New and Old in Matthew 11–13

On the background of (a) the Gospel of Matthew’s concern for the preservation of the Jesus tradition, as well as the centrality of the Hebrew scriptural tradition and its world view for the gospel’s theology, and (b) the gospel’s independence from these sources in the transmission of the sayings of Jesus and the narratives describing events in his life, as well as the translation and employment of scriptural citations, the author examines how these traditions can be said to be authoritative for the first evangelist. The gospel is defined as theological discourse, and the reception and transmission of Scripture and synoptic source material involves the interpretation and actualisation of both strands of tradition. Three theological themes are identified as central: (1) Jesus is present as the coming one, in whom the kingdom of heaven is brought near, and (2) as the one who is ‘greater’ than previous figures and places of revelation; (3) also of relevance is the callousness of Israel regarding Jesus as the coming one. The study finds that Jesus tradition and Scripture function authoritatively in the gospel in similar ways and are interpreted in light of each other.