Gospel of Matthew

I won't do a full run down on the Book of Matthew. Everyone who reads this blog is already familiar with it. I did quite a bit of Bible study in my teen years but that knowledge is a bit dusty. On another note, I didn't use the King James version since I'm after clarity of message. What follows is a list of things that stood out for me.

1) The story of the divinity of Jesus rests on a few incidents, all of which Matthew covers. 1) He was born of a virgin. 2) He healed the sick and injured. 3) He died and was resurrected. There are many other details in which Jesus satisfies Old Testament prophecy. These were important in convincing fellow Jews that he was the Messiah but for the rest of the world, those three points are paramount.
2) The largest concentrated part of Jesus' message is certainly the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in Matthew. Part of the Sermon reaffirms the Old Testament but the full piece certainly builds on older understanding. The Beatitudes create a kind of religion for the underdog. I don't know if that was unique in the world but goes beyond the strict right and wrong of other philosophical readings we've done so far. (I'm sure I'll do a more full blog post on the Sermon.)
3) After Jesus collected the Apostles, he directed them to go only to the Jews. He wanted them convinced first.
4) He not only didn't promise an easy time, he went out of his way to tell his followers that they would suffer in his name.
5) Jesus tangled with the Pharisees on a few occasions. They wanted to trip him up with legalese but he always countered with higher truths.
6) He assured his disciples that 'some of those standing here will certainly not taste death till they have seen the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom'. They seemed certain that Judgment day would come and that right soon.
7) 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's'. I've often heard that used as an argument for seperating out religious and political spheres but now I'm not so sure. Frankly, I didn't quite understand that portion. (This may get its own blog post too.)
8) The account of Pilate is much more sympathetic than I remember. He truly didn't seem to want to give up Jesus. He understood that the charges were trumped up. Only because he feared a riot did he give him up, famously 'washing his hands' of him.
9) Only after the resurrection did Jesus tell the disciples to go forth to 'all nations' and convert them.

The story continues with Acts, of course.