This is my experience of studying Matthew. The pervading theme in John is that Jesus really had a divine nature. Matthew offers several more recurrent themes. The text is just as clear as John's and Revelations: clearly a product of Greek culture.

First, the text gives much more information on what Jesus expects of his followers, apart from faith. There are also complete parables in it. Thus, the ethics expected from a Christian become a much clearer. Next, Matthew insists in many places on how the events of Jesus' life fulfill predictions of former prophets. Like in John, there is the theme of his divine nature, of course. Matthew also is a bit more menacing than John. The text contains a lot of expressions which have become proverbial (plank in the eye, camel through the eye of a needle, wolves in sheep's clothing etcetera).

So, over all, what we have, is that Jesus says we should have faith that he is divine. That our sins will be forgiven if we obey him. It is specified what we should obey, and there are miracles and prophecies to convince us that Jesus is correct.

So what should Jesus' followers do ?

They should follow his version of the commandments, which are the commandments in the Old Testament (5:19, Chapter 19 is from Lev 19:18), with some slight variations (5:21 and on). Murder, adultery, divorce, stealing, honouring parents, loving neighbours, testimony are looked upon like in the older scriptures. The rules for oaths and an eye-for-an-eye are reversed by Jesus, to a prohibition on swearing by something, and a rule to go along with evil people rather than resist them. Further a prohibition of contempt, an admonition to settle problems quickly, and a prohibition of looking lustfully at women (5:28).

Charity gives a reward (25:31-45), and people should be a bit forgiving, or God will not forgive them (18:35). The reward for this, of course, is in the afterlife (5:1-10), and we should not postpone bettering our lives because "the kingdom is near" (4:17). Matthew gives us hints that we should put spiritual life first: you cannot both serve God and Money (6:19), do not worry about material life but put God first.

A major theme is hypocrisy. People already had their religions, of course, which were big and institutionalised. The hypocrisy within those religions is always an easy target. So Jesus tells us to do good, pray, and fast, but be discrete when doing it (6:1-2). Also when judging others, one should take care of hypocrisy (Chapter 7). A recurring theme is leaders who do not practice what they teach (eg. 23:1-3). Matthew is a bit more menacing than John. He warns the Pharisees of Jesus, who will separate the wheat from the chaff, and burn the latter (3:12). And 11:22/24 "I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." 10:37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me 10:33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven".

Matthew starts his text by convincing us that the events he writes about, fulfill old prophesies. Messiah is supposed to be born in Bethlem (2:5-6), to come from Egypt (2:15), which is achieved by Jesus parents going to Egypt for a while to avoid Herod's slaying of the infants (2:18). John the Baptist has been predicted by Isaiah (3:3), and so is Jesus' life in Capernaum (4:15). One day, after healing on a sabbath, Jesus goes incognito to avoid problems as predicted by Isaiah (12:17, 13:35). Continuing, Matthew regularly pauses in his text to point out to the reader that there is a situation or an event, which has been predicted by a prophet.

For the miracles, most often mentioned is the healing (eg. 4:23-24). Matthew points out from time to time that Jesus has a divine nature. Jesus has the authority to forgive sins (9:6), and is above the sabbath (12:6 "I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath").
Jesus worries about competition at least twice, where he warns against "false prophets" (7:15, and 24:24 Abomination of Desolation). He clearly anticipates problems in evangelizing in Chapter 10, saying (10:34) "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. because converted will be pitted against non-converted."
When Jesus sends his apostles out, they can heal the sick, too. (10:8)

It is not all peace and kindness in the text. Jesus sits with sinners and disadvantaged ((9:11-13: "Those who are healthy don't need a physician, but those who are sick do. 9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: 'I want mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.), but, as told in John also, kicks hawkers out of the temple (21:12).

A bit creepy is 12:30: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters."
Heey, I remember George Bush saying this about America after the Twin Towers collapsed! That brings me to torture: there is no commandment against that, and the Gospel is quite casual about it. In a parable in chapter 18, a landowner who finds out that a slave who owes him, is, himself, not so forgiving with a debtor as he has been with the slave, has this slave tortured (18:34). Jesus says about it (18:35): "So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart."

A bit ugly, also, is Jesus' reaction when he cannot find a fruit in a tree. 21:19 "After noticing a fig tree by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, "Never again will there be fruit from you!" And the fig tree withered at once."

As I said in an earlier post, reading Matthew got a bit tedious. That He is the Man old prophets had talked about was very important in his day: this was getting him followers. It is much less interesting for the modern reader, however. And the moral rules are common now in the Western world. But, there are the parables. There are quite a number of them. Some are a bit clumsy, but some are intriguing because they indeed do not say what you would expect.

Here are a few.

There is the parable of talents (25:14-30). A landowner gives money to a few slaves when he goes on leave. One slave hides it, so that nothing can happen to it, and he can give all of it back. But this is wrong! The other slaves have taken a risk and invested the money, and this is rewarded. The slave who hid the money gets the reproach not to have put it with bankers, to get interest. His money is taken from him and goes to the richest slave. 25:29 "For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him".

Wow!

Here is another one.

The workers in the vineyard story (20:1-16): Each daylaborer gets the same pay, no matter if he started early in the day or later. When the guys who have worked the most hours, complain, the owner invokes his right of private property 20:15 "Am I not permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me?". It is completely up to him what he will do, and so is it to the kingdom of heaven. (20:16 "So the last will be first, and the first last")

Another one

There is a parable of ten virgins, five of whom prepare for the coming of a bridegroom and five do not. The five who prepare, refuse to share their lamp oil with the unprepared. These have to go to the store for it, and miss the wedding. The righteous ones are the five who refused to share what they had (25:1-13).
This one shows that you should think about the context a bit. Earlier Matthew says (6:25-34, 6:34) "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own".


At the end of the text, the story gets familiar. It is the same as in John's Gospel. There are some differences in the details. I was surprised that, in the story, when Jesus is arrested, Peter cuts off the ear of one of the men coming to get Jesus, and that this does not cause him any major trouble when following the police and Jesus. Matthew does not say it was Peter who did this, by the way (26:51).
For the rest, the end is the same. The day after the crucifixion, soldiers go seal the tomb. This is a sabbath in John 19:31, when soldiers go break the legs of the crucified three. The day after this, women go to the tomb, are told by an angel that Jesus is gone, and shown the tomb. The soldiers claim in 28:15 that they have fallen asleep and the body was stolen, while in the lines before this, Matthew explains this is a trick to avoid suspicions of resurrection.

O, yeah, for the smiles: in Chapter 17, Jesus and some others go up a mountain where they meet the dead Moses and Elijah, and God speaks to them from a cloud.

After my reading of John, I have read Matthew's Gospel. But, as this was getting a bit tedious, I shall give my comment on the Book of Revelation first. Matthew is a story with a lot of moral rules in them. The Book of Revelation is full of images. This book is great. Religion without spirituality is nothing!

In Revelation, John first gets some messages from Jesus for various churches, and next has the most wonderful vision.

John hears something, and looks around him. He sees someone like Jesus, in a robe extending down to his feet, wearing a wide golden belt around his chest. Both head and hair are white, face shining like the sun, flaming eyes, feet like bronze, a double-edged sword extending out of his mouth, seven stars in his right hand (1:12-20). I had never read this before, and it is a picture I shall not easily forget!

It felt good to me rightaway: I couldn't wait to read on.

First there are messages to seven churches. Jesus is dictating messages to them as in regular letters. The tone is practical, not lyrical, rather businesslike. He can be very practical: he appreciates in the church in Ephesus that they (2:6) "hate what the Nicolaitans practice - practices I also hate". The church in Thyatira had been doing well recently, according to Jesus, but they are warned not to tolerate a prophetess called Jezebel who incites to adultery. (2:19-20).

After this, John looks into Heaven, and sees an open door there. A voices tells him to come up, to see "what must happen after these things"(4:1).

This gives the reader a good insight into how heaven is. In heaven there is a throne, with someone seated on it, his appearance likened to the precious stones jasper and carnelian (green and red), with a rainbow around the throne. From the throne are coming lightning and thunder. Twenty-four elders in white clothes with golden crowns are seated on thrones around the first one. In front of the throne is something looking like a sea of glass and seven spirits in the shape of torches. Around the throne are four creatures with six wings, and eyes all over them, they are like a lion, an ox, eagle and an unspecified one with a man's face. The man in the middle is holding a scroll written on both sides, with seven seals. There also is a lamb coming, with seven horns and seven eyes, who takes the scroll from the central person's hand.

Next John witnesses this chain of events. Four horsemen get an assignment, and ride out of heaven. There is an earthquake and the winds stop blowing. But first, an angel puts a seal on each of 144000 people from 12 Israeli tribes to mark them as servants of God. A mass of people stand in front of Him, coming out of the great tribulation. Then one angel throws fire on the earth, and a series of disasters happen, one every time one of seven angels blows a trumpet. The fifth angel makes locusts come out of an abyss, powerful as scorpions, who harm those who have not been marked with the seal on their forehead, during five months, without killing them.

There is a devil also, in the form of a dragon. He is thrown out of heaven by angels. The dragon has seven heads and ten horns. He gives authority to a beast, which has large following in the world for some time. Some people have its number on their forehead or right hand, while the 144000 have the name of the Lamb on their foreheads. Torture of those who follow the beast will be by fire and sulphur (14:9-10).

Plagues follow this, poured down by angels.
Jesus comes out on a white horse with his sword in his mouth in chapter 19. He beats the beast in this chapter. The beast is chained and locked up in an abyss for 1000 years. For those 1000 years, those who had been executed as Christians rule with Jesus: this is the first resurrection, we learn. After 1000 years the devil gives it another try, but is devoured by fire from heaven, and tormented in a lake of fire and sulphur forever.

Now the dead come stand in front of the throne, and are judged according to what is in books. If they're not in it, they are thrown into a lake of fire. This is the second death.

In the end a new heaven and earth are made, a holy city Jerusalem comes out of heaven, and God comes live among humans (21:2-3). The city is made out of precious stones and gold. It is also referred to as the wife of the Lamb. (21:9-10)

This is an exciting story, with plenty of images. I can read it again and again, and it gives me a lot of inspiration, and imagery to think about. The flow of the story is good, it is very easy to read through.

Although raised as a Christian, I have never had any good knowledge of the Faith and the texts essential to it. Recently, I have decided to change that. I had the feeling that, as a Christian, I was half-in-half-out. Also, I started to feel the urge to experience all those texts I had always been told about, but had never read.

I decided to start with the New Testament. Because of its Hellenistic influence, the New Testament is much closer to my Euro-American culture. This makes it much more pleasant to read. I choose to read the Gospel of John first. It is sometimes said that this text was authored by the John who was present as a disciple at the time.

So, what is this about ?

The book is mainly a sequence of events and dialogues which insist on Jesus' claim that he has a divine nature, with a special relationship to God. This is expressed as him being the Son of God (1:34), that he is one with God, equal to God (5:18), or that supernatural has become man (1:1-5,10,11).
The second theme in it, is that, for this reason, people should put faith in him and that those who do, will have eternal life and be raised to life on the last day (6:54, 1:29 and other places).

There is surprisingly little else in the text. The author's priority is clearly to convince us, that Jesus is really of a divine nature. Chapters 1 through 17 do nothing but that. The Jesus who speaks, is not modest in that respect. He has seen Heaven (3:13), God wants all people to honour the Son as much as they honour Him (5:23), and he is special "You will always have the poor with you, but you won't always have Me" (12:8). The miracles He performs are presented as proof of his godliness. There is no system in the miracles: The first one, when he turns water into wine, serves party-goers at a wedding, and is done on request of his Mother. As they could have gone to buy extra wine, also, we must suppose the hosts were out of money. The miracle is clearly for material gains, or, more probably, put there to proof His supernatural power.

So it is all about His godly nature, and that putting faith in Him will give people eternal life, or/and have their sins forgiven when they die.

Does the text say anything on what He wants us to do ? Not much.
He says 8:31 " If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are My disciples ". But there is not very much in this text on what to obey, except believe that He is God's Son. Specific points, which are mentioned, are:
- The text repeats a few times that we should prefer spiritual goals over material ones. Example in 6:27, or in 12:23-25 we can read ".. a grain of wheat that falls on the ground will never be more than one grain unless it dies. But if it dies, it will produce lots of wheat. If you love your life, you will lose it. If you give it up in this world; you will be given eternal life." As for the grain of wheat, Jesus talks about Himself: he is going to be executed. The second sentence may be more general.
- There is a "contents over appearance" theme: 7:24 "don't judge by appearances, judge by what is right", when Jesus does a miracle on the sabbath, which is supposed to be a day on which you do not work.
- There is a non-ethnicity motif: A Samaritan woman is invited by Jesus to follow.
- There are no frequent threats with punishment. Two of the few examples: 3:18 'But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.' 5:35 The healed lame man is told not to sin any more or something worse would happen to him, Jesus says.
- Intolerance to sloppiness: 2:13-16: Jesus uses a whip to chase hawkers from a temple. Jesus says to the priests (7:19) "Didn't Moses give you the Law? Yet none of you obey it!". Also 8:7, where He states that only those who have not sinned themselves, can execute somebody who according to the law of Moses is to be stoned to death (nobody).
- Love. 13:34 " But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you."

The last part of the text is about is Jesus' death and His appearances afterwards. John does not intend to prove anything. Three men have been crucified, and their death is to be speeded up by breaking their legs. Soldiers however, do not break Jesus' legs, because they think He already died. The other two are still alive. Jesus is taken of the cross and put into a tomb. At first inspection, the next day already, He is not in there any more.
The end of the book has a nice twist: there is talk about Jesus' favourite disciple, who had been present at the last supper also, and, it is concluded, this disciple is the man who " told all this. He wrote it ... "(21:24).

The style makes the text look rather modern. There is a logical story with a clear, chronological sequence. A single thing makes you smile, like 12:28 " A voice from heaven then said, « I have already brought glory to myself, and I will do it again!» "

In the end, this is not a text to start with. The continuous insistence on the godliness of Jesus is the essential part of it. This could give you a good feeling when reading, that you are privileged to learn about this. Maybe, also, there is a technique for enlightenment here: John is very definite about the godlike quality of the man Jesus, but you know at the same time that this is something impossible. This means you must try to reconcile the irreconcilable, when you concentrate on it. This could force you to break through your rationality, and enter a different state. Or maybe not.

I hope my blog will not get too 'heavy' for my readers. I intend to talk on texts from the scriptures