nunblog: Read the Bible with Me!

Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We've been reading the Bible clear through this year. We've reached the New Testament, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:

Father,

When the fullness of time had come, you sent your Word in the One who said, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” No revelation can surpass this, until Jesus comes again in glory.

Open my mind today to the gift of life and truth your Word offers me through the Church. By your Holy Spirit, grant me wisdom and strength to put this Word into practice and to become, myself, a presence of Jesus for people who are looking for you.

Jesus, eternal Word and Son of the Father, live in me with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Today's chapters are Matthew 4-6.

We have already had a hint in the Holy Family's return from Egypt that for Matthew, Jesus sums up Israel's history in himself. Now we have another hint: Led by the Spirit of God, God's chosen One spends a significant 40 days in the desert. But here Jesus reverses the pattern established by his ancestors. Whereas they "tested God" (repeatedly!) throughout their 40 years in the desert, Jesus responds to temptation with the words of Deuteronomy: "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test" (Dt 6:16). Only after this ordeal does he begin his public ministry of preaching and healing.

Matthew is also concerned that we recognize in Jesus the "prophet like me" whom Moses foretold (Dt 18:15). In Chapter 5 Jesus goes up "the" unnamed mountain, as Moses went up Mt Sinai. But Jesus sits down to offer his famous Sermon on the Mount. This is the posture of a teacher; of someone with authority. (This is why a bishop will preach from his cathedra, or teaching chair, in his cathedral.)

Moses was handing on a Law received from God. Jesus speaks in his own name. Moses delivered a short list of proscriptions ("thou shalt nots") with two positive commandments (to keep holy the Lord's Day and to honor one's parents). Jesus revealed the mysterious glory of those who go beyond the bare minimum, and promises them even more, for he himself did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.

Start reading here.

For additional background

On Matthew

We have barely a week and a half with the Gospel of Matthew, and there's just too much wealth there for me to even hint at in my little introductions (to three chapters a day!). So Dr Edward Sri's companion to the Gospel of Matthew is a good study guide: it even has reflection questions and space for you to write your answers!

For all Four Gospels

I am happy to recommend this volume of The Four Gospels in an edition directed to young readers and their parents. The text of all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Revised Standard Translation is accompanied by FAQs that a middle-school reader might ask (or, to be honest, anybody reading the Gospels for the first time). The footnotes were prepared by a team of Scripture scholars for parents and guardians, making the book ideal for family Bible reading.