Medicine Hat Joe

Week 25  Mark 15

One of the few places in the NT where the word courage is used comes right after the crucifixion when Joseph of Arimathea gathered up courage to ask for Jesus’ body so he could bury it. Some versions say that Joseph:
• boldly went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body (quite a few use bold)
• dared to approach Pilate
• was brave enough to go to Pilate.
I looked up ‘courage’ in the dictionary. Sure enough – one of the synonyms of courage is boldness. Implying daring or fearlessness. Maybe even brashness. Which I’m not sure Joseph was. I prefer courage. Joseph:
• took courage and went to Pilate
• gathered up courage
• took his courage in both hands.
Mark called Joseph a prominent member of the Council, who was…waiting for the kingdom of God
Matthew: a rich man from Arimathea…who (had) become a disciple of Jesus
Luke: a member of the Council, a good and righteous man
And John: a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews.
Going to Jesus’ executioner was a hazard for Joseph and he’d likely have done some serious risk assessment. There’d be the possibility of guilt-by-association. Sticky questions to answer. Suspicions to deal with. Getting shut down. Reputation to lose.
So maybe Joseph’s life wasn’t on-the-line. But going to Pilate still took courage since Joseph had to gather-up-his-courage to do it.

Note: quotes from Mark 15:43 (NASB & CSB CEB ERV ESV LSB & NTFE). Joseph: Mark 15:43 Matthew 27:57 Luke 23:50 John 19:38 (NASB)

Week 25  Matthew 9

In my bible the expression ‘take courage’ is only used a few times in the gospels – and about half of them come when Jesus was talking to physically incapacitated people:
• the paralyzed man
• the hemorrhaging woman
• Bartimaeus the blind man
The three cases seemed pretty hopeless but even so the people made a last-ditch attempt at recovery. It might have been a sort of grasping-at-straws initiative but to me it looks like some courage was being shown. Still…Jesus told them: take courage.
There’s a range of courages on the Courage Scale running from Elite Courage (being super-brave or heroic) all the along to Workaday Courage (pluck or grit or determination). So some courages show a higher degree of courage than others. But all courages decide against cowardice. Against timidity or fearfulness or indecision.
Courage is acting even when my chances are looking pretty bleak or chancy. The niggling prompt to go out-on-a-limb when it’s safer to stay put. A trade-off: safety or uncertainty? Courage shifts me away from inertia. Cajoles and pushes me to step into the Taking Action Zone.
Staying in the Not Taking Action Zone means I don’t have to overcome any fear – so a convincing argument can be made for staying out of the Taking Action Zone. On the other hand if I don’t take-my-courage-in-hand I might – down the line – end up regretting that I gave up too easily.

Note: the three healings are in Matthew 9:1 22 & Mark 10:49

Week 25 Matthew 9

When (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
People were feeling harassed and helpless. Other versions use different words: bewildered. Distressed. Dejected. Troubled. Downcast. Hurting & discouraged. Weary & worn out. Miserable. Confused & aimless.
The Lord recognized that his audience – generally=speaking – was mentally & emotionally down. Feeling like they’d lost their way.
What’s pretty interesting to me is that on the one side Jesus was instantly resolving a lot of physical-medical problems people were suffering. Right there in chapter nine Jesus:
• healed the hemorrhaging woman
• resuscitated the synagogue official’s daughter
• restored sight to two blind men
• exorcised a demon-possessed man.
So when it came to physical maladies Jesus was healing every disease and sickness – and doing it on-the-spot.
But there was also this persistent & across-the-board (and maybe not-so-obvious) condition of low-level depressive melancholy. People feeling the castaway blues. And – a bit surprisingly – that’s not something Jesus healed. When it came to that nagging feeling of scattered helplessness it was more like a person had to listen to what Jesus said and ask himself: is this going to help me find my way home?
On the physical decrepitude side Jesus took action.
But when it came to conditions of the heart a person listening to Jesus had to do some of his own thinking & deciding & acting.

Note: quotes from Matthew 9:36 (NIV and AMPC CSB CEB NASB EXB HCSB Philips MSG). Healings: Matthew 9:20-22 18-25 27-30 32-33. Matthew 9:35 (NIV)

Week 24  Matthew 9

When a paralyzed man was brought to Jesus the first words out of the Lord’s mouth were: take courage. Other versions say things like don’t worry. Or take heart. One says cheer up (which seems weak). Another one says be strong (buck up!).
Courage isn’t mentioned very often in the bible – about 15 times each in the NT and the OT. The very first time the expression “take courage” is used was when Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant into battle. The Philistine soldiers were a bit spooked at first so their leaders shouted: take courage and be men. And that’s how the expression is used fairly often. That prompt to Have-Courage works as a reminder. Take courage or be strong is a kind of “You Can Do It!” catalyst.
Courage needs to be coaxed out when there’s risk. Or danger. Or chance of failure. Or fear. When I’m thinking that no action is the easiest route. When I get that giving-up-because-it’s-hopeless feeling. I already know – theoretically – about courage but I lapse into non-courageous mode. So I need a reminder: ‘don’t chicken-out’.
Courage is dialing-up my internal propellant so I can face up to whatever cowardliness that needs facing up to. Courage doesn’t make my fear disappear. But it nudges me forward instead of letting me give up or run away.

Note: quotes from Matthew 9:2 (NASB CEV NIV GW Orthodox Jewish Bible) 1 Samuel 4:9 (NASB)

Week 24  Matthew 5

I’ve been thinking about a couple of significant differences between Matthew’s beatitudes and Luke’s.
Matthew said two kinds of people who would be blessed were:
a) people who were poor-in-spirit and
b) people who were hungry-&-thirsty-for-righteousness.
Luke said that the people who would be blessed were:
a) people who were poor and
b) people who were hungry-&-thirsty.
With Matthew the blessings hinge on what’s going on inside me – in my spirit & my mind. But with Luke it’s different. With Luke it looks like if I’m poor I’m automatically blessed. Am I malnourished? I’m blessed. Marginalized? Blessed. Underprivileged? Blessed. Below the Poverty Line? Blessed. With Luke my economic-financial state determines whether I’m blessed (not whether I’m impoverished-in-spirit or hungry-for-righteousness).
Personally I don’t think Luke – or the Lord – thought that. A bit later in his sermon Jesus says: a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. So there’s more to it than my economic circumstances.
Maybe Luke figured people could put two-and-two together. Maybe his subtext was: “you can be blessed despite being poor”. But I have serious doubts that he was saying ‘you’ll be blessed because you’re poor”.
It’s good to have Matthew in the back-of-my-mind when I’m reading Luke 6. Luke’s beatitudes – in isolation – could lead me down-a-garden-path.

Note: quote from Luke 6:45 (NIV)

Week 24  Matthew 5

Matthew’s Sermon-on-the-Mount is cross-referenced to a different sermon that’s recorded in Luke. Matthew’s sermon is given up on the mountain whereas in Luke Jesus went down…and stood on a level place. So they’re two sermons given in two geographic locations. But the similarity is that both of them announce what we call ‘beatitudes’ – blessings that people will get.
Matthew records eight blessings. Luke has four.
Two of Luke’s four are very similar to Matthew’s:
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted
• Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
And:
• Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
• Blessed are you when people hate you…and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
But the other two blessings – even though they’re similar-sounding – are quite different:
• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
• Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God
And:
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled
• Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
So Matthew & Luke are saying two different things here:
Being poor-in-spirit is different from being materially & financially poor.
Being hungry-for-righteousness is different from being physically hungry.

Note: quotes from Matthew 5:1 & Luke 6:17. And comparisons from Matthew 5:4 & Luke 6:21. Matthew 5:10 & Luke 6:22. Matthew 5:3 & Luke 6:20. Matthew 5:6 & Luke 6:21 (NIV)

 

Week 23  Matthew 5

Jesus began his long Sermon-on-the-Mount (it’s got more than a hundred verses) with eight (what are called) beatitudes. They’re called beatitudes because each one of them starts with the phrase blessed are…
Each beatitude has the same formula: if I’m experiencing or living-out (what I’ll call) Quality Z then a) I am blessed and b) I’ll get some added outcome or benefit connected with Quality Z. So for example: if I have the Quality of Being a Peacemaker then a) I’m blessed and b) I get to be classified as being a son of God.
Jesus’ promise that I’ll be beatitude-ed when I start reorganizing my behaviour along his lines – so for instance if I start having more mercy for other people – is something to shoot for. Being beatitude-ed means that I’ll be blessed. That I’ll be shifting more into a state of personal well-being or gladness or happiness (most bible versions used the expression blessed are but a few use happy (for instance happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs).
Personally I think being blessed is the main thing since (I’m guessing) blessedness / happiness is an immediate state. Whereas the timing of the other supplemental outcomes is indefinite. It might take quite a while before I get to be comforted. Before I inherit the earth. Before I see God. These sound like longer-range outcomes.

Note: the Beatitudes are in Matthew 5:3-12. Quotes are from Matthew 5:9 (NASB) 5:3 (CEB) 5:4 5 & 8 (NASB)

 

Week 23  Matthew 4

Right after his conversation with John the Baptist and right after his debate with the devil these are the first words that Jesus said as he began publicly preaching & teaching: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (another version says here comes the kingdom of heaven).
I did a rough-count and saw that Matthew used the expression the kingdom of heaven more than 30 times. One of the interesting things I also spotted when I checked my wordbook was that Mark & Luke never used kingdom of heaven. But both of them consistently used kingdom of God.
I wonder what’s going on with the writers using these different expressions. There’s likely some technical explanation to account for it. But when I’ve read the gospels before my sense has been that kingdom of God is roughly equivalent to kingdom of heaven. For instance when Jesus begins his teaching Matthew said that he said: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In my bible there’s a cross-referenced verse to Luke that says: blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. So even if it isn’t the exact same event being reported my impression is that kingdom of God & kingdom of heaven are interchangeable.

Note: quotes from Matthew 4:17 (ESV & CEB) Matthew 5:3 & Luke 6:20 (NIV). Matthew does use kingdom of God a couple of times and in 19:23-24 he uses kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God back-to-back (in NASB)

Week 21  Matthew 3

Jesus’ baptism was different from everyone else’s.
Jesus didn’t need to a) repent for his wrongs or b) confess his sin or c) change his behaviour. He told John his reason: it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.
I checked a few other versions. Most agree with the expression fulfill all righteousness. The phrase is a bit vague. Other versions use expressions like do everything righteousness requires or do all things that are right or do all things that are God’s will. But they don’t make things perfectly clear either.
And that first phrase – it is proper – is a bit hazy too:
It is fitting
It becomes us
It is right.
I know that on the one hand there are things that are mandatory – they’re crystal-clear. For instance in Alberta I’m currently not allowed to murder my neighbour. It’s non-negotiable – doesn’t  say it’s not suitable or fitting or appropriate to kill. Language like that isn’t strong enough. Softer language is for softer mandates.
And that’s why the flexible & less-pressured language used by the Lord makes baptism sound more like a recommendation than a command. It’s as though Jesus’ baptism was a good thing…but not absolutely required. Even so Jesus said that by getting baptized he was (in some way) completing or topping-up righteousness. Baptism was a good thing to do. So he went ahead with it.

Note: quote from Matthew 3:15 (NIV & CJB DRA ICB NCV ESV KJV NET)

Week 21  Psalm 49

No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them – the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough – so that they should live on forever and not see decay.
I notice the dash at the beginning of verse-8 and another at the end so I realize that verse-8 is an idea inserted between 7 & 9. Something related & useful. But something that breaks-up the flow. Something distracting & not technically necessary.
I get rid of verse-8:
No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them…so that they should live on forever and not see decay.
I get rid of verse-8 in a couple of other versions:
No one can by any means redeem another or give God a ransom for him…that he might live on eternally, that he might not undergo decay
(Money) cannot redeem a person or pay his ransom to God…so that he may live forever and not see the Pit.
I think 7 & 9 make better sense when they’re run-together – it’s what I’d do if I was writing the psalm (of course after verse-9 I’d add verse-8: that’s because the ransom for a life is costly, and no payment is ever enough).
But either way I don’t get to write psalm 49. I just get to read it. So it’s on me to make whatever mental adjustments I need to make for mental clarification’s sake.

Note: quotes from Psalm 49:7-9 (NIV NASB CSB)