A Cup of Eau Claire

In these chapters we continue to see the “belonging vs. believing” value found in Matthew. The instructions from Jesus in this section are less about “the right thing to believe” and more about how to live well together with people who belong to God (whether or not you think they belong to you!), including children (who appear twice in these chapters) and the most vulnerable/least powerful.  Image: "Let the Children Come to Me" by Vicki Schuck . The last half of chapter 19 is hard for us to read. Are we rich, or not? Does Jesus intend this literally, that we sell all that we have to follow him? Can we own things and still be faithful?  Rabbinic law commands social support for the poor, but not impoverishing oneself to do so, thus creating more poverty to be supported. Is it a test, to see how far we’re willing to go to follow Jesus? Perhaps Jesus recognizes the importance of money in our brains and hearts, how much space it takes up as we think about it and try to get more. J...

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 ...

  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...

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 ...

  "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 ...

  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), n...

  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 ...

  Background:  Matthew starts with a genealogy, which most people skip over but serves as a nice connection between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. If you read carefully, you’ll notice it’s a patriarchal genealogy, but 5 women are snuck in there: Tamar ( Gen 38 ), Rahab ( Josh 2 & 6), Ruth ( Ruth ), Bathsheba ( 2 Sam 11 -12), and Mary ( Luke 1 -2). While their stories might seem scandalous, they are instrumental in keeping the line going from Abraham through David to Jesus.  The family tree of Christ,  Hortus Deliciarum  (1180) While Herod the Great contributed much to the ancient world (like architecture ) his primary concern was the power of the Roman Empire, so he quickly and often killed anyone who got in the way, including infants. We are reminded here that Jesus is in danger from the moment Herod learns of his birth, to his death at the hands of Herod’s son, Herod Antipas.  The parallels between Jesus and Moses are set up right from the b...

The community book read is back this summer, and we’re going for MATTHEW! In June, July, and August, 2023, we’ll read about 2 chapters per week, discussing them at worship each Wednesday, 5:30 pm. [We meet at the Ecumenical Religious Center, 110 Garfield Ave, Eau Claire, WI– adjacent to campus.] Most weeks I (Pastor Lori) will provide a blog Bible study, with some key concepts and questions to consider as you read.  First, some overall themes that will shape the whole story, as an introduction.  Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, perhaps so placed because the genealogy that begins the book serves as a bridge between the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament. Composed about 80-90 CE, it builds on the earlier Gospel of Mark, and shares much material in common with Luke. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the survival of Judaism is in question, and we see the tension between the Jewish religious leaders and the Jesus leaders each making the ...

 (This performance aired on Facebook Live on Friday, November 6, 2020, 7 pm CST.) Program notes The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17 is a list of 41 men who “begat” sons. While we know they did not accomplish this feat solo, the names of the mothers are mostly left out, even forgotten. No Sarah, Rebekah, Leah or Rachel; and the line doesn’t run through Moses, Aaron, or Joshua. But there are 5 interruptions in this masculine lineage, names of women who would not be forgotten, though a neat, unblemished family folklore may prefer they were. TAMAR (Gen. 38:1-30) This story follows a tradition of Levirate marriage prescribed in Deuteronomy 25:5-6, obligating a brother to take his sister-in-law as wife if the brother dies; we’ll see this again in Ruth. However, Deuteronomy happens several centuries after the setting for this story, a reminder that these stories were not “reports” of something that happened in real time, as much as a shaping of the identity of a people despite ch...