The Book of Matthew
Written By Pastor Nate Preisinger

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
– Matthew 28:18-20

Each Gospel writer has a distinct audience in their mind as they wrote the words to their book.  In the Gospel of Matthew, we find a collection of stories about Jesus that are being presented to a primarily Jewish audience.  Matthew continually shares quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) as a way of highlighting his primary point: that Jesus is the Messiah; the fulfillment of the Jewish prophecies.

Additionally, Matthew focuses on the ways that Jesus calls us to be a community of faith.  The Sermon on the Mount is only found in Matthew’s Gospel and it includes a number of statements and parables that seek to instill within the disciples of Jesus a call to be a source of God’s blessings in the world.

The entire Gospel of Matthew seeks to present the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection as the culmination of God’s grand promise for all creation.  Jesus came to proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17) and the entire Gospel of Matthew invites to discover what that Kingdom looks like on earth and leaves us with the call to continue bringing heaven to earth through our words and actions (Matthew 28:18-20)