In this revised edition George Montague offers up-to-date exegesis on the Gospel of Matthew colored by his experience in South Asia, where cultural practices are closer than ours to biblical times. The result is a lively and spiritually enriching feast for the reader of Matthew. The work offers fresh insights with application to modern life. Matthew's portrait of Jesus paints the Savior as a continuing presence in the Church gathered in his name and sent forth to the nations. Thus the Emmanuel theme, which frames the entire gospel and runs throughout, is Matthew's equivalent of the theme of the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts and the Body of Christ in Paul. Jesus is the New Israel, the New Moses, the new law-giver who enables his disciples to love beyond measure because by his resurrection he becomes an ongoing power wherever two or three gather in his name or follow his commission to evangelize the nations. +
