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Matthew 15:29-31: An Overlooked Summary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Thomas J. Ryan
Thomas J. Ryan*
Affiliation:
Saint Joseph's College
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Abstract

Matthew's adroit use of the summary passage at critical junctures in his Gospel to provide the reader with christological and ecclesiological insights has long been noted and the most important of these passages studied. However, for a number of reasons Matthew 15:29-31 has not been extensively probed. Ryan views this summary as the third in a triad of summary passages found between Matthew 11:2-16:20 concerned with the healing activity of an already rejected Jesus and the prophesied obduracy of the religious leadership which will culminate in the death of the Messiah-Son of God.

Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1978 , pp. 31 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 1978

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References

1 The summary passage is but one technique employed by Matthew to portray Jesus' ministry, the mission of the disciples, and the reactions of Israel to these messianic activities. Also to be noted are Matthew's modifications of traditional material, his composition of narrative introductions, arrangement of parts within a particular episode or in a series of episodes, repetition of dominant themes focused on Christology or discipleship. Cf., Thompson, W. G., “Reflections on the Composition of Matthew 8:1-9:34,” CBQ 33 (1971), pp. 365–388Google Scholar; Kingsbury, J. D., Matthew (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), pp. 15–21Google Scholar.

2 Among others, Leon-Dufour, X., “The Gospel According to Matthew,” in Robert, A.-Feuillet, A., Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Desclee, 1965), pp. 167–173Google Scholar; Held, H. J., “Matthew as Interpreter of Miracle Stories,” in Bomkamm, G., Barth, G., Held, H. J., Tradition and Interpretation in Matthew (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963), pp. 246–247Google Scholar; Thompson, W. G., “Reflections on the Composition of Matthew 8:1-9:34,” pp. 366–368Google Scholar.

3 On this inverse structure, see Fenton, J. C., The Gospel of St. Matthew (Baltimore: Penguin, 1963), p. 75Google Scholar. The disciples and the church can only be commissioned to “teach,” that is, to interpret the revelation given by Jesus when it is complete. This revelation is completed with the death and resurrection of Jesus, hence the church is empowered to “make disciples” and to interpret the revelation in the climactic commissioning scene Matthew 28:16-20. Cf., Perrin, N., The New Testament: An Introduction (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1974), pp. 181, 189fGoogle Scholar.

4 Cope, O. Lamar, Matthew: A Scribe Trained for the Kingdom of Heaven (Washington: Catholic Biblical Association, 1976), pp. 32–52Google Scholar.

5 The work of Kingsbury has served to demonstrate that christology is the key to the gospel's structure, to the author's concept of the history of salvation as well as his christology. The most significant title in Matthew's christology is “son of God.” Cf. Kingsbury, J. D., “The Structure of Matthew's Gospel and His Concept of Salvation History,” CBQ 35 (1973), pp. 451–474Google Scholar; “Form and Message of Matthew,” Interpretation 29 (1975), pp. 13–23Google Scholar; “The Title ‘Son of God’ in Matthew's Gospel,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 5 (1975), pp. 3–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; “The Title ‘Son of Man’ in Matthew's Gospel,” CBQ 37 (1975), pp. 193–202Google Scholar; Matthew: Structure, Christology, Kingdom (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975)Google Scholar; Matthew (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977)Google Scholar.

6 In this description of the problems of Matthew's church community, I am following the analysis given in chapter four of Kingsbury's, Matthew, pp. 78–106Google Scholar.

7 Cf., Kingsbury, , Matthew: Structure, Christology, Kingdom, pp. 17–21Google Scholar.

8 Cf., Cope, , Matthew: A Scribe Trained for the Kingdom of Heaven, especially pp. 49–52Google Scholar.

9 Cf., Kingsbury, , “The Structure of Matthew's Gospel and His Concept of Salvation History,” p. 461Google Scholar.

10 Cf., Kingsbury, J. D., The Parables of Jesus in Matthew 13 (Richmond: John Knox, 1969), p. 23Google Scholar; Minear, P., “The Disciples and the Crowds in the Gospel of Matthew,” Anglican Theological Review, supp. series 3 (1974), pp. 28–44Google Scholar.

11 Ellis, P., Matthew: His Mind and His Message (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1974), p. 64Google Scholar; Brown, R., Donfried, K., Reumann, J., eds. Peter in the New Testament (New York: Paulist, 1973), pp. 80–105Google Scholar.

12 Kingsbury, , Matthew: Structure, Christology, Kingdom, pp. 21-22; 92fGoogle Scholar.

13 For recent bibliography on the meaning of the expression, see Brown, , Donfried, and Reumann, , eds., Peter in the New Testament, pp. 80–105Google Scholar.

14 Stahlin, G., “Skandalon,” in Kittel, G. (ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), VII, p. 348Google Scholar.

15 Held, , “Matthew as Interpreter of Miracle Stories,” p. 210Google Scholar, mentions that the deaf mute is not presented as one capable of exercising faith. He is brought to Jesus, requests are made on his behalf, and Jesus carries out the healing techniques on him. Jesus appears solely as wonder worker; he is addressed not as “Lord” but as a physician. The miracle story did not have for Matthew the same anticipatory symbolism as for Mark in whose gospel the cure in some way points to the coming confession at Caesarea-Philippi (Mark 8:27-33).

16 For this insight and its development, see Fenton, , The Gospel of St. Matthew, p. 257Google Scholar.

17 Cope, , Matthew, p. 14, v. 30; p. 15, v. 31Google Scholar.

18 Cf., Schweizer, E., The Good News According to Matthew (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975), p. 331Google Scholar.

19 In this analysis, I respectfully acknowledge my debt to my former professor of New Testament at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Ignace De La Potterie, S.J. The breakdown of this passage may in substance be found in his Exegesis Quarti Evangelii: Capita IX-X (Rome, 1967), p. 15Google Scholar.

20 Cf., Kingsbury, , Matthew: Structure, Christology, Kingdom, p. 19Google Scholar.

21 Jesus is tempted as Son of God on a mountain (4:8); he retires to a mountain for prayer (14:23); on the mountain of the transfiguration he is declared to be God's Son by the heavenly voice (17:1, 5); after his resurrection, Jesus commissions the eleven on a mountain as Son of God (28.16, 19).

22 Cf., Kingsbury, , The Parables of Jesus in Matthew, pp. 13, 23Google Scholar.

23 Ibid., p. 25.

24 Cf. Schweizer, , The Good News According to Matthew, p. 331Google Scholar.

25 Cf. Moriarty, F., “Isaiah” in Brown, R., Fitzmyer, J., Murphy, R. (eds.), Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1969), 16:60, p. 280Google Scholar.

26 Cf. Schweizer, , The Good News According to Matthew, p. 331Google Scholar.

27 For a different view, see Bieder, W., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968), VI, p. 992Google Scholar.

28 Cf. Potterie, De La, Exegesis Quarti Evangelii: Capita IX-X, p. 15Google Scholar.

29 Cf. Weiss, K., “Pous,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, VI, p. 30Google Scholar.

30 Cf., Potterie, De La, Exegesis Quarti Evangelii: Capita IX -X, pp. 13–14Google Scholar.

31 Thompson, , “Reflections on the Composition of Matthew 8:1-9:34,” p. 338Google Scholar.