Matthew 5:13-20

This passage occurs in the Epiphany season of the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A), most recently February 2023.

Summary:
The basic meaning of the passage should not be lost:  Discipleship of Jesus means living our lives in contrast to the world's general order.  This might invite the preacher to lean heavily on the law for such a sermon.  A closer examination of verses 18-20 suggests that Jesus clearly rejects the law as a path to salvation.  First, those who don't do law are still in the kingdom of heaven; second, those who love the law do not have the necessary righteousness and finally, the law eventually will give way in the new creation. 

Key words:
μωρανθη ("lost flavor" or "made fools," aorist passive subjunctive of μωραινω, 5:13):  The word here means "lose flavor" but elsewhere means "make fools."  Paul uses this saying that people, thinking they are wise, have become fools (Romans 1:22; 1 Cor 1:20).  Interesting to think about salt (ie, us) becoming fools!  Maybe this is precisely the call of the beatitudes and the sermon on the mount:  We are to become beaten down by the world, trampled underfoot.  Perhaps more inviting -- when we've lost our way in life, the way forward is humility, falling back to the ground.  Our hope is not in the world's kindness, but the power of Christ's resurrection to renew and restore us.

αλας (salt, 5:13)  Salt was valuable in the ancient world.  It is a working mineral, not one to be observed.  It receives no benefit from its own actions either.  Lastly, one molecule isn't particularly useful; why you plural are the salt of the earth!

ορος ("mountain" or "hill", 5:14).  A small reminder that this passage takes place during the sermon on the mount!  In another blog post I look at how Matthew uses mountains.

λαμπει ("shine," of λαμπω, 5:15; also 5:16; also 17:2, during transfiguration).  The only time anyone truly shines in the Gospel of Matthew is Jesus during the transfiguration.  A reminder that the church only functions as the light when it reflects the light of Christ.

As someone said in Bible study:  American culture teaches the first half: let your light so shine... ; the church must confess and instill the second half, to glorify your father in meaven!

νομισητε ("think," aorist subjunctive of νομιζω, 5:17).  Jesus kind of does a play on words here.  He says that he has not come to abolish the law (νομος).  He starts out the sentence with a verb that has the same root.  Okay, nothing here for a sermon, more a little smile when you read the Greek :-)

ιωτα  ("iota," 5:18).  This is fascinating.  The law here has already been translated from Hebrew to Greek.  The tiddle of Hebrew has been changed.  Yet Jesus argues that even the smallest point of the law remains.  So do we assume here that this means the law is so eternal that it transcends language?

εως ("until," 5:18).  It is worth stopping for a second here -- until heaven and earth pass away, the law remains in power.  This suggests that the law is incredibly enduring, yet not eternal.  It too shall pass away.  It is worth remembering that the law was given to deal with sin (Galatians 3:19).  Once sin is gone, no more need for the law.  However, we will not get rid of sin until heaven and earth pass away and therefore, the law is with us.

ποιηση ("do" aorist subjunctive of ποιεω, 5:19):  Alas my Lutheran heart sinks.  Jesus actually expects us to do stuff.  It is fascinating to look up the word faith in the Gospel of Matthew.  Faith leads to sins being forgiven (9:2), heals people (9:22; 9:29; 13:58; 15:28), moves mountains (17:20), empowers prayer (21:22).  So it is not that faith and justification are separate in Matthew's Gospel.; rather, Jesus expects people to do stuff!

δικαιοσυνη ("righteousness"; 5:20)  If the Pharisees and teachers of the law have not achieved enough righteousness before the law to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, what hope do we all have?  Practically, I think Jesus reminds us that observation of the law is not just about the letter, but also the Spirit (which the Pharisees miss).  Existentially and ultimately, this verse, like so many others in Scripture, reveals that our righteousness before the law is not what gets us into heaven.  Even the most law observing people cannot achieve righteousness.  However, Jesus said in the verse prior that  people who don't do the right things are the least in the Kingdom.  So we need a righteousness that exceeds the most moral of people to get in; yet the least moral get in.  Clearly, righteousness before the heavenly throne is not based on the law.

Grammar review α:

Hebrew poetry rhymes in images rather than sounds.  I can't help but think this is a Hebrew rhyme: salt of the earth and light of the world.  In what way do they play off each other?  Resonate and clarify each other?

Grammar review β:  How to translate the aorist subjunctive
As you can tell from the words above, Greek likes to employ the aorist subjunctive.  This is both complex yet simple for the English reader.  It is complex because it is used in many and unusual ways.  "Subjunctive" normally refers to hypothetical events.  However, Greek conceives of the subjunctive in some different ways than English.  So understanding what is signified by the aorist subjunctive may not be very intuitive or directly translatable.  What makes it simple is that there are basically six (or so) categories of use and they all have a translation formula.  This passage has a most of the categories for translation.

εαν clause
In 5:13, you have the aorist subjunctive in εαν clause: μωρανθη
The word εαν signifies an uncertain event (technically ει αν) and will almost certainly have a verb in the subjunctive mood.  In this case, Jesus is saying that the salt may or may not lose its flavor.  The way to translate this is with the word "if."  If salt loses its flavor...

εαν + μη or ει + μη clause
In 5:20 you have this in εαν μη περισσευση.  The way to translate this is with "unless"

ος αν clause
This is akin to εαν in terms of hypothetical translations.  In 5:19 you have this with ποιηση, when its used with ος αν.  In this case you can translate it with, "whoever"

μη prohibition
5:17 reads μη νομισητε.  Greek will put simple commands in the μη + aorist subjunctive.  This implies that the listener should do this activity without implication of the action being on-going.  You could think of this as a prohibition.  It is how Greek does negative aorist prohibitions.  Like "Don't eat that" would employ aorist subjunctive.  In contrast, when Jesus says, for example, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," he uses the present tense, implying that they were worrying and they shouldn't ever again.  The way you translate this use of the aorist subjunctive is by saying, "Do not XYZ."  Aorist subjunctive makes no implication about past or future action.

ου μη prohibition
5:20  ου μη εισελθητε.  This simply should be translated as "no, not ever"  Strongest negative possible in Greek!

Matthew 4:12-23

This passage occurs in the Epiphany season of the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A), most recently January 22, 2023.
 
Summary: Reading how Matthew describes the call of the disciples after John's description seems unfair.  John created a work of art.  Matthew's seems like a clean-up job on Mark!  However, Matthew's touch-up work is good theology and good writing.  But what interests me is something Matthew doesn't clean up from Mark, namely Jesus' command to his disciples to "Follow me."  Actually, Jesus never says "Follow me."  He barks out three words, none of which are a verb:  "Here after me."  A bit rougher indeed than "Come and see" but effective nonetheless.  Get out of the way and let Jesus shake up the people!

Also worth noting:  The Greek reading of Matthew 4:17 is the foundation for Thesis 1 of the Luther's 95.

2023 note:  There is a strong note of community here as well as reconciliation.

Key Words:
μετανοειτε (4:17; "Repent"):  It is worth pointing out that this verse, Matthew 4:17, begins the 95 thesis.  Luther had grown up reading the Vulgate, which translated this as, "Do penance."  Luther's reading of Greek helped him see the deeper ethical (and existential demand) of Jesus:  Always and continually repent.  It is not an aorist (one-time) command, but a present tense command, which indicates the intent is for continued action.  Thus Luther says that when Jesus says this, "He wills that the whole life be one of repentance."

I am also struck this year (2023) that this is a plural command.  This command to repent was never simply for an individual.  Also interesting the disciples leave in pairs!

καταλιπων (here a participle form of καταλειπω, 4:13; "abandon"):  Jesus leaves his hometown.  This is something that Mark leaves out.  I like this detail though because before Jesus asks his disciple's to leave their home, he has already left his. 

κατωκησεν (from κατοικεω, "dwell", 4:13)  I don't think I had seen the word "οικεω" in this word.  Before Jesus calls people, he gets to know the territory.  

πληρωθη (πληροω, 4:14; "fulfilled"):  One of the cliches regarding the Gospels is that Matthew wrote for Jews; Luke for gentiles.  However, a quick search on this verb reveals that Luke takes nearly as much time as Matthew to connect Jesus' actions as "fulfilling" OT prophecies.  The only Gospel writer seemingly unconcerned with fulfillment of the OT is Mark.  Helpful to remember that in the year of Matthew (and Luke) we will find lots of direct OT connections.

βαλλοντας (from "βαλλω", 4:18)  To cast means to throw.  Which means the disciples are letting go!  The first criteria that Jesus looks for is people who can "Let it go!"

δευτε (with οπισω μου, 4:19; "Follow??"):  This word is not a verb.  It is more of an adverb like "quick" or an interjection, like "Here!" or "Come on!"  Jesus does not literally say, "Follow me" using the Greek word follow.  He simply says, "Hey, Come on!  After me!"  In other words, "Follow me" makes it sound like Jesus even gave them more instructions than he did.

ποιησω (4:19; "I will make"):  It is helpful to remember that the task of becoming disciples is not one that we accomplish, but rather Jesus says he will make them fishers (of men).  Jesus is the subject of transformation; we are the object.

καταρτιζοντας (from καταρτιζω, meaning "mend", 4:21)  The second criteria Jesus look for in disciples are people who can mend.  The world needs mending!  

Note:  This word is fascinating; I don't think its translated the same way twice.  It has a broad meaning of making something whole and complete again.

Gal. 6:1   If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore them in a spirit of gentleness.

1Th. 3:10 ...as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Ephesians 4:12 ...to equip (noun form) the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 

Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Grammar review/ sentence translation:  Let me know if anyone reads this section.  I am trying a different format here.
4:14  ινα πληρωθη το ρηθεν δια Ησαιου του προφητου λεγοντος
NRS Matthew 4:14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

A couple of points:
1)  When you have a ινα, expect a verb in the subjunctive form.  Don't translate it with "would" as you might; just know that in Greek the ινα demands a subjunctive verb:  "in order to do X"  In this case, "in order to be fulfilled"
2)   Notice the -ου suffix train?  Three words in a row.  Nice to connect them:  "the prophet Isaiah." 
3)   There are two participles.  One is nice.  One is not.  The nice one is λεγοντος.  This circumstantial is surprisingly nice because your brain can probably recognize the root verb and figure out...the prophet Isaiah is saying something.  Although circumstantial participles are often difficult to translate, λεγοντος is so common you might even be able to recognize it and simply translate it "saying."  Lastly, even if you don't include it, you still get the sentence correct, "What was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:"
The hard participle is το ρηθεν.  It is hard to recognize the participle, in this case the aorist passive form of  λεγω.  It is also a substantive, so you translate it in the form, "The one who/what/which XYZ."  Because it is passive, it is "The one who/which/what XYZ (in passive form)"  In this case, "The one which is said."  Since it is aorist, it is the "the one which was said."  "The one" sounds silly so we just make it:  The thing.
Yuck
4)  The preposition is δια.  So, you could read it, "The word spoken by the prophet Isaiah."  However, this stretches the preposition's meaning.  The more natural reading is, "The thing spoken through the prophet Isaiah."  Who says Matthew doesn't have a concept of the word as an eternal substance coming down to earth??

Matthew 3:1-17, Jesus Baptism, (and Mark 1:4-11)

I have done a number of blog posts in the past on the Baptism of Jesus:

http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2010/12/matthew-31-12.html

http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2012/02/mark-19-15.html

http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2011/11/mark-11-8.html

A further comment for this year, especially for those preaching on the Gospel of Matthew.

A key word in Matthew's portrayal of the Baptism is:

μετανοια (metanoia, meaning "repentance", 3:8)  It might be tempting to dismiss these harsh words: "bear fruit worthy of repentance" or "the axe is ready..." We might want to view them simply as words of John the Baptist.  This would neglect the subsequent call of Jesus to repentance (Matthew 4:17) or his praise of repentance (Matthew 11:21).  Furthermore, it would dismiss the repeated passages where Jesus promises to burn away that which does not yield fruit (καρπος): 

• Matthew 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
• Matthew 13:5-6  Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.  But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
• Matthew 13:30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.' (In Greek the wheat "grain" is actually the word for fruit).

One could argue that in Matthew's Gospel, the Gospel in a nutshell is, "For God so loved the world, that he sent his son burn all that was not good."  In short, Matthew's Gospel and the words of John the Baptist provide the antidote to Baptismal theology robbed of its roots in repentance and destruction of the old Adam.  For Lutherans we have the language of this in our catechisms - what does Baptism mean for daily living?  "It means that our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever."

How do we preach this?  One could finesse; one could beat people down.  It is okay to start a fire this Sunday.  Just make sure you use the waters of Baptism to put out the fire and bring forth the new life. 

Matthew 3:13-17

This passage occurs for the Baptism of Jesus in Revised Common Lectionary (Year A).
 
Summary:
Unpacking this short passage of Jesus' Baptism is a delight.  What caught my eye this time was the word for dove, περιστερα.  This word can also mean pigeon.  Imagine...God's Holy Spirit finally taking shape...as a lowly pigeon!  I think that kind of captures the reality of Baptism...God working through pigeons like you and me!

Key Words:
βαπτιζω ("baptize"; 3:11,13,14,17):  Baptize is fairly straight-forward in Matthew's Gospel.  John does it to people; Jesus is baptized; Jesus tells people to baptize disciples in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  As I have mentioned before, it simply meant to dip in Hellenistic times. For your enjoyment, here are the Liddell-Scott hellenestic meanings of the word. Wow!

I. trans. to dip in water
2. to dip in poison
3. to dip in dye, to dye
4. to draw water

II. intransitive the ship dipped, sank

περιστερα ("dove" or "pigeon"; 3:16).  What a difference it would make if our imagery was of an ugly black pigeon...but a few other key points in Scripture this little bird appears:
1)  During Noah's flood, the bird that brings him the olive branch is the dove
2)  When God makes his first covenant with Abram, Abram must offer a dove
3)  In Leviticus, the poor could offer a dove/pigeon for a sacrifice
4)  In all four Gospels, the dove descends on Jesus as he is being baptized
5)  Jesus turns out the doves (and their merchants) in the temple.

It is kind of interesting if you make out the spirit to be an ugly black pigeon that only the poor use for a sacrifice.  That is the vehicle through which the spirit works!

ευδοκεω:  (3:17; pleased).  Matthew also employs this verb when quoting Isaiah in chapter:

• "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I take great delight. I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.  He will not quarrel or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope."(12:19-21)

What is the hope of the Gentiles?  Baptism, of course, where they are connected to the promises of God!

δικαισυνη (3:15, what God requires, righteousness)  Discussing this word could fill a million blog posts (it probably has).  It can mean "justification" and "righteousness" in Greek.  The Greek word carries with it both a legal sense and a relational sense that is difficult for us to capture in one word.

For example, this word is employed like this in the Septuagint (the first two emphasize the relational aspect of righteousness; the latter two the judicial aspect):

• In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed; you guided them by your strength to your holy abode. Exodus 15:13
• Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness.  Psalm 143:1
• ...judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.  1 Kings 8:32
• the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.  Psalm 98:9

Within the context of Matthew 3, does Jesus get baptized to fulfill the law and its requirements or does Jesus get baptized to heal the broken relationships in the world? 

Of course the answer is "both" "and".  However, how one leans will determine the shape of one's ministry.  In the American context, the legal sense of righteousness -- "justification" has been combined with our individualism and even consumerism to produce a Jesus who enacts a legal transaction on the cross to pay the debt of my sins that now I must choose to accept for myself.  To play my own hand, my sense is that when Jesus talks about fulfilling all righteousness, he has a deeper sense of restoring all the broken relationships in this world.  The gift of the legal justification is for the enactment of the reconciliation between all creation.

Grammar Review:  "Articular Infinitive"

Greek has a million ways to express the intention of something.  A very intentional people if you will!  One of these such ways is through the "articular infinitive."  See verse 13:  του βαπτισθηναι.  Literally you might read this as:  "Jesus...to John of the baptizing."  However, because you have an article+ infinitive you can read this as "to John for the purpose of being baptized" or leave it as an infinite in English, "to John to be baptized."  In this particular example, the infinitive is in the passive (notice the θη suffix).  Question:  What else suggests its passive?  (Besides the overall context of the sentence?  Hint:  prepositions!)

Sentence Analysis:  3:16  βαπτισθεις δε ο Ιησους ευθυς ανεβη απο του υδατος και ιδου ηνεωχθησαν οι ουρανοι, και ειδεν το πνευμα ωσει περιστεραν ερχομενον επ αυτον

Divide and conquer!  Use the grammar markings (which I cannot easily copy) to help you here
1) βαπτισθεις δε ο Ιησους ευθυς ανεβη απο του υδατος  
2)  και ιδου ηνεωχθησαν οι ουρανοι
3)  και ειδεν το πνευμα ωσει περιστεραν ερχομενον επ αυτον

1) βαπτισθεις δε ο Ιησους ευθυς ανεβη απο του υδατος

Here we have a fairly easy sentence -- trust me.  Let's divide it up
βαπτισθεις:  Participle, but even if you don't know that, you recognize something with Baptism!
δε:  worry about later
ο Ιησους:  Subject
ευθυς:  worry about later
ανεβη:  main verb
απο του υδατος:  prepositional phrase

Get your subject and main verb:  Jesus came up/rose
Now add in the prepositional phrase:  Jesus came up out of the water.  hmm...Jesus rose from the water.

Now add in the little words (look up what they mean):  And Jesus came up immediately out of the water
Alas, what to do with the participle?  Simple...in this case just stack it onto the beginning of the sentence (but first make it an aorist passive...ie past tense passive):
"Baptized, Jesus immediatedly rose out of the water."
Do we need to smooth out the pariciple?  (Technically determine the circumstances under which it happened?)  Add any other phrases or adverbs?  We could do:
"After Jesus was baptized..." however, we cannot do "While Jesus was baptized..."  We cannot do this because the participle is aorist which means it happened before the main verb.
So, "After Jesus was baptized, he rose from the water."
2)  και ιδου ηνεωχθησαν οι ουρανοι
This is even easier.  Word for word: 
and behold opened the heavens.
The only tricky part is translating the aorist passive verb, but not really, because we have this in English:  "The heavens were opened."  (in my mind, hard translation from Greek is when we don't have something really similar...in this case we do:  Simple past passive.)  You know its aorist passive by the θησ suffix in the middle.

So, "After Jesus was baptized, he rose from the water.  And behold, the heavens were opened."

3) και ειδεν το πνευμα ωσει περιστεραν ερχομενον επ αυτον

Let's divide up here, again, as always, trying to find subject and main verb:
και: filler
ειδεν:  main verb
το πνευμα: subject
ωσει περιστεραν ερχομενον επ αυτον:  let's come back to it.

So if we put verb+subject together, we get " And the spirit saw.

Hmm...what is going wrong here?  Well, it turns out that the word Spirit looks the same in the nominative and accusative case.  So actually, the subject is Jesus and the spirit is the object.  "And he saw the Spirit."

ωσει περιστεραν ερχομενον επ αυτον:  Literally:  "like (a) pigeon/dove coming upon him."

Two things worth pointing out:  First, for your own exploration, notice how Mark and Matthew differ on prepositions here...
But more over, the participle here is not that hard to translate.  it is always worth sticking in the easy translation of the participle (for present, add "ing" to the end of verb; to aorist participles add "ed" to the verb) and see what happens.  In this case, the participle modifies the pigeon/dove so it works out nicely.

Final translation:
So, "After Jesus was baptized, he rose from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened.  Jesus saw the Spirit like a pigeon coming upon him."

(ΝRSV)  And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.