Advice and Early Matthew

So far I've learned that it's important to:

1. remember the name of the blog when people ask me.  I may have to change the name; and
2. remember what my sign-in and password are. 

Sigh.  This retirement thing is harder than I thought.  On to Matthew!

Today I want to point out the identical statements of John the Baptist and Jesus at the start of their respective ministries.

It might help to read the sections I'm talking about -- Mt 3: 1-12, emphasis on his opening statement, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (RSV)  Instead of "at hand," other versions say "close at hand" (Jerusalem Bible); "is upon you" (New English Bible): "is near" (NIV).

If you read the following verses you get a pretty clear picture of John as what we would call a hellfire and damnation preacher.  His was a baptism for the repentance of sins (vs 6), the confession of such a requirement for the baptism.  This is consistent with the Jewish rite of baptism.  It was not uncommon to be baptized many times.  It was one part of the ritual of being cleansed from some infraction of the Torah (Law -- capital "L") that had caused one to become unclean.  For instance, anyone handling blood became ritually unclean, including butchers and women at the end of their menstrual cycle, anyone who had commerce with "unclean people" -- lepers or gentiles.

John seems to have a more focused baptism than the one in the Torah.  John's baptism requires only confession as adequate to receive this rite of cleansing as an outward sign of having "repented" of specific sins.  (To repent means to turn.)

John's message is harsh.  He predicts a harsh Messiah who will clean house -- sweep the chaff from the threshing floor and burn it with unquenchable fire.

Now take a look at Matthew 4:12-17 with emphasis on vs 12.  Here is Jesus making his mission statement.  It is identical to John's!  "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is [near, upon you, at hand, etc.]."

I believe that these identical statements lay the groundwork for the ministry of Jesus as it follows in Matthew's gospel.  By repeating verbatim the cry of John Jesus is doing one of two things:

1. He is saying that John was right and people better get right with God or be left behind.  (Hum, that sorta sounds like an infamous book series by a fundamentalist novelist.)  If you read into the Sermon on the Mount -- Chapters 5-7 -- you can certainly make an argument for this premise.  Jesus spends most of the sermon systematically stripping away anyway pretense his listeners have to righteousness or the ability to keep the Law that God demands.  I think that in order to draw this conclusion you have to read the Sermon on the Mount by skipping over the Beatitudes -- Jesus opening lines of the sermon, Mt 5:1-12.  I don't hold to this first interpretation.
2. Jesus is saying that he may be starting where John left off, but his presence brings with it a new age that has not been seen in the old interpretation of righteousness and relationship with God.  My reasoning is based on taking apart his saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is upon you."  I like that reading - all are appropriate translations of the Greek.  It is further based on the opening of the Sermon on the Mount.

John says, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is upon you," and is saying, "and this Kingdom bringer is going to clean house, so you better shape up."

Jesus says (and I take apart the sentence) "Repent -- turn from what burdens you -- not only sin, but the burden of being unable to bear the demands of the Law and turn to ME -- for the Kingdom of Heaven is upon you."  What Jesus is saying is, "The Kingdom of Heaven is all around you where I am.  I am the bringer of the Kingdom.  To be near me, to listen to me, to be touched by me, is to be in the Kingdom."  I hear him saying, "Turn to me, turn away from that which is of darkness, for where I am there is where the Kingdom of Heaven is."

The next step is to compare my interpretation to the Sermon on the Mount. 

Maybe I'll leave that for the next post -- it's past 6:30 p.m. and I haven't had dinner yet.

I suggest that you read through the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) -- ponder them.  As you read each, try to picture in your mind what the condition that Jesus poses is.  What does it mean to be "poor in spirit?"  I welcome your comments on this.   Pick out your fav of the Beatitudes and post it.  We'll talk about this well known section of Scripture as the key to understanding the rest of what Jesus lays out in the Sermon in the next post.

Pax vobiscum!