Secret PathNotes and discussion: November 2020

Friday, November 13, 2020

Crucifixion: Notes

1. Information on Cyrene comes from a Wikipedia article:
https://archive.vn/9X8FR

h1. Some think that Mark liked to use Aramaic here and there for the dramatic effect it had on Greek speakers. One idea is that Jesus cried out in Hebrew because Eli is Hebrew for my God as well as for the short form of Elijah. The Greek text of Matthew uses Eli rather than the Aramaic Eloi. Yet, I would argue, that it appears that Matthew borrowed this scene from Mark, polishing it in his own way. In my estimate, bystanders could easily have mistaken Eloi for Elijah.
I suspect that the Marcan writer used Aramaic in this case to make clear the puzzlement of the hearers. In other cases he uses Aramaic to help underscore the reality of miracles. The miracle was so impressive that Jesus' exact words were remembered! I have generally not reproduced these Aramaisms, preferring for my purpose the meaning of what Jesus was saying.
Two Aramaisms used by Mark are talitha kumi, the words spoken by Jesus as he revived a dead little girl, and ephphatha, which was uttered by Jesus as he opened the ears of a deaf man.
Moreover, I note that the fact that the accepted Greek text of Matthew prefers a Hebraism may reflect the shift from Aramaic to proper Hebrew that occurred among Jews during the second major revolt against Rome in the Second Century on orders of the revolution's leader, Bar Kochba. That is, an earlier Matthew may have been corrected in conformity with that language shift.

What are you afraid of? Notes

1. Some have wondered about Jesus requiring the demon's name. They are worried about a popular belief that if a person knows a spirit's name, he can magically compel it to do his will. But, Jesus was not performing magic, because he never performed miracles by the power of wicked spirits. Jesus, however, was not only healing the demoniac. He was also teaching those around him. They needed to know the horrific fate that can befall a man, as well as to see God's wonderful power and mercy. Thus, the disciples were able to link the demon's answer with the mass hysteria of the pigs.

2. Mark has "the Lord" and Luke has "God." In speaking to this Gentile, Jesus was asserting the power and friendliness of the God of Israel, as opposed to Zeus or some other pagan God. Mark may have heard this report from Peter or some other eyewitness and so may have used "the Lord" in the sense that the older English translations render God's personal name as "the LORD." Luke was addressing mostly Gentiles, and so would have preferred the generic designation, "God." But we would like to pick up the connotation that Jesus was declaring the God of Israel to non-Jews, which is why I use a form of God's personal name. We have no reason to fear using God's personal name. Using his name lightly is rarely a good idea, no matter what particular designator you use.

3. In the Old Era, animals were determined as not fit to eat for various reasons. The Jewish prohibition against pork tended to protect people from pork-borne illnesses, such as tapeworm. Similarly, other dietary controls may have been rooted in concerns about health safety. Also, there was the ancient idea that you ARE what you eat, at least up to a point. Thus, the Israeli tribesmen were eschewing some of the spiritually sick practices of those who identified with various animals.
In the New Era ushered in by Jesus, there are no spiritual reasons to avoid certain animal foods because his people have been freed. That should not be taken to mean that any type of food at all is necessarily wholesome.

4. By limiting the number of people present, Jesus kept doubt and unbelief out of his way while he focused on what needed to be done. And, Jesus did not desire personal glory, though he knew that it would be hard to contain such news. Yet, there would have been a shroud of uncertainty. The mourners may have thought they were mistaken, and that the child had not in fact died. Neighbors would have assumed that perhaps she had been ill, but had not really been dead.
Also, in those days people were buried by about three hours after death. Thus, some people who went into profound comas, but were not functionally dead, may have been inadvertently buried. Even so, the witnesses were familiar with signs of death. In any case, even if Jesus revived a child from a profound coma by simply speaking to her, that still ranks as a major miracle.

New deal: Notes

x1.
Psalm 69:25-28 (Brenton translation of the Septuagint)

25 Let their habitation be made desolate; and let there be no inhabitant in their tents:
26 Because they persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and they have added to the grief of my wounds.
27 Add iniquity to their iniquity; and let them not come into thy righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous.

Though the psalm, as we have it today, does not specify that another should take the position of him (or them) who had been defeated, it certainly implies that that is what the psalmist wants.

h1.
Received text of Joel 2:28-32

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it will come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah [= the LORD] shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

Peter probably said Lord (or the Aramaic equivalent) rather than Jehovah (=Yahweh)). But, as Jesus (=Joshua =Yeshua =Yeheshua) means Jehovah saves, if you call on the name of Jesus the son, then you call on the name of the Lord, Jehovah. In the New Dispensation that began at Pentecost, the name Jesus suffices.

m1. Psalm 110:1

h2.
Psalm 16:8-11 Brenton Septuagint Translation

8 I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart rejoiced an my tongue exulted; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
10 because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
11 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou wilt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand there are delights for ever.

k1. Valley of Death or Place of Shadows or Valley of the Shadows of Death. Other names: Gehenna, Sheol, Hades.

k2. Isaiah 66:8.

Author's note for his future reference:

Surprise! Notes

1. Some believe Luke was referring to a village about 20 miles west of Jerusalem, though Luke says the place is 60 stadia away, which is about 7 miles.

1a.

The earliest Mark manuscripts end at this point, possibly because the original ending was lost. Another possibility is that the Marcan writer thought the empty tomb ending sufficed. His book gives enough information to draw a person to put faith in Jesus. No one can believe in Jesus without God's help. So the writer may have thought a fuller ending unnecessary. But the other gospel writers give fuller, if somewhat conflicting, accounts.

In any case, we should not take too literally the report that the women said nothing to anyone. Otherwise, how did the writer learn what happened? Evidently they did not, in Mark's version, rush to find the disciples right away.

Trial: Notes

1.
Daniel 7:13

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

2. Some have become entangled on whether cock crow was an idiom for an official time signal (hour-glass?). I doubt it. Most likely Jesus knew in the Spirit that a cock would be within earshot. Have you ever been awakened near dawn by a rooster? These birds often crow more than once.

z1.

Zechariah 11:12-13

12 And I said to them: "If you think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear." So they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of silver.
13 And Jehovah said to me: "Cast it into the treasury, the goodly price that I was prized at of them." And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the treasury, in the house of Jehovah.

y1. Antipas was a nickname. Formally, his name was Antipater.

Last supper: Notes

1.
Zechariah 13:7

Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me, says All Powerful Jehovah: smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. And I will turn my hand against the little ones.

2.
Isaiah 53:12

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

z1. These verses appear in Luke 22:43-44:

43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

The Bible scholar Bruce M. Metzger (2005) writes:

These verses are absent from some of the oldest and best witnesses, including the majority of the Alexandrian manuscripts. It is striking that the earliest witnesses attesting the verses are three Church fathers – Justin, Irenaeus, and Hippolytus – each of whom uses the verses in order to counter Christological views that maintained that Jesus was not a full human who experienced the full range of human sufferings. It may well be that the verses were added to the text for just this reason, in opposition to those who held to a [heretical] docetic Christology.

Though it is certainly possible that an angel appeared and comforted Jesus, one wonders where the information came from. Had the disciples seen an angel, would not they have been terrified, and similarly for the boy who was lurking nearby?

On the other hand, I can easily accept that the youth did see, by the light of a full or nearly full moon, bloody sweat rolling off Jesus' face. The bloody sweat phenomenon is rare, but has been documented medically.

z2. Sometime after the vernal equinox, as the moon neared its full phase, Jerusalem religious authorities would announce the precise seven days of the Passover feast.

Please see the article by Rabbi Menachem Posner, staff editor at Chabad.org, "the world’s largest Jewish informational website."

Posner article
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/495531/jewish/How-Does-the-Spring-Equinox-Relate-to-the-Timing-of-Passover.htm

If Jesus and the disciples, probably along with many other pilgrims, were going strictly by the moon, one can imagine that they saw the night of the full moon as the "real" Passover, as distinct from an "official" first Passover day possibly set by the Temple authorities.

But, if the Gethsemane scene occurred a night or two before the full moon, there still would have been plenty of light – assuming a clear night – by which Jesus' face could have been observed.

zz1. Just as it is apparent that Matthew's Sermon on the Mount is drawn from a collection of the sayings of Jesus, it is quite plausible that John's "sermons" given by Jesus just before the crucifixion are drawn from collections of Christ's sayings to which that writer had access.

Trouble ahead: Notes

b1.A discussion by David Bayliss on generation
http://www.dabhand.org/Word%20Studies/Generation.htm

b2. Herod's Temple had a "most startling appearance, more like a modern skyscraper than any known building of antiquity," according to A.H.M. Jones in his The Herods of Judaea (Oxford 1938). He goes on,

No expense was spared in the materials of the structure or in its decoration. It was built after the manner of many Syrian temples-Baalbek is a striking example which still survives-of huge blocks of stone; Josephus gives as typical dimensions of a single block 45 by 6 by 5 cubits. The stone employed was a brilliant white marble; Josephus compares the general aspect of the building seen at a distance to a mountain covered with snow. The east front of the Holy Place was plated with gold which reflected the rays of the rising sun with dazzling splendour. The great folding doors of the Holy Place were likewise plated with gold, and across them was drawn a magnificent embroidered veil whose four colours typified the four elements. Over the doorway hung a giant golden vine-replacing that which Aristobulus had given to Pompey-whose clusters were as large as men. The temple stood in the middle of a complex of courts. To the east of it lay the great altar of sacrifice, a cubical edifice 15 cubits each way, built, according to the prescriptions of the Law, of unhewn stone, and approached by a ramp-steps were forbidden. The temple and the altar were enclosed by a low balustrade a cubit high. The space enclosed by this balustrade was known as the Court of the Priests, and no layman might enter it except in order to sacrifice. This Court of the Priests lay within the Court of Israel, to which male Israelites alone had access, and adjoining the Court of Israel on the east on a slightly lower level was the smaller Court of the Women, beyond which Israelite women might not penetrate. These two courts were surrounded by walls 25 cubits high, pierced at intervals by gates, three on the north and on the south of the Court of Israel, one on the north and one on the south of the Court of the Women, one in the centre of the party wall between the courts, and one larger and more magnificent than the rest in the east wall of the Court of the Women. The gates took the form of towers, projecting inwards into the courts. The intervals between them along the inner sides of the boundary wall were colonnades, off which opened a series of chambers, store-rooms for the material needed for sacrifice, a bakehouse for the shewbread, treasuries, administrative offices, and so forth; in one of these the Sanhedrin held its sessions. The whole block of buildings hitherto described stood on a raised platform. From the gates one descended by flights of five steps to a broad walk, 10 cubits wide, which surrounded the whole complex except on the west or back side, and from this walk a continuous range of fourteen steps led down to ground level. At the foot of the steps ran a boundary wall, pierced at intervals with doors and set with stone pillars bearing inscriptions in Greek and Latin, proclaiming the penalty of death to any gentile who should venture to pass beyond it.

For these buildings, being of a less sacrosanct character, Herod was able to adopt a more orthodox architectural style. The colonnades seem to have been built in the regular classical orders, the gates probably followed the normal form of a classical propylaea; Josephus expatiates [writes in detail] on the exhedrae [hall] which flanked the entranceway and the huge columns which carried their inner architraves. But it was upon the outer court, to which gentiles were admitted, that Herod lavished his magnificence. The sacred enclosure proper stood in the middle of a yet larger enclosure. Before Herod began his operations this enclosure had been roughly square, measuring 200 yards each way. Herod almost doubled its area, extend ing it southwards till it assumed an oblong shape. This work was enormously expensive, since it involved building out huge substructures on the sloping southern front of the temple hill. The final result was most impressive, the temple platform standing out with sheer outer walls on its south, east, and west sides. All round the enlarged outer core Herod built huge colonnades. The west, north, and east colonnades were double; the columns were 25 cubits high. Along the south side, on the extreme edge of the platform which he had constructed, he built the yet more magnificent Royal Colonnade. It had three aisles and four ranges of columns, the fourth range being engaged with the back wall. The lateral aisles were 30 feet wide and 50 feet high; the central aisle was half as wide again and double the height The shafts of the columns were throughout monoliths of white marble, 5 feet in diameter and 40 in height: the capitals were in the Corinthian order. The ceilings were in cedar wood, coffered and richly carved and covered with gold leaf.

Herod had surpassed the mythical glories of Solomon. An incident in the latter part of his reign was to show how grateful his people were to him for his great achievement.

Joyful noise: Notes

rr1.

Jesus is quoting Psalm 8:2 in the Septuagint Greek translation of Scriptures, a translation reportedly widely used among Palestinian Jews of the time period.

The children's shouting occurred in the courtyard known both as the Treasury and the Court of the Women, according to plausible reporting.

Leen Ritmyer
https://www.ritmeyer.com/2015/05/15/the-treasury-of-the-temple-in-jerusalem/

Bible History
https://www.bible-history.com/court-of-women/the_temple_treasury.html

rr2.

At this point, Matthew and Luke add that "whoever falls on this stone will be broken in pieces, but whomever it falls on will be pulverized and blown away." But not all ancient Matthean manuscripts have that verse. Whether Luke's writer included it originally, or whether an editor later added it, is difficult to say. I view the verse as a Christian commentary; we cannot say that the verse was intended as a direct quotation of Jesus, though that is a possibility.

rr3.

This story is recorded only by Matthew. It certainly sounds like something Jesus might have said, though we cannot be sure he spoke such a parable at that time. We may split hairs and point out that apparently dinner was kept waiting while the army attacked a city. But the Matthean writer was more interested in the point he was making, which is why the parable is placed shortly before Jesus' execution.

That point is that Judaism was about to be forsaken, with God's kingdom enjoyed by the poor and the wretched, whether Jew or Gentile. Wordly Jews, many of whom put on a pious front, would be excluded from the wedding feast. The Romans would come and destroy their city, Jerusalem. And the writer makes sure to get in a word about nominal Christians, whether false prophets or simple bench-warmers. Saying you are Christian is not enough. You must believe in your heart in Jesus as savior. Lip service will land you in outer darkness.

rr4.

Mark and Luke both have "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." I have found one Matthew version which indicates that the Greek has "God is not of the dead, but of the living." Though the Marcan verses are probably the earliest, we know that both Mark and Luke were addressing many Gentiles. But I suspect that it is possible that Matthew's writer, who spoke Aramaic, intuited the probable original words of Jesus. The more subtle reading of this Matthean variant might be read to imply that the realm of death is not of God. Where God is, there is life. Further, where death is, there is Satan. Before Satan brought about the Fall, there was no death.

In any case, we see that Jesus is rebuking the Sadducees for splitting hairs over a concept they know nothing about because they are playing logic games rather than trying to gain divine insight into what Scripture really means.

Once Jesus was resurrected, eternal life came to everyone who would trust him – with all the heart, mind and strength. That is their resurrection. Though other biblical passage may seem to contradict that point, I suggest that such mysteries will resolve as we progress in our walks with Jesus.

rr5.

Jesus was referring to the interpretation of Scriptures that point to a Deliverer of Israel who is to be a descendant of David.

Psalm 110 in its entirety presents a vision of a future Messiah king, one with enormous power. In addition that Messiah is to be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek," which refers to a priest king mentioned in Genesis 14:18–20.

The New Testament book of Hebrews points out that this means that the Messiah shows up abruptly, "out of nowhere" so to speak, and is not beholden to the Jewish priestly caste system.^qx2 Interestingly, Melchizedek means something like My Lord is righteousness.

In any case, it is apparent that David required a Deliverer, who is the second lord mentioned.

The text that Jesus was probably quoting comes from the Septuagint, a translation of Hebrew Scriptures made by Jews residing in Alexandria, Egypt. For reasons of piety, they would not render the tetragrammaton, the four letters representing God's name, into a Gentile language. Thus where the Hebrew has YHVH (or YHWH) – which is often rendered Jehovah or Yahweh – the Greek simply has kyrios (= Lord).^qx3 The King James Bible handles this situation by using all uppercase letters in LORD, which tells the knowledgeable reader that the name Jehovah is meant.

But making the text read "Jehovah said to my lord" does not reduce the paradox noted by Jesus. Why would David call this mighty Messiah king lord if this awaited Messiah is to be one of David's descendants?

By this teaching, Jesus showed that the expected Messiah was to be more than God's man of the hour. He was already existing with God before being born among men. Nevertheless, Jesus did not boast to the crowd that he was the Messiah.

This teaching also shows that spiritual descent from God's chosen man, David, is what counts [see dc1 and dc2 below]. This is how the Messiah can be descended from David and David descended from the Messiah. Physical descent, which is of the flesh, matters a little, perhaps, but very little.^dc1 Yet we note that at about a.d. 58, Paul, in Romans 3:1, uses the formula, "The gospel concerning [God's] son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh."^dc2

Moreover this teaching appears to challenge what may have been a common thought: that the son of David and the son of God were two different individuals.

rr6.

Matthew recalls other teachings that are appropriate:

Call no one on earth your father. For you have one father,
your heavenly father.
Don't be called masters, for one is your master: the Messiah.

Of course, Jesus would not have added "the Messiah." But he may have said that we have only one master, meaning God. Later, Christians realized that since Jesus represents God in every respect, then the Messiah (=Christ) is to be our master (the one who is in control).

When Jesus urges people to avoid accepting titles such as Rabbi (=Teacher), he is urging them to avoid the tendency to sanctimoniousness that such flattery encourages. Stay low. Jesus was often addressed as "rabbi/teacher," but he never gave himself that title, though he certainly fulfilled that role.

Ostentatious behavior had no appeal for Jesus. What is the point of wearing a sumptuous phylactery (leather box containing Hebrew texts)? The phylactery, as a reminder to keep the Mosaic law, is meant as an aid to spirituality, not as a means of flaunting wealth. Similarly, what is the reason for wearing clothing that shouts "I am rich!" to every passerby? The literal Matthean text says that these individuals "enlarged the borders of their garments." In a day when clothing was expensive (no industrial looms), large collars, cuffs and hem borders were a sign that the wearer had money to burn on the extra cloth – something that was far from true for the impoverished masses.

1.
Isaiah 62:11

Behold, the Lord has proclaimed out to the limits of the world, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your king comes to you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on an ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass.

x0.
Psalm 69:9

For the zeal of your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen on me.

x1.
Isaiah 56:7

I will I bring [foreigners] to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted upon my altar – for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people

x2.
Jeremiah 7:11

Does this house, which bears my name, look to you like a cave of robbers? But that is what I see, says Jehovah.

w1. Psalm 118:22,23

w2. Wikipedia says of a denarius featuring Tiberius: The inscription on the obverse reads Ti[berivs] Caesar Divi Avg[vsti] F[ilivs] Avgvstvs ("Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus"), and the reverse reads Pontif[ex] Maxim[us] ("Highest Priest").

z1. From Pontius Pilate – Portraits of a Roman Governor by Warren Carter (Liturgical Press/Michael Glazier 2003).

r1. Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
The Hebrew text translates as Yahweh Elohim Yahweh echad. The slogan lacks verbs and so can be understood in various ways, which, however, are all closely related.
For the early Hebrews, Elohim meant the gods. Yahweh (or Jehovah) was seen as the god that protected the Israelite tribespeople. Later, the tribes came to understand that Jehovah was the only God, that all others were illusions. So the plural term "gods" came to take on the idea of singularity. That is, though one literally said "gods," everyone heard "God." In modern American English, we make the word sports a singular, even though it was formerly a plural.
I believe the purpose of the slogan was to encourage monotheism among Hebrew tribespeople, many of whom were polytheistic. The slogan was probably devised when Deuteronomy was written, soon after the return of the exiles to Judaea in the Persian era. The exiles had evidently absorbed and adapted the monotheism of the Zoroastrians, and saw the polytheism of the pre-exilic tribes as a major reason for the national disaster at the hands of the Assyrian and the second Babylonian empires.
I take the slogan to have meant something close to: "Jehovah and the gods = Jehovah."

r2. Leviticus 19:18.

wz1. What Do We Know About Pontius Pilate? by Simon Webb (Langley Press 2018).

wz2. Nine years later Rome's resort city of Pompei was annihilated by an eruption of Vesuvius. Was this a case of Rome reaping what it had sown?

qx1.
Psalm 110:1-7

1 Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 Jehovah shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: you are to rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 Jehovah has sworn, and will not repent: You art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 Jehovah at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

qx2.
Hebrews 7:1-7

1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

qx3.
Septuagint Psalm 109:1 (=our 110:1)

Ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυΐδ. - ΕΙΠΕΝ ὁ Κύριος [kyrios, or lord] τῷ Κυρίῳ [kyrio, or lord] μου· κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου.

pf1. Did the author of Mark indeed compose his book in Rome for a Latin-speaking audience? It is interesting that Mark gives the value of the Greek lepton in terms of the Roman quadrans (literally, quarter), though the Greek word for quarter – kodrantes (as in quadrant) – is used. So we are left to wonder whether the book was first written in Latin and then translated into Greek for use in the Greek-speaking Eastern part of the Roman Empire.

tx1. King Herod had, 46 years earlier, greatly expanded the Second Temple, and its improvement had been continued since that time. In a.d. 70, the Romans destroyed it.

dc1. See Raymond E. Brown (Birth of the Messiah, Doubleday/Image 1979) below:

But Brown goes on to argue that relatives of Jesus would have thrown cold water on claims that Jesus was a Davidid if they were false. Would "James the Brother of Jesus," who led the Jerusalem church before his martyrdom in the sixth decade of the First Century, have permitted such talk? Brown wonders.

dc2. Brown says further in Appendix II of Birth of the Messiah:

To Jerusalem: Notes

x1.

As near as I can tell, the parable related is fairly close to the teaching as originally given by Jesus, though it does not precisely mirror either the current versions of either Luke or Matthew.

Points of interest:

¶ Matthew's version of this parable uses the word talent rather than talent. One talent represented about 57 pounds of pure silver, a substantial sum. The mina's value was considerably less, though it was not insignificant with a purchasing power of two or three months ordinary wages. The Matthean writer probably saw the talent as more logical in that a wealthy aristocrat might consider a mina a trivial sum. Yet the Lucan writer, and perhaps Jesus himself, no doubt chose the mina as a means of emphasizing the idea of "little versus much."

¶ The Matthew version is rather more polished than the Luke, possibly indicating that Luke's is the older. In Luke, 10 mina are distributed at one each among, presumably, 10 servants. Then the new king inquires of a first, second and "another" servant. Matthew cleans this up by having the aristocrat distributing the money among exactly three servants. No doubt the Matthean writer felt justified in doing so because he realized he was dealing with recollections which were bound to be a bit fuzzy here and there and because he knew that Jesus had been making a point and wasn't too worried about the syntax or minor details.

The standard Luke version includes these interpolations:

¶ But while he was out of his city, some people took over and sent emissaries to the overall king (alluding to the Roman emperor) demanding that the king relieve the nobleman of command over the city.

¶ The ruler then told an aide, "Bring those rebels here and kill them in front of me."

But scholars are reasonably sure these words were not in the earliest version of Luke. Many researchers believe an early editor was thinking of Herod Archelaus. We learn from non-Biblical sources, including Josephus, that he had sought the kingship of Judaea but a group of Jews appealed to the Roman emperor in an effort to prevent this. As a result, Caesar Augustus made Archelaus ethnarch (national leader) of Judaea, but not king. While he was in Rome, insurrections broke out causing a ferocious repression by Roman legions. Archelaus's rule was known for its harshness, and there is little doubt he had numerous people executed even after the rebellions were put down. In any case, it is quite possible the editor saw this allusion as a means of making the point that God's enemies will fare much worse than the lazy servant does. It may be relevant that in Jericho was a palace that Archelaus had had refurbished.

¶ We have, however, that Matthew – but not Luke – has the new king ordering the worthless servant "thrown into outer darkness." The Matthean writer also inserts Jesus' known warning, "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Those words make it appear that the wicked servant will go to hell along with the slain enemies. Maybe so. But let's consider the phrase "outer darkness." In the pre-electric era, especially in the rather wild region of Palestine, "outer darkness" referred to the gloom of night away from candle-lit settlements. What was out there? Who knows? Bandits, wild animals – including lions – were about. In that darkness, a man would be fearful and know his helplessness. So the bad servant would not be welcomed to paradise, yet, but would serve his sentence learning to overcome his fear, with God. Many people right now are existing in "outer darkness."

So I have eliminated both the Lucan and Matthean interpolations in the main text, but they are included in my comments above for your consideration.

I have also used Matthew's "three servants" as opposed to Luke's "ten" to obtain a smoother result.

Also Matthew has the fearful servant burying his coin in the ground, whereas Luke says he kept it in a piece of cloth. I assume the author was thinking of a cloth purse, which is the phrase I use.

And I have the aristocrat distributing an indeterminate amount of money, as the Lucan "ten" doesn't say much to a modern reader. It may have implied something when the story was told, but any such allusion is now murky.²

1. Biblical geographical information comes from
Associates for Biblical Research
https://biblearchaeology.org/research/patriarchal-era/3844-the-jordan-river-valley-the-jordan-river-and-the-jungle-of-the-jordan

Whom do you serve? Notes

1. As hellfire was pouring onto the cities of the plain, Lot's wife looked back.
Genesis 19:26

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Some believe Sodom, Gomorrah and the other cities are now somewhere under the Dead Sea. One can imagine a volcano somewhere along the Rift Valley exploding – rather like Mount St. Helens exploded – and raining fire and brimstone in the region. We might reflect that God is not prohibited from using Nature to inflict punishing catastrophes if he deems it proper.

2. Taxmen were contractors who took a profit on taxes they collected and turned over to the Romans. They were despised not only for helping the Romans, but also because many of them routinely overcharged so as to fatten their profit.
These days we might loathe a loanshark the way ancient Jews loathed taxmen.

3.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4

1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Strip for action: Notes

1. The report of a massacre of Galileans is found in Luke 13:1. The details of what happened are found in The Herods of Judeaea by A.H.M. Jones (Oxford 1938).
The Catholic Bishops Bible comments:

The slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate is unknown outside Luke; but from what is known about Pilate from the Jewish historian Josephus, such a slaughter would be in keeping with the character of Pilate. Josephus reports that Pilate had disrupted a religious gathering of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim with a slaughter of the participants (Antiquities 18:86–87), and that on another occasion Pilate had killed many Jews who had opposed him when he appropriated money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem (Jewish War 2:175–77; Antiquities 18:60–62).

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Bible, Luke 13
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/13

Whitewashed tombs: Notes

1.
Genesis 4:3-9

3 And it came to pass that Cain brought produce from the land as an offering to Jehovah.
4 And Abel also brought an offering: the best meat from the first born of his flock. And Jehovah had respect for Abel and his offering,
5 but for Cain and his offering he had no respect. And Cain was very upset, and his countenance fell.
6 And Jehovah said to Cain, Why are you angry? and why do you look so crestfallen?
7 If you do well, won't you be uplifted? But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. It wants to get you, but you must rule over it.
8 But Cain suggested to his brother Abel that they go for a walk in the countryside. Once there, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Later Jehovah said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?"
Cain replied, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?"
10 Jehovah said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground."

2.
2 Chronicles 24:20-21

20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest. He took his stand above the people and said to them, "This is what God says: Why do you transgress the commands of Jehovah so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken Jehovah, he has also forsaken you."
21 Then they conspired against him. At the king's command, the people stoned him in the court of the house of Jehovah.

Woman at a well: Notes

1. Jesus took the direct route north from Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria, in contrast to most Jews who took the longer, indirect route east of the River Jordan through Peraea because of their hatred for the Samaritans.

2. Jewish-Samaritan animosity began in the sixth century b.c. upon the return to Israel of Jewish exiles, who believed the Samaritans had lost their status as children of Israel with the destruction of the Northern Kingdom. That tension led to the temple on Gerizim being destroyed by either John Hyrcanus in the second century b.c., according to Josephus, or by Simeon the Just, according to the Talmud.

3. A pun. "Living water" means "running water."

4. Mount Gerizim.

5. John in particular uses a number of "I am" responses that can be read as "I am he" or as an invocation of a name of God, the "I am." See appendix in Raymond E. Brown's The Gospel According to John (Anchor/Doubleday v29 of the Anchor Bible).

6. The Samaritans seem to have been far more receptive and open-minded than most of the Jews to whom Jesus ministered. Almost none were ready to accept him as messiah.

Satan's star falls: Notes

1. The two apostles were thinking of Elijah's annihilation by fire of two companies of soldiers.
2 Kings 1:9-14

9 Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
11 Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.
12 And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
13 And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.
14 Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.

2. A further fine point: The Roman province of Judaea included the region of Samaria, though the Jewish heartland of Judah, which was part of Judaea, did not.

3. The Gospel According to John, I-XII by Raymond E. Brown (Anchor/Doubleday, v. 29, 1966). See page 309.

4. G. A. Smith suggests in his Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land (1915) that Bethany (house of the ship) and Bethabara (house of the ford) are names for the same place. The second place may also refer to the more northerly territory of Batanaea.

How to pray: Discussion and notes (awaits rewrite)

The account in our text taken from Luke. Parallel material in Matthew shows that Jehovah God is concerned to give his new sons all sorts of good gifts. Yet, as Luke implies, no gift is greater than that of the Holy Spirit, because then the believer has, always, everything she needs.

The Lord's Prayer is given in both Matthew and Luke, though Luke's version is the more compact, leading some scholars to think that Matthew's writer amplified Luke's rendition.. The shorter version, they believe, may be what the Lord actually said. Though this suggestion may well be correct, we must also concede that Jesus could have taught about this prayer on more than one occasion.

In any case, the best manuscripts of Luke give the model prayer in what to us looks like abbreviated form. The matter in square braces is what appears in Matthew but not in the early Luke manuscripts. The matter in curly braces is my commentary.

Luke 11:2-4

2 He said to them, "When you pray, say:

[Our] Father [in heaven], hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. [Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us {literally, in Greek, "is indebted to us"}. And lead us not into temptation [but deliver us from the evil one]."

There are various conjectures as to why what seems to be the original Luke version (not found in the King James version and other Bible translations) is a slimmed down version of what appears in Matthew. Of course, nearly everyone knows that the last verse in Matthew's version of the prayer is very likely a pious addition, perhaps a bit of a hymn.

My take is not that two different versions were known, but that Matthew added explanatory matter to make clear the intended meaning. He did not feel obliged to give a verbatim report on what he found in Q or some other source. He was giving what he considered to be a fair representation of what Jesus told his disciples. Matthew wanted to make sure his account related to first century Jews. But he, or a scribal editor prior to the third century, also thought it important to put Jesus' spare words into context. This is very similar to the way in which a modern newspaper reporter paraphrases someone's words in order to make the meaning clear to the reader. We must remember that there was no convention of placing verbatim words within quotation marks.

Our Father
A Matthean editor or writer doubtless wanted to make crystal clear to newcomers that Father = God, and not some mortal human. And we have the probability that the prayer was amplified for purposes of group recitation. Whose Father? Our Father. This is a WE church.

Now though it is evident that Jesus was looking forward to the day, not far off, when his disciples would be born again in spirit and in truth and become true sons of God, we should not think un-Jewish those who regarded God as a Father. Consider that OT Scripture calls him a Father to the fatherless.

Indeed The composer of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount may have been thinking of the verse from Psalm 68.

PS 68:5-6

5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Father in heaven
I conjecture that Jesus did not usually qualify "Father" with the modifier "heavenly" or "in heaven." That modifier looks like something the writer or an editor decided upon in order to distinguish between God as father and one's earthly father. But, in any case, as the writer of John would have been quick to note, only those who have been born again (or, possibly, who are destined to be born again) can rightly call God our Father. And once he becomes our Father, that is it! He is the Father. One's earthly father may deserve respect, but he is father of the old, unregenerate man. The new man has only one father, God.

Though fashioned in the image of God, we soon, as a result of growing up in this world, died to God. By Christ's sacrifice, the original image of God in us – hopefully – has been and is being restored. This is an important point. God chose us in advance for salvation, for restoration. In a sense, we were always sons of God. But that relationship (which tends to elude our memories) was destroyed by sin. Now it is restored, better than ever. By this reasoning, we can draw a parallel with the idea that Jesus was always the son of God, but events in his human life correspond to a renewal of that sonship.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Matthew has added this thought, I suggest, in order to make plain that the unfolding of the divine kingdom implies that God's will is to be done in the here and now. Again, we can see this in the context of the born-again believers. God's kingdom has come into their hearts and minds through trust in Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So these folks are much more inclined to do God's will, although most still have battles to fight against the flesh. When the kingdom arrives in its full splendor, those battles against the flesh will presumably be at an end and only the will of God will be done.

But deliver us from the evil one¹
I suggest these words were included in order to bolster the faith and understanding of new believers. These words are certainly implied by the previous words: "Lead us not into temptation." The Matthean composer of the Sermon on the Mount wished to assure the readers that Jesus really saves.

Do not lead us to temptation
During refining, metal is tested to see what needs yet to be done, to assure that it is purged of nonessential weak material so that only the durable matter is left. When your faith is tested, God is helping you to see where you are in your spiritual progress, so that you learn to cast off the inessential. Its purpose is somewhat like the goal of Marine Corps boot camp or Army basic training.

Further, how can you learn to rely on God without being placed in situations where you have little wiggle room?

If a person indulges in much self-will, perhaps God will lead him to learn a hard lesson, in order that he become more modest and humble toward God, which is for his own good, since those who primarily serve themselves serve Satan, the evil one. For example, observe that the alcoholic or drug addict has followed a path that leads him into the hands of the evil one. If he is fortunate, he turns to God and recovers, perhaps through Alcoholics Anonymous,² from the disordered condition that has overcome him.

Though God did not wish that person to go down that road, even so he ordained that difficult path for that person. That person was "led into temptation" on account of the poor choices he made. Of course, this principle doesn't only apply to alcoholics and addicts. It is a consequence of our blindness in this fallen world.

Such a fall certainly doesn't mean that God is angry with people who have fallen into the devil's snares. After all, God sent his son to deliver us from the evil one. Yet, as long as a person refuses to turn to Jesus, the "wrath of God" remains on him. God is not personally angry. But by refusing to turn to the light, the balky person is keeping the disorderly state of mind, and the pain, of this fallen world.

Matthew's version of the model prayer is discussed further below:

Matthew 6:9-13

9 Pray like this:

Our heavenly Father, may your name be revered.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our portion of bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.)

Matthew 6:14-15

14 For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if you do not forgive their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.

We have come to what is called "the Lord's prayer" or "the model prayer" – with an addendum in verses 14 and 15. Though customarily the prayer is repeated verbatim, I suggest that the point here is to provide a guide for the essentials of Christian faith, and was not imposed by Jesus as a mandatory recital.

Verse 9: Our heavenly Father
We, as sons (or children) of God now have a right to call the formerly unknown God by the intimate name "Father." Once having this intimate relationship, we really ought realize how holy God is, how much we should desire to do his will. We are both to pray that God's kingdom come here on earth and realize that it is already among the born-again Christians. (Granted, Jesus' disciples had not yet been born again when he gave this talk, but some were already chosen for rebirth in the Spirit once Jesus was resurrected.)

If you have never met your dad, thinking of him as your Father is difficult. Without the help of Jesus, we don't know the Father. Yes, he is our father in the sense that he created us. But we don't relate to him as a member of his intimate family. Only when we have put our faith in his son, Jesus, are we treated as true members of the family – as sons of God, in fact.

Jesus is also specifying that God alone is to be our Father, for our human fathers are now not to rule us, assuming we are of age. More importantly, we are to look to our divine Father for guidance more so than we do our human father, and if necessary, to turn away from our human father.^2a

Matthew 23:9

Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

Verse 9: May your name be revered
(Usually rendered 'Hallowed be your name.')
Whatever name we use to refer to God, we should hold God in very great respect in our thoughts, words and actions. He should be the focus of our being. We should be ever mindful of him. This is not so easy for the natural, unregenerate person. But for those born of the Spirit, the love of God strongly tends to be realized. When Jesus gave his followers this prayer, he no doubt was looking forward to the day, after his resurrection, when the Spirit would empower people to truly hold God's name in awe and respect.

Verse 10: Your kingdom come
That kingdom is breaking through under Christ's ministry, but is not consummated until the end of the age. While first century Jews tended to look forward to the Messianic kingdom, the readers of Matthew not only look forward, but also perceive that the kingdom has already broken through, as the sun's rays peek over the horizon near dawn, and pray for its extension as well as for its unqualified manifestation. Won't it be wonderful when no one needs to preach about salvation, because everyone knows Christ! In the meantime, there is a big harvest of souls awaiting the few laborers for Christ. Ask God to send more workers! (Matthew 9:37-38)

Verse 11: Give us today our ration of bread
As Jesus points out in other verses, we should not be overly concerned about food and other material needs. Yet, there is value in reminding ourselves of that dependence by asking God to provide our bread for the day.

Bread was up until very recently known as the staff of life. If nothing else was available, healthy, non-processed bread would keep a person going physically. Of course, then as now, "bread" was a metaphor for sustenance.

The poor were really poor in former times as they were right up until the past two or three centuries in the New World. "Jehovah jireh" = the Lord will provide... for the needs of those who put their faith and trust in him. Yet, we should not take God's provision too lightly. There is value in focusing on the fact that he is the one helping us, especially those of us who are disciples (=students).

But, in any case, why think about what we are going to put on the table Friday if today is Monday? With Jesus, we may take one day at a time.

We are to ask Father to meet our basic needs for the day, not because he doesn't already know our needs, but to keep us in a right relationship with him. We are ever-reminded that we do not "earn" our daily strength. God provides that. Consider the Israelites who worked overtime to "earn" more manna for their larders. They labored in vain, because the manna would only keep a short time. God provided for them daily, and they did not work hard to receive that sustenance.

Let us not forget that Jesus is the bread of life. So we need his grace with us one day at a time. Just for today. Tomorrow's troubles are not worth the bother of hashing over. Let them go for now. Let us consume the bread of life, which is to "eat up" Jesus and everything about him, especially his will, which is the Father's will. We are to live and breathe Jesus, which we will do if we try to avoid quenching the Spirit (I THESS 5:19). Recall that Jesus' food is to do God's will (John 4:34).

You can do nothing without Jesus, and hence the Father.

John 15:5

I am the vine, you [as sons of God] are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, yields much fruit. For without me you can do nothing.

Even for mundane matters, none of us, whether born again or not, can do anything without Jesus giving consent.

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power in heaven and earth is given to me.

So even when people are led into temptation, fall and commit criminal acts against their fellow humans and God, Jesus and our Father are involved, one way or another.

Verse 12: Forgive us our sins as we forgive...
According to scholars, the word "debts" plainly means "sins." A person who sins against someone else injures him and so, by ancient custom, the injured person had a right to seek revenge, or at least some kind of payment (like lawsuits of today). But why should we sue for redress of a grievance? God, through the sacrifice of his son, forgives our sins.

At this point, we may think of Jesus' story about the oppressive servant who hounded others to pay him back what they could ill afford, despite his having been forgiven all the debt he owed to a king. When the king heard about the servant's cruelty, he reimposed all the debt that that servant owed him (Matthew 18:23-35). How can we not bask in God's graciousness and release our resentments, forgiving others who have wronged us? Isn't our destiny the wonder of eternal life? How can we complain? So then, should we not also forgive people who owe us money? Why demand repayment? God will provide our true needs. Why not let that go? Clinging to the need to get money back is like clinging to Mammon. Wrong direction. Turn around, and get God good.

Forgiving the debts owed us by others is not the easiest thing for many of us. But the oft-heard assertion, "I will never forgive that," carries a grave danger to the speaker. Jesus has already warned earlier in the Sermon, as he does elsewhere in the gospels, that forgiveness is an imperative component of the Christian walk.

In fact this particular admonition is placed immediately after the model prayer:

Matthew 6:14-15

14 For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if you do not forgive their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.

Verse 13: Temptation
During refining, metal is tested to see what needs yet to be done, to assure that it is purged of nonessential weak material so that only the durable matter is left. When your faith is tested, God is helping you to see where you are in your spiritual progress, so that you learn to cast off the inessential. Its purpose is somewhat like the goal of Marine Corps boot camp or Army basic training.

Further, how can you learn to rely on God without being placed in situations where you have little wiggle room?

If a person indulges in much self-will, perhaps God will lead him to learn a hard lesson, in order that he become more modest and humble toward God, which is for his own good, since those who primarily serve themselves serve Satan, the evil one. For example, observe that the alcoholic or drug addict has followed a path that leads him into the hands of the evil one. If he is fortunate, he turns to God and recovers, perhaps through Alcoholics Anonymous⁴, from the disordered condition that has overcome him. Though God did not wish that person to go down that road, even so he ordained that difficult path for that person. That person was "led into temptation" on account of the poor choices he made. Of course, this principle doesn't only apply to alcoholics and addicts. It is a consequence of our blindness in this fallen world.

Such a fall certainly doesn't mean that God is angry with people who have fallen into the devil's snares. After all, God sent his son to deliver us from the evil one. Yet, as long as a person refuses to turn to Jesus, the "wrath of God" rests over him. God is not personally angry. But by refusing to turn to the light, the balky person is keeping the disorderly state of mind, and the pain, of this fallen world.

John 3:36

He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.

Yet even a born-again Christian will make mistakes, sometimes major blunders. So a new son of God is wise to ask the Father not to let him go astray, to ask that, should he veer off the right path, that God guide him back to where he belongs. Please don't let me follow a false light, Oh Lord – because, without your help, I am very likely to do just that!

As we have said, a most important part of the Christian walk is to overlook the wrongs done to us by others. Jesus explains this point in Matthew 6:13-14 and in a number of other places in the gospels. But danger is lurking for Christians and even more so for those who are near, but who have not come, to Christ. They need help averting a nasty fall. MT's addition of "but deliver us from evil" serves to remind the hearer that a hard test (=temptation) is sent by Hell in order to block the potential believer from coming to Christ as well as to hinder the born-again believer from succeeding in his walk with the Lord. Some of these temptations were indeed very difficult, as when governmental and religious oppressors gave Christians a choice between denying Jesus and death.

Was not Judas led into temptation by Jesus and his Father, even though Judas was unwittingly doing the devil's work? Jesus, at the instance of his Father, at some point chose Judas as a devil (i.e., a tare or weed). When Jesus' final hour arrived, he directed Judas to hurry and do what he had to do (John 13:27). God was not doing evil to Judas. Judas had already worked his way into this role, as he was money-hungry. God authorizes everything, including the works of Satan. When we are children, we learn to avoid, say, the evil of a hot stove. The stove is fine in Mom's universe, but we are to steer clear of it.

In addition, there is no "right" to receive God's grace. Grace is unmerited favor from God. We should be mindful of these blessings, and try not to take his grace for granted (though the sons will, to some extent, tend to take the Father's provision for granted). If God withheld his grace from you, you would soon be led astray. In current times, God sends his rain on the just and the unjust, on the saved and the not-yet saved. Though the unsaved benefit much less from God's grace than the saved, at least they get some reflected light, and there is hope for them.

Once the final judgment has occurred, those who have rejected Jesus after many opportunities will finally get their way. No more Jesus at all. No Savior. No light of the world. No sense of God. Hell. Hell is what you get when the Savior is not present.

It is too bad anyone must endure this, as Jesus already endured such a torment when, having taken our place, he cried out in anguish, "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me!?" (Matthew 27:46)

Why would God lead anyone into temptation and into the hands of the evil one?

Well, consider the instance in which Paul ordered – through spiritual means – the destruction of a man's body.

1 COR 5:1-5

5 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Paul used his Holy Spirit power from a distance to cause the destruction of the weak believer's body – not for punishment, but for an emergency amputation. The man had to be disconnected, via some harsh physical illness, from the powerful sinning body in order for him to be released and saved. But, because he was born again, the true man was in the spirit and not the body. An unregenerate man who dies in his sin still has a dead spirit after death of the body, as he did during his physical lifetime.

In this particular case, we cannot say that the man was led into temptation, but he was certainly led to Paul, who took drastic spiritual action in order to assure the brother's eternal life, as well as to bolster the young church at Corinth.

Verse 13: The doxology: Kingdom, power and glory
These words appear to have been added to Matthew for liturgical reasons by the early church. One commentator thinks the words are meant to "seal" the prayer, a practice found, he says, among ancient Jews. Certainly it is beneficial to be reminded that God is totally in charge! It is unthinkable that Jesus would have objected to this "comment." In any case, it is certainly possible that Jesus said something close to this during his earthly ministry and that a Matthean editor or copyist incorporated that saying. But it is also possible the redactor wanted to underscore the meaning of "your kingdom come." True servants of God will obey God, though learning to do so well is a lifelong process. As we saw from the foregoing discourse, the way God would like for us to act – the "heavenly" way – is what we are to aspire to here on earth.

From the days of John until now
For a bit more insight into the idea of the heavenly realm, consider

Matthew 11:11-15

11 I mean it when I tell you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John [the Baptist]^1a. Even so, he that is least in heaven's kingdom is greater than he.
12 From the days of John [the Baptist] until now, people have been beating on the gates of heaven's kingdom and storming in.
13 All the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
14 And if you can accept it, he is Elijah, who was to come.
15 He who has ears to hear, listen up!

John made the hearts of the common people ready to receive the message of salvation; they rushed eagerly to obtain that salvation, which could be fulfilled once Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Though Jesus had not yet sent them the Holy Spirit, many of these believers were as good as "in." They would receive the Spirit in return for putting trust in Jesus. Of course, we must assume that the belief of many who had stormed into the kingdom faltered when Jesus died, as did the belief of the inner circle of disciples. But just as the resurrected Jesus restored the belief of the inner circle, so he would have revived the hope of the many others – no doubt via the proclamation by the reinvigorated disciples.

Here we may speculate that perhaps Matthew's principle author did not yet have a full comprehension – though still very good – of what Jesus was driving at in his earthly ministry. I interpret 11:11-15 to mean that John was the greatest prophet born in a natural way. In fact, he was so great that he fulfilled the role of Elijah,³ who was thought by many to be someone who would return to pave the way for God's saving reign on earth. Yet, John was not born again. Those who have been born by the Spirit from above are much, much more fortunate than someone who remains in the natural state, born only in the natural way.

Verse 12, while praising John, also seems to imply a conflation of ideas. How could John's ministry set off a wild scramble to get into heaven's kingdom, and yet John himself be excluded?

Two, not necessarily mutually exclusive, possibilities come to mind:

i. At this stage the main author of Matthew was – in some sense properly – implying that the people who had rushed out to obtain John's baptism for repentance of sin had begun to enter God's kingdom, which Jesus would reign over. But this leaves a question about John's inferiority.
ii. John's role was to pave the way for the Messianic kingdom. It was necessary that his role as a natural man cease, to be replaced by the realm of supernatural men (the born again). We may also read into this the end and fulfillment of Israel's "natural man" path, now to be replaced by the New Israel.

By the words of Matthew 11:11-15, Jesus was indirectly announcing that he was the expected Messiah, as he did in previous verses in which he pointed out the works of wonder to the puzzled John.

1. The ancient Greek makes no distinction between evil and the evil one.

2. Though Alcoholics Anonymous describes itself as a spiritual program, AA takes no position on religious doctrines.

1a. I assume that the descriptive, "the baptist," is an early editorial insertion. It seems unlikely that Jesus would have actually used that term, though it is not impossible.

2a. Bow only to Jesus or the Father, not to any human.

Luke 14:26

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

By the Greek word rendered hate Jesus does not mean implacable animosity. He means that what Jesus says for you to do is what counts, not what humans around you want.

Consider the faith of Abraham.

The Sacrifice Averted

GEN 22: 9-14

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

3. This idea probably was stimulated by the story of Elijah being taken up alive into heaven, thus implying that he would return in similar manner.

The prayer that Jesus taught his followers lays out a simple, but comprehensive road map for belief.

Pray like this:

Our heavenly Father, may your name be revered.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us today our portion of bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.)
Jesus added,
For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if you do not forgive their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.

We have come to what is called "the Lord's prayer" or "the model prayer" -- with an addendum in the last two sentences. Though customarily the prayer is repeated verbatim, I suggest that the point here is to provide a guide for the essentials of Christian faith, and was not imposed by Jesus as a mandatory recital.

Our heavenly Father
We, as sons (or children) of God now have a right to call the formerly unknown God by the intimate name "Father." Once having this intimate relationship, we really ought realize how holy God is, how much we should desire to do his will. We are both to pray that God's kingdom come here on earth and realize that it is already among the born-again Christians. (Granted, Jesus' disciples had not yet been born again when he gave this talk, but some were already chosen for rebirth in the Spirit once Jesus was resurrected.)

If you have never met your dad, thinking of him as your Father is difficult. Without the help of Jesus, we don't know the Father. Yes, he is our father in the sense that he created us. But we don't relate to him as a member of his intimate family. Only when we have put our faith in his son, Jesus, are we treated as true members of the family -- as sons of God, in fact.

Jesus is also specifying that God alone is to be our Father, for our human fathers are now not to rule us, assuming we are of age. More importantly, we are to look to our divine Father for guidance more so than we do our human father, and if necessary, to turn away from our human father.

Elsewhere, Jesus taught, "Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven."

May your name be revered
(Usually rendered 'Hallowed be your name.')
Whatever name we use to refer to God, we should hold God in very great respect in our thoughts, words and actions. He should be the focus of our being. We should be ever mindful of him. This is not so easy for the natural, unregenerate person. But for those born of the Spirit, the love of God strongly tends to be realized. When Jesus gave his followers this prayer, he no doubt was looking forward to the day, after his resurrection, when the Spirit would empower people to truly hold God's name in awe and respect.

Your kingdom come
That kingdom is breaking through under Christ's ministry, but is not consummated until the end of the age. While first century Jews tended to look forward to the Messianic kingdom, the readers of MT not only look forward, but also perceive that the kingdom has already broken through, as the sun's rays peek over the horizon near dawn, and pray for its extension as well as for its unqualified manifestation. Won't it be wonderful when no one needs to preach about salvation, because everyone knows Christ! In the meantime, there is a big harvest of souls awaiting the few laborers for Christ. Ask God to send more workers! (MT 9:37-38)

Give us today our ration of bread
As Jesus points out elsewhere, we should not be overly concerned about food and other material needs. Yet, there is value in reminding ourselves of that dependence by asking God to provide our bread for the day.

Bread was up until very recently known as the staff of life. If nothing else was available, healthy, non-processed bread would keep a person going physically. Of course, then as now, "bread" was a metaphor for sustenance.

The poor were really poor in former times as they were right up until the past two or three centuries in the New World. "Jehovah jireh" = the Lord will provide... for the needs of those who put their faith and trust in him. Yet, we should not take God's provision too lightly. There is value in focusing on the fact that he is the one helping us, especially those of us who are disciples (=students).

But, in any case, why think about what we are going to put on the table Friday if today is Monday? With Jesus, we may take one day at a time.

We are to ask Father to meet our basic needs for the day, not because he doesn't already know our needs, but to keep us in a right relationship with him. We are ever-reminded that we do not "earn" our daily strength. God provides that. Consider the Israelites who worked overtime to "earn" more manna for their larders. They labored in vain, because the manna would only keep a short time. God provided for them daily, and they did not work hard to receive that sustenance.

Let us not forget that Jesus is the bread of life. So we need his grace with us one day at a time. Just for today. Tomorrow's troubles are not worth the bother of hashing over. Let them go for now. Let us consume the bread of life, which is to "eat up" Jesus and everything about him, especially his will, which is the Father's will. We are to live and breathe Jesus, which we will do if we try to avoid quenching the Spirit. Recall that Jesus' food is the doing of God's will.

You can do nothing without Jesus, and hence the Father.

Consider these teachings of Jesus:

I am the vine, you [as sons of God] are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, yields much fruit. For without me you can do nothing.

All power in heaven and earth is given to me.

So even when people are led into temptation, fall and commit criminal acts against their fellow humans and God, Jesus and our Father are involved, one way or another.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive...
According to scholars, the word "debts" plainly means "sins." A person who sins against someone else injures him and so, by ancient custom, the injured person had a right to seek revenge, or at least some kind of payment (like lawsuits of today). But why should we sue for redress of a grievance? God, through the sacrifice of his son, forgives our sins.

At this point, we may think of Jesus' story about the oppressive servant who hounded others to pay him back what they could ill afford, despite his having been forgiven all the debt he owed to a king. When the king heard about the servant's cruelty, he reimposed all the debt that that servant owed him (MT 18:23-35). How can we not bask in God's graciousness and release our resentments, forgiving others who have wronged us? Isn't our destiny the wonder of eternal life? How can we complain? So then, should we not also forgive people who owe us money? Why demand repayment? God will provide our true needs. Why not let that go? Clinging to the need to get money back is like clinging to Mammon. Wrong direction. Turn around, and get God good.

Forgiving the debts owed us by others is not the easiest thing for many of us. But the oft-heard assertion, "I will never forgive that," carries a grave danger to the speaker. Jesus has already warned earlier in the Sermon, as he does elsewhere in the gospels, that forgiveness is an imperative component of the Christian walk.

Temptation
During refining, metal is tested to see what needs yet to be done, to assure that it is purged of nonessential weak material so that only the durable matter is left. When your faith is tested, God is helping you to see where you are in your spiritual progress, so that you learn to cast off the inessential. Its purpose is somewhat like the goal of Marine Corps boot camp or Army basic training.

Further, how can you learn to rely on God without being placed in situations where you have little wiggle room?

If a person indulges in much self-will, perhaps God will lead him to learn a hard lesson, in order that he become more modest and humble toward God, which is for his own good, since those who primarily serve themselves serve Satan, the evil one. For example, observe that the alcoholic or drug addict has followed a path that leads him into the hands of the evil one. If he is fortunate, he turns to God and recovers, perhaps through Alcoholics Anonymous⁴, from the disordered condition that has overcome him. Though God did not wish that person to go down that road, even so he ordained that difficult path for that person. That person was "led into temptation" on account of the poor choices he made. Of course, this principle doesn't only apply to alcoholics and addicts. It is a consequence of our blindness in this fallen world.

Such a fall certainly doesn't mean that God is angry with people who have fallen into the devil's snares. After all, God sent his son to deliver us from the evil one. Yet, as long as a person refuses to turn to Jesus, the "wrath of God" rests over him. God is not personally angry. But by refusing to turn to the light, the balky person is keeping the disorderly state of mind, and the pain, of this fallen world.

As the writer of John says, "He who believes on the son has everlasting life but he that doesn't won't see life but the wrath of God [that is, the penalty of spiritual death] abides on him."

Yet even a born-again Christian will make mistakes, sometimes major blunders. So a new son of God is wise to ask the Father not to let him go astray, to ask that, should he veer off the right path, that God guide him back to where he belongs. Please don't let me follow a false light, Oh Lord -- because, without your help, I am very likely to do just that!

As we have said, a most important part of the Christian walk is to overlook the wrongs done to us by others. Jesus explains this point in MT 6:13-14 and in a number of other places in the gospels. But danger is lurking for Christians and even more so for those who are near, but who have not come, to Christ. They need help averting a nasty fall. MT's addition of "but deliver us from evil" serves to remind the hearer that a hard test (=temptation) is sent by Hell in order to block the potential believer from coming to Christ as well as to hinder the born-again believer from succeeding in his walk with the Lord. Some of these temptations were indeed very difficult, as when governmental and religious oppressors gave Christians a choice between denying Jesus and death.

Was not Judah led into temptation by Jesus and his Father, even though Judah was unwittingly doing the devil's work? Jesus, at the instance of his Father, at some point chose Judah as a devil (i.e., a tare or weed). When Jesus' final hour arrived, he directed Judah to hurry and do what he had to do. God was not doing evil to Judah. Judah had already worked his way into this role, as he was money-hungry. God authorizes everything, including the works of Satan. When we are children, we learn to avoid, say, the evil of a hot stove. The stove is fine in Mom's universe, but we are to steer clear of it.

Moreover, there is no "right" to receive God's grace. Grace is unmerited favor from God. We should be mindful of these blessings, and try not to take his grace for granted (though the sons will, to some extent, tend to take the Father's provision for granted). If God withheld his grace from you, you would soon be led astray. In current times, God sends his rain on the just and the unjust, on the saved and the not-yet saved. Though the unsaved benefit much less from God's grace than the saved, at least they get some reflected light, and there is hope for them.

Once the final judgment has occurred, those who have rejected Jesus after many opportunities will finally get their way. No more Jesus at all. No Savior. No light of the world. No sense of God. Hell. Hell is what you get when the Savior is not present.

It is too bad anyone must endure this, as Jesus already endured such a torment when, having taken our place, he cried out in anguish, "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me!?"

Why would God lead anyone into temptation and into the hands of the evil one?

Well, consider the instance in which Paul ordered -- through spiritual means -- the destruction of a man's body, handing the man over "to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

Paul used his Holy Spirit power from a distance to cause the destruction of the weak believer's body -- not for punishment, but for an emergency amputation. The man had to be disconnected, via some harsh physical illness, from the powerful sinning body in order for him to be released and saved. But, because that man had been born again, the true man was in the spirit and not the body. An unregenerate man who dies in his sin still has a dead spirit after death of the body, as he did during his physical lifetime.

In this particular case, we cannot say that the man was led into temptation, but he was certainly led to Paul, who took drastic spiritual action in order to assure the brother's eternal life, as well as to bolster the young church at Corinth.

The doxology: Kingdom, power and glory
These words appear to have been added to Matthew for liturgical reasons by the early church. One commentator thinks the words are meant to "seal" the prayer, a practice found, he says, among ancient Jews. Certainly it is beneficial to be reminded that God is totally in charge! It is unthinkable that Jesus would have objected to this "comment." In any case, it is certainly possible that Jesus said something close to this during his earthly ministry and that an editor incorporated that saying. But it is also possible the redactor wanted to underscore the meaning of "your kingdom come." True servants of God will obey God, though learning to do so well is a lifelong process. As we saw from the foregoing discourse, the way God would like for us to act -- the "heavenly" way -- is what we are to aspire to here on earth.

Very tough case: Notes

1. The fact that this episode is included in Matthew may suggest that it was inserted into the text sometime after the main book was written, as it tends to counter the apparent Matthean tendency to insist on the necessity of following Jewish religious law. In that case, what we may have is a recollection that arrived by a different route than much of the other material. Or we may regard the story as buttressing the Matthean idea that, when in Jerusalem, do as the Jews do and honor Jewish customs.
We may also consider the possibility that the story was originally an allegory given by some preacher in order to get across the point that true Christians are free of such obligations.
Interestingly, there is no completion in which Peter actually goes and finds the shekel. In virtually all other cases of miracles related in the four gospels, it is clearly stated that the miracle was performed and that someone benefited. But here the story stops with Jesus' words. One cannot help but wonder whether the Matthean writer or editor was chary of saying that a miracle had occurred because he thought the story might have been meant as an allegory.
The possibility that we can question a particular recollection should not be taken to mean that, therefore, nothing is trustworthy. It is obvious that a number of people had witnessed incredible things and heard amazing wisdom. In fact, the sayings of Jesus are in themselves so powerful that they point to a person of divine centrality, which in turn tends to attest to the fact that many miracles occurred, even if the precise retellings vary in minor detail or if sometimes only one evangelist records a particular event.
The fact is that three evangelists saw Mark's second mass feeding miracle as unlikely to have occurred, realizing that it appears to be an obvious retelling of the first miracle story with minor differences of detail, including the approximate number fed.
Yet the Markan writer found the two versions useful, because, for one thing, he used the literary device of "sandwiching" other material between the two tellings, a device he uses elsewhere.
Further we must conclude that the Markan writer must have been at at least one remove from the first apostles. That is, he had access to church accounts of, possibly, sermons of one or more apostles, but he could not have reviewed his material with any substantial eyewitnesses.
Still, what if Mark is correct and there were two mass feedings? We would then attribute the too-strong similarities to the conflation of recollections. That eventuality cannot be excluded.

Who do you think I am? Notes

1. Aside from the concern about the accusation of magic, the writers of Matthew and Luke may have noticed that Mark's two spittle-healing stories seem rather similar. In both stories, Jesus pulls the person away to a private spot. Possibly they rejected both stories because they thought the two accounts were variants of the same recollected incident, but had no clue which was closer to the facts. Notice that none of the other evangelists could accept Mark's tale of two mass feedings.
Even so, there was nothing to stop Jesus from performing more than one spittle miracle, nor from needing privacy when he did so.
Compare
John 9:6,7

6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

2.
Psalm 89:11-14

11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

What makes you dirty? Notes

1. Literally, corban, meaning a sacrifice or offering made to God, especially among the ancient Hebrews in fulfillment of a vow. (Hence, the Temple officials stood to gain from such gifts.)

x1. See Isaiah 29:13.

Good and plenty: Notes

1a. Some background information comes from BibleAtlas.com and BiblePlaces.com

1. Luke omits a second mass feeding miracle, as does John. In the case of Luke, we are aware that its author used Mark as an important source, as did Matthew's author. In the case of John, the similarity to Mark's account is close enough that we may assume John's author either took the episode from Mark or that both writers used the same source.
It seems very plausible that Mark records two variants of the same event, though we cannot be sure Jesus did not perform two feeding miracles. We may notice that in the first feeding of the 5,000, five loaves and two fish were brought forward. That is, there were seven items of food, with seven being a number thought by many Jews of the period to imply some sort of divine completion. In the case of the feeding of the 4,000, offered were seven loaves of bread and a few (no number specified) fish, with the number seven again being highlighted. That certainly sounds like two tellings of the same event.
But clearly the author of Mark, followed by the author of Matthew, saw significance in the two separate feedings. (See xxx.)
Also, the second feeding permitted the Marcan writer to use a favorite literary device: the "sandwich." If you read Mark separately, you may notice that he will "sandwich in" material between one passage and its associated passage. Thus, he placed a group of teachings and miracle episodes between the two mass feedings.
In any case, this book accepts the lead of Luke and John, focusing on one mass feeding.

2. The poverty of a typical poor person in Jesus' time is almost unimaginable to the modern American mind. We tend to lose sight of how really wonderful was Jesus' declaration that poor people, who counted for nothing back then, would be given great things.

3. We cannot be altogether certain that more than one recollected episode has not been sewn together here, principally by the writer of Mark. That is, the walking on water may not have occurred on the night of the feeding miracle. Perhaps on one night they were headed back to Bethsaida, and another time they sailed for Gennesaret, an ancient port town.

Secret Path
Notes and discussion

Friday, November 13, 2020

Crucifixion: Notes

What are you afraid of? Notes

New deal: Notes

Surprise! Notes

Trial: Notes

Last supper: Notes

Trouble ahead: Notes

Joyful noise: Notes

To Jerusalem: Notes

Whom do you serve? Notes

Strip for action: Notes

Whitewashed tombs: Notes

Woman at a well: Notes

Satan's star falls: Notes

How to pray: Discussion and notes (awaits rewrite)

Very tough case: Notes

Who do you think I am? Notes

What makes you dirty? Notes

Good and plenty: Notes

Crucifixion: Notes

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