Setting the scene
Many commentators agree that, structurally, Matthew’s Gospel echoes the first five books of the Bible – the Pentateuch – traditionally associated with Moses. Matthew focuses his Gospel on five sermons or speeches by Jesus, each of which ends with a sentence beginning: ’When Jesus finished all these sayings’ (7.28; 11.1; 13.53; 19.1; 26.1). If Moses was key in establishing God’s special relationship with Israel, his chosen people, then Jesus renews and re-establishes that special covenant. This is reinforced by the way in which Matthew identifies parallels between the lives of Moses and Jesus. As infants, both were rescued from kings who wanted to kill them, both delivered God’s teaching for his people via mountaintops, and so on. The Gospel readings for October (and November) are from the fifth of these five major sections of the Gospel (21.1–25.46). This is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ teaching in Jerusalem after his triumphal entry and his eviction of the traders from the Temple (21.1-17).
A time of conflict
So, after arriving and immediately running into trouble in the Temple, the scene is set for a whole series of conflicts between Jesus and the religious establishment. Jesus outlines a radical vision of the future in terms of God’s judgement and salvation. A key challenge posed by Jesus to the people he addresses is how well they will deal with the tension between being open and faithful to God’s Word in their time, while believing that God has spoken decisively in the past. The question is as relevant for us today as it was for those to whom Jesus spoke. Wrestling with these texts encourages us to revisit and rethink long-held certainties, and to ask ourselves whether we always get them right.
There are other parallels, too. Religious conflict at the time of Jesus could very easily become violent. We live now in times when religious certainties can be divisive and which highlight the tension between historic convictions and new knowledge and understanding. The history of Christianity shows us how difficult this can be – but things do change (e.g. think how Christian attitudes to slavery, race, marriage and sexuality have changed over history).
A question of identity
In the series of conflicts that characterise this section of Matthew’s Gospel, we can discern six recurring themes:
1 Jesus as God’s judgement.
2 Judgement as salvation/redemption.
3 The faithfulness of God.
4 The failure of God’s people to remain faithful.
5 Faithfulness as active, and not passive, discipleship.
6 That to stay the same, you have to keep moving.
These themes divide into two groups: the first three are all about God, and the second three are all about us. But all of them are about identity: Who is God? What is he like? Who are you? What sort of person are you?
Human identity is fluid. We don’t remain as babies or even teens. We grow up. We continue to change throughout our lives. The changes are physical and mental. And yet, we also remain who we are. God, on the other hand, is constant. God is faithful because he is true to himself and to his people – always and in every situation. The challenge we are given is to learn to be faithful and constant disciples, true to ourselves and true to God. This is the path we will seek to follow as we work our way through this part of Matthew’s Gospel.
The Revd Dr Tim Herbert, an Anglican priest in the diocese of Carlisle, was formerly Principal of the Lancashire & Cumbria Theological Partnership. Tim led the writers’ discussions for this issue and wrote the Bible notes for Propers 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25.