Interpreting the Book of Matthew Essay

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Central message

This Matthean Bible passage falls under the concept of eschatology (Matt. 24:1-31). One of the eschatological occurrences foretold is the return of the Son of Man (Matt. 24:29-31). The focus passage (Matt. 24:45-51) falls in-between a group of successive passages (Matt. 24:32-25; 46-51) which are advices on how best to live currently in line with this eschatology. The verses preceding and succeeding “The Parable of the Good Servant and the Wicked Servant” has several repeated warnings which states that, though the end is foreseen, there is no one who knows when exactly the end will come (Matt. 24:36, 42, 44; 25:13). These exhortations are concerned with the time between the first and the second coming of Christ, this time in which the master has embarked on a trip which he will return from (Matt. 25:14), as explained in the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30). Since the time when the second advent of the Son of Man will take place is unknown, the Lord’s servants are enjoined to be prepared (Matt. 24:36-44; 25:1-13) and wise (Matt. 24:32-35)

Literally, this Bible passage can be called a parable due to three reasons. (1) Even though Matthew didn’t specifically refer to it as a parable, Luke did. (Luke 12:41). (2) In the 32nd verse i.e. Matt 24:32, an end to the eschatological discourse was made by the evangelist (24:1-31) and an explanation of its dangers with a number of parables began with the first one being the parable of the fig tree (Matt. 24:32-35). More parables were given until Matthew began an account of the works of Jesus. (3) The heading of this paragraph in the Synopsis of the Four Gospels (Aland 1987, 266) as well as several biblical commentators equally view this Bible passage as a parable (Tasker 1961, 228; Hagner 1995, 723-724).

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This “Parable of the Good Servant and the Wicked Servant” in the book of Matthew appears only once elsewhere in the Bible (Luke 12:41-46). The setting of Luke’s parable is different as Jesus gives it while travelling, with the precise location being somewhere between Jerusalem and Galilee. As this Bible passage is not seen in Mark and is not used in the same context as Matthew and Luke, it is very likely that Luke and Matthew chose the parable from the traditions which they discovered within the source named Q (Hagner 1995, 723). Even though Luke has positioned this parable differently as it appears in the travel narrative, he applied it in a similar way to Matthew i.e. he related it to the eschatological teaching of Jesus and also connected it to his disciples and how they behaved in the time between Christ first and second coming.

Interpretation of the message

The servant can decide to be bad or good. In this parable, every human is seen as a potential servant. Good servants can be known via their behaviour which is expected to be wise and truthful. He completes all expected tasks and takes care of the Lord’s household. These servants represent Jesus disciples (Carson 1984, 510). Therefore, the good servants are the group of servants made up of the church leaders and others who have an allotted responsibility in the church; the Lord’s household. Any man who proves….....

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