The Gospel Of Matthew Is Still Relevant Today

The Gospel of Matthew is the first of the three Synoptic Gospels of the New Testament, with the other two being Mark and Luke. Mark is believed to have been the first of the three written, as Matthew and Luke tend to use much of the content that was written in Mark’s gospel. However, “it seems that there is a literary relationship between the writers, although no one knows exactly who copied from whom and whether or not any of them relied on another common source.” (Roberts, 2002, p. 124). Matthews gospel was written by Matthew himself, and although the exact date is unknown it is believed to have been written around 48-50 A.D., after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Matthew was a “tax collector who followed Jesus and became one of his twelve disciples.” (ESV, 2008, p. 1815).
Matthew makes many references to specific text that is found in the old testament which leads us to believe that his book was written predominately for a Jewish community.
He used the gospel to reach out to the Jewish community and help them to understand the identity of Christ. The words of the Gospel of Matthew are just as relevant today as they were for the early Church and its converts. “For Matthew, the end of Israel’s exile is at last at hand with the advent of Jesus, the Davidic Messiah, who is God’s definitive answer to the problem of Israel’s sin.” (Marius, 2017). Not only was this book written to spread the good news about Jesus to the Jews, but it was also written to reveal to the world the truths about our Lord and savior, the
Messiah. This was proven through the descriptions of the miracles Jesus performed throughout his time on earth. These miracles are proof of the authority of Jesus not only as a spokesman for God while on earth, but also as the one who was ushering in a new era. There are many stories about how Jesus “heals persons with various illnesses: leprosy, paralysis, fever, demons, hemorrhage, blindness and muteness. His compassion crosses social boundaries and his power to heal is effective with even the most debilitating illnesses, the most socially alienating, the most powerful demons, and the most extreme condition.” (Culpepper, 2016). There were also many questions regarding how Jesus could be the messiah if he failed to establish his kingdom. “Even though the synoptics often report that people were overwhelmed with amazement at what they experienced, that the authority of Jesus’ words and deeds caught them by surprise, it was hard for both Jews and Greco-Romans to understand that all of this would be enabled by a suffering messiah who laid down his life for people. Though crucifixion was a fairly routine matter in the Roman Empire at the time, resurrection was not – certainly not the resurrection of a crucified messiah.” (Mouton, 2016). To answer the previous question, Jesus did not fail to establish his kingdom, but the nation did. However, the kingdom is still possible for us if we choose to embrace him as the Messiah, and this will occur at the end of the age. Lastly, Matthew was written to show that even though the nation as a whole failed to respond, the gospel was now open to the Gentiles.