The Big Read: Matthew
The Big Read is a church wide Bible reading plan that we follow at Banstead Community Church.
Each month we read together 1 (sometimes 2) books, which gets us through the whole Bible is 4 years. We’ve found it more manageable than a ‘Bible in one year’ plan and it has worked well for us as church.
For each book of the Bible, I’ve put together some resources to help people read the Bible. Here’s the ones for Matthew.
Overview
At the beginning of each month, I introduce the book we are reading at our evening service by giving an overview. Below is the handout from an overview talk on Matthew.
Reading Plan
Read Matthew in 20 days
Weekly Read 1 – Matthew 1-7
Daily Reads Mon: Matthew 1-2; Tues: Matthew 3-4; Wed: Matthew 5; Thurs: Matthew 6; Fri: Matthew 7
Weekly Read 2 – Matthew 8-14
Daily Reads Mon: Matthew 8-9; Tues: Matthew 10; Wed: Matthew 11-12; Thurs: Matthew 13; Fri: Matthew 14
Weekly Read 3 – Matthew 15-21
Daily Reads Mon: Matthew 15; Tues: Matthew 16; Wed: Matthew 17-18; Thurs: Matthew 19-20; Fri: Matthew 21
Weekly Read 4 – Matthew 22-28
Daily Reads Mon: Matthew 22-23; Tues: Matthew 24-25; Wed: Matthew 26; Thurs: Matthew 27; Fri: Matthew 28
Daily Prayers
20 short prayers based on verses from the book of Matthew.
Catechesis for the Church
At the start of the month, in our Catechesis for the Church slot in the morning service, I give a short talk to preview the overview of the book in the evening service. Here’s an outline of the talk I gave on Matthew.
Can you tell me who the following pictures are of? [Put pictures of Mickey Mouse’s ears; Marge Simpson’s hair; Pinocchio’s nose; Shrek’s ears; Elvis’ hair up on the screen]
We can recognise each of them because they have some feature which makes them recognisable whether it be their ears or their haircut.
What’s true for them is also true for Jesus. When we look at Jesus we should be able to recognise who He is.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew tells us about Jesus, and says we should recognise who He is. But just in case we’re not sure, he gives us a massive clue in the opening line.
”An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)
We don’t generally don’t see how this line is so amazing because we’re not the people of Israel. We haven’t been waiting hundreds of years for God to keep His promise about a King from the line of David who will reign forever. A King who would bring God’s blessing or salvation which was promised to Abraham to all the nations of the world.
The people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah or Christ, the promised King who saves, and Matthew wants his readers to know that this King is HERE!
Throughout the book we see Matthew pile on the evidence to convince us that Jesus is the promised King who saves people from their sin. But not everybody recognised that Jesus was this King.
Matthew tells us that there are a variety of responses to Jesus. The crowds were amazed, the Pharisees refused to believe, and the disciples worshipped although some doubted.
The question Matthew asks us is, do we recognise that Jesus is this King, and have we responded by repenting of our sin and following Him?