Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
New Testament Notes 50-53

New Testament Notes 50-53

Last updated on: March 11, 2019 at 12:12 am by Dan Peterson

New Testament Notes 50-53 2019-03-11T00:12:27-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A view, from the Mount of Beatitudes, of the Sea of Galilee with the Golan Heights in the background
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

Matthew 4:24; 5:1-12

Compare Mark 3:7-13; Luke 6:17-23

I have a very great deal to say about the Beatitudes, but not the time to say very much of it right now. I hope to eventually write a small book on them.

For right now, I’ll content myself with a brief comment about Matthew 5:6, which reads “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

A Dutch-language map showing the geographical relationship between Athens and Piraeus.

(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

There’s a story that’s told about the iconic Greek philosopher Socrates, who was supposedly standing, one day, near the seashore — perhaps (I don’t recall, offhand) near the Athenian port city of Piraeus — when a man approached him, asking to be his disciple.

Socrates, who was reputedly extremely strong (as well as extremely ugly), suggested that the man follow him out into the surf. Puzzled, the man did as he was asked.

When they had walked some distance into the water, Socrates suddenly grabbed the man and thrust his head into the water, holding him down for an uncomfortably long time. Finally, he allowed the man to surface again, telling him “When you seek the truth as desperately as you were craving air just now, you can be my disciple.”

How many of us really “hunger and thirst for righteousness” with anything remotely approaching that degree of intensity?

Jesus didn’t say “Blessed are those who kinda imagine that righteousness might possibly be sort of a good idea,” or “Blessed are those who approve of righteousness when they aren’t busy with something else and just happen to think about the subject.”

***

The ‘cardo” or main street of ancient Sepphoris (Tzippori). Note the chariot-wheel ruts.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

Matthew 5:13-16

Compare Mark 4:21; 9:49-50; Luke 8:16; 14:34-35; John 8:12

We sometimes seem to imagine that, eventually, everybody on the planet will accept the Gospel and join the true Church. And, sometimes, we’re derided by critics — especially of the cynical, apostate kind — because the Church has signally failed to convert most of the world.

But I can’t see that the prophecies have ever indicated that the Church would enroll every single man, woman, and child on earth — certainly short of the Second Coming and the Millennium, and, it seems, not even then:

And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.

And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw. (1 Nephi 14:11-12)

When the Savior tells his followers that they’re “the salt of the earth,” that, too, seems to suggest that they won’t predominate in numbers. The imperial church of Constantine and the very political church of the Middle Ages weren’t in his view. A small amount of salt seasons a large dish. (Elsewhere, Jesus compares the Saints to leaven, where the same principle holds.) An entire dish of salt would be entirely unpalatable, so that can’t be what he had in mind.

On an unrelated note, the “city set on a hill” here might well be an allusion to the hilltop town of Sepphoris. It was a booming new area during Jesus’ lifetime, still being constructed, and was within walking distance of Nazareth. The town of Nazareth was too small, probably, to sustain a “builder” (tekton) like Joseph. (There’s little wood in Palestine; he almost certainly wasn’t a carpenter. Not solely a carpenter, anyway. Perhaps “construction worker” will serve as an adequate translation for tekton.) But Sepphoris offered plenty of employment, and the young Jesus may well have walked over with Joseph and helped him in his work. References in the New Testament to corner stones and to building houses on rock rather than sand and so forth suggest some possible background with stonemasonry.

Posted from Richmond, Virginia

Previous Post

February 19, 2019

Is the Church lying to us through its art?

Next Post

February 20, 2019 "Christian Faith in Contemporary China"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Lo-debar" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Valley of rest The Lord’s land No pasture The chosen city