Here Saint Matthew describes the life of Jesus Christ as ke knows him. The story begins with His birth and illustrates how his teachings attracted not only his disciples, but crowds of believers. When the Pharisees, chief priests and elders learn of Jesus, they conspire to have Him arrested, beaten, tried and crucified on the cross. The New Testament's literary and liturgical roots are grounding in Jewish culture, symbols, icons, and storytelling tradition to explain how the events of Jesus's life, including the virgin birth, the miracles, the details of the passion story, and the resurrection and ascension, would have been understood by both the Jewish authors of the various gospels and by the Jewish audiences for which they were originally written, including the divine judgment which plays very different and distinct roles regarding different groups of Jews (including Jesus' disciples) and non-Jews in this Gospel.