My apologies to my readers because I have not posted anything for a couple of Weeks.  The reason was that my computer gave up the ghost. I’m sure this has happened to a lot of people since computers came into the modern era.  So then in this connected world it can be so easy to lose ourselves with our digital friends.  We need to remember that when God created us, he created us in such a way that we didn’t have wires coming out of our heads.  Our Lord explains to us in the Sermon on the Mount the importance of our relationship with God and with our neighbours.  By God’s grace and mercy let us have our lives aligned in love with God and our neighbour. 

Today we are going to finish our series by looking at

1. The narrow and wide gates Matthew. Matthew 7. 13-14
2. A tree and its fruit Matthew 7. 15-23
3. The two foundations Matthew 7. 13-29

Let’s begin by reading:

The Narrow and Wide Gates

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Comments

Tyndale the English Martyr says the following:

The strait gate is the true knowledge and understanding of the law,* and of the true intent of works: which whosoever understandeth, the same shall be driven to Christ, to fetch of his fulness, and to take him for his righteousness and fulfilling of the law, altogether at the beginning, and as oft as we fall afterward, and for more than the thousandth part of our fulfilling of the law and righteousness of our best works all our life long. For except the righteousness of Christ be knit to the best deed we do, it will be too short to reach to heaven.

And the narrow way is to live after this knowledge.* He that will enter in at this gate must be made anew: his head will else be too great; he must be untaught all that he hath learned, to be made less for to enter in; and disused in all things to which he hath been accustomed, to be made less, to walk through that narrow way; where he shall find such an heap of temptations, and so continual, that it shall be impossible to endure or to stand, but by prayer of strong faith.

(William Tyndale, Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures, Together with the Practice of Prelates, ed. Henry Walter, vol. 1, The Works of William Tyndale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1849), 120–121.)

So, then I would have missed this point which is very important:

” The strait gate is the true knowledge and understanding of the law, and of the true intent of works: which whosoever understandeth, the same shall be driven to Christ,”

As we already know from our regular Bible readings of this Sermon on the Mount that Jesus did not come to ‘abolish’ the law but to fulfill it.  The summing of the law is very simple:

1. Love God
2. Love your neighbour

Outside of Christ in our own strength it is impossible to please God because we have a lot of sinful baggage we carry on our shoulders. Just to make it easy St Paul gives us a whole list of vices that break the law of God:

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21 NASB

Which ones of these have we not done in our daily living?

These things (and others) we have inherited from the sinful world we have been born into because of the Fall.  This list excludes us all from the kingdom of God.  However, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus kept the law perfectly and through his death on the cross and the resurrection by faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit we can have eternal life.

The wide gate then is naturally an easy gate to follow and as human beings by doing these things in the worldly sense we could become financially well off at the expense of others.  I am not saying that every rich person has followed this way but I am saying that wealth is a great temptation and even our Lord warns about the trappings of mammon.

Our Lord while he was in this corrupt world kept the following and others perfectly:

 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. “Galatians 5:22-23 NASB

Even when our Lord was dying on the cross he said, “forgive them for they know not what they do”

Our Lord through his life death and resurrection showed us perfectly how to live by faith because he live the narrow gate.  There is only one narrow gate, and it is the way of faith, hope and love. 

Before we move on to the next section the gates are a time for us to focus at where we stand before God or don’t stand.   It is not by good works that we are saved though, but good works flow from the Christian person ‘out of gratitude’, for what God has done for us already or putting it another way, works are the fruit of faith.  The disciple of Jesus having focused on their walk with God is now ready to focus on being aware of counterfeit Christianity within the Church.  In the following section our Lord gives his disciples advice:

A Tree and Its Fruit

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?  So, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.

 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Comment

William Tyndale begins by saying:

 Here Christ warneth thee,* and describeth unto thee those captains that should so blind the great multitude that they should not find the strait gate, and lead them the broad way to perdition. Note first, that though they be false, yet he calleth them prophets, which word in the new testament is taken for an expounder and an interpreter of scripture. And he saith, “They shall come to you,” my disciples.

(William Tyndale, Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures, together with the Practice of Prelates, ed. Henry Walter, vol. 1, The Works of William Tyndale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1849), 121.)

Tyndale with his keen eye on the text makes a very important point.  These false disciples are called ‘false prophets.’  It means that these particular false teachers have not come from outside the church but from within (heresy).  Our Lord gives us some advice on how to spot false teachers:

“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?” Matthew 7:16

I think this is very good advice from our Lord.  Today we see in the Church the ‘rejection of holy living’.  I see people dangerously reforming the interpretation of the text.  The excuse being that ‘the world has changed and we need to change with the times.’ No, my friends our Lord says:

““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” Matthew 7:21-23

In many churches the idea of holiness is thrown out that one can be a Christian and still practice immoral acts.  This is false teaching.  The Nicolaitans the precursors of the gnostics practised immorality and John in his book on Revelations wrote about their teachings.  As Christians we are called to love our neighbour no matter what their practices, but we are also called to hate the sin that is practised and through repentance purify the Church.  Some of the Churches have caved into this false teaching.  The reason why they caved in is because the Church has been willing to put people into positions of authority whilst not living to the standards of Scripture.  Those people became the future leaders who were able to vote at the synods for unholy objectives.  Corruption is rife. 

The corruption that was in secret has ebbed its way to the front.  What our Lord Jesus said here has come true.  What our Lord has said has come true over many centuries even to today.  We need to beware of false teachers in our midst and cut the gangrene away. 

So, then my friends we have learned many things along the way.  The beatitudes for me is the key to understanding the Sermon on the Mount.  The natural person needs to come to a realization that they are full of sin and that they cannot save themselves. By the work of the Trinity, we realize that God did everything for us.  God sent his Son the Lord Jesus into the world who died for us and rose again from the dead.  Jesus has opened a new and living way and through the Holy Spirit this spiritually dead stick can be born again to newness of life through the gift of faith. Our Lord finishes off by giving us two options.  One way leads to eternal life and the other way leads to eternal death:

The Two Foundations

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. Matthew 7:13-29

Reflection

• There is a narrow gate and a wide gate
• There is a firm foundation and a sandy foundation

Our Lord starts by getting us to focus on where we are spiritually.  Only then does he look at the false teachers in our midst.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the law which is the opposite of lawlessness. Our Lord begins by giving us steppingstones to get closer to the kingdom of God.  Once through the maze of our own sin Christ takes us to look at our relationships with others. 

So looking back we have covered:

• The Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes Matthew 5:1
• Disciples and the World Matthew 5:13
• Personal Relationships Matthew 5:21
• Giving to the Poor and Prayer Matthew 6:1
• Fasting; The True Treasure; Wealth (Mammon) Matthew 6:16
• The Cure for Anxiety Matthew 6:25
• Judging Others Matthew 7:1
• Prayer and the Golden Rule Matthew 7:7
• The Narrow and Wide Gates Matthew 7:13
• A Tree and Its Fruit Matthew 7:15
• The Two Foundations Matthew 7:24

No matter what denomination or no denomination I hope that you have gotten closer to the teachings of Jesus.  The next big celebration will be Christmas where we will be reminded about his incarnation.  When God became a man. We need to realize though these teachings are also part of the incarnation.  They are part of the incarnation because Jesus indeed was a real human being who lived a real life among us in this corrupt world.

We have already seen how our Lord wants us to pray in the Our Father:

• Adoration; We give God the glory that belongs to him (Our Creator, the One who gave us life and redeems us and keeps us)
• Confession; We confess that he is God, The Most Holy et al.
• Thanksgiving; We continually thank God for all good things come from Him
• Supplication; We make our requests to a Holy God through Christ.

The above is just some things about the prayer.  The prayer also has at the end about forgiving others.

The verses below I think are some of the most misinterpreted verses in certain churches that push wealth as important (on a pedestal).  That is a complete misfit of what the text is about. 

Let us begin by reading the text:

(Prayer and the Golden Rule)

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:7-12 NASB

The Word commentary, William Barclay and William Tyndale (Martyr for the English Bible) give us important explanations about the tenses.

Grammatical and contextual Points

Verse 7

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

The verbs to ask to seek and to know are in the present imperatives. 

These verbs should be interpreted as keep asking; keep seeking; keep knocking. Prayer is a continual thing, and it does not stop.   I can also mention that these verbs are also in the plural.  Jesus was speaking to his disciples and others at this event on ‘the mountain’.

The verbs will receive; will find; will open are all in the future tense. 

Verse 8

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Receives, finds and knocks in this verse are in the present tense.  It is also in the singular

Verses 9-10

Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

Here we have everyday objects in two different categories:

• Bread and fish are staple foods in a fishing and farming village
• Stone and snake have negative and opposite connotations are from my point of view found in the temptation story earlier on in the Gospel

Verse 11

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Good and evil compared and contrasted in light of our creator and our evil nature.

Verse 12

The Golden Rule!

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:7-12 NASB

My commentary on this section

God is our heavenly Father and in Christ our Redeemer and through the work of the Holy Spirit we as disciples are given advice for the nitty gritty daily living of our lives on the backdrop of the eschaton (The End Times).  God is love and this love principle of God’s goodness ought to also drive our walk with God (verse 12).  Even though we are evil, we still have the capacity to look after those under our care (verse 11).  So too God is indeed (Most Holy and Most Good) and he encourages us to live by faith and the motivation is love.

We ought to keep praying and asking God and by the Holy Spirit; By the incarnational life of Jesus on Earth; through the Holy Scriptures by God’s grace poured into our hearts and lives.  God will indeed answer our prayers.

There are prayers that God will not answer.  Those prayers that go against what we have learned through his Trinitarian teachings as found in Holy Scripture. Prayers that:

• Feed our selfish ego (greed and money)
• Revenge
• Pride
• And so, on

In summary then verse 12;

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:7-12 NASB

Reflection

As Christians in our relationships, we ought to love each and every person and it is not always an easy thing to do.  In our prayers things can get in the way such as greed for monetary gain, pride, revenge et al.   Through prayer, reading and studying holy Scripture and spending time with others of the same mind, our hearts and minds are purified.  As each day goes on in our lives, we become more like our Master the Lord Jesus Christ; although fully God he became fully man and as the Prototype and Image of God in Him our reflection becomes continually more like our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.

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William Tyndale’s comments here if you are interested

First, note of these words,* that to pray is God’s commandment, as it is to believe in God, to love God, or to love thy neighbour; and so are alms and fasting also. Neither is it possible to believe in God, to love him, or to love thy neighbour, but that prayer will spring out there-hence immediately.* For to believe in God is to be sure that all thou hast is of him, and all thou needest must come of him: which if thou do, thou canst not but continually thank him for his benefits, which thou continually, without ceasing, receivest of his hand; and thereto ever cry for help, for thou art ever in need, and canst no whence else be holpen. And thy neighbour is in such necessity also: wherefore, if thou love him, it will compel thee to pity him, and to cry to God for him continually, and to thank as well for him as thyself.

Secondarily, this heaping of so many words together, “ask,* seek, and knock,” signify that the prayer must be continual; and so doth the parable of the widow, that sued to the wicked judge: and the cause is, that we are ever in continual necessity, as I said; and all our life [is] but even a warfare and a perpetual battle;* in which we prevail as long as we pray, and be overcome as soon as we cease praying: as Israel overcame the Amalekites, as long as Moses held up his hands in prayer; and as soon as he had let down his hands for weariness,* the Amalekites prevailed and had the better. Christ warned his disciples at his last supper, to have peace in him; affirming that they should have none in the world.* The false prophets shall ever impugn the faith in Christ’s blood, and enforce to quench the true understanding of the law, and the right meaning and intent of all the works commanded by God; which fight is a fight above all fights. First, they shall be in such number, that Christ’s true disciples shall be but a small flock in respect of them. They shall have works like Christ’s; so that fasting, prayer, poverty, obedience, and chastity, shall be the names of their profession. For, as Paul saith to the Corinthians, the angels or messengers of Satan shall change themselves into angels or messengers of light and truth.* They shall come in Christ’s name, and that with signs and miracles; and have the upper hand also,* even to deceive the very elect, if it were possible. Yea, and beyond all this, if thou get the victory of the false prophets, and pluck a multitude out of their hands, there shall immediately rise of the same, and set up a new false sect against thee. And against all these Amalekites the only remedy is to lift up the hands of thy heart to God in continual prayer:* which hands if thou for weariness once let fall, thou goest to the worst immediately. Then, beside the fight and conflict of the subtle sophistry, false miracles, disguised and hypocritish works of these false prophets, cometh the dogs and wolves of their disciples, with the servants of mammon, and the swine of thine own scholars: against which all thou hast no other shield or defence but prayer. Then the sins and lusts of thine own flesh, Satan, and a thousand temptations unto evil in the world, will either drive thee to the castle and refuge of prayer, or take thee prisoner undoubtedly.

Last of all,* thy neighbour’s necessity and thine own will compel thee to cry, “Father, which art in heaven, give us our daily bread;” though thou wert as rich as king Salomon. For Christ commandeth the rich, as well as the poor, to cry to God continually for their daily bread; and if they have no such need, then is Christ a deceiver and a mocker. What need I to pray thee to give, or lend me, that is in mine own possession already? Is not the first commandment, that there is but one God, and that thou put thy whole trust in him? Which if it were written in thine heart, thou shouldest easily perceive, and though thou hadst as many thousands as David left behind him, and Salomon heaped more to them, that thou hadst no more than the poor beggar that goeth from door to door; yea, and that the beggar (if that commandment be written in his heart) is sure that he is as rich as thou.

For first, thou must knowledge that thou hast received that great treasure of the hand of God. Wherefore, when thou fetchest an halfpenny thereof, thou oughtest to give God thanks in thine heart for the gift thereof.

Thou must confess,* also, that God only hath kept it and thee that same night, and ever before; or else be an idolater, and put thy trust in some other thing than God. And thou must confess, that God only must keep it and thee, the day and night following, and so continually after; and not thine own wit or power, or the wit or power of any other creature or creatures. For if God kept it not for thee, it would be thine own destruction, and they that help thee to keep it would cut thy throat for it. There is no king in christendom so well beloved, but he hath enow of his own evil subjects (if God kept them not down with fear) that would at one hour rise upon him and slay him, to make havoc of all he hath. Who is so well beloved throughout all England, but that there be enow in the same parish, or nigh about, that would, for his good, wish him to hell if they could, and would with their hands destroy him, if God kept him not, and did1 cast fear on the other?

Now, then, if God must ever keep it for thee, and thou must daily receive it of his hand (as a poor man doth receive his alms of another man), thou art in no more surety of thy daily bread, no, though thou were a cardinal, than the poorest is. Wherefore, howsoever rich thou be, yet must thou ever cry to God for thy daily bread. So now it is a commandment to pray, and that continually; short, thick, and oft, as the psalms be, and all the prayers of the bible.

Finally,* the third is, that we be commanded to pray with faith and trust; and that we believe in the Lord our God, and doubt not in his promises, unto which Christ induceth us with an apt similitude, saying, “If ye being evil can give good things unto your children, how much more shall God fulfil his promises of mercy unto his children, if they cry unto him!” He is better and more merciful than all men. Wherefore, seeing God commandeth thee to pray, and forasmuch as thou hast so great necessity so to do, and because he is merciful, and hath promised and is true, and cannot deny his own words; therefore pray; and when thou prayest, look not on thine unworthiness, but on his commandment, mercy, and goodness, and on his truth and faithfulness, and believe stedfastly in him. Moreover, whatsoever thou hast done, yet if thou repent and will amend, he promiseth that he will not think on thy sins.* And though he defer thee, think it not long, nor faint not in thy faith, or be slack in thy prayer: for he will surely come and give thee more than thou desirest, though he defer for thy profit, or change thy request into a better thing.

  All things, therefore, whatsoever ye would men should do to you, so do ye to them. This is, verily, the law and the prophets.

This is a short sermon, that no man need complain that he cannot,* for the length, bear it away. It is so nigh thee, that thou needest not to send over sea for it. It is with thee, that thou needest not to be importune upon master doctor, saying, ‘Sir, I pray you, what say ye to this case and to that; and is not this lawful, and may I not so do, and so, well enough?’ Ask thine own conscience, what thou mayest or oughtest to do. Wouldest thou men did so with thee? then do it. Wouldest thou not be so dealt with? then do it not. Thou wouldest not that men should do thee wrong and oppress thee: thou wouldest not that men should do thee shame and rebuke, lie on thee, kill thee, hire thine house from thee, or tice thy servant away, or take against thy will aught that is thine.* Thou wouldest not that men should sell thee false ware, when thou puttest them in trust to make it ready, or lay it out for thee; nor thou wouldest not that men should deceive thee with great oaths, swearing that to be good which indeed is very naught: thou wouldest not, also, that men should sell thee ware that is naught and too dear, to undo thee. Do no such things, then, to thy neighbour. But as loth as thou wouldest be to buy false ware, or too dear, for undoing thyself, so loth be thou to sell false ware, or too dear, for undoing thy neighbour. And in all thy needs how glad thou wouldest be to be holpen, so glad be to help thy neighbour. And so, in all cases, examine thy conscience, and ask her what is to be done, in all doubts between thy neighbour and thee; and she will teach thee, except thou be more filthy than a swine, and altogether beastly.

He saith here,* “This is the law and the prophets.” And he saith,* “Thou shalt love thy Lord God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind:” and, as Mark addeth, “with all thy might,* and thy neighbour as thyself. In these two commandments hangeth the whole law and the prophets.” And Paul (Rom. 13 and Gal. 5) saith, that “love is the fulfilling of the law.” And it is written, that “Christ is” the fulfilling or “end of the law.” To make all these agree, this thou must understand; that to love God purely is the final and uttermost end of all the law and the prophets.* To love thy neighbour is the end of all laws that is between man and man; as are, kill not, steal not, bear no false witness, commit none adultery, covet not thy neighbour’s wife, his house, ox, ass, maid, man-servant, nor aught that is his, &c. Christ is the fulfilling of the law for us, where we be imperfect; and when we break and repent, his fulfilling is imputed unto us. And this text, “This is the law and the prophets,” mayest thou understand as when Paul saith, “Love is the fulfilling of the law:” that is, to do as thou wouldest be done to, is all the law that is between thee and thy neighbour; and that according to the true understanding and interpreting of all true prophets.

William Tyndale, Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures, Together with the Practice of Prelates, ed. Henry Walter, vol. 1, The Works of William Tyndale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1849), 115–120. Taken from Logos Bible Software

The picture I used this Week for the blog was taken from: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Washington_Allston_-Elijah_in_the_Desert–Google_Art_Project.jpg/640px-Washington_Allston–Elijah_in_the_Desert-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

This Week we have two English Theologians namely Colin Gunton commenting on Karl Barth (my tutor in the final year at King’s College London and William Tyndale who was martyred for his faith (16^th Century)

We sometimes take our freedoms for granted.  William Tyndale (the Martyr) reminds us that some freedoms such as reading Scripture is worth dying for.  At the end of this blog, I give his view on Matthew 7 verses 1-6.   Later on, we will also be looking at Matthew 7:1-6 and we will be considering what our Lord Jesus said about judging others (especially within the Christian community.)

What is judgment?

There are many definitions in the English language:

‘The ability to judge, make a decision, or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wisely, especially in matters affecting action; good sense; discretion’ (From; dictionary.com/browse/judgement)

Actually, there are many definitions for judging and this one was the second meaning (from the above web site).  The definitions I have seen tend to be very simplistic and usually the word is explained in a positive light (making good judgements).  We know differently because a lot of the time we can get it wrong.  In life we make judgements a lot of the time from the perspective of how it can ‘make me look better’.  When a person goes for a job, there can be competition and if one gets the job there is a feeling of elation but not for the one who failed the interview.  Unfortunately, in this world some interviewees will cheat to put themselves in a better light, or the interviewers have already chosen the candidate beforehand (which is illegal, but I am sure it goes on).

In God talk we know that the Judge is God.  We also know that our Lord Jesus in Christian confessions is both fully God and fully man (which is what I believe as I am Trinitarian).  For example, John 1 says:

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 From NASB Olive Tree software

In the passage we are going to look at Colin Gunton is going to explain Karl Barth’s Metaphor of Christ as Judge who was judged in our sinful place.  This is found in book four; volume 1 of the Church Dogmatics:

“That section of Barth’s Church Dogmatics has to be understood in the context of Volume IV as a whole. In it, the atonement—or reconciliation as Barth prefers to call it—is understood as the threefold action of God’s self-humbling, humankind’s elevation to true humanity and the mediating action of Jesus Christ as both God and man. In our section, Barth argues that God exercises his function of judgement by taking to himself ‘the lost cause of man’ (p. 3). That human lostness is itself understood in terms of the primary metaphor to mean that, after the manner of Adam in Genesis 3, ‘man wants to be his own judge’ (p. 220). We stand in judgement on our neighbour in the attitude which for Barth encapsulates human sinfulness. We want to be ‘godlike’ and to convince ourselves that we are in the right and everybody else in the wrong. In response to our demonic self-divinisation God refuses to exercise a like judgement of superiority, but instead himself undergoes the judicial process. But just as our victories are really defeats and God’s defeat on the cross really a victory, so it is here. The refusal to exercise judgement is the way by which the judge of all things does effect his righteous rule.

How is this exercise of divine judgement to be understood? First of all, by means of an apparent paradox: ‘to show His grace in the execution of His judgement, to pronounce us free in passing sentence, to free us by imprisoning us, to ground our life on our death, to redeem and save us by our own destruction’ (p. 222). The paradox, however, is resolved in a twofold way by, so to speak, unpacking and expounding the metaphor. We have already seen that one of the functions of metaphor is to reveal hidden features of the human condition by carrying over meaning from one sphere of reality to another, and so it is here. To understand the cross as a judgement is to hold that just as a court decides and so declares a verdict of guilt, so the cross lays bare certain aspects of our condition—for example, the pride of our standing in judgement on others. But it is not simply a matter of showing something to be so. Because it is the action of the eternal Son become man, it is also a redemptive action taking place at the heart of our lostness:

  The ‘for us’ of His death on the cross includes and encloses this terrible ‘against us’. Without this terrible ‘against us’ it would not be the divine and holy and redemptive and effectively helpful ‘for us’ in which the conversion of man and the world to God has become an event. (p. 296) The judgement of which Barth speaks is a kind of death sentence, the metaphorical but real execution of the sinner:

 For the fact that God has given Himself in His Son to suffer the divine judgement on us men does not mean that it is not executed on us, but that it is executed on us … That Jesus Christ died for us does not mean, therefore, that we do not have to die, but that we have died in and with Him, that as the people we were we have been done away with and destroyed. (pp. 294f) God exercises his justice by revealing our sin, by bearing it and by destroying its power.

Colin E. Gunton, The Actuality of Atonement: A Study of Metaphor, Rationality, and the Christian Tradition (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2003), 110–112.” From Logos.com

The reason I wanted to look at the metaphor of the Judge (our Lord) who was judged is because here in Matthew 7 Jesus talks about judging.  We find God doing something very special for us as Gunton says:

…the threefold action of God’s self-humbling, humankind’s elevation to true humanity and the mediating action of Jesus Christ as both God and man.  That is amazing that God humbled himself and this was the only way for humankind to be brought closer to God and this can only happen through Christ. Remembering that Jesus is fully God and fully human we now turn to Matthew 7 and read his special words on judging others:

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Matthew 7:1-6

The basic meaning of judging and not judging is relatively simple to understand but there are a lot of things going on here in the text that we could miss.

1. The basic meaning of the text
2. Jesus our Lord the great Judge was judged in our place, and he is saying these words (Karl Barth on election)
3. The log and the speck make me think that this example perhaps was taken from the carpentry shop in which our Lord probably helped Joseph. The Word commentary comments that the speck is really a piece of ‘saw dust’
4. He talks about the ‘hypocrites’
5. He makes a contrast between holy and unholy
6. There is an indirect allusion to Judgement (‘tear you to pieces’)
7. What we can learn.

Verse 1

Jesus here is talking to his disciples.  We know he is speaking to more than one person because there are plenty of second person plurals in the Greek.  Do not judge! literally in the Greek you(plural) do not judge! so you should not be judged (second person plural and future). 

These are important facts because it fits well with the beatitudes and the future state (heaven) that we will be in.  Although God as the Judge is not mentioned here, we have to accept that the text takes it as a given.

Verse 2

Our Lord gives us a warning that we ought to be careful what verdicts we give in this life.  We will not get away with a false verdict in the future state (eschaton). God is the perfect Judge, and his measure is always correct.  However as human beings we make mistakes many times.  For those in authority it is even more pronounced especially when someone goes to prison for a false verdict or even worse in some parts of the world the death sentence for a false verdict.  In our relations let us love God and love our neighbour and focus on love rather than finding fault with others.

Verse 3-4 the Log and the splinter (saw dust)

In this example of the log and the splinter Jesus Our Lord makes this example very personal.  The verbs switch from plural to singular.  Even in a very simple verdict such as a log and a splinter we personally can make serious mistakes. Before we can even sort out our brother or sisters’ mistakes, we need to first sort ourselves out.

Here we also see a great Jewish Rabbi (Our Lord) use hyperbolic language to make a point.  We know this because here our Lord is using metaphorical language.  A log is literally a beam of wood that is used for holding up houses! In contrast Our Lord also used the smallest (speck).   How can a log fit into someone’s eye? Obviously, it is nonsense.    The evaluation is made though our faults can be very big, and our brother’s fault can be very small.  Let’s be careful how we give verdicts.

Verse 5 (Hypocrite!)

The above word in the Greek is in the vocative singular.  It is singling out anyone who is judgmental and gives false verdicts.  

These are some verses earlier on in which the word hypocrite is used:

“So, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honoured by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Matthew 6:2

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Matthew 6:5

“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Matthew 6:16 (verse taken from olive tree Bible software)

Up to this point our Lord does not point out who the hypocrites are but later on in the Gospel we find the finger pointing to the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were also those who were the religious leaders of Judah at that time.

This is why the beatitudes are so important for the believer.  The beatitudes hone in on our bad attitudes and values in light of the Last Judgement.

Verse 6 (the Judgement)

6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Matthew 7:6

This has all the features of Hebraic Parallelism as used in the book of proverbs:

1. Do not give what is holy to dogs  
2. do not throw your pearls before swine

• or they will trample them under their feet
• and turn and tear you to pieces. Matthew 7:6

In Judaism dogs and swine are seen as unclean animals and they would not be eaten:

Holy and dogs are opposites and so are pearls and pigs

The judgement is that those who abuse holiness (the hypocrites face Gods judgement).

Reflection

Jesus our Judge

Jesus our Lord taught us about humility through his life’s work. Karl Barth and Colin Gunton shows us that the God of glory became a human being and died in our place on the cross.  O what humility from God! Our Mediator the Lord Jesus Christ is explaining to us about showing love in our relationships with other believers. 

The thing I like about this judging metaphor is that our Lord uses it from the world of carpentry.  Jesus our Lord was indeed a carpenter!

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” Mark 6:3

 Jesus takes this metaphor straight from his human world of work.  Our Lord probably mended some of those fishermen’s boats as well as roofs of houses such as the one that had a hole in it to let the paralytic down to be healed:

Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. Mark 2:4

Jesus possibly before starting his commissioning probably at the workshop, made beds, chairs and various fittings for his customers.

Pharisees

We need to be careful though, not all Pharisees were bad (Nicodemus).  When we look at this section, we need to read it in light of what has already been said.  Jesus our Judge lived out the beatitudes absolutely perfectly and his goodness took him to the cross on which he was judged for our sins! Karl Barth is certainly onto something here!

The meaning of the text

I agree with the Word commentary series because Jesus is not saying ‘don’t judge at all’.  It is talking about attitudes towards others that we shouldn’t be so arrogant but through love speak the truth.  However, there is a warning and we noticed there was also an allusion to the ‘Lord Day’ at the end of time.  Jesus will speak more of this later on in Matthews Gospel.  Judgement starts with the household of God (the Church).

Addendum

Anyhow I continued reading and I came across William Tyndale (The Martyr for the English Bible). This is what he says.  I’ve included his translation.  The truth is that the majority of the New Testament that came to be known as the King James Version (1611) was his work!

 “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; and with what measure ye mete, with the same shall it be measured to you again. Why lookest thou on the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, and markest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Let me pluck out the mote out of thine eye, and, behold, there is a beam in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, pluck first the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to pluck the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

THIS is not meant of the temporal judgments;* for Christ forbade not that, but oft did stablish it; as do Peter and Paul in their epistles also. Nor here is it not forbidden to judge those deeds which are manifest against the law of God; for those ought every Christian man to persecute, yet must they do it after the order that Christ hath set. But when he saith, “Hypocrite,* cast out first the beam that is in thine own eye,” it is easy to understand of what manner of judging he meaneth.”

William Tyndale, Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures, together with the Practice of Prelates, ed. Henry Walter, vol. 1, The Works of William Tyndale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1849), 112.  From Logos.com

The Greek Tyndale (Tindal) used was that by Erasmus.  This Greek was also the basis for the German Bible that Luther translated. If one wants to parse the personal pronouns of the Greek New Testament just follow the King James version.  Tyndale did a great job.  When, he translated it, it was not only for accuracy but that it would sound good too when it is read out loud.  The Finnish Bible too used Erasmus’ Greek. 

• Roman Catholic Erasmus New Testament Greek          1516
• Roman Catholic Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples New Testament  in French  1523
• Protestant Tyndale translated New Testament in 1534
• Protestant Agricola translated New Testament in 1548
• Protestant Luther translated New Testament in 1522

Reflection

William Tyndale was murdered (1536) for his work on the New Testament and his beliefs.  His work and his legacy in the English-speaking world changed the world for ever.  It was because of his work that in Britain we have free speech.  Today it seems to be fashionable to attack Christian faith in the workplace.  The very freedoms that are taken for granted today came out of the Bible. 

Worrying its definition:

‘to think about problems or unpleasant things that might happen in a way that makes you feel unhappy and frightened’

(From;    dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/worry)

Worrying its roots in old English, German, Dutch and Old Norse.

In Old English it has the basic idea of ‘strangle’:

c. 1300, wirien, “to slay, kill or injure by biting and shaking the throat” (as a dog or wolf does), from Old English wyrgan “to strangle,” from Proto-Germanic *wurgjan (source also of Middle Dutch worghen, Dutch worgen, Old High German wurgen, German würgen “to strangle,” Old Norse virgill “rope”), from *wergh-, from PIE root *wer- (2) “to turn, bend.”

(From; etymonline.com/word/worry)

Whatever way we look at this word ‘to worry’, its connotation is negative for our state of mind and personhood.  If we dwell mentally too long on our negative thoughts, it will eventually destroy us.

Unfortunately, we all have examples of situations that have put pressure on us, not knowing what the future would hold.  I suppose it is the ‘not knowing’ whether or not we will land on our feet that causes these negative thoughts and feelings.  In 1974 when I was about 7 years old, I had a life changing event.  We all have life changing events, but I would like to share my story with you before looking at the words of our Saviour in Matthew 6 about worrying.

Episkopi and Limassol, Cyprus, 1974

Tranquil and peaceful Cyprus

As a two-year-old in the mid 1960’s my family moved to Cyprus.  I remember living in a caravan in the beginning, then in a wooden house (my father built) and finally in rented accommodation inside Episkopi.  I loved it there for many reasons.  At the Weekends for example I remember we used to go to the beach.  I couldn’t swim at that time, but I did walk into the sea as far as I could.  It was fun.  My two old brothers were there too.  I also so loved our garden that does not exist anymore.  I remember we had citrus trees, a tall tree we used to jump from.  We kept hens and rabbits.  Sometimes these small lizards would come into our house.  

Within the community there was a mosque which was an old converted Greek Orthodox Church (St Georges) with a minaret.   I went to pre-school and then to the main Turkish Cypriot school in which I learned to read, write, and do Maths.  We had a great time and also the odd fight outside of lessons.  I really enjoyed that school.  I had friends and one of my main friends was Ali.  In the village I had relatives too.  I remember as a child that I visited one of my uncles and I was shy of my aunty for some reason, so I went under the table.  This is my picture of Episkopi before 1974.  I did not know about the troubles of the 1960s.

War!

Just a picture from Pexels

However, one Summer this picture started to change.  Students were speaking of coming troubles and war.  Certain things happened for example I saw an aircraft fly very low over our school. Decisions were made that the men would defend our village.  They certainly defended the village and there were clashes between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots.  In fact, bullets were requiting off our tin roof.   My dad told us to stay at home however my mum got worried, and my older brother went looking for my dad and he got lost.  I left the house afterwards and found my dad.  I told him everything and he set out to find my brother.  Soon afterwards the villagers got together and made a plan for leaving Episkopi and going to the North of Cyprus.  The next day we set off walking and we decided to rest in a house that was not completely renovated yet.  There was no furniture only concrete floors.  That night I slept on a concrete floor for the first time.  The next morning there were Greek Cypriot militia surrounding the house.  We were then commanded to get on this bus. (The bus had been sprayed with bullets and all the glass windows were missing for obvious reasons). 

The Greek Cypriot militia took us to (what I believe was the old Limassol football stadium).  The women and the children were at the edges of the stadium and the men were in the centre sat down.  I was feeling hungry and for breakfast I was given a very small triangular piece of Edam Cheese. My immediate family of the two younger brothers were the lucky ones.  One of my older brothers was already in England and was at Grammar School.  My other older brother was dodging the Greek soldiers with my dad trying to get to safety.  

Anyhow my mum plucked up her courage and was able to speak to a commander.  We got out on a fresh bus that drove us to Akrotiri airbase.  We were flown to the UK.  One of my uncles spent a year living in a tent.  Another one of my uncles was murder somewhere in the surrounding area of Nicosia.  He and a couple of other men were taken to a quiet area (small cave) and killed by grenade.  For many years no one knew where they were.  The bodies were discovered by a species of tree that does not normally grow in that particular area.  My uncle had eaten a seed and from his stomach grew a tree. This story made the news:

(From;    hurriyetdailynews.com/how-a-fig-tree-helped-to-identify-a-slain-turkish-cypriot-in-search-of-missing-persons-in-divided-cyprus-136986?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=how-a-fig-tree-helped-to-identify-a-slain-turkish-cypriot-in-search-of-missing-persons-in-divided-cyprus-136986&utm_term=post)

When we came back to England I went to school and for a couple of years I was drawing tanks and planes.   I was sad because my extended and immediate family broke up.  There are many conflicts around the world and there are many people who have lost homes, family members and so on.  In all of this we stayed alive and started to build our lives again.

However, things do not need to be as extreme as war.  Even in safe communities’ things happen:

1. Losing a job
2. Wife is going to have a baby and one has to get to hospital in a rush
3. Paying the rent
4. Having food on the table so that the whole family can eat.

We find ourselves all the time worrying about things.  At the time of Christ to the average age of mortality was about 35 to 40 years of age

(From; earlychurchhistory.org/daily-life/longevity-in-the-ancient-world/)

So, when we look at the Gospel of Matthew and our Lord Jesus is talking about worrying we need to take note and do our homework correctly. It is good to begin by reading Matthew 6 verses 25-34

The Cure for Anxiety

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34  (NASB; From Olive Tree Bible Software )

Our Lord is concerned about the state of the believer’s soul, heart and being.  Not worrying is a practical outworking of the beatitudes.  There are certain things that we have learned about the beatitudes.

Without Christ we are lost separated from God. God meets us in our need and saves us from our sins.  The Holy Spirit works in our lives in such a way that we hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness. 

As our Lord says in verse 33, we are to; ‘seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’

Compare this sentence of our Lord to:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

From; Matthew 5:6

We have no control over bad things happening, but the key is in the state of our faith by grace.  The eschaton is the great equalizer.  When the Day of Judgement comes, we will stand before God on our own.  This is a fearful thing for the person who has denied their Creator any part in their lives here on earth.  Some faith is better than no faith.  Our Lord says many times ‘O you of little faith…’

I particularly like verse 26 because I live in the countryside, and I see a lot of birds:

• Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Matthew 6:26

The thing is that here in Finland we have four seasons.  The birds are always in our garden finding food.  When we drive, we see lots of ravens by the roadside.  They possibly drop seeds on the road purposefully so that the husk of the seed can be cracked for food.

We then have King Solomon who was possibly the richest man in the world at that time. These God given riches however are trumped by lilies of the field that are more beautiful:

• And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil, nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Matthew 6:28-30

Reflection

Bad things happen but in light of God’s word we need to live by faith and put our complete confidence in our Trinitarian God.  We have no control over life and death, yet earth is only half the story.  We need to remember that God became a man in Jesus Christ. He was crucified but now he is risen, and we put our hope in him.   The world does not understand God’s logic and to tell you the truth it goes against how the world sees things.

God can bless us with a long and happy life, but we should put God first in our lives and trust him completely.  Many in the world look for

• Wealth and power because you are egotistical
• Having a good reputation because it makes them feel good
• Through competition beating a rival for the better job.
• Having a wife/partner to serve you as a slave.

God doesn’t care about:

• Your wealth and power because God sees your greed
• Your good reputation because God sees your heart
• That you are good at winning although you cheat
• You are treating your wife/husband/ partner badly because you have no empathy.

Heavenly treasures are worth so much more:

• Share what you have as Christ shared his love
• A pure heart may lead to a good reputation.
• Help the person next to you to reach new heights
• Love your neighbour as yourself because on a bad day your neighbour may be helping you.

Although we have almost no control over suffering our eyes should be fixed over the horizon to the kingdom of God.  I had no control over my early years and the war in Cyprus yet by faith life goes on and into the eschaton where it really counts.

Before we begin to unpack the meaning of these texts, I can see that Matthew has a concept of revelation worked into the text.  God the Father in the Trinitarian scheme of things cannot be known directly.  Yet God the Father is not inactive here but active through the teachings of the Son.  This is linked to the beatitudes.  God is interested in the state of our hearts but unfortunately the natural Man is only interested in his/her pride, selfishness and greed. 

When we read the above there is actually a contest going on between Jesus and the hypocrites.  Matthew in his Gospel names the hypocrites as the Pharisees and the Sadducees (See the eight woes in Matt: 11 (verses 13, 14, 15, 23, 25,2 7 and 29)).  In Judgement an intention inside the heart cannot be seen but God can see it. There is a battle going on here for the purity of true religion in second Temple Judaism.   Late on Matthew quotes from Isaiah.  I have quoted a little bit more for contextual reasons. Isaiah says:

13 Then the Lord said,

“Because this people draw near with their words

And honor Me with their lip service,

But they remove their hearts far from Me,

And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;

And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,

And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

15 Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD,

And whose deeds are done in a dark place,

And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

16 You turn things around!

Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,

That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;

Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? Isaiah 29:13-16

So, then we can see that our Lord is saying that on the surface it seems to be true religion by keeping all the hundreds of laws and extra laws.  By keeping these laws, it puffs a person up ‘Look how good I am’.  This in that sense is a form of idolatry.  The reason is because the laws are taking the place of God.  The law was never intended to take the place of God.  Rather it ought to be taken in context of covenant and a personal relationship with The Lord (Tetragrammaton, Ha Shem, The Name).  The children of Israel certainly knew that they were in relationship as it says for example:

1 Then God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:1-3

—

Commentary on Matthew 6 (16 – 18)

16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Verse 16 – 18

The phrase ‘as the hypocrites’ is found in various forms in chapter 6’:

6:2 ‘as the hypocrites do’

6:5 ‘Like the hypocrites’

6:16 ‘as the hypocrites’

Fasting religiously can be a good thing, however if the state of the heart is misplaced then it is a very bad thing. Here in this verse our Lord is saying that they want to be noticed for their outward appearance.  Perhaps ‘the ordinary people’ will somehow put them on a pedestal in some contorted way. Perhaps these hypocrites will get some type of earthly reward; praise, honour, money.  The reason why they are hypocrites is that the heart is a billion miles away from their covenantal God as Isaiah says.  Jesus our Lord says basically that the true believer doesn’t make a big thing out of fasting.  They fast but they don’t show it.  They seek God’s love.  The disciple will get a reward, but our Lord doesn’t spell out what the reward actually is.  From previous work we have done in the beatitudes I feel that this would be linked to the eschaton.

Commentary verses 19-24

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so, then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Matthew 6:16-24

True treasure is not kept in the world, but it is kept in heaven.  Moths eat clothes and rust can destroy beautiful objects.  Thieves break into house to steal ‘things of worth’.  However, our Lord makes the point that this is not real treasure.  Verse 21 caps it all!

21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Then Matthew uses light and darkness as a metaphor.  This also relates to the state of the heart when our Lord makes the comparison of the ‘the light that is within you’.

It boils down to the fact that we cannot serve God and wealth.  This also points to the state of the heart.  Our Lord knew what he was talking about.  For example, Satan tested our Lord with all the kingdoms of the world:

Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” 11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. Matthew 4:8-11

Reflection

In everything we do our Lord is interested in the state of our heart before a Holy Trinitarian God.  Fasting when coupled with prayer can bring a clearer focus in our worship of God.  Fasting means that we say ‘no’ to a basic need of human survival.  It is an action that says God’s kingdom is more important than anything this world can give us.  I have to say I very rarely fast.  Working as a Carpenter I like my energy and it would be a sacrifice for me to do such a thing.  However, the door is open to anyone to fast to get closer to God. (I have to say though, if you decide to fast and you have underlying health conditions seek medical advice from your doctor.) 

I also need to say that I am not standing in judgement over any religious group.  I am only bringing out the meaning of the text from Matthew’s perspective.  It isn’t only the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  We need to begin by looking into our own inner being to find lots of evil things going on.  The work of salvation through the Holy Spirit takes more than a lifetime.  There is the Pharisee and the Sadducee in all of us. 

Prayer and fasting can help us to find these dead bones that are in us and help us to be more like Christ.  Be wary though, this process will take us into the eschaton and then some more!

Why do people fast?

In this section we are going to look at some non-religious reasons and then religious reasons with a general overview of what the Bible has to say about fasting.  This is a precursor to a later blog in which I look at what Jesus taught about fasting.

There are many reasons why people fast. People fast for many different reasons, religious reasons and non-religious reasons.

For non-religious reasons a person might fast because they want to lose weight.  I do this usually when I get a little too heavy for comfort and this is usually linked to 10,000 steps per day.

Another reason might be that they have to lose weight for medical reasons. It may be that they need to focus about something important in the family.  An example of this could be a particular type of diabetes and fasting can help to even reverse this disease.

Then we come to the religious reasons, the reason might be that you want to get closer to God.  Ordinary people who go to church for example may fast seeking an answer from God for something.  Perhaps a new church building for the congregation.

Many People fast observing a religious calendar such as Lent in Christianity or Ramadan in Islam.

 It can also be more personal for example, someone that want to pray for a big decision going to happen in their life such as marriage and one needs God’s wisdom.

It could be for example in Buddhism or another religion in which for meditation reasons one fasts for a period to clear one’s mind.

Whatever the reason why someone fasts there’s usually a reason. Fasting in a sense also has something to do with sacrifice. We all like our food, we all like to eat so by fasting a person is denying themselves the very basic stuff needed to live. An extreme case of fasting is when a prisoner decides to go on a hunger strike possibly for a moral reason. There are also Buddhist monks who have fasted near the end of their lives. They know they’re going to die pretty soon so they change their diet, and they literally dry themselves out from inside out. In other words they start the mummification process while they’re still alive. Anyhow as a general rule of thumb when a person fasts, they usually sacrifice something in order to reach something else.

General Introduction to Bible teaching on Fasting

C. Robert Marsh (Holman Bible Dictionary; page 478-479) says that there are three areas we need to look at:

• The normal fast is the abstinence of all food as in Luke 4,2 but this does not mean Jesus didn’t drink water.
• There is the absolute fast in which one does not eat or drink.  This fast does not usually last for more than three reasons for the obvious reason of death. Acts 9:9
• The partial fast is the restriction of food but not complete abstinence.  Daniel 10.3

Marsh goes on to say:

“Fasting is the laying aside of food for a period of time when the believer is seeking to know God in a deeper experience. It is to be done as an act before God in the privacy of one’s own pursuit of God (Ex. 34:28; 1 Sam. 7:6; 1 Kings 19:8; Matt. 6:17).

Fasting is to be done with the object of seeking to know God in a deeper experience (Isa. 58; Zech. 7:5). Fasting relates to a time of confession (Ps. 69:10). Fasting can be a time of seeking a deeper prayer experience and drawing near to God in prevailing prayer (Ezra 8:23; Joel 2:12). The early church often fasted in seeking God’s will for leadership in the local church [Acts 13:2). When the early church wanted to know the mind of God, there was a time of prayer and fasting. (C. Robert Marsh)”

Marshes references:

(The following references have been taken from the Olive Tree Bible App; NASB)

²⁸ So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And  he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Exodus 34:28

⁶ They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. 1 Samuel 7:6

⁸ So Elijah arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 1 Kings 19:8

¹⁷ But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face ¹⁸ so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:17-18

⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? Zechariah 7:5

..

¹⁰ When I wept in my soul with fasting,

 It became my reproach.

¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing,

 I became a byword to them.

¹² Those who sit in the gate talk about me,

 And I am the song of the drunkards.

 ¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, at an acceptable time;

 O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness,

 Answer me with Your saving truth.

¹⁴ Deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink; Psalms 69:10-14

..

²³ So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty. Ezra 8:23

..

¹² “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,

 “Return to Me with all your heart,

 And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

¹³ And rend your heart and not your garments.”

 Now return to the LORD your God,

 For He is gracious and compassionate,

 Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness

 And relenting of evil. Joel 2:12-13

..

² While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Acts 13:2-3

..

¹ “Cry loudly, do not hold back;

 Raise your voice like a trumpet,

 And declare to My people their transgression

 And to the house of Jacob their sins.

² “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,

 As a nation that has done righteousness

 And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.

 They ask Me for just decisions,

 They delight in the nearness of God.

³ ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?

 Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’

 Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,

 And drive hard all your workers.

⁴ “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.

 You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

⁵ “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?

 Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed

 And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?

 Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?

⁶ “Is this not the fast which I choose,

 To loosen the bonds of wickedness,

 To undo the bands of the yoke,

 And to let the oppressed go free

 And break every yoke?

⁷ “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry

 And bring the homeless poor into the house;

 When you see the naked, to cover him;

 And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸ “Then your light will break out like the dawn,

 And your recovery will speedily spring forth;

 And your righteousness will go before you;

 The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹ “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

 You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

 If you remove the yoke from your midst,

 The  pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

¹⁰ And if you  give yourself to the hungry

 And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

 Then your light will rise in darkness

 And your gloom will become like midday.

¹¹ “And the LORD will continually guide you,

 And satisfy your desire in scorched places,

 And give strength to your bones;

 And you will be like a watered garden,

 And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

¹² “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;

 You will raise up the age-old foundations;

 And you will be called the repairer of the breach,

 The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. Isaiah 58:1-12

Reflection

What we have learned today is that people fast for various reasons.  In religious circles people usually fast to connect with a ‘Greater Reality’.  At this point I said greater reality because in Buddhism the question of the existence of God is not an important question, yet it still has some type of transcendental idea such as Nirvana.  In the other religions God and the gods depending on one’s tradition fasting plays some key role to be close to one’s Creator somehow.

In Christianity fasting is very important not only in the traditions such as Lent and other times but also from the teachings of the Bible.  We can see that prayer and fasting can go hand in hand.  Marsh reminds us that people fast because they are seeking an answer from God or that they want a deeper relationship in God.

In these verses we also see prayer and fasting clearly linked to morality.  If one prays and fasts but closes their eyes to the needs of others such as widows, the hungry, injustice in the community then God will not listen or answer such prayers.

I think the late Rabbi Sacks understood the moral dimension to fasting:

“Next week in the Jewish community we’ll observe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year. We’ll spend the whole day in synagogue, fasting, confessing our sins, admitting what we did wrong, and praying for forgiveness.

Something like that seems to me essential to the health of a culture. Often we see things go wrong. Yet rarely do we see someone stand up, take responsibility and say: I was wrong. I made a mistake. I admit it. I apologise. And now let us work to put it right.

Instead we do other things. We deny there’s a problem in the first place. Or if that’s impossible, we blame someone else, or say, it’s due to circumstances beyond our control.The result is that we lose the habit of being honest with ourselves.

” (Taken from rabbisacks.org/archive/the-age-of-greed/)

This week I’ve fallen ill with Corona, but I have to say I’m so thankful to God that I’m still here.  So many people have died and suffered.  Since it started that we should count our blessings, that we’re still here in that sense.

It’s an interesting thing that happens to you when you get Corona.  The fact is that you are put into isolation, but it also hurts your family as much as it hurts you it’s not a very nice feeling.  The truth is that wherever your family is they are also in isolation from you even if they have freedom to walk anywhere, they like because of the bond of love.

Usually, I live in the countryside and the forest, but my son is going to go and study in Helsinki, so we had to find a place for him to live.  So, we went down to Helsinki, and we found a place for him, and he’s going to start his course very soon in animation and then OK, when I came back on the train, I didn’t think anything about it.  We were going to go for a second trip down to Helsinki to give a soft landing and lo and behold that particular morning after a corona test, I had caught corona.  I believe I caught it whilst we were on the train or in Helsinki (From the first visit)

I’m thankful to God for these little blessings such as the injections I had previously because it means that it hasn’t hit me as hard as some people have been hit.  The only symptoms I really had was a headache and blowing my nose.  I haven’t really felt weak or ill or coughing myself to death just had a couple of nights so there was not so much sleep.

Why am I saying this?

Well, the truth is bad things happen to people who have faith and bad things happen to people who don’t have faith it can happen to anyone and everyone no one person is an island.  At this juncture, I want to remember that all those things come from our Creator, God.

At this point, most religions agree that there is a Creator who gives good gifts too.  Within the Trinitarian definition Father, Son and Holy Spirit God the father cannot be seen.  The only way that we know anything about the Father is by the two hands of God, as Irenaeus would say, through the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, Jesus points beyond himself in the Lord’s Prayer when he starts with our Father, or in John 17 when Jesus talks to the father in the Great High Priestly prayer, John 17.

So, then what is prayer?

I want to start with a general definition. I will keep it very simple that even a child could understand it.

My definition is:

• Talking with God.

When you have a conversation with a with a person there are certain things that you have to take for granted that the person, you’re talking to is a human being, although nowadays I’m sure that there are people that talk to robots. When you talk to a human being, another person, let’s say it’s your mother or your daughter, or your son, or your brother, or your sister.

There’s an assent that that person is important enough to talk to.  There’s a family bond of affection. Even with a complete stranger there is a mutual respect.  These basic things that we actually learned in the family before we went into the big wide world.  I will use myself as an example, When I was a child, I remember that I spent a lot of time with my mother and my brothers in Cyprus and we had a great time.  I remember once when we were still living in a mobile home, we were having some food outside probably over a fire or something and it was nice family time. For fun I wanted to see how far I could throw my voice and I threw my voice.  My dad laughed about it.  Made jokes about it and stuff it was a great time.

I was protected I didn’t really know what was going on around me.  In actuality, there were Greek kids in that village as well, but I never actually met a Greek kid in the village, which is really sad. The political atmosphere for dialogue between the two communities was poisoned at that time.  I remember going to preschool for a year and I was just learning some basics I was really enjoying this day school thing. It was great fun and then the year after I started to go to a proper school and I started to mix with other students and I remember even though I was about 7 years old that basically I got on with some people and I didn’t get on with other people, just like family members.

But now there is an extension it’s moved from just the family to in a sense a reflection of the community and then later on obviously I eventually left Cyprus because of the war and the troubles, and I grew up in England, I failed school because of parental marriage breakdowns and stuff which affected me.

Eventually I went back to college and got to university, and I did everything I should have done a bit earlier on in life but throughout that whole time, I wonder how many conversations I had with people, how many friends I made, how many people didn’t like me a lot and that’s something about us.

We need to communicate with others; Who is the most important Person in the whole of the universe that we should communicate with its God.  God is the one who created us.

I think about my parents realized that they have lots of faults, I have lots of faults, there’s no one who is perfect.  Only God is perfect.  So, what better place and what safer place can there be but in God’s arms?

Who loves your soul?

Obviously, I take a Trinitarian view, but in in general any human being can call upon God no matter what religious background or no religious background at all. Anyone can call on God 24/7 is open doors.  The Lord’s Prayer also as well, although it’s in Matthew’s gospel.  ‘The Our Father prayer’ was nothing new by the time of Jesus, we found Jewish manuscripts within other Jewish traditions but basically explains The Lord’s prayer, nearly verbatim so all the different components that have, have always been there.

Our Lord decided upon these particular components found in the Lord’s prayer.  So that’s what we’re going to be looking at, we need to remember that conversing with the Ultimate Creator is a privilege. 

When we come to the Lord’s Prayer in Christ, and we’ve got rid of some of the baggage (wrong inner attitudes and intentions) before we even start praying.  We are then ready to pray as Jesus is going to teach us how to pray.

As Christians, you have probably read the Lord’s Prayer thousands and thousands of times, or you have recited it on many occasions.  What I’m asking you perhaps (and myself as well) we need to come back to the Lord’s prayer in humility and let’s see what we can learn together.  Let’s see what we can reason together with the Lord’s prayer and spend time at the feet of our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord says:

⁹ “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ ‘And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
¹⁴ For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Matthew 6:9-15

From NASB

Luke’s version:

2 He answered, When you pray, say,

Father, may your name be hallowed;

your kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins, for we too

forgive all who have done us wrong. And

do not put us to the test.

From; 1989 Revised English Version

(updated New English Bible)

The general feel of the prayer

First, the object of Prayer is God the Creator (Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, invisible God)

Secondly, we notice that our Lord speaks in the first-person plural (such as; we our)

The term Father used in the various religions

Bot Judaism and Christianity have used the term, Father.  Judaism uses the term metaphorically and perhaps in the Lord’s prayer it could be interpreted as metaphorical for it is for all intents and purposes a Jewish prayer.  Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi while he on earth.

Islam

In Islam the use of Father is discouraged because they want to emphasize the complete separation from the Trinitarian view.  A chasm forms that God cannot be touched:

“Unlike in Judaism, the term “father” is not formally applied to God by Muslims, and the Christian notion of the Trinity is rejected in Islam.[65][66] Even though traditional Islamic teaching does not formally prohibit using the term “Father” in reference to God, it does not propagate or encourage it. There are some narratives of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in which he compares the mercy of God toward his worshipers to that of a mother to her infant child.[67]

Islamic teaching rejects the Christian father-son relationship of God and Jesus, and states that Jesus is a prophet of God, not the Son of God.[65] Islamic theology strictly reiterates the Absolute Oneness of God, and totally separates him from other beings (whether humans, angel or any other holy figure), and rejects any form of dualism or Trinitarianism. Chapter 112 of the Quran states:

    Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him. (Sura 112:1–4, Yusuf Ali)”  From (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_the_Father) As it says in this quotation Father is not a prohibited term although it has been discouraged.   Concerning the Lords Prayer Taymaz Tabrizi writes:

” The prayer although widespread in Christianity, has historically been absent in Muslim rituals for the most part yet some Muslim traditions purport that it was recommended and perhaps even recited by the Prophet Muhammad albeit in an altered version that would befit Qur’anic theology.”

He then quotes an old version equivalent to the Lords Prayer.  If you look at it very carefully one can see parallel to the Matthean version:

“Abī al-Dardā said: I heard the messenger of God (s) saying: if any of you or his brother is suffering from anything, then he should say:

O Lord God who is in heaven,

Hallowed be your name,

Your decree is in heaven and the earth,

As your mercy is in heaven,

Forgive us our sins and trespasses,

You are the Lord of the good folk,

Send down a mercy from your mercy,

And a healing from your healing upon this pain so that it may be healed”

From (bliis.org/essay/lords-prayer-islam/#ftn3) Taken from The Lord’s Prayer in Islam

By: Taymaz Tabrizi; January 13, 2018

In some of the Eastern religions the term Father is not a problem

Sikhism

The Guru Granth consistently refers to the creator as “He” and “Father”. This is because the Granth is written in north Indian Indo-Aryan languages (mixture of Punjabi and dialects of Hindi) which have no neutral gender. Since the Granth says that the God is indescribable, God has no gender according to Sikhism.[73]

God in the Sikh scriptures has been referred to by several names, picked from Indian and Semitic traditions. He is called in terms of human relations as father, mother, brother, relation, friend, lover, beloved, husband. Other names, expressive of his supremacy, are thakur, prabhu, svami, sah, patsah, sahib, sain (Lord, Master).[73]

Hinduism

In Hinduism, Bhagavan Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 9, verse 17, stated: “I am the Father of this world, the Mother, the Dispenser and the Grandfather”, one commentator adding: “God being the source of the universe and the beings in it, He is held as the Father, the Mother and the Grandfather”.[62] A genderless Brahman is also considered the creator and Life-giver, and the Shakta goddess is viewed as the divine mother and life-bearer.

These quotations have been taken from the Wikipeadia:  (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_the_Father)

So then whatever tradition one is from here in Matthew’s text God is called Father but in Islam he has been interpreted as Creator.  We are talking about the same God who made the whole human race. 

Commentary

• ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Luke 11:2
• ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Matthew 6:9

Here are the two opening versions.  Jesus Talks to his disciples and begins by showing them where all good things come from. Matthew’s version puts the emphasis on the Father ‘we’ all the disciples share.  Forget about interpretations of ‘daddy’ the word ‘hallowed’ (holy) dismisses that. Judith Lieu warns us of this danger as well in her Luke commentary, page 89.  Christianity can learn both from Judaism (Father as Metaphorical) and Islam (God is Creator a warning for Christians not to abuse the term Father). We can only come to the Father through the Son.  If we try to come to God on our own merit, we will be burned up in judgement.  We should always keep the respect (The fear of the Lord in front of us)

As we read above boundaries are set.  Hallowed is a form of the word holy.  Holy is about separating the religious from the non-religious.   The utensils found in a temple, church, cathedral or other institution is always to be used for that particular purpose.  One does not take the communion cup and drink beer from it in the local pub.  This is sacrilegious and an abomination.  No, my friends in the same way God is Holy and separate from his creation though creation relies on Him for its very existence.  

We are also to keep God’s name Holy.  I can understand why in Judaism Ha Shem is used ‘the name’.  As Christians we feel completely liberated because of what the Son has done for us.  We are liberated but does that mean that we should use the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) which is a very holy name in Judaism.  I’m thinking about the ethical issues around these things.  Because The Church and the Synagogue separated a long time ago, we seem to forget that Paul for example did not stop seeing himself as Jewish.  We ought to respect the background of the Apostles as much as the written word they gave to us.  If we really want to foster Christian love in the world; Are we practicing in such a way that helps to build bridges.

• ‘Your kingdom come.  Your will be done,  On earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10
• Your kingdom come. Luke 11:2

We have spoken about the fulfillments of the eschaton (end of the age) a lot.  It is at the heart of the Lord’s prayer.  An alignment of God’s will, will take place in the whole of Creation from the heavens to the deepest recesses of the earth.   We are supposed to pray and live this. Luke has the shortest and most direct version. Luke takes it for granted that God speaks from heaven to every situation and perhaps his Greek readers appreciate more directness in his Gospel.

• ‘Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11
• ‘Give us each day our daily bread. Luke 11:3

Moses new that obeying God was more important than eating bread and sustenance.  Jesus here has purposefully put God’s will before food.  Bread was seriously important, and this idea possibly comes from the ‘Manna’ in the wilderness.  The people needed to be fed day by day but doing the will of God was not at the forefront of their minds.  We too need to learn from the Lord’s prayer to seek his kingdom first and then our needs indeed will be met. 

• ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]  14 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Matthew 6:12-15
• ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” Luke 11:4

We have come full circle on the Lord’s Prayer.  As I said earlier God’s name is sacred.  Here in these closing verses of the prayer we see the Father as Judge.  The Father will judge according to the measure that we can forgive.  Did not Jesus himself forgive his persecutors from the cross? 

Sin or debt?

Luke uses the word sin (hamartia) missing the mark.  This is a more natural words to use for Luke’s Greek readers; (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartia). 

Matthew uses debt (opheiletēs) this is about meeting obligations.

I think both can be used but ‘debt’ for me has a more personal usage.  You owe a debt to a person whereas if you sin it relates more to you and is impersonal.  In both meanings a wrong has taken place and there needs to be forgiveness. Our Lord expects us to forgive our fellow brothers and sisters.

Transgression or Temptations

I think in Luke’s version ‘temptation’ is not the best word to use. We do not test God but God can test us. 

Dictionary definitions

g3986. πειρασμός peirasmos; from 3985; a putting to proof (by experiment (of good), experience (of evil), solicitation, discipline or provocation); by implication, adversity: — temptation, x try.

AV (21) — temptation 19, temptations 1, try 1;

1. an experiment, attempt, trial, proving

A trial, proving: the trial made of you by my bodily condition,

since condition sewed as to test the love of the Galatians

toward Paul (Cal. 4:14)

B. the trial of man’s fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy

1. an enticement to sin, temptation, whether arising from

the desires or from the outward circumstances

2. an internal temptation to sin

a. of the temptation by which the devil sought to divert

Jesus the Messiah from his divine errand

3. of the condition of things, or a mental state, by which

we are enticed to sin, or to a lapse from the faith and holiness

4. adversity, affliction, trouble: sent by God and sewing to

test or prove one’s character, faith, holiness

(. temptation (i.e. trial) of God by men

1. rebellion against God, by which his power and justice

are, as it were, put to the proof and challenged to show themselves

(This has been taken from the Olive Tree enhanced Strongs dictionary)

Reflection

I think as we have looked at the Lord’s Prayer, we need to be mindful of who’s company we are in.  Our Lord Jesus has been carefully teaching us about our own limitations in our attitudes and intentions.  This prayer also teaches us about morality that we are not only individuals, but we are part of God’s Holy Society.  We are called by God to love one another and to look out for the needs of one another.  The question do we do this? The truth is a lot of the time we only look out for our own individual needs.  God has very high standards and we cannot meet them.  Only by grace can we come before the throne of God and we can only stand by what Christ has done for us not what we have done for him.

However, the Sunday School acronym ACTS fits all the pieces together for us

• A = Adoration
• C= Confession
• T= Thanksgiving
• S= Supplication (asking)

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13 14 NASB

Today we are going to start looking at prayer.  Where do we begin?   In our understanding of God there is a Creator who made heaven and earth. We have a Father in Heaven who loves and cares for us and through the life, work, death and resurrection of Christ the Believer can be drawn into a meaningful relationship with God.  This is my premise. 

There are those who prefer the comparative route of understanding religion, the idea that ‘all roads lead to Rome’ (universalism).  I am not of that school as I believe that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world in Christ through the gift of faith.  This does not mean that Christianity cannot have a meaningful dialogue with other religions.

Christianity can have dialogue because other religions also have their own particularity of beliefs and doing things differently.  Precisely because we are different, we can discuss about God and the Infinite.  It would be very boring if all humans held the same views, believed the same things, and agreed on everything.  This way of living would not be much different to the Cyborgs in Dr Who, in which they all had the same agenda. This to me is the problem with comparative religion because they emphasize sameness to such an extent that religion becomes a spaghetti junction.  I like spaghetti but not as a belief system.

So then we are talking about prayer with a Christian understanding to it. However, the Bible is clear that God has created all of us and anyone can call on God for help. Whether a person is a Christian or not they can call on the name of the Lord and be saved from their distresses. Prayer in its purity is universal but unfortunately because of the Fall our prayers can be ineffective because we ask for things from a selfish and greedy heart. 

Our Lord Jesus in this part of the sermon as a spiritual surgeon teaches us about our attitudes to God, others and ourselves.  What our Lord Jesus is going to say is going to hurt our pride, as he shows the ugliness that can be found in the human soul. As a masterful surgeon using the latest technology, he will cut through all the evil and makes us like diamonds gleaming in the light of the Son.

As before we will use the beatitudes as a mirror to understand this section of the Sermon on the mount.

Matthew 6¹

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Before looking at the above verse I think it is good to have a definition of religion:

Definitions of religion

• A personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.
• The service and worship of God or the supernatural.
• Commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance.

(merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion#synonyms )

There are hundreds of definitions for religions, but the basic idea of a religion is what we can do for the divine object that we worship. 

Jesus turns this idea on its head, and he shows us that there is nothing that we can do for God.  Actually, God has done everything for us.

We sinned and ruined God’s creation which he Loved.  To bring creation back into balance and to save us from Hell (Complete separations for God):

• God became a man to reach out to us
• God the Son died on the cross so that we could be saved
• God the Holy Spirit fills us with Himself
• God brings us into his eternal glory.

A proud and selfish person cannot accept these premises as he/she wants to reach heaven in his/her own power and volition.  The big I replaces God, and he/ she is so arrogant that they reject this premise!

When we look at verse one, our Lord shows us that there is something in our character that wants to be in the Hot Seat; that we are the centre of attention.

Anyhow let us continue with our commentary

When we read this section, one has to remember that God sees our our attitudes and intentions and God knows us better that we know ourselves.

Verse One

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

So, then there is a universal rule that God taught us here. Why do we go to the church or another place of worship? What is the driver in our soul and wants us to be seen as perfect? If the driver in us is some form of pride in our own strength this is as rubbish in God’s eyes and we certainly wont, get any reward in the eschaton.

Verse Two

‘2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honoured by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.’

When a person gives to those in need, the question is; What is the motive?

Only God really understands the motives for giving.  It may be that one gets street credibility ‘ah look at what a good fellow he is.’  Actually, the giving maybe for selfish reasons to get even more honour instead of giving through high intensions towards a needy human being.

Verses three four and five

‘3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.’ ⁵ “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners  so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Matthew 6:5

I think our Lord is saying that when we give, let us give as though God is watching us.  We can do things on the quiet.  God loves his creation and people.  We ought to also love creation and our neighbour so that we are in line with his teachings.

Our relationship with God is not dependent on what others see.  Our relationship is between our heavenly Father and us.  It is the relationship that is important, anything extra is just baggage that needs to be thrown away.

Verses six and seven

6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

So, God commands us not to be on show with our many words so that we can get ‘praise and gifts’.

Unfortunately, those who get gifts and praise a lot of the time have been done through evil motives.  We see this in the news on a daily basis where some people would like a little help from the government.  It is corruption but one can find corruption even in a church or another place of worship.  I remember the story of Jesus driving out the money dealers and merchants from the Second Temple in Jerusalem.  Some religious organisations are very rich and there could be a person at the top who rakes in all the money.  It is also a danger for the local Church or other religious institution.

Verse Eight

‘8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.’

So then in the previous verses our Lord Jesus gave us a lot of pitfalls for us to fall into. We do not need to rake in:

• Dirty money and wealth
• Dirty gifts with dirty motives
• Dirty praise from selfish pride
• Dirty ambition and one pretends to be an angel of light but is an angel of greed
• Dirty glory by getting praise through a false image of oneself.

I’m sure that I have missed somethings out, but we need to do soul searching of our actions in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Reflection

What our Lord taught here in these verses is about seeing into the dark recesses of our souls.  Holy Communion is a time to weed out some of these corrupt attitudes that stains us.  We need to consider prayerfully how we approach our heavenly Father.  No one is perfect and perfection comes over time and into the eschaton.  However, these teachings can gauge the morality of the society we live in at the macro and micro levels. How?

• In yourself
• In your local church
• In your local organizations
• In your workplace
• In your area
• In your political party
• In your local government
• In your national political parties
• In your national government
• In your international organizations.

Our Lords teachings are like a laser, and it cuts through to the marrow of the problem.  So my friends, let us judge ourselves fairly and through prayer so that in Christ we become more holy and precious to our Trinitarian God daily.

Addendum

A lot of things I have mentioned show a lack of morality in our society.  Unfortunately, people are looking out for their own interests at the cost of the neighbour.  I am still reading the book Morality by the Late Jonathan Sacks.  The more I read it, the more I realize how low our civilization has come.  Let’s see if we can start to live as ambassadors of heaven and begin to bring God’s goodness back into this fallen world.

In this section of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses the above saying 5x:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ Matthew 5:21

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; Matthew 5:27

“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘ YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ Matthew 5:33

“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ Matthew 5:38

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ Matthew 5:43

The form of the sentences

• The Formula (You have heard it said)
• The quotation (from the Law)
• The commentary

This would possibly be the same form that rabbis used when discoursing.  (I need to check this up).  Even if it isn’t the case modern Bible commentaries follow this type of format.  The quotation and then naturally with the commentary.

The grammar

In the root ‘to hear’ and ‘to say’ are both in the aorist and plural.   He was speaking to his disciples and not just one disciple.   In the saying ‘you have heard it said’, the main verbs are in the aorist or passive aorist.  It seems to be a formula that introduces something very important from the Law.

General description of the formula ‘You have heard that it was said’. 

In every verse of this found here in Matthew the grammar is the same.  This is understandable as it is just the flow of the Gospel story.

 And I say to you…

I found this interesting and it validates what I said earlier about the form of speech Jesus used was a traditional rabbinic ways of speaking about the Law and explanations:

“the second half of the comparison used by Jesus, ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν, “but I say to you” (in all six antitheses: vv 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, and 44), involves an authority that is alien to the spirit of the rabbis—especially, of course, where the new interpretation seems to stand in tension with the direct statement of Scripture. The rabbis, who never would pit their views against Scripture, preferred to support differing interpretations by appealing to other earlier representatives of the rabbinic tradition. Jesus’ remarkable use of the “but I say to you” formula is to be explained by his identity as the messianic bringer of the kingdom (Hengel points out that the element “to you,” which gives each antithesis the tonality of a kerygmatic statement, is lacking in the rabbinic parallels [TRu 52 (1987) 376]). It is the Messiah’s interpretation of the Torah that is finally authoritative.”

From Hagner, D. A. (1993). Matthew 1–13 (Vol. 33A, pp. 111–113). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

Our Lord as the Messiah and the King of Israel relied on his own authority.  There would have been many interpretations but for the disciple it is the Lord’s understanding of it that counts as it is the true understanding (Trinitarian revelation). Jesus did not do what these Rabbis did by finding earlier quotes from past teachers.  Our Lord as the second Person of the Trinity had the correct interpretation through divine access to the original and deeper spiritual meaning.

What is our Lord doing?

In each section after he says ‘You have heard it said’ he then quotes from the First five books of the Law.   It is interesting that there is only five.  My question is, did Matthew choose 5 as symbolic of the five books of Moses.  I don’t know the answer to that. 

Our Lord is taking examples from the Law and giving it a twist that brings out the real meaning behind each saying through ‘but I say to you’.  We have seen that the beatitudes are mainly spiritual and hence our lord is taking us deeper into the text and how it ought to be interpreted.  Perhaps using our Lords method, we could also build on this for ethical decisions. 

In a scientific way our Lord is taking the moral object and then having interrogated through the beatitudes, he explains the meaning to us.

Let’s now look at the first saying in more detail:

21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’

22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

23 Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,

24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

25 Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent. Matthew 5:21-26

The law from the 10 commandments is very basic.  If one murders, one is guilty before the law courts.  This is the same as in British Law or any Western Law. Murder is murder.  However, our Lord brings out some steps in this law.  We can see them

• Anger with the brother = guilty before the court!
• Saying ‘good for nothing’ to one’s brother= guilty before the Supreme court!
• Whoever says ‘You fool’= guilty enough to go into the fiery Hell

Why such strong sayings from our Lords mouth?

God is the giver of the law.  It is God who is the Creator of the universe.  Our Lord then takes us into the Second Temple Institution (before it was destroyed in AD 70). Jesus says:

” Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,”

We know what the two great commandments are, loving God and loving our neighbour. We cannot love God if we do not love our brother.  This is an impossibility.   God will not accept anything less.  These are standards that would test any religious and non-religious institution to its limits.

Jesus our Lord continues by saying:

“25 Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

26 Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.”

Hmm when I look at the context, I ask myself who this ‘opponent’ is.  I feel that the opponent here would be God.  I also feel that the prison would be hell.  This is a prison with no key because the price cannot be paid.

In a sense we are all prisoners locked up in our sin but what is impossible with us is not impossible with God.  Christ died on the cross so that we could be released from this prison. 

So, then Matthew seems to emphasize close relationships whereas Luke seems to emphasis Judgement

“Christ Divides Men

49 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

54 And He was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. 55 And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

57 “And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right? 58 For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent.” Luke 12:49-59” (NASB)

Reflection

The kingdom of God is Here and with the eyes of faith we know that the next time our Lord comes will be a time of reckoning and judgement. 

What have we learned?

Positively

1. We need to love our neighbour.
2. We need to keep in step with our Lord’s sayings and be ready to forgive
3. We shouldn’t hold grudges and sort things out while we still can.

Negatively:

1. Hate has dire consequences
2. If we do not forgive, we should expect the same from God
3. Holding grudges pulls us down and away from the Kingdom of God

Following in the steps of Christ in our strength is impossible.  But Jesus died on the cross for us and in Him our election is sure through the gift of faith and its fruit of good works.  Pertaining to salvation it has all been done by God.

• God came down to earth in the incarnation
• Christ is the High priest who mediates for us
• Christ is the sacrifice for us
• Christ by the Holy Spirit brings us into the Trinitarian life through the resurrection of Christ.

All we need to do is confess him as our Lord and believe that God the Father by the Holy Spirit raised him from the dead.  We in our strength can do nothing to please God.  After we have been saved good works flow from gratitude for what He has done for us.  By faith gratitude flows by remembering our neighbour whoever our neighbour might be.

Today I’ve been thinking about when Jesus said that our righteousness has to surpass that of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  These are actually incredible words because If we think about it Jesus had many run ins with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they were always trying to trip him up.  Yet Jesus said, your righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  Nicodemus was also a Pharisee he was a Pharisee that actually believed in Jesus, secretly, that he was the Messiah.

Now the question is:

How can our righteousness surpass that of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?

The Pharisees and the Sadducees kept the law absolutely perfectly, and they even made a fence around it so that it would be impossible to break the law when our Lord and saviour grew up in a place where the Temple, the Second Temple, was still around also there was a place in the desert where people worshiped God, because for them the Temple in Jerusalem had become unholy.

In that sense the New Testament isn’t only important to Christians but it’s actually important to Judaism as well.  At one point, Christianity is a critique of Judaism in a particular form.  Perhaps one of the problems of Judaism at the time of Jesus was that the rabbis and the priests and so on may have come to a place of pride because they were so important to the functioning of the Temple that perhaps the logic was, they were more important than the ordinary person in the street.  From that point of view, Jesus can be seen as the great equalizer in Judaic society.

The truth is that what Jesus taught was so radical that it changed the whole ancient world and brought in a new religion, Christianity.

So, the question is.

What was so radical about what Jesus taught?

I think Jesus got behind the action. This is a very important point this is why the Beatitudes are so important.  This is why the Beatitudes are the key to understanding Jesus’ teachings.

It is true that the Pharisees and the Sadducee’s were able to keep the law absolutely perfectly.

They were perfect on the outside, but Jesus looked beyond the outside.

He looked at what is within the human heart.

On the outside, you can be pretend to be Mr Goody 2 shoes but on the inside, you can be somebody completely different.  Jesus revealed the hypocrisy that was going on in human beings universally.

This teaching of Jesus is a lot bigger than the Pharisees and the Sadducees, It is a bit lot bigger than Christendom.  It’s a lot bigger than any political system.  The teachings of Jesus hints at what it means to be human and how we ought to live our lives.  Jesus cuts through all of this. Surface social perfection and doing good things where people can see what you are doing.  He cuts through all the way through to the soul and what it is that makes a person tick.

The thing is that some Christians tend to put the emphasis on grace and that the law was done away with.  This is a misreading really. The main thing that was done away with is the ceremonial law.  The 10 Commandments stay effective forever, is part of the moral law.

So, then what was done away with the death and resurrection of Jesus was the ceremonial law where animals had to be killed regularly so that we could have our sins forgiven and this was done by the priest.

The big problem was that in AD 70 the actual Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and Judaism itself had an identity crisis and this is when, in a sense, the rabbis went on a particular Road.

But for Christian Judaism, I don’t think this was such a problem because the death and resurrection of Christ meant that there was no physical Temple that Jewish Christians had to rely on.

Looking at a commentary on Matthew here I read the following:

“The larger context of the verse (e.g., the grace of the beatitudes) forbids us to conclude that entrance into the kingdom depends, in a cause-effect relationship, upon personal moral attainments. The verse is addressed, it must be remembered, to those who are the recipients of the kingdom. Entrance into the kingdom is God’s gift; but to belong to the kingdom means to follow Jesus’ teaching. Hence, the kingdom and the righteousness of the kingdom go together; they cannot be separated. And it follows that without this righteousness there can be no entrance into the kingdom.”

(By Hagner, D. A. (1993). Matthew 1–13 (Vol. 33A, p. 109). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.)

I can see from the Beatitudes that God searches not only, cause and ‘effect but he also searches deeper than that, the ‘intentions and attitudes of the soul’.  Hence because of the Fall we need Christ to bring us into His holiness and glory. 

The same writer continues:

“Only an interpretation of the present pericope such as this is compatible with the bearing of Jesus toward the law throughout the Gospel. These words do not contradict what is said elsewhere in the Gospel nor do they involve a misunderstanding of the ministry of Jesus. Although they unmistakably reflect the idiom of the Pharisees, and to that extent may be misleading if taken literally, they make a valid point concerning Jesus and his attitude toward the law. The words may not have been adequately understood at their first hearing, but in retrospect, given the whole sweep of events recorded in the Gospels, their meaning would have become clear to the early Church. The evangelist is of course delighted to seize these sayings and incorporate them into this discourse on the righteousness of the kingdom. His Jewish-Christian readers needed to know—especially in the light of repeated counter-claims—that the pattern for righteousness taught by Jesus reflects the true meaning of the Torah, and thus that the Torah in its entirety is preserved in and through the ethical teaching of the Church”

(By Hagner, D. A. (1993). Matthew 1–13 (Vol. 33A, p. 109). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.)

So, then we as believers have a true understanding of ‘righteousness’ by following the teachings of Jesus.  By faith we follow our Saviour and by faith one day we will meet him in the Celestial City for all eternity.  Matthew is an amazing book, and it blows away a lot of our misconceptions away.

Reflection

My reflection on the Sermon on the Mount has slowed me down in my writing because I realize how little I actually understand.  Thus, I have been reading some background stuff to get up to speed.  At the same time, I have started book two of Herman Bavincks Ethics and he is actually going to go through all of the 10 commandments.  He begins by looking at duty and in his introduction, he has shown us the pitfalls of the new philosophy through the eyes of Kant.  Actually, Bavinck looks at Matthew’s Gospel for the Trinitarian ethics which goes against our Culture.  I’m sure that I will feed his teachings into the Sermon on the Mount!

Nevertheless, I can say that at the time of Christ the world was a melting pot of various cultures.  This is what is happening to the world today.   There were many streams of thought at the time of Christ and our time is very similar.  They had powers and authorities and today we have powers and authorities.  When Jesus said these things, it was before the Second Temple was destroyed.  Jewish Christians also worshipped in the Temple as Judaism and Christianity at that moment in history did not go their separate ways.  With the destruction of the Temple this changed.  Christians were being persecuted by the powers of the age.  The destruction of the Temple was from my point of view a cataclysm that would change the world forever.   For Christians today the Temple of God is the Church.  We do not need a building to worship in.  The sacrifice of Christ on the cross and His resurrection was enough to bring us into the presence of God through the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are blessed.  Judaism has also survived the destruction of the Second Temple and flourished, and the synagogue has played a massive role in this.

The word duty is not found a lot in the Bible.  In the Bible it is found in about eight books in the Old testament and once in the New Testament (NASB, exhaustive concordance).  Herman Bavinck said the same type of thing on page 7 of his Ethics volume 2.  He actually said that duty in the Dutch Bible is really only found in the Dutch Psalter. However, he explains something very important to us:

“Duty presupposes Law.”

This then leads Herman Bavinck to raise the more important question:

“What is the relation of the believer to the law?” (Around page 7 of his ethics).

However for this piece of writing I can ask the question:

“What is the relation of our Lord Jesus to the Law?”

Then this would lead into Bavincks question.

So then as we can have seen in Matthew, Jesus said in Matthew that he did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.  As Bavinck says, when it came to the Judaic law Jesus was very conservative. 

“Jesus says no word, nor performs any deed to abolish the law.”

Bavinck then goes on to say,

“Jesus demands a righteousness that ‘surpasses’ the Pharisees.” 

As we have seen from the Beatitudes that Jesus ‘gives an internal spiritual explanation of the law.’ (Around page 7 of his ethics).  Righteousness (δικαιουσυνη) is an attitude of the Kingdom of God. 

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”(Matthew 6:33; Olive Tree, NASB Bible)  Bavinck reminds us of how Jesus describes  this ‘righteousness’ through the use of metaphor:

Being clothed with wedding garments

 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he *said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:11-14

Jesus family are his disciples

“For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:50

God’s will is revealed in the Law and the Prophets

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Matthew 7:21

And again

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7:24

Jesus starting point is the Law

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17

Again,

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12

Again,

 “On these two commandments depend on the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:40

Summing up Bavinck on Duty

We need to take Jesus’ words very seriously on righteousness and there is a direct correspondence between ‘righteousness’ and our understanding of duty.  Duty carries in itself the idea ‘that we must do the right act’. When we dive deeper into the text there are other verbs that point to this ethical necessity:

 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17

The phrase above ‘He had to’ οφειλω.

Or again in Vines Dictionary

“Behoved dei (1163), “it is necessary,” is rendered “behoved,” in Luke 24:46; RV, (that the Christ) “should” (suffer). Dei expresses a logical necessity, opheilo, a moral obligation; cf. chre, Jas. 3:10, “ought,” which expresses a need resulting from the fitness of things (Trench, Sec. cvii). Luke 24:46”

Reflection

Jesus’s teachings of the kingdom of God necessitate Holiness and the truth is that no person on this earth in their own strength and will can make themselves perfectly holy.  Jesus dis not lower the bar on the law.  In fact, Jesus did the opposite.  It is only when we realize that we cannot be Holy in our strength that we realize that we ought to humble ourselves before a Holy God. This is the starting point, by faith through the work of the Trinity that we can even have a sniff of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus’ teachings engenders humility something that deals with pride in people. Dare I say it! The pride that is found even within our own being. So then let us come to Christ in humility confessing Jesus as Lord, believing that God raised Jesus from the dead and through his atoning work as The True High Priest, and once and for all sacrifice, that we may walk into the heaven-lies as beloved children of God.

Our Lord and Saviour explains to us his disciples that we are the light of the world. Our question today is; How are we the light of the world? I hope to answer this question today through some references from both the Old and New Testaments.

You are the light of the world

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

Chiasms also exist throughout the Old Testament.

Jeff A. Benner wrote:

“As Hebrew poetry is written much differently than our own Western style of poetry, many do not recognize the poetry which can cause problems when translating or interpreting passages written in poetry.

Approximately 75% of the Hebrew Bible is poetry. All of Psalms and Proverbs are Hebrew poetry and many other books, such as the book of Genesis, are filled with poetry. The reason much of the Bible was written in poetry is that it was originally sung and stories that are sung are much easier to memorize that when simply spoken. There is much more poetry in the Bible than most realize because most people do not understand it.

The most common form of poetry in the Hebrew Bible is parallelisms, which is the expression of one idea in two or more different ways.”

[From: ancient-hebrew.org/poetry/about-hebrew-parallelism-called-chiasmus.htm]

It shouldn’t surprise us that our Lord used Chiasms in the Gospels especially in the Sermon on the Mount.  Last time was saw that light is a powerful metaphor in religions of the World.  After God created formless matter He then spoke:

“The Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 Genesis 1:1-5”

John’s Gospel is also interesting because he builds on the above motif:

“The Deity of Jesus Christ

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5”

Then in the I Am sayings Jesus says the following:

“Jesus Is the Light of the World

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12”

When we read Jesus’ sayings on his disciples being the light of the World.  We need to remember where we came from in the Sermon on the Mount.  Before Jesus said these words, he taught us what his disciples are supposed to be through the beatitudes.   We see a direct correlation with Jesus who is the genuine, real, only, Light of the World.  As disciples of Jesus, we share this light with Him as we walk the walk of faith in complete trust and obedience by grace.  There is a direct correlation between light as a metaphor and the moral walk with God.  There is a direct relationship on How Jesus lived and how the disciple are supposed to live by the Help of the Holy Spirit. We can go on there is a direct relationship with the death and resurrection of Jesus and so on.

When Jesus came, he did not do away with the Old Testament. He is the Fulfillment of the Old Testament.  God’s Moral litmus test cannot be reached by any human in their own capacity. This is what we already learned in the Beatitudes.  The other sects in Israel at the time failed the litmus test of the beatitudes.  It is only when one lets go of one’s pride and allows God to be in the driving seat through grace, faith, attitude and the enabling by the Holy Spirit who can bring a dead twig back to life.  We were the dead twigs my friends but by God grace we were made alive to follow our Saviour.

However, I just want to return to the saying about the disciples being the Salt of the Earth.  Salt is also a metaphor in other religion, but I just want to focus on the relations of salt to light in this section of the Sermon on the Mount.

The salt and light metaphors are saying the same thing except:

“

This structure is composed of two parallel parables. The former is negative, and the latter is positive. Readers are expected to become the latter one.

“

[From; bible.literarystructure.info/bible/40_Matthew_pericope_e.html#14

I think the work of Hajime Murai from the Future University Hakodate is very interesting because he has used IT to try to trace all of the chiasms in the Bible. If I did that by reading it would be an impossible task.]

I think the work of Hajime Murai from the Future University Hakodate is very interesting because he has used IT to try to trace all of the chiasms in the Bible. If I did that by reading it would be an impossible task.]

Reflections

Scholars say that the world is made up of science, ethics and aesthetics.   Obviously, God who created the universe is the greatest of artists, ethicists and artists and we can only be a pale image of the genuine thing.   In Christ however we are under the shadow of heaven and our home is not of this earth.  Even as Abraham believed God and he left his home we too in the same manner hope to reach the same city ‘made without hands’.

Scripture is full of Truth Goodness and Beauty.  Our Saviour is the greatest of artists and teachers who through his beautiful words prepared a path to heaven itself for us to walk.  Let us walk this Trinitarian path to the Father by ‘the Two hands of God’ (the Son and the Holy Spirit (a saying by Irenaeus that Professor Gunton liked to quote while I was at kings College London))

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp-stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

Before we start to delve into the depths of the above verses let us first have a general discussion of light.

The world of light until the 19^th century is not the same world we live in today.  We take it for granted that electricity keeps the lights running and this is generally clean.  I remember the time as a student teacher we had a trip to the British Museum, and I held a clay oil lamp in my hand that was thousands of years old.  It was very smooth, light and beautiful to look at. So then where there was light, there would have been smoke and the smell of burning.  Most ancient cities were set on a hill or a tell and the surrounding country sides would have had small villages.  It would be interesting to envisage coming up to one of these cities at midnight.  Even though the houses would have had oil lamps burning, the cities at night-time would have really stood out. Jerusalem sits on a hill, and I think it is quite possible that Jesus may have used it as an object lesson for his hearers from where he preached. Matthew says it was a mountain, but Luke says:

“Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, Luke 6:17”

What about how light is used as a symbol generally?

Light is one of the most powerful motifs in the religions.  Light is a universal phenomenon that touches all of life on this earth. It is no wonder that all the religions use light as a metaphor for aspects of divine realities.  At the level of God as Creator there can be real discussion among the religions.  Obviously when it comes to the particulars of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and other religions we go are separate ways.  Every religion has a right to their own belief systems.  Liberal theology which tries to talk about religion ‘evolving’ have made a categorical mistake and it is disrespectful to all religions because it does not respect their exclusivity.  The exclusivity comes from the concept of the Divine Infinite breaking into our space and time.  As a devoted follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are blessed to have the Bible, the word of God which reveals the True Word (Logos) of God to us.  Let us hold onto our exclusivity but still love our neighbour (which we may or may not agree with).  The following are quotes from World Scripture; A comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts;  pages 380 through to 383:

In the following section I have taken some passages that were prepared by world experts on the religions:

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path

Judaism and Christianity” Psalm 119.105

“The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away. Surely falsehood is ever certain to vanish”

Islam Quran 17.85

“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12

“God is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

The parable of His Light

is as if there were a Niche,

and within it a Lamp;

the Lamp enclosed in Glass:

The Glass as it were a brilliant star:

Lit from a blessed Tree, _

an olive neither of the East nor of the West,

whose oil is well—nigh luminous,

though fire scarce touched it.

Light upon Light!

God guides whom He will to His Light:

God sets forth parables for men, and God

knows all things.”

Islam. Qur’an 24.35

“Him the sun does not illumine, nor the moon, nor the stars nor the lightning—nor, verily, fire kindled upon the earth. He is the one light that gives light to all. He shines; everything shines”

Hinduism. Katha Upanishad 5.15

“It is wonderful, Lord! It is as if, Lord, one might set upright that which had been upturned, or might reveal what was hidden, or might point out the path to one who had gone astray or might bring an oil lamp into the darkness so that those with eyes might see material shapes.”

Buddhism. Udana. 49

“The holy Preceptor by the Word lighted a lamp;

Thereby was shattered darkness of the temple of the self,

And the unique chamber of jewels thrown open.

Wonderstruck were we in extreme on beholding it—

Its greatness beyond expression.”

Sikhism. Adi Granth, Bilaval, M5, p. 821

“The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. 36 If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.” Luke 11:34-36

“The Atman is the light:

The light is covered by darkness:

This darkness is delusion:

That is why we dream.

When the light of Atman

Drives out our darkness

That light shines forth from us,

A sun in splendour,

The revealed Brahman”

Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 5.15-16 (Note: Brahman ins the ‘Unknowable’ e.g.  God)

The candidate obtains this mystical light

after long hours of waiting, sitting on a bend}

in his hut and invoking the spirits. When he

experiences it for the first time, it is as if the

house in which he is suddenly rises, he sees far

ahead of him, through mountains, exactly as if

the earth were one great plain, and his eyes

could reach to the end of the earth. Nothing is

hidden from him any longer; not only can he

see things far, far away, but he can also discover

souls, stolen souls, which are either kept concealed in far, strange lands or have been taken

up or down to the Land of the Dead;

Native American Religions.

Iglulik Eskimo Shaman Initiation

“Those who believe will stand alongside [the Prophet], their light streaming on ahead of them and to their right. They will say, “Our Lord, perfect our light for us, and forgive us!”

Islam. Qur’an 66.8

Reflection

Jesus is the True light of the World and all who come to him will be saved:

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12

Then in Matthews Gospel he says the disciple are the ‘Light of the world’. 

 “You are the light of the world…”; Matthew 5:14

Let us then ‘walk in the light’ by Faith in Christ following our Light House.  The One who is our compass into everlasting life.  The True Light has broken into our space and time.  Jesus our Lighthouse lived a holy life, died on a cross and was resurrected, giving us the same hope of eternal life; as disciples we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit who will guide our ship through the many storms of life and to the eternal safe harbour. All people no matter what background, no matter what religion or no religion are invited to follow Christ:

“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” Romans 10:9-13; NASB from Olive Tree Bible Software.

What does this mean?

No life can survive without salt!   If you do a quick Google search, you’ll see that lots of animal’s such as the Alpine Ibex lick salt.   One example I saw was the Alpine Ibex climbing the concrete water dam to find their salt.

The thing about salt is that if you have too much, it can kill you.   But if you don’t have enough, it can kill you as well.   So, it’s very important for life itself.   Salt is very interesting because if it’s too much of it in some region, you’ll notice that those areas where there’s too much salt that all life is dead.

There is no life where there’s too much salt yet.  The oceans have got plenty of salt and the oceans are absolutely thriving with life.

It doesn’t surprise me that many religions and cultures around the world use salt in their in their everyday rituals and things.

In today’s discussion, we’re going to begin by looking at salt in general, from the Old Testament and find verses and see what we can learn.

After we’ve done that, we’re going to look at what Jesus means when he says that we are the salt of the earth.

The covenant of salt

….jtsa.edu/torah/a-covenant-of-salt/

…en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_in_the_Bible

“The role of salt in the Bible is relevant to understanding Hebrew society during the Old Testament and New Testament periods. Salt is a necessity of life and was a mineral that was used since ancient times in many cultures as a seasoning, a preservative, a disinfectant, a component of ceremonial offerings, and as a unit of exchange. The Bible contains numerous references to salt. In various contexts, it is used metaphorically to signify permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification.”

Let us begin by reading some texts on salt from Matthew, Mark Luke and John:

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Matthew 5:13

42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, 44 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, 46 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 48 where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.

49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:42-50

Discipleship Tested

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 14:25-35

Commentary starter

Salt is mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Matthew

In Matthew we learned about the beatitudes.  Matthew focused more on the inner life of the believer and ended with the objective effects of what it means to follow Christ.

Mark

Mark is a lot more about the judgement of God and here everyone ‘will be sprinkled with salt’.  Salt here is a metaphor in which the disciples and those who are not disciples will be tested which includes a metaphor of hell:

 ‘[where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.]’

Luke

Luke is writing in context of the disciples being tested. How committed are we in following Christ?

Reflection

The Judgement of God begins with the Church, and we are to be ‘salted by fire’.  Will the fire burn up all our so-called good works? Or will the salt of the Gospel enhance and taste God’s good work in us by the Great Chef.  How will we fair on the Day of Judgement, on the day of God’s wrath?

Digging deeper

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Matthew 5:13

Jesus is talking directly to his disciples, and he says that our walk with God ought to be ‘spicy’.  The opposite of spicy is ‘not spicy’.  As believers in Christ how spicy are we for the Gospel?   My point of view is that we need God’s grace working in our lives to really spice things up and bring more souls into the Kingdom of God.

When we read John Calvin on this verse near the beginning, he starts by saying “We can fight Christ’s battles on no other terms than for the majority of the world to be risen up in enmity against us, and to be our persecutors, even unto death.”

This Sermon is for the followers of Christ.  As a general rule of thumb and more the world hates the Christian message. Calvin reminds us that:

 ‘Satan as the prince of this world will never stop arming his ranks in a frenzy to assault the members of Christ.”

We need to remember even way back in the book of Job it was Satan who was accusing Job of evils.  This same Satan is also the one who tried to force the hand of Jesus to worship him rather than God!

Calvin goes on to tell is about 1 Peter 3:3. However for the sake of context I have quoted some more:

“Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defence to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ will be put to shame.” 1 Peter 3:13-16

Calvin goes on and he uses the ‘I repeat’ that means he is pressing the main point home:

“I repeat what I have just said, that all who wish to live a godly life in Christ are liable to persecution; Paul’s testimony applies to all the faithful alike (11 Tim, 3.12).”

“Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:12-13

Calvin goes on to say:

“As throughout this life the way of the godly is most miserable, Christ duly lifts our thoughts to hope for the life of heaven.   Christ’s paradox here is vastly different from the commentaries of the Stoics, where men are told to be satisfied in their own judgement, and each to decide on his own happiness to empty imaginings, for he establishes it upon the reward of a future hope”

As we said earlier in another blog Martin Luther King junior who practiced peaceful protest became a target for doing the right thing.  Every human being has been created in the ‘image of God’.  We see this concept and truth attacked from many sides. When John Calvin penned these words, the world was in full movement and flux and many people died for having a separate confession about reality.  Calvin reminds us that this persecution of the Church is a staple diet of the world.   There is so much evil in the world at the moment; death and destruction in Europe for silly stupid reasons. 

We need to remember that the God we serve is a God of love.  Anyone who purports to be flying the Christian flag and openly murders innocent people is an ‘anti-Christ’.  There have been many anti-Christs throughout the centuries, and we have them even in the 21^st century.  They may pretend to be Christian but by murdering innocent people they show themselves to be doings Satan’s will.  Let us love and be willing to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves in this way we follow the teachings of Christ. 

Reflection

Interesting that for the word righteousness Vine says:

“Righteousness dikaiosune (1343), is “the character or quality of being right or just”; it was formerly spelled “rightwiseness,” which clearly expresses the meaning. It is used to denote an attribute of God, e.g., Rom. 3:5, the context of which shows that “the righteousness of God” means essentially the same as His faithfulness, or truthfulness, that which is consistent with His own nature and promises; Rom. 3:25, 26 speaks of His “righteousness” as exhibited in the death of Christ, which is sufficient to show men that God is neither indifferent to sin nor regards it lightly.”  (From Vines dictionary; Olive Tree Bible software)

I come to the same conclusion as Calvin that the follower of Christ who lives the way of Christ is going to suffer.  There is an alignment of the righteousness and the follower of Christ.  It is in Christ that as Paul would say we are justified.  It is precisely for this reason that the prophets suffered.  They suffered because they aligned themselves in obedience to God’s word. 

I can think of Isaiah:

“1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said,

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,

The whole earth is full of His glory.”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said,

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I live among a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Isaiah 6:1-7

God has high standards, and in our strength, we cannot reach this standard.  Grace was given to Isaiah as his lips were purified.  Coming to the conclusion of the beatitudes we see steppingstones. We realize that all the goodness we have stems from the work of Christ. 

As Bavinck would say the natural man would reject this way of doing things.  The natural man wants to do things in their own strength and prove how strong they are.  On the surface it might look like righteousness but dig under the surface and one can see that it is fake righteousness.  True righteousness has roots coming from God’s grace.  Fake righteousness has its roots in self-empowerment.

Christ turns the values of this world on its head and shows how ugly they are:

 In fact, the follower of Christ’s city is in heaven.  The Christian is happy because he can see beyond the horizon.  This world is not our goal we are not interested in amassing wealth here.  True wealth is spiritual not material.  The legacy of the follower of Christ is to share love to all and sundry.   

The values of the world maybe:

That one is proud that he pays his taxes on time; You are a proud successful businessman who in reality only thinking about how good you are; You have achieved everything by your own wisdom. Or you are poor and jealous of someone who has the latest things, and you want the same.  It maybe that that person only cares about themselves.   

The examples above are probably not very accurate as I used a wide brush stroke here, but the main point is that the beatitudes for the follower of Christ is a mirror that can help weed out the sin in our lives.  As followers of Christ, we realize that we are completely dependent on God for our daily living.

The natural man and the follower of Christ look through completely different spectacles.

As Calvin used the word paradox in relation to Christs teachings.  It does look like a paradox that we are called to be happy and the way to be happy is to critique selfish empowerment.  At the end we are also to rejoice in our sufferings!  

No believers are not sadomasochists who like to inflict pain on themselves for enjoyment’s sake.  No, my friends; What we have here is a meditation to make us true believers in Christ. The small word ‘shall’ have been used a lot through these happy sayings.  We look beyond the horizon to Christ, to our redemption:

“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:12”

Reflection

This brings us to the end of the beatitudes but from my point of view this is the very key to understand all the teachings found within the Sermon on the Mount.  This has not been an easy ride theologically, but I hope as a follower of Christ you have grown in the grace of Christ as we become by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit more genuine in our faith.

If you are not a follower of Christ, I hope that the beatitudes have given you an appreciation to what Christ is actually saying and I hope one day that you too could follow in the steps of Christ.

{For the writings of John Calvin I used his Harmony of the Gospels translated by A.W Morrison; pages 172-173; WM. B. Eerdmans publishing house}

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9

In the last beatitude the pure would see God.  In this beatitude Our Lord is going up a level and he explains to his disciples that with this new ‘Happy saying’ they will be called ‘sons of God’.  Sons should be all inclusive for women too. Many of Jesus’s disciple were women and Saint Paul said in Galatians that there is neither male nor female.  In the Kingdom of heaven men and women are equal.  Anyhow before I dive into this beatitude, I want to think about the importance of peace makers.  I can think of some from the top of my head. 

• Muhammad Ali
• Gandhi
• Martin Luther King
• Nelson Mandela
• Dalai Lama
• Bishop Tutu
• Greta Thunberg (Global warming that affects all of us)

Peace making comes at many different levels and God loves genuine peacemakers.  I’m not speaking from a salvific point of view but generally.  When God created the world ‘It was good’.  When He created Adam and Eve ‘it was good’.  The moral order of the family was set in place one man and one woman, and they were told to be fruitful.  We were created in the image of God and what does that actually mean.  For me Jesus as the Logos is the prototype image of God.  From the teachings of our Lord, we learn about the importance of loving Good and our neighbour. 

What is the opposite of peace?

It is war!

Jesus was the ultimate peace maker and I find it very interesting that Gandhi a Hindu studied the teachings of Christ which helped him to put together his ethic of love to fight British oppression in India. 

It doesn’t stop there; Martin Luther King Junior then studied Gandhi and using the ethic of Love fought for equal rights for people of colour and all people. 

I could go on people of peace attract other people of peace for example did you know that Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama became good friends?

In Christianity, peace is a very important concept.   First of all.   There are scriptures that refer to God as the God of peace and in this beatitude, we find that the peacemakers are going to be called the Sons of God.

Sometimes when you make peace, you have to in a sense, there’s some sort of war I don’t mean physically but in various forms.  So I’m just going to go through a few people that have shown the quality of peace:

In making peace Muhammad Ali, for example stood up against the American government because he did not agree with the Vietnam war and he had his world title belt that he won fair and square taken away from him.   Although after he did his time in prison, he got his belt back.

Then of course you have Gandhi who had the philosophy of ahimsa. The idea that you’re not allowed to hurt any living thing, and he lived at the time when Britain was in charge of India.   Using the concept of ahimsa, he was able to defeat the British and expel the British peacefully

Following in Gandhi’s footsteps, we have, Martin Luther King And he used the ethic of love to fight for the civil rights movement and it’s interesting that sometimes people who stand up for doing the right thing and are peaceful people usually sometimes end up being persecuted or killed.

Then we have Nelson Mandela who spent many years in prison he realized that peaceful protest is more powerful than the use of violence and he got rid of the apartheid system and became the First South African president and I have to say that I think John Calvin is the is the best one because it’s very simple and it gets to the point.

So it begins like this:

“Blessed are the peacemakers.  He means those who have an enthusiasm for peace and as best they may avoid all quarrels and also those who take pains to settle.  The dissensions that break out between others being agents of peace to all ready to stifle hatreds and rivalries, this is no light declaration.  The result is that each wishes to have everyone in his pay to fight on his side that we may not then depend on men favours.   Christ bids us to look to the judgment of the father for us.  He is the God of peace.   He reckons us among his sons as we work for peace even though our efforts do not please men. To be called has the same force as to be reckoned. “ (This is from.  Calvin’s New Testament commentaries, new translation. Translated by Morrison. Edited by TF Torrance, on page 172) 

I looked at four  commentaries about this particular verse in the Sermon on the Mount.

The four were:

• by John Calvin (above).
• William Barclay
• Doctor Martyn Lloyd Jones commentary on the Sermon on the Mount.
• Jamieson Faucet and Brown (Olive tree Bible software)

The reason I liked Calvin’s the most is actually because it gets to the point.   It’s very, very simple and he tries to get to the meaning of the text.   The modern commentary was actually invented by John Calvin.   He was the first to write Bible Commentaries in a scientific manner.   When we look at the text in the New Testament, we have to ask ourselves the question:

• Do I have the real meaning of the text?
• What did it mean to those who first heard those words?

What is important is what Jesus meant by these words.  It is not what I think Jesus meant by these words.   It can be very difficult sometimes to get to the meaning that the writer wanted us to understand. There are two keywords that explains all this (eisegesis and exegesis):

The first word (eisegesis)suggests this; You read your own biases into the text.  In this situation the text becomes gobbledegook (a myth, not true, false). It’s not reality.

Exegesis, on the other hand, means reading out of the text what is there. The text is actually telling you what it’s saying.   So, when we’re looking at this particular beatitude that Jesus gave there isn’t a really lot to go on.

So, this is why I think that here Calvin is actually better than William Barclay et al.  It just gives you the basic meaning. So then let’s start looking at it in a bit more detail and find out what we can learn.  I just want to look at the reflection of Calvin on this after we said basically what a peacemaker is.

Calvin Finishes off by saying this, “that we may not then depend on men’s favours.  So, we shouldn’t look at doing your boss, a favour, or whoever a favour, what’s important, Calvin says, is Christ bids us to look to the judgment of the Father, it’s what God wants us to do.   It’s not what other people want us to do for as he is the God of peace, He reckons us among his sons as we work for peace.  To be in a sense, to be a true image of God.   One of those characteristics is actually to make peace, even as God makes peace.

The greatest example of that is when Jesus died for us so that we could have peace with God.  He reckons us among his sons as we work for peace even though our efforts do not, please men.  Yeah, being a peacemaker and doing what God wants us to do is going to please very, very few men.   People, should I say for example.

When we talk about the 10 Commandments that God has given which is for everyone at all times.  A lot of people kind of accept those.  This causes problems, so we’re going to have problems to be called has the same force as ‘to be reckoned’, Calvin said. Yes, so we are reckoned to be as children of God.

It means the same thing and I wonder what it says in the Greek.   I’ll have to look at that a bit later on.

The Judaeo-Christian ethic is that we should love God with all of our heart with all of our mind and all of our strength and as a general rule, the natural man who hasn’t seen God’s goodness is only interested in himself and pleasing himself.   A lot of people nowadays they don’t want anything to do with God. They just want to go their own way doing their own thing, living the way that they want.   For example, marriage is thrown out with the bath water.   Sad to say, for example, in places like London Knife crime is very, very prevalent.  There’s a mood in large chunks of society that life isn’t worth very much.   if a person gets stabbed by another young person and they die (that isn’t seen as a problem).  There is no Fear of God, there is no sense of duty.   Let’s look at some people who have spoken about peace in the world.

For example, in the USA Martin Luther King when he was around at the marches and the civil rights movement.  He was assassinated for doing the right thing and it’s a problem that comes right into the 21st century where people think that if you’re white, you’re better than blacks, and if you’re black, you’re better than whites.   Bruce Lee went against the current of racism; In one of his interviews, he was asked if he was Chinese or if he was American.   Bruce Lee said, “I’m a human being.  It doesn’t matter about what colour you are, what race you are under the Sun we’re all the same. “  We’re human beings and we should treat each other with the dignity that everyone deserves.

For the Christian; God created us in his image.  We’ve been created in the image of God.  We are very, very special.  We are sacred but unfortunately, the world doesn’t actually always see that.

Some people choose to interpret this particular beatitude only in a churchy spiritual way and internalize peace making from within and the objective reality is lost.   That it only means making peace with God within you the struggle inside you.

But I don’t agree obviously I accept the spiritual but people like Martin Luther King has shown us that it has practical life changing elements for the real world outside the Church

After we’ve become Christians and we’ve learned how to do this walk with God because of God’s grace. We come to a position where we can actually take part in the world and start to try to bring peace by the help of The Holy Spirit; Peace with people and peace with God.

It’s a very objective thing.   It’s something that that can change the world, save lives and then also bring people to know Jesus Christ as we know Jesus Christ as well the ultimate peace with God.

All the commentaries failed me when looking to this beatitude, but they gave me clues.

I found it very interesting that William Barclay reminded us about the word Shalom can mean a peace but has various meanings.  Peace means not only be “freedom from all trouble” but it can also mean “enjoyment of all good.”

So I did a bit of research and I went to the Wikipedia on shalom.   Barclay is right and It can mean that as well because it’s used in everyday greetings for health and everything but it still didn’t answer my question:

• What Jesus means by peacemaker

And lo and behold, I went to Matthew chapter 10¹²

Let me just tell you a bit a little bit about the context:

Jesus has chosen the 12 disciples and he sent them out to the House of Israel.

And they’re going to greet everyone.  This is what Jesus says in one of the verses with me paraphrasing, he says.  “As you enter the house, give it you’re greeting.  If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace but if it is not worth of it, take back your blessing of peace.

And then a bit later on:

Jesus talks about the persecution that the believers are going to face in the future.   

Now it’s very interesting that when we look at the Beatitudes in Matthew Chapter 5 verse nine and verse 10, one is about making peace and the next one is about persecution and in Chapter 10 from verses 5 all the way through to verse 23 the same order is followed.   When disciples do peace-making, they are going to face persecution and I think that’s probably the best way to interpret that particular beatitude.

Why did I use the word shalom?

You need to remember that Greek was the prevalent language around the Middle East at the time of Christ.  Even the Old Testament was translated into Greek known as the Septuagint (LXX as the abbreviation for the Septuagint (meaning 70 ‘the Seventy Elders’).  It is a fact that the Apostles favoured the Septuagint to that of the Hebrew at the time.  Scholars think that Jesus actually spoke Aramaic a local dialect! 

Reflection

If you are a disciple of Christ, then you are a peacemaker.  ‘Love changes everything’.  God sent his only Son into the world to open the way for us to walk into God’s Kingdom.  Being a peacemaker is not an easy task spiritually or objectively.   The hard example of this beatitude for us is in Matthew chapter 10. 

External links for further general reading:

Martin Luther King and Gandhi links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

A Messianic-Jewish interpretation of Matthew 5 verse 9

https://www.biblestudytools.com/cjb/matthew/5-9.html

As we’ve gone through the Beatitudes you will have noticed that we started from a very earthly foundation and one by one we’re getting closer to the presence of God So, in verse 3, for example, was it all the poor in spirit for those of the Kingdom of heaven?

We realize that in ourselves we cannot save ourselves.  We’re completely dependent on God and then the beatitudes go through our attitudes one by one towards God and towards our neighbors.

Last time we looked at mercy, the concept of mercy, but it’s important that we show mercy.

Today we’re looking at the be attitude, which is the following, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”  The only one who has really ever been pure in heart is actually our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ because no sin was found in him.  Then as we get closer and closer to Christ and through repentance and trust in Christ, our thoughts and our intentions become purer and purer until eventually we meet the vision of God where we become more like the image of God.

The true image of God is obviously our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who became fully human.

So that we too could Become truly human.  So, to be truly human is actually to be in a close walk with God.

This happens in many ways.  Although God is the Creator, and we are the creatures.  God sent his only son into the world to die for us.  Jesus didn’t do anything wrong.  He is our true example that we need to follow.

Anyway, what does this beatitude actually mean?

Let’s look at it a bit closer. Blessed; all that means is happy. It’s a very Scriptural thing actually and is found in the Old Testament in various places; “Blessed is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” (Psalm 1)

What’s the opposite of wicked?

It’s being pure being holy doing the right thing in God’s sight.  Do we do the right thing in God’s sight?

‘Pure in heart’.

What’s the opposite of pure in heart? It is having an unclean dirty heart.

Then Jesus says “the pure in heart they shall see God”. The word ‘shall’  is put in the time frame of the future tense.

So, at the end of time at the eschaton we shall indeed see God!

In what contexts have humans ever seen God?

I think it’s good just to have a look at the Old Testament and see what the old.

Testament says, and the best place to start is actually before the fall.  Before the fall, Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned yet, and basically that God would speak with them every single day;  they saw God every single day as a friend.  Although he was their creator He was their friend.  But then sin came into the world, and they had to be kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Well basically they wanted to be like God.  Perhaps I should have said become divine.     

In that state, there can only be judgment, and there was judgment on them, and since then we have not been able to walk in any garden with God.  That’s not the only place we can talk about seeing God.

In our fallen state, we can’t see God face to face because we will be destroyed by judgment because God is completely holy. Moses was granted the privilege of seeing the back of God.  He was allowed to see the back of God and that’s the closest man has ever got to seeing God in his situation which happened after the fall.

Seeing someone is very, very personal.  For example, if you go to visit your mum and dad or maybe a relative or a friend, it’s a very special time for meeting those sorts of people and it is with God as well. Yes it is Mothers Day in the UK today (27 03 2022). (Mum when you are reading this Happy Mothers Days!)

We have this hope that one day we’ll be going home to heaven, which is where our real home is.  It is very interesting that in the Garden of Eden there were two trees.  There was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which Adam and Eve actually ate from, and then they realized that that they didn’t have any clothes on.  There was also the Tree of life.  Now if they had eaten of the tree of life, They would have stayed in a sinful state for all eternity.  It  is an act of mercy that God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden.  Even though he kicked them out of the garden, he made sure they had clothes and that was the first sacrifice.  God actually made the first sacrifice, not humans.

This is a hope that we have in the future that after the day of judgment and how things been we have a hope that we will see God.  We’re only able to see God because of what Jesus has done.

It’s only in Christ and in his work at Calvary that we are actually able to see God and the Book of Hebrews says that we’ll be able to walk boldly to the throne of Grace.  The temple on the Earth was only a shadow of the real thing anyway.  The real temple is actually in heaven.  Are you excited to see God?

How do you feel about that that you’ve lived on this earth all these years and you’ve not been able to see God literally? Actually then one the  believers by faith we will see God.  He has a place prepared for us through what Jesus has done. 

To be. Pure in heart also means that we have to live holy and godly lives, and it’s not always easy.

But there’s lots of things that tempters, testers, and sometimes we fall.  We we need God’s grace to put us back on the road. And it’s a daily thing.  I suppose this is what pilgrim’s progress reminds us. In that  story you know that he is on this on this road, and then these different tests come to test him.  Satan and his cohorts would like him to leave the road where he’ll face destruction but God keeps hold of him right up to the end.

Analytic Reflection

This section is not my work but I have taken it from (Jamieson Fausset and Brown commentary on Matthew 5⁸)

“ 8. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God—Here, too, we are on Old Testament ground. There the difference between outward and inward purity, and the acceptableness of the latter only in the sight of God, are everywhere taught. Nor is the “vision of God” strange to the Old Testament; and though it was an understood thing that this was not possible in the present life (Ex 33:20; and compare Job 19:26, 27; Isa 6:5), yet spiritually it was known and felt to be the privilege of the saints even here (Ge 5:24; 6:9; 17:1; 48:15; Ps 27:4; 36:9; 63:2; Isa 38:3, 11, etc.). But oh, with what grand simplicity, brevity, and power is this great fundamental truth here expressed! And in what striking contrast would such teaching appear to that which was then current, in which exclusive attention was paid to ceremonial purification and external morality! This heart purity begins in a “heart sprinkled from an evil conscience,” or a “conscience purged from dead works” (Heb 10:22; 9:14; and see Ac 15:9); and this also is taught in the Old Testament (Ps 32:1, 2; compare Ro 4:5-8; Isa 6:5-8). The conscience thus purged—the heart thus sprinkled—there is light within wherewith to see God. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other”—He with us and we with Him—”and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us”—us who have this fellowship, and who, without such continual cleansing, would soon lose it again—”from all sin” (1Jo 1:6, 7). Matthew 5:8 “Whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him” (1Jo 3:6); “He that doeth evil hath not seen God” (3Jo 11). The inward vision thus clarified, and the whole inner man in sympathy with God, each looks upon the other with complacency and joy, and we are “changed into the same image from glory to glory.” But the full and beatific vision of God is reserved for that time to which the Psalmist stretches his views—”As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness” (Ps 17:15). Then shall His servants serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads (Re 22:3, 4). They shall see Him as He is (1Jo 3:2). But, says the apostle, expressing the converse of this beatitude—”Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). Matthew 5:8 (Jamieson Fausset and Brown commentary on Matthew 5⁸)

Reflection

Luke does not touch on this beatitude.  Having said that it is indeed a core teaching in the New Testament. For example:

“A New and Living Way

19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:19-25 NASB; Olive Tree Bible Software”

Verse 19 tells us that we will enter the ‘Holy Place’.  Verse 22 tells us that ‘our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience’.   What took Apollos the writer of Hebrews (I believe he wrote it) takes a few verses to explain Jesus explained it in one short sentence.  Our Lord indeed was a great teacher. The Holy Place is the innermost and most Holy Place in which God resides. The High Priest only entered the holy place once in a year.  I read somewhere that on the hem of the garments they had bells.  They had bells in case they were struck down for disobeying God so that they could be pulled out:

   (I pulled the following from the internet. The link is there but you would have to add ‘https’ to the front of the address for it to work)

“… alternating golden bells and pomegranates that were sown to the bottom hem of the long blue outer robe over which the EPHOD and Breastplate were worn.

We were told earlier that that the purpose of these golden bells was so “The High Priest would not die” while he was serving in the Tabernacle.

These dangling bells were much more than decorative jewelry.

In the Temple era, a rope was tied to the ankle of the High Priest when he went into the Holiest Place on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

“A chain was tied to the feet of the High Priest, when he entered THE HOLY OF HOLIES, so that if he dies there they will take him out, SINCE IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER THERE… Then there is joy among the higher and lower beings. If not, they were all in sorrow and all knew that their prayer was not accepted.”-Zohar Vol. 16 Emor, Section 34. Yom Kippur, Par. 251.

Now I was told that while the High Priest was engaged in his purification rituals, the common priests who were standing outside the Sanctuary would be on high alert always listening for the steady jingling of the golden bells.

If that jingling STOPPED for a considerable amount of time, they would assume that the Lord had probably killed the High Priest due to some breach of protocol.

Then, they would pull him out of the Holy of Holies with the rope that was attached to his foot.” (Taken from  //messianic-revolution.com/e39-2-what-was-the-purpose-of-the-bells-attached-to-the-hem-of-the-high-priests-robe/ )

Anyhow I want to bring this blog to a conclusion.  I want to wish all Mothers everywhere a Happy (UK) Mothers day!

We have all sinned and gone astray from God yet one of the chief characteristics of God is to show mercy:

“Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” Exodus 34:6-8

 In a court of law if you have been shown mercy then perhaps you have been set free even though one deserved a harsher sentence:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

And negatively it could be:

“For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. “James 2:13

I’m using James here because James was the Lord’s brother and the leader of the Jerusalem Church before he was executed.

If any religion (including Christianity) lacks mercy as part of its primary teachings, then it will hurt a lot of people.  Jesus is the prime example of showing mercy in that he was going to die a cruel death on a cross so that in Him we could walk to God’s throne.  Mercy is something that all humans are able to do but for some reason things such as pride, greed, hunger for power, ambition, and many things get in the way, so we do not reach our true human potential. 

Jesus was well aware of the Pharisees:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” Matthew 23:23

As you can see with the various quotations that mercy and justice cannot be separated.  The religious and political leaders of the day in Jesus’ society in a sense are like leaders in our own time.  You can get the good, the bad and the ugly doers.  Mercy is not only a major characteristic that God has.  We ought to remember that we have been created in the image of God and we too as humans have this natural universal characteristic.  Do your local and national leaders exhibit and prove compassion in their daily lives?

If they don’t have this, then vote for people who genuinely care about fellow human beings.  Are the needy people in your locality being cared for or are funds being channeled into their own bank accounts be new corrupt laws?

I’m not making any political claims for this or that party, but I think Jesus’ teachings on mercy hits right at the core of how we ought to live before a Holy God.

Let us now dig deeper into this beatitude.  We have already learned a lot through looking at some key texts:

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

Last time we looked at how as we go through the beatitudes, we get closer and closer to God:

Vines Definition

“Merciful eleemon (1655), “merciful,” not simply possessed of pity but actively compassionate, is used of Christ as a High Priest, Heb. 2:17, and of those who are like God, Matt. 5:7 (cf. Luke 6:35, 36, where the RV, “sons” is to be read, as representing characteristics resembling those of their Father). “ Matthew 5:7

 ( From Vines Dictionary; olive Tree Bible software)

Interpretation

‘Blessed are the merciful’

‘Merciful is an adjective’ but even in the Greek it has the definite article ‘the’.

Blessed + the + merciful are all in the plural so Jesus is saying to all of his disciples that we ought to be actively practicing mercy even as he was a prime example of this.

‘Will receive (obtain) mercy’

This is a verb, and it is in the future plural tense.  The actions we do today will have eschatological significance when we stand before the throne of God. 

Jesus is our prime example:

“Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17

Reflection

Christianity is a religion of mercy.  If the Christianity, you have met does not practice mercy and compassion then it is not Christianity but some cheap fake element of Christianity.   

God himself is merciful and Jesus being the Son of God became our Passover lamb and died for us so that we too could have eternal life.  We live by faith in the covenant that Jesus made with his people (The Church). Jesus practiced mercy and if we follow in his footsteps we too ought to follow in his footsteps.  When we walk this walk and show mercy, we become closer and closer like Jesus.  We also get closer and closer to God’s own heart. 

For me the period of lent is more about thinking about what Jesus did for us at the cross.  When I think about mercy it makes me think about these events surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ and this is our hope that one day he will come back for his disciples from all ages (The invisible Church = believers from the past, present and future).  Jesus for Christians is the ultimate example of Mercy.  I realize that in my walk with God I have only just begun but by the Holy Spirit we are brought closer and closer to be with Christ for all eternity.

I have lost count how many times I have read the Sermon on the Mount but the closer I look at it the more I am humbled by Jesus’ teachings.  I just want to recap and then reflect on it with you before moving into verse 6:

Reflection: For me Heaven is as real as earth.  The invisible is as real as the visible.  The greatest minds of human wisdom and knowledge have grasped this idea.  Judaism certainly grasped this idea that there is an infinite as well as finite space and time ruled by an Intelligent Being (God). Without questioning God’s being and just believing that he is as it says in lots of places:

28 “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to depart from evil is understanding.’” Job 28:28

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

24 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

Joshua 4:24

Within the framework of Judaism that Jesus was walking in the tradition starts with faith as a given fact.

As Christians in Christ, we are inheritors of this faith walk.   We did not come to a place of hungering for God’s Kingdom; We are on a pilgrim’s journey.

Jesus started teaching us from where we are from the subjective internal world of faith.  We realized that before a Holy God our soul is completely destitute and is completely reliant on God’s grace.  Having Come to a place of realizing how destitute we are before a Holy God this has fostered humility within our being standing before a Holy God. It is only now that we are ready to be taught by a holy God.

Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it.  We know the summary as well that we are to love God and to love our neighbour.  A lot of people (politicians and ethicists for example) don’t realize that there is a relation between loving God and loving the neighbour.  We see this in the 10 commandments that one is to love God and his neighbour.   The 10 commandments gives us a boundary to work with for society.  However, what have politicians and the general public done.  The Golden rule has been elevated and God has been written out of the script. 

This to my mind is the reason for ending up with a dysfunctional society.  Society has said no to God and the effects of this has been horrendous on human activity up to the nuclear bomb (mutual destruction). 

Truth for a lot of people is relative because the measuring stick is humanity (anything goes). 

Let us now begin to look at Jesus’ saying below:

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6

There are some basic commodities that we need to survive.  Water and bread are two such basic commodities.   Jesus is the perfect example of this.  He was driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit and Satan only tested Jesus when he was at his weakest.  Let us look at what actually happened:

“1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” Matthew 4:1-4”

We can imagine being in this deserted area.  According to Barclay the rocks are the right size and shape to look like loaves of bread!   So, Jesus having fasted and sought God’s will we have Satan come up to him and talk about bread!  Jesus gives us a priority lesson.

If you were going to choose between what the body needs, and God’s will; which comes first?

We need to go shopping my friends for our food.  We need to follow Jesus’ example and learn to pray.  When we pray God will answer us from heaven.  Let’s not forget that after the temptations, angels served Jesus because he didn’t even probably have enough energy to come back to civilization.   

Let us pray daily like Jesus did.  Let us find places in which we are alone with God.  There comes times and places in our lives when we hit a dead end.  The situation looks impossible, and it is impossible but by being faithful to Christ a way opens up and our prayers are answered.   

Reflection

This Week I used Scripture to interpret Scripture (The first test of Christ). As believers we belong to Christ.  Jesus being the Son of God had a perfect relationship with the Father.  Jesus is the perfect example for hungering and thirsting after God.  What did Jesus do?

• Jesus prayed
• Jesus fasted
• Jesus read Scripture
• Jesus walked in step with his and our Heavenly Father

Praying should be like bread to our spiritual well being and reading Scripture like water quenching our spiritual thirst.  Let us live by faith walking close to our Master the perfect example of how to live the life of faith. Don’t forget Jesus in his humanness needed help to come down the mountain (my view). So then my friends let us stay in step with Jesus and we have the hope that one day he is coming to take his bride (The Church)

Today I am doing more experimental theology.  

The theme is about the future theatre in the eschaton (end times) what type of earth we are going to inherit as believers.  It is not a clear and cut topic.  Namely over the years some scriptures have actually confused me.  An example of this is the Lord Jesus in the Beatitudes said the ‘The meek (gentle shall inherit the earth)’.

On the other hand, there is a Scripture that says the earth is going to be destroyed with fire (2 Peter 3 10).  Where do I start?

On top of this:

• Some scholars say this world will continue the way it is (evolutionists)
• Other theologians say this present earth will be destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth will come down
• Bavinck says the truth lies between these two points.

For me this is an experimental line of inquiry and I believe Herman Bavinck will help me get to the truth.   

Before I even start, I think we need to remind ourselves that:

1. When God created the heavens and the earth (It was good).  At this stage before sin entered into the world everything was good.  The material universe was ‘good’
2. There was a Fall Adam sinned.  Adam’s sin not only affected the human race, but it also brought a Fall to the human creation (and the universe)
3. Regeneration of the human race happened through Christ.
4. Where does this leave the earth, the theatre in which humans live their life; the earth’s habitats, its animals that Adam was supposed to take care of, our pet rabbit Leo!

The fact is that in theology without realizing it perhaps there has been some gnostic influence that see creation (the material universe as bad!).  Is God a liar?

No! God is not a liar; so perhaps we need to think about the regeneration of the world in some way.   Does the Bible talk in anyway that the world would be regenerated or ‘born again’ Anyone who has pets must also wonder where their pets fit in this grand scheme of things.

There is also another problem that having a negative view of the material universe means that for many people the importance of saving this planet ends up on the backburner (This is a mistake). 

We will be looking at Reformed Dogmatics; by Herman Bavinck; translated by John Vriend; edited by John Bolt; pages 715- 724; printed by Baker Academic.

Creation’s renewal

After the Last Judgement and the banishment of the wicked from the world then creation will be renewed.

There will be many signs before the Judgement. Here are some references:

“29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29”

“10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10”

“13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:13”

“1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. Revelation 21:1”

Here we can see very harsh things being said about the world, destruction and fire. Bavinck goes into this a little later on so we will also wait before doing exegesis on Peters text.  On the one hand our Lord says that we will inherit the earth but on the other hand Peter talks about the destructive use of fire on the elements.  There are no contradistinctions although our understanding of the issues have now become rather fuzzy!

Concerning the regeneration of the world there are various standpoints.  As Bavinck writes:

“In this expectation of world renewal, Scripture assumes a position between two extremes. On the one hand, many thinkers—Plato, Aristotle, Xenophanes, Philo, Maimonides, Averroes, Wolanus, La Peyreére, Edelmann, and Czolbe among them— have asserted that this world is destined to continue in its present form forever. On the other hand, Origen, the Lutherans, the Mennonites, the Socinians, Vorstius, the Remonstrants, and a number of Reformed theologians like Beza, Rivetus, Junius, Wollebius, and Prideaux believed that the world would not only be changed in form but also destroyed in substance and replaced by a totally new world.”

Within many Christians there is a popular notion nowadays that this present world will be destroyed (annihilated).  For me this view does not hold any water.  It is interesting that when God put Adam in the Garden of Eden there were two trees.  There is continuity with the Garden of Eden with the tree of life (found in Genesis and Revelations) being mentioned again:

“And he showed me a river of the water of life, [a]clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of [b]the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve [c]kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” 

We can also think about the creation as good.  There is continuation between Genesis and Revelations not complete annihilation.

Bavincks view is that this annihalation is not Scrptural and on the surface the ones that look like complete destruction are not.  He gives us the following references:

“26 “Even they will perish, but You endure;

And all of them will wear out like a garment;

Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. Psalms 102:26”

“4 And all the host of heaven will wear away,

And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;

All their hosts will also wither away

As a leaf withers from the vine,

Or as one withers from the fig tree. Isaiah 34:4”

“6 “Lift up your eyes to the sky,

Then look to the earth beneath;

For the sky will vanish like smoke,

And the earth will wear out like a garment

And its inhabitants will die in like manner;

But My salvation will be forever,

And My righteousness will not wane. Isaiah 51:6”

“16 I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” Isaiah 51:16”

17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;

And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. Isaiah 65:17”

“22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth

Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD,

“So your offspring and your name will endure. Isaiah 66:22”

Concerning the above passages Bavinck says that” In the first place, the description given in these passages is much too rich in imagery for us to infer from them a reduction to nothing (reductio ad nihilum) of the entire world,”(page 716)

These are some important points but then he also takes us into some key Hebrew words and how they ought to be interpreted.

The Hebrew word ‘abad’ the ‘perishing’ of ‘heaven and earth’:

“…the entire world, Further, the perishing (abad) of heaven and earth (Ps. 102:26), is explained by the fact that they will wear out like a garment, be changed like clothing, wither like a leaf, or vanish like smoke (Ps. 102:26; Isa. 34:4; 51:6)”

Bavinck then looks at the verb ‘to create’ ‘bara’:

“’[Bara’]… certainly does not always mean creating something out of nothing but frequently denotes a divine activity by which God brings forth something new from the old (Isa. 41:20; 43:7; 54:16; 57:18).”:

e.g:

“20 That they may see and recognize,

And consider and gain insight as well,

That the hand of the LORD has done this,

And the Holy One of Israel has created it. “Isaiah 41:20

“7 Everyone who is called by My name,

And whom I have created for My glory,

Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” Isaiah 43:7”

“16 “Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals

And brings out a weapon for its work;

And I have created the destroyer to ruin. Isaiah 54:16”

So then he finishes off in the Old Testament by saying bara is used in various contexts such as

• Planting
• Laying foundations
• Making

Before we move in to the New Testament we need to say that there are certain premises we need to remember.  The main Scripture the Apostles and early Christians used was the Old Testament and a lot of the time it was the Septuagint (LXX in Greek).  The Apostles did not have a New Testament at hand to use.  The Apostles interpreted the Old Testament by the help of the Holy Spirit and the reason God had given them. 

To sum up there is continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and this is why in later centuries Marcion was seen as a heretic because he wanted to throw the Old Testament away!  The key word here is ‘continuity’

On page 717 Bavinck goes through some verses that prove:

“Accordingly, with reference to the passing of the present world, we must no more think of a destruction of substance than [we would] with regard to the passing of the earlier world in the flood. Fire burns, cleanses, purifies, but does not destroy.” From page 717

So let us look at some of these references:

18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Matthew 5:18

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. Matthew 24:35

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10

17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:17

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. Revelation 21:1

In verse 11:

A perishing like an old garment

11 THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN;

AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT, Hebrews 1:11

In verse 10 below

• Destroyed = perhaps the word dissolve is a better translation than destroyed:
• Burned as the word ‘up’ is not in the Greek.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10

Note; λύω luō ; a prim. vb.; to loose, to release, to dissolve

Verse 12 below

‘changed’

12 AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;

LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED.

BUT YOU ARE THE SAME,

AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END.” Hebrews 1:12

His conclusions for this section are:

“Only such a renewal of the world, for that matter, accords with what Scripture teaches about redemption. For the latter is never a second, brand-new creation but a re-creation of the existing world. God’s honour consists precisely in the fact that he redeems and renews the same humanity, the same world, the same heaven, and the same earth that have been corrupted and polluted by sin. Just as anyone in Christ is a new creation in whom the old has passed away and everything has become new (2 Cor. 5:17), so also this world passes away in its present form as well, in order out of its womb, at God’s word of power, to give birth and being to a new world. Just as in the case of an individual human being, so at the end of time a rebirth of the world will take place as well (Matt. 19:28). This constitutes a spiritual renewal, not a physical creation” page 717

He has a lot more to say, but “…Still these comments do not do complete justice to the New Testament hope of future blessedness” (page 718)

Reflection

The aim of today was to think about the world we are to inherit as Jesus said.  I am not saying this is the only way to interpret the text, but Bavinck has certainly convinced me that it is.   Even as believers are renewed ‘born again’, the earth itself will be renewed and it is in that new earth that we inherit.   Humanity a lot of the time want to be like God! They are not. Many wars have been fought over the centuries and billions of lives have been lost. Today the theatre (world) in which people live out their personal stories is in danger of destruction. Will we ever learn that:

The way of love is better than the way of pride and selfish motivations. Although humanity is guilty of the greatest sin (Turning their back on God and making themselves to be gods). God did not give up on humanity but even in the garden God gave humans skins to Adam and Eve to wear. Since then God has worked through history and sent his Only Begotten Son to die on a cross as a way to bring salvation to us. The root cause of destruction on this planet is the human race but through Christ this is being rectified.

So, last we found out that the intentions of Matthew and Luke were not the same.  One focused on compassion while the other on holiness.  For the time being I will focus on Matthews Gospel first. 

Reminder and discussion

To remind ourselves again, Matthew started his beatitudes by speaking about the quality of being poor in spirit and those who mourn.  These qualities are qualities that a lot of head strong citizens would reject straight away.  After all who in their right mind would take on these weakling qualities.  Let us reflect on this:

The opposite of poor in spirit is to be full of pride and that one in their own strength without the need for outside help can do very well.  It is true that these sorts of people can become very rich and wealthy but that doesn’t mean that they will be ‘happy’.  To get to the top of the food chain they probably walked over people, knocked them metaphorically speaking out of the way.  This sort of living can have serious detriments to one’s psychological and spiritual health.  As Christians we follow the teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus.  In Christ by the Holy Spirit our minds and reasons for living left this road for a road of love.  Our consciences day by day get better and better until we finally meet our Lord.

From poverty of spirit, we realize that God had to become a man and to die in place of us at the cross.  God the Son who is pure love had to take on human flesh and to die in our stead.  Who is this Trinitarian God?  He is the God that spoke, and the universe was created.  The God who breathed into Adam and made him live.  The God who became Adam’s friend and walked with him in the Garden. 

What did God get in return?

Adam and Eve who turned their backs on this friendship and wanted to take on divine status by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  We as human beings individually and corporately have also sinned.  Yet God in his love for us by the Holy Spirit shows us what our sin did. 

Coming to a place to see how much our actions have hurt Him and his creation in Christ he gives us a second chance and God’s Kingdom is within our reach by His gift of grace by the Holy Spirit!

We mourn because we have seen the destruction and death, we have caused in our own lives but also the destruction caused in the world.  God does not come to us with a punishing road but on the contrary in Christ we have real comfort.

As come closer to God through Christ by the Holy Spirit the scales from our eyes metaphorically speaking fall from our eyes. The next step on this road is humility, gentleness and meekness as Matthew says:

5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

Meekness in the real world can be looked down on as a quality:

“Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. the meek] Psalm 37:11. “But the meek shall inherit the earth.” See note Matthew 5:3. Meekness is mentioned with very faint praise by the greatest of heathen moralists, Aristotle. He calls it “a mean inclining to a defect.” It is indeed essentially a Christian virtue.”  From  https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/5-5.htm

God’s way of seeing this quality is quite different:

3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) Numbers 12:3

This is an absolutely amazing statement but in the context of humility this is what God said about Moses!

“4 Suddenly the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So, the three of them came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said,

“Hear now My words:

If there is a prophet among you,

I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision.

I shall speak with him in a dream.

7 “Not so, with My servant Moses,

He is faithful in all My household;

8 With him I speak mouth to mouth,

Even openly, and not in dark sayings,

And he beholds the form of the LORD.

Why then were you not afraid

To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

9 So the anger of the LORD burned against them, and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous… Numbers 12:4-10”

The world might see humility as a weakness, but God sees humility otherwise.  We can see that our Lord took this saying from the Psalms:

“11 But the humble will inherit the land

And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. Psalms 37:11”

Let us take a definition of Meekness then:

“The quality or state of being meek: a mild, moderate, humble, or submissive quality” From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meekness

On this website someone posted the following:

“While studying scriptures I had been reading in the Bible (KJV) where meekness is a quality of a Christian. I wanted to know how this characteristic fits my person. I understand after reading this definition it aligns with the Bible as the quality of a believer in Jesus. In Ephesians 4 the writer is the apostle Paul speaking to the gentiles about the unity of the spirit of Christ: 4:1-2 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith us are called, With all lowliness and meekness.” The unity of the spirit of Lord Jesus teaches believers to walk in this manner in the spirit of humility, meekness with patience bearing others burdens in love to one another.” From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meekness

When looking at meekness, gentleness, and humility then we see that the context is in ‘love’.  If love as found in the first and second great commands is not the driving force, then it is not the type of meekness that Jesus is speaking about. Meekness has to be grounded in the love of God and our love for each other.

The world probably has counterfeit types of meekness.  There might be a post for a better paying position, so they pretend to be submissive.  once they get into that position perhaps, they start to boss others around with an air that they are better than everyone else.  

Moses was not like that.  He loved his people and on more than one occasion was willing to take God’s judgement on himself to save his people.  He was a prayer warrior.  He wasn’t perfect and sometimes he wasn’t very gentle and in his earlier day he murdered an Egyptian soldier our of rage for what was happening to the Israelites in captivity.  In the long run however, God saw the potential in Moses and made him leader. 

Reflection.

When the Holy Spirit reveals to us our sin it brings us to a place of mourning. God shows us how our wrong doings have hurt God, our neighbour, and the world that we inhabit.

Through this poverty and mourning we can only fall flat on our face before a Holy God, and we are grateful for the love by the Spirit he has poured into our lives.In the eschaton even now, (end times) we enter the kingdom of God.  Now we mourn but, in the eschaton, we will laugh with joy of happiness before our Lord.  We now walk in humility, but the promise is that in the eschaton we will inherit the earth.

To sum up, the believer now and in the eschaton:

• Will enter the kingdom of heaven
• Will be comforted
• Will inherit the world

Why do I speak about the end times?

The reason I speak about the end times is because in the second part of the main beatitudes the tense is ‘future’.  The future is something that hasn’t happened yet but will take place.

I could also speak about ‘what Land’ they will inherit.  Herman Bavinck in his Reformed Dogmatics; Volume 4; around page 719 gives us somethings to think about. However, I will save this for another blog because he goes into a lot of detail, and I have now run out of time.

So then what is your understanding of meekness?

Meekness is a quality that very few people have.  From a world perspective it can be seen as a weak and low quality. 

As Christians we ought to follow the example of Christ.  Jesus was Meek but he certainly was not weak especially when he stood up to the leaders of the time and even turned over tables in the Temple area in Jerusalem.  Meekness is a state of being that God values.  When we stand before a holy God we are standing before Majesty.  As Christians the driving force of meekness was not weakness but rather genuine love for God, his neighbour and dare I say it love of enemies for them too to come to know the Saviour and taste this love.

I have been asking God for wisdom when looking at our Lords teachings.  The SM (SM = Sermon on the Mount) are some of the most profound teachings for living the life of faith.  I was asking my self the question why is the mood and feeling of the SM so different in Matthew and Luke whilst it is the same teaching?

I think that this is a very important question.  The greatest preacher who ever lived was God who became a man in the person of Jesus Christ yet in this recorded sermon by Matthew and Luke, they are so different.  As I was typing and pondering these thought it dawned on me that for example; there can be two people who hear a sermon, but each person will pick something different out of the same sermon and interpret it differently, yet it was the same sermon!

Jesus gave a sermon and there were two people who heard or read about it (Matthew and Luke).  They walked away with different interpretations, but the husk of the sermon is still the same.  This is the main reason I felt it important to try to pick out some salient features from these two Gospels.  When I have completed picking out the salient features I will continue going through the text.

The Salient Features of the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew writes over 111 verses on the Sermon on the mount.  Luke writes about 25 verses and then Luke at the end of his beatitudes adds the woes.  So, the question for me is; What is driving these writers to write so differently on these passages?

I just recently acquired a commentary on Luke’s Gospel by one of my University Lecturers Judith Lieu.  It is the best answer I have found so far as she writes:

“That God is rich in compassion is fundamental to the OT (Ex. 34.6); whereas Leviticus had called for holiness (Lev. 19.2), and Matthew for perfection (Matt. 5.48), in likeness to God, for Luke the divine norm is to be compassionate. This means – v.36 should be taken with vv.37-38 not to judge, or condemn, but to pardon and give in abundance. Again there is no reflection on the certainty that God will judge, nor on the circumstances in which judgment is necessary. These are not maxims to be applied generally without discrimination; they explore what it means to say love your enemies, and, in a world where reciprocity was the norm which bound some together and separated others, explore an alternative model of relationships.” (From the Gospel of Luke; Judith Lieu; page 52 Epworth Commentaries)

As Dr Lieu says Compassion is fundamental to the Old Testament:

6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth; Exodus 34:6

Dr Lieu also quoted Leviticus 19.2:

2 “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Leviticus 19:2

It is interesting that she chose these two passages because I got an email from the Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust in which Rabbi Sacks reminded us of some important things here:

    “Ex. 34:6-7

This passage became known as the “Thirteen Attributes of God’s Mercy.”

The Sages understood this episode as the moment in which God taught Moses, and through him all future generations, how to pray when atoning for sin (Rosh Hashanah 17b). Moses himself used these words with slight variations during the next crisis, that of the spies. Eventually they became the basis of the special prayers known as Selichot, prayers of penitence. It was as if God were binding himself to forgive the penitent in each generation by this self-definition.[1] God is compassionate and lives in love and forgiveness. This is an essential element of Jewish faith.

But there is a caveat. God adds: “Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.” There is a further clause about visiting the sins of the parents upon the children which demands separate attention and is not our subject here. The caveat tells us that there is forgiveness but also punishment. There is compassion but also justice.

Why so? Why must there be justice as well as compassion, punishment as well as forgiveness? The Sages said:

 “When God created the universe, He did so under the attribute of justice, but then saw it could not survive. What did He do? He added compassion to justice and created the world.”

    See Rashi to Genesis 1:1.

This statement prompts the same question. Why did God not abandon justice altogether? Why is forgiveness alone not enough?”

So then compassion and holiness are important things that God is really interested in and from my point of view it shows how these to lines of theology; namely compassion and holiness work together.  So then let us now look at the next two quotes from Dr Lieu:

Matthew says,

48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48

Luke says,

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:36-38

Reflection

So then Rabbi Sacks and Dr Judith Lieu have taught us two important strands found in the Old Testament (The late Rabbi Sacks) and the SM (Judith Lieu).   I have a lot of respect for these two profound teachers of the Bible. Anyhow for me this is a profound and accurate answer for understanding the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and why they seem so different on the surface.  So then perhaps as I continue now in the Sermon on the Mount, we needs to take these differences in our stride and our walk of faith. 

Next time I will return to the Sermon on the Mount and start to inquire with what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ wants us to understand.   

I feel that we are now armed with the keys to the SM.  We will be able to unlock these spiritual truths and grow closer to our Lord and Saviour and also have more compassion for our neighbours no matter what their background, race, religion et al.

I hope that you will follow me on this quest for finding Gods Truths about Himself, the Trinitarian God that we worship.

These three chapters take us to the heart of Jesus teachings, and it is so much more than just ethics and living a good life.   Before we start, I want to look at the structure of these chapters.  The late Graham Stanton in his class notes to us (1993-1994 King’s College London) showed us that Matthew writes 111 verses on the SM (SM = Sermon on the Mount) whereas Luke writes a measly 30 verses. 

Below when looking at the various themes of the SM one can see straight away that Matthews order of the teachings and that of Luke do not follow a chronological order.  You can see this by looking at the verse orders from the notes.  From my my notes on the Harmony of the Gospels I also learned that the Didache (The Teachings of the Apostles) has a very early date (scholarly consensus ad 50 -70!) and this writing seems to know Matthew!

Didache 3. 7 But be meek, since {the meek shall inherit the earth.}

Ancient Christian Writers; volume 6; Translated by

James A Kleist; page 17;   The Didache can also be found at: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-lightfoot.html

However here the reference is 3 12. 

IS THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT RELEVANT FOR THE 1990’s?

1 THE ORIGIN, STRUCTURE AND PURPOSE OF MATTHEW’S SERMON

(i) The SM as the first of 5 impressive discourses:

5-7; 10; 13; 18; (23) 24-25 (NB 26.1)

(ii) Matthew’s SM has 111 verses. Luke has a shorter Sermon in chapter 6

with (30) verses most of which are found in Matthew’s SM.

Luke 6                                    Matthew 5-7

beatitudes                                        20b-23                                  5.3-12

love of enemy                                 27-36                                     5.38-42

golden rule                                       31                                           7.12

not judging                                       37-38                                     7.1-2

splinter and beam                          41-42                                     7.3-5

tree & its fruit                                 43-45                                     7.16-20

Lord, Lord                                         46                                           7.21

house & the storm                         47-49                                     7.24-27

(centurion’s servant)                     7.1-10                                    8.5-13

Matthew has expanded considerably the Sermon from Q – a collection of

sayings of Jesus shared with Luke.

(iii) The structure of Matthew’s SM:

Narrative opening 5.1-2

I Prologue 5.3-16

II Central Sections: 5.17 – 7.12 (law & prophets)

1. Preface 5.17-20

2. 6 antitheses 21-43

3. 3 religious practises and your father’s will 6.1-18 (During prayer and fasting)

4. New attitudes to God (6.19-34) and neighbour (7.1-12)

III Epilogue 7.13-27

Narrative conclusion 7.28-29

NB 7.12 as the climax and the Lord’s prayer 6.9-13 as the centrepiece.

Matthews Purpose:

Is the SM for crowds or disciples?  for Christian believers or for

all?  ethics without Christ? – Son of God

For Matthew the nations are to be ‘discipled’ and taught to observe

the commands of Jesus (28.18-20)

The words of Jesus in the SM are to be heard and obeyed: 7.24-29!

(These notes above were giver by Graham N Stanton in class)

We have touched on some very interesting themes.  The consensus of scholars is that Mark was the earliest (Ad 66-74).  However, we find a reference in the Didache dated at ad 50 -70 quoting Matthews Gospel.  These scholars who honestly have argued for Matthew to be later use the internal logic to come to a mysterious other source that all the Gospels used, namely Q.   This throws a spanner in the works for the Q theory.  I’m not a Q expert but perhaps Stanton was correct to hold to Matthew being the earliest Gospel.  If it is the earliest or not the earliest doesn’t really matter because it is Scripture (God’s word in written form)

Lets move on:

From the above image you can already see that there are stylistic differences to how the beatitudes were presented in both Matthew and Luke.  Luke builds a picture of what the scene was like before Jesus started to teach his disciples (The writing in white).  Whereas Matthew was more interested in the content of the teachings (colourful writing).

When we look at the pronouns in the two Gospels you can also see stylistic differences.  They both put the pronouns in the plural, but Matthew preferred the third person plural pronouns and Luke preferred the second person plural pronouns.  

It seems to be that Luke focused on the nuts and bolts of the teachings of the beatitudes and wanted to make these teachings more personal.  Matthew however is giving us the nuts, bolts, roof and side paneling of the Gospel.

GOING DEEPER

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Matthew 5:3

“…Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Luke 6:20b

Here we see a difference in style, but they are saying the same thing.  Here in Matthew Jesus’ teachings are more formal and emphasises the psychological (in spirit).  A new attitude has to start from within a person’s mind and soul.  God has to bring the realization of the kingdom of God to the mind and heart of the person.

Luke is saying the same way but in a more informal way for perhaps those who do not have any rabbinic background (the commoner, the poor.). Luke write,” you who are poor”. 

We are all different in our temperaments.  There are those who are book worms but there are also those who are more feeling full and emotional. In God’s Kingdom the Gospel is open to every type of person no matter who or what they are.  We need to come to a realization that before God we are sinners and that we cannot help ourselves.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Luke 6:21

The order between Matthew and Luke have now changed.   In Matthew the ‘hungering comes after the mourning’.  So here we are focusing on:

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4

“…Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh”. Luke 6:21b

These notes didn’t really tell me a lot, but Vine said Matthew uses the more general word for mourning whereas Luke uses a stronger word weeping (for the dead). From expository Dictionary of Bible Words; W E Vine; page 87

Then we also have the other two words, comforted and laughing.

I kind of agree with Judith Lieu that Luke’s Gospel is more interested in the socio impact of Luke’s teachings.   We have only looked at these two verses, but we can already see differences in style.  From the Gospel of Luke; Judith Lieu; pages 51-52; Epworth press

Reflection

As disciples of Jesus, we need to pray and meditate on his words.  The beautiful thing that we have seen is that Matthew is giving us a deeper incite into the new attitudes that are found in the Gospel.  Luke is saying the same thing, but he is interested in the nitty gritty of the everyday life of the follower of Christ.

When we think about poverty, the reality of poverty is that it brings the person in it to a point of helplessness.  Poverty means there isn’t enough food on the table.  It means that one cannot go on holiday and have the ‘best things life has to offer’.  Poverty in that sense is a type of prison that stops people from reaching their dreams.  An effect of poverty is to indeed crush the spirit.  Both Matthew and Luke are correct on how they look at the poor.

Luke is also correct because God has commanded his church to care for the poor and the orphan, the needy whoever they are. Compassion and mercy are an integral part of Jesus teachings. As James reminds us the outflow of our faith ought to some how show in the real world (fruit of the Spirit).  When I was reading Herman Bavinck in his reformed Ethics, he said that the root is faith, and the fruit are works. 

We have all sinned before God and we all need to find forgiveness for our sins.  We cannot save ourselves but, in these verses, we see Jesus giving us a blue print for some core new beautiful attitudes through the act of repentance that can bring us into a true and liberating life through obedience, by the Holy Spirit into the Kingdom of God.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Notes KCL lessons from Graham N Stanton

• Didache 3. 7 But be meek, since {the meek shall inherit the earth.}

• Ancient Christian Writers; volume 6; Translated by James A Kleist
• The Didache can also be found at: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-lightfoot.html
• However here the reference is 3 12. 

• Expository Dictionary of Bible Words; W E Vine; page 87

• Gospel of Luke; Judith Lieu; pages 51-52; Epworth press

Notes

Notes on mourning and weeping from Olive Tree

Matthew Gospel

g3996. πενθέω pentheō; from 3997; to grieve (the feeling or the act): — mourn, (be-)wail.

AV (10) – mourn 7, wail 2, bewail 1;

to mourn to mourn for, lament one

Lukes Gospel

g2799. κλαίω klaiō; of uncertain affinity; to sob, i.e. wail aloud (whereas 1145 is rather to cry silently): — bewail, weep.

AV (40) – weep 39, bewail 1;

to mourn, weep, lament weeping as the sign of pain and grief for the thing signified (i.e. for the pain and grief) of those who mourn for the dead

to weep for, mourn for, bewail, oneNotes

Matthews Gospel

g3870. παρακαλέω parakaleō; from 3844 and 2564; to call near, i.e. invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation or consolation): — beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, (give) exhort(-ation), intreat, pray.

Luke’s Gospel

g1070. γελάω gelaō; of uncertain affinity; to laugh (as a sign of joy or satisfaction): — laugh.

AV (2) – laugh 2;

to laugh

Why did the Sermon on the Mount take place?

What led to the Sermon on the Mount for it to take place?

What was the feeling within the Jewish communities in Galilee?

These are important questions before we move into the greatest sermon ever preached. It is the greatest sermon because in it are the words of life from Christ himself. Remember that the Apostles only gave witness to Christ, the One who can take away the sins of the world; The true Lamb of God that takes away our sins. This is the One who spoke these words of life or death.

In the middle of a foreign powers occupation of Galilee something big was going to take place something much bigger than anything in world history.  This event had started, and a part of this event would mean great Rome would crumble and fall as Daniel had prophesied.  In the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament indeed there had been many deliverers such as Moses, the Judges even the Maccabees but these deliverances did not last.  In the past deliverances a lot of the time had been at the edge of the sword.  How would this time of God’s visitation be any different?

You may have watched in the past some Jesus films and perhaps they try to show the Galileans craving and cramming to see Jesus.  This is partly true.  Even today one sees rock stars getting lots of adoration, but I have to say it is not the same!

• First of all, a rock star cannot save you!
• Secondly Jesus preaching brought about a spiritual awakening to the truths of Holy Scripture. 

Here before the Jewish nation and Gentile nations was the Messiah and the expectations of salvation would be turned upside down and inside out.  There was a time in world history that Jewish and Gentile Christians were brothers and sisters but by the time of Justin Martyr there was hostility between the Church and the Jewish community.  We know this because St Paul raised money in Corinth and the local churches and sent the money to Jerusalem to help the Jewish Believers there. 

These are important questions.  It is wrong and a great sin to hate Jews which culminated in the Holocaust.  The root of hate towards the Jews can be traced all the way back to Martin Luther and it ended with Adolf Hitler:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_and_antisemitism

As Christians we must remember that Jesus in his humanity was Jewish.  We must remember that Jesus taught us to love our neighbour no matter who they are (enemies or friends!).

Let’s begin by looking at Marks Gospel:

35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. 36 Simon and his companions searched for Him; 37 they found Him, and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” 38 He *said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” 39 And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons. Mark 1:35-39

Mark

35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

Here we see that Jesus had a mission from God.  When he got up early in the morning it was still dark.  While everyone was still sleeping, He was praying and communing with God the Father.  Luke says ‘when day came’ but he didn’t go into any details.

36 Simon and his companions searched for Him;

Peter and his companions couldn’t find Jesus straight away!  Obviously, he disappeared while they were still asleep. 

37 they found Him, and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”

What an anti-climax!  ‘Everyone is searching for you’.  ‘Everyone’ means the crowds.  They were hungry for God’s word.  Jesus’ preaching was different because it touched the core of the human being, their person-hood, their soul.

38 He *said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

Here it says may preach. The word ‘may’, isn’t found but the use of ‘hina = ‘in order that’ and the ‘I may preach’ is in the subjunctive form. 

Luke’s version has a stronger intention.  He uses ‘δέω= bound’.  It is much stronger. 

https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/deo

Stylistically there is a difference, but the meaning is the same.  Jesus has a purpose from the mandate of heaven ‘for that is what I came for.’ 

The mandate from heaven was for Jesus to preach that the kingdom of heaven was here now, live on earth, die on a cross, be resurrected and open the doors of salvation to the whole world through and in him.  This mandate started from a backwater of the Roman Empire and the world would never be the same again. 

39 And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons. Mark 1:35-39

Galilee was actually according to Josephus a very productive area.  It has a large lake that has a record of being a freshwater lake below sea level (the lowest in the world!).  There were cities and towns on both side of the lake and I can imagine Jesus jumping in boats and crisscrossing the lake on a regular basis preaching the Gospel. 

While doing this ministry of preaching his Apostles were learning how to preach.   The rest of the New Testament is an explication of these teachings that have now changed the world.

REFLECTION

Let us walk in love towards everyone.  Every human being including those who lost their life through abortion were created in the image of God.  Love can take on various forms, but it ought to show respect towards the other person no matter who they are.  This can be difficult at times as some people pull away from society and do atrocious acts.  We can still show love and follow Jesus’ example by praying for them that God’s will, God’s kingdom could also break into them and change them inside out by the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus was a man who was driven by the mandate of heaven.  He was preaching in those cities because out of these cities many people would repent and become children of God.  2000 years later and here we are still preaching the same Gospel Jesus taught.  Jesus was special because while he walked this earth, he was like a mirror that showed people exactly what they were.  They came face to face with their sins.  It is by grace that we are saved.  We cannot save ourselves.  We are helpless.  How helpless is the human race?  The human race is completely helpless before a holy God and God started this plan from the time of the Fall of the earliest human beings found in Genesis. 

Next time as we go through the Sermon on the Mount you will face a mirror that shows you your true self.  My friends we have all turned away from God.  As we look at the sermon on the mount we will be faced by the true ugliness of sin.  We will also be faced with the opportunity to follow Christ into the celestial city. 

Jesus moving away from his hometown and into Galilee part 1

Like Moses our Lord had to go through a Wilderness experience only to come out of it in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The world would never be the same again and the gates of salvation would be opened up to the whole world.  This world-shaking event would not happen through the use of swords, siege engines, political intrigues et al.  No my friends it was going to happen through the prince of peace.  In other words, this world changing event would happen through God’s love for his creation.  This world changing event would happen through humility, even to the point of our Master dying on a cross.  Let us read about the beginnings of this ministry even before the first disciples were called.

Matthew:  Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; Matthew 4:12

Mark: Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15

Luke: And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding districts. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. Luke 4:14-15

John:   After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast. John 4:43-45

After the tests that our Lord went through it is recorded that Jesus went into Galilee.  We have the same story in all four Gospels, but they used different verbs for the movement of Jesus.  This is very interesting because by following these various emphases we get a better picture of the intention of Christ:

• In Matthew Jesus ‘withdrew’ into Galilee   This emphasizes is on sadness of Jesus (John’s arrest)
• In Mark Jesus ‘came’ into Galilee   This emphasizes Jesus coming into Galilee, and we have a perfect tense in ‘fulfilled’.
• In Luke Jesus ‘returned’ to Galilee in the Power of the Spirit.  This seems to emphasis that Jesus has been in Galilee before but this time it was different.  Having been through baptism and the tests Jesus was in Galilee to do God’s work, and nothing was going to get in the way of this divine plan.
• In John Jesus ‘went forth’ into Galilee: Seeing himself as having a prophetic role even as John had. He was received in this region as a full-fledged Prophet. 

This is a very important event as it is recorded by all for Gospel Writers.    Although Jesus being human like the rest of us.  He felt sad that John had been arrested.  John knew that when Jesus came his ministry was going to take a back seat.  Jesus this time came to Galilee in fulfillment of what God had said to previous prophets of the Old Testament.  This time was different Jesus came in the power of the Holy Spirit and this meant that God’s kingdom was now ushered in through the work, life, death, and resurrection of the promised Messiah.    Jesus was on fire for God’s will to be done and he preached everywhere. 

In our spiritual walk with God perhaps we too have very large decisions to make.  We need to follow the example of Christ.  We ought to seek out more time to pray in quiet places listening to the voice of God and to find out what his will is for our lives.  However, God has given us guiding principles we ought to stay in:

• Love God
• Love our neighbour
• Live by faith by God’s grace and trust him in everything.  For some people they are looking for the ‘Mission Impossible’. 

It may be that you are a person searching out God’s will.  You may have been called to do mission impossible, but you may have also been called to be faithful in your local church and do boring things like putting chairs out.   We all have a place in God’s will.  If you have confessed Jesus as your Lord and you are faithful, it means you are already in Gods will.  In God’s will through Christ, we can ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in the direction he wants us to go.  Some of us have faced martyrdom for the faith others of us will be called to put chairs out on a Sunday.  In the household of God, we are both in the will of God.   Don’t fret too much about the future as Jesus said you are better dressed than the lilies of the field!

Reflection

In this story we see that Jesus made ‘the big decision’.  He would never live in Nazareth again.  By the Lake of Galilee and from the surrounding area Jesus would call his seventy disciples and his 12 Apostles.  The next three years these chosen boys would become men of God and by the Holy Spirit the world would never be the same again.  Some would live a long life such as John, but others would have a quick execution under the corrupt despots around that area.  Jesus knew the heart of the Father.  Jesus’ face would be set like flint to Jerusalem and death on a cross. We know this to be the case for the heart of the Gospel points to death on a cross and the resurrection.