How the Gospel of Matthew Presents Jesus As God
Presenting Jesus’ Divinity to a Jewish Audience in a Jewish Way
Critical circles often claim that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not present Jesus as God. Whereas the Gospel of John contains direct statements of divinity (such as Thomas calling Jesus “My Lord and my God!”), Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not seem to.
Or do they?
Matthew is predominantly a Jewish Gospel, written to present the Jewish Messiah to the Jewish people. As such, Matthew presents most of his claims in terms that a Jewish audience grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures would understand.
What if Matthew constantly claimed Jesus is God — but wrote it in a way his Jewish audience would understand?
What if it was staring us in the face all along?
It all comes down to one word:
Worship.
Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, arguing that Jesus is the Messiah.
What does a Jewish audience know about worship?
They know that you worship only God.
They know that the worship of anyone else is blasphemy.
They know that to suggest anyone else but God be worshiped is idolatry.
In case his audience didn’t know this going in, Matthew provides a clear moment of calibration:
Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. (Matthew 4:8–11 ESV)
Every good Jew knows: you worship the Lord your God only, and Him only shall you serve.
How, then, does Matthew present Jesus?
Matthew describes Jesus being worshiped constantly all throughout His life.
The wise men worship Jesus as a baby (Matthew 2:10–12)
The leper worships Jesus at his healing (Matthew 8:2)
The synagogue ruler — who knows his Bible! — knelt down in worship of Jesus when he seeks healing for his daughter (Matthew 9:18–19)
The disciples worship Jesus in the boat (Matthew 14:32–33)
The Syro-Phoenician woman worships Jesus as she pleads for the healing of her daughter (Matthew 15:21–28)
The mother of James and John worship Jesus (Matthew 20:20–21)
The women worship Jesus at the empty tomb (Matthew 28:8–10)
The 11 disciples worship Jesus when they see Him in Galilee after the Resurrection (Mathew 28:16–20)
The meaning of all this might be lost on modern ears. We are surrounded by multitudes of religions proffering countless deities to worship. We even speak openly of “worshiping” sports teams, pop stars, or politicians.
But to a first-century Jew, you only worship God.
It is blasphemy to worship anything else.
Or to say it another way: you risk sending your soul to hell if you worship anything other than God.
Blasphemy is no joke to a faithful Jew. It is a rejection of the God who gives life, a rejection of your relationship with Him, a rejection of the greatest commandments in Scripture. Blasphemy is so serious that a faithful Jew would cover their ears and yell if they suspected someone of blaspheming God, protecting themselves from even hearing the thought of such a horrific thing.
Every faithful Jew knows: you only worship God.
Yet Matthew constantly describes Jesus being worshiped. Jesus never rebukes it, but always welcomes it. Jesus blesses those who worship Him!
If Jesus wasn’t God, then worshiping Him would be idolatrous and blasphemous. It would be a gateway to hell, worshiping the creation rather than the Creator.
If Jesus wasn’t God, but He allowed people to worship Him, then Jesus would be a false prophet. Jesus would be watching people send themselves to hell, and not say a word to stop them. If Jesus wasn’t God, but allowed all of this, then Jesus would have been one of the vilest people to ever walk the planet.
The risk is so severe that any time a human tries to worship an angel in Scripture, the angel immediately stops it. The angel immediately redirects their worship to God alone.
Jesus never does.
Jesus always welcomes worship, always celebrates it, always encourages it.
To a Jewish mind, there is only one reason for doing so: Jesus is claiming to be God. Jesus is claiming that it is right to worship Him, just as it is right to only worship God.
Matthew composes his Gospel to present Jesus being constantly worshiped. It opens with the wise men worshiping Jesus and closes with the eleven disciples worshiping Jesus.
Matthew does not want his audience to see this as a new idea, something that clashes with the Old Testament. He therefore grounds the worship of Jesus with multiple prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures, including this:
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”). (Matthew 1:22–23 BSB)
When, then, should a faithful Jew do in the presence of God?
If God is with us, there is only one proper thing to do.
Worship Him.
I just finished a year long Bible Study on Matthew and the emphasis of "worship" when addressing the Jewish people was overlooked. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.