Exploring the Greek New Testament

The Great Commandments of 22:37-40 really has served as a foundation upon which all of this material through the end of 23 has been built.  As Christ speaks to the Scribes and the Pharisees he explains how they have missed the heart of the law.  By calling them to the Love of God and the Love of Neighbor in the general, he now particularizes where they have gone completely off track.  

Are we guilty of doing the same thing?  The church today even goes far today to say that we love everyone.  But we are missing out on the heart behind this statment and to be quite honest we seem to be missing out on the nature of obedience that Christ is calling us to.  He is not saying that all you have to do is Love God and to Love your Neighbor.  No he is also calling people to holiness that is built upon these motivations.  23:23 calls us very directly to the heart of these Woes. These hypocrites have been doing the things that the law calls for but they are missing the justice, mercy and faithfulness that are central heart conditions behind actions.  

May we go forward as people living holy lives, following Christ’s teachings, through the purity of heart and love!

Today’s text flows really well from yesterday’s reading of the Great Commandment.  As we strive to truly love God and our neighbors with every fiber of our being, we should se a change in our motivations.  Our broken nature leads us to want to be noticed and to receive acclimation.  However, as we move towards that pure unadulterated love of God and neighbor we should begin to see that our desires for holiness (and for good deeds) are more pure.  We should begin to see a shift to wanting glory for God and not ourselves.  May we live in humble service to God and our neighbors!  

Today’s text continues the questioning of Jesus by the Pharesees and the Saducees. It is amazing that as Jesus answers them he often uses very image filled language and then as he gets to the most important information he becomes much more direct. As with the Great Commission later in Matthew we find the Great Commandment articulated very clearly in today’s text. While discussions of things like taxes and resurrection are valid, even important, as we look toward sanctification there is none more important than loving God and loving our neighbors. The clarity of this answer reinforces its importance. As we continue seeking God’s will we can enjoy the finer details but we must return to the central message first.

In reading today’s text I was reminded that at some point I move past simple study of the language.  As I prepare for another IBS course next semester (IBS Minor Prophets-My third IBS!) I am reminded appealing to the totality of interpretive determinants.  I found the exploration of background and context quite helpful as I explored the ideas of Caesar’s taxes.  This served as reminder that even as I advance in one area of education (Greek) I must continue to broaden my skills and knowledge to other areas (background, etc.)  

This has been a crazy week.  Monday I drove 13 hours towing a trailer from NC to KY.  Tuesday I moved into a new townhouse here at Asbury and then the rest of the week has been trying to get things unpacked and figure out what I am missing.  To be honest the thing that I missed the most and still didn’t make time for was this reading.  Today I read all of this weeks text and was amazed at how it didn’t take a whole lot more time than reading the English.  My takeaway was not some interesting Greek nuance but the fact that this is a discipline that I must make a priority.  Would it have been that bad if I had taken 15-30 minutes each day this week and unpacked a few less boxes?  No!  

Last Easter Sunday I had a discussion with a fellow seminarian regarding the relation of Christians and Sabbath.  We discussed how though it is not nessisarily mandated for us now yet is still valuable.  Today’s text discussed Jesus’s disciples and thier gleaning on the Sabbath as well as Jesus healing a man with a withered hand.  

As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus did not revoke the Sabbath but questions to the legalistic and judgmental approach to the Sabbath that many of the religious leaders were taken.  It has been interesting for me to read this especially on this Sunday afternoon.  

It was great to read today’s reading in light of yesterday’s text. Christ moves from calling us to a life of cross carrying to a better picture of what it means to follow him. He paints a picture of his relationship to the father. Then finally we come to,

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Mt 11:28–30.

This text has always encouraged me. I just wanted to leave you with something to chew on from Dr. Keener and to help prepare for tomorrows text.

11:29–30. When a man carried a yoke he would carry it on his shoulders (cf., e.g., Jer 27:2); Judaism applied this image of subjection to obedience. Jewish people spoke of carrying the yoke of God’s law and the yoke of his kingdom, which one accepted by acknowledging that God was one and by keeping his commandments. Matthew intends Jesus’ words about rest as a contrast with Pharisaic sabbath rules in the following passage (12:1–14): the promise of “rest for your souls” comes from Jeremiah 6:16, where God promises to stay his wrath if the people turn to him instead of to the words of the false religious leaders (6:13–14, 20).

1-Craig S. Keener and InterVarsity Press, The IVP Bible Background Commentary : New Testament (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mt 11:29.

Jesus is painting picture of what true discipleship looks like in today’s passage. The imagery becomes very clear as we begin to move from narrative use of the aorist in the previous texts to more vivid exhortations in present and future tenses in this section.

Christ is calling us all to true obedience that not only involves loving God more than our families but taking up our cross.  The first mention of the cross in this gospel is not any sort of passion prediction but a call to a life of suffering for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Might we live out this new year as disciples fully committed.  

See the photo post below.  I am more and more intrigued by this idea.