In case you're wondering where I've been, my Internet service went out Saturday morning, and the ISP isn't going to send a technician until tomorrow. So I'm at a neighbor's house right now trying to catch up o my Intertubing. Hopefully I'll have a chance to make a post about public health and/or politics today, but if not, you know why.
So, turning now to Matthew 8, this is where JC starts to perform miracles. I think this is all perfectly ridiculous, obviously, but at least half the country doesn't agree with me. Miracles have apparently become much less common over the past 2,000 years, and they have a way of being debunked. As a matter of fact, for those of us who explore the world scientifically, they have entirely disappeared. People have actually tried randomized controlled trials of prayer, and it doesn't work. Nature works according to discoverable mechanisms and principles. Physicians nowadays, unlike those of 150 years ago, can often but not always cure the sick. But that's because they understand what diseases are and how they work.
Just a couple of specific notes on chapter 8. Why does Jesus tell the man cured of leprosy not to tell anyone about it, since it happened in front of a large crowd? Note that he also tells the man to go to the priest and offer a sacrifice -- the old laws are still in effect. Second, the centurion's "servant" is of course in fact a slave. Jesus has many opportunities to denounce slavery, but it's just peachy keen with him. Finally, why couldn't he drive out the demons without gratuitously killing a herd of pigs? Evidently his powers are limited.
8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
The Faith of the Centurion
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
Jesus Heals Many
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”[b]
The Cost of Following Jesus
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Calms the Storm
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men
28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[c] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.
Footnotes
- Matthew 8:2 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
- Matthew 8:17 Isaiah 53:4 (see Septuagint)
- Matthew 8:28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes; other manuscripts Gerasenes
1 comment:
Reading Matthew, I can see how so many people who identify themselves as Christians can buy into conspiracy theories and vote for the orange turd. Nonsense, children's tales without the payoff of a moral or the satisfaction of a lively narrative. Jumbled, inane pablum. Truly I tell you ... what a crock of shit the Christian bible is. Sounds to me like Jesus was a salesman himself. If you have terrific stuff to share, you don't need to keep saying, "Truly, I tell you." Then again, as you have repeatedly pointed out, it's highly unlikely there was a scribe taking this all down, and in fact it seems that the people who wrote this shit never knew the man referred to as Jesus because he was dead by the time they were born. But life is so hard, and there is so much evil that I can see why people would buy into a nonsensical religion aimed at dead immature people looking for some relief from oppression, death and disease.
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