00:00Matthew and his sources
00:30Brothers and sisters, Matthew drew on two major sources to compose his work. The first, and most important, is the Gospel of Mark. From this evangelist, he adopted not only the structure and the spatio-temporal order that runs from Galilee to Jerusalem, but also replicated Mark's style in presenting a biography of Jesus.
00:57As we have seen, the first traditions about Jesus that were written down were isolated accounts, such as miracles or his sayings.
01:09The similarity of materials caused some accounts, both of sayings and miracles, to be unified into somewhat larger units, of which there is still evidence in the miracle stories presented by Matthew.
01:28or the dispute accounts that Mark offers us, as well as the great account of the passion and death of Jesus.
01:37Let us also remember, brothers, that the traditions about the sayings of Jesus were consolidated in works such as the Q source, used by Matthew and Luke, or the later apocryphal work called the Gospel of Thomas.
01:56Likewise, traditions about miracles were condensed in works such as the book of signs used by the author of the fourth Gospel in the first part of his work.
02:10It is significant, brothers, that these stories or pericopes that circulated isolated from one another, have taken shape in a biographical narrative.
02:24And the reason for this outcome has to do with the evangelists' interest in giving a very clear and defined answer about who Jesus is.
02:37But, brothers, it is striking that the Jews have zealously preserved the sayings of great rabbis such as Shammai, Gilel, or Gamaliel II,
02:51But they never shared their lives with us, at least not in a structured or methodical way.
02:58But if there are exceptional Jews for Israel, this extraordinary way of being was manifested by the preservation and transmission of their teachings.
03:12Jewish interest was focused on the interpretation of the Torah that the great Jewish rabbis could make.
03:27For its part, the center of the gospels was, without a doubt, the life and person of Jesus of Nazareth.
03:37But we see how the evangelists have imitated the narrative of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, or Maccabees,
03:51and not just the doctrinal exposition of works such as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, or Sirach.
04:00The other major source for Matthew is the saying source called the Q Source, which has also been used by Luke.
04:11Although there are many studies on Source Q, it is important to note that we do not have much certainty about this work.
04:19We only know that it is a written document and not a tradition, given that Matthew and Luke often agree in their accounts.
04:30And this coincidence is not only in the order of the narration, but even in the vocabulary used.
04:38It is possible that, as with the Gospel of Mark, there were several versions with some differences between them.
04:50Since the canonical gospels were written in or around Palestine, it is thought that the Q Source originated there.
05:03It is also near where Jesus of Nazareth lived and preached, and it may have been written in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his disciples.
05:16General information about the work
05:19Some details from the Gospel of Matthew make us think about the community where the work originated,
05:28as well as in the community to which the evangelist addresses his writing.
05:32The Gospel was created within a context of liturgical celebration,
05:39as indicated by the elaborate form of the Lord's Prayer,
05:44if we compare it with the somewhat simpler version in the Gospel of Luke.
05:52The way in which the narrative of the institution of the Eucharist is crafted and its sacrificial nature,
06:02since it speaks of blood shed for the forgiveness of sins.
06:06The practice of forgiving one's brothers, a topic extensively developed in chapter 18.
06:14The mention at the end of the work of baptism in the name of the Trinity.
06:21The evangelist has concerns typical of Jews,
06:27such as matters relating to compliance with Jewish law and its institutions.
06:34The author and the community are of Jewish-Christian origin.
06:38The use of the 70s version is noteworthy.
06:43Matthew does not only refer to the Jewish Old Testament,
06:47but rather speaks of the fulfillment or fullness of the promises made in his judgment in Jesus and his work.
06:57The Gospel of Matthew is thought to have been written around the year 80 AD.
07:03when a Torah study school had been established in Yavneh or Hamnia,
07:11which was led by great figures such as Gamaliel II or Eleazar ben Asaria,
07:20and that apparently contributed to creating the Jewish canon of sacred books.
07:26Although we cannot speak of a canon established by the Yavne school,
07:31It is indeed possible to see in this the strengthening of later rabbinism that came into conflict with the nascent Catholic Church.
07:42This is where we find the disputes that Matthew attributes to Jesus confronting the Pharisees,
07:51who were considered the spiritual fathers or forerunners of the rabbis
07:57that still guide the community life of present-day Jewish communities.
08:04But, brothers, everything that Israel experienced after the defeat of the people and the destruction of their temple
08:12It allowed Matthew's community to open up to the non-Jewish or pagan element in their community.
08:21A fact we discovered in the first two chapters of his work,
08:26especially regarding the Magi from the East who worship and pay homage to the newborn Jesus.
08:36The closing of this new opening to the pagans occurs in the sending that the resurrected Jesus makes to the community
08:45In the last chapter of the Gospel, when he asks the disciples to proclaim his message to all nations,
08:54including pagan peoples, something that contradicted the original mission that Matthew offers in chapter 10 of his work,
09:04where Jesus clearly sends the disciples to the house of Israel to recover the lost or stray sheep.
09:15Matthew agrees with Paul on certain points that it is not possible to follow Jesus
09:23and submit completely to Jewish law, as is the case with Sabbath worship,
09:31the oneness of God that does not contemplate how Christ can be one with God,
09:38the need for circumcision or total submission to Mosaic law.
09:44However, brothers, Matthew also has his own views regarding Jesus being the fulfillment of the law
09:55and its fullness or perfection, besides not understanding how Jesus could completely abolish Jewish law,
10:05since Jesus himself is in agreement in many respects with the convictions that give Israel
10:14the meaning of their being the people chosen by God.
10:35Thank you!
