Sunday Sermonette: Is Portugal a shithole country?

Apparently it is now. 

Anyway, Luke 8 tells stories that are very similar to material in Matthew and Mark -- that's the whole idea of the synoptic gospels. And, as usual, there are discrepancies. For example, Matthew says there were two men possessed by devils. In both versions, however, Jesus's method of exorcism --  sending the devils into a herd of pigs and drowning them -- is wasteful (not to mention ridiculous) and causes the people to ask him to get the hell out of there, for which I don't blame them. (Obviously he is not among Jews.)

 

So, since I've already discussed these bizarre tales, I'll give you some timely thoughts of my own. The mor we learn about the guy who shot up an introductory economics class at Brown and then murdered an MIT physics professor, the more puzzling the whole thing becomes. He was a graduate student in physics at Brown some 15 years ago, but he voluntarily took a leave of absence after 3 semesters and voluntarily withdrew permanently a year later. According to an email from the university president, there is no record or recollection that he was ever identified as a behavioral problem and he was in good standing academically. Classmates remember him as not particularly sociable, and sometimes grumpy, but not so much as to be disturbing, and a brilliant student. He also attended a physics program in Portugal with the MIT professor he went on to murder, but as far as anyone can remember their relationship was cordial.

 

Obviously he must have had his own grievances, and there wouldn't necessarily be any documentary evidence of it, people who may have been aware of it have likely moved on, have their own reasons not to want to discuss it, or even be dead. Regardless, to nurse a grudge for 15 years and then suddenly explode in violence is hard to explain. Whoever he thought wronged him at Brown, shooting up a class of undergraduates is an inexplicable response. He may have assumed it was a physics class just because of the location, but he knew they were all undergraduates because it was a large lecture course. (I doubt there are ever more than 15 or 20 physics grad students at a time, at any stage of their studies.) So he was just bonkers.

The reason for these musings right now is that I'm writing and article on criminal so-called justice, and debates on the subject often focus at least in part on the concept of retribution. In the view of many conservatives, one function of criminal law, maybe its most important function, is to deliver retribution on behalf of the victims of crime. Presumably whatever beef the shooter had did not rise to the level of crimes (although the pig owner might have had a case against Jesus), but he apparently thought it did.

I expect I am like just about everyone in that I've had experiences of betrayal and injustice, that scarred me and that, even after many years, intrude on my thoughts from time to time. However, whatever desire I may have had for retribution flickered out quickly. Hurting people who hurt me would accomplish nothing. It wouldn't set things right, or give me back what I have lost, and it certainly wouldn't do any good for the people who wronged me. So while I know that it's a desire many people feel, I wouldn't want to honor it or make it a basis for public policy. I think it's best seen as a moral pathology. Anyway, for what it's worth (which isn't much) here's Luke 8.

8 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, ² and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; ³ Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

⁴ While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: ⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”

When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

⁹ His disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰ He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,

“‘though seeing, they may not see;
    though hearing, they may not understand.’^[a]

¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. ¹⁴ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. ¹⁵ But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

A Lamp on a Stand

¹⁶ “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. ¹⁷ For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. ¹⁸ Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

¹⁹ Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹ He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

Jesus Calms the Storm

²² One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. ²³ As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

²⁴ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ²⁵ “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man

²⁶ They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,^[b] which is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³² A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. ³³ When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴ When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, ³⁵ and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ³⁶ Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. ³⁷ Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

⁴⁰ Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. ⁴¹ Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house ⁴² because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. ⁴³ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,^[c] but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷ Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹ While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

⁵⁰ Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

⁵¹ When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. ⁵² Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

⁵³ They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” ⁵⁵ Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Footnotes

1. Luke 8:10 Isaiah 6:9
2. Luke 8:26 Some manuscripts Gadarenes; other manuscripts Gergesenes; also in verse 37
3. Luke 8:43 Many manuscripts years, and she had spent all she had on doctors

 

Wednesday Bible Study: Whatev

 Luke 7 is just more of the same partial overlap and blatant contradiction with the other gospels. It isn't worth your time or mine to go through all of this, but I'll just say that the story about raising a dead guy does not occur in the other synoptic gospels, while there is a completely different version -- not even clear if it's the same story -- in John. Here, an unnamed woman "who is a sinner" anoints Jesus's feet, whereas in John it's Mary, the sister of the guy who JC raised from the dead. The resurrectee has a name in John, Lazarus, whereas he's anonymous here.

 

It's pretty strange that John the Baptist is still trying to confirm that JC is the Messiah, since when John Baptized Jesus the heavens opened and God said "This is my son, my only son, in whom I am well pleased." Apparently that didn't make much of an impression on John. I could go on, but you get the idea by now. This is all just a mashup of different stories, from different sources, that wildly disagree. Christian tradition has cherry picked the ones we're supposed to pay attention to, and buried the rest.

 

7 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. ² There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. ³ The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, ⁵ because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” ⁶ So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. ⁷ That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸ 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.”

⁹ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” ¹⁰ Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

¹¹ Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹² As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶ They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷ This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Jesus and John the Baptist

¹⁸ John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, ¹⁹ he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

²⁰ When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

²¹ At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. ²² So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy^[a] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. ²³ Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

²⁴ After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? ²⁵ If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way before you.’^[b]

²⁸ I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹ (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

³¹ Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

“‘We played the pipe for you,
    and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
    and you did not cry.’

³³ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ ³⁵ But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

³⁶ When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹ “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,^[c] and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Footnotes

1. Luke 7:22 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
2. Luke 7:27 Mal. 3:1
3. Luke 7:41 A denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer (see Matt. 20:2).

 

 

 

A baffling act of violence

I don't know a lot more than you do about the shooting at Brown, but I'll tell you the little I do know, and it leaves me very puzzled. I haven't been in the particular lecture hall where the shooting happened, but it's undoubtedly like the ones I have taught in. The room is two stories high, extending through the basement and the first floor. It's a steeply sloping amphitheater.  The instructor stands in the pit at the bottom behind a podium with a computer that controls a projector in the top and back of the room, and uses a lapel mic. There is a single entrance at the bottom which is normally how the instructor comes in, and two sets of double doors at the top, on either side of the projection booth, through which the students enter. Usually, as in this case, they are right next to a door to the street. The capacity of these rooms is about 150, sometimes more. Nobody ever sits in the front row.

 

The event was not a lecture that would be on the syllabus, but rather a final exam review session led by a senior undergraduate teaching assistant.  The professor -- the course instructor -- was not present. These sessions are not scheduled until late in the semester, and obviously this was not during a regular class time because it was on a Saturday. Attendance is entirely optional. The time and place is only announced in the last week or so of classes and only disseminated to students who are enrolled in the course. There isn't any public schedule posted of these sessions, they're ad hoc.

 

Put this all together and it is completely implausible that the shooter was targeting any individual. Unless he was enrolled in the course, or knew someone who was, he would not even have known where and when this was happening, and even if he did, he would not have known where the person was sitting. Believe me, trying to find a particular person in a lecture hall with 100 or more people depends on luck. Doing it from behind would be even harder. If he was shooting at the TA, he missed. For the reasons given above, it's even quite unlikely that he was targeting this particular course.

 

According to earwitnesses who talked to reporters, the shooter fired two volleys, probably of 12 rounds each, which just means he emptied a magazine and then reloaded.  According to the Providence police chief*, he used a 9mm handgun. That he fired 24 rounds and only hit 9 people doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad shot. People would immediately have ducked behind their seats and he wouldn't have had a shot at many people, except maybe in the top row where he had a side view. 

 

So it appears that his real target was the university. If that's the case, he definitely succeeded.  People are generally traumatized, the community is in shock, and the educational mission of the university has been significantly disrupted. I know that equally bad or even worse violence happens somewhere in the U.S. almost every day, and the immense attention given to this event may seem disproportionate. Maybe it is, but the impact goes beyond street or family violence because it affects so many more people and in more complex ways. That at least two students who were in the vicinity were victims of school shootings previously tells you something about this country that we don't seem to want to hear. 

 

*Who happens to be an immigrant from a shithole country. Maybe the president will have him denaturalized and deported. 

Sunday Sermonette: I'll talk about something else

Luke 6 is largely copied from Matthew, or from the same source Matthew used, although as always there are discrepancies. For example, in Matthew the sermon happens on a mountainside, and here it happens on a plain. Otherwise, nothing to say about this that I haven't already said about Matthew.

 

In case you're wondering, I don't know anything about the shooting at Brown that hasn't been publicly reported. They've sent me dozens of text messages, robo calls and emails, first telling me to stay away from the engineering building (don't worry, I'm 50 miles away), and to shelter in place. There's been a lot about logistics, evacuating people from the area, cancelling exams, re-opening the dining hall this morning, that sort of thing. But all I know about the shooting is what you know. The perpetrator was a man, apparently in his thirties, the dead and injured are all students -- not clear but probably undergraduates -- and a suspect was apprehended in a hotel in Coventry, which is several miles away. It's mysterious how they manged to connect a hotel guest in Coventry with the shooting, but I suppose we'll know eventually.

As far as a motive, this is indeed puzzling.  There have been instances of grad students who bomb out attacking their professors, but that doesn't make sense here since the guy apparently shot up a final exam and professors don't normally proctor their own exams, as long as the course is large enough to have a TA which this apparently was. I would be there at the beginning to explain any special instructions and wish the students well, then I would leave it in the hands of the TAs. Some instructors wouldn't bother to do that. So I just don't know. Anyway, here are the beatitudes.

 

Update: I can now confirm that the shooting happened at a review session for the final exam of an undergraduate economics course. And, as I thought, the instructor was not present. So yes, this is very puzzling. 

 

6 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. ² Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶ On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

The Twelve Apostles

¹² One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. ¹³ When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: ¹⁴ Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Blessings and Woes

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶ Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Love for Enemies

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

³⁹ He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

⁴¹ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

The Wise and Foolish Builders

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷ As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

 

Gender wars

 Here's a link to an article I recently published in Free Inquiry. (On-line only for now, they haven't said when it will make it to print.) It's a response to a tedious, turgid and tendentious screed by Richard Dawkins, so if you haven't read that it might not completely make sense but I think you'll get the idea.

 

What I could have written, more succinctly, is this.

You can define sex in such a way that it's impossible for a person to change it. Okay.

However, when you go on to say that gender means the same thing as sex, ergo it's impossible to change your gender, we are not speaking the same language. Gender does not mean the same thing as biological sex. It is a sociological and psychological category that is related to sex, but is not concordant with it. It exists, it is real, it matters a lot to people, but as a biologist, you don't know anything about it, because it is not a biological category.

 QED 

 

 

Wednesday Bible Study: Failure to cite

Luke would get an F for plagiarism in my course. What's strange about chapter 5 is that the first 11 verses correspond to events in John, whereas the rest of it is more or less what is in Matthew and Mark. I haven't seen any scholarly commentary on this. John is usually considered sui generis but obviously there is some common source here. But who cares? 

 

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy

¹² While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.^[b] When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

¹³ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴ Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵ Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

¹⁷ One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. ¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶ Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

Footnotes

1. Luke 5:1 That is, the Sea of Galilee
2. Luke 5:12 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.

 

Sunday Sermonette: Misquoting Scripture

 Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I've been working on a magazine article and a proposal, as well as trying to lay in firewood and other chores, so I just haven't had the bandwidth. Anyway, everything is so fucked up it's scarcely worth commenting on, though I will get back to it, I promise.

 

Anyway, Luke 4 has considerable overlap with the other synoptic gospels, but as usual there are discrepancies. The most noteworthy in this case is that Jesus is rejected in his hometown at the very beginning of his ministry, right after the whole being tempted by the devil thing. In Matthew and Mark, that doesn't happen until much later, after the sermon on the mount, calling the disciples, a lot of healing, etc. 

 

The other noteworthy discrepancy is that in verse 18, Jesus pretends to read from Isaiah but he makes part of it up. The verses in Isaiah make no mention of restoring sight to the blind, and otherwise it's largely a paraphrase. Of course the Hebrew Bible had not been fully canonized at this time so it's possible he would have had a different version. Even so, what does that tell you about scripture?

 

4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ² where for forty days he was tempted^[a] by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’^[b]”

⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

⁸ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’^[c]”

⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you carefully;
¹¹ they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’^[d]”

¹² Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[e]”

¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”^[f]

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”

²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy^[g] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit

³¹ Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. ³² They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.

³³ In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ³⁴ “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

³⁶ All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” ³⁷ And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

Jesus Heals Many

³⁸ Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹ So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

⁴⁰ At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. ⁴¹ Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

⁴² At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴ And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Footnotes

1. Luke 4:2 The Greek for tempted can also mean tested.
2. Luke 4:4 Deut. 8:3
3. Luke 4:8 Deut. 6:13
4. Luke 4:11 Psalm 91:11,12
5. Luke 4:12 Deut. 6:16
6. Luke 4:19 Isaiah 61:1,2 (see Septuagint); Isaiah 58:6
7. Luke 4:27 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.

 

Wednesday Bible Study: Partial convergence

Luke is considered one of the synoptic gospels because it has substantial material that overlaps with Matthew and Mark. As we have seen, however, the first two chapters of Luke are not only unique, they radically contradict Matthew. (Mark has nothing to say about the birth of Jesus or the events leading up to it.) With chapter three, however, Luke does start to present some of the synoptic material. Again, we aren't sure whether he cribbed it from Mark, or they both got it from an earlier, lost source. In any case, there are the usual weird discrepancies.

The events described here generally correspond to events described in Matthew and Mark, but the language is not identical. However, the genealogy of Jesus given by Luke is completely different from the genealogy -- I mean utterly, completely different. The only things they have in common are that they start with David and end with Joseph. Otherwise every single name is different, and in fact the number of generations is different -- 27 in Matthew and 42 in Luke. It is very difficult to understand why Luke would crib the John the Baptist story from Mark and then go on to report an entirely different genealogy from Matthew, which he must have gotten from somewhere else. We'll just have to let the mystery be.

 

BTW the Herod character who is introduced here is not King Herod who according to Matthew reigned when Jesus was born, and according to Luke was already dead by then, but a successor of the same name. It's a complicated and confusing story which I tried to straighten out when we discussed Matthew, but it really doesn't matter so I won't repeat it. 

 

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— ² during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled in,
    every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
    the rough ways smooth.
⁶ And all people will see God’s salvation.’”^[a]

⁷ John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

¹¹ John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

¹³ “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

¹⁴ Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

¹⁵ The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. ¹⁶ John answered them all, “I baptize you with^[b] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with^[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ¹⁸ And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

¹⁹ But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, ²⁰ Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus

²¹ When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

²³ Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,

the son of Heli, ²⁴ the son of Matthat,

the son of Levi, the son of Melki,

the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

²⁵ the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos,

the son of Nahum, the son of Esli,

the son of Naggai, ²⁶ the son of Maath,

the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein,

the son of Josek, the son of Joda,

²⁷ the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa,

the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,

the son of Neri, ²⁸ the son of Melki,

the son of Addi, the son of Cosam,

the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

²⁹ the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer,

the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat,

the son of Levi, ³⁰ the son of Simeon,

the son of Judah, the son of Joseph,

the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,

³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menna,

the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan,

the son of David, ³² the son of Jesse,

the son of Obed, the son of Boaz,

the son of Salmon,^[d] the son of Nahshon,

³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram,^[e]

the son of Hezron, the son of Perez,

the son of Judah, ³⁴ the son of Jacob,

the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham,

the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of Reu,

the son of Peleg, the son of Eber,

the son of Shelah, ³⁶ the son of Cainan,

the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem,

the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch,

the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel,

the son of Kenan, ³⁸ the son of Enosh,

the son of Seth, the son of Adam,

the son of God.

Footnotes

1. Luke 3:6 Isaiah 40:3-5
2. Luke 3:16 Or in
3. Luke 3:16 Or in
4. Luke 3:32 Some early manuscripts Sala
5. Luke 3:33 Some manuscripts Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni; other manuscripts vary widely.