Day 1: Matthew 1-4: The Beginning through Temptation
Here we are at the beginning of the New Testament: Matthew's Gospel. And here we are at the beginning of Matthew's gospel. Matthew begins with Jesus' ancestry, his family tree. I've often joked about how boring these lists of names can be. If you want people to keep reading your story, why would you start with a list of names? Why begin with "A Record of the ancestors of Jesus Christ", instead of something like this: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times," or "Call me Ishmael." Even "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God" has more of a ring to it. But Matthew must have thought that it was most intriguing, because he put it first. He must have thought it would draw people in.
There's actually a lot to be curious about in this family tree. There are stories underneath every single name, but perhaps the people to whom Matthew wrote knew more of these stories than we do. For me, the women named are most interesting, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah (that would be Bathsheba), and Mary. Delve into just one of their stories, and suddenly this boring genealogy gets a lot more interesting! (Tamar's story, by the way is in Genesis 38).
Reading along, I noticed how often God speaks through dreams: to Joseph and to the magi. To both, the good news is announced in dreams; both are warned about dangers through dreams. I wonder how often we consider a dream a sign of God?
I noticed as well, reading four chapters at a time, how abrupt was the shift to John the Baptist. Joseph returns with his family in Egypt, settles in Nazareth, and suddenly! -- John the Baptist is crying in the wilderness, offering forgiveness with repentance, haranguing the scries and the Pharisees, baptizing Jesus.
In my translation, the voice from heaven says, "This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him." I had never thought of it this way before.
And then, just as abruptly, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. Or at least, it seems abrupt to me.
And I can't help noticing, as I move along, how the Old Testament is peeking through all of these stories.
Jesus is lead to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days. Can it be a coincidence that the Israelite wandered in the wilderness for 40 years? (I think not).
Jesus calls disciples out by the sea of Galilee, while Matthew recalls the words of the prophet Isaiah: "The people who walked in darkness has seen a great light."
So Jesus' ministry begins not with miracles but with temptations and with the calling of disciples. In fact, although Jesus will eventually do plenty of miracles, he begins his ministry by refusing to do miracles: turning stones to bread, jumping off the temple and letting angels watch over him. (You can make the case I suppose, that the disciples' immediate decision to drop everything, get up and follow Jesus was sort of a miracle.)
What themes are you discovering so far? What scripture verses have caught your eye?
What do you think of the fact that the first thing that happens to Jesus after his baptism is temptation?
There's actually a lot to be curious about in this family tree. There are stories underneath every single name, but perhaps the people to whom Matthew wrote knew more of these stories than we do. For me, the women named are most interesting, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah (that would be Bathsheba), and Mary. Delve into just one of their stories, and suddenly this boring genealogy gets a lot more interesting! (Tamar's story, by the way is in Genesis 38).
Reading along, I noticed how often God speaks through dreams: to Joseph and to the magi. To both, the good news is announced in dreams; both are warned about dangers through dreams. I wonder how often we consider a dream a sign of God?
I noticed as well, reading four chapters at a time, how abrupt was the shift to John the Baptist. Joseph returns with his family in Egypt, settles in Nazareth, and suddenly! -- John the Baptist is crying in the wilderness, offering forgiveness with repentance, haranguing the scries and the Pharisees, baptizing Jesus.
In my translation, the voice from heaven says, "This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him." I had never thought of it this way before.
And then, just as abruptly, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. Or at least, it seems abrupt to me.
And I can't help noticing, as I move along, how the Old Testament is peeking through all of these stories.
Jesus is lead to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days. Can it be a coincidence that the Israelite wandered in the wilderness for 40 years? (I think not).
Jesus calls disciples out by the sea of Galilee, while Matthew recalls the words of the prophet Isaiah: "The people who walked in darkness has seen a great light."
So Jesus' ministry begins not with miracles but with temptations and with the calling of disciples. In fact, although Jesus will eventually do plenty of miracles, he begins his ministry by refusing to do miracles: turning stones to bread, jumping off the temple and letting angels watch over him. (You can make the case I suppose, that the disciples' immediate decision to drop everything, get up and follow Jesus was sort of a miracle.)
What themes are you discovering so far? What scripture verses have caught your eye?
What do you think of the fact that the first thing that happens to Jesus after his baptism is temptation?
ReplyDeleteThe genealogy isn’t the most exciting but I do appreciate the outline. So there are stories in the Bible for ALL of the names? I do enjoy the stories of the women, considering even though women weren’t as high in society as the men, their stories were still told and there is much to learn from them! I enjoy Matthew for the nativity story. It is a story I never tire of reading. As far as the dreams, I wish I could hear God through my dreams. Maybe my relationship with Him is not strong enough or maybe that is just not my calling. Jesus being tempted reminds me that it is natural for myself to be tempted. The best way to fight these temptations is through the Word. Rebuking Satan with scripture is a sure way to make him flee. The fact that immediately after coming down to Earth he is tempted reminds me that it is often when things are going well or when he are at a high point in life it is then that Satan tries to tempt and corrupt us. We have to be on constant guard and never stop spending time in the Word, which many of us do when life is going so well.