Matthew - Check

I finished scribing The Gospel According to Matthew.  A few observations:

1) Christmas and New Year really threw me off.  I got out of my scribing routine, got busy, and it took me a while to get back on track.

2) Scribing is like a marathon or a mountain climb.  You start off full of energy and ready to go.  Somewhere in the middle it starts to slow down.  You are just trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Then as the end gets in sight you begin to pick it back up again to finish strong.

3) Matthew 25 was by far the most arduous chapter to scribe.  The Parables of the Talents and the Sheep and the Goats are very repetitive and long.  When you read, you probably just skip over most of the repetitions.  But it becomes quite painstaking when you write it out. 



As you can see in the image to the left, I just made it in one moleskine notbook.  I started out too free with my spacing.  I followed the textual indentation for poetry and OT citations.  I sometimes left spaces between paragraphs, etc.  At some point I realized I might not fit it all, so I started single spacing everything.  For the longer books, be judicious with your spacing.






Now on to Mark :

New Pen

After scribing all of Revelation as a trial run, and 9 chapters of Matthew, my 0.1 Staedtler fine liner finally wore out.  Still plenty of pigment ink, but the felt tip has been worn to the metal shaft.

In terms of scribing, I was drawn to Matthew 9:11-12.  Jesus had just called Matthew the tax collector to follow him, and then Jesus goes to eat in Matthew's house with a bunch of other "tax collectors and sinners."

The Pharisees don't like this, so they ask Jesus' disciples why Jesus is eating with these people.

Notice that the Pharisees ask the disciples to explain the actions of their rabbi.  But then also notice that their answer isn't given.  Instead, Jesus interjects and answers the question.

I find myself curious about what the disciples would have said in answer to the Pharisees' question.  Would they have had an adequate answer?  Would their answer have been in line with Jesus' own answer?  Or would there have been a lot of feet shuffling and mumbling of nonsense?

Authority to Forgive

Matthew 9:2-8 tells the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man.  According to vs. 6, the reason Jesus performs the physical healing is so that the people will know that he has the greater authority to forgive sins.

Then the story closes in vs.8 by saying that the crowds were in awe because God had given such authority to "human beings."

Not "a human being."

Not, "this particular human being" (i.e. Jesus).

But to "human beings."

This isn't just an NRSV transaltion.  CEB and NIV also have the collective noun "human beings" as the direct object in this sentence.  The crowds were in awe because God gave authority to forgive sins to "human beings."

Yes, it is true that Jesus has uniquely been given authority to forgive sins, and Jesus plays a unique role in forgiveness.  But it's not just something given to Jesus.  God, giving authority to Jesus in Jesus' full humanity, has also given "human beings" authority to forgive.  That means all of us.

Hence later in Matthew 18:18 Jesus talks about binding and losing.  Forgiveness is not just a divine transaction that takes place between God and Jesus on behalf of humanity.  Rather, forgiveness is stitched into the very fabric of discipleship.

Forgiveness is part of what it means to be Christian.  Rowan Williams names this in his book Being Disciples.  So does J. Heinrich Arnold in his book Discipleship.

In our age of outrage, forgiveness is in short supply.  I'm not talking about Jesus' frustratingly extravagant call to forgive when serious abuse and injustice has been committed.  I'm merely talking about the regular flow of human conversation and interactions.

However, forgiveness is a vital way in which we become involved in the work and ministry of Jesus.  It's not merely a personal benefit of being saved.  It's a way of living a life that is involved with the very essence of God.

Authority to forgive has been given to human beings.  We can extend it, or we can withhold it.  Either way, that should fill us, like the crowds, with at least a little bit of awe at the scandalous love of God. 

Patience with Enemies

We live in a reactionary society.  We are quick to denounce, ridicule, and condemn anyone whose view we don't like or whose identity threatens our own.

Edwin Friedman named this two decades ago in his book Failure of Nerve.  

From a Christian perspective living in a reactionary society is problematic.  If we succumb to reactionary impulses, it undercuts spiritual growth which takes time, patience, endurance, and discernment. 

Two things (at least) stand out to me from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount regarding the reactionary world that we live in.

One is that Jesus calls us to love our enemies (5:43-48).  Loving enemies is the patient counterpoint to our visceral reaction against them.

Second, one of the most quoted texts that Christians use in reactionary ways toward their enemies comes just soon after in Matthew chapter 7:15-20 - the wolf in sheep's clothing.  Christians often use this passage to denounce false prophets and heretics.  They use it especially toward other Christians.  I've lost track of the number of times I've experienced one Christian accusing another Christian of being a wolf in sheep's clothing because they disagree over a certain theology or church practice.

But more and more it's happening as a reactionary, preemptive strike against another person.  If I'm quick to apply the label of a "wolf in sheep's clothing" then I don't have to listen to you, or struggle with the challenge that you present to me.  I simply cut you off.  And I gain spiritual brownie points if I cut you off in such a way that I chase you out the door while doing so.

But if you read Matthew 7:15-20, and not just 7:15, it doesn't seem like we have license to use the text in reactionary ways.  The ways Jesus says we will know a wolf in sheep's clothing is by their fruit, not by our immediate reaction to them.

Last time I checked, fruit takes time to ripen and mature.  Fruit is how we know a false prophet, either good or bad fruit.  And good or bad fruit takes time to show itself as good or bad.

Someone might appear to be genuine, faithful, and wise.  But overtime we see that their fruit is rotten.  I'm thinking of the tragic examples of clergy sexual abuse scandals.  Often it takes a long time to discover.

Other times, a person might bother us immediately.  They seem to go against scripture, they cut against what we hold to be true and valuable.  They seem to impede progress toward a goal we want to reach.  We are quick to denounce these people as wolves in sheep's clothing.  We would prefer it this way.  I'm thinking of a progressive Christian in a traditional context, or a traditional Christian in a progressive context.  Rather than sitting with the uncomfortable tension that exists, we cut the person off or cast them out, or call them names even worse than a "wolf in sheep's clothing."  Unfortunately, this undercuts the maturation process.  We may not ultimately agree with the person, but faith must undergo testing, trials, and patient endurance to mature.

Maybe, just maybe, that person we are quick to call a wolf in sheep's clothing might actually bear good fruit in us.

Jesus had a home

In Matthew 8:20, Jesus says, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

For me (and I would guess many people), Matthew 8:20 is more well known than Matthew 4:13 which says, "(Jesus) left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea..."

Because 8:20 is more well known, there is a tendency to think o Jesus as an amorphous being who sort of floats through this world as a homeless wanderer.  He has no context, no place, not interest in this world.  He doesn't have the everyday, practical cares that you and I have.  He's just passing through.

That's the impression, anyway.

But 4:13 tells us that Jesus had a home.  Not only was Jesus born in Bethlehem, not only was Jesus raised in Nazareth, he eventually grew up, moved out of mom and dad's house, and got a place of his own.  In Capernaum.  Jesus had a home in Capernaum.

We often skip over 4:13.  But soon after 4:13, Jesus calls his first disciples.  He calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and we modern-day church-goers are beside ourselves to imagine how these poor fishermen left everything - their boats, their nets, their families, and their homes - to follow Jesus.  It's unimaginable.  We attribute this fact to Jesus' presence.  We imagine (implicitly of course) that Jesus' presence just radiated divinity so of course they were in awe and left everything to follow him.  Maybe Jesus is like hypnotist or maybe he's performing a Jedi mind trick.

Jesus' mere presence may have radiated divinity, but this just further perpetuates the view of Jesus as an amorphous, context-less being just passing through this world.

Except for 4:13.

Jesus had a home.

The reason I think this matters is that it also means that Jesus also left everything.  By the time he called his first disciples, he had already left his home behind.  He knew what he was asking them to do.  He knew what he was asking them to give up.

Eventually, yes, 8:20 says Jesus has no place to lay his head.  But first, 4:13 tells us he left everything behind for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

And if we truly believe that Jesus is God incarnate, then that's an amazing thing.  Whether it's leaving his home, or picking up his cross, God does not ask us to do anything that God has not already done.

Righteous?

In the second half of chapter one in the Gospel According to Matthew, the angel appears to Joseph, who is addressed as "Son of David" (see post below on genealogy).  The Angel tells Joseph that his fiance Mary is pregnant, but that this is of the Holy Spirit and the child shall be Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

Before the angel appeared, Joseph was planning to break off the marriage quietly.  He had thought Mary slept with another man, so he wasn't going to go through with the marriage.  But he didn't want to ruin her life, so he planned to break off the engagement quietly.  For this reason, the text calls Joseph a "righteous man."

To be righteous was linked to observing Torah.  Joseph is called righteous.  Which is interesting because he is called righteous even though wasn't literally following the teaching of Torah.

The Torah stipulated that if an engaged woman has sex with another man, then both she and the other man should be stoned (at least it includes both the woman and the man and not just the woman, cf. Deut 22:22-27).   In this circumstance, Torah stipulates a very public and a very harsh penalty.  Joseph neither inflicts the harm for such offense nor goes public with the accusations.  He goes against Torah, yet is still considered righteous.  How so?

Yes, righteousness was linked to Torah obedience, but it was also linked to justice and ethics.  Another way of saying righteous would be to say "doing right by another person."  Or "acting toward another person in a just way."

Joseph may not have been legalistically righteous.  But he was righteous on a higher level.  He was trying to do right by Mary by not ending her life or ruining her life through public shame (remember at this point Joseph still thought she slept with another man.  I don't care who you are or what culture you live in, that hurts).

Perhaps this early lesson in righteousness by Jesus' earthly father Joseph, Son of David, foreshadows the teaching of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham to come in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

Matthew 5:7 - "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."

Matthew 5:20 - "For unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven." 

Matthew 5:22 - "... but I say to you, do not be angry with a brother or sister..."

Matthew 7:1 - "For the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

Matthew 7:12 - "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets."

Indefinite Genealogy

Tree of Jesus Harrad of Landsberg
(12th century)

I'm a transplant to Ohio.  But one thing that is very important to Ohioans is the Ohio State Buckeyes.  It's not "Ohio State."  It's "THE Ohio State."  Not even "the" with a short e, but "THEEEEE" with a long e.  THEEE Ohio State.

It makes a big difference.  The University of Toledo is "a" university in Ohio, but "THEEE" is reserved only for THEEE Ohio State University.

In Matthew chapter one, right off the bat, we come to "an account" of the genealogy of Jesus.  Not "the" account; not "THEEE" account; "an account."

This is important because the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1 and in Luke chapter 3 don't match.  For one, Matthew's genealogy goes back to David and Abraham while Luke's goes all the way back to Adam.  For two, even the parts that do over lap don't match.

This freaks some people out, as if the bible and therefore the entire gospel are somehow compromised.  But it really shouldn't concern us too much.  Remember, this is "an account" not "THEEE account."

This is not meant to be a scientific, ancestry.com approach to Jesus' lineage.  Matthew is telling a story.  And Matthew is speaking to a primarily Jewish audience.  In Matthew's story, the indefinite article "an" is not as important as the definite article that follows...

Jesus is "the" messiah... "the" son of David... "the" son of Abraham.

For Matthew it is more important to help his Jewish audience to see that Jesus not only descends from Abraham and David, but that he is also the fulfillment of God's messiah.  Yes, Jesus is the son of Abraham, but as the Messiah God is calling forth a new family.  Yes, Jesus is the son of David's, but as the Messiah God is establishing a kingdom that will last forever as promised to David.

The articles matter.  Don't turn "an account" into "the account" of Jesus' genealogy.  But at the same time, don't turn Jesus into just another messiah or just another Son of David or Son of Abraham.

Scribing

An image of Baruch
Jeremiah's scribe (Jer 36:4)
by Gustave Doré

"Every scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven

is like the master of a household

who brings out of his treasure

what is old and what is new."

Jesus, Matthew 13:51

I've begun a new discipline of scribing.  Scribing is just a nerdy word to say I've begun the task of writing all four gospels and the book of Acts by hand.  It's also a good excuse to buy well-designed pens, notebooks, and other nerdy paraphernalia.

This discipline was introduced to me by a friend, and it has already been a helpful way to immerse myself in the text, slow down, and get to know scripture better.

Today is November 1st, and I've started scribing the Gospel According to Matthew.  The plan is to scribe one chapter per sitting, and then blog a main reflection from my time in the text.  These thoughts and reflections will be just that; they will be unrefined, unpolished thought and reflections.
They won't be definitive answers, and they won't even be things I will necessarily preach.

But that's a good thing.  I approach the discipline of scribing in a lectio divina kind of way.  In the prayer of lectio divina the goal isn't to write systematic theology but to allow God to speak through the text guided by the Spirit.  It's a way to deepen one's reflection and love for the biblical scriptures.  Sometimes God Spirit does this through following rabbit holes, asking weird questions, and even pushing the boundaries of what is considered right and acceptable.  \

So for the next 6-8 months, or however long it takes me, I'll be scribing and reflecting.

"Let not Moses nor any of the prophets speak to me:

Speak Thou, rather, O Lord God,

the inspirer and enlightener

of all the prophets.

For thou alone without them can perfectly instruct me.

But they without Thee will avail me nothing."

Thomas a Kempis

Of the Imitation of Christ

Book 3, Chapter 2