Things I learned about Mattherw

Just a tad more on Matthew, Chapter 1:  I read the comment from my pastor and looked into this myself.

Matthew saw Jesus as our King.  Christ alone has the legal right to sit upon the throne of David due to His paternal lineage.  Matthew's writing style is that of a teacher.  He tells us what Jesus said rather than what He did.  His job as a tax collector enabled him to keep excellent records of Jesus's discourses.  He showed us a King, one who was strong enough. to support the building of a church thru His own authoritative teachings and one who was capable of guiding His disciples in teaching new Christians to build their relationships with Him.

Mark presented Jesus as a servant of the people.  His writing style is that of a preacher and could be summations of sermons given by Peter.  The gospel moves quickly thru to the teachings of Christ, telling us what He did rather than what He said, is the shortest gospel of the four and describes Jesus's teachings in colorful detail.  These are also all characteristics of Peter's ministry.

Luke wrote about Jesus and His humanity, seeing the Man who came to seek and to save. His writing style is that of a historian but is written in the vernacular making it easy for the common man to read and understand.  He writes of probably every aspect of Jesus's life: His sermons, His lectures, his conversations. Luke respected women and got up close and personal with Mary at the birth of her Son.  He is the only one who writes of Anna or tells the story of Mary and Martha with such compassion.  Luke speaks of Jesus's attitude toward the poor, racial discrimination, the importance of prayer.  Because he was not one of the chosen 12, Luke wrote about them with respect.

John saw Jesus as the Eternal God, more than just a man but as a part of God.  His writing style is that of a theologian.  He begins his gospel with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  He wrote that Jesus was God from the very beginning in Chapter 1:1.   He never called himself by name, just as the disciple that Jesus loved.  John writes this gospel to give the church true faith in the Messiah.  This gospel is written so that we, as Christians can believe that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God.  He gives us the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  It is an evangelical gospel.

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Matthew began his genealogy with Abraham and is the only one who mentions 4 women who are extremely important to keeping the lineage going.
     1.  Thamar (Tamar) was the daughter-in-law of Judah who played a harlot because she was not given in marriage to his youngest son as promised.  In her role as a harlot, she became pregnant with twins by Judah.  She is mentioned in Matthew 1:3, and her story is told in Genesis 38:13-30.  She was a very distant grandmother of King David.
     2.  Rahab was also an ex-harlot and was the great-great-grandmother of King David. She is the one who hid 2 of Joshua's spies in order to save her family when the wall of the city were stormed.  She is mentioned both in Matthew 1:5 and Joshua 2:1.
     3.  Ruth was an ex-pagan and was the great-grandmother of King David.  She is written about in Matthew 1:5 and Ruth 1:4.  She also has a whole book written about her, probably by Samuel.  Ruth was a pagan Moabite who became the daughter-in-law of Naomi.  The main message of the book of Ruth is that of active Christian love and how it affects other people.  She and Boaz had a son, Obed, who had Jesse, David's father.
     4.  Bath-Sheba was King David's beloved wife and mother of Solomon.  Her story is found in 2 Samuel 11.  She heard of a plot of King David's oldest son to overthrow the throne and with the help of the prophet Nathan, warned David.  King David immediately appointed Solomon as king as he was the one God had chosen to succeed David on the throne.  She was resourceful, energetic and continued to influence David until his death.