1. Alec Scheetz (leader), Ben Mariano, Josh McGinnis, Danny Brennan, Austin Sattler “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mt. 24:35).

2. Audience…  Matthew’s audience was the Jewish community.  He has focused on the fulfillment of the old testament and he has quoted the Old Testament up to 62 times in his writings, more then any other Gospel writer.  Matthew, unlike other evangelists, does not explain Jewish culture. This adds to the argument of him writing to the Jews.  “Kingdom of Heaven” is the term that only Matthew uses in his Gospel, which is a “reverential Jewish expression” a term that is appropriate to a Jewish audience.

3. …and Purpose  The purpose for writing to the Jews was to show that through Jesus’ genealogy and resurrection was actual proof that Jesus was the messiah.

4. The Image of Jesus  In the gospel, Matthew has clearly written that Jesus, as the Messiah, was thought to come in the first testament.  He shows Jesus as the Son of God who lived a perfect, sinless life.  Matthew shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets.  Matthew shows Jesus as the Lion of Judah, in contrast to other images which show Him as a suffering servant.

5. Matthew’s Unique Gospel  Matthews gospel is compiled of eight parts that all tell of different parts of the life of Jesus from birth to death.  Matthew has also quoted the Old Testament up to 62 times.  All of the gospel writers have quoted the Old Testament but only Matthew has nine Old Testament proof texts that make his gospel unique. (Mt. 1:22-23, 2:15, 2:17-18, 2:23, 4:14-16, 8:17, 12:17-21, 13:35: 27:9-10).

6. Publication Information  The Gospel of Matthew is the first chronologically in the Bible, but it was actually the second published.  Reason? Matthew’s Gospel contains around 90% of the information from Mark’s Gospel.  The publication dates for Matthew’s Gospel range from around 50-100 CE.

7. Continued  However, the Gospel had to be written between 55 and 60 CE, before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.  This is because there had to be access to Mark’s Gospel, which was housed in the Temple at the time.

8. Continued Again…  The Gospel was probably published in Syria or Palestine.  This is due to the high Jewish population and the friendliness toward Jewish people and the Early Church in that area.

9. Symbolism  The symbol for Matthew is the angel.  The angel represents Jesus’ human nature and the Incarnation of God.  This relates to the image of Jesus as the Messiah, the coming of God, predicted by the Old Testament prophets a long time ago.

10. Matthew the Evangelist  Matthew collected taxes for Herod Antipas.  Because he was a tax collector, he was well- qualified to record the sayings and life of Jesus.

11. The Parable of the Talents & Ten Virgins  (Mt 25: 1-23) (Mt 25: 1-23)

12. Religious Pictures

15. Religious Images

16. Counting Crows-Mr. Jones  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- oqAU5VxFWs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- oqAU5VxFWs

17. Practice Quiz!!!!!!! 1. What does the quote from the first slide mean? 2. What two stories are unique to the Gospel of Matthew that we showed you? 3. Of how many parts is the Gospel of Matthew compiled? 4. What was the meaning of Mr. Jones?