June 24th, 2017

​The structure of the Gospel according to Matthew is quite clear when compared to the other accounts, but, to be honest, most people do not care about the structure of a book. They basically want something that catches their attention in the beginning and that will hold their attention until the very end.

The most significant part of the structure of this account is the five sermons or discourses, and saying or writing that can REALLY turn a person off. Sermons or discourses are typically not very exciting.

In verse 21 of chapter 10, when Jesus talks about members of a family putting other members of that family to death, now THAT is something of interest to people, although that is very sad to say. Now that is something that would make the evening news, although, again, that is very sad to say.

Why would a person want the other members of his or her family dead? It must be something extremely important. And that is exactly where God comes in.

Actually it is the name of Jesus that comes on the scene. In the first part of verse 22, Jesus says that '... you will be hated by all for my name's sake.' That name is important within this account. Instead of an account of Jesus' birth in Matthew, there is more of an account of his naming. His name means savior, rescuer--not just helper.

And the name of Jesus changes in a very interesting way in the rest of this 'talk'. In verse 23 he calls himself 'the Son of Man'--the only time in this account (and very near the center--a quick and VERY approximate check of this shows that there are 38 verses of this sermon, and half of that is 19, and, when added to the first 4 verses of the chapter, you come up with the number 23). It is interesting that Jesus is calling himself something that he isn't (he was--and still is--the Son of God, not the Son of Man), but he is going to do something that his followers are not expecting.

Just a bit later, Jesus will call himself 'the master of the house' (v. 25). There is a noticeable progression in all the accounts, that as Jesus gets more popular, that as he becomes 'the master of the house', he gets his enemies more angry with him. And that anger is directed toward his followers as well.

It all makes sense. It is going to happen. It is not going to get better here on earth. But that is not the very end. As Jesus says in that second part of verse 22, 'But the one who endures to the end will be saved.'