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Most of you opted to skip the quiz Friday, and do a "mission" instead.
See the "what's on the quiz/mission" tab at top of page for those options
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Reminder: for some assignments, you can do a video alternative.
A couple examples from previous years here below
below.
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Shane Claiborne: author of JESUS FOR PRESIDENT:
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I loved your answers about concerts with a dramatic intro.
I will post some examples here later.
Think of The Sermon on the Mount (Or in Luke the inaugural sermon in ch 4,)
as Jesus announcing his candidacy/platform
- President/
- Emperor
- King
- Son of God
- Messiah
And be prepared to explain why he didn't begin his campaign with one.. Remember hos "Spinal Tap" failed to make their grand entrance:
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TITLES:
We haven't looked much at the "titles" of Jesus yet. See Hauer and Young pages 251ff.
And we note that some of these titles really kick in soon /: Son of Man and Son of God
particularly. It would seem" obvious that these two titles are
opposite in meaning: Jesus as human and God, respectively....but a study
of the literary/historical world reveals that "Son of Man" was often
used as a messianic connotations (and in a sense could mean "God" or "Son of God"..see especially Daniel 7:
rwemember hiow we learned SON OF GOD in the Old Testament often meant
God's people (corporately)..see Hosea 11:1-3 ot the King (Psalm 2:12). How can both also link to Jesus?
Check out this chart ,and note re: each title:
God's people (corporately)..see Hosea 11:1-3 ot the King (Psalm 2:12). How can both also link to Jesus?
Check out this chart ,and note re: each title:
- where in the gospel
- how often
- and on whose lips
- where they cluster
- inclusios etc.
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| click chart(and then click again once on a new page) to enlarge |
-Son of God (7x..or 8, if you count 3:17)
-Son of the Living God (once, hmm)
-Son of Man (29x.....and all by one person!)
-Son of David (9x)
To get more info on the titles, and a sense of how they are used in other biblical books, see this.
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Speaking of titles, how about titles for people??
) "With one stroke, Jesus erases titles".."Titles are foreign to the Body of Christ. UPSIDE 226-229)
See:
Pastors in Kraybill's tradition (Mennonite) have not been historically comfortable with
any title, really (and going way back, salaried pastors).. St. Paul (oops, Paul, the saint) didn't seem to be either. We call him "The Apostle Paul," but though he was entitled to, he never called himself that: "Paul (comma), an apostle."
see:
>>>oh, and we showed some of these videos on related topics (Note: the one you're all looking for is the 3rd one!!)
we didn't show this one:
So what's my name??
DISCUSSION STARTER:
"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,'" Jesus said.
"For you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
And do not call anyone on earth 'Father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
Nor are you to be called 'Teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. -Matt 23:7-12
.. In the old days, this had to be accomplished by means of respectful titles like "Rev." But nowadays, in these egalitarian times, the attitude of spiritual conceit has had to be a a little more creative,and a pastor shows his prowess in humility by asking people to call him "Joe". Behind the scenes, he is a fierce, hard-driving CEO,and reads those CEO magazines, and acts like a CEO on airplanes, right down to ogling the flight attendant in first class. But out in front of the congregation, sitting on that stool, fitted out in a Mr. Rogers cardigan, he is open, transparent,and shares the struggles of his heart--the struggles of a simple guy...named Joe. He is about as deep as a wet spot on the pavement."
-Douglas Wilson,A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking (read entire book here)...p. 36
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More:
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Remember the question on Mondays fun quiz...Answer the interesting question posted on my Facebook "Questions" by Friday class
Probably best to answer HERE on Facebook, but you can also answer in the comments below the this blog post..
Which is the greater sin?
To tell a lie?
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To lose your temper?
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We;ll talk about this Friday
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Why did I think it was interesting which yearbook you chose Monday..
and what does that have to do with this?
After you saw my high school grad photo...
We learned, by looking at a couple of photos of me from my :lost years that NO ONE had cooler hair than me in the 70s and 80s:
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Before you watch these videos (just pick two or three), fill in the blank:
"The main message of the gospel is___________"
"Jesus' main teaching is ______________."
"The cemtral teaching of Jesus is____________"
Did you say KINGDOM in response to the questions above?
Jesus defines the gospel as "the gospel of the Kingdom" in Matthew 24:14
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The Body of Christ (church) is interconnected, interdependent,
not an aggregate, but a collectivity (Kraybill, pp.18-19, UDK, Be familiar with these two terms QUIZ fRIDAY for the midterm)
>>Matthew 12: 46-50: While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
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"The Kingdom of God is a collectivity--a network of persons....more than a series of
individualized email connections linking the King to each subject...[It] infuses the web of relationships, binding King and citizens togeter" -Kraybill (p, 19 emphases mine)
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Remember how the concept of KINGDOM is to Matthew's gospel.
So whatever the Sermon on the Mount is about, it's about the KINGDOM..
We even see it structurally:
KINGDOM
Reading Matthew 4:17 and 16:21 jelps us see how central the Kingdom is.
Nazareth sermon:
Note: since, strangely, Matthew does not include Jesus's inaugural sermon at Nazareth, mission statement
take a look at it below. What do you learn about Jesus core message, and the Kingdom?
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted[a] by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “Since you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’[b]” 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’[c]” 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “Since you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[d]” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[e]” 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth:
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[g] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit, and Heals Many
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
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what did JesUS leave out when he quoted the OT?
Why?
See
What did ALL THE 4 PARTIES HAVE IN COMMON (Upside Down, p. 67)?
How does this help you see the huge risk Jesus took in using KINGDOM and KING terminology
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SERMON ON THE MOUNT:
In light of our discussion Monday on the 6 case studies, what do you think about this sign's mottp, the flag (and bad typo):
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In Matthew 5:
- Who is Jesus addressing in the sermon?
- Who is at risk of hell?
- Who is promised heaven?
Does Jesus expect us to literally pluck out our eyes to avoid a literal hell?
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Reading any passage/pericope/unit...particularly when assigned a Three Worlds project.
ASK:What literary genre(s) do you seem to detect?
If you are reading a gospel, this is important: remember how we defined "gospel": "history/biography but with a TTP" What is the targeted theological purpose of the writer and the overall book (For Matthew, you might suggest something like "Jesus is presented as the new Moses" etc. Do you seen any change of gebre/sub-genre: are the sections in the text that are poetry, discourse, satire, apocalyptic.
can genre change midstream in a document, book, paragraph..even sentence..
A Valentines poem I wrote in high school Spanish class delighted my teacher with it's Poe-like twist:
Toma mi corazon, mi queridaHaz esto, y me causa alegriaToma mi corazon, mi queridaCompleto con sangre y arteria.
It may not translate well...you know what EP says, and BB says , about translation...but here goes. She read the first three lines aloud for the class, with all the exaggerated romantic flourish
they deserved:
Take my heart, my loveDo this, and cause me great joyTake my heart, my love..
And the final (punch)line with it's non-sequitur shock:
Complete with blood and artery.
Could it be there is more satire/spoof/subversion in the Bible than we have realized?
Debate:
- "Do you take the Bible literally?"
- "Yes, I do, I take it "literally according to genre".. and sometimes genre calls me to take it metaphorically"--------------
Did Jesus mean Matthew 5:30 literally?
Did Paul mean Galatians 5:12 literally?
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Read page 64 about the
WATERSHED
difference bewteen Pharisees and Sadducees.
Be prepared to explain how this makes sense of the "building a fnse around teh law" discussion we had Monday
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Compare and contrast the two versions of the Lord's Prayer:
Matthew 6:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a] but deliver us from the evil one.
Luke 11:
“‘Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]’”
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What have you learned about comparing two accounts?:
- Two creation accounts
- Two versions of Ten Commandments
- Two baptism/temptation accounts
- Two versions of the beatitudes
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Discuss/debate this from Peter H. Davids:
Your Kingdom Come
I pray the Lord’s Prayer frequently, for, after all, Jesus said it was the way to pray. So I pray it in church on Sunday, daily in Morning and Evening Prayer, and at other times as well. I focus on it, rejoice in it, and reflect upon it (I also sometimes expand it). It is easy to see that it is quite different than the usual extemporaneous prayers that I hear, for at least the first half is not about me or even about us, but is a collective all to “our Father” to establish his rule, his Kingdom. This, of course, builds on Jesus’ announcement of God’s rule as his basic good-news message (Mark 1:14 and parallels). I also use as a “prayer word” the single Aramaic term, Maranatha, a call to Jesus, “our Lord,” to “come.” He is God’s Anointed One (which is what we say when we use the transliterated term “Christ”) and he is to return a rule this world. The word is a prayer for him to do just that It is a term that in one form or another Paul uses and Revelation uses. It was the prayer of the early followers of Jesus.
Yet it struck me the other day as I was walking around the ponds at HBU and praying as I walked, that I was in effect praying for the dissolution of the United States of America (and other countries as well, of course, but I live in a particular location in the USA). I was, in 1 Peter’s terms, an undocumented immigrant, a foreigner, and unregistered alien, since I am re-born into a different nation that that of my natural birth (the USA), I am reborn into the people of God, the priestly kingdom, that inherits the promises of Exod 19:6. And I am a foreigner who is a subversive, for I am actively praying for the dissolution of the USA. I am asking for a king to come and to openly set up his monarchy. I am asking for God’s rule to be established, not the sovereignty and empire of the USA. I am in fact praying Thy Will Be Done: Praying the Our Father as a Subversive Activity. An I am doing that in an election year, when Jesus is not standing for election (although all presidential and vice presidential candidates say that they are his followers) – nor would he, since he is a God-appointed (or God-annointed) king. And I am doing that, not in a crowd somewhere chanting slogans for charging police barricades, but walking around some ponds, all by myself praying, or standing in church and proclaiming Jesus as king, or leading liturgy in which the Lord’s Pray is embedded, or sitting in my study at home and praying Morning Prayer.
Apparently Jesus thinks that there is more power in such prayer and such proclamation than in the combined powers of the all of the world’s armies, for, he says, it will succeed. And some day someone will be praying that prayer or chanting maranatha and he will indeed come. -Peter H. Davids
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"First" implies one would seek something second, third, etc. But he says "seek...the Kingdom, and all these things [food, clothes etc] will be added to you." Not: "seek the Kingdom, and then you can seek food , clothes." No, "all these things" are given you, without you seeking them at all. They are a by-product of seeking the one thing.
To seek them..even sincerely; even secondly... would be idolatry.
"Purity of heart," Kierkegaard said, "is to will one thing."
Christianity is seeking one thing: the Kingdom thing.
How often have you seen it suggested (here in the West, of course, that our priority list should follow this order:
God>family>church etc etc.
Give it up. Get your priorities right, and ditch the priority list.
Read Joel Green (below) carefully and carefully; and then check out Matthew 6 all over again:
When Jesus calls on would-be disciples to "seek first the Kingdom," is he thinking of a list of priorities with "my relationship with God" at the head? In fact, a closer reading of this part of the Sermon on the Mount may indicate that putting God at the top of our list of priorities is precisely what we must never do.Here is how FPU professor Tim Geddert pictures it:
Some may take offense at this suggestion. After all, they may say, look at the passage! Doesn't Matthew 6:25-24 teach just this order of priorities? Doesn't it say, "Don't put food and drink first; don't put clothing concerns first; rather, out the Kingdom of God first'?" On the basis of this passage, should we not say that "seeking first God's kingdom" must occupy the top spot on our list of priorities? Is this not what Jesus is teaching?"
Maybe be can get closer to the meaning of this passage if we paraphrase Matthew 6:33 differently. Consider these alternatives: "Let the Kingdom of God be at the center of your life...not at the top."
"Let the Kingdom of God set the standards for your life." "Let the kingdom of God determine how you live, how you work, how you communicate, how you play." These alternative readings make good on the fact that the Greek word often translated "first" in this context, proton, is used in the gospels not only to denote "the first in a series," but also "that upon which everything hinges."
In other words, do not put the Kingdom of God first on your priority list; rather, let the Kingdom of God determine your priority list! [emphasis mine]
In order to measure our response to Jesus' message in Matthew 6:33, we must ask more than, have I prayed today, or have I read the Bible today? As important as those spiritual disciplines are, they are not the heart of Jesus' message here. We must go further, deeper. We must begin to ask: What had God's kingdom to do with the job I am doing? The way I drive? The church I attend? The friends I have? How I relate to my next-door neighbor. And so on. -Joel Green, The Kingdom of God: It's Meaning and Mandate, pp. 68-69 (review and summary here)
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Thoughts inspired by the excerpt of "Resident Aliens":
Ethically speaking, it should interest us that, in beginning the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, Jesus does not ask disciples to do anything. The Beatitudes are in the indicative, not the imperative, mood. First we are told what God has done before anything is suggested about what we are to do.
Imagine a sermon that begins: "Blessed are you poor. Blessed are those of you who are hungry. Blessed are those of you who are unemployed. Blessed are those going through marital separation. Blessed are those who are terminally ill."
The congregation does a double take. What is this? In the kingdom of the world, if you are unemployed, people treat you as if you have some sort of social disease. In the world's kingdom, terminally ill people become an embarrassment to our health-care system, people to be put away, out of sight. How can they be blessed?
The preacher responds, "I'm sorry. I should have been more clear. I am not talking about the way of the world's kingdom. I am talking about God's kingdom. In God's kingdom, the poor are royalty, the sick are blessed. I was trying to get you to see something other than that to which you have become accustomed." The Sermon rests on the theological assumption that if the preacher can first enable us to see whom God blesses, we shall be well on the road to blessedness ourselves. We can only act within a world we can see. Vision is the necessary prerequisite for ethics...The Sermon is eschatological. Matthew 4:22-12 sets the context for the Sermon...
The eschatological context helps explain why the Sermon begins not by telling us what to do, but by helping us to see. We can only act within that world which we see. So the primary ethical question is not, What ought I now to do? but rather, How does the world really look? The most interesting question about the Sermon is not, Is this a practical way to live in the world? but rather, Is this really the way the world is? What is “practical” is related to what is real. If the world is a society in which only the strong, the independent, the detached, the liberated, and the successful are blessed, then we act accordingly. However, if the world is really a place where God blesses the poor, the hungry, and the persecuted for righteousness’ sake, then we must act in accordance with reality or else appear bafflingly out of step with the way things are. -Hauerwaus and Willimon, Resident Aliens, pp, 84-88
Richard Rohr:
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says there are three basic obstacles to the coming of the Kingdom. These are the three P’s: power, prestige and possessions. Nine-tenths of his teaching can be aligned under one of those three categories.
I’m all for sexual morality, but Jesus does not say that’s the issue. In fact, he says the prostitutes are getting into the Kingdom of God before some of us who have made bedfellows with power, prestige and possessions (see Matthew 21:31-32). Those three numb the heart and deaden the spirit, says Jesus.
Read Luke’s Gospel. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Read Matthew’s Gospel and tell me if Jesus is not saying that power, prestige and possessions are the barriers to truth and are the barriers to the Kingdom.
I’m not pointing to Church leadership, I’m pointing to us as the Church. The Church has been comfortable with power, prestige and possessions for centuries and has not called that heresy. You can’t see your own sin.
(Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p.18, day 16
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..it's also good to know that here are so many chiasms/chiastic structures in Matthew (particularly the Sermon on the Mount) that some people contarct another deadly disease called CHIASMANIA: seeing chiasms everywhere, even where they aren't..(note I said that in a chiasm..kinda). For a chiasm to be genuine, it should be clear in the original language of the text.
see:
Toward a Chiastic Understanding of the Gospel According to Matthew, Part 1
Chiasm in the Beatitudes? Check this crazy video:
See also:
Chiastic Structuring in the Sermon on the Mount
Have a Chiasm Contest and see which party can identify the most chiasms in these scriptures
(watch our for versitis and chasmania)
PHARISEES:
3:11-12
3:14
4:4
SADDUCEES:
5:1
5:45
5:27-28
5:1
5:45
5:27-28
ZEALOTS:
7:1
7:6
7:18
ESSENES:7:1
7:6
7:18
10:16
10:40
11:5
11:28
Now, focus on the ones from the Sermon on Mount (The Sadducee and Zealots lists). Since chiasm intends to highlight certain points, what might these points teach about the message of the sermon?
lists),
H
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