Let us now turn our attention to the eschatological discourse in Matthew's Gospel, of which one section (Matt. 25:1–13) has already been examined. The primary focus of this chapter will be upon the material that has direct parallels to Mark 13, as it provides the opportunity to examine the distinctive redactional and compositional techniques by which the evangelist appropriated and reshaped the Markan discourse. It is necessary to give attention first of all to the wider context in which this material is situated.

All scholars who accept Markan priority note that Matthew has significantly extended the eschatological discourse vis-à-vis the Markan source. J. Dupont notes that Matthew's last great discourse is almost three times as long as Mark's and Luke's, comprising ninety-four verses, as opposed to Mark's thirty-three and Luke's twenty-nine. The contrast between Matthew's eschatological discourse and those of Mark and Luke is even more striking when one considers that Dupont's reckoning only takes Matthew 24 and 25 into consideration, for there are weighty reasons for including chapter 23 as integral to Matthew's conception of this final discourse. I will therefore begin by considering the question of the status of Matthew 23; is it to be understood as the opening of the eschatological discourse, or rather as a separate discourse in its own right?