Week 36 Matthew 1
Matthew gives readers a choice: you can read the story using the Rules for the Natural World. Or you can use the Rules for the More-Than-Natural World.
I have to decide asap since Mary’s story is in chapter one and I have to decide if I’m willing to suspend my belief about a basic and (I think) universally held biological fact that a virgin – by definition – can’t be pregnant. But that’s the beginning of the story. Mary: while she was still a virgin…became pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
At this point I’m guessing but I think Matthew would likely agree that Rules for the Natural World were correct as far as the Natural World goes (so for example Matthew did understand that a non-virgin couldn’t be a virgin). But sometimes the Rules for the Natural World don’t work so another set of rules – the Rules for the More-Than-Natural World – applied.
It might have helped if Matthew had made that clear right up-front (for instance he could have added a short Preface: Rules for the More-Than-Natural World Apply in this Gospel).
Anyway every reader reading Matthew has a decision to make:
a) the Rules for the Natural World apply always and without exception or
b) there are exceptions to Rules for the Natural World.
If I decide for a) then a lot of Matthew reads like a fairy-tale. If I choose b) then they don’t.
Note: quote from Matthew 1:18 (NLT)