Charles H. Talbert, «Indicative and Imperative in Matthean Soteriology», Vol. 82 (2001) 515-538
It is usually thought that Matthew emphasizes the imperative at the expense of the indicative, demand over gift. Identifying Matthew’s indicative is difficult because in chapters 5–25, insofar as disciples are concerned, the narrative is told in terms of ‘omnipotence behind the scenes’. In Matt 5–25 four techniques appropriate to such a method of narration speak of the divine indicative in relation to the imperative. They are (1) I am with you/in your midst, (2) invoking the divine name, (3) it has been revealed to you/you have been given to know, and (4) being with Jesus. They show Matthew’s soteriology is by grace from start to finish.
convey part of his indicative. During Jesus’ earthly career his disciples were with him. They heard him teach and saw him act. They saw the correspondence between his life and teaching. They could ask him questions and hear his answers. This common life would have been assumed by ancient auditors to have provided enablement for the disciples’ progress in their formation by Jesus. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says to his disciples that they are salt and light (5,13-14) and are sound trees that bear good fruit (7,17-18). That is, Jesus assumes some transformation of the disciples’ characters has taken place. From the Gospel’s plot the only thing that has occurred so far that could explain their transformation is the fact that, having been called, they followed Jesus (4,20.22). That is, they were with him and this association had a transforming quality to it.
If being in a philosopher’s presence was regarded as transforming by the ancients in a way that was more than disciples’ imitation of their master, so likewise the disciples’ being with Jesus in Matthew speaks of more than their imitation of him. Transformation by vision is heightened in the First Gospel by the fact that Jesus is depicted as divine. In Matthew, God is present in Jesus (1,23). The Evangelist, as a consequence, speaks of the worship of Jesus before his resurrection (e.g., 2,11; 8,2; 9,18; 14,33; 15,25; 20,20 — all unique to Matt) as well as after (28,9.17 — also unique to Matt)55. Since in 4,10 Jesus says that worship belongs to God alone and since Jesus does not reject the worship, he must be viewed as Emmanuel, the one in whom and through whom God is present (1,23). By presenting Jesus as an appropriate object of worship, the Evangelist ‘does, for all practical purposes, portray Jesus as divine’56. Hence the disciples’ being ‘with him’ has not only the philosophic frame of reference but also the overtones of being changed by beholding deity. In Matthew, then, for the disciples to be ‘with Jesus’ is for them to be transformed by their vision of God-with-us.
After Jesus’ departure, they could have been with him early on, in part, through their memory and recollection of him. Later it would have been through their reading of the First Gospel. They were with Jesus as they moved through the narrative plot with him. The being with him made possible by the story powered their transformation.