A Cup of Eau Claire

Background:  These chapters include several large segments of story: we learn that John the Baptizer has been killed, and how and why; there are two stories of thousands of people being fed by Jesus; Jesus walks on the water in a storm (and Peter tries); Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees and scribes about keeping tradition; and Jesus learns a lesson about God’s grace when he meets a mother whose daughter needs healing.  While these stories may seem like unrelated episodes, there are some common themes.  We see abundance , in the feeding and healing of so many people, Gentiles and Jews alike. God’s grace goes everywhere, spilling out past the borders to include all creation.  Jesus goes places that are hard to get to , like walking on water during a storm, spending time in the wilderness and remote areas, and crossing borders and seas to get to “the other side”. This perseverance is increasing as he seems to learn and focus more on how God’s grace is made real and less on what other

  Background:  In these chapters we get into the thick of what it means to live by Torah, a central theme for Matthew. As we experience in our own reading of scripture, there’s the question of how to understand the instructions– literally, or liberally? And does context matter? Jesus bumps up against the Pharisees, who question his interpretation. As we saw in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has different, though not more lax, interpretations of how to live faithfully.  The first section focuses specifically on what it means to keep the Sabbath, the third commandment, found in Exodus 34:21. There’s a long tradition of what this means, and a list of specific kinds of work which are prohibited on the Sabbath (you can learn more about it here ). Jesus is challenged on whether his habits, like plucking grain for food and healing a person, are “work” and thus breaking this commandment. The importance of this commandment, for them and for us, is that there be time set aside that is different

Background:            In these chapters Jesus gives instructions to the Twelve and sends them out. Honestly, it doesn’t sound like a job one would desire, and if we are expected to be disciples (ones who  learn) or apostles (ones who are sent out), where would we start? Healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and casting out demons are not in the average America Christian’s wheelhouse. And he warns that it won’t be easy work– people won’t like what they have to say, they’ll have to rely on the hospitality of strangers to be fed and housed. And at the end of chapter 11, Jesus says this yoke is easy, the burden light!  Some things to notice:  There are 12 disciples, matching the 12 Tribes of Israel  They are sent only to the Jews, not to Gentiles, yet  John is likened to Elijah, the prophet who was the forerunner of the Messiah. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind by God (2 Kings 2:1-12) and is still awaited, since he didn’t die. At a Passover Seder, an empty chair and plac

  "Encounter" mural by Daniel Cariola (Chile),  Duc In Altam, Magdala, Galilee.    Background:  These two chapters are filled with healing stories, and we see that Jesus has power to heal all kinds of afflictions: leprosy, paralysis, fever, demons, bleeding, blindness, muteness, and even death. Equally significant will be to notice who gets healed: Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, powerful and marginalized, those who are alone and those who have community. No one is outside the circle of holy healing. People who are out according to society are in with Jesus as he demonstrates the radical inclusion of the kingdom of heaven, which is probably a big part of the problem the religious leaders have with him. “...whenever God’s justice-love is at large in the world through acts of radical inclusivity, people’s needs are met, for the hospitality of God is infectious.” 1  We also have an example of Jesus being able to control nature (calming the storm,

  Mount of Beatitudes (chapel on top), Sea of Galilee  --not a mountain like Sinai, but a beautiful view! Background:                This week we read the whole Sermon on the Mount (remember the Moses/Jesus parallel? Here Jesus shows up on a “mountain”, reminding us of Moses getting the 10 Commandments from the mountain). This is a long teaching section, which fits in with the emphasis on Torah as “teaching” or “instruction” rather than “law”. Matthew focuses on right living more than right believing , and here we have it right from Jesus’s mouth: how are we to live together faithfully and well?  Beatitudes, verse 7: merciful is one of the primary attributes of God (the other is “just”). My friend Richard (1) translates YHWH (the unspeakable name of God, told to Moses at the burning bush) “The God Whose Name Is Mercy”. Being faithful means being merciful and just, as God is.  In the “You have heard…” section (5:21-48), notice that Jesus doesn’t say his followers don’t have to follow

  Background: We meet new characters in these chapters: John the Baptizer, Satan, and the first four disciples, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John.  The detailed description of what John the Baptizer looks like indicates he might have been a member of the sect called the Essenes, who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were a monastic kind of community who lived in the Judean desert and practiced immersion cleansing as a ritual. John appears rather abruptly in Matthew (Luke tells us the details of his birth, so we expect him later) and begins baptizing people, including Jesus, at the Jordan River. Baptism was not new here; there is long Jewish tradition of ritual baths and cleansing, in either a river, a pool of water, or a mikveh – a tub built for this purpose, found in homes and near the Temple. This ritual cleansing by immersion was to prepare a person to approach God, which takes on new meaning when God has become incarnate and is standing right there. Jesus is baptized by John i