Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
21st September 2014
Sung Eucharist in The Parish Church of St. James, Louth
A Gospel written for the Church
Today we remember the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. In the Christian year that will soon be coming to a close we have been reading the gospel that he wrote – a gospel that is often referred to as the Gospel written for ‘the Church’.
It is called this for three key reasons:
· Firstly, Matthew uses the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ quite a lot to describe the emerging Christian community to whom he was writing. This is significant because this Greek word, was also the work that had been used by the Jewish people to describe Israel – God’s chosen people.
· Secondly, Matthew structures his gospel to include five blocks of teachings by Jesus – echoing the five books of the Pentateuch that contain the teachings of Moses in the Jewish tradition. In this moral and ethical teaching of Jesus we have what might variously be thought of as a replacement of, or fulfilment of the law given to Moses – the new Church is the replacement (or fulfilment) of Israel itself.
· Finally, Matthew’s gospel ends with the command to ‘go baptise the nations’. Here Matthew is recording the imperative that was felt in the early Church to take the message of good news that Jesus brought and take it to all people – not just a chosen few. Having started his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus – a record of inheritance that roots the Christian faith firmly in its inheritance from Israel, the boundaries of God’s chosen people are redrawn to include all people, not just Israel.
As we think about what ‘Church’ meant to Matthew, we might reflect on what ‘Church might mean to you?, and ‘What might Church mean to your neighbour?’
What is the ‘Church’ in Matthew’s gospel?
· It is a people bound together by a vision of the world transformed by the love of God. This vision is seen particularly in teachings such as the Sermon on the Mount (containing the Beatitudes) and the great collection of parables (from which we have heard much in the last few months). This is a vision of a world perfected – a world fulfilled in God’s vision.
· The Church is a people following Christ in so many different ways – there is no one way to be a member of the Church in Matthew’s gospel. We find Christ including in his great project those who worship with him in the Temple, those who study alongside him in the Synagogue, those who pray on the mountaintop, those who share in food and drink, those who bring healing, those who need healing, and those who gather to share – to share both in Christ’s teaching and his fellowship, before they go out into God’s world with Christ on their hearts.
And is this what our Church looks like? Not just our Church here in Louth, but the Church in our age? Does today’s Church hold in its heart the vision of a world transformed? Is today’s Church unafraid to find God at work not only where we expect him – in today’s Temples and Synagogues and among those who identify themselves a Christ’s followers – but also in the unexpected places…
Just a Jesus worshipped in the Temple, just as he studied in the Synagogue, just as he shared bread and wine in fellowship, and just as he prayed to God – so should we. But if that is all we do then we’ve taken the easy option – we’ve found out what the tools may be, but forgotten what these tools are for.
And here we can give thanks to Matthew – for in his gospel – the gospel of the Church – we are constantly reminded of Jesus challenging and seemingly impossible vision of a world fulfilled by God’s love. We are also reminded that this is (quite obviously) not the world we live in, but it is the world we can set our hearts on. And if we do that – if the Church is a group of people walking through God’s world with Christ’s love in their hearts the maybe, just maybe we may indeed see this world transformed – even if only in tiny ways we might see glimpses of that world where all people a baptised in the love of God; the love of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
So let us worship God together, let us share in fellowship, let us open our hearts to God in prayer – but above all, let us seek that sometimes distant vision of a world transformed by God’s love; that it may dwell in our hearts and shape the way we live our lives. Let us make it our prayer that the Church may truly fulfil that promise to be a light that shines in the darkness.