Matthew’s Take on Jesus

What is Matthew trying to say about Jesus? Comparing Matthew’s story about Jesus with the story of Moses we get:

1. Exodus begins with a genealogy. (Ex. 1:1-5; Mt. 1: 2-17)
2. Israelites oppressed by a foreign king who kills Israelite babies. (Ex. 1: 16-22; Mt. 2: 16-18 )
3. Moses must remain hidden from the king in order to survive. (Ex. 2: 1-10; Mt. 2: 13-15)
4. Moses performs miracles to prove God sent him. (Ex. 7:8-10:29; Mt. 15:29-31)
5. God brings darkness over the land before setting the people free. (Ex. 10: 21-22; Matt 27:45)
6. A Passover meal is eaten. (Ex. 12; Mt. 26:26-30)
7. God’s people are saved from death by the Passover sacrifice.
(Ex. 12:23, Matt 27:52)
8. God’s people are gathered to a mountain and given instructions. (Ex. 19-24; Matt. 28: 16-19)
Matthew definitely wants his readers to think of Jesus in terms of Moses. For Matthew, Jesus is the “more-than-Moses” prophet predicted by none other than Moses himself.

As God, he is able to pronounce his Law from the mountaintop in what is now called the Sermon on the Mount. This Law is consitent with the Old Testament Law, but updated to reflect the circumstances of Jesus’ ministry to us as well as the ministry of his disciples.

Since Matthew seems to have been trying to reach a primarily Jewish audience, he hit upon a very Jewish hero to compare Jesus to.