner circle personally knew and interacted him.  He was also a tax collector, civil servant of Rome AND devout Jew.  As a tax collector, he probably was shunned from Jews. He was also called Levi. He preached for fifteen years in Palestine then elsewhere.   This knowledge gives us the picture of  the gospel coming from a person of faith.  So we can believe what we read and have this sense of understanding of its significance. 

When?

Most resources say Matthew was one of the first written gospels written in AD 50-70.    Let's see, if Jesus began his ministry around age 30, this would be written  20-40 years from the time these events occurred.  How many things you can recall in your life 20-40 years ago.  I can  recall some memories especially the ones that were emotionally significant like times I shared with my mom.  Again, this brings some validity to the narration of events we are about to read. 

To whom was it written? 

This was written to Jews of that day who believed in Jesus as Messiah or Jews contemplating trusting in Jesus. 

In what style was it written? 

First, let us consider a few literary styles found in Scripture.    

Historical narrative:  a factual retelling of events. 

Parables/story telling:  stories with carefully crafted characters and settings to teach a lesson or illustrate a point. 

Law codes: this can be hard to understand since they are written in a time so far removed from us but it is  important to remember that law codes were recorded as guidelines for governing authorities , not for individuals to administer justice privately 

Poetry: uses symbols and metaphors to paint a picture. 

Wisdom literature: uses language to communicate principles

Prophecy: also uses language in symbolic ways. 

Mathew is organized into 5 teaching or wisdom sections (chapters 5-7) , the rest are mostly narrative including the first 4 chapters.  

Why was it written? 

-to write an account of the good news of Christ. 

-to write an account of the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

-to present Jesus as the sovereign King. 

Now I invite you to read chapter 1 and consider these questions. 

What is the significance of Genealogy of Jesus starting with  Abraham  rather than starting with Adam? 

Count the number of generations from Abraham to David  and  David to the Babylonian exile. 

What is significant by this number of generations? 

What is meant by deportation to Babylon (Matthew 1:11)?

What is notable about the women who are name in Jesus’ genealogy? 

What can we learn from Joseph?

What is the significance of Joseph not ‘knowing’ Mary until after the birth of Jesus (verse 25)?

Why do people claim that Mary remained a virgin all her life? 

Can we pray to Mary and have her petition God on our behalf? 

What do we learn about Jesus in the first chapter?

What attribute of God is displayed in this first chapter of Matthew?