daniel bigham.ca

January 14: Thoughts in Response to Reading the New Testament
January 14, 2014

Matthew 7:12: The Golden Rule

12 “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

Commentary

“Boom, there it is” A critically important verse for me in the last couple of years. I was confused when reading my NIV version of the Bible. It puts this verse at the end of the “Ask, Seek, Knock” section, and it just doesn’t seem to fit. Nice that the NRSV gives it its own section.

There’s a blurb in my NIV Bible that comments that other religions mostly state this in the negative sense: “Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want them to do to you”, whereas Jesus’ version is far more open-ended and challenging.

And that’s it -- this statement is incredibly challenging. But so very exciting.

January 8: Thoughts in Response to Reading the New Testament
January 8, 2014

Matthew 7:1-6

Judging Others

7 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s[a] eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor,[b] ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s[c] eye.

Jesus’ words on judging others are good medicine for those of us who feel frustrated by the world around us.  This topic of judgement is one that has been on my mind a fair bit this year.  People like me who are zealous in their nature come head to head with this issue, I think. How, with our deep convictions, do we avoid the mistake of bad judgement?  Something that was helpful a couple of months ago was re-framing God's desire for myself and others in a more relative sense: To be open and obedient to God’s nudgings. That helps relax the frame of absolute behavioural and spritiual ideals, which might demand people to live in very specific ways.  Each of us it at a different place in our walk with God, and in a different life context.  Trying to be sensitive to that I think can be very helpful in avoiding the pitfall of judging others harshly.

One of my challenges, I think, is that I spend so much time alone, and so my personal context looms large and threatens to make me blind to the diversity of other people’s contexts. I find it interesting when going to another person’s home for dinner.  Sometimes while I’m there I have this sinking feeling come over me that “wow, this person’s context is different than mine”, and there is a twinge of discomfort as I relate that to the more absolute ways that I tend to view the world.

Something that has changed for me in the last year a bit is that 12 months ago I wasn’t made uncomfortable by the command to first take the plank out of one’s own eye.  This year it causes me a bit more angst.  Why I’m not quite sure.  Partly it’s that I feel a bit less close to God, and as I try and introspect what has changed, or what the “problem” is, I’m not actually sure.  One aspect of this is probably that life tends to moderate itself. We can have a mountain top experience one year, and it might pervade for a week, or a month, or a year, but over time things tend to level out again. (not to return as they were before, but also not to remain heightened at the same level forever)

Profaning the Holy

6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.

This is a curious passage. A familiar one, but not one that I understand that well. I’m not sure if I’ve connected life circumstances to this with any frequency. But it has a certain urgency that get’s one’s attention. What is Jesus trying to say to us?

January 3: Thoughts in Response to Reading the New Testament
January 3, 2014

Matthew 6: 25-34: Do Not Worry

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,[a] or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?[b] 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God[c] and his[d] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Another familiar passage. The first thing that pops into my mind is that while Jesus seems to be talking about worry/anxiety, it also crosses my mind that he might also be talking about “chasing after” a little bit. When he talks about the Gentiles striving after those things, it brings to mind modern people and their attention being placed on “my home”, “what I wear”, “where I eat out”, etc. But yes, the emphasis seems to be more on not worrying about these things in the sense of not being anxious. That said, when people "chase after" things, I think it often does result in anxiety and other tricky emotions when our goals aren't realized. (or even if they are, because we then flip to seeking even more) So even though the emphasis seems to be placed on anxiety/worry here, there still seems to be a natural connection to striving for things.

The other interesting application I see here from my context is looking out into a world of need -- people are malnourished, people are suffering. Perhaps one flavor of what Jesus is saying is that while we of course know that food and shelter (etc) are very important, it’s actually more effective in the long term not to obsess over those things, but to instead seek the kingdom of God. And if you seek the kingdom of God with your whole heart, guess what, the details of life will typically -- perhaps even mystically -- take care of themselves. Some might (many do) feel the same about trying to help others: If you see hungry and sick people in the world, one might think that trying to address their immediate needs is of utmost importance, while others might feel that the real key is instead seeking the kingdom of God, which adds additional central practices there such as spreading the Gospel, making disciples, etc. That builds a wholeness that implicitly takes care of hunger and sickness. This of course doesn’t imply that we shoo away hungry and sick people, (or even that we don't seek them out) but it does suggest that our strategy for helping the world needs to be rooted in seeking God’s kingdom first, and feeding and caring for people as a part of that, but not seen as separate or superior to the other aspects of kingdom building. I wonder if this statement by Jesus of “But strive first for the kingdom of God[c] and his[d] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” applies to this line of thinking/understanding as I’m supposing.

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