Israel's Messiah (and the nations' too)

Sources: Graham Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus (Oxford, 1989); David Wenham and Steve Walton, Exploring the New Testament: A Guide to the Gospels and Acts (IVP, 2001); Paul J. Achtemeier et al., Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology (Eerdmans, 2001).

Source Criticism, Redaction Criticism, and Beyond
Since Matthew draws on Mark, scholars can discern Matthew's distinctives, e.g.:

Matthew	Mark	special to Matthew
1		'the genesis' (3 sets of 14 generations; Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, all 'non-Jews'; Mary)
2		birth narratives (including the first fulfillment quotations)
4:1-11	1:12-13	wilderness temptations (expanded with dialogue and Deuteronomy quotations)
5-7		Sermon on the Mount (on a mountain; the Kingdom of Heaven; discipleship and obedience; Jesus is fulfiller of Israel's Scriptures; failings of scribes and Pharisees; Jesus' authority)
7:28		"when Jesus had finished" (cf. Matt. 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and especially 26:1, each ending one of five blocks of teaching)
8:16-17	1:32-34	"he took our infirmities"
10	(6:7-13, 3:16-19, 13:9-13)	teaching disciples (in Israel — 10:5, 23)
12:1-8	2:23-28	"greater than the Temple"
13:1-52	(4:1-20, 30-34)	parables of the Kingdom of Heaven, some unique (wheat and tares, treasure, pearl, net, trained scribe)
15:1-2	7:1-4	handwashing customs not (wrongly) explained
16:13-23	8:27-30	Peter's confession
18	(9:33-37, 42-47)	teaching on the Church
23:13-39		woes
24:42	13:35	Lord/Master of the house
24-25	(13)	readiness before the coming of the Son of Man
27	(15)	crucifixion (Judas' remorse; Pilate and his wife on Jesus' innocence; Jews' responsibility; tombs opened; Jesus' tomb is guarded)
28	(16)	resurrection (Jesus appears to disciples; worship on a Galilean mountain)
28:18-20		commission to all nations and presence 'to the end of the age'

Stages and Highlights of Matthew's Story

Matthew can be ordered into more than one structure:

Five teaching blocks that end in turning points — "when Jesus was finished."
Three stages — preparation, proclamation of the Kingdom, and the way of the cross — separated with "from that time on" (4:17, 16:23).

Matthew uses more Scripture (see Krister Stendahl, The School of Matthew):

often typologically, and
sometimes very distinctively (especially the formula quotations).

Mark is rushed; Matthew repeatedly pauses the narrative to teach disciples.
Mark is ironic; Matthew is concerned with righteousness (not found in Mark), obedience, hypocrisy, and apocalyptic readiness.
Mark seems written for Gentiles; Matthew seems ethnically Jewish (18:17, 27:6) yet dispossessed from Jews (21:43, 27:25, 4:23, 9:35, 10:17), and oriented toward Gentiles (28:19) yet persecuted by them (10:17-18, 24:9).
Mark counterposes Jesus and the disciples; Matthew focuses on 'the Church' as an object of Jesus' attention (16:18, 18:15).
Mark is 'soteriological'; Matthew is 'Christological' and 'eschatological'.
Yet Matthew adds these distinctives while basically affirming Mark's narrative!
So is Matthew accepting Mark's invitation and pressing its implications?