• Fr. Dr. Antony Situma Nalianya

 Introduction

In the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew seems to have been tactfully formulated with the aid of numerous echoes, allusions and citations of the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament). This unique characteristic of Matthew’s gospel perpetuates its authentic fulfillment theology. Right from the incipit and in the genealogy, Matthew sets up the initial proof points of Jesus as the Messiah. Throughout the Gospel, he continues to reiterate to his Implied Readers that Jesus is the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies through the extensive use of the Hebrew Scripture’s echoes, allusions and quotations.

Quotations and Fulfillment

The Matthean world is a world deeply shaped by Judaism. It is deeply rooted in Jewish traditions and discourses. What Matthew insists on is that Jesus is the ‘fulfillment’ of Hebrew Scriptures. The quotations are Matthew’s own way of undergirding the manner in which the totality of the events narrated are to be understood as the fulfillment of God’s promises in the Scriptures. The Jesus-event is the interpretative key of the Torah. The focus shifts from the literal performance of all of the law’s commandments to the person, life and mission of Jesus.

Matthew saw correspondences between events of the Jewish Scriptures and the Jesus-event not as coincidental, but as divinely intended. The strategic placement of the scriptural interconnectedness and the eventual contours and categorizations was not an arbitrary, frivolous misuse of the texts, but a reasoned practice aided by the utilization of the Jewish techniques of interpretation. The understanding of texts through the supreme conviction that Jesus was the goal of what the Jewish Scriptures had promised signalled the uniqueness of the Matthean narrative. The echoes, allusions and quotations have as their foundation christological convictions—they are, indeed, christocentric. Their essential starting point is that Jesus is the One promised by the Jewish Scriptures. This scribal expertise ensured the continual divinely intended correspondence between God’s saving activity at different times in the history of redemption.

Matthew uses the Old Testament quotations with a theologizing intent. His narrative constructs the life, person and mission of Jesus, as a saviour, a figure like Joshua, Moses and David. By way of the fulfillment quotations he proposes thematic strands that will span the whole narrative

Matthew uses the Old Testament quotations with a theologizing intent. His narrative constructs the life, person and mission of Jesus, as a saviour, a figure like Joshua, Moses and David. By way of the fulfillment quotations he proposes thematic strands that will span the whole narrative. Matthew holds that certain major redemptive appointments in the history of Israel (e.g., the Exodus, the Exile), and certain prophecies surrounding Old Testament figures (especially David), are not only significant in their own right, but enjoy a prophetic function fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah. Accordingly, the very structure of the Old Testament revelation, finds its true culmination in Jesus and the events of His life, person and mission.

Theological Function of the Quotations

The Fulfillment Quotations help discover the key characterization of Jesus’ ministry in Matthew. They evoke the embeddedness of Jesus within Israel’s sacred story. The Christological identity of Jesus develops with the Old Testament quotations as the narrative unfolds to reach a climax point in the passion narrative. They introduce thematic frameworks that frame and dictate the flow of Matthew’s account of the Jesus-event. They serve to reconcile the Matthean community’s confession of Jesus as the Christ as well as the mission to the Gentiles with its commitment to Jewish Scriptures and Jewish traditions.

It is paramount for the modern reader to understand the hermeneutical basis upon which the majority of the fulfillment quotations are presented. They portray the Christological foundation of the whole Matthean narrative. The quotations emphasize that Jesus is deeply embedded in the history of Israel and its Scriptures and that his specific role can only be understood against the background of the traditions of the Davidic Messiah. Matthew presented the Jesus-event as the eschatological realization of the Torah, and the quotations of the Jewish Scriptures were meant to foster this Christological conviction.

In relation to the fulfillment of Scripture, God stands behind the events narrated. Matthew exposes this divine action through the theological passives. With the divine passives, the Deity animates various actions without being named, as an unnamed agent. The fulfillment quotations expose the matrix for understanding why events transpired the way they did, thus it was God’s divine plan and purpose. Using the fulfillment quotations Matthew reveals the outstanding role of God in the narrative he constructs. Through the utilization of the divine passives in the fulfillment quotations’ formulas, Matthew presents the Jesus-event as the accomplishment of the divine plan. Hence the Deity behind the narrative is omnipresent and omnipotent within the events narrated. Each citation conveys the fact that the divine plan spoken through the Scriptures by God is being fulfilled. Matthew’s narrative is both theocentric and Christocentric.

Matthew’s Unique Messiah

Matthew’s references to Israel’s Scripture situate the Jesus-event within a comprehensive interpretation of Israel’s messianic tradition. His novel interpretation presents a story that contains prophetic anticipations of God’s ultimate renewal of the covenant through sending a Messiah who will ultimately effect His salvific plan. This messianic figure takes the destiny of Israel upon Himself and embodies the radical covenant obedience of God’s people. He gathers around Himself a new community within Israel, a community that also is called to embody the obedience, love, and mercy that are at the heart of Israel’s Torah.

Matthew begins his gospel narrative by referring to Jesus as the Christ. The Matthean use of the title ‘Christ’ in reference to the messianic expectations in David and Abraham is a conspicuous expression of the relevance ascribed to Israel’s Scriptures. It entails the claim that all Old Testament figures, institutions, and prophecies converge and find unexpected, definitive, and unsurpassable fulfillment in the Jesus-event. Matthew’s hermeneutical prowess is marked not only by the subtle attention to the 2^nd Temple context, but more so by the profound sensitivity to its contextual resonances.

Matthew’s purpose in pegging the Jewish Scriptures to his narrative is to demonstrate that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Immanuel. The Jewish Scriptures were meant to stimulate the growing Christian community, and especially those with a Jewish religious background, to perceive and assimilate Jesus’ divine identity

Matthew devotes far more space to Jesus as the authoritative teacher, the healer, the rightful King of Israel, and the ultimate goal of the law and prophets. Jesus is the Messiah who fulfills Scripture, literally, typologically and analogically; and is the embodiment of Israel’s history. Matthew’s Implied Readers must necessarily be conversant with the heritage and Bible of Israel; and thus must recognize and follow Jesus as the Messiah. His interpretation involves a special Christocentric hermeneutic: Jesus is the climax and the goal toward which the whole of the Jewish Scriptures pointed.

The Jesus-event is what fulfills the Jewish Scriptures while at the same time the Jewish Scriptures illuminate the Jesus-event according to Matthew. Jesus’ birth fulfills Old Testament texts and paradigms. His miracles fulfill Isaiah’s announcement of the end of exile (Mt 11:2-6; cf. Is 29:18-19; 35:5-6; 61:1). Jesus as a righteous individual is the representative of Israel and does what Israel as a collective entity did not do. The texts are consummated in the person of Jesus. He is not a political messiah. He is neither a warrior king entering Jerusalem nor a powerful priestly figure in the temple. Instead God’s salvation is achieved through His obedience and meekness.

Conclusion

At the broadest level, Matthew’s purpose in pegging the Jewish Scriptures to his narrative is to demonstrate that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Immanuel. The Jewish Scriptures were meant to stimulate the growing Christian community, and especially those with a Jewish religious background, to perceive and assimilate Jesus’ divine identity. Matthew reminds the Jewish people not only of their history but also highlights that God is fully capable of intervening to ensure the promised Messiah becomes a reality. The Jewish Scriptures reinforced the historical fact within the narrative, that the messianic kingdom has been inaugurated by the life, person and mission of Jesus. The result is a narrative account of the Jesus-event that is irreducibly complex, bearing affluent significations from various strands of Israel’s past experience.

• (Rev. Fr. Antony Situma Nalianya belongs to Catholic Diocese of Kitale, Kenya. He holds a doctorate in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome)