The man of St Matthew

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Overview: chapters 8-9

Read through both chapters 8 and 9 noting the various episodes. You will see that the two chapters are dominated by a series of healings as well as the calming of a storm. All of these are acts of power by Jesus (see 9,8). Consider that we might be cautious about using the traditional word "miracle".
The first step for our reading is to discover how carefully Matthew has organised his material.

Begin by looking again 9,35 and 4,23 as we did earlier. How are these two verses fufilled in chapters 5 to 9?

Then list out all the episodes in both chapters 8 and 9. Draw up a table to show have they been arranged by the evangelist.
Where are these episodes to be found in Mark's Gospel or, for two of them, Luke?
What has Matthew done in 9,27-31? See 20,29-34 and Mk 10,46-52.

From this, consider the way Matthew has used his sources.

Then have a look at my response.

Chapter 8: Overview

Now we can take a closer look at chapter 8 itself. Following on from what we have just seen, look for the point where the chapter can be readily divided. That will give us two pages for our reading.

Then have another look at my response.

We are now ready to begin reading the first three healings, 8,1-17.