89 chapter project: Matthew

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Summary: Matthew 13: 1 - 58

This chapter is another major teaching piece with Jesus speaking to the crowd on the shore from a boat. The theme of prophecy fulfilled continues and Jesus shares 4 parables with the crowd. After sending the multitudes away, he explains the parable of the tares to the disciples and he goes on to tell them 3 more.

Jesus speaks of end times and the kingdom of heaven. There will be separating of the wicked from the just.

Later returning to Nazareth, Jesus astonishes and offends the people there. Because of their unbelief, he does not do many mighty works there.
 
Reflection: Matthew 13: 1 - 58

This was another difficult chapter to summarize. It certainly does not support a universalist (all will be saved) view of Jesus. At the end of the age, when the wicked and the just are separated, the wicked will be cast into a furnace of fire. "There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth". (11: 42 and 11:50)

Do we cherry pick this chapter? I suspect we do. Taken alone, the other parables are more appealing and are sometimes are interpreted as God's coming rule here on this earth. Taken in context, I think it is more likely that all the parables refer to end times.

Jesus must have been a wonderful orator to hold the attention of large crowds as he traveled around the countryside. He was rejected when he returned to Nazareth and taught in the synagogue. This is a very Jewish Jesus, I would say.
 
paradox3 said:
Later returning to Nazareth, Jesus astonishes and offends the people there. Because of their unbelief, he does not do many mighty works there.
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58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
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That's the same excuse you see from scam artists today. When surrounded by skeptics, they refuse to demonstrate their abilities. They will only show people who already believe and won't question.
 
paradox3 said:
Summary: Matthew 13: 1 - 58

This chapter is another major teaching piece with Jesus speaking to the crowd on the shore from a boat. The theme of prophecy fulfilled continues and Jesus shares 4 parables with the crowd. After sending the multitudes away, he explains the parable of the tares to the disciples and he goes on to tell them 3 more.

Jesus speaks of end times and the kingdom of heaven. There will be separating of the wicked from the just.

Later returning to Nazareth, Jesus astonishes and offends the people there. Because of their unbelief, he does not do many mighty works there.
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You missed something he also explains why he is so devious. I.E why he speaks in parables. Or did you wish to skip that bit.
 
Pavlos Maros said:
You missed something he also explains why he is so devious. I.E why he speaks in parables. Or did you wish to skip that bit.
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Oh, no, there's nothing in any of these chapters I "wish to skip". I have been trying to highlight what jumps out at me & to summarize the chapters as succinctly as possible.

The parables, I think, demonstrate the power of story. Jesus seems to be saying the disciples already understand many of these things (spiritual truths) but others do not.

Just my take on it. I am not attempting to convince anyone of anything. I am very interested in all reactions to these scriptures.
 
chansen said:
That's the same excuse you see from scam artists today. When surrounded by skeptics, they refuse to demonstrate their abilities. They will only show people who already believe and won't question.
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It certainly is interesting that Jesus heals multitudes of people around the countryside but resorts to teaching in the synagogue when he returns home to Nazareth. And manages to offend them.
 
A parable is a literary device oriented to the acquisition of insight specific to the interior experience of persons. It communicates metaphorically what can not be expressed factually.

Paulo Freire, in “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” discusses parables as a means allowing the oppressed to realize their status under oppression, and to imagine an alternative. William Herzog III, in “Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed” employs the insights of Freire to explore the parables told by Jesus.



 
Bottoms up ... ort ops down?

The change in pedagogy involves shifts ...

How to dress up the temptation to know ...
 
Wondering if the number of parables here is significant. 7 days of creation, 7 parables about end times?

There seems to be no specific correlation between the days of creation and the parables but it has me wondering. Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels and numbers are important in Judaism.
 
paradox3 said:
Wondering if the number of parables here is significant. 7 days of creation, 7 parables about end times?

There seems to be no specific correlation between the days of creation and the parables but it has me wondering. Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels and numbers are important in Judaism.
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Er... according to Genesis, there were only 6 days of creation. ;)
 
So @Jae do you think it is a coincidence that there are 7 parables in this chapter and 7 days to the creation story?
 
Jae said:
Er... according to Genesis, there were only 6 days of creation. ;)
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You still don't know what creation created on the Shabbai Deis? A satur Dei night comedown in the mourning of the passing ... there God gave us a song as illustration!
 
paradox3 said:
Wondering if the number of parables here is significant. 7 days of creation, 7 parables about end times?

There seems to be no specific correlation between the days of creation and the parables but it has me wondering. Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels and numbers are important in Judaism.
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This is from distant memory and may not be accurate. In the tradition of Kabbalah numbers were symbolic representations of spiritual insight. The number 6 stood on the threshold of perfection and 7 stood on the other side. The goal of work being fully realized in the obtaining of rest.

Quite a contrast to modern thinking which posits “the restless striving of power after power which ceases only in death” as the sole meaning and purpose of human being. The overcoming of sabbath being a core value in our economies of production and consumption.
 
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GeoFee said:
This is from distant memory and may not be accurate. In the tradition of Kabbalah numbers were symbolic representations of spiritual insight. The number 6 six stood on the threshold of perfection and 7 stood on the other side. The goal of work being fully realized in the obtaining of rest.

Quite a contrast to modern thinking which posits “the restless striving of power after power which ceases only in death” as the sole meaning and purpose of human being. The overcoming of sabbath being a core value in our economies of production and consumption.
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Sorry George ... this is beyond the economically elite ...

Common folk shouldn't rest!
 
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