Matthew, gospel of

Matthew, a former tax collector and disciple of Jesus, wrote this gospel in AD 60–65 for Jewish readers. This gospel often shows how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. Jesus was the King the Jewish people had been looking for. Matthew traced Jesus’s ancestors back to King David, and then further back to Abraham. Matthew told about the birth of Jesus and the visit of the magi to honor Him. Matthew included several collections of Jesus’s teachings. Chapters 26–28 describe the Last Supper, arrest, trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Matthew’s gospel ends with the Great Commission just before Jesus was taken to heaven.