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 138-139

New Testament Notes 138-139

Last updated on: March 22, 2019 at 11:51 pm by Dan Peterson

New Testament Notes 138-139 2019-03-22T23:51:48-06:00 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.

The ruins of Capernaum as they appear today. The entrance is from the right. The ancient synagogue, in white stone, sits before the large covering of the Franciscan church built above the likely foundations of the house of the apostle Peter. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

Matthew 9:18-26

Mark 5:21-43

Luke 8:40-56

These passages are interesting, structurally, because of the way in which they enclose an account of the healing of a woman with a hemorrhage (which I’ve already briefly discussed here) within the story of the healing of the daughter of Jairus.

Quite a few years ago, I published a column in the Deseret News on Carl Bloch’s wonderful painting of the moment just before Jesus raised the little girl from the dead:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705372035/Artist-memorably-captured-moment-before-Saviors-miracle.html?pg=all

That painting can be seen — and should be seen! — here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-daughter-of-jairus-carl-bloch.html

Looking from Mount Precipice toward Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Wikimedia Commons public domain)

Matthew 13:53-58

Mark 6:1-6

Luke 4:16-30

Compare John 4:44; 6:42; 7:15; 10:39

To me, there are few passages of scripture more stirring than the description of Jesus’ comments in the synagogue at Nazareth:

16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

(New American Standard Version)

I suppose it’s not surprising that people who think that they know somebody well will be inclined to be unimpressed with that person. Familiarity, as the saying goes, breeds contempt.

No man, as another saying has it, is a hero to his valet.

The source of this dictum is unclear, but Montaigne (d. 1592) said “Peu d’hommes ont esté admirés par leurs domestiques*,*” and Madame Cornuel (d. 1694) wrote to similar effect: “Il n’y a pas de grand homme pour son valet de chambre.”

There’s a statement attributed to the German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, though, that I think handles this proverb well: “No man is a hero to his valet. This is not because the hero is not a hero, but because the valet is a valet.”

Tours of Christian sites in Israel still go — I’ll take a group there in about a month and a half — to the traditional site at which the people of Nazareth sought to toss Jesus from a cliff. It’s called Mount Precipice. Whether it’s the right place or not, I don’t know. It might well be. In any case, it has a wonderful view. Tourists there begin to realize just how close together many of the famous biblical sites are, covering the whole long range of biblical chronology.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 22, 2019

Seven years ago

Next Post

March 23, 2019 Theism, Power, and Wealth

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

True or False: The Ten Commandments were written on three stone tablets.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE