How Things Work: A Brief History of Reality
BOOK II: The Power of Three (Science & Religion) – Consideration #100. "The Gospels"
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Tuesday September 12, 2023
“By the light of nature we see God as a God above us, by the light of the law we see Him as a God against us, but by the light of the gospel we see Him as Emmanuel, God with us.”
– Matthew Henry
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
Whether or not the apostle who is associated with each gospel was the actual author of that gospel is seriously debatable. However, that, individual gospels represented the thoughts and interpretations reflected by the followers of that apostle’s ideas about Jesus is not. The gospels exemplify both the complexity and simplicity of Jesus’ teaching.
“Jesus had a wide range of followers, each understanding his teaching from their particular perspective of experience.”
The four gospels are not contradictory narratives. However, neither are they merely identical restatements of the same narrative. Each reflects the personal experience and perception of the apostle, or apostle’s followers, responsible for recording it. Jesus had a wide range of followers, each understanding his teaching from their particular perspective of experience. Even non-Jews, with no serious understanding or background in Judaism, could be a follower of his teachings.
Therefore, the gospels give us a reference for how Jesus and his teachings were experienced and understood by his apostles, disciples, and followers during his life and directly after his death. We see Jesus through their eyes, and experience Jesus through their understanding of his teaching.
“Matthew meticulously points out Old Testament prophecy that he continually connects to Jesus…”
The Gospel of Matthew is the longest, and therefore most complete, of the four gospels. It is also considered to be the most “Jewish” of the gospels. Matthew meticulously points out Old Testament prophecy that he continually connects to Jesus, particularly regarding the Messiah. Matthew will serve as the “base” narrative of Jesus and his teaching. After considering Matthew we will consider the nuances between the other synoptic gospels, in addition to the Gospel of John’s uniquely theological approach to Jesus and his teaching.
CONSIDERATION #100 – The Gospels
The Gospel According to Matthew (The Jewish Messiah)
Perhaps the most important thing to understand before exploring Christianity is that Jesus was a Jew. The Gospel of Matthew never lets us forget this. Often considered “the Jewish Gospel,” the Gospel according to Matthew reflects the Jewish tradition throughout, serving as specific evidence for the argument that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied by the ancient Jewish prophets.
“The purpose of this Gospel was to encourage and strengthen the fragile ‘Jewish Christian’ community after the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E.”
Traditionally attributed to Jesus’ Apostle, Matthew, the first, and longest, Gospel of the New Testament was likely written between 75-80 C.E. in Antioch, Syria. In this Gospel, Matthew frames the promise of a coming Messiah, or “King of the Jews.” The purpose of this Gospel was to encourage and strengthen the fragile “Jewish Christian” community after the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. with the promise of the prophesied Messiah from the Old Testament, while simultaneously providing the evidence and proof that Jesus was in fact that promised Messiah.
“…this Messianic claim begins with the covenant between God and Abraham.”
Matthew quotes the Old Testament more than any other synoptic Gospel. The evidence for his Messianic claim for Jesus begins with the covenant between God and Abraham. For Matthew, Jesus represents the ultimate and complete fulfillment of that original covenant.
Matthew’s Jesus is a Jewish Jesus.
POSTSCRIPT
Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collectors were among the most reviled and despised people by the Jews. They collected taxes from the Jews to give to Rome; and also personally gained from it. Righteous Jews did not associate with them. However, Jesus did.
In many ways, St. Matthew was a male counterpart to St. Mary Magdalene. Both sinners fell out of favor with society and with the inner-religious circles at the time of Christ. Not only did they know what it meant to be a sinner but they experienced being labeled as such by a good number of people.
St. Matthew was tax collector at the customs post before he was called upon by Christ to follow him. Indeed, he was a man who worked on behalf of the Roman administration to collect taxes. Quite often such an occupation lent itself to usury and personal profit. Hence, the mere association with such greed was enough to have him banished from religious and social circles…
Like St. Mary Magdalene, who was deemed to be a “sinful woman,” St. Matthew was despised by the religious establishment of his day and counted the least of all.
– Joe Tremblay, “From Tax Collector to Apostle”
Like many of Jesus’ encounters, his call to Matthew is simple, direct, and transforming:
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
– Matthew 9:9
Jesus made no promises to Matthew. He offered him no reasons or explanations. There were absolutely no commitments or guarantees. Jesus offers Matthew a simple option: There is another world, another reality; follow me. And in that moment of total faith Matthew recognizes Jesus; gives up his past self and follows him.
Although Jesus was reported to have performed many miracles, it was perhaps his simple ability to directly connect spiritually to other human beings that was his greatest miracle. Through Jesus, many people, like Matthew, experienced a transformation of “faith” that completely altered their experience of reality.
Jesus would often be criticized by the “righteous” for allowing a tax collector to become one of his followers. Matthew, however, would be forever grateful to Jesus, becoming one of his greatest apostles.
Next week we will begin to consider the gospel of Matthew with his birth narrative designed to specifically document and prove that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah…
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This Week on “The Thread”…
Expand the Conversation by Upgrading to “Reality by a Thread!”
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Excerpt from PODCAST #14: “Untangling the Cosmic Symphony” "
If you find yourself growing tired of the same old meaningless fluff, this may be the Podcast you’ve been looking for!
Podcast #1 – A Lot of Explaining
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Podcast #8 – Untangling the Mystery of Taoism
Podcast #9 – Untangling The Noble Eightfold Path
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Podcast #13 – Untangling Self-Evident Truths
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“Untangling the Knots of Reality – Be A Part of the Conversation!”
Coming September 23! The Second “Substack Edition” in the How Things Work Series…
“Although heavily dependent on the abstraction of mathematics, the overall structure of classical science was objective and empirical. In this sense, classical science represented a balanced symbiotic relationship between rationalism (mathematical theories) and empiricism (physical experiments producing objective results). This unique relationship produced tangible objective results that literally changed our objective reality. Science had the power to transform abstract metaphysical concepts and theories into objective physical reality.
Science made abstractions real…”
Book II The Power of Three – Substack Edition (Part One) SCIENCE
