With the encouragement of the unknown writer to the Hebrews in our minds, we turn now to the Gospel of Matthew.  The author of Hebrews has reminded Jewish-Christians of the superiority of Jesus as our High Priest.  We don’t have to ceremonially sacrifice with all of its bloody mess.  Jesus has entered the God-made Holy of Holies with His blood, dying once and for all, paying the price to buy us back and make us right with our God!  In Matthew we hear the “Good News” (Gospel) of all Jesus has done for us.

By way of background, this Gospel was written by the disciple Matthew.  I believe that this Gospel was written before the others.  After all, Matthew was an eyewitness to all Jesus did.  He had to rely on none other to record this inspired record of Jesus’ life.  Since he was a tax collector in Capernaum, he was accustomed to keeping accurate records and was familiar with Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.  Matthew tells us how Jesus found him at his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow me.”  Tax collectors were a sinful lot, skimming off the top of the proceeds they collected for Rome for their own pockets.  Matthew followed, repenting his sinful ways and allowing Jesus to change his life.  Matthew was so filled with joy that he threw what I like to call a “Matthew party,” inviting his friends and neighbors to meet Jesus.  So the Holy Spirit used Matthew to write this wonderful Gospel

Matthew wrote this Gospel especially for Jewish readers.  I think the readers of Hebrews would benefit from this Gospel.  As Hebrews was full of OT references, so Matthew refers to and quotes from the OT more than 60 times.  The first book in the NT, Matthew bridges the OT prophets and their fulfillment by Jesus and moves us from old covenant to new. This is a great Gospel for any of our Jewish friends open to Jesus to dig into.

With Hebrews’ Hall of Faith in chapter 11 still ringing in our ears, Matthew starts his Gospel with a genealogy to prove Jesus is the son of David.  Starting with Abraham he goes through the family tree all the way to Jesus.  God’s Son existed from eternity but had to be born a human like you and me.  In this genealogy Matthew shows us how this happened in accordance with prophecy.  Through folks in Hebrews’ Hall of Faith and with others like evil Ahaz, we see how God traced this gift of the Messiah.

The Gospel of Matthew shows us the faithfulness of Joseph!  What a great stepfather, empowered by Jesus’ heavenly Father to care for Him.  Joseph had every earthly reason to push Mary away.  By the law of the day her life could even be taken.  But Joseph was a righteous man and he wanted to do what was best for all.  His heart was open to his God and I think he truly loved Mary.  Joseph received welcome news from the angel of the Lord in a dream.  Joseph’s doubts of Mary’s faithfulness were completely dispelled.  This special child would be called Immanuel, which means “God with Us” and Joseph would have the privilege of caring for God’s Son, the promised Messiah, who would bear the name Jesus (“God Saves”).

In chapter 2 we see God’s care for Jesus using Joseph and Mary.  The Gospel of Matthew alone tells us about the visit of the Wise Men.  Wealthy scholars and counselors to kings in Persia, they have been searching the heavens for sign of the Savior to come.  They begin their journey at the time of Jesus’ birth and probably arrive a year or so later.  Going to evil king Herod, murderer of many family members and others that fanned the flames of his jealous rage, he tries to dupe the Magi into letting him know where this King of the Jews was.  You know the story well.  The star leads them to the house where they worship the child Jesus and give to him their gifts.  The first Gentiles like you and me to worship Jesus.  The gifts they gave praised him as their King (gold), Priest (frankincense) and Sacrifice (myrrh used in anointing dead bodies.  So the Lord calls us, wise men and women that He has made us, to worship Him and to offer our gifts to Him.

Those lavish gifts given by the Magi would be the earthly means for Jesus’ protection.  Warned by God in a dream, the wise men turned their backs to evil king Herod and went home another way.  The angel of the Lord also warned Joseph in a dream to leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt for safety.  Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord works?  Those lavish gifts became the means by which the holy family could make this trip.  As Herod vented his rage, murdering the male children of Bethlehem, Jesus was safe to carry forward our salvation. 

So we have Immanuel, “God with Us.”  As wonderful God’s salvation plan worked in Jesus, He has a plan for our lives.  We have means as well.  Yes, earthly means for us to carry on our lives in blessing others.  But more importantly we have Means of Grace, the tools through which God’s Holy Spirit brings to us His undeserved love.  The Word of God we read this Lent is the “power of God” for those who are being saved (1 Cor. 1:18).  Baptism is the “living water” that cleanses us from our sins and clears our consciences (John 4).  Our Savior’s Supper is the body and blood of our Risen Savior to fill us with courage and strength of live for Jesus.  Thank God we walk with Immanuel this Lent and always, “God with us”, working His saving plan for our lives!