Very well put. This is why it's extremely important to make basic biblical scholarship a part of normal, universal Catholic education. Matthew's portrait of Jesus is structured on Matthew's own story-telling genius, sometimes working with Jesus-traditional material, sometimes requiring some creativity, what by rights should be called "fiction," though "fiction" is a word from which pious people in their folly and fear tend to shrink. The Sermon on the Mount is a fiction, constructed from traditional materials as it may be.

On another matter: Thanks for putting ancient marriage issues in context! Fr. Reese is brilliant to show how the pious can give no reason for wanting to be strict about a few verses, while remaining loose about many others. Funny, how the pattern is based on the relative ease of majority practice: cf. also the ease of being a bible-based homophobe.