100 Fun Facts About Gospel of Matthew

Where does the Gospel of Matthew sit in the New Testament?

It is the first book: the early church thought Matthew the earliest gospel and placed it first, a view most scholars now reject in favour of Mark.

Which three gospels are known as the synoptic Gospels?

Matthew, Mark and Luke: set side by side they often match nearly word for word, which is why most scholars think the other two drew on Mark.

With which figure does Matthew's genealogy of Jesus begin?

Abraham: Matthew counts forward from him, while Luke's genealogy runs the other way, backwards from Jesus all the way to Adam.

According to Matthew, who was Joseph's father?

Jacob: Luke names Heli instead, and one old explanation for the clash is that Luke was really tracing Mary's family line.

Which two gospels contain accounts of the birth of Jesus?

Matthew and Luke, and they tell different stories: only Luke has the shepherds and the manger, and only Matthew has the wise men and the star.

In Matthew 21, which tree does Jesus curse for bearing no fruit?

A fig tree: in Matthew it withers on the spot, while in Mark the disciples find it dried up only the next morning.

What three gifts did the Magi offer the infant Jesus?

Gold, frankincense and myrrh: Matthew never says how many Magi came, and tradition most likely settled on three because of the three gifts.

In Matthew 12, Jesus tells critics they will get no sign except the sign of which prophet?

Jonah: Jesus says that as Jonah spent three days and nights inside the great fish, the Son of Man will spend three days in the earth.

On which feast day are the Magi commemorated in Western Christianity?

Epiphany, though the feast may have begun in the eastern Roman Empire mainly as a celebration of Jesus's baptism.

Which king orders the Massacre of the Innocents in Matthew chapter 2?

Herod the Great: Matthew says he killed every boy in Bethlehem aged two and under, yet Josephus, who lists many of Herod's crimes, never mentions it.

How was Joseph warned to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus?

By an angel in a dream: the Magi had been warned in a dream too, so they went home by another way.

After returning from Egypt, where did Joseph settle the family?

Nazareth in Galilee: Matthew says the move fulfilled the prophets' saying, 'He shall be called a Nazarene'.

In Matthew 9:9, Matthew is described as what when Jesus calls him?

A tax collector: when Jesus then dined with tax collectors and sinners, the Pharisees demanded to know why he ate with such people.

In the scene where Jesus calls Matthew, what name do the parallel accounts in Mark and Luke give the man?

Levi: the scenes match so closely that tradition treats Levi as Matthew's other name, though neither Mark nor Luke says they are one man.

Which early bishop provides the first attribution of the gospel to Matthew?

Papias of Hierapolis: he said Matthew compiled Jesus's sayings in Hebrew, yet most scholars now doubt that the apostle wrote this gospel.

Which city in Roman Syria is often proposed as the place where Matthew's gospel was written?

Antioch had a large Jewish quarter and an early mission to gentiles, a mix that suits a gospel steeped in Jewish law yet open to all nations.

In Matthew 28, what are the tomb guards paid to say happened to Jesus's body?

His disciples stole it: Matthew adds that this story was still being told among Jews 'until this day'.

Which animal, Jesus says, passes through a needle's eye more easily than a wealthy man enters God's kingdom?

A camel: the disciples were so astonished by the saying that they asked who, then, could be saved.

Matthew's usual term for God's reign is 'Kingdom of' what?

Heaven: no other gospel says 'kingdom of heaven', yet Matthew still uses 'kingdom of God', the wording of Mark and Luke, a few times.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls his followers the salt of the earth and the light of what?

The world: no one lights a lamp to hide it under a bushel, he says, so their good works should shine before others.

In Matthew 5, which group does Jesus say 'shall inherit the earth'?

The meek: Jesus is echoing Psalm 37, which had already promised that 'the meek shall inherit the earth'.

The Lord's Prayer is also known by which Latin name?

Pater Noster, Latin for 'Our Father': its familiar ending, 'for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory', appears only in late manuscripts of Matthew.

Which famous teaching does Jesus say sums up the law and the prophets in Matthew 7:12?

The Golden Rule: before Jesus, the sage Hillel had summed up the Torah with a negative version, 'That which is hateful to you do not do to another'.

In the parable that closes the Sermon on the Mount, the wise man builds his house on what?

Rock: when rain, floods and wind beat on it, it stood, while the foolish man's house on sand fell, 'and great was the fall of it'.

For how many days did Jesus fast in the wilderness before being tempted?

Forty: the forty days of Lent before Easter echo this fast in the wilderness.

In Matthew 13, what does an enemy secretly sow among a man's wheat while everyone sleeps?

Weeds: the master lets them grow until harvest, because pulling them up early would root up the wheat as well.

In Matthew 13, which precious object does a merchant sell everything to buy?

A pearl: the parable's 'pearl of great price' became an English idiom for anything of immense value.

Which miracle is the only one, apart from the resurrection, recorded in all four gospels?

The feeding of the 5,000: only John says the five barley loaves and two fish came from a boy in the crowd.

In Matthew 21, whose tables does Jesus overturn in the Temple?

The money changers': Jesus said they had turned a house of prayer into 'a den of thieves'.

In Matthew 14, a girl's dance at a birthday feast ends with whose head brought on a platter?

John the Baptist: he had been jailed for telling the ruler it was unlawful to take his own brother's wife.

In Matthew 16:16, Peter calls Jesus 'the Messiah, the Son of' whom?

The living God: Mark's Peter says only 'You are the Christ', and Luke's 'the Christ of God', so the fuller confession is Matthew's own.

What does the name Petros, given to Simon, mean?

Stone: it translates the Aramaic Cephas, which is why Paul's letters keep calling him Cephas instead of Peter.

Which two Old Testament figures appear with Jesus at the Transfiguration?

Moses and Elijah: Peter offered to build three shelters, for them and Jesus, but a bright cloud and a voice cut him off.

How often does Jesus tell Peter to forgive, in Matthew 18?

Seventy times seven, or 'seventy-seven times' in some modern Bibles: he then tells of a servant forgiven a vast debt who refuses to forgive a small one.

In the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, what daily wage do the labourers agree to?

A denarius: when all-day workers grumbled that latecomers got the same, the owner asked if he could not be generous with his own money.

The Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24–25 is also known by what nickname?

The Little Apocalypse: it opens with Jesus predicting that the Temple will be torn down, which Roman troops under Titus later did.

In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, what do the foolish virgins run out of?

Oil for their lamps: while they went off to buy more, the bridegroom arrived, and the door was shut before they got back.

In the Parable of the Talents, what does a master do before travelling?

Entrusts his property to his servants: a talent was a sum of money, and this parable probably explains why 'talent' came to mean a gift or skill.

Which saying sums up the 'Matthew effect'?

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer: Robert Merton later admitted his paper on the effect leaned so heavily on Harriet Zuckerman's interviews that it should have carried her name too.

In the Judgement of the Nations in Matthew 25, where does the King set the sheep?

His right hand: the sheep had fed, clothed and visited 'the least of these', and the King says they did it to him.

In Matthew 27, what do the Roman soldiers put on Jesus's head?

A crown of thorns: they added a scarlet robe and a reed for a sceptre, then knelt and mocked him as 'King of the Jews'.

According to Matthew 27, what did Judas do after trying to return the money?

He hanged himself, though the Acts of the Apostles tells a different story, in which Judas falls headlong and bursts open.

What did the chief priests buy with the returned silver, according to Matthew?

A potter's field, used to bury strangers, which is why 'potter's field' still means a burial ground for the poor and unclaimed.

Which prophet does Matthew name as foretelling the thirty pieces of silver?

Jeremiah, although the lines Matthew quotes most closely match Zechariah 11 rather than anything in Jeremiah.

In Matthew 27, whose wife sends word to spare Jesus after a troubling dream?

Pontius Pilate's: she begged him to have nothing to do with 'that just man', yet he gave in to the crowd and washed his hands of it.

Where does the risen Jesus deliver the Great Commission in Matthew 28?

On a mountain in Galilee, where Matthew admits that even as the disciples worshipped the risen Jesus, 'some doubted'.

Which Roman writer coined the Latin noun 'beatitudo', later used for the Beatitudes?

Cicero, and centuries later printed Latin Bibles used his word to head the blessings of Matthew 5, which gave them their English name, the Beatitudes.

In the Parable of the Mustard Seed, the seed is described as what?

The smallest of seeds, yet Jesus says it grows into a tree big enough for birds to come and nest in its branches.

In which language was the Gospel of Matthew, as we have it, written?

Greek, even though early church writers said Matthew wrote in Hebrew; no such Hebrew gospel has ever been found.

In Gethsemane, how does Judas show the armed crowd which man is Jesus?

He kisses him, yet Jesus answers the traitor's kiss by calling Judas 'Friend'.

In Matthew 17, where does Jesus tell Peter he will find a coin to pay their Temple levy?

In a fish's mouth: Peter is told to cast a hook into the sea and open the first fish he pulls up. The coin inside would be a four-drachma piece, double the two-drachma charge each man owed.

In Matthew 5:41, if someone forces you to go one mile, how far does Jesus say to go?

Two miles, double what was demanded, is the origin of the phrase 'going the extra mile'. The verb for 'forces' was a technical term for the Roman right to make locals act as porters or guides.

In an episode told only in Matthew's Gospel, what does Peter do on the lake before crying 'Lord, save me'?

Walk on water is what Peter manages for a few steps, until the wind frightens him and he begins to sink. The other gospels that describe Jesus crossing the sea on foot leave Peter in the boat.

Lincoln's warning that a divided what 'cannot stand' echoes words of Jesus found in Matthew 12:25?

A house divided against itself was Lincoln's image for a country half slave and half free, in his 1858 speech accepting a Senate nomination. Jesus says it to critics who claim he drives out demons by demonic power.

In Matthew 7:15, Jesus warns of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing but are inwardly which animals?

Wolves, 'ravening' ones in the King James wording, gave English the idiom 'a wolf in sheep's clothing'. Jesus goes on to say that such teachers will be known by their fruits.

Which composer set chapters 26 and 27 of Matthew's Gospel as a Passion first heard in Leipzig on Good Friday?

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the St Matthew Passion for double choir and double orchestra. It was barely heard outside Leipzig until a 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn revived it in Berlin in 1829.

What does Jesus promise to give Peter in Matthew 16:19, an image now crossed on the Vatican's coat of arms?

Keys 'of the kingdom' come with the power to bind and loose, the basis of later papal claims. Popes, as Peter's successors, put two crossed keys on their coats of arms.

In Matthew 6, which king 'in all his glory' does Jesus say was not dressed like the lilies of the field?

Solomon, for all his royal splendour, loses the comparison to wildflowers that neither toil nor spin. Jesus adds that God clothes even grass that is thrown into the oven a day later.

In Matthew 23, Jesus says the scribes and Pharisees are like what, beautiful outside but unclean within?

Whitewashed tombs, 'whited sepulchres' in the King James Version, look clean but are full of dead men's bones. The same chapter's run of 'woes' also calls the two groups hypocrites and blind guides.

Which winged creature from Ezekiel's vision is the traditional symbol of Matthew the Evangelist in art?

A man, shown with wings, stands for Matthew because his gospel opens with the human ancestry of Jesus. St Jerome gave an early form of the scheme, which pairs each evangelist with one of four creatures.

In Matthew 8, what is Jesus doing in the boat when a violent storm covers it with waves?

Sleeping through the storm, he has to be woken by disciples who think they are about to die. He rebukes the wind and the sea, and they ask what kind of man even the weather obeys.

In Matthew 26, Jesus predicts Peter will deny him three times that night before which creature is heard?

A rooster crows the moment Peter swears for the third time that he does not know Jesus. Remembering the prediction, he goes outside and weeps bitterly.

In Matthew 2, to which town in Judea are the Magi sent to search for the newborn king of the Jews?

Bethlehem is the town the scribes name, quoting a prophecy that a ruler would come from it. Matthew never says how many Magi made the journey; the traditional three comes from the number of their gifts.

In Matthew 22, whose image is on the coin Jesus asks to see when Pharisees try to trap him over taxes?

Caesar is the reply, and Jesus tells them to give Caesar what is his and God what is God's. The questioners, who had opened with flattery about his honesty, marvel at the answer and leave.

In Matthew 8, into which animals do the demons go before rushing down a cliff into the sea?

Pigs, a whole herd of them, drown, and the whole town comes out to beg Jesus to leave. Matthew tells the story with two possessed men where the other gospels have one.

In Matthew 13:55, people in Jesus's hometown ask, 'Is not this the son of' which tradesman?

The carpenter's son is how the neighbours dismiss him, before listing his mother and four brothers by name. Jesus replies that a prophet is honoured everywhere except at home.

Which Jewish festival meal are Jesus and the twelve disciples sharing at the Last Supper in Matthew 26?

Passover recalls Israel's escape from slavery in Egypt, and the disciples prepare the meal on the first day of Unleavened Bread. During it Jesus announces that one of the twelve will betray him.

In Matthew 18, whom does Jesus set among the disciples when they ask who is the greatest in God's kingdom?

A little child is his answer, with a warning that no one enters the kingdom without becoming like one. Whoever welcomes such a child in his name, he adds, welcomes him.

On which animal does Jesus ride into Jerusalem in Matthew 21, fulfilling a prophecy from the book of Zechariah?

A donkey fulfils Zechariah's line about a humble king 'riding on a donkey, on a colt'. In Matthew alone the disciples fetch two animals, a mother and her foal.

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says no one can serve two masters, ending 'You cannot serve both God and' what?

Mammon is an Aramaic word for wealth that the gospel leaves untranslated. Poets later made it a character: in Milton's Paradise Lost, Mammon is a fallen spirit who prizes treasure above everything.

In Matthew 6, which instrument does Jesus say hypocrites sound before them when they give to the poor?

A trumpet blown in the synagogues and streets wins the giver the praise of onlookers, and Jesus says that praise is the only reward they will get. Real giving, he teaches, is done in secret.

In Matthew 10, which creatures, sold two for a small coin, does Jesus say never fall without God's will?

Sparrows cost next to nothing, yet Jesus says not one falls without the Father. He adds that even the hairs on his listeners' heads are all numbered, so they need not be afraid.

In Matthew 7, what does Jesus say is in your own eye while you point out the speck in your brother's?

A wooden beam, also translated as a log or plank, makes the comic point that the critic has the bigger problem. Jesus says to take it out first, and only then help with the speck.

In Matthew 10:34, Jesus says he came to bring not peace on earth but what instead?

A sword is his image for the split that loyalty to him will cause inside families, setting a son against his father and a daughter against her mother. The lines echo the prophet Micah.

In a one-verse parable in Matthew 13, what does a woman hide in three measures of flour?

Yeast spreads until the whole batch has risen, a picture of something small quietly changing everything. Three measures was nearly 40 litres of flour, enough bread to feed a hundred people.

In the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, what eats the seed that falls along the roadside?

Birds swoop down and devour it, and Jesus later explains them as the evil one snatching the message from a hearer who does not understand. Only the seed on good soil yields a crop.

Which lakeside town becomes Jesus's home in Matthew 4 and is called 'his own city' in Matthew 9?

Capernaum, a fishing village on the lake's northern shore, is the setting for many of the early healings. Jesus later warns that it will be brought down for failing to repent after all it had seen.

In Matthew 9:17, what does Jesus say will burst if new wine is poured into old ones?

Wineskins that are old would split, spilling the wine and ruining the skins, so a new vintage goes into fresh ones. Jesus pairs the image with a patch of unshrunk cloth tearing an old coat.

In Matthew 9, what does a woman who had bled for twelve years touch as Jesus passes?

The fringe of his cloak is all she reaches for, telling herself that one touch will be enough. Jesus turns, calls her 'daughter' and tells her that her faith has made her well.

In Matthew 24, Jesus says the coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of which Old Testament figure?

Noah is the example: people ate, drank and married right up to the day the flood swept them away. Jesus uses the story to warn that the end will come without notice.

In Matthew 25, what does the servant given a single talent do with it?

Buries it in the ground is the choice of the fearful third servant, who hands back exactly what he was given. His master calls him wicked and lazy and says a banker would at least have paid interest.

Which Italian Baroque painter made 'The Calling of Saint Matthew' for the Contarelli Chapel in Rome?

Caravaggio shows Jesus pointing across a dim room while a shaft of light picks out the men around a table. Pope Francis said that on visits to Rome he often went to San Luigi dei Francesi to contemplate the painting.

In Matthew 23, Jesus longs to gather Jerusalem's children as which creature gathers her young under her wings?

A hen sheltering her brood is his picture of how often he wanted to protect the city that kills its prophets. The lament ends with a warning that Jerusalem will be left desolate.

To which high priest is Jesus led after his arrest in Matthew 26, to face the scribes and elders?

Caiaphas presides while the council hunts for testimony, then tears his clothes and cries blasphemy when Jesus speaks of the Son of Man seated in power. The council's verdict is death.

Which natural event does Matthew report both at the death of Jesus and at the opening of his tomb?

An earthquake strikes as Jesus dies and again at dawn on the day the tomb is opened. The guards posted there shake with fear and become like dead men.

Which group, who denied any resurrection, quiz Jesus in Matthew 22 about a woman widowed by seven brothers?

The Sadducees pose the riddle of whose wife she will be in the afterlife. Jesus answers that the risen neither marry nor are given in marriage, and tells them they do not know the Scriptures.

In Matthew 12, by which 'prince of the demons' do the Pharisees claim Jesus drives out evil spirits?

Beelzebul is the name they reach for after Jesus heals a man who was blind and mute. He replies that a kingdom fighting itself would collapse, so the charge makes no sense.

In Matthew 26:73, what do bystanders in the high priest's courtyard say gives Peter away as a follower?

His accent betrays Peter in Jerusalem, and he answers with curses that he does not know the man. The King James Version puts it memorably: 'thy speech bewrayeth thee'.

Which word for the community of believers appears in Matthew 16 and 18 but in no other gospel?

Church translates the word ekklesia, which turns up in just two gospel verses, both in Matthew. In one Jesus tells Peter 'I will build my church'; in the other he tells believers to bring it an unresolved dispute.

Which hypothetical lost collection of sayings do many scholars think the author of Matthew used?

The Q document takes its letter from the German word Quelle. It was proposed to explain sayings that Matthew shares almost word for word with one other gospel but that the earliest gospel lacks.

In Matthew 2, which matriarch is heard 'weeping for her children' in Ramah after the infants are killed?

Rachel 'would not be comforted, because they are no more', in a verse first written about her descendants being carried into captivity. Matthew turns it into a lament for the murdered boys.

Which prophet's line 'Out of Egypt I called my son' does Matthew 2 apply to the infant Jesus?

Hosea was writing about the exodus, with the nation of Israel as God's 'son' called out of slavery. Matthew reapplies the line to the family's return from hiding abroad.

In Matthew 2, which ruler of Judea makes Joseph afraid to settle there on the family's return from Egypt?

Archelaus had just inherited Judea from his father, so Joseph turned north instead. About ten years later the emperor Augustus removed Archelaus and banished him to Gaul.

In which southern Italian city's cathedral crypt is the tomb of Saint Matthew venerated?

Salerno's cathedral, consecrated in 1084, is dedicated to the apostle and keeps his relics in its crypt. He is the city's patron saint, as he is of accountants and bankers.

What name do scholars give the 'You have heard, but I say to you' sayings in Matthew 5?

The Antitheses set a saying of the old law against a stricter demand, on subjects from murder and adultery to oaths. Some scholars dislike the label, arguing that Jesus intensifies the law and never contradicts it.

Which Italian director filmed 'The Gospel According to St. Matthew' in 1964 with mostly non-professional actors?

Pier Paolo Pasolini, well known as an atheist and a Marxist, took the film's dialogue directly from the gospel text. He cast his own mother, Susanna, as the elderly Mary.

In the King James Version of Matthew 5:18, not 'one jot or one' what shall pass from the law?

Tittle means a tiny pen stroke, like the dot on an i, and 'jot' is the small letter iota. Together they gave English a phrase for attending to every last detail.

In Matthew 26, in which village does a woman pour costly ointment on Jesus's head from an alabaster jar?

Bethany is where Jesus is dining at the home of Simon the leper when she anoints him. When the disciples call it a waste, he says her act will be retold wherever the gospel is preached.

In the Judgement of the Nations in Matthew 25, the Son of Man separates the sheep from which animals?

Goats stand for those who ignored the hungry, the stranger and the prisoner, and so ignored the King himself. The test in the story is simple kindness to 'the least of these'.

Which shout from the crowds in Matthew 21:9, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, is still sung on Palm Sunday?

Hosanna began as a Hebrew plea meaning 'save us' and became a cry of praise. The crowds shout it to 'the son of David' while spreading their clothes and cut branches on the road.