8/30: 1 Question/3 Worlds/Texts/Shadow of Herod

It was a great first class today.
1)We introduced the question of the class "Who is Jesus
(in Matthew)?" .]\

Remember  Julio?

I met him on a mission trip to Paraguay.
The Julio of the toothless grin who broke my heart, and taught me how to pray.


He (photo, on left) had latched on to me, as I spoke Spanish to him...and was a big
kid myself .





"What are you building here?," he asked.




"A church."




"What's a church?"




"A place where people can worship Jesus."


Of course, I know now...well, knew then (but didn't take time for theological distinctions) that is deecidedly the wrong answer: church as a place, edifice complex, etc...)





I gulped. I was guessing, dreading/hoping what his next question would be.


It's one thing to hear that billions around the world have never even heard of Jesus, but I had just met my first.

Yep, he said it:

"Who's Jesus?"

           It's the  question we all have.

And remember these videos, "Misconceptions of Jesus?"  Sometimes we need to ask, "Who/whatt  is Jesus NOT?"

Jesus Video 1: Jesus doesn't have time for Peter

Jesus Video 2: Jesus gives rules for First Christian Church, and confronts a follower for missing prayer meeting for the Super Bowl:



The rest of these can be found on the tap at the top of the page "Misunderstandings of Jesus"(:

3)We talked about THREE WORLDS (

This website is set up in blog format, and I will update it
after every class session with some notes and summaries of what we've done, as well as any available videos we have shown in class.  You'll want to check here frequently.

Feel free to let me know anything I can do for you, and any way I can pray for you.
My contact info is above.

Blessings,

Dave
--
2)Intro to "Three Worlds"
The course addresses "Who is Jesus in Matthew" through the lens of what Hauer and Young call the "Three Worlds" of the Bible.  A quick introduction below, and click here for more helpful detail (both from Tessa Brolin website):

Literary World--The literary world of the Bible is simply the text itself, apart from anything outside the text.  We mean the world (or, better, worlds) created by the text; the words on the page, by the stories, songs, letters and the myriad other types of literature that make up the Bible.  All good literature (and the Bible is, among other things, good literature) creates in readers' minds magnificent, mysterious, and often moving worlds that take on a reality of their own, whether or not they represent anything real outside the pages (Hauer and Young ch 2).

Historical World--The historical world of the Bible is the world "behind the text" or "outside the text".  It is the context in which the Bible came to be written, translated, and interpreted over time, until the present.  In studying the historical world of the Bible, we look for evidence outside the text that helps us answer questions such as, who wrote this text, when was it written, to whom was it written, and why was it written.  We also probe the text itself for evidence that links it to historical times, places, situations, and persons (Hauer and Young 2)..



Contemporary World--The contemporary world is the "world in front of the text" or the "world of the reader."  In one sense, there are as many contemporary worlds of the Bible as there are readers, for each of us brings our own particular concerns and questions to the text.  They inevitably shape our reading experience.  We are all interested in answering the questions of whether the Bible in general, or particular texts, have any relevance to our personal lives (Hauer and Young  ch3).
-Brolin
--
3)We talked about TEXTS:
By the way, if you miss class today, you better ask someone about  the "Butt cheeks" story (;
Suffice to say that commas (and context) matters..










A 'text" is any message,m any medium, that is designed ti communicate.


So a text message, a movie, etc...are all "texts"...and all texts need conTEXT.

GODISNOWHERE:  is it GOD IS NOWHERE  or GOD IS NOW HERE?

How you read the text changes as much as everything.

Spaces matter.

Like this:

Professor Ernest Brennecke of Columbia is credited with inventing a sentence that can be made to have eight different meanings by placing ONE WORD in all possible positions in the sentence: 

"I hit him in the eye yesterday."

The word is "ONLY".

The Message:

1.ONLY I hit him in the eye yesterday. (No one else did.)

2.I ONLY hit him in the eye yesterday. (Did not slap him.)

3.I hit ONLY him in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit others.)

4.I hit him ONLY in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit outside the eye.)

5.I hit him in ONLY the eye yesterday. (Not other organs.)

6.I hit him in the ONLY eye yesterday. (He doesn't have another eye..)

7.I hit him in the eye ONLY yesterday. (Not today.)

8.I hit him in the eye yesterday ONLY. (Did not wait for today.)

                              -link 


Like this 'text message' from Jesus:
I SAY TO YOU TODAY, "YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.'
or is it,
I SAY TO YOU, " TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE."

The original manuscripts of the Bible not only run all letters, all caps, together, but include no punctuation.

Punctuation matters.

Everything is  context.
Context is everything.

--

to get the power of HISTORICAL WORLD..
We looked at  Matt. 2:1a, and the historical world image of the Herodian fortress, in whose shadow was  Jesus).  YOU CAN WATCH our VanDer Laan  "In the Shadow of Herod" video HERE in two parts:

 

 

VanDer Laan writes:

THE MASTER BUILDERThere was another side to Herod. His visionary building programs, his ingenious development of trade with the rest of the world, and his advancement of the interests of his nation are legendary. Many of his building projects were designed to strengthen the loyalty of his subjects, a goal he never achieved. Most seem to have been built to strengthen his relationship with Rome and to establish himself as the greatest king the Jews had ever had. Herod built on a magnificent and grandiose scale. His building projects included:

The Herodion: This mountain fortress overlooked the town of Bethlehem. Standing on a high hill, the upper fortress was round and more than 200 feet in diameter. Originally, it was seven stories high, with an eastern tower that stood more than 40 feet higher. Packed dirt covered the first four stories, giving the upper fortress a cone shape. Inside were a peristyle garden, reception hall, Roman baths, and countless apartments. The lower palace included an enormous pool, a colonnaded garden, a 600-foot-long terrace, and a building more than 400 feet long. The Herodion was the third-largest palace in the ancient world....

....The visitor cannot help being impressed with Herod's vision and ingenuity. However, all that remain are spectacular ruins, because Herod lived for Herod. By contrast, another builder, a humble carpenter born in Bethlehem, used a different material than did Herod (Matt. 16:18; 1 Peter 2:4-8). Jesus' buildings continue to grow because He built for the glory of God. Like David (1 Sam. 17:46), Elijah (1 Kings 18:36), and Hezekiah (Isa. 37:20), He lived so that the world may know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is truly God. His construction projects will last forever because He built for the glory of God the Father. -link                                        

VanDer Laan's website is a great resource..it's here.

 

HOMEWORK HELP:

>>Remember: By this Thurs., read through or listen to (audio downloads and several trranslation choices found by clicking the tab at the top of page that says..The Gospel of Matthew,

If you turn in a one-page sheet of notes, where you simply make note of any observations, feelings,

repeated words/ideas,  list of questions that arise....and a simple outline (traditional outline or chart), you can skip the first quiz and get full credit for it.  Informal, may be hand written, if legible