„Historia Iesu - historia Israel.
De Evangelii secundum Matthaeum structura”

in: Żyjemy dla Pana.
Księga Pamiątkowa dedykowana S. Profesor Ewie Józefie Jezierskiej OSU
w siedemdziesiątą rocznicę urodzin,
ed. M. Rosik, Wrocław 2005, 615-620.

Author examines structure of Matthew's Gospel which was addressed to Christians of Jewish origin. Being aware of the Torah's significance for Judaism, Matthew composed his Gospel with five great discourses of Jesus contained in it. The idea of five discourses conveys a message: the Good News about salvation brought by Jesus becomes a „New Torah”, and Jesus himself becomes a „New Moses”. It seems that Matthew's intention was to show the history of Jesus as an abbreviated and condensed history of Israel. The five discourses of Jesus relate to five stages or critical moments in history of chosen people. Jesus going up the mount (Matt 5,1) is correlated with Moses on Sinai and with giving Decalogue to the Israelites. Choosing and sending out the Twelve to Galilee (Matt 10,1-10) relate to conquer of Canaan, beginning from Galilee. Centrally placed sermon in parables (Matt 13), with the Kingdom of God as the main theme, can be instantly associated with reign of David and Solomon. Return from exile in Babylon is similar to situation of nascent Christian community, i.e. the Church. Life of this community was shaped by the rules shown in ecclesiastical discourse (Matt 18). Two last centuries before Christ are characterized in Israel by appearance of apocalyptic literature. This is the reason why eschatological discourse is placed at the end of Mark's work.

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