Medicine Hat Joe

Week 37  Mark 14

Right near the end of Mark’s gospel Jesus said it would have been better for that man if he had not been born. As it turned out that man was Judas.
I got to wondering about how many people there are – that’ve ever been – that you could say that about.
Of course you’d not likely see it spelled out on a gravestone. You’d never see:
Joe Smith
1940 – 2005
Better If He’d Never Been Born
There are accepted rules about commemoratives and one of the common ones is: An Epitaph Should Be Nice. But here in Mark Jesus was concerned with accuracy (not necessarily nicety).
Anyway Judas was born and grew up and he got his chance at life & living.
I tend to think that Judas had a leg-up on most other people. He was in the Lord’s inner circle – one of the twelve really fortunate guys who got to spend more time with the Lord than anyone else. But even though from all external appearances he was solidly part of the in-group he somehow managed to stay on the outside-looking-in. He was resistant to the unusual & spectacular things he saw.
Walking on water?
A boy’s lunch feeding 5000 people?
A dead girl coming back to life?
None of it seemed to matter to Judas. Water-off-a-duck’s-back. He was immune to Jesus.
So in the end his life made no difference one-way-or-the-other. He might as well have not been born.

Note: quote from Mark 14:24 (ESV)

Week 36  Matthew 22

Jesus tells a fairly long & fairly detailed two-part kingdom-of-heaven parable about a king who invited people to a wedding feast: the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son…
This parable – and parables like it – create a bit of a problem for me because a) I prefer parables that are short and don’t have too many moving parts and b) I prefer parables that Jesus explains afterward (which takes the guesswork out of the story).
In the parable of the wedding feast I have to dope out several things: the king. The feast. The slaves. The guests. Murder of the slaves. Revenge on the guests. The second invitation. A menagerie of guests. The wedding-crasher guy who gets thrown out.
I could go in a couple of directions with all these. But for now I’m sticking with just three elements (and what I think they mean):
1. The wedding feast = the kingdom-of-heaven
2. The invitation = an invitation into the kingdom-of-heaven
3. People who decline the invitation = people who decline the kingdom-of-heaven.
The one Big Thing in the parable is that a lot of people are invited into the kingdom but quite a few decide they have better things to do. I think that’s why the parable ends with: many are called, but few are chosen.
The kingdom-of-heaven invitation list started out pretty large. But there were a lot of no-shows. So the celebration is smaller than expected.

Note: quotes from Matthew 22:1 14 (ESV)

Week 36  Matthew 20

Another one of Matthew’s long parables begins: the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers
for his vineyard. It’s the story about a work-crew that – even though some of them worked all day long and others just worked the last hour – all got the same pay.
The employer’s payment schedule for work hours is the weird element in the parable. It looked like this:
12-hours work: 1 denarius
6-hours work: 1 denarius
1-hour work: 1 denarius
That would never fly in modern labour practice. So it’s easy to side with the disgruntled 12-Hour Guys. Their problem was that the 1-Hour Guys only worked one hour and had not borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
But the employer’s reply left the 12-Hour Guys without a leg-to-stand-on: friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? So there it is: the 12-Hour Guys had agreed to work for a denarius. And they got what they’d agreed to.
I think two basic ideas about the kingdom show up here. First is that the King gets to make the decisions in his kingdom. Second is that part of my getting acclimatized to life in the kingdom is to a) focus (pretty exclusively) on my own action & performance and b) not get my shirt-in-a-knot over the King’s decisions about anybody else.

Note: quotes from Matthew 20:1 16 17 (ESV)

Week 36  Matthew 18

I found four longer & more complex parables in Matthew. They’re all at least 13-verses and tell stories that are a bit more detailed than the six short parables in chapter 13. But each one says something about the kingdom-of-heaven. This one starts:
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants…” It’s the story about the servant who had his huge debt cancelled by the king. It’s a pretty interesting parable. The guy had dug himself into a debt-hole so deep that he’d never climb out of it. Situation: absolutely hopeless. But in an act of self-degradation – of fawningly hangdogishly begging-for-mercy – he was miraculously forgiven and given a clean-slate by the king.
So I’ve identified one feature of the kingdom-of-heaven. I personalize it this way: I owe the king of the kingdom a fortune that I can never ever repay. But if I come to him and admit my sorry state…then he might cut me some slack. Might clear my debt.
Being in the kingdom is being debt-free. The only think a debtor can do to get debt-free is admit how impossibly large his debt-load is and appeal to the king. That’s it. Plead for mercy. Hope the king writes-it-off.

Note: quote from Matthew 18:23 (ESV). The second-half of the parable – the sequel – is a disturbing reversal for the servant. It looks like an exoneree doesn’t necessarily become an exonerator.

Week 36  Matthew 13

I found six parables that specifically talked about Matthew’s kingdom-of-heaven. Even though there were six different parables it looked to me like they really only said three things about the kingdom-of-heaven. So I re-arranged the six into three groups of two.
The first two begin by saying that the kingdom-of-heaven:
may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field 
is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
The second two said that the kingdom-of-heaven:
is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field
is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.
The third two said that the kingdom-of-heaven:
is like treasure hidden in a field
is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.
So I think the six parables are making three Big Points. They are that:
1. the kingdom-of-heaven is operating alongside – or parallel to – what I’d call the kingdom-of-earth. Both of them are chugging along doing what they do. But eventually a distinction & separation will be made between them.
2. the kingdom-of-heaven will start out small but will not stay small – it will expand & grow.
3. the kingdom-of-heaven is a high value site so it’s worth putting effort into getting there.

Note: three of Matthew’s parables are in 13:24-33 and the other three are in 13:44-50. Quotes are from Matthew 13:24 47 31 33 44 45 (ESV). End-of-month reading tally: 80% completed.

 

Week 35  Matthew

I found three things Matthew said about the kingdom-of-heaven.
First thing: the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John & Jesus both said it and it’s what Jesus told the disciples to say.
So at that point-in-time – when Jesus was in human form and walking around Israel – the kingdom-of-heaven hadn’t arrived yet.
Second thing: the kingdom-of-heaven was not totally inclusive.
Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven
Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven
Only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees…You shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
So not everybody would be getting into the kingdom.
Third thing: Matthew gave a couple of examples of the kind of people who would get into the kingdom:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
…the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will get in.
So there were some identifiable qualities & actions in people who would get into the kingdom.

Note: quotes from Matthew 3:2 4:17 10:7 (some versions say has come near) 5:20 7:21 18:3 19:23 23:13 5:3 10 & 7:21 (again) (ESV)

 

Week 35  Matthew 3

I’ve been mulling-over Matthew’s phrase the kingdom-of-heaven. I don’t remember it being a common OT expression but I figure I’d better check my word book.
I found the word “kingdom” used about 160 times in the OT and so then I rechecked those 160. Now I was searching for kingdom-of-heaven (and kingdom-of-God). Here’s what I found:
a) most “kingdoms-of” were kingdoms-of-people. Kingdom of Sihon. Kingdom of Saul. Of David. Of Rehoboam. Of Persia.
b) the kingdom of the Lord was used a couple of times in Chronicles (but it seemed to refer to the political kingdom of Israel).
c) Psalm 145 was pretty interesting: they shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power…Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
d) Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that: the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed…It shall stand forever. Daniel also said God’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Later he told Darius (and Belshazzar) that the Lord’s kingdom shall never be destroyed.
So anyway the reason I looked for kingdom-of-heaven / kingdom-of-God in the OT was pretty straightforward. When first-century people heard John or Jesus use those expressions they seemed to know what they were talking about. I just figured they knew from the OT. But what I found today was that even though the OT did tell them something it didn’t tell them much. Comprehensive information from the OT about the kingdom-of-heaven was pretty thin-on-the-ground.

Note: see 1 Chronicles 28:5 & 2 Chronicles 13:8. Quotes from Psalm 145:11-13 Daniel 2:44 4:3 & 34 6:26 & 7:14 (ESV)

Week 35  Matthew 3

Matthew uses the phrase kingdom-of-heaven fairly frequently and a question I have is: what’s the kingdom-of-heaven?
I know that I can try answering that by reading through the gospel of Matthew. But what I’m wondering about today is what kingdom-of-heaven meant to a regular guy in the audience who was listening to John or Jesus talking about it.
Matthew says that John the Baptist would stand there out in the wilderness with a crowd of people listening to him and he’d say: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I wonder about what a guy thought when he heard that the kingdom-of-heaven was at hand?
He could think one of two things. He could think: “I know the kingdom-of-heaven is coming…but what I didn’t realize was that it’s right-around-the-corner!” Or else he could think something more like I think: “What’s John talking about? What-in-the-world is the kingdom-of-heaven?”
In order for the guy to think the first thing he’d have to already have some notion about what the kingdom-of-heaven was. If the kingdom-of-heaven wasn’t a (commonly) known thing then John would be talking gibberish. But people didn’t ask: “what’s the kingdom-of-heaven?” It’s like they already knew.
So two things I’d like to know are 1) what did people already know and 2) how (exactly) did they know it?
(To search that up I think I might need to do a quick review of the OT.)

Note: quote from Matthew 3:2 (NASB)

Week 35  Matthew 3

The first words that John the Baptist said in Matthew were: the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I checked my word book and found 34 times where Matthew used that expression – kingdom-of-heaven. It’s hard to know for sure if that’s a lot. It’s something like 1.2 times per-chapter on average. Which seems fairly frequent.
I checked Mark. He didn’t use kingdom-of-heaven at all. But he sometimes used kingdom-of-God.
Luke didn’t use kingdom-of-heaven either. But he used kingdom-of-God numerous times.
John used kingdom-of-God three times. He didn’t use kingdom-of-heaven at all.
So I know now that Matthew (and only Matthew) used the expression kingdom-of-heaven.
It’s hard to know if this is useful info to have. It might come in handy at some point.
But I do wonder a) why Matthew liked that term so much and b) what exactly he meant by it and c) whether his kingdom-of-heaven meant more-or-less the same as Mark Luke & John’s kingdom-of-God.
I don’t have time to check those questions right now. One thing I think I will do is to temporarily run with my hunch that the kingdom-of-heaven is approximately equivalent to the kingdom-of-God. But that’s a hunch I’d need to test. So I’ll be looking for data that confirms whether the two kingdoms are either identical (or similar) or else two totally different places.

Note: quote from Matthew 3:2 (NASB)

Week 35  Matthew 2

When the Three Wise Men came looking for Jesus King Herod called in the Jewish leaders and asked them: where is the Christ to be born? The bible I’m reading has a margin-note that says that the title the Christ is the same as  the Messiah.
I check the name ‘Messiah’ in a word book. It’s only used four times in the bible (twice by Daniel & twice by John). I flip over to John’s gospel.
Andrew went and told Peter: we have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ). Of course Andrew only said the we have found the Messiah part. John added the brackets to help readers know these are two names for the same person. (My bible adds a note saying that in Greek Christ means ‘the Anointed One’). So it looks like ‘the Messiah’ & ‘the Christ’ & ‘the Anointed One’ can be used interchangeably.
John uses ‘Messiah’ again in Jesus’ conversation at the well in Samaria. The woman says: I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ). John again adds the bracketed note that ‘the Messiah’ is ‘the Christ’. Almost all the other versions use that same formula: the Messiah (who is called Christ). (One version did throw-a-curve by saying: I know that the Anointed One is coming, who is being called ‘the Messiah’.)
But I’m on safe ground saying that the Messiah = the Christ = the Anointed One. Three transferable names…same person.

Note: quotes from Matthew 2:4 John 1:41 (NASB) & 4:25 (NASB & ISV)