The Gospel of Matthew is found in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. There are four Gospel writers –Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—all telling the story of the life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel story, or “Good News” is a story of love, forgiveness, and redemption. It proclaims Jesus as Son of God and Redeemer of Humankind. This Gospel story serves as the cornerstone of Christian and Catholic thought. Further, we can say that this Gospel story of the Jewish man Jesus Christ is one structural lynchpin of Western Civilization, certainly of the founding of the United States of America.
The Gospel of Matthew was written specifically for Christians who had converted from Judaism and Matthew most probably originally wrote this Gospel in ‘the Hebrew tongue’—Aramaic.
The central piece of the Gospel story is Jesus’ life (the Incarnation), his teachings, Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Matthew’s specific point, as he is writing his Gospel among the Jews for the Jews, is to demonstrate that the Old Testament Scriptures were fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus.
Thursday, September 30: Gospel of Matthew 1-5
Choose 1 of the following and write 250-300 words
BOOK; The Human Journey Seminars Great Books in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition CIT 201 Sacred Heart University
ISBN-13; 978-1-50669-608-9
ISBN-10; 1-50669-608-2
What do you notice about the overall structure of this Gospel? Can you think about what this structure means/is saying about this Gospel story?
What is significant about the Genealogy in chapter 1, v 1-24? What does this whole section tell us about Jesus? About Jesus as Christ?
What theme(s) emerge in chapter2 and what do those references back to the Old Testament signify?
In chapter 3 why are the Pharisees and Sadducees singled out? What do they represent? What is significant about Jesus’ baptism?
What do you make of chapter 4, v 1-11, The Temptation of Jesus? What is the meaning of this story—the Devil tempting Jesus?
What is the ‘new law’ represented in chapter 5 v 1-11 The Sermon on the Mount. What do the Beatitudes tell us about how to live? How are the Beatitudes different from the Ten Commandments? Look at verse 20.
On page 51, what do you think of Teaching About Anger v 21-26 and below on page 51, Teaching About Retaliation and Love of Enemies. Flip over to page 60 Judging Others v 1-5 and then go to page 124 The Greatest Commandment v34-40. What is this man Jesus challenging us to? Is this challenge relevant in our world today? How is any of what Jesus teaches related to Plato or Aristotle? How is it related to the Old Testament? How are any of his teachings related to our world today?
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