Matthew 7-8

[wolfpurplemoon]

We should not judge others without considering our own faults first, seems reasonable. Also, treat others as we would expect to be treated, again also reasonable. These make far better commandments rather than all that stuff that is usually called the commandments. Do unto others is the basic rule of morality, you don't want to die, be a slave, have your stuff taken, be tortured, live in fear, or be attacked in any way, so therefore don't do them to others. It's simple, obvious and you don't need religion to know it's right.

All that good is sort of ruined with a promise that if you ask God you will receive and if you seek him you will find him, so no God-believer ever went hungry, lost a child or died in desperation?

False prophets are as dangerous and deceitful as a wolf in sheep's clothing. But you won't spot them by their badly fitted woollen jackets but by their bad fruit. Can't we choose a metaphor and stick to it?

The crowds are thoroughly amazed at Jesus' speech about the wisdom of building a house on rock versus a foolish house built on sand, I suppose they are amazed because sand is about all they have round there.

Jesus wanders about healing people, including a servant who he heals without visiting him & Peter's mother-in-law who immediately makes them some food. He also drives out demons from people who are possessed (Jesus was the first exorcist?) he sends some demons into a herd of pigs who then run into the lake and drown. Understandably, the local people ask him to leave, they're out of pigs now.

Comments

Foundations

[melissa caye cassagne (from livejournal.com)]

Just a thought...because I'm no deep philosopher or Bible theologian. A lot of what Jesus taught was through parables/stories. He did this a lot because the "church leaders" or Pharisees were always around and it was almost a way to poke at their puffed up religious attitudes without directly confronting them.
As for the house on the foundation...it simply alludes to a persons faith/beliefs. If you grow a faith on an unsturdy idea...it will crumble. The Pharisees did a lot of this. They believed that rituals were more important to God than a relationship with Him. That is a shaky foundation. It is saying that what WE do is better than what GOD does (we who are tragically flawed and evil at our core). But if your foundation is firm, rock-solid, and goes deep down (which a good foundation for a "building" does) then nothing will tear it down. You'll see that Jesus says, "He who has ears, let him hear." Not that all the people didn't have ears ;) It was more like "Listen up! If you think about this and really "hear" what I'm trying to say...you'll get it!"
Ok...I'm gonna stop rambling. I really enjoy your "spur of the moment" thoughts. It pushes me to read and study the Word of God more so that I might have more insight.

Re: Foundations

[myorp.livejournal.com]

I think it's interesting, to me a lot of the things that are being snarked on this journal are things that I understood to be either highly metaphorical, or satire and snark themselves which Jesus directed at the religious establishment of his time!

At least that's how I've read it, but context is everything and honestly, none of us really understand the perspective of 1st century Jews. I figure, take and use the stuff that makes sense and seems useful and don't worry about the rest of it because it was mostly meant specifically for the people who he was speaking to!

~Kent

Re: Foundations

[melissa caye cassagne (from livejournal.com)]

@Kent: I think that Jesus (being the Son of God...so He was/is divine) knew what he was saying. I think that He had many levels to his words. Surface level: build a house on sand and it falls! Deeper level: build your faith on something false and it will crumble in the end. I think that His words are always applicable to our lives...just because it may not seem like it's relevant now doesn't mean it shouldn't be. :)

[morgian-le-faye.livejournal.com]

"Understandably, the local people ask him to leave, they're out of pigs now." I just choked on my dinner. Thanks a lot! Great interpretation though!

[myorp.livejournal.com]

yeah, that was spot-on. :D

[wolfpurplemoon]

lol, apologies for making you choke!

[zen-says.livejournal.com]

Matt 7...

for those familiar with confucius and chinese culture, some of the similar teachings precedes that of Jesus. Nothing special here.

Seek and knock stuff and the "sky father" will grant you wishes... I remember reading somewhere... " I prayed for a new bicycle for some time, but knowing how God reacts, I rather steal a bicycle and ask for forgiveness".

Did anyone pray for Haiti or Africa? Why still so many die?

Matt 8

Miracles and miracles.....

Would a centurion go and see jesus for a servant's illness?

No amputees in Israel to get jesus to make their legs grow?

Demon possession and gone to the pigs. Wait... Pigs are "supposedly" unclean animals and who are rearing them?

Matthew is so desperate to match everything to OT,,,, where and how did jesus take up our infirmities and bear our illness?

When I 1st read Matthew 20+ years ago, it sounded so good, and after years of critical thinking and reading again, it really becoming like Matthew desperately trying to justify whatever he had on jesus and fit him in to OT.

[(Anonymous)]

Thats because Matthew is talking to the Jews. Mark talks more to the Gentiles. Which is why their genealogies differ. Matthew goes back to David known as a a major character in te Jewish faith. And mark.. Or maybe it's luke.. Goes all the way back to Adam and eve. Matthew is trying to portray 2 themes through his entire book. 1. Jesus is the messiah. 2. Jesus is the Messiah who is bringing the Kingdom. You also have to realize that Jesus came not to take away the old laws.. But give new meaning to them. To add to them and put heart into the law. A bunch of those old laws in Leviticus are just for cleanliness and what not, which is why the argument is dead when people bring up "but it says that you can't eat this certain animal. Why do you eat it if you are a Christian??" anyways... You aren't goin to learn anything from the Bible if you are looking at it in a way that you already know you position on God and you are just using the Bible to re inforce it and twist it into what you want to hear from it. I hope that you will find something touching and that you might discover that God.. Really loves you. I'll get off my soapbox now

[zen-says.livejournal.com]

i wonder who was doing the twisting and turning and trying to justify an apparent poor attempt to fit jesus into the ot prophecies. Picking verses and fitting to jesus and after trying to justify, even when it was out of context.

are you going to justify the virgin birth?

god really loves me is as real as santa claus is checking your behaviour for the year and climbing down from the chimney.

jesus came to fulfil the law, and if jesus were to follow the law, who are you or even paul/saul to do away with the LAW.

are you selling indulges now by the way?

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Do not judge others. Jesus talks to people who are quick to point out flaws in others and yet are oblivious to their own flaws. We can only control our own flaws, so we are not to go around focusing on the perceived flaws of others. The religious leaders (holier than thou types) would spend much time telling others how bad they were, not even realizing their own hypocrisy.

Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. Not a cause and effect passage. Jesus is saying that if we seek God, God can be found. Jesus isn't saying to ask for unlimited wealth, fortune, physical goods, etc and we will find it, but for us to bring our spiritual requests to God as is made clear in verse 11.

Do to others what you would have them do to you. Yes, it seems obvious, and yet look how hard of a time we have with this even today. People curse at each other, does that mean they want us to curse back? People cheat, steal, lie, get away with things that are unfair. Should we assume that they want that action in return? Jesus' message seems obvious, and yet look how few people follow anything like it.

Two metaphors for fase prophets. I guess Jesus could have said "by their sparse and soiled wool you can tell them" or perhaps He could have said "Watch out for false prophets, They come with a nice green tree trunk", but neither works very well, does it? He chose two different metaphors but completely finished with one before starting the second. Regardless, let's not forget that false prophets do exist, they say things like "Work from home and earn $50,000 a month" and "Do whatever makes you happy, because what make you happy has to be good" and "It doesn't matter what you belive, just believe in something" and even "You must belong to this special religion where only we know the secret." There are many more examples, but all of them have people turning anywhere other than God.

If we wisely apply Jesus' words to our lives, our lives will have a solid foundation, hence the builder metaphor.
The people were not amazed at the metaphor of the builders with two foundations, but at the way Jesus preached because Jesus spoke as someone with authority. He didn't just quote the Old Testament and repeat the Law as the other rabbis did, He gave examples and commands on how to live as if He made the rules (the Law was of God, so by teaching this way, Jesus was stating that he had the same authority of God).

Jesus, as we've seen in these verses (and yesterday) was opposed to "religion" and "religious types". He taught people to live a certain way without all the religious muck that comes with following rules and jumping through hoops as religions require. That isn't to say that religion is inherently bad, and in fact religion serves a purpose of bringing together people of similar faith, but that adherence to religion and its rituals and practices can take our focus off of God. Note that Jesus didn't talk in this section about any religious rituals, but simply talked about a way to live.

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Jesus heals a leper. Leprosy was very contagious and had to warn people to stay away, yet Jesus showed compassion for the man and healed him (the crowd probably recoiled in fear when he approached, and even more so when Jesus touched him).
The Centurion (a Roman, not a Jew) had heard of Jesus who had already healed many people and had enough faith to ask Jesus for help for his servant. The Roman knew enough about the Jews to know that it would be looked upon poorly for Jesus, a Jew, to go to his home (we'll see this change in Acts). The Centurion (a man who commanded 100 subordinates, hence the title) had (well founded) faith that Jesus could do this from a distance. Jesus declares that people from across the world will also be able to enter heaven if they have faith (disabusing the Jews of the notion that only they would get there).
Many others were healed (fulfilling a prophecy)
Jesus told some who wanted to follow him that it wouldn't be easy (no permanent home to rest) and that they would have to leave their traditions behind (let the dead bury their dead; traditions were extremely important to the Jews, still are).
Jesus boards a boat and takes a nap during the crossing, a storm arises and Jesus awakes and calms the storm. The disciples were amazed that their friend could control the weather.
Jesus casts demons out and into a herd of swine (he has the authority to do so and they had to ask his permission to enter the pigs). The region mentioned was not a Jewish region, but a Roman one, so tending the pigs wasn't an issue for them. The people did ask him to leave, likely because they feared the supernatural events that they witnessed and were told about. People regularly fear and ridicule that which they do not understand.

By the way, "they're out of pigs now" is priceless.

[(Anonymous)]

Ztecc where have you been all my life? You make the passages so much easier to understand with your knowledge of the times.
Wolf your readers obviously aren't bored and moving on, just here observing. I too find ur pigs comment priceless and totally real and honest:D

[(Anonymous)]

And I must say also, your blog along with many of the comments would make a great bible study for anyone.

[(Anonymous)]

And I must say also, your blog along with many of the comments would make a great book. its more thought provoking than many studies I've done, and for me it has made me deepen my faith (though probably not your intent:))

[wolfpurplemoon]

I've had no intentions concerning the depth of faith of people who happen by, I'm just writing what I think at the time, though the project has strengthened my own atheism. I'm sure I've not come up with anything original enough to warrant publication, but thanks for your interest!

[(Anonymous)]

Jesus did not exorcize people. An exorcism is a ritual that is meant to "wear the demon down" until it leaves. Instead, all Jesus did was speak at it. He cast out demons yes. But he was not an exorcist.