The

1
The Gospels
2
THE WORD

• The Church has always venerated the Scriptures as
  she venerates the Lords Body.
• She never ceases to present to the faithful the
  bread of life,
• taken from the one table of Gods Word and
  Christs Body. (Dei Verbum 21 in the CCC 103)

3
Todays Presentations

• In order to discover the sacred authors
  intention, the reader must take into account the
  conditions of their time and culture,
• the literary genres in use at that time,
• and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating
  then current.
• For the fact is that truth is differently
  presented and expressed in the various types of
  historical writing, in prophetical and poetical
  texts, and in other forms of literary expression
  (DV12 12 in CCC 110).

4
The First Century in thirds

• Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus 0-33 AD
• Paul 50
• Destruction of Mark 70
  Matthew/ John 100
• Jerusalam 66-70
  Luke 80-90

5
The Gospels as Developing Tradition

• Matthew and Luke developed Mark
• The also used and adapted Q (Quelle)
• They each supplemented what they had received
  from tradition of Mark with tradition of their
  own.
• Seeing the Gospels as a developing tradition
  creates three pillars of understanding the
  Gospels

6
FIRST PILLAR

• Gospels are memory and testimony including
• Memory and Witness
• Memory and Proclamation
• Memory and Conviction
• Authors are EVANGELISTS proclaimed the news
  about Jesus in and for their time and place.
• News means updating, tells us what Jesus then
  means now.

7
SECOND PILLAR

• There is a pre-Easter and post-Easter Jesus
• Jesus followers knew him in a different way
  after his death from before his death
• The pre-Easter Jesus is a flesh and blood human
  being
• The disciples knew the post-Easter Jesus in a
  different way
• Paul knew him as a brilliant light and a voice

8
THIRD PILLAR

• Historical-metaphorical way of reading the
  Gospels.
• Combine memory and metaphor.
• Jesus remembered and Jesus as metaphor
• Metaphors and metaphorical narratives can be
  truthful, truth-filled, independently of their
  literal factuality. My love is a red, red rose.
• More than literal, more than factual, a surplus
  of meaning.

9
Metaphorical Language in Gospels

• Jesus is the Light of the World.
• Jesus is the Bread of Life.
• Jesus is the Gate and the Way.
• You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
• Why do you see the speck in your neighbours eye
  but do not notice the log in your own.
• The truth of the parables of Jesus do not depend
  on them being factually true.

10
Metaphoric Memory

• In Marks Gospel, Jesus journey from Galilee to
  Jerusalem is at the centre of his Gospel.
• This journey connects the public activity in
  Galilee and the final week in Jerusalem.
• Mark gives journey a more-than-literal meaning.
• In Mark, it is a story of what it means to follow
  Jesus, closely linked to Marks themes of the
  way and discipleship.
• TO BE A DISCIPLE MEANS TO FOLLOW JESUS ON THE WAY
  THAT LEADS TO JERUSALEM.

11
Purely Metaphorical Narratives

• The Wedding at Cana Jesus changES over a
  hundred gallons of water into fine wine.
• It is the inaugural story of Jesus ministry in
  Johns Gospel.
• On the third day...
• Wedding is a rich religious metaphor in Judaism
  and early Christianity.
• Festive celebrations.
• The story of Jesus is about a wedding. A wedding
  at which the wine never runs out.

12
SUMMARY PICTURE OF GOSPELS
13
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
14
CALL OF MATTEHW
15
Setting for Matthews Gospel

• 70 Destruction of
• Jerusalem 75-80
• 
  
• Jews of Jamnia Jews
  who followed Jesus
• 
  excommunicated 85
  

16
Matthews Solution

• Divided salvation history into three periods
• All the Prophets and the Law up to the Baptist
• Public Ministry of Jesus
• Mission to all Nations

17
GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

• The Gospel of Matthew was necessitated by a
  severe crisis in the authors church.
• Stringently Jewish in origins, it had experienced
  the trauma of separation from the synagogue and a
  great influx of Gentiles into its ranks.
• This shift in its Christian existence demanded a
  new interpretation of old traditions, a new way
  of looking at
• Christ and his church
• The Old Testament
• Salvation history
• Discipleship

18
What did this accomplish?

• Narrow exclusivist Jewish-Christian statements
  could be retained by being referred to the unique
  period of Jesus public ministry.
• Matthew viewed his own time as under the final,
  universal mandate (Mt 2816-20).
• The church, not Judaism is the true people of God
  because it is the people formed by Gods Son,
  Jesus Christ who fulfilled of the Law and the
  prophets.

19
HOW CAN WE DESCRIBE MATTHEW?

• Luke is a verbal portrait-painter
• Matthew is a verbal architect.

20
Central Theme of Matthew

• Pattern of .
• DISCONTINUITY
• Within a large framework of
• CONTINUITY

21
Public Ministry is Welded into Five Books

• 1 2 3 4
  5
• Prologue (1-2)
  Death and
• 
  Resurrection
  (26-28)

• Each book has a narrative
• followed by a discourse.
• Five Great Discourses
• Sermon on the Mount
• Missionary Discourse
• Parables
• Church-life
• Discourse on the end

22
Outline of Matthews Gospel

• The who and where of Jesus (11-223)
• N The beginning of Jesus activity (31-425)
• D The Sermon on the Mount (51-729)
• N Jesus powerful deeds (81-938)
• D Missionary discourse (101-42)
• N The rejection of Jesus (111-1250)
• D Parables of the Kingdom (131-53)
• N Miracles, controversies, and the Cross
  (1354-1727)
• D Advice to a divided community (181-35)
• N Opposition to Jesus (191-2339)
• D The coming of the kingdom (241-2546)
• Jesus death and resurrection (261-2820)

23
Jesus is a Teacher in Matthew

• The five pillars of Matthews Gospel are a new
  Pentateuch or Torah.
• The divisions of each pillar are marked by a
  repetition of When Jesus had finished these
  sayings (728, 111, 1353, 191, 261).
• Torah is more accurately translated as teaching
  rather than law.
• Jesus begins his teaching, like Moses on Mount
  Sinai, with a Sermon on the Mount (51). Jesus
  is a new Moses.
• One third of Matthews Gospel consists of the
  teaching of Jesus.

24
True and False Jews

• Who were the legitimate successors of Israels
  history?
• Which were the true Jews, and which the false
  ones?
• The language in Matthew seems quite harsh about
  the false Jews.
• Think of it less as anti-Semitism and more like a
  family quarrel.

25
Fulfilment

• Matthew is certain that the Judaism of the rabbis
  had taken a wrong turn by turning in on itself,
  instead of opening to the Roman world.
• Matthew presents Jesus as the fulfilment of the
  Hebrew Bible.
• Matthew uses fulfilment 14 times, Luke 4 times,
  Mark 1 time.
• Jesus is the true successor of Moses, the only
  authoritative teacher.
• He taught with authority, unlike the Scribes
  and Pharisees (729).

26
The Church Gospel

• The rival group at Jamnia set up guidelines,
  rules and regulations which became Judaism as we
  know it today. They call themselves the
  Synagogue.
• Matthew offered guidelines, rules and regulations
  for the followers of the Way. Matthew calls his
  group The Church.
• The Good Shepherd in Luke goes in search of those
  whom society has marginalised (Luke 154-70).
• The Good Shepherd in Mt is concerned for Church
  members who stray from the fold (1812-18).

27
Five Great Discourses

• The qualification for membership of the Kingdom
  
• (the Sermon on the Mount, chs. 5-7).
• A list of instructions for missionaries (ch. 11).
• A series of explanations of the mystery of the
  Kingdom (the Parables, ch. 13).
• A handbook of Christian conduct, including rules
  for settling Church disputes (ch. 18).
• A description of Gods final vindication of the
  teaching of Jesus (chs 24-25).

28
Repetition

• The repetitious and meditative approach is
  typical of easterners who loved to say the same
  thing over and over again, each time getting
  nearer to the mystery lying at its heart.
• Repetition is the style of nature day and
  night, new moon and full moon, the seasons.
• The Fathers warmed to Matthews majesty and slow
  dignity. They wrote more commentaries on it than
  any other Gospel. Justin Martyr quotes it 170
  times, and John Chrysostom bases 90 sermons on it.

29
Roots

• The Gospel of Matthew reminds us how deeply
  rooted we are in Judaism.
• We cannot forget that we are followers of Jesus
  the Jew, who never abdicated his Judaism.
• In 1352, Matthew refers to the teacher,
  well-instructed about the Kingdom of God, who
  brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well
  as old.
• It could be a description of himself.