Matthew

1. JESUS’S IDENTITY AND PREPARATION FOR MINISTRY (1:1–4:16)

In the first major section of Matthew’s Gospel, the author introduces Jesus of Nazareth by identifying him as the Jewish Messiah, the Son of David; the enactor of restoration from exile; hope for the Gentiles; the obedient Son who represents faithful Israel; and “God is with us.” Moving from Jesus’s genealogy and his conception by the Spirit to the threat that his God-authenticated kingship poses to Herod, Matthew narrates God’s protection and guidance of Jesus and his family in the face of societal and political threats.

Decades elapse between Mt 2 and 3, where we are introduced to John the Baptist and the adult Jesus. Matthew 3 narrates Jesus’s preparation for ministry as he is baptized by John, signaling God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel and affirming Jesus’s faithfulness. Jesus’s wilderness temptations in Mt 4 affirm his identity as the faithful Son of God, fulfilling Israel’s call to covenant faithfulness, which includes being a light to the Gentiles (4:13–16).

A. Birth and infancy (1:1–2:23). Matthew begins the infancy narrative of Jesus by emphasizing Jesus’s lineage from Joseph (1:1–17) and Mary’s conception of Jesus from the Holy Spirit. He resolves the tension between these two by narrating Joseph’s adoption of Jesus (1:18–25). Matthew highlights Jesus’s Jewish and Davidic ancestry, the surprising presence of Gentiles in his lineage, and the themes of exile and restoration now enacted in Jesus the Messiah of Israel.

Matthew continues narrating Jesus’s infancy (2:1–23) by describing the immediate threat that Jesus as Messiah-King is to Rome’s client-king Herod, while affirming through OT citations that Jesus is the legitimate, Davidic “king of the Jews.” Once again, Gentiles make an entrance (the wise men) and themes of exile’s end and restoration now begun in Jesus are evoked.

1:1–17. From the opening title, Matthew highlights three aspects of Jesus’s identity: Jesus is the Messiah (“Jesus Christ”), a descendant of David, and a descendant of Abraham (1:1). These three affirmations will inform the rest of Matthew’s story of Jesus; they also frame the genealogy of Jesus.

Matthew has structured the genealogy to reflect these affirmations in reverse order, so that 1:1–16 forms a literary parallelism (A-B-C-Cʹ-Bʹ-Aʹ):

Jesus as

A    Christ (1:1)

B    Son of David (1:1)

C    Son of Abraham (1:1)

Cʹ   Abraham (1:2)

Bʹ   David (1:6)

Aʹ   Christ (1:16)

Beginning with a genealogy is a natural way in Matthew’s Jewish context to focus attention on Jesus’s identity. In ancient perspective, family line was intimately connected to identity. In addition to the inverted literary framework, Matthew structures Jesus’s genealogy by arranging it in three groups of fourteen (1:17). This shaping coheres with the genre of ancient genealogy, in which the listing of generations could be condensed (i.e., generations skipped) for specific purposes.

Matthew indicates at 1:17 that the reader is to hear three movements of fourteen as important. The genealogy begins with Abraham, signaling the origins of Israel as a people. The first grouping ends (and the second begins) with David, the prototypical king of Israel. The second grouping ends (and the third begins) with the time of exile to Babylon, highlighting that time when there was no king in Israel and the people were exiled from the land. An exilic motif may also be signaled in the genealogy by the addition of “and his brothers” (1:2, 11), a repeated phrase that marks Israel’s two primary exiles. The genealogy’s final grouping ends with “Jesus who is called the Christ” (1:16). The beginnings and ends of these three movements in Israel’s history might be summarized as (1) the origin of Israel (Abraham); (2) kingship provided for Israel (David); (3) kingship and land lost (exile); and (4) kingship restored (Jesus, the Christ). In the genealogy, Matthew rehearses Israel’s history to emphasize that Davidic kingship is restored in Jesus the Messiah.

An intriguing aspect of Matthew’s genealogy is the presence of four women in its early moments: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah’s wife (1:3, 5–6). The inclusion of women in Jewish genealogies is atypical, since genealogies were patriarchal in form. The inclusion of these four women hints at an important theme to come: Gentile inclusion. Tamar and Rahab, both Canaanites (Tamar likely so: Gn 38:1–6; Rahab: Jos 2:1), and Ruth, a Moabite (Ru 1:4), are surprising ancestors of Jesus, given their Gentile origins. While there is no biblical evidence for the ethnic identity of Bathsheba, the fact that Matthew refers to her as “the wife of Uriah” rather than by her name provides evidence that he is highlighting precisely her Gentile connection (Uriah the Hittite; 2 Sm 11:3).

Through his carefully crafted genealogy, Matthew emphasizes Jesus as the Messiah, the long-awaited Davidic king who will restore the hopes of exiled Israel and will usher Gentiles into Israel’s blessing (cf. Gn 12:1–3). Yet, just as the author reaches the zenith of Jesus’s genealogy, he introduces a crucial problem. For at 1:16, it becomes clear that Joseph’s lineage is being rehearsed; yet Jesus is born of Mary, not Joseph. Matthew answers this conundrum in 1:18–25.

1:18–19. The narration of Jesus’s birth (1:18–25) is closely tied to the preceding genealogy by the repeated Greek term genesis, translated as “genealogy” in 1:1 and “birth” in 1:18a. Both accounts provide an important aspect of Jesus’s origin and Jesus’s connection to Joseph’s lineage.

Joseph is engaged to Mary when he discovers her pregnancy. Because of his righteous character, he plans to divorce her in a way that avoids drawing attention to the situation (18:b–19). Jewish engagements at this time were enacted by a marriage contract, although the wife would not move to her husband’s household until a year after becoming engaged. In order to break the engagement, a legal dissolution of the marriage contract was required.

1:20–21. Before Joseph is able to pursue this plan, however, an angel of the Lord appears and speaks to him in a dream (1:20). Angels and dreams will continue to guide Jesus’s family in the days ahead (2:13, 19; cf. 2:12). The angel’s message emphasizes that Joseph is expected to wed Mary and name Jesus, the Holy Spirit’s role in Jesus’s conception (emphasized already at 1:18), and the salvific nature of Jesus’s mission.

The angel commands Joseph to name the child and explains the meaning of “Jesus” (1:21; the Hebrew name Joshua means “Salvation”). At the passage’s conclusion, Matthew confirms that Joseph does indeed name Jesus as instructed (1:25). The importance of this act becomes clear in light of ancient Jewish adoptive practices. For legal adoption to occur, all that Joseph needed to do was acknowledge Jesus as his own, which Joseph does by remaining with Mary and naming the child. Joseph adopts Jesus into his family and so into his lineage (1:1–17).

The angel’s pronouncement to Joseph that Jesus “will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21) fits the exilic motif introduced in the genealogy (Mt 1:11–12). The OT motif of Israel’s exile and return is theologically connected to the forgiveness of Israel’s sin that originally brought about exile (cf. Jr 31:27–34).

1:22–25. The author’s first of many fulfillment quotations, in which he cites the OT as fulfilled by some aspect of Jesus’s life, occurs here (1:22–23). The citation from Is 7:14 provides Matthew’s name for Jesus—Immanuel, “God is with us.” Jesus as God’s presence with his people emerges as an important theme in Matthew, given its prominent placement by the author here and in Jesus’s final words of the Gospel—“I am with you always” (28:20; cf. 18:20). The importance of naming is also signaled by the bookending of Jesus’s name in 1:18 (at the beginning of the Greek sentence) and as the final word of 1:25.

2:1–6. Having affirmed the identity of Jesus via his familial origins (Mt 1), the author turns to the ways in which Jesus’s messianic identity aligns with Jewish scriptural hopes and puts him at odds with the ruling powers of his day. Matthew 2 is organized around four scriptural quotations (2:5–6, 15, 17–18, and 23) that ground Jesus’s identity as bringer of restoration and authorize him as true king of Israel. The chapter also introduces a key conflict in Matthew: Jesus as Messiah-King is understood as a threat to the existing political structures. Herod’s position as king is emphasized in 2:1–3 (cf. 2:9). The Jewish leaders (2:4) whom Herod consults when he hears about a rival “king of the Jews” should be understood as religious/political leaders whose interests are aligned with those of Herod and Rome. [The House of Herod]

When wise men from the east arrive in Jerusalem inquiring as to the anticipated birthplace of the “king of the Jews” (2:1–2), Herod is troubled and calls on those steeped in the Jewish Scriptures to answer their question (2:3–4). The reply by the teachers of the law (2:6) comes from Mc 5:2, which references Bethlehem producing a shepherd-king for Israel (cf. Ps 78:70–72; Jr 23:1–6). Matthew draws from the context of Mc 5:2 (a time when God’s people were soon to be exiled by the Assyrians; 5:1, 5) to highlight restoration from exile through a shepherd-ruler (cf. Mc 1:11–12).

2:7–12. Once Herod knows the location and the timing of the star that the wise men have followed, he asks them to search out and alert him to the child’s whereabouts so that he might join them in worshiping this king (2:7–8). The reader has some hint that all is not right in Herod’s request, since Matthew has indicated that Herod was disturbed by his original encounter with the wise men. Suspicion of Herod’s motives is confirmed by a warning to the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod (2:12a). Instead, after the star leads them to Jesus, they give gifts and worship him (their purpose in coming, 2:11; cf. 2:2); then they return home (2:12b).

The wise men are a part of Matthew’s story for only twelve verses, but their presence has had a lasting influence. Church traditions have cast them as three kings. Yet there is no indication of their number, and they were most likely royal servants or astrologers who came from the East, possibly Persia or Babylon. Matthew draws attention to them to emphasize Gentile inclusion, as he has already done by including Gentile women in his genealogy (1:3, 5–6). Though Jesus comes as the rightful king of the Jews, Gentiles show up in his lineage, and Gentiles are the first worshipers at his feet.

2:13–15. Though the wise men have not told Herod the child’s exact location, Jesus is still in danger. Once again, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream (2:13; cf. 1:20), this time warning him to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to avoid the reach of Herod. Joseph again obeys the Lord’s command, and he takes his family to Egypt (2:14). Matthew comments on the flight to Egypt with another OT quotation (2:15; citing Hs 11:1).

Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Egypt

On the story level, the connection between Hs 11:1 and the plot of Mt 2 is the move to and return from Egypt. As God brought Israel, God’s son, from Egypt (Hs 11:1), so God will bring Jesus, God’s Son, out of Egypt. This connection highlights Matthew’s interest in portraying Jesus as representative of Israel (developed further in Mt 3–4). A second connection occurs on the discourse level of the narrative (the level of communication between author and reader), where the Hosea quotation evokes the movement from exile to restoration (cf. Mt 2:6). The immediate context of Hs 11:1 is this movement from Israel’s sin and exile in Egypt and Assyria (Hs 11:2–7) to God’s compassion and restoration in bringing Israel back from exile (Hs 11:8–11). Similarly, Matthew shows Jesus enacting a return from Egyptian exile (2:14–15; cf. the return to “Israel” in 2:20–21).

2:16–18. The narrative continues with Herod reacting to the news that the wise men have outwitted him (2:16). Herod orders all boys two years and under in the environs of Bethlehem to be killed. Matthew then cites Jr 31:15, which connects Rachel to Bethlehem on the story level (she was buried in Bethlehem according to Gn 35:19) and speaks of her mourning for her lost children (2:17–18). On the discourse level, we again hear echoes of exile and restoration, since Jr 31 is a chapter that explicitly promises Israel’s restoration from exile (e.g., Jr 31:10, 16–17). By drawing on Jewish biblical hopes, Matthew once again intimates that Jesus is the long-awaited restorer of Israel.

2:19–23a. The author concludes the birth story of Jesus by narrating the return of Jesus and his family to “the land of Israel” (used twice; 2:20–21), and specifically to Nazareth in Galilee, after Herod’s death (4 BC; 2:22–23). Once again, the Lord’s guidance comes to Joseph through an angel in a dream, instructing him to return to Israel and then warning him about Herod’s son Archelaus, now ruling in Judea (2:19–20, 22). Joseph obeys, as he has at each instance of divine guidance (1:24; 2:14, 21–22). For Matthew, Jesus’s return to the land mirrors Israel’s return from Egypt (Ex 14:1–15:27; Hs 11:1) and begins Israel’s return from their present exile (Mt 1:11–12; 2:5–6, 15, 17–18).

2:23b. The last fulfillment formula of Mt 2 comes at the final moment of the birth narrative. Joseph settles in Nazareth “to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene [Gk Nazōraios]” (2:23). The interpretive difficulty at 2:23 is that this declaration cannot be found in the OT or elsewhere. It is most likely that Matthew is relying here on a wordplay rather than a full quotation (intending the reader to connect Nazōraios to the location, Nazareth, in the previous line). Likely, Nazōraios plays on the Hebrew word netser (“branch”), which occurs in Is 11:1 and refers to a son of Jesse (David’s father; cf. 1 Sm 16): “a branch from [Jesse’s] roots will bear fruit.” The term netser was used to evoke messianic hopes in other Jewish writings of Matthew’s day. Thus Matthew concludes the story of Jesus’s birth just as he began it (1:1), by emphasizing Jesus as Messiah, Son of David, the hope of Israel’s restoration.

B. Baptism and temptation (3:1–4:16). Matthew moves on to two preparatory events for the ministry of Jesus—his baptism and temptation. Both narratives are set in the wilderness, tying Jesus’s preparation for his ministry to the people of Israel as they prepared to enter the promised land. Both stories are also marked by the Spirit, signaling that the time of eschatological promise has begun. John the Baptist is introduced in Mt 3 as the forerunner who signals Jesus’s ministry by calling Israel and its leaders to repentance, announcing God’s kingdom, and warning of judgment, while hinting at Gentile inclusion into God’s restored people. Jesus’s own baptism becomes both a sign of God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel and an affirmation of Jesus’s obedient, faithful sonship to God. The theme of Jesus as faithful Son continues in the temptation narrative (4:1–11), as Jesus’s obedient response is contrasted with Israel’s disobedience in the wilderness. In 4:12–16, Matthew transitions to Jesus’s public ministry (4:17), highlighting Jesus’s ministry in Galilee and hinting again at Gentile inclusion into the kingdom, which Jesus will soon announce.

3:1–2. Matthew 3 introduces John the Baptist, forerunner of Jesus the Messiah. In his preparatory role, John is baptizing Jews in the wilderness near the Jordan River (3:1) and calling God’s people to “repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (3:2). This message is identical to the message typifying Jesus’s ministry to Israel soon to begin (4:17), thus emphasizing John’s alignment with Jesus’s message of the kingdom.

It is possible that the origin of John’s baptism is connected to (1) Jewish purification washings, such as those indicated in the OT (e.g., Nm 19:12); (2) Gentile baptism upon conversion to Judaism; or (3) some combination of these. Whatever the origin, John’s baptism drew on expectations about washings or baptism but combined these with unexpected elements, such as his preaching of the kingdom. If John is drawing on the practice of baptizing Jewish converts but is now calling Jews to a “conversionist” baptism, then his message is an indictment of Jewish disloyalty to God and so a call to return to covenant faithfulness. The latter comes through clearly in John’s emphasis on repentance (3:2; cf. 3:6, 11).

3:3–6. Matthew highlights John’s continuity with the OT story of God’s covenant with Israel by means of an OT fulfillment quotation (3:3) and by demonstrating John’s connection to the OT prophet Elijah (3:4).

John the Baptist tells the Pharisees and Sadducees to “produce fruit consistent with repentance” (Mt 3:8). The notion of bearing fruit is common in the OT, focused especially on God’s expectation that Israel would produce fruit (e.g., Is 5:1–7; 27:2–6; 37:31–32; cf. Mt 7:15–19; 12:33; 21:43).

By quoting Is 40:3 in relation to John (3:3), Matthew shows John as the one who prepares the way for the Lord. In Isaiah’s context, the announcement of comfort to Israel focuses on the end of exile and the return of God to Israel (Is 40:1–5). The prophet goes on to speak of the good news of God’s return to Israel (Is 40:9; cf. 52:7; Mt 4:23). Given this context of promise of God’s presence and restoration from exile, the reader hears John as preparing the way for Jesus, who will bring God’s restoration (cf. Mt 1–2).

Matthew’s description of John’s clothing (3:4) evokes the picture of Elijah from 2 Kg 1:8. Picturing John as Elijah emphasizes John’s role as forerunner of the Lord (cf. Mal 4:5–6) as well as John’s prophetic role. Like the prophets of old, John preaches a message of promise and warning.

3:7–10. Matthew focuses on John’s warnings particularly to the Jerusalem leaders, Pharisees and Sadducees, who come to the Jordan River either to observe John’s baptism or to be baptized themselves (3:7). John has strong words for these leaders who should be producing fruit in keeping with repentance—that is, in keeping with a return to covenant loyalty (3:8). Thus John warns Israel, especially its leaders, to live up to God’s covenantal expectations for them.

The Judean Wilderness

John the Baptist ministers in the Judean Wilderness, and Jesus comes to him to be baptized in the Jordan River (Mt 3). The Spirit then leads Jesus out into the wilderness (Mt 4:1).

For Matthew, the consequences of refusing to repent and to bear fruit are severe. John warns of the “coming wrath” (3:7) and, following the analogy of bearing fruit, warns of fruitless trees being destroyed (3:10). John warns against a presumption that Jewish ancestry will ensure vindication at the final judgment. Instead, his words hint at Matthew’s theme of Gentile inclusion (3:9); presumably God can then make Gentiles into Abraham’s children (cf. 8:11)!

3:11–12. The theme of judgment is prominent in Matthew (e.g., 12:33–37; 13:37–43, 47–50) and indicates both the punishment of the unfaithful and the vindication of the faithful righteous at the final judgment. Even though the former is emphasized here (3:7–12), Matthew’s implication is that those who embrace repentance and produce fruit will be prepared for the kingdom and will receive the promised Holy Spirit (3:11), a signal of God’s eschatological restoration (cf. Jl 2:28–29). John’s warnings carry over into Jesus’s role, as one who will baptize with fire—that is, purification or judgment—as well as with the Holy Spirit. John’s subordinate role to Jesus’s mission is emphasized in 3:11–12. John’s baptism of repentance, though the first eschatological signal, is penultimate to and prepares for Jesus’s baptism with fire and the Spirit

3:13–17. When Jesus comes to be baptized by John, John demurs, indicating that Jesus should baptize him. Jesus’s reply is intriguing (3:15). Of all the Gospel writers, Matthew uses the noun “righteousness” (Gk dikaiosynē) most frequently. The use of “righteousness” here likely evokes covenant faithfulness more broadly, not simply torah obedience. In addition, in some instances Matthew uses dikaiosynē to refer to God’s eschatological act of righting all things (e.g., the pairing of God’s “kingdom of God and his righteousness” at 6:33; see also 21:32). This understanding seems to fit best here: Jesus pursues John’s eschatological baptism as a way of signaling the fulfillment of God’s restoration in Jesus himself.

The Spirit of God descends on Jesus at his baptism, indicating that the time of God’s restoration has begun (3:16; cf. 1:18, 20; 3:11). The confirming word about Jesus comes from “a voice from heaven,” a circumlocution for God’s name (3:17). The climactic moment occurs in God’s words affirming Jesus as his faithful Son (cf. 17:5, where the same words occur; see also Gn 22:2; Ps 2:7; and especially the allusion to the obedient servant of the Lord in Is 42:1), in line with Israel’s calling to be faithful to God (cf. 2:15). The explicit language of “Son of God” will be highlighted in 4:1–11, with a direct connection to obedience. Here, the focus at Jesus’s baptism is God’s affirmation of pleasure and love in the obedient son who has come to fulfill all righteousness.

4:1–2. The temptation narrative (4:1–11) follows Jesus’s baptism and continues the focus on the preparation for Jesus’s public ministry. Matthew continues to emphasize Jesus’s identity as God’s obedient Son—Jesus as Israel’s representative.

God’s Spirit has descended on Jesus at his baptism. Now the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, where he will be tempted by the devil (also referred to here as the tempter and Satan). By indicating the setting of the temptations (4:1), Matthew ties Jesus’s temptation to the testing of Israel in the wilderness. The parallel “forty days and forty nights” (4:2) to Israel’s forty-year wilderness wanderings confirms this connection, which Matthew highlights through Jesus’s citation from Deuteronomy in response to each temptation.

4:3–4. Each of the first two temptations begins with the conditional “If you are the Son of God” (4:3; cf. 4:6). So far, Matthew has used “Son of God” to (1) compare Jesus to Israel, God’s son (cf. Hs 11:1; Mt 2:15), and (2) affirm Jesus’s intimate relationship with God and obedience to God (cf. Is 42:1–3; Mt 3:17. Jewish understandings of “Son of God” language would likely have evoked messianic themes as well, since Israel’s king—and subsequently Israel’s anticipated Messiah—would have been the representative of Israel par excellence (2 Sm 7:12–16).

The first temptation centers on Jesus’s hunger after fasting for forty days, with the devil tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread (4:3). Jesus answers with a quote from Deuteronomy (Dt 8:3), which prioritizes the sustenance of God’s words over bread (4:4). In Dt 8, Israel (identified as God’s son in Dt 8:5) is called to remember their forty years in the desert as a time when God tested their obedience and humbled them. God fed them manna to teach them the true source of their sustenance (Dt 8:2–3). The use of Dt 8:3 connects the wilderness testing of Jesus to that of Israel, contrasting Jesus’s obedience by not pursuing bread with Israel’s disobedience (Dt 8:3, 5; cf. Ex 16:1–5).

4:5–7. In the second temptation, the devil entices Jesus to throw himself from the highest point of the Jerusalem temple, citing Ps 91:11–12 as evidence that God will send angels to protect him (4:5–6). Jesus’s reply (4:7) again comes from Deuteronomy, this time Dt 6:16. The verse in Deuteronomy adds, “as you tested him at Massah,” indicating the time when the Israelites questioned God’s provision of water for them (Ex 17:1–7). Jesus, in his refusal to heed the devil’s temptation to test God, provides the contrast to the wilderness experience of Israel.

Luke 4:1–13 narrates the same three temptations of Jesus as Matthew does but places the temple temptation (Mt 4:5–7) last in order (Lk 4:9–12). By doing so, Luke emphasizes a temple motif that begins and ends his Gospel (see Lk 1:8; 24:53).

4:8–11. The final temptation consists of an implicit claim by the devil that all the kingdoms of the world belong to him and that he will give them to Jesus if Jesus will worship him (4:8–9). Matthew shows Jesus drawing from Dt 6:13 in his response (4:10). This call to exclusive allegiance to the Lord is the positive side of the prohibition against testing the Lord that Jesus has already cited (Dt 6:16). Though Israel failed the loyalty test in the wilderness, Matthew shows Jesus to be fully faithful to God through all three wilderness temptations.

An ironic note rings at the passage’s end. Though Jesus has rejected the idea of asking God to send protecting angels (4:6), after he has sent the devil away angels care for him (4:11). God has provided for Jesus in the wilderness; and Jesus has proven himself the obedient Son, faithful representative of Israel.

The southwestern corner of the Temple Mount may have been the “pinnacle of the temple” (Mt 4:5) to which the devil takes Jesus.

4:12–16. Jesus’s return to Galilee comes on the heels of news about John’s imprisonment (4:12). With John’s preparatory work accomplished, Matthew shows Jesus moving from Nazareth to Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee (4:13), to begin his public ministry (4:17–16:20; cf. 8:5). Matthew includes another fulfillment quotation in 4:14–16. The connection between 4:12 and Is 9:1–2 on the plot level focuses on Jesus’s relocation to Capernaum. Matthew also connects the redemption promised in Is 9—the light dawning in darkness—to Jesus’s ministry in Galilee about to be inaugurated (4:17). Galilee of the first century included both Jews and Gentiles, with a larger Jewish population in the lower Galilean region. Matthew, with Isaiah’s reference to “Galilee of the Gentiles,” hints at the inclusion of all nations in the redemption brought by Jesus (cf. 28:19; also 1:3, 5–6; 2:1–12; 3:9), though the focus of his preresurrection ministry will be Israel (cf. 10:5–6; 15:24).

2. JESUS’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL AND RESULTING RESPONSES (4:17–16:20)

The second major section of Matthew focuses on Jesus’s announcement and enactment of the reign of God and the responses it generates in Israel. The people have been prepared for Jesus’s kingdom inauguration by John’s call to repentance and announcement of the kingdom’s impending arrival (identical to that of Jesus; cf. 3:2; 4:17). In addition, Jesus’s return to and relocation within Galilee sets up his Galilean ministry (4:17–16:20).

Matthew 4:17–16:20 is structured by a number of repetitions, the most overarching of which is the formula at 4:17 and 16:21 (“from then on Jesus began to . . .”). Three of Matthew’s five great discourses sit within 4:17–16:20, each focused on announcing God’s kingdom. In the first (chaps. 5–7), Jesus proclaims his manifesto of the kingdom. In the second (chap. 10), Jesus empowers and instructs his disciples for kingdom ministry. In the third (chap. 13), Jesus reveals more about God’s kingdom, including its manifestation in two stages, so that its present expression has a hidden quality. This goes a long way to explain the growing rejection of Jesus’s ministry by Jewish leaders and the ambivalence from the crowds (11:2–16:20). Yet for those with ears to hear and eyes to see, Jesus is revealed to be the Messiah, the inaugurator of God’s reign (cf. 16:16). [Jesus and the Kingdom of God]

Though the reign of Israel’s God is a regular Jewish affirmation (e.g., Pss 93:1; 96:10; 99:1; 146:10), the OT prophets also promise a day when God will reign fully over the heavens and the earth, making all things right (e.g., Mc 4:1–8; Is 24:21–23; 52:1–10; Dn 2:44). It is the arrival of that day that is evoked with the kingdom language in Jesus’s ministry.

A. Proclamation of the kingdom in word and action (4:17–11:1). In this section, the center of Jesus’s public ministry is the proclamation and enactment of God’s kingdom. After proclaiming that the kingdom is about to arrive (4:17), Jesus teaches about the kingdom and its relation to covenantal loyalty (5:1–7:29). Jesus then enacts God’s kingdom authority and mercy through his healings and other miracles (8:1–9:38). This section concludes with Jesus’s instructions to his twelve disciples to participate in his mission (10:1–11:1).

4:17. Here Matthew provides the centerpiece of Jesus’s proclamation to Israel (for the repentance theme, see 3:2). This summary of Jesus’s message begins with an introductory phrase that is repeated in 16:21, signaling its structural importance for defining the movement of Matthew’s story.

For Matthew, Jesus’s ministry can be summed up as proclamation of the soon-to-arrive kingdom, or reign, of God. Matthew’s “kingdom of heaven” is conceptually the same as Mark’s “kingdom of God” (cf. Mk 1:15). Matthew follows the Jewish convention of circumlocution—avoiding reference to “God” when another construction can communicate the same idea. When Jesus came preaching that the kingdom is near, the religious and political reverberations of such preaching would have ignited hope for God’s rule to come in redemption and vindication for the faithful of Israel, through restoration of the land and the Davidic kingship.

4:18–22. Directly following this inaugural preaching summary, Matthew narrates the call of Jesus’s disciples. Jesus issues a call for these four fishermen to follow him, making the analogy that their work will now involve fishing for people (4:19). The initiative that Jesus shows in this scene contrasts with the conventional practice of a would-be disciple attaching himself to a rabbi. Jesus initiates the relationship, and these fishermen leave their livelihood (4:19, 22) to follow Jesus (see 10:2–4 for the naming of all twelve disciples).

4:23–25. Matthew summarizes Jesus’s ministry by describing his three primary activities: teaching, preaching, and healing (4:23). Preaching “the good news of the kingdom” connects with the summary of Jesus’s preaching at 4:17, while subsequent chapters take up teaching (chaps. 5–7) and healing (chaps. 8–9). This summary is virtually repeated at 9:35, creating a bracket surrounding the narration of Jesus’s Galilean ministry of teaching and healing (4:23–9:35). The crowds respond by bringing their sick to Jesus for healing (4:24), following him from the entire region of Galilee and Judea, including Jerusalem, and even Syria to the north and Perea to the east (4:25).

5:1–2. The first major section of 4:17–16:20 highlights Jesus’s teaching ministry. Matthew arranges most of Jesus’s teaching into five major blocks, or “discourses.” In the first discourse (5:1–7:29), the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples (along with the crowds, 5:1; cf. 7:28–29) about the kingdom that he has announced in 4:17. The single consistent theme of the sermon is the imminent kingdom of God (5:3, 10, 19–20; 6:10, 33; 7:21). The sermon centers on a call to covenantal faithfulness (e.g., 5:13–16, 17–20; 7:12) and provides a vision of how discipleship ought to look as God comes to make all things right (e.g., 5:7–10; 6:9–13, 25–34).

The hills along the north shore of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus may have given the Sermon on the Mount

5:3–6. While much of this discourse consists of exhortation, its headlining passage announces blessing (with allusions to Is 61:1–11). These blessings, the great reversals that will happen with the arrival of God’s reign, indicate that God’s decisive act of restoration precedes and grounds the expectation for kingdom discipleship and enables the believing community to live it out. Thus, Matthew expects his readers to hear this discourse as an attainable ethic for believers in community with Jesus in their midst (18:20; 28:20).

With the first four beatitudes (5:3–6), Jesus pronounces a blessed condition on those who would not be considered blessed or fortunate in life: those who are spiritually poor or hopeless (5:3), those who mourn (5:4), those who are meek or oppressed (5:5), and those who are in need of justice (5:6; “righteousness,” dikaiosynē, refers to God’s commitment to making all things right; see the commentary on 3:13–17). These four blessings focus on those whose situation is the most destitute, with the promise that they will find their situation reversed in God’s coming kingdom. The reversal of each situation is captured by a specific blessing: the kingdom belongs to them (5:3), they will receive comfort (5:4), they will inherit the earth (5:5), and their longing for justice will be filled (5:6).

The Beatitudes appear both in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:3–10) and Luke’s parallel Sermon on the Plain (Lk 6:20–22). Luke has four beatitudes, in contrast to Matthew’s eight, but balances these with “woes” against the rich and powerful. Luke’s beatitudes are also shorter and less spiritualized than Matthew’s, in line with Luke’s greater emphasis overall on wealth and social justice.

5:7–12. In the final four beatitudes (with the fourth expanded; 5:11–12), blessings are conferred on those who live in alignment with the values of God’s reign. As God’s people show mercy and allegiance, enact peace and justice, and live with the resulting persecution, they show their alignment with God’s care for those most destitute (5:3–6). The harmony between their actions and God’s kingdom ensures they will receive mercy (5:7), see God (5:8), and be called God’s children (5:9; cf. 12:50), and that they are already receiving the kingdom (5:10).

5:13–16. The Beatitudes are followed by a declaration of the distinctive identity and mission of Jesus’s followers. They are “the salt of the earth” (5:13) and “the light of the world” (5:14–16), indicating their distinctive identity within their environment for the sake of mission to the world. The light imagery evokes God’s expectation for Israel to be a light to Gentiles (Is 60:1–3; see also Is 9:1–2; 49:6; Mt 4:16). This imagery defines Jesus’s followers in relation to Israel’s mission to the nations, setting their own mission in covenantal context.

5:17–20. The body of the Sermon on the Mount begins by highlighting the disposition of Jesus and his followers in relation to the OT law, or torah (5:17–48). Jesus affirms his mission to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (the OT Scriptures) rather than abolish them (5:17). The “antitheses” of Matthew that follow (“You have heard that it was said . . . But I tell you . . .”; 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43) reflect Jesus’s interpretation and intensification—rather than contradiction—of six OT commands or cases. In each case, the expectation for Jesus’s followers is more stringent than its OT counterpart (a surpassing righteousness, 5:20). This intensification fits the Jewish, rabbinic practice of “making a fence” around the torah in order to minimize the possibility of transgression.

Jesus warns his followers against breaking or influencing others to break any of the torah’s commands (5:19). In fact, their torah observance (“righteousness,” Gk dikaiosynē), understood as an expression of covenantal loyalty, must surpass the covenant adherence of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (5:20; cf. 15:6; 23:1–4). As 5:21–48 makes clear, it is Jesus’s interpretation and explanation of the torah that must guide his followers.

5:21–32. The OT prohibition against murder is broadened to include anger (5:21–22; see Ex 20:13), with a related call to reconciliation (5:23–26). Jesus also expands the prohibition against adultery to include lust (5:27–30; see Ex 20:14). The third case involves the OT prohibition of remarriage to a first spouse after a divorce and second marriage have occurred (5:31–32; see Dt 24:1–4). Jesus again commands a stricter ethic by limiting the allowable reason for divorce to sexual immorality rather than the broader circumstance of a husband’s displeasure for something indecent (Dt 24:1). [Gehenna]

5:33–37. The fourth case raises the importance of keeping oaths made to the Lord (Dt 23:21–23). Jesus narrows this to a prohibition against making oaths generally (5:34–36). Rather than swearing oaths frequently and thoughtlessly about ordinary things, as people were known to do at the time, his followers ought to let their word alone guarantee their actions (5:37).

5:38–42. In its original context, “eye for an eye” (the lex talionis, or law of retribution; see Ex 21:24) was likely a means of limiting personal revenge, leaving the exacting of fair retribution to a court (5:38). Once again, Jesus further limits an OT prescription, this time disallowing all forms of retaliation to various insults to honor: a backhanded blow as an act to dishonor (5:39), legal removal of one’s basic possessions (5:40), Roman conscription of a civilian to carry loads (5:41), and more general requests to borrow money or possessions (5:42). While each of these illustrations contains elements of hyperbole (e.g., removal of both tunic and cloak would leave a person naked), the exaggeration emphasizes nonresistance as a nonnegotiable for Jesus’s disciples. In a context in which active political or social resistance has severe consequences, Jesus’s radical ethic of nonretaliation moves beyond capitulation to one’s oppressors to active self-sacrifice for others, even enemies.

5:43–48. The final “antithesis” functions as a summary. By its emphasis on love of everyone, even one’s enemies, it captures the spirit of the other five directives. While the command to love one’s neighbor derives from Lv 19:18, the coordinate “hate your enemy” is not an OT quotation (5:43; cf. Ps 139:21–22). Jesus broadens the love command to explicitly include love of enemies and prayer for them (5:44). The rationale is that love of neighbor fulfills no greater ethic than that of tax collectors and pagans (5:46–47). Of the six cases of torah interpretation that Jesus has specified, only the final case includes a purpose. As Israel was to image God to the nations, Jesus’s followers are called to be like their heavenly Father, morally complete or perfect (5:45, 48). They do this supremely by fulfilling the command to love, which sums and binds together all other commands (cf. 22:40).

6:1–18. From Jesus’s interpretation of torah, Matthew turns to Jesus’s teaching on Jewish religious practices (expressed as “righteousness” [dikaiosynē] in 6:1; cf. 5:20) of giving to the poor (6:2–4), prayer (6:5–15), and fasting (6:16–18), which were central to Jewish piety. The three sections are each structured by a prohibition, a command, and a promise. The common thread is a warning against doing acts of righteousness for human, instead of divine, approval (6:2, 5, 16). Jesus promises future reward to those who give, pray, and fast “in secret” rather than act to be seen by others (6:4, 6, 18).

The Lord’s Prayer (6:9–13) falls within the section on prayer, extending that section beyond the format of prohibition, command, and promise. Preceding the Lord’s Prayer is a call to not “babble like the Gentiles” in prayer (6:7), which likely refers to magical understandings of prayer in which repetitions were thought to compel the gods to action. In contrast, Jesus’s followers are to cling to the truth that their Father knows and anticipates their prayers (6:8).

The Lord’s Prayer provides a model prayer for disciples and is thoroughly kingdom focused, looking ahead with longing for God’s reign to be consummated. The address, “Our Father in heaven,” indicates that the relationship to God that Jesus himself enjoys as Son (cf. Mt 3–4) is shared with Jesus’s followers as God’s children (cf. 5:16, 45, 48). Three parallel petitions then ask God to bring the kingdom, defined as universal recognition of God’s holiness and accomplishment of God’s will on earth (6:9–10). The final three petitions focus on daily needs (though the meaning of the Greek term translated “daily” is unclear; see the CSB footnote), forgiveness, and deliverance from temptation (6:11–13). The teaching that follows presents forgiveness as an imperative for disciples (6:14–15; see also 18:1–35).

6:19–24. The remainder of the body of the Sermon on the Mount (6:19–7:12) covers various topics but fleshes out to some extent the ideas introduced in the Lord’s Prayer: a call to singular loyalty to God (6:19–24) and trust for daily needs (6:25–34), a warning against judging others (7:1–6), and a call to prayer (7:7–12).

Jesus calls his followers to loyalty to God in contrast to storing up possessions (6:19–21) and money (6:24). The saying comparing the eye to a lamp (6:22–23) draws on the ancient view that light goes out from a person’s eyes, so that the person’s body or self can be assessed by his or her eyes (cf. 5:16).

6:25–34. Jesus also calls the disciples to a life free from worry, a life defined by trusting in their God, who cares and provides daily needs of food and clothing. This exhortation was a weighty one in a culture where many people lived at a subsistence level (e.g., the day laborers of Mt 20:1–15, who might need their end-of-day wage to feed their families). Jesus’s followers are to focus their energies and priorities on the kingdom—God coming to make all things right (6:33). Trusting in God’s righteousness eliminates worry and “little faith” (6:30; cf. 8:26).

7:1–6. The final exhortations of the Sermon on the Mount include a warning against judging others (7:1), possibly focused on inappropriate eschatological judgments—determining about others what only God will decide at the end (cf. 13:27–30). Jesus goes on to warn against attending to the sins of others, while being oblivious to the gross sin in one’s own life (7:3–5). The warnings against judging are tempered, however, by a call to discernment (7:6). “What is holy” is related to the “good news of the kingdom” that Jesus brings (4:23; cf. 13:45). Jesus indicates here that some will reject the sacred, and so his disciples are to be discerning as to their audience (cf. 10:14–15).

7:7–12. Also included at the end of the sermon is an encouragement to ongoing prayer (7:7). The reason disciples can pray and expect an answer (7:8) is that they are children of a Father who gives good gifts when asked (7:9–11). The summative command comes in 7:12, often called the golden rule. Jesus’s ethical teachings in Mt 5–7 come down to this motivation and its expression in action. In fact, the golden rule sums up “the Law and the Prophets” (7:12). This phrase hearkens back to the beginning of the sermon, where Jesus affirms that he has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (5:17). Jesus as Messiah fulfills the Law and rightly interprets Scripture so that his followers hear self-giving for others at its center (e.g., 5:44).

7:13–27. The conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount focuses on warnings about two paths. Jesus warns about the broad road leading to destruction, encouraging his disciples to take the narrow path leading to life (7:13–14). Jesus also warns of false prophets, who are recognizable by their evil fruits. A disciple is characterized by doing God’s will (7:15–23). The two ways are illustrated by a closing parable in which a wise person and a foolish person build houses, one on rock, the other on sand (7:24–27). The wise person hears Jesus’s words and enacts them; the foolish one hears but does not obey. The sermon’s conclusion calls Jesus’s disciples as well as Matthew’s readers to obedience—to be the wise person who obeys Jesus’s teachings. [Jesus the Teacher]

7:28–29. Five times Matthew uses identical wording to transition from Jesus’s teaching (in the five discourses) to Jesus’s activity that follows: “When Jesus had finished saying these things” (7:28; cf. 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). In this instance, Matthew narrates the response of the crowds to Jesus’s teaching—amazement at his authority. While torah teachers usually gave instruction by referencing what former teachers had said, Jesus speaks with his own authority (“But I tell you . . .”; e.g., 5:22). Matthew introduces the theme of authority here (7:29) and reiterates it throughout the story of Jesus’s ministry in Mt 8–10.

8:1–4. After expressing Jesus’s kingdom ministry in teaching, Matthew narrates Jesus’s kingdom ministry in action (8:1–9:38). Matthew 8–9 is structured by three sets of three miracle stories (8:1–17; 8:23–9:8; 9:18–38) interwoven with teachings on kingdom discipleship (8:18–22; 9:9–17). The first set of miracle stories involves a leper (8:1–4), a servant of a Gentile centurion (8:5–13), and Peter’s mother-in-law (8:14–15). All three stories display Jesus’s power over illness and his compassion for those in need.

Jesus willingly heals a man with leprosy upon hearing the man’s trust in Jesus’s healing ability (8:2–3). Matthew emphasizes Jesus’s authority and compassion as well as the importance of faith. Jesus touches the leper to heal him, a profound gesture to one who presumably rarely had physical contact during his illness (compare Lv 5:3 with Lv 13:1–59). After healing him, Jesus commands him (1) to fulfill the requirements of the law for ritual cleansing with sacrifices, bodily washings, and purification rites (cf. Lv 14:2–32); and (2) to refrain from speaking about the healing (8:4). The latter fits with other commands to silence in Matthew (e.g., 9:30; 12:16; 16:20), likely indicating the need for Jesus to conceal his messianic identity in the face of political ramifications until his own public declaration (at 21:1–11).

8:5–13. Capernaum was the setting of a customs station and was near a trade route. Given this strategic location, the presence of Roman soldiers was likely. To hear of a centurion, a commander of eighty to one hundred soldiers and a representative of Rome’s great military power, approaching Jesus in an attitude of submission (8:5–6), requesting healing for his servant, would have surprised Matthew’s audience.

The healing of a centurion’s servant is one of two moments in Matthew where Jesus crosses the ethnic boundary between Jew and Gentile in his Galilean ministry (cf. 15:21–28). On both occasions, the great faith of the Gentile supplicant on behalf of another provides the impetus for the healing (8:10; cf. 15:28). On both occasions, Jesus initially hesitates (8:7; cf. 15:23–24), in line with the limitation of his ministry to Israel (10:5–6; 15:24).

The centurion’s response, recognizing the authority delegated to Jesus by God (8:8–9), causes Jesus to be astonished and to commend his great faith (8:10). Matthew’s theme of Gentile inclusion is highlighted in 8:11–12, where Jesus intimates that Gentiles will share in the kingdom (on feasting imagery, see Is 25:6) while some Jews will be excluded. Jesus heals the servant without even being present with him, because of the centurion’s faith (8:13).

8:14–17. The account of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law (8:14–15) emphasizes Jesus’s power to heal by his touch (cf. 8:3). Matthew sums up these first three miracles and Jesus’s healing ministry generally (8:16) with a fulfillment quotation from Is 53:4, emphasizing Jesus as the one who takes Israel’s diseases upon himself (8:17). Readers have already heard a likely allusion tying Jesus to Isaiah’s servant at Jesus’s baptism (3:17). At 8:17, Matthew makes a clear connection between Isaiah’s servant of the Lord and Jesus (cf. Is 53:4, 11).

The Region of Galilee in the Time of the New Testament

Jesus’s public ministry begins in the region of Galilee. Capernaum becomes his home base (Mt 4:13) and is a primary location of his ministry (Mt 8:5; 11:23).

8:18–22. Matthew includes here a teaching on discipleship. The account focuses on Jesus’s expectations for his disciples in light of the arrival of God’s kingdom: sacrifice and uncompromising allegiance (8:18–20), even in the face of family obligations (8:21–22). “Son of Man” (8:20) is Jesus’s self-designation.

8:23–27. Matthew uses the next set of three miracle stories to demonstrate that Jesus’s power also extends over nature (8:23–27) and the demonic (8:28–34) and includes authority to forgive sins (9:1–8). These accounts show Jesus’s authority and raise more deliberately the issue of Jesus’s identity (e.g., 8:27), as well as show a range of responses to his ministry.

When Jesus and his disciples are caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus rebukes and calms the storm (8:23–26). Matthew emphasizes the disciples’ “little faith” (8:26; see also 6:30; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20) and ties it to their fear, which is inappropriate in light of Jesus’s presence. Their little faith contrasts the great faith exhibited by the Gentile centurion (8:10) and implicit in the leper’s affirmation of Jesus’s healing power (8:2). The disciples’ question in 8:27 raises the issue of Jesus’s identity given his authority over nature itself.

8:28–34. Matthew moves from Jesus’s authority over nature to his power over the demonic. Jesus has crossed the lake and arrived in the region of the Gadarenes, part of the Decapolis (8:28a; cf. 4:25). This area was home to Gentiles, as well as some Jews, which accounts for the presence of a herd of pigs (8:30; eating pork was forbidden by the Jewish law). Yet it is not at all clear that the two demon-possessed men healed by Jesus (8:28b) are Gentiles, since Jesus’s mission in Matthew is to Israel (10:5–6; 15:24) and since Matthew otherwise explicitly names Gentiles who receive the benefit of Jesus’s ministry (8:5–13; 15:21–28). After Jesus casts the demons into the herd of pigs, which then rush into the lake and drown, the townspeople beg Jesus to leave their region (8:31–34). Their rejection adds to the continuum of responses to Jesus’s ministry, ranging from rejection to inadequate faith to great faith.

9:1–8. Matthew’s account of Jesus healing a paralytic emphasizes his authority to forgive sin. In response to the faith of the paralytic’s friends, Jesus unexpectedly grants the man forgiveness rather than healing (9:2; although in ancient context, it might be assumed that the two were connected; cf. Jn 5:14). Some scribes privately assess that Jesus is blaspheming, presumably because only God can forgive sins (9:3; cf. Mk 2:7). Jesus perceives their thoughts and raises the question of whether it is easier to forgive sin or to heal, implying that forgiving sin is the harder of the two (9:4–5). Yet he heals the paralytic to show that the forgiveness granted is genuine (9:6–7). The crowd’s response contrasts with the response of the scribes: the crowd is filled with awe and praises God for the authority to forgive sins that Jesus displays (9:8).

9:9–13. Between the second and third sets of miracles in chapters 8–9, Matthew again focuses on discipleship in light of the kingdom’s arrival. The call of Matthew, a tax collector, to be a disciple of Jesus (9:9; cf. 4:18–22) is tied to Jesus’s practice of eating with “sinners” (9:10–13). Tax collectors had aligned their interests with the Roman occupation and would have been despised by their Jewish compatriots. “Sinners” is a broad category that would include tax collectors and any Jews judged as unfaithful to Israel’s covenant with God (9:10). Faithful Jews would typically avoid eating with such people to avoid ritual defilement.

By eating with tax collectors and “sinners,” Jesus demonstrates that God welcomes them into the kingdom, for God is merciful (9:13). The citation from Hs 6:6 signals Jesus’s prophetic critique of those who obey purity regulations (sacrifice) without also being committed to mercy, a key covenantal value (corresponding to the Hebrew covenantal term hesed, “faithful love”). As Jesus will make clear later, obedience to the law must be enacted with mercy and love (12:7; 23:23; see also 22:34–40).

9:14–17. After enacting mercy toward sinners as a signal of God’s kingdom, Jesus responds to a question from John the Baptist’s disciples by alluding to the kingdom’s arrival. When asked why Jesus’s disciples do not fast, Jesus answers that the time does not allow for it. Jesus’s presence (as a sign of the kingdom’s presence) is a time of joy and so is not appropriate to fasting (9:14–15). New wine calls for new wineskins (9:17). The arrival of the kingdom calls for a refocused (eschatological) interpretation of the “old” that aligns with God’s kingship in Jesus.

9:18–26. The final set of three miracle stories (9:18–26, 27–31, 32–34) again highlights Jesus’s authority to heal and also focuses on the faith that often precedes healing (9:22, 29) as well as Jesus’s growing notoriety in the Galilean region (9:26, 31, 33).

The first miracle story involves the healing of a bleeding woman and the raising of a dead girl. A ruler approaches Jesus, asking him to come to his daughter who has just died and expressing his faith in Jesus’s ability to raise her (9:18). While Jesus is on his way to their home, a woman who has been subject to bleeding for twelve years approaches Jesus. Believing that contact with Jesus will heal her, she touches his cloak (9:20–21). Jesus declares that her faith has brought about her healing (9:22). The story ends with the raising of the ruler’s daughter as Jesus takes her by the hand (9:23–25). Matthew ties the two stories into one, sandwiching the former within the latter (as Mark does [Mk 5:21–43]). This connection serves to highlight the dual themes of faith and Jesus’s authority and compassion.

9:27–31. The healing of two blind men occurs after they cry out to Jesus for mercy (cf. 9:13), recognizing him as “Son of David” (the Messiah, 9:27). Jesus heals them “according to [their] faith” in his power to heal them (9:28–29). Matthew again highlights the faith of those coming for healing as well as Jesus’s authority to heal simply by a touch of his hand. Jesus again attempts to maintain a certain level of secrecy (unsuccessfully here, 9:31; cf. 8:4), which parallels the notoriety that is accompanying his healing ministry (9:26, 33).

Animal skin used for storing liquids

9:32–34. The final healing story involves Jesus’s healing of a mute and demon-possessed man (9:32–33). On hearing the healed man speak, the crowd is amazed (9:33). The Pharisees provide a contrasting response, attributing Jesus’s power to demons (9:34). This final picture of Jesus’s early Galilean ministry highlights the divided responses toward his enactment of the kingdom. While Jewish leaders question his authority (9:34; cf. 9:3), the Galilean crowds follow Jesus, expressing awe and amazement at his deeds and praising God (9:33; cf. 9:8; see also 7:28–29).

The disciples, who have committed themselves to follow Jesus as their master (9:9; cf. 4:18–22), are described by Jesus as those of little or inadequate faith (8:26; cf. 6:30). Those who seek Jesus for healing often show faith in his power (8:2; 9:2, 18, 21–22, 28–29), with a Gentile supplicant being commended for having “so great a faith” (8:10). Matthew draws on this range of responses to encourage great faith in his reader as the proper response to Jesus’s messianic authority (9:27).

9:35–38. Matthew concludes this section on Jesus’s messianic teaching (chaps. 5–7) and kingdom enactment (chaps. 8–9) by summarizing Jesus’s ministry to Israel in teaching, preaching, and healing (9:35; almost verbatim to 4:23). Upon seeing the crowds who have heard his teachings and brought their sick to him, Jesus is filled with compassion for the people of Israel, whom he likens to sheep without a shepherd (9:36). This response serves to indict Israel’s leaders for not shepherding the people and transitions between Jesus’s ministry to Israel and his instructions to his disciples regarding their part in this ministry. The disciples are to be the answer to their own prayer for workers to join Jesus in kingdom mission (9:37–38).

10:1–8. Jesus’s next discourse (10:1–11:1), the second of five in Matthew, is referred to as the Mission Discourse. This discourse centers on the identification of the twelve disciples, their commission for ministry by Jesus, and his instructions for their mission. Matthew ties this to Jesus’s own mission by emphasizing their common activities: preaching, healing, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and casting out demons (10:1, 7–8; cf. Mt 5–9).

Matthew identifies the twelve disciples (called “apostles” only at 10:2) by name in 10:2–4. The choice of twelve followers is symbolic for Israel’s twelve tribes and signals that Jesus is reconstituting or redefining Israel around himself and his enactment of God’s kingdom. In the commissioning and empowering of the Twelve, Jesus grants them authority to heal and cast out demons (10:1, 8) and limits their mission to Israel (10:5–6). Matthew revisits the comparison of Israel to sheep needing a shepherd (10:6; cf. 10:16). Jesus’s disciples are called to be authentic shepherds of God’s people in contrast to Israel’s current leadership (9:36). The message the disciples are to preach is virtually identical to the one Jesus (and John before him) has been preaching to the Jewish crowds (10:7; cf. 3:2; 4:17)—the soon-to-arrive reign of God. [The Twelve Disciples of Jesus]

10:9–15. The instructions that follow their commission to preach and heal (10:7–8) are quite specific to the mission of the Twelve. These instructions include relying on the hospitality of those within the towns they visit (so not bringing funds or extra supplies; 10:9–10), finding worthy hosts who will welcome them and their message (10:11–15), and symbolically renouncing those who reject their kingdom preaching (10:13–14; paralleling how Jews might shake dust of foreign soil from their feet when returning to Judea).

In the OT, the Lord presents himself as a good shepherd to his people (Is 40:11; Jr 31:10; Ezk 34; Ps 23). He also expects the leaders of his people to shepherd them well, and he criticizes the leaders when they fail in this responsibility and leave the sheep without a proper shepherd (Mt 9:36; cf. Ezekiel’s critique in Ezk 34).

10:16–23. Jesus also warns the Twelve that they will be persecuted by some Jews and even arrested by Gentile leaders (10:17–18). They are not to worry about their defense, since Jesus promises that “the Spirit of [their] Father” will speak through them (10:19–20). Jesus calls them to stand firm in the face of betrayal and hatred, continuing their town-to-town ministry, since the coming of the Son of Man will precede the completion of their preaching (10:21–23).

Jesus’s words in 10:23 have often been understood as a reference to Jesus’s second coming. Yet “comes” (Gk erchomai) is not the usual term Matthew uses for Jesus’s reappearing (Gk parousia, which is nearly a technical term in the NT for the return of Jesus at the final judgment; see 24:3, 27, 37, 39). It is likely, instead, that Jesus’s words intentionally echo Dn 7, in which “one like a son of man,” coming with the clouds of heaven into God’s presence, is vindicated and given power over all people and nations (Dn 7:13–14). If so, Mt 10:23 indicates that the disciples’ mission to Israel will still be ongoing at the time of Jesus’s vindication and enthronement. (For Matthew, Jesus’s vindication occurs at his resurrection [28:18–20] and at the temple’s destruction in AD 70 [see 24:1–51].)

Jesus uses an OT form (“Woe to you . . . !”) to pronounce judgment on cities that have received clear and repeated revelation and have still failed to respond (see Nm 21:29; Jr 13:27; cf. Is 3:9–11; Ezk 24:6–9).

10:24–31. The scope of the Mission Discourse broadens to include Jesus’s followers beyond the Twelve (and Matthew’s readers as well). Jesus’s words in 10:24–42 begin by telling his followers that they will be maligned and persecuted as he has been (10:24–25; cf. 9:34). Yet he reassures them that they need not fear their persecutors; only God is worthy of such reverence (10:26, 28, 31). They can have boldness to speak “on the housetops,” because God will make known the truth in the end (10:26–27) and cares for them deeply (10:29–31).

10:32–39. Jesus exhorts his followers to single-minded allegiance to him—an allegiance that freely acknowledges and aligns itself with Jesus (10:32–33), an allegiance that is greater than loyalties to one’s family (10:34–37). This notion was quite countercultural in the first-century Jewish context, where family loyalties and obligations were paramount (cf. 8:21–22).

To be “worthy of [Jesus]” is to love Jesus more than all others and to take up one’s cross and follow him (10:38–39). On the story level, which focuses on Jesus’s teaching the Twelve, the metaphor of a cross poses a vision of discipleship as a path to death, since carrying one’s cross was what Rome forced criminals to do on the way to execution. Matthew is also foreshadowing for his readers Jesus’s own death by crucifixion. While it is possible to romanticize the cross today, the analogy of cross to discipleship would have been stark and sobering for Jesus’s hearers.

10:40–42. Jesus’s final words in the Mission Discourse promise a reward for those who receive prophets, righteous persons, and “these little ones” who are disciples (cf. 18:6). These three terms refer to the Twelve and others like them sent out in mission, who travel without provisions or status but who go with Jesus’s authority on his mission (10:1, 7–8). God will reward those who receive these “missionaries” and their message.

11:1. Matthew signals the end of this second discourse with the formulaic “When Jesus had finished . . .” (cf. 7:28). From 11:2 to 16:20, Jesus continues to teach and preach (11:1) but faces increasing hostility from Jewish leadership as his message and actions engender increasing attention and controversy.

B. Rejection by leaders and Jesus’s withdrawal from conflict (11:2–16:20). Matthew 11:2–16:20 narrates Jesus’s ongoing ministry to Israel in the face of increased confrontation with and rejection by Jewish leaders. Faced with these controversies, Jesus withdraws from confrontation and turns to compassionate ministry focused on the Jewish crowds (12:15; 14:13; 15:21, 30). Matthew shows a range of responses to Jesus’s emerging identity, from rejection by Jewish leaders and Jesus’s hometown to the disciples’ right confession of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God (cf. 14:33; 16:16). Yet Matthew also narrates the struggle of Jesus’s disciples to fully understand and embrace the truths about God’s kingdom that Jesus announces and embodies. The hidden nature of the kingdom means that divine revelation coupled with human faith is required to grasp its reality.

11:2–3. The next section of Matthew (11:2–12:50), between his second and third major discourses, focuses on Jesus’s emerging messianic identity and the rejection he experiences, particularly by the Jewish leadership in Galilee. Jesus is an unexpected Messiah (11:2–30), which explains the divergent responses to his ministry. Stories of controversy, especially with the Pharisees (12:1–8, 9–14, 22–32, 38–45), vividly illustrate those who are “offended” by (or “stumble on account of”) Jesus (11:6).

This section (which begins and ends with Jesus’s messianic identity, 11:2; 16:16–20) opens with a question from John the Baptist concerning Jesus’s identity (11:2–3). Reports of Jesus’s messianic activity have reached John in prison. In context, the actions of the Messiah (11:2) refer to Jesus’s healing, preaching, and teaching (see 4:23; 9:35). John’s question demonstrates that Jesus’s activity defies messianic expectations (11:3). Though there was no single set of expectations about the Messiah at that time, it is unlikely that healing would have been central to their expectations for the Davidic ruler. Instead, confrontation of pagan occupiers (e.g., Rome) would have ranked high on the list. Jesus’s early ministry shows no sign of direct political action. John’s question allows Matthew to clarify what kind of Messiah Jesus is.

11:4–6. Jesus’s answer, drawing language and ideas from Isaiah, indicates that his messianic ministry is characterized by signs of God’s in-breaking kingdom—Israel’s restoration—that include healing of the sick and preaching good news to the poor (11:5; cf. Is 35:5–6; 61:1; see also 26:19; 29:18). These are precisely the activities that Matthew has used to characterize Jesus’s ministry to Israel (Mt 4:23–9:38). Jesus then pronounces a blessing on all who are not “offended by” (or do not “stumble” because of; Gk skandalizō) him, which refers to stumbling over the truth that Jesus is an unexpected Messiah. Matthew draws on this term elsewhere to express how people stumble over rather than embrace some part of Jesus’s identity or message (e.g., 13:57; 15:12; cf. 26:31). This sets the tone for various responses that will be highlighted in 11:2–12:50 and beyond.

11:7–15. Jesus’s commentary about John connects with the report of John’s question about Jesus’s identity, with Jesus confirming John’s role as prophet and forerunner (11:7–10; citing Mal 3:1). John’s preparatory role is emphasized by Jesus’s statement that even the “least in the kingdom” is greater than John (11:11). This is a temporal statement rather than an assessment of value: John is the one who prepares for Jesus, the enactor of the kingdom, and so John is not of the generation that sees the kingdom being inaugurated (11:13). He is imprisoned before Jesus announces the kingdom (4:12, 17) and dies in prison without seeing firsthand Jesus’s ministry (14:3–12). Yet John has the unique role of “the Elijah who is to come” (11:14), preparing Israel for the Lord’s coming (Mal 4:5–6), which Matthew shows to be happening in Jesus’s ministry.

Jesus’s clarifying statement that John sits at the hinge of history (as precursor of the kingdom) also includes ambiguity (11:12). If the verb is read as a passive—“suffering violence”—the emphasis is on the suffering that John and Jesus and those following them must endure as the kingdom arrives. On the other hand, if the verb is active—“forcefully advancing” (see the CSB footnote)—it indicates that Jesus’s kingdom inauguration necessitates a clash between God and evil.

11:16–19. Jesus goes on to compare the general response to John with people’s response to himself. Jesus claims that this generation—those who have been privy to Jesus’s preaching and healing—is impossible to please (11:16–17; cf. 12:39–45). They reject John’s ascetic lifestyle consonant with kingdom preparation (repentance), but they also reject Jesus’s celebratory and hospitable way of living in the inaugural days of the kingdom (11:18–19a; cf. 9:9–13).

In spite of rejection by this generation, Jesus claims that “wisdom is vindicated by her deeds” (11:19b). In context, it is Jesus who is proved right by his deeds, thus aligning himself with wisdom. Wisdom is personified in the OT (e.g., Pr 9:1–6), and Matthew implies that Jesus is the embodiment of God’s Wisdom. The bookending of the motif of Jesus’s deeds (11:2, 19) provides confirmation: the deeds of the Messiah (11:2) are the deeds of Wisdom (11:19; cf. 11:28–30).

11:20–24. Matthew 11 continues by emphasizing Jesus’s judgment on the current generation (cf. 11:16) that has seen Jesus’s miracles (cf. 11:4–6) but has not responded with repentance (11:20; for Jesus as judge, see 13:40–42; 25:31–33). Capernaum, Jesus’s home base (8:5), and Chorazin (two miles from Capernaum) are judged as cities that have witnessed greater miracles than Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom (cities receiving God’s judgment in the OT; cf. Gn 19:1–38; Zch 9:2) and yet have not returned to God (11:21–24).

11:25–30. Chapter 11 concludes by returning to Jesus as the embodiment of the Wisdom of God (as in 11:1–19) as well as introducing the theme of revelation. According to this prayer of Jesus, God has hidden the truth of the kingdom—what God is doing in Jesus—from the wise but has revealed it to “infants” (11:25), and the Son (Jesus) is the means of that revelation (11:27). This notion that God through Jesus reveals the nature of God’s reign to some while it is hidden to others emerges more fully in the Parables Discourse of Mt 13, as well as at Peter’s climactic messianic declaration in 16:16–17.

Matthew communicates Jesus as God’s Wisdom in the comforting words of 11:28–30, which evoke earlier Jewish writings about wisdom or torah. Jesus takes on the role of Wisdom, summoning to himself all who are weary from the heavy loads (11:28, 30) imposed by the teachers of the law (cf. 23:4) and offering them rest. Jesus rightly interprets and fulfills the torah, because Jesus himself is the embodiment of the torah and the Wisdom of God.

12:1–8. With the torah introduced, Matthew narrates two controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees about the law; both controversies focus on Jesus’s practice of the Sabbath (12:1–8, 9–14). The Pharisees (12:2) were experts in the law and were zealous in their obedience to it. Part of their focus was adherence in everyday life to purity regulations intended to govern temple worship. This purity maintenance resulted in stricter boundaries between themselves and people or activities that might make them ritually unclean. Jesus’s critique is not of the Pharisees’ commitment to purity regulations but of the fact that they prioritize purity over mercy, justice, and faithfulness (cf. 15:1–6; 23:23).

In these two controversy stories, the Pharisees accuse Jesus or his disciples of breaking Sabbath laws (12:2, 10). For the first accusation, Jesus cites examples of David and OT priests who were required to work on the Sabbath (e.g., Nm 28:9–10) to clear his disciples of the charge of lawbreaking when they glean grain to eat when hungry (12:1–5). Jesus also alludes to his own priority over the temple and its regulations and cites Hs 6:6 (cf. 9:13). While Jesus’s words at 12:6–8 could be construed as abolishing the law, his use of OT precedent to prove his disciples “innocent” (12:7) indicates that it is one’s interpretation of the law that is again at issue rather than a superseding of it (cf. 5:17). Jesus views mercy as at the center of the law, with other regulations being governed by mercy (and justice, faithfulness; 23:23) as well as by the arrival of the Messiah (who is greater than the temple).

The yoke is a symbol of subjection and labor. Jesus says his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Mt 11:30).

© taviphoto.

12:9–14. In the second Sabbath incident, Jesus heals a man’s shrveled hand and defends the action by an argument from lesser to greater: as anyone would rightly rescue a sheep from a pit on the Sabbath, it is even more in keeping with the law to do good to another human being on the Sabbath (12:11–12). Again, Jesus defends the action in question as lawful. Jesus and his disciples are faithful to the torah rather than lawbreakers. The Pharisees respond to Jesus’s Sabbath healing by plotting to kill him (12:14). [Jewish Sabbath Observances]

12:15–21. The conflict between Jesus and Jewish leadership intensifies, and as it does, Jesus withdraws, turning his attention to the Jewish crowds following him (12:15). Later in Matthew, Jesus similarly withdraws after controversy (14:13; 15:21). In this case, Jesus interacts with the crowds by healing their sick, yet he warns them not to reveal his identity (12:16; cf. 8:4; 9:30; 16:20). Matthew connects both of these actions to a citation from Is 42:1–4, the longest of his fulfillment quotations (12:17). Jesus’s compassionate healing ministry is alluded to in 12:20 (Is 42:3), and his warning of secrecy connects to 12:19 (Is 42:2). In addition, the Isaiah citation confirms that Jesus is Isaiah’s servant of the Lord (also Is 8:17), who will bring justice not only to Israel but also to the Gentiles (“nations” in 12:18, 21).

12:22–32. The healing of a demon-possessed man (12:22) turns into a controversy over the source of Jesus’s power. While the people respond by wondering whether Jesus might be the Messiah (“Son of David,” 12:23), the Pharisees ascribe his power to the prince of demons (12:24; cf. 9:34). Jesus’s response to this accusation centers on the impossibility of a kingdom warring against itself (so Satan could not drive out demons, 12:25–26). Instead, Jesus’s exorcism of demons is an indication that his power comes from God’s Spirit, a sign that “the kingdom of God has come upon you” (12:28; for the connection of God’s Spirit and final restoration, see Jl 2:28–29). Jesus then claims through a parable that his power over demons proves that he has already bound Satan (12:29), so that it is one’s response to Jesus that is all-important (12:30). The following saying (12:31–32) likely indicates that, although God’s forgiveness is wide (even sins against the Son of Man may be forgiven), the Pharisees’ misattribution of the Spirit’s power to Satan (12:24, 28) cannot be forgiven, since it signals a fundamental rejection of the work of God in Jesus.

12:33–37. Jesus intimately connects a person with their deeds (“fruit”; cf. 3:10; 7:16–20) and then highlights how speech arises from what is in the heart (12:33–34). Two truths are emphasized: only one who is good can produce good words and actions (12:35); and one’s words (as well as actions) will be the basis of final judgment (12:36–37; cf. 16:27). While in 7:15–27 Jesus has emphasized the importance of actions over words, here he highlights the converse—that one’s words will bring either acquittal or condemnation on the day of judgment (12:37). Jewish theology held together the notion of God’s gracious salvation and a final accounting based on works (and words), since God’s salvation preceded and provided the basis for God’s covenant with Israel and Israel was called to remain faithful to that covenant to the end.

12:38–45. The controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees continue. Pharisees and scribes ask Jesus to provide a miraculous sign, presumably to authenticate his words (12:38; cf. Jn 2:18; also Mt 16:1). In the context, this request is highly ironic, since Jesus has just provided a sign (casting out a demon to heal a man, 12:22) and the Pharisees have questioned its authenticity! Jesus condemns the request, judging them to be part of “an evil and adulterous generation” (12:39; see also 16:4). The only sign he will give them is a riddle (12:40). This is the first allusion Jesus makes to his own death (see 12:14 for the Pharisees’ plot against him).

The rest of this section focuses on Jesus’s judgment of “this generation” for its lack of repentance in the presence of the one who is greater than Jonah and Solomon (12:41–42; cf. 11:20–24; 23:36). A parable about an evil spirit returning with multiple spirits to the person it has left indicates the final condition of wickedness that brings Jesus’s judgment on this generation (12:43–45). Even after experiencing Jesus’s miraculous works and kingdom message, the Pharisees of Mt 12 epitomize all from that generation who do not respond to Jesus in repentance and faithfulness.

12:46–50. The final passage of Mt 12 bridges to Mt 13 by introducing the motif of insiders and outsiders. Jesus is told that his family has arrived and is outside waiting to speak to him (12:46–47). Jesus responds by identifying his family with his disciples (who are inside the house; see 13:1) and everyone who “does the will of my Father in heaven” (12:48–50). In chapter 13, Matthew will develop this motif of insiders and outsiders (metaphorically, but using literal cues as signals to it; cf. 13:1, 36) in concert with the themes of revelation, parabolic teaching, and understanding (e.g., 13:11, 13, 34–35, 51).

13:1–9. After the rejection of Jesus’s messianic identity by Jewish leaders (11:16–24; 12:1–14, 22–45) and the wondering response of the Jewish crowds (12:23), Matthew follows up with the Parables Discourse (13:1–53), an extended discourse by Jesus that comments on the varied responses to his kingdom message. The Parables Discourse includes eight of Jesus’s parables and highlights the effect of parables in hiding and revealing kingdom truths for their hearers (with each parable after the first introduced by “The kingdom of heaven is like . . .”: 13:24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47; cf. 13:52). The first half of the chapter focuses on the crowds (13:1–35) and the second half on the disciples (13:36–53).

In the parable of the sower, Jesus describes four types of soil: rocky soil, thorns, path, and good soil (Mt 13:1–23).

The first parable (13:1–9, 18–23) illustrates the variety of responses to the message about the kingdom by comparing people to kinds of soil receiving seed. Matthew has narrated a whole range of responses in chapters 8–9 and 11–12, from great faith (8:5–13) to outright rejection (12:24). In this parable, the spectrum includes, on one end, those who lack any understanding about the kingdom Jesus preaches and brings (13:19) and, on the other, those who hear and understand Jesus’s message and yield much fruit (13:23; cf. 3:10 for bearing-fruit motif).

13:10–17. Understanding emerges as an important theme in this first parable as well as in the explanation for why Jesus speaks in parables (cf. 13:34–35, with Scripture cited in both explanations). To answer the disciples’ question of why he speaks to the crowd in parables (13:10), Jesus cites Is 6:9–10 (13:14–15) and distinguishes between three groups: the crowds (his audience in 13:1–35), the disciples who receive additional explanation of his parables (e.g., 13:37–43), and the earlier prophets and righteous ones who longed to hear what the disciples are now hearing (13:16–17). The Isaiah citation comes from that prophet’s call to ministry, in which God indicates that Isaiah will prophesy to an obstinate people who do not truly hear or see what God is doing (cf. Is 6:1–13). In similar fashion, Jesus’s ministry also lands on ears that do not truly hear—that do not understand (13:11–12). Teaching in parables both hides and reveals, depending on the kind of “soil” on the receiving end.

13:18–23. See the commentary on 13:1–9.

13:24–30. See the commentary on 13:36–43.

13:31–33. In three clearly paired sets of parables, Jesus sets forth the mystery of the kingdom that he has already mentioned. The parables of the mustard seed (13:31–32) and the leaven (13:33) both indicate that, though the kingdom is seemingly insignificant or hidden at present, there will come a time when it will be unmistakable and all-encompassing. By these parables, Jesus communicates the already (present in him) and the not yet of God’s reign.

13:34–35. In 13:34–35, Matthew narrates the reason Jesus speaks in parables by citing Ps 78:2. Here the reason for Jesus’s speaking in parables to the crowds has to do with revealing what has previously been hidden—what is not easily understood (cf. 13:10–17). Parables in this case fit the nature of the truths of the kingdom being revealed, which are difficult to fully grasp (even the disciples do not always understand, 13:36). Once again, the reason for parables is about revelation (to those who are ready and willing to understand, 13:23) and obscurity (for those who are calloused, 13:15). This tension in the chapter is underscored in Jesus’s invitation to the crowds and the disciples (and Matthew’s invitation to his readers) at 13:9 and 13:43 (cf. 11:15). Though the parables and their truths are difficult to comprehend and accept, anyone with ears among Jesus’s listeners (and in Matthew’s audience) is invited to hear and understand.

13:36–43. The idea of the already and the not yet of God’s reign (see 13:31–33) is expanded in a second set of parables. The parables of the wheat and weeds (13:24–30, 36–43) and the fish and net (13:47–50) indicate that judgment issuing in the separation of the righteous from the wicked will happen at “the end of the age” (13:39–40; this is a common phrase in Matthew; see 13:49; cf. 24:3; 28:20). The first of these two parables expressly indicates that judgment is withheld in the present (hidden) manifestation of the kingdom because it is not yet clear who is among the righteous (13:38; cf. 13:30).

13:44–46. The third pair of parables—those of the treasure (13:44) and the pearl (13:45–46)—illustrates the immeasurable worth of the kingdom in spite of its seeming insignificance and hiddenness (for language of the kingdom as hidden, see 13:35). The kingdom, even in its present, hidden manifestation, is worth everything one has and brings great joy.

13:47–50. See the commentary on 13:36–43.

13:51–53. Two moments mark the end of the Parables Discourse. The first narrates Jesus’s question to his disciples of whether they have understood his parables (13:51). Although their answer is an unqualified yes, Matthew will show their lack of understanding as the story progresses (e.g., 15:15; 16:22). The final saying or parable of Mt 13 (13:52) calls the hearer to respond to the kingdom rightly, as did the first parable of the chapter. Jesus’s parabolic instruction about the kingdom contains both new and old, expected and unexpected. Though the kingdom as Jesus conceives it has much in continuity with OT and first-century Jewish expectations (e.g., God’s rule reclaiming this world), it also has new elements not fully anticipated. The kingdom as presently hidden, with its clear manifestation still to come, is one of these surprising truths highlighted in Jesus’s parabolic teaching.

The discourse concludes with the formulaic ending to each of Jesus’s five major discourses (“When Jesus had finished . . . , ” 13:53; cf. 7:28; 11:1; 26:1).

13:54–58. The next section (13:54–16:20) continues to narrate the growing conflict between the Jewish leaders and Jesus. As before (12:15), Jesus withdraws from conflict to engage in compassionate ministry to the crowds and interact with his disciples (cf. 12:15; 14:13; 15:21). Jesus’s identity is highlighted, as the disciples come to confess Jesus as the Messiah (16:13–20) while others misunderstand (14:1–12) or reject his identity as the Messiah (13:54–58; 16:1–4).

The unbelief of Jesus’s hometown (13:54–58) not only provides a vivid example of seed sown on unproductive soil (13:4, 19) but also frames the Parables Discourse by contrasting Jesus’s declaration that his true family are those who do God’s will (12:46–50; cf. familial-language overlap at 12:49–50 and 13:55–56). Jesus’s hometown is portrayed with the negative characterization given the Jewish leaders in Mt 12: they distrust his authority, questioning its source. While the leaders have claimed Jesus’s authority is demonic in origin (12:24), his hometown cannot overlook his family origins (13:54–56). In both cases, they stumble over (or are “offended by,” Gk skandalizō) Jesus’s messianic identity (13:57; cf. 11:6; see also 15:12).

14:1–12. Chapter 14 begins with a flashback to Herod’s execution of John the Baptist. Herod the tetrarch (14:1; meaning “ruler of one-quarter”) was a son of Herod the Great (2:1). After the latter’s death, his kingdom was divided between three of his sons, with Galilee and Perea being assigned to Herod Antipas (r. 4 BC–AD 39). Herod Antipas, as a client-ruler of the occupation, represents Roman power and rule, as his father did (2:1). Matthew narrates how key leaders from Roman and Jewish quarters misconstrue Jesus’s identity.

Herod’s explanation for Jesus’s powers differs from that of Jesus’s hometown and the Jewish leaders, but it is similarly wrong. Herod believes Jesus to be John the Baptist back from the dead (14:2; cf. 11:2–5 for focus on John, where it is John who questions Jesus’s identity). Herod is portrayed here as superstitious (14:2), vindictive (14:3), fearful (14:5), and rash (14:6–7). In the end, he has John beheaded (14:10).

14:13–21. After hearing the news of John’s death, Jesus withdraws to focus on compassionate ministry (14:13; see also 12:15; 15:21). A summary statement emphasizes Jesus’s compassionate healing of the crowds (14:14; cf. 9:36). What follows is the first of two miraculous feeding stories (14:15–21; cf. 15:32–39), illustrating Jesus’s compassion toward the crowds and his miraculous power. Some have identified Jesus as a Moses figure in these feedings, with allusions to Moses feeding the people of Israel during their time in the wilderness (e.g., Ex 16; see also Moses typology in Mt 2 and 5–7). Matthew may also be connecting Jesus’s miraculous feedings to Jewish expectation that provision of manna would return at the time of the Messiah. Matthew’s reference to the large number of those fed (five thousand men, with women and children beyond that number) highlights Jesus’s extraordinary power (14:21).

14:22–33. Jesus’s authority is immediately reemphasized when he walks on water. The disciples are alone in the boat while Jesus has gone away by himself to pray (14:22–23). When the wind comes up on the lake, Jesus comes to the disciples “walking on the sea” (14:24–25). When Jesus calls to them to allay their fears, Peter attempts to join Jesus (14:26–29). His fear of the wind, however, causes him to sink. Jesus rescues him, referring to Peter as one of “little faith” (14:30–31). Matthew has previously tied “little faith” to anxiety about daily needs (6:30) and fear (8:26). Here he connects it to Peter’s “doubt” or wavering (attributed to the disciples generally at 28:17).

In spite of inadequate trust in Jesus’s power, the disciples recognize Jesus’s identity as “Son of God,” which points to their understanding of Jesus as the Messiah (14:33). This is the first messianic confession from the disciples, and it mirrors Peter’s confession at the climactic moment of this section (16:16).

14:34–36. Matthew has framed Jesus’s feeding of the five thousand and his walking on water with two summaries about Jesus’s healing ministry (14:13–14, 34–36). The first highlights his compassion to heal; the second emphasizes his power to heal (14:36). Gennesaret (14:34) is a plain located on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee

15:1–2. After narrating Jesus’s interaction with the crowds and his disciples, Matthew again turns to controversy (15:1–20), this time between Jesus and Jewish teachers who have come to Galilee from Jerusalem (15:1). These Pharisees and scribes confront Jesus over the lack of concern shown by his disciples in their table practices. The Pharisees follow the “tradition of the elders” (15:2); that is, they not only obey the torah but also observe teachings of past teachers (rabbis) on the torah. In this case, hand washing to remove ritual impurity was required before eating. The likely background is the OT command for priests to wash their hands (and feet) before entering the tent of meeting and before offering sacrifices (Ex 30:17–21), since Pharisees desired to bring purity rites associated with the temple into everyday experience.

15:3–9. Jesus’s critique of the Pharisees is not a direct criticism of the set of traditions that they followed. Instead, Jesus criticizes adhering to these traditions when adherence results in breaking the law itself! He claims that these Pharisees are breaking the command to honor parents by devoting to God resources that could and should provide for parents (15:3–6; cf. 23:3 for a similar indictment). Then Jesus cites Is 29:13 (15:7–9), where Isaiah addresses this same kind of hypocrisy: disobeying the torah in the name of adhering to traditions. Isaiah’s complaint—empty worship drawn from human rules—fits Jesus’s complaint against these Jewish teachers as well.

15:10–11. Jesus uses a parable of sorts to indicate that ritual cleansing before meals is unnecessary and misses the true source of impurity. Jesus’s explanation of his parable or riddle (15:16–20) clarifies that it is the heart of a person (rather than hands) that ultimately produces what is unclean, for from the heart come intentions that result in disobedient actions (cf. 15:19). Here Jesus is not invalidating the Jewish purity system; rather, he is providing an alternate interpretation of purity issues over against the tradition of the elders. (Mark’s Gospel takes this story in a different direction, particularly in his extrapolation that all foods are clean [Mk 7:19]. Nevertheless, there is no Gospel evidence that Jesus or his disciples broke with kosher dietary practices.)

15:12–14. In response to Jesus’s critique of the Pharisees and scribes, his disciples let him know that the Pharisees “took offense” (Gk skandalizō; cf. 11:6) to his words (15:12). This language indicates that the Pharisees stumble over Jesus and his teaching. Jesus responds by picturing the judgment that will come to those who, like these Pharisees, not only are out of alignment with God (15:13) but also are leading others astray (15:14).

15:15–20. Peter, as representative of the Twelve (his frequent role in Matthew; cf. 16:16), asks Jesus to explain the parable (15:15). Jesus’s response to his disciples indicates that he expects them to have understood his teaching here (15:16–17). Despite their insider status in relation to Jesus’s teaching in parables (13:11, 18–23, 36–43, 51), they do not fully understand. Jesus’s words in 15:16 demonstrate that the disciples have fallen short of his expectations. Jesus’s call to “listen and understand” (15:10) invites Matthew’s audience to do what few characters in the story have done well—to hear Jesus and to understand his words (cf. 13:9, 43).

15:21–28. Following the controversy, Jesus again withdraws to compassionate ministry (15:21–31; cf. 12:15; 14:13), this time in the direction of Tyre and Sidon—Mediterranean coastal cities northwest of Galilee (15:21). In this location, Jesus is approached by a Gentile woman, a “Canaanite,” with the term evoking the OT association of Israel’s enemies (15:22a; cf. Nm 21:1). Using the messianic title “Son of David,” she cries out to him to heal her demon-possessed daughter (15:22b). Yet Jesus speaks to her only after his disciples have entreated him to deal with her cries (15:23). His answer echoes the mission parameters he has already given to his disciples: ministering only to the lost sheep of Israel (15:24; cf. 10:5–6).

This scenario has much in common with the entreaty of the Gentile centurion on behalf of his ill servant (8:5–13). In both cases (which are the only instances in Matthew where a Gentile seeks out Jesus for a healing) Jesus hesitates to cross the boundaries of his God-established mission. Yet in both cases, it is the persistence of the Gentile supplicant, highlighting their “great” faith (15:28; cf. 8:10), that convinces Jesus to minister outside Jewish parameters prior to the establishment of the Gentile mission at his resurrection (28:19). The woman’s exceptional faith here provides the model for Matthew’s readers, who have witnessed the lack of faith in Jewish leaders (12:24; cf. 15:12) and Jesus’s hometown (13:58) and the “little faith” of the disciples (14:31).

15:29–39. Matthew provides another summary of Jesus’s compassionate healing ministry (15:29–31; cf. 12:15–21; 14:13–14, 34–36). The crowds respond with amazement, praising “the God of Israel” (a commonplace OT phrase; e.g., Jdg 5:3).

While the Jewish leaders fail to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, the Gentile woman confesses him as Lord (Mt 15:21–28). God’s plan all along has been to include the Gentiles in his eternal family (Gn 12).

Matthew narrates next the feeding of the four thousand (15:32–39), which also emphasizes Jesus’s compassion for the crowds (15:32) as well as his messianic power. Many have also noted the eucharistic overtones in the feeding miracles (e.g., breaking loaves, giving thanks; see 14:19 and 15:36; cf. 26:26).

Galilee and Phoenicia

Jesus leaves Galilee and travels to the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon.

16:1–4. In anticipation of the climactic scene of 11:2–16:20, Matthew returns to a number of motifs that he has developed. First, in 16:1–4, we see a challenge to Jesus by Pharisees and Sadducees that demonstrates their opposition to Jesus’s ministry (16:1; cf. 12:14) in a request for a sign. (The analogy to weather signs in 16:2–3 is missing in some early manuscripts, presumably omitted by scribes in locations outside of Palestine where such signs did not forecast the same weather; see the CSB footnote.) In their refusal to receive Jesus and the signs he has already displayed (cf. 11:20–24; 12:41–42), they epitomize the “evil and adulterous generation” that rejects Jesus’s enactment of God’s kingdom (16:4a; cf. 11:16; 12:39–45). Jesus leaves his opponents (16:4b; cf. Jesus’s withdrawals at 12:15; 14:13; 15:21), and they will not reappear in the narrative until 19:3.

16:5–12. As Matthew turns to Jesus with his disciples, a number of disciple-related themes resurface. Once again, Jesus refers to his disciples as “you of little faith” (16:8; cf. 6:30; 8:26; 14:31), this time in relation to their incomprehension of Jesus’s power at the two miraculous feedings. Even though Jesus has demonstrated that he is able to provide food for large crowds, the disciples are concerned that they have forgotten to bring bread with them, in the process misunderstanding Jesus’s warning about “the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (16:6–7; cf. the Pharisees’ teaching at 15:1–20).

The disciples’ little faith has been a motif in Matthew. Not only does Jesus describe them this way, but they also display their lack of faith by inadequately appropriating their authority to participate in Jesus’s ministry (10:1; cf. Jesus’s expectation for their fuller participation at 14:16–17; 15:32–33). The disciples understand at some level (16:12; cf. 13:11, 51; 14:33;) but lack full understanding of Jesus’s authority (16:8–11; cf. 15:16–17). Because of their mixed portrayal, they are not presented as ideal examples. Rather, Matthew intends his audience to sometimes emulate and sometimes distance themselves from the disciples’ responses.

16:13–16. The climactic moment of 11:2–16:20 is Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah (16:16). In response to Jesus’s question about how others perceive his identity, the disciples provide a range of responses (16:13–14; including John the Baptist, in line with Herod’s belief at 14:2). Peter speaks on behalf of the disciples, rightly identifying Jesus as the Messiah (16:16). Although Matthew tells his readers that Jesus is the Messiah from the very beginning of the Gospel (1:1), this is the first occasion in which a character within the story identifies Jesus as the Messiah. The additional “Son of the living God” was likely understood as a messianic title within first-century Judaism (cf. 26:63). This additional phrase includes the intimate relationship already demonstrated between Jesus and the Father (e.g., 3:17; 4:3; 11:25–27).

16:17–19. Jesus confirms that Peter’s confession on behalf of the Twelve is true and has been given by divine revelation (16:17). Whether Jesus promises to build his church on Peter himself (as in Catholic interpretation, highlighting the wordplay between Peter’s name and the Greek petra [“rock”]) or on the messianic confession Peter has made (the typical Protestant interpretation), it is clear that Matthew shows the binding and loosing authority of 16:19 to extend from Peter to the rest of Jesus’s disciples and the church itself at 18:17–18.

Given the use of binding and loosing terminology in Judaism of the time and Matthew’s use of related language elsewhere (5:19; 23:4), these concepts likely focus on determining the applicability of particular laws in particular situations (something Jesus does at 12:1–12). Jesus promises this authority to interpret and apply commands (16:19) to Peter and then the entire church (18:17). Though promised at this juncture, the fulfillment of these promised kingdom keys comes only at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus is given all authority (28:18). The disciples (and the church) receive their authority by derivation—by means of Jesus’s presence with them (28:20).

16:20. After these promises, Jesus warns the Twelve against telling anyone of his identity as Messiah. Given the swiftness of Roman action against would-be Jewish messiahs of the first century, such concern for discretion (cf. 8:4; 9:30; 12:16) would be necessary and wise. It is telling that the Romans crucify Jesus within a week of his public “debut” as Messiah (see 20:29–21:27).