Friday, January 13, 2012

Matthew 14-16 O thou of little faith

Matthew 14-16

John the Baptist meets his maker?  Did he accept Jesus as his personal savior before he died or wasn't that an option yet?

Jesus then performs a variation on Elisha's bottemless vessel trick, feeding the multitudes with a couple fish tacos.

I like the symbolism in the Jesus walking on water piece;

14:29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
14:30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

I knew Jesus walked on water but the rest of the story is so much more compelling with a great message about having faith in his actions.  Why isn't this more well known?

I have to give Jesus and pals a big thumbs down in Chapter 15 for not washing their hands before eating.  Even worse, he goes to great lengths to justify his poor behavior.
If Jesus had died of food poisoning, would he still have risen a day and a half later?

A great line;
15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Jesus again does the loaves and fishes bit.  This looks suspiciously like a retelling of the first version in a different location.  Poor editing?

Another great line;
16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?


Two important lines finish off chapter 16.
16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
This seems to say that God will judge man on what he does, not what he professes.  Do good deeds matter?

Atheists like to use this line, indicating that the timeframe given by Jesus for the end days was WAY off.
16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.


Discuss.



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18 comments:

  1. Bruce states: I knew Jesus walked on water but the rest of the story is so much more compelling with a great message about having faith in his actions. Why isn't this more well known

    I think it is very well known. It depends on the crowd you hang with.
    But I guess it also depends on what you mean by well known. In Christian culture or main stream culture like John 3:16?

    Bruce states:
    I have to give Jesus and pals a big thumbs down in Chapter 15 for not washing their hands before eating. Even worse, he goes to great lengths to justify his poor behavior. If Jesus had died of food poisoning, would he still have risen a day and a half later.

    I like how Jesus responds, Matthew 15 7-14. And technically is that rule of God or the elders? The Bible I am reading states it was a rule of the elders. So I think it is a great reason since the rule or tradition was not from God.

    I think you are joking about the food poision thing but Jesus knows when it is his time...He states that at the wedding.

    To answer your next question in short...nope 2 different feedings. Note the number fed.

    As far as 16:28 goes: I believe Jesus is referring to His death and resurrection. 27 supports that by Jesus saying repay for everything that has been done.

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  2. Good deeds matter. But who can judge what a good deed is, in my book only God.
    What one may perceive as a good deed may actually turn out worse for the person involved.

    Few examples, you see a big guy eating 2 lbs. Of cookies. You go over and ask to have a few thinking that you may be saving his life. The big guy is more than happy to give you a few. But now, because you took 3 or 4 the big guy goes back and grabs 10 more. So you think you are doing a good deed but it turns out you are making it worse. (Got that story from the Minnesota State Fair)

    Or you hide candy or whatever from your kids for 10 years then when they get to college, they go crazy.

    Or you go volunteer at a soup kitchen and do all the work while the 15-year old doing community service for a crime sits in the corner sleeping.

    So I talk to God and see what overall path, good deeds He wants me to do..if I stray, He is right beside me to endure any troubles that I will have on my self-chosen path. Then tells me...again...what path I should be on. Even though we see a good deed opportunity does not mean we should take it...perhaps its meant for someone else or overall its not a good deed. But God will tell you.

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  3. @Bruce - we're skipping Matt 13? Is this some kind of Baby-Eating Atheist conspiracy?

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  4. Yes. Why did we skip the parable chapter?

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  5. Question; Why did I skip 13?
    Possible answers;
    1. Because it's unlucky. Look what happened to the Templars!
    2. It's proof that Jesus was just making stuff up and I didn't want to embarrass the Christians by pointing it out.
    3. I read it but forgot to comment on it. I'll rectify it shortly

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  6. Possible answers is right. Jesus making stuff up...hence the word parable...but the message from the parable cannot be denied.
    And do you have any evidence that proves that the number 13 is unlucky?

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  7. @Tom
    Just kidding about Jesus of course.
    As for 13 being unlucky, there is no scientific proof. But, for over a thousand years, millions of people have believed it is based on a single, poorly documented incident (the Templars being arrested and executed on Friday October 13, 1307), so, the burden of proving it isn't true is on you! ;-p

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  8. Um...poorly documented...is enough for you since when?

    And according to your above theory, the burden of proof, you also claim that we have provided poor documentation as believers, but the burden of proof falls to us to provide more sound evidence.

    Now here you are saying that 13 is unlucky and have one poor document to support your claim and yet the burden of proof falls on me. Lol!

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  9. Chapter 13 gives us some wailing and gnashing of teeth ... one of my favorite idioms for anguish.

    Love the parables ... memorable, like old friends.

    Chapter 16 is kinda the lynchpin of the whole story, as far as I'm concerned, but I'd forgotten how quickly JC snaps at Peter "But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
    " ... is he calling Peter Satan?

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  10. @Tom
    lol! You like what I did there eh? :-)

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  11. Chapter 13 gives us some wailing and gnashing of teeth ... one of my favorite idioms for anguish.

    Love the parables ... memorable, like old friends.

    Chapter 16 is kinda the lynchpin of the whole story, as far as I'm concerned, but I'd forgotten how quickly JC snaps at Peter "But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
    " ... is he calling Peter Satan?

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  12. Chapter 13 gives us some wailing and gnashing of teeth ... one of my favorite idioms for anguish.

    Love the parables ... memorable, like old friends.

    Chapter 16 is kinda the lynchpin of the whole story, as far as I'm concerned, but I'd forgotten how quickly JC snaps at Peter "But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
    " ... is he calling Peter Satan?

    /*BTW @Bruce ... is there something going on with your blog? This is the thrid time I've tried to post this*/

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  13. @Skepticali,
    Must be demons.
    Nothing is being send to the spam folder so I don't know what's happening.
    My auto-posting has been inconsistent since the end of last year.

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  14. I'm seeing from my email alerts that you've posted it three times in the last hour.

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  15. @Bruce - tried it from iPad, PC (FF & IE).
    I LOVE technology!

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  16. @ Bruce
    Yes...the funny thing...it hit me when I was driving about two hours after my post.

    I would love to break into sarcasm, but a few would love the chance to say: "Well that's not a very Christian thing to do"...since my sarcasm is very dry, it is often misinterpreted like I did with yours.

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  17. On a serious note though, I take that what you posted was joking around since I am not playing both sides of the coin.

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  18. "Atheists like to use this line, indicating that the timeframe given by Jesus for the end days was WAY off.
    16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

    I know I'm late posting, but since it doesn't appear anyone answered this, I just wanted to stop in and say that this passage is generally understood by Christians to refer to the Transfiguration of Jesus, in which Peter, James, and John see Jesus in a preview of His glorified, post-resurrection state (Matthew 17:1-9).

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