St. Matthew’s Gospel is a fascinating read, full of the tension and the conflict we find in classic literature. Although the details are sparse, it’s no less compelling for the studious reader. Typically, commentators talk about the Gospel as having a prologue in chapters 1-3 which deal with Jesus’ birth and mission and an epilogue in chapter 28 which ends with the Great Commissioning. Sandwiched between them are five discourses from Jesus that recall the Five Books of Moses.
As an English literature major with a hobby of story analysis, I noticed it unfolds in an Aristotelian three-act model of dramatic structure. Aristotle (384-322 BC) receives credit as an originator of the concept and may have influenced St. Matthew. The Gospel has rising action to a climax, a point of no return, and a twist at the end in which the protagonist defeats the antagonist.
What’s most remarkable is that it hits the structural points from Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat screenplay and novel primers. I used a word processor to total the words of the Gospel, and its structural points occur at the same location Blake Snyder recommends. It may only be coincidence—though I doubt it—St. Matthew uses a universal and timeless formula to drive the action from the beginning to the conclusion.
I’m renaming some of the structure points because I don’t want to use the word “story.” In college, I took a class on “The Bible as Literature,” but Holy Scripture is so much more than that. It certainly isn’t fiction. St. Matthew simply includes the key structure points classic and contemporary dramatists use.
Three pivotal points occur in Act I, starting with the Opening Image. It’s one of distress. We read the unbroken line of succession from Abraham to Jesus, but it’s a checkered history: from Israel’s humble beginnings to becoming a regional power, and then a return to captivity. Now free from Babylon, military power determines what’s right and what’s lawful. Will God’s people ever be free?
The Catalyst, the event that starts the drama moving, occurs at the 10% mark. This is in Matthew 4:19. Jesus kicks off His mission of salvation by calling the first disciples: Peter and Andrew, then James and John. The Kingdom of God is at hand. The only kingdom with which God associated Himself was the Kingdom of Israel. Is the Son of David choosing His generals?
The Commitment to the Journey occurs around the one-quarter mark and pushes the drama into Act II. In 10:1-4, Jesus gives the disciples—including Judas—power over unclean spirits and disease. Jesus won’t be a tyrant, abrogating all power for Himself. He shares with men the first of the necessary weapons they will use in His Church to defeat evil. The Twelve are no longer ordinary men; they are emissaries of God, and St. Matthew reveals their role in the kingdom in the second act.
Three pivotal points occur in the second act. At the Gospel’s one-third mark, we see the First Significant Encounter between the protagonist and the antagonist (Matthew 12:24-32). Jesus already has faced off against the scribes and the Pharisees, but here, they launch their most vicious, most blasphemous attack. They ratchet up the tension when they accuse Jesus of not only using the power of Beelzebub to cast out demons but being the devil himself. Jesus defeats their insolence and their irrational argument. “No house divided against itself will stand.” In saying this, Jesus reveals that the exorcisms are by the spirit of God and that His kingdom has arrived.
The Mid-Point is another point of no return and occurs in Matthew 16:13-20, right where Jesus gives Peter the Keys of the Kingdom. It entwines the apostles further into the Messiah’s plan. Simon’s recognition of Jesus as the Son of the most-high God prompts Jesus to not only change his name to Peter, but to give him the Keys of the Kingdom, which empower him to act in the name of Jesus Christ. We see this multiple times in the Book of Acts. All the disciples will receive the power and become princes of the Kingdom. Jesus reveals His endgame—the Church.
At the two-thirds mark, Matthew 21:23, is the Second Significant Encounter. The Pharisees challenge Jesus’ authority to perform His miracles, His healings, and His teaching. If Jesus admits His authority is a human, then they can erase His credibility. If He replies from God, then they can denounce Him as a blasphemer.
Jesus parries the question by asking for the source of John the Baptist’s baptism, whether it was from men or from heaven. They refuse to answer because they’re too cowardly to admit the truth. Jesus follows up with the parable of the Wicked Tenants who are so envious they murder the landowner’s son. They understand He’s talking about them, which should have disarmed them, but instead it strengthens their resolve to kill Him. Jesus needs to clean house—literally—and the cleansing of the temple brings the second act to a close.
Act III erupts at the 75% mark (Matthew 23:15-37) with Jesus pronouncing the seven curses—or “woes”—on the scribes and Pharisees. Reconciliation between them is impossible, and the Final Confrontation is inevitable. The Pharisees entice Judas to betray Jesus (26:25), and temple guards follow the traitor to the Garden of Gethsemane. They arrest Jesus, and after a series of sham trials, Pilate condemns Jesus to death. A final gut punch occurs when he releases Barabbas, a revolutionary, instead of Jesus, who’s innocent.
At the 90% point, Jesus dies on the cross, and the narrative collapses into the Dark Night of the Soul where all seems lost. It occurs later than usual compared to other dramas, but nevertheless is present. Jesus promised the kingdom, but the secular kings won out. The disciples have scattered. They hide, afraid of arrest and chastisement.
As the sun rises on the third day, we have the Finale, where Jesus flips the script and does the unthinkable. A dead man emerges alive from the tomb! Even though they witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus, the disciples disbelieve initially.
Gradually they come to believe, bringing us to the Closing Image, which reflects the opening one, while also altering it. Whereas at the beginning of the Gospel we see a biological family line, now we have a spiritual one through baptism. The kingdom is one of mercy, with priests serving the people, not the people enslaved to kings. The Apostles will conquer the world through a mission of grace, binding when necessary, but willingly loosing the people from their sins.
The individual pericopes we hear in the Mass fail to capture the overall “big picture” of the Gospels. The more I read the Gospels, the more I see the Aristotelian three-act mode. The reason I don’t think St. Matthew’s dramatic structure is a coincidence is because the Gospels of Mark and Luke also follow the same three-act structure.
The synoptic Gospels are compelling reads because all three writers drew from known dramatic structures to compose compelling dramas. They are nothing less than the work of literary geniuses—and no wonder—for this is the Word of God, written by Him through human authors. It is fitting that the Gospels, written by our universal and timeless God, emulate a universal and timeless formula.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
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