Beginning of Matthew

[Rob McNair]

I am glad to be done with the prophets and on to something else. Although I must say that I never really picked up before that the main thrust of anger from the prophets is directed at the religious leaders and their responsibility in leading people astray. That is a new understanding I picked up on and is re-enforced in Matthew 5:19 where Jesus says, "Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven..." Here again a prophet is singling our the teachers as the ones in jeopardy should they lead people astray.

I found it interesting that in Chapter 1 that Jesus' geneology is traced through Joseph, who is obviously not the biological father of Jesus. I have read that some early Christians believed Joseph was the biological father and that Jesus didn't have any sort of divinity until he was baptized and the Spirit came upon him. This is one reason why the creeds were developed, to solidify exactly what Christians believed.

In Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the laws or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished." Makes me think of the end of John were it reads (in the KJV): "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." We need to remember that we are now free from the law, that the law is no longer in effect as all has been accomplished and fulfilled through Jesus. Strange that Jesus talks about fulfilling the law and then proceeds to radically alter the law, bringing it to impossible heights. His sermon on the mount is filled with him saying "You have heard it said...but I say to you..." For example, no longer are the physical acts of murder and adultery the benchmarks of sin. Sin is now defined as having even hate and lust in your heart! Even if you don't act on your ill intentions, you are still a sinner. Anything but love is unacceptable. Jesus himself whittles the law down to two commands: love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

[Tracy Bieger]

This is reminds me of a time I got a double spanking as a child. One, for going on the dock without a grown up, and the second, for coaxing my younger sister to come with me.

[Amber Kalina]

Bippity, boppity, boo. Is it magic that I'm back on after months?

I find it ironic that I read a passage in Jeremiah (yes I'm WAY far behind) that talked about how God thought about some profets. He said that it is not good to come out and say "Hey, guess what God told me?" becasue this is like saying "I know everything since I'm in cahoots with the Almighty." Nobody can ever know all the answers.

I'm reading this book by Rob Bell called "Velvet Elvis" and he talks about how it is good to ask questions in order to get in touch with our faith. It is when we don't ask questions that we have a problem because we think we know it all. We will never be able to know all about God, cause otherwise we'd be God.

[Rob McNair]

When I was a kid I used to get these "choose your own adventure books" where you would read to a certain point and then if you wanted a character to do one thing you'd turn to page 14 but if you wanted them to do another thing you'd turn to page 45. So that way you got to decide how the story would proceed. So the story could always be something different. The Bible is kind of like that. The more I read and try to understand the more it changes. It is never the same. There is always something new you discover. You go deeper and deeper and it never seems to end. So in that way you will never come to know it all or fully understand it all.

[Amber Kalina]

It's funny. Rob Bell addressed that, too. :) This is directly from the book, so I'll remember to site the source afterward.

"It's (the word) like a pool that you dive into, and you start swimming toward the bottom, and soon you discover that no matter how hard and fast you swim downward, the pool keeps getting... deeper. The bottom will always be out of reach. One of the great "theologians of our time, Sean Penn, put it this way: 'When everything gets answered, it's fake. The mystery is the truth.'"
"Velvet Elvis: Repairing the Christain Faith."Rob Bell.2001.International Book Society. Pg 33.

:)