Aspiration Toward Inspiration

So when I sat down to begin my Bible study, I had a giant mug of piping hot, fresh green tea. It’s now cold and I haven’t drank any of it, because I got incredibly excited and somehow just lost 2 hours of my life in scripture without noticing it. I still have more scripture to read through and some other reading to complete, as per my Lenten commitment.

ANYWAY…

Tonight I got to the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew. If you’ve ever wondered why it is on a mountain in Matthew and on a plain in Luke, here you go: Matthew is writing for a Jewish audience and therefore, his placement of Jesus on a mountain has Mosaic parallels which resonate with his audience. Similarly, Luke is writing for a Hellenistic audience, who appreciates more a Jesus who stands level with them, as an equal.

On a similar note, within this lovely speech, Jesus says (in Matthew), “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The funny thing about that, though, is that the word which is translated as “perfect” from the Greek, means something very different in the original. It means something more to the effect of: “live to your maximum potential.” In short, “give God’s work your all.” Again, however, there is a difference in Luke’s version, which doesn’t say perfect at all, but rather says “compassionate.” This is, again, because Luke is writing to a Greek audience. Because Greek ethics are more situational, the epitome of goodness in Greek society is compassion, and therefore it makes most sense to think of “perfection” as “compassion.”

Might I add that both of these “revised” translations make marvelous sense when viewed from a lens of process theology.

Next, I came upon the section of the sermon in Matthew which talks about the Law (beginning at 5.17). This section is unique to Matthew. Interesting, considering that Matthew was the writer orienting his words toward a Jewish audience. Could this view have been unique to Jewish Christianity, or was this something that simply wouldn’t have been emphasized or made much sense to a gentile audience?

Also, way back in my first year of college, I recall my RelS 99 professor saying that it was likely that the Pharisees were not so much an enemy of the Jesus movement (the Sadducees seem the more likely suspects). In scripture, however, they certainly take the most criticisms oriented toward Judaism’s legal system. I don’t know that his view represents scholarly consensus, but going over my notes from RelS 151, I now know why that theory makes sense– the Pharisees are anti-Hellenization. For a splinter group of Jews proselytizing to gentiles, Hellenization was their friend. In Jesus’ death, the gospel was for everyone and the Pharisees became the angry old ladies at church who didn’t want to see change.

And on a mostly unrelated note….

The Tree of Knowledge of Life and Death… my notes say, “God puts the tree there so that Adam knows he can exist without it.” This cyclical world, where it is easy to fall subject to ennui and lose touch with our spiritual sides, where it seems quite simple to live subject only to the laws of physics, is infused with spirit, hidden within metaphorical hedges… We are better than lives of routine and common courtesy. We needn’t be sucked into such mundane existences if we continue to eat from the Tree of Life, to grow ourselves in God and Spirit in ways that cannot be broken by the laws of this world. True knowledge and spirituality transcend time and space so that they daily land us in our inner Edens.

“There are two trees in the garden… and too much of religion is stuck at the wrong tree. Does it bring Life? Eat from that tree.”
–Rev. Yvette Flunder

Our goal is to be in the world, but not of it– to fully engage in this world and delve into the majesty of Nature, but understand that pure physicality is not enough to nourish our souls. Whatever magical experience a tromp through the forest might provide us, it can only ever be elevated by praying while we dig our fingers into the soil…

I guess it’s true that if we seek, we find. Even more true, however, is that the more I seek, the more I find. The more I read and pray and commit myself to experience God daily, the more I am stunned by God’s beautiful presence within me and around me.

“You can become a blessing.”
–Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen