70 AD - Matthew's Gospel - A Scribe's Answer To Crisis.mp3

Matthew’s Gospel: A Scribe’s Answer to Crisis, 70 A.D.   Other Matthew episodes focus on Aramaic origins and catechetical use. This episode focuses on the post-Temple crisis context. Around 70 A.D., Matthew, a Jewish Christian, penned his Gospel in Antioch after Jerusalem’s Temple fell, as chronicled by Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. The destruction, detailed by Josephus’ Jewish War, left Jewish Christians reeling, facing Roman oppression and synagogue expulsion, per Irenaeus. Matthew’s Gospel, found in 2nd-century papyri, targeted these converts, weaving Jesus’ life with Old Testament prophecies to affirm Him as Messiah. Unlike Mark’s urgent tone, its structured parables, like the Sermon on the Mount, provided hope, per Clement of Alexandria. Copied in Antioch’s house churches, per archaeological evidence, it became a catechetical cornerstone, countering Ebionite heresies denying Jesus’ divinity, per Tertullian. Its five discourses, preserved in early lectionaries, shaped worship, offering stability amidst chaos. Matthew’s response to crisis, per church records, highlights the church’s resilience under persecution. This story of faith in turmoil reveals how scripture anchored early believers. Reflect: Matthew’s Gospel, born in crisis, prompts us to ask—how do we find stability when life’s foundations crumble? His deliberate weaving of prophecies challenges us to trust Christ’s promises, grounding our faith in God’s eternal plan, just as Jewish Christians clung to hope under Roman rule, finding strength in Jesus’ Messianic fulfillment to navigate their uncertain world.    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJdTG9noRxsEKpmDoPX06VtfGrB-Hb7T4&si=XHXROby3f-P9y16B

 

It started with smoke. Not incense in the Temple—but black pillars rising above Jerusalem.

The revolt was over. The city was silent. The Temple—once the center of God’s covenant—was ash. Roman banners flew where priests once walked. Blood soaked the stones where psalms had been sung.

For Jewish Christians, it wasn’t just national loss. It was personal. The house of worship that shaped their entire spiritual world was gone. Their identity as Jews who followed Jesus was under fire—rejected by synagogue leaders, misunderstood by Gentile believers, and hunted by Rome.

In a city far to the north, another kind of fire was lit.

A Jewish follower of Jesus—educated, deliberate, and grieving—picked up a pen. He wasn’t trying to start a movement. He was trying to keep the faith from unraveling.

The result was a Gospel.

Not just a retelling of Jesus’ life, but a carefully woven tapestry of fulfillment and hope. A bridge between the Law and the Cross. A declaration that God’s promises hadn’t failed—they’d been fulfilled in a Messiah many were beginning to doubt.

It wasn’t written in triumph. It was written in trauma.

Not from comfort—but crisis.

Because when everything that once held you together comes crashing down… you need a word that doesn’t.

From the That’s Jesus Channel, welcome to COACH—where we trace Church Origins and Church History. I’m Bob Baulch.

On Mondays, we stay between 0 and 500 AD.

Today… we open the scroll of a Gospel born in the shadows of collapse. Let’s go back to the year 70 AD. Jerusalem has fallen. The Temple—the symbol of God’s presence among His people—has been reduced to rubble by Roman fire and siege. Priests are scattered. Families enslaved. The heart of Jewish worship is gone.

And in the aftermath, Jewish Christians were left to ask: Now what?

Their loyalty to Jesus already made them targets. With the Temple gone, many were driven from synagogues. Their world was crumbling. Their identity—both as Jews and as believers in the Messiah—was under threat.

And that’s when one of them picked up a pen.

Tradition tells us his nam