Lifting the Burden: Reading Matthew's Gospel in the Church Today

Byrne, Brendan (2004) Lifting the Burden: Reading Matthew's Gospel in the Church Today. Liturgical Press, Collegeville. ISBN 081463026X

Abstract

This exposition of Matthew's Gospel contends that Matthew presents Jesus as interpreting the Torah in a way that is burden-lifting in contrast to the burden-imposing approach of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt 23:3) and gives primacy to the weightier matters of the Torah—justice, mercy, and faith (23:23). Central to this presentation of Jesus is the twice-occurring appeal, unique to Matthew, to the prophetic text Hos 6:6, with its insistence on the favouring mercy before sacrifice (Matt (9:13; 12:7). Other aspects of the Gospel that reinforce this presentation include the stress upon the ministry of Jesus as healing and the explicit portrayal of him in terms of the Servant figure of Isaiah. While Jesus personal ministry is confined to Israel, in telling the story Matthew consistently foreshadows the worldwide mission of the post-Easter church in which, as risen Lord, Jesus will be the Messiah in whom the nations (Gentiles) will place their hope (Matt 12:21; cf. Isa 42:1-4).

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