The Gospel of Matthew, Lesson 5.5

Reading the Old Testament in the New: The Gospel of Matthew

Lesson Five: Riddles of Rejection, Rock of Foundation

Lesson Objectives

  1. To read Matthew 11-18 with understanding.
  2. To understand the Old Testament background to Jesus’ teaching in parables.
  3. To understand the deep Old Testament context by which Matthew conveys that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah and the Church is the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom.

V. Study Questions

1. Based on what we’ve learned about the Old Testament context for the parables what message or messages was Jesus sending by beginning to speak in parables?

2. How does the Old Testament context help illuminate our understanding of Matthew’s depiction of Jesus’ divine identity in the story of His walking on the water?

3. What are the specific promises that God made to David? How are those promises fulfilled in Jesus and the Church.

4. Explain the Old Testament background for each of the following images in the story of Peter’s confession of faith: the Messiah, the Son of God, rock, building, gates of Hades, keys, and kingdom.

Begin Lesson 6

Lesson Outline

  1. Review and Overview
  2. Speaking of Mysteries
    1. Rejection and Riddles
    2. What Has Lain Hidden
  3. The Apostles Confess
    1. Revealing the Divine
    2. Walking on the Sea
  4. Upon This Rock I Will Build
    1. Son of David
    2. The Messiah, the Son of God
    3. The Rock of Abraham
    4. The Key to the Kingdom
  5. Study Questions

Other Lessons

  • Lesson One: Learning to Listen for Echoes: A New Approach to the New Testament
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To understand how important the Old Testament is to reading and interpreting the New Testament.
    2. To learn what “typology” is and to appreciate its significance for reading the New Testament.
    3. To understand the relationship between the writers of the New Testament and other first-century Jewish interpreters of Scripture.

    Begin Lesson One

  • Lesson Two: Son of David, Son of Abraham
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 1-2 with understanding.
    2. To learn the Old Testament history and background behind the quotations and allusions used in the prologue to Matthew’s gospel.
    3. To gain a fuller appreciation of Matthew’s depiction of Jesus as a “new Moses.”

    Begin Lesson Two

  • Lesson Three: ‘Not to Abolish, But to Fulfill’
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 3-7 with understanding.
    2. To understand the Old Testament background and allusions in Matthew’s depictions of John the Baptist, the Baptism of Jesus and His temptation in the wilderness.
    3. To understand the crucial importance of Jesus’ summary in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

    Begin Lesson Three

  • Lesson Four: Healing and Restoration
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 8-10 with understanding.
    2. To understand the Old Testament background and allusions in Matthew’s depiction of Jesus’ healings and other miracles and the growing tensions with the scribes and Pharisees.
    3. To understand how Matthew uses evocations of select Old Testament prophets to convey that in Jesus, the long-anticipated “restoration” of Israel has begun.

    Begin Lesson Four

  • Lesson Six: David’s Son, David’s Lord
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 19-28 with understanding.
    2. To understand the Old Testament background to Matthew’s depiction of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, His Passion and death.
    3. To understand the deep Old Testament context by which Matthew conveys that Jesus is the long-awaited “Son of David” and the “Son of God.”

    Begin Lesson Six