The Jesus Movement was, obviously, about Jesus. It began as a Jewish sectarian movement, which quickly spread beyond Judaism—to Samaria and into Gentile territories. It was a movement, which meant that it was only loosely organized and no one was really in control. Being part of such a movement can be an exhilarating experience—and it can be worrisome because things can get out of hand. These passages remind us that one of the reasons the compiler/author of Matthew wrote the gospel was because things were getting out of hand. All sorts of ideas about Jesus were being bandied about. Some taught that he was just a rabbi, though a very good one. Others claimed he was super-human to one degree or another. And there were many other positions in-between.The author, in this section of the gospel, wants her or his readers to understand that the Jesus presented in the gospel was the real Jesus. Don't listen to other renditions of him! If you do, you are not walking through the narrow gate. You are building your house on sand. You are eating sour fruit, and on That Day Jesus himself will reject you. Not everyone who proclaims Jesus' name is worthy of listening to or following after. Follow the Jesus you find here in this gospel!
Matthew was a party document. It was a reasoned, persuasive presentation of one understanding of who the "real" Jesus was, which eventually became part of the basis of orthodox Christianity in the early church. It's Christology became an expression of the standard theology about Christ, which is why we still have it today.
The point is that Matthew can be (and was) a "party document" and a place in which we hear the Spirit speaking to us. We believe that God was incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, but that does not mean that God was/is/will be incarnate only in Jesus. Incarnation, instead, is the way God the Spirit is present with us, working in an amazing array of ways to inspire us forward. I know I've made this point already, but we need to remind ourselves regularly that the whole idea of incarnation means that the Spirit works through human beings and their institutions, languages, cultures, and life ways to the end that we willingly, independently have faith in God.
So, among other things, the Spirit is present in and speaks through a first-century document written originally to put forward one faction's views of Jesus. Thank God.
