Why did God need to prove Himself by fulfilling an 800-year old prophecy?

Father Maletta Responds: We cannot impose our perspective today on an ancient culture. Today, on a political level, more and more people are leaving their party affiliation in favor of claiming an independent status. In fact, according to a recent poll, 40% of Americans now claim to be independent. We feel comfortable forgoing our parents’ affiliation in favor of voting for the person whose message we like the most. Likewise, today we do not feel the pressure to remain faithful to mores and cultural standards as we did just a century ago. Read some of the literature by authors such as Jane Austen who wrote about the society in the early 1800’s and it is hard to understand why people were so controlled by societal pressures. That is just a little more than 200 years. Imagine the gap between our contemporary way of thinking and that of an ancient people. The Jews survived because of their laws and traditions. They maintained an identity as a people and a nation by radical adherence to their traditions. For centuries before Jesus, a large part of their religious and cultural mindset was waiting for a Messiah. How would they recognize the Messiah when he came? He would be recognizable based on his clear connection to what was foretold about the Messiah. That is what Matthew is doing. Even an open minded Jew, who was attracted to Jesus’ teaching, would have a hard time accepting Jesus if he didn’t believe Jesus fulfilled the prophecy. Matthew writing to a Jewish audience knew this, and that is why it seems he is going out of his way to show the connection between ancient prophecies and the facts of Jesus’ life.