Matthew has revised Mark gospel so that Jesus explicitly announces that Peter will be the foundation on which his church will be built and essentially gives Peter pope status by saying that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew most likely made these changes were made to emphasize that the new kingdom has begun.

A common theme in the sermon on community life was that those who have taken the road less traveled will be welcomed into the kingdom. People who have stumbled in life and persevere through their sins and come back to find god are most likely to reach the kingdom. Those who forgive not seven but 77 times. Not the wealthy or the well-off but the righteous in mind. Matthew includes this section as somewhat of a prelude to his roast of the pharisees but more as a definition as to how the new kingdom will work.

Matthew is hostile to the pharisees because they have been misleading god’s children. The Pharisees show off how religious they are yet, they do not practice what they preach. Matthew characterize them as hypocrites because they live their life through lies. They shall indeed not reach the gates of the new kingdom.