Related:
EPIC Culture: Are You Immigrant or Native?:
- the "modern" and "Gutenberg" world (RRWI=Rational, Representative. Word-Based, Individual)as Sweet summarizes it)
- -the "postmodern' and "Google" world (EPIC=Experiential, Participatory, Image-Driven
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KINGDOM:.. OF GOD/heaven:L
- not realm, but reign
- not place , but person
- not race, but grace
- not just "then and there," but 'here and now" (Matt. 4:17, 6:10)
We noted that (unlike which side of the road is "right" in England!), the 'direction" in which the Kingdom originates is "both ways": from the future, and from the past.
Many Jews of Jesus' day (and actually, the Greeks) thought of the Kingdom of God as largely a future identity/reality/location.
So when Jesus, in Matthew 4:17 announces that he, as King, is ALREADY bringing in the Kingdom,
The Jews talked often about "this age" (earth/now) and "the age to come." (heaven/future).
"Age to come" was used in a way that it was virtually synonymous with "The Kingdom."
Scripture suggests that:
The "age to come" (the Kingdom)
has in large part already come (from the future/heaven)
into "this age"
(in the present/on the earth
by means of the earthy ministry of Jesus: King of the Kingdom.
Thus, Hebrews 6:1-5 offers that disciples ("tamidim") of Jesus have
"already (in this age) tasted the powers of the age to come."
In Jesus, in large part, the age to come has come.
The Future has visited the present,
Here are some articles that may help:
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BUT FOR THE JEWS, WHEN DID THE KINGDOM (IN A SENSE) "BEGIN"?:
In light of (and in spite of ) everything we just said there also WAS a sense in which the Jews believed that --in a limited but vital way--- the Kingdom had begun on earth.. at a specific Old Testament time and place... and worked "forwards" from there.
Thus today's video field trip..
Today's video on The Exodus and the "Dance Party on the Beach" is not online in any form (though you can buy it as episode 5 on this DVD). The points to remember are how this was the seminal/foundational/formative microcosmic event of (perhaps all) Scripture, in that:
1)It presents a pattern and prototype of any deliverance from bondage/slavery; and every "way out" (Ex-Odus)
from an old way/world to a new way/world. We had some good discussion about "in-between times" in our lives that we recognized (maybe only in retrospect) as pivotal and formative. Crossing the sea is often meant to call to mind crossing a barrier (remember the Jordan River video from Week One) into a while new world, creation or order; from allegiance to forbidden gods to The One God. Jesus is seen in Matthew as the New Moses in that just as Moses led God's people out of bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Pharoah) and an empire that infected them (Egypt), so Jesus leads God;s people out of spiritual bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Herod) and an empire that infected them (Rome). This is a classic intertexting/hyperlinking/parallelism.
2)It is really the first time God's people are formed/forged into a community; they have "been through stuff together" and are inevitably bonded and changed through a corporate experience. Thus:
3)Also, remember the Jewish tradition that the Kingdom of God functionally, and for all practical purposes began (or landed in a foundational way on earth) when God's people there on the beach danced and sang, "The Lord is reigning" ( Exodus 15:18 )...remembering that "reigning" could be translated "King" or "Reigner". Thus, God's Kingship "began" when God's people publicly recognized it after seeing God in action in dramatic way as King. Vander Laan: "The Kingdom begins when God acts"
...Exodus 15:18:
- "The Lord is reigning from this point onward."
- "The Lord is King from this point onward."
>>This all lead to our topic for tonight:
"Guidelines for Community"...After crossing the Red Sea, Israel went on to receive the
10 Commandments..
which we'll introduce with a video we didn't show in class: Colbert (interviewing a congressman about the Ten Commandments), which
"Guidelines for Community"...After crossing the Red Sea, Israel went on to receive the
10 Commandments..
 |
turns out to have several helpful serious points about the "literary world" of the topic Here it is:
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | ||||
and the "question of the day"..
Off the top of your head, list words and ideas that come to mind when you think of the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt Sinai.
Then scroll down for the question..
Was "wedding" on your list?
.....or "love"?
What does all this have to do with a wedding?
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AS A WEDDING:
The two Ray VanderLaan videos on Mount Sinai were new, so there are no online versions of them yet.. excerpt for this great excerpt of the trip up the mountain. Remember "And Moses went up to God"? and "Go back down and get Aaron"?
Faith Lessons | Volume 9: Fire on the Mountain from the image group on Vimeo.
Backstory:
'In this episode, we went to greater extremes than ever before to capture this footage: a 6,000 foot climb, 10 hours of hiking, several camels, over 100 bottles of water, 3 HD cameras and 30+ crew and audience."
The two episodes are on this DVD.
The second one dealt with the many"historical world" hyperlinks from Ten Commandments to wedding.
How do you connect that theme to last week's theme from five chapters
earlier in Exodus (remember Moses and the Israelites were formed into a community by crossing the Red Sea and the 'dance party on the beach")
How do you connect that theme to last week's theme from five chapters
earlier in Exodus (remember Moses and the Israelites were formed into a community by crossing the Red Sea and the 'dance party on the beach") 
Too bad the video is not online, but most of the study guide IS..
see pp.197-251 here
THANKFULLY, though, here are (by popular demand) the wedding videos of the Laughing Bride... these actually apply to our "historical world" conversation comparing the giving of the commandments to a wedding imagery:
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Longer version, see especially 1:15-2:11 for some laugh attacks we didn't show in class
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and if Jesus is a NEW MOSES of sorts, then we should look at
SERMON ON THE MOUNT (another mountain)..
Why did Jesus go to a mountain? Why did he sit down to teach? Do you remember the "teaching, preaching, healing" inclusio of 4: and 9;23)?
We did some good "literary work, " finding INCLUSIO in the beatitudes:
note the first and last beatitudes(only) of chapter 5 end
with a promise of the kingdom of heaven, implying that the other promises in between "being filled," "inherit the earth," "be comforted" all have to do with Kingdomness.
Here's a clip we didn't show suggesting Chiasm shows up there as well.. You'll get a lick out of this guy's style:
Discussion on how Jesus was interpreting/reinterpreting the law of Moses/Torah(Matt 5:17-48).
Some would suggest that he is using the rabbi's technique of "Building a fence around the TORAH."
For example, if you are tempted to overeat, one strategy would be to build a literal fence around the refrigerator...or the equivalent: don't keep snacks around.
See
Why did Jesus go to a mountain? Why did he sit down to teach? Do you remember the "teaching, preaching, healing" inclusio of 4: and 9;23)?
We did some good "literary work, " finding INCLUSIO in the beatitudes:
note the first and last beatitudes(only) of chapter 5 end
with a promise of the kingdom of heaven, implying that the other promises in between "being filled," "inherit the earth," "be comforted" all have to do with Kingdomness.
Here's a clip we didn't show suggesting Chiasm shows up there as well.. You'll get a lick out of this guy's style:
Discussion on how Jesus was interpreting/reinterpreting the law of Moses/Torah(Matt 5:17-48).
Some would suggest that he is using the rabbi's technique of "Building a fence around the TORAH."
See
Some wonder of this is what Jesus is doing here. See:
Jesus' Antitheses - Could they be his attempt to build a fence around the Torah?
A Fence Around the Law
Greg Camp and Laura Roberts write:
In each of the five examples, Jesus begins by citing an existing commandment. His following statement may be translated as either "And I say to you... " or as "But I say to you ...” The first option shows Jesus' comments to be in keeping with the commandments, therefore his words will be an expansion or commentary on the law. This is good, standard rabbinic technique. He is offering his authoritative interpretation, or amplification, to God's torah, as rabbis would do after reading the torah aloud in the synagogue. The second translation puts Jesus in tension with the law, or at least with the contemporary interpretations that were being offered. Jesus is being established as an authoritative teacher who stands in the same rabbinic tradition of other rabbis, but is being portrayed as qualitatively superior to their legal reasoning.
After citing a law Jesus then proceeds to amplify, or "build a hedge" around the law. This was a common practice of commenting on how to put a law into practice or on how to take steps to avoid breaking the law. The idea was that if you built a safe wall of auxiliary laws around the central law, then you would have ample warning before you ever came close to breaking the central law. A modern example might be that if you were trying to diet you would need to exercise more and eat less. In order to make sure that that happened you might dispose of all fats and sweets in the house so as not to be tempted. Additionally, you might begin to carry other types of snacks or drink with you so as to have a substitute if temptation came around, and so forth. In the first example of not killing, Jesus builds a hedge that involves not being angry and not using certain types of language about others. One of the difficulties is that it becomes very difficult not to break his hedges. This might drive his hearers to believe that he is a hyper-Pharisee. Some interpreters have wanted to argue that Jesus does this in order to drive us to grace—except grace is never mentioned in this context. This is a wrong-headed approach to get out of the clear message that Jesus is proclaiming: you must have a transformed life. By building his hedges, Jesus is really getting to the heart of what the law was about. In the first example, the intent is not just to get people not to kill each other (though that is a good thing to avoid), rather it is there to promote a different attitude about how to live together. Taken together, the 10 Words (Commandments) and the other laws which follow in Exodus-Numbers paint a picture of a people who will look out for one another rather than just avoiding doing injury to one another. This becomes clear in Jesus’ solution at the end of the first example. The solution is not to throw yourself on grace or to become paralyzed by fear, but to seek right relations with the other person. There seems to be an implicit acknowledgment that problems will arise. The solution is to seek the best for the other person and for the relationship. This is the heart of the law. The problem with the law is that it can only keep you from sin, but it cannot make you do good. The rabbi Hillel said “what is hateful to you, do not do to others.” In 7:12, Jesus provides his own interpretation “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.” He changes the saying from refraining from sin, to actively doing good. The thesis statement in 5:20 is “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This then is how to exceed, or go beyond the law. In each of the five examples, the way to exceed the law is to make the relationship right.
Instead of drawing a new line in the sand that you are not supposed to cross before you are considered guilty, Jesus, confirms that the center is "love your neighbor" and then just draws an arrow (vector) and tells you to go do it. There is never a point at which you are able to finally fulfill the commandment to love. You can never say that you have loved enough. In the gospel of Matthew, the supreme example of this is Jesus' own life and death. His obedience and love knew no boundaries. --by Greg Camp and Laura Roberts
Ted Grimsrud, in your "God's Healing Stragegy" text suggests:
Ted Grimsrud, in your "God's Healing Stragegy" text suggests:
"A better way [as opposed to legalistically egislating morality] to approach [the commandments] would be to ask first, 'What does this commandment teach us about God?'...Hence, the point of the commandments is not establishing absolute, impersonal, even coercive rules which must never be violated. The point rather is that a loving God desires ongoing relationships of care and respect....Paul's interpretation of the Law in Romans 13 makes clear the deepest meaning of the law not as rule-following, but as being open to God's love and finding ways to express that love towards others: 'The commandments..are summed up in this word, Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (pp. 33-34)
Here is the :contemporary world" example we used of 'building a fence around the law:
Ever noticed the CHIASM Jesus uses to comment on the litmus test for law-keeping, the SABBATH? "The Sabbath was made for humans,
not humans for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27)...(Shhhhh!! Extra credit if next week in class, you interrupt me in class, and say, "Hey, there is a really cool chiasm in Mark: The Sabbath was made for humans, not humans for the Sabbath")
I'll never forget taking the elevator from our towering Jerusalem hotel room down to the lobby for breakfast one Saturday.
Not only could I not push the lobby button,
but the elevator stopped automatically on every floor.
I wondered if I would make it down for lunch.
When I ordered, I realized that the waitress was not writing down any orders;
even the most complicated ones.
Writing was "work" on the sabbath,
as was pushing elevator buttons.
Thus, the "sabbath elevator"
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Homework Help:
see adjusted homework on syllabus tab at top.
Be sure you do both parts of the One Great Person assignment: the survey (you can do it on Facebook, but do your best to get a variety of friends) and the one--page response.
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