It’s been awhile since I last visited my question,
Who Are You God…Really?
Most of my available time has gone to studying rather than writing.
But, this journey is long.
If I don’t stop and get my thoughts out they may get lost along the way.
Previously, I’ve been here, here, and here.
I’ve discovered that God enjoys being with and in the Cosmos.
God seems to have fun getting dirt under the Divine fingernails and
making stuff.
And, God likes to make stuff with others.
I found that Jesus called some others to follow him so that he could make them
into something that they were not.
They were fisher-people. Not, People-Fishers.
Those are what Jesus wanted them to become.
How did Jesus think that he would do this?
The writer of Matthew wrote down his ideas about that.
Jesus gathered his disciples and, like Moses before him, went up to the Mountain.
What mountain? And, why there?
The answer to the first question has been asked and speculated about ever since
the Church began. And, for the sake of brevity I’ll just say that no one knows for sure.
It’s a question that will not be answered because it may not have an answer.
“Whoa, Mike! Are you saying that Matthew was just making up this mountain story?”
Well, yeah, maybe.
There could very well have been an actual event that took place where Jesus talked to
his disciples on some mountain. In fact, considering the terrain where they lived, it was probable.
But, that’s not important to Matthew or this particular story.
Mountains have been the location for divine interaction in many cultures over the ages.
Just considering the Hebrew Scriptures, mountains are the places where deities dwell.
They are considered closer to Heaven because of their height. Check out the story of Babel.
Why were people building a great tower? To get closer to Heaven.
How about Mount Olympus? Ziggurats and other tall places?
Mountains were places where the gods hung out. The place where divine proclamations were made.
What better place for Matthew to have Jesus go in order to begin training his disciples?
I’m not going to go into a detailed description of all that happens here. Unless you’re Biblical scholar I’m pretty sure that I would lose you, (if I haven’t already), within 2 sentences. Plus, that’s not my purpose.
I want to know who God is. And, in the 21st century who really cares.
I’ve already shown that the purpose of this hike was to begin training for Jesus’ followers.
If I was one of those guys with Jesus I think that I would have been expecting him to do what other Rabbis did.
We would sit at Jesus’ feet and Jesus would teach them how to follow Torah, the Law.
Jesus would show us all of the things that others had taught for at least the previous 400-500 years.
What Jesus actually did, though, was to turn everything upside down.
He began by telling them that they were to be happy when things went wrong!
When they mourned, they should be happy.
When they were hungry, they should be happy.
When they were merciful…happy!
When the found themselves persecuted, yep, happy again.
This wasn’t what all the other Rabbis taught.
They taught that when people were comfortable, rich, well-fed, etc. that was a sign of God’s blessing.
Then Jesus turned things up a notch. He began to tell them that the popular way of
understanding the Jewish Law was in need of some tweeking. He had the audacity
to change the words! He said, “You have heard it said…” and quoted something from
the Torah or the Rabbinic tradition. Then said, “Yeah, but I tell you…” and contradicted the earlier teaching.
Now, there is a lot to unpack in all of this.
Not gonna do it.
What I do want to see is what Jesus actually did that gives glimpse into God’s mind.
He reinterpreted the Torah in the light of his current time and need.
This is important for us today. Too many theologians, both professional and armchair,
teach that the only correct way to understand the Scriptures and our theology is to
reiterate over and over what someone said 200 or 300 or 500 years ago.
They say that God’s Word never changes. Whatever Calvin or Luther or Wesley or
any of those guys says about it MUST BE CORRECT!
Well, if we’re to take Jesus, (and Paul), as exemplars in Biblical interpretation, then I have no choice but to
call Bullshit on that.
Jesus clearly believed that the Scriptures, (like the Sabbath), were made for us humans.
Not the other way around.
God, it seems, wants people…Us…You and Me to engage the text as we are today…in this culture…
with our own needs and desires in mind. We don’t need to bow our knees to the way that someone else has
interpreted the text.
Does that mean to each his/her own?
No. I don’t think so. The Biblical text still needs to be interpreted and lived in community.
But, what it does mean is that we, as a community, may travel the Way of Jesus
with a freedom that will Break the Chains that Bind.
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Also, please use the comments section to share your thoughts with me. Thanx!
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