The Son of David and King of the Jews

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For the author of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus belongs wholly to the world of Israel. Some have tried to understand Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as a new law that is no longer Jewish but Christian and that must be contrasted to the law of Moses. The antitheses of the Sermon on the Mount, however, are an interpretation and radicalization of the law of Moses—not a repudiation of it—as the sermon states explicitly that “until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:18–19).

Matthew also presents Jesus as denouncing the missionaries to the Gentiles as not doing the will of his father, although they may claim to have done great deeds in his name: “On that day they will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name? Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22–23). Unfortunately, modern translations like the New Revised Standard Version translate the last phrase as “you evildoers”; the Greek text, however, does not speak of doing evil in general but designates those people as “breakers of the law.” When Jesus sends out his disciples, he instructs them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5–6). Jesus himself seems reluctant to heal the daughter of a Canaanite woman, saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Only when the woman persists and argues does he grant her wish (Matthew 15:21–28).

To be sure, the Pharisees and scribes are Jesus’ enemies in this gospel, and Matthew here assigns sayings to Jesus that must appear to us today as unjust and unfair. The Pharisees are not, however, criticized because of their teaching but because of their practice. Jesus tells his disciples that their teaching is legitimate: “The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do what they do because they do not practice what they teach” (Matthew 23:2–3). No doubt, Matthew was certain that salvation through Jesus can only be obtained as long as his followers accept the law of Moses and do not transgress it, though their “righteousness must be better than that of the scribes and Pharisees” (Matthew 5:20).

That Jesus belongs to Israel is made clear also at the beginning of the gospel. Jesus is not only a son of David and therefore the legitimate messiah, he is first of all a son of Abraham, that is, an Israelite (Matthew 1:1). In many churches, the story of the three wise men (Matthew 2:1–12) was read on Epiphany Sunday at the beginning of this year, and it may even have been enacted in the church service with children bringing the figures of the three “kings” to the cradle of the child Jesus. Yet it is often forgotten that these three wise men, when they came to King Herod in Jerusalem, were not searching for the savior of the nations but for “the child who has been born King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2), and they were told that they would find the child in the city of David (Matthew 2:5–6). It is this Jew Jesus, this offspring of Abraham and David, King of the Jews, who is then proclaimed as the Son of God by the voice from heaven at his baptism (Matthew 3:17).

When Matthew’s version of the story of Jesus’ suffering and death is read during Lent and Holy Week, these Jewish titles of Jesus will appear again. Jesus enters Jerusalem, riding on an ass, and Matthew adds the quotation from Zecheriah 9:9: “Behold your king is coming to you” (Matthew 21:5), and the crowd hails him with “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matthew 21:9; note that Mark’s text does not include this title). The title “king of the Jews” occurs again in the story of Jesus’ suffering. The soldiers mock him saying, “Hail, king of the Jews” (Matthew 27:29), and they put the charge against him over his head when he is crucified, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37). The chief priests, along with the scribes and elders, mock the crucified Jesus: “He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe him” (Matthew 27:42). It was because of this claim to the kingship of Israel that Jesus was crucified by the Romans as a political criminal. The Romans knew quite well why they condemned him. (That the Jewish authorities of Jerusalem cooperated with the Romans is another matter.)

That, of course, is not the entire story that Matthew tells. The first to confess 044that Jesus is truly the Son of God is not a man from Israel but a Gentile, a Roman centurion, who was commanding those who kept watch over the dying Jesus (Matthew 27:54). When Jesus appears to his disciples, he sends them out “to make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Coming at the very end of the gospel, this may seem an unexpected shift in the orientation of Jesus’ origin and ministry. But it should not come as a complete surprise for readers of Matthew’s story of Jesus. The first worshipers of Jesus, the three wise men, were Gentiles. In the course of the narrative, Matthew had already quoted a prophesy from Israel about the servant of God, of whom Isaiah 53:4 says, “And in his name the Gentiles will hope” (Matthew 12:21).

There remains one condition, however, for the Gentiles to be accepted: Jesus tells the disciples not only to go to all the nations and to baptize them, but also to teach the nations “to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). The law must be fulfilled. Although the church is by the time of the writing of the gospel separated from the synagogue, Matthew insists that the Gentile Christians remember that Jesus wholly belongs to the people of Israel and that they practice a righteousness that is fully committed to the law of Israel.

For the author of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus belongs wholly to the world of Israel. Some have tried to understand Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as a new law that is no longer Jewish but Christian and that must be contrasted to the law of Moses. The antitheses of the Sermon on the Mount, however, are an interpretation and radicalization of the law of Moses—not a repudiation of it—as the sermon states explicitly that “until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. […]