Lesson 3, pp. 16 21 TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH IHOP BIBLE STUDY Topic: Matthew 4: 12 to 4: 25 Galilean Internship The gospel of Matthew s message is powerful and relevant to our current human situation. Matthew s purpose is to give us a training manual for teaching the Deeply Satisfied Life. This material is developed for the early church, but is applicable for us today. Matthew s teaching role model is Jesus. The Deeply Satisfied Life is the experience ( Gut Trip Analysis ) of the term Sanctification (which is an Old Christian Code Word understood as Head Trip Analysis). This is our third lesson in this series, and is associated with Preparing The Teacher. My reflections on the gospel give us the overall title of The Training Manual For Teaching The Transparent Sanctified Life. With this metaphor established, let us continue. A Partial Summary Chart of the Gospel of Matthew Preparing the Teacher The Birth of the Teacher Training of a Teacher Genealogy: Note the Women Christmas, Escape to Egypt and return Instructions and test time Galilean Internship 1: 1 1: 17 1: 18 2: 23 3: 1 4:11 4: 12 4: 25 Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12: 34 I. Read the assigned reading at one time. II. This section of the chart is titled the Galilean Internship. Jesus stays in Northern Palestine for most of Matthew s Gospel! It is not until Chapter 16: 21 that Jesus acknowledges the necessity of going to Jerusalem. In Chapter 17, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up to the Mount of Transfiguration. Here, Jesus gets new marching orders to go to Jerusalem. III. Note that this Galilean Internship begins with the words of Isaiah 9:1, 2. This reading is from 1st Isaiah. Recall that the first 39 chapters may be written 150 years before 2nd Isaiah. Some scholars identify three separate letters representing three periods of Hebrew history. 16
1. Speculate on the significance of the words of Isaiah as they can be applied to this early internship. Why do you think Matthew chose this experience of Jesus to record? IV. Chapter 4: 17 Another way to get the message of Jesus is to think of this Internship period as the time when Jesus wrote down his theological purpose. For those of you who have been in seminary, today s scriptures could be his Credo. 1. How does Jesus' stated purpose compare with your own stated purpose. Is your credo different from Jesus credo? How come? IHOPer comment: If we say that Jesus' credo is, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near," and then I guess my credo if I have one is not the same. You may be closer than you think! I think Jesus had many different branches of theological purpose. Check this out. I think if I really thought about it my purpose might be to show people (specifically my art students) what is wonderful about them and what is wonderful about their classmates. When you find something beautiful about each other, you just have to treat each other with more kindness. I think that Jesus was into that line of thinking. Actually I know that he was. WS: Yes, indeed. The old Christian Code Words "Kingdom of Heaven" is the difficulty. As you ran these words through your gut you affirmed the EXPERIENCE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. This Kingdom is illuminated as At-One-Ment; it is the experience of Perfect At-One-Ment. 2. The message of repentance This is an Old Christian Code Word. What is your experience of this word? Please work hard to avoid Head Trip Analysis. The encouraging word is that repentance is as common human experience as is the word love. Chew on this for a while, and dialogue with me on-line. IHOPer comment: I looked in your book to see if I was on the right track but I didn't find this word when I was looking so I will be bold and just answer anyway. I guess it is like recognizing the separation (sin) between you and God and or you and others and deciding to do something about it, like making a change in yourself for the better. My experience of this is that it is hard to change but it usually makes you feel good in the end even though it was hard. WS: Now I know someone who can write an additional chapter on "Repentance" for my book.** The traditional definition of repentance means to turn to look in a new direction. Note that this turning leaves you in the same circumstances, except you are looking in a new direction. Looking in a new direction is a persistent theme for Jesus. The second note is to observe that our circumstances never change. We are the one's who are changed we are looking in a new direction. V. The Calling of the First Disciples 4:18 22. In a manner of speaking, this may be the way in which Jesus put together his staff. Look closely how he went about this task. Reflect on the experience of these men and their families. What is the significance of this particular ministry that made it so attractive for these disciples to immediately say Yes? IHOPer comment: Honestly, I don't know. I don't think I would have gone if that was all that was said to me Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people. I think I would have said no thanks and went back to fishing unless I was looking for a way out of the life I was accustomed to. Maybe I would have gone with him just to see what in the world he was talking about. I always have wondered what the rest of the story was. Did their families approve? Was there more conversation? 17
WS: The answer here needs a little more massaging of our old Christian Code Words. For now, it is enough to say that Christians always are the YES" people. The experience is when we first say "NO," then we block all of our options. If our first response is "YES," then we can prioritize our responses: our "YES" can mean right now; or our "YES" can mean we'll do it later. The movie "Joe vs. The Volcano-- with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan--illustrates this perfectly. Hanks says an immediate and non-reflective "YES" to jumping into a volcano for a people to whom he owes nothing. Then, he and Meg both jump together! Obviously, he is the Christ figure, and she is The Bride of Christ: The Church. Interesting. Can you associate any books you ve read, or movies you ve seen, in which people made such radical decisions so quickly? (Joe vs. the Volcano, and the Matrix movies come to my mind.) IHOPer comment: The only movie I found like that in looking through my collection is Romeo and Juliet where after they meet for the first time later that evening they decide to marry. I also read a book called, "The Bean Trees," where the main character decides upon turning 18 to change her name and start driving to anywhere to start her life and ends up with a three year old abused child given to her by a woman in a diner so that she will be safe. Pretty radical decisions in my opinion. WS: Thanks for a more sophisticated illustration. Have you personally responded in such fashion? When and why? Please share your experience with us. IHOPer comment: I don't really think many of the decisions I have made are very radical. I was once offered a job at a church camp that would start the next day. I did not know the place or the people but I went anyway and I knew that I would be stuck there for five weeks. Turned out to be a good experience. WS: From my perspective, this is a good illustration of living in The Kingdom of God. Also, it illustrates The Spiritual Oasis. Do you see the miracle produced here? VI. The third inner lesson concerns the experience of healing. Can you speculate on why Matthew chooses to make healing the final test for Jesus internship? Observe that Jesus is practicing outside of his Jewish district up in Syria and in the Decapolis. Jesus really studied hard for the final presentation of his thesis: Repentance Produces Miracles. IHOPer comment: I don't know why healing is the clincher but I guess maybe it is because the ability to heal someone of a serious illness or any ailment for that matter is very impressive. I know about what it is like to be really sick and not be able to get well and how lonely that can feel. I also know what it is like to get well in a way that you didn't expect and make a miracle type recovery. Mine was 7 ½ months of constant muscle spasms, pain, and difficulty walking. If you have not experienced that then you probably know someone who is sick and seemingly no one can help them. It is really amazing to go from a very sick state to being okay again. Healing isn't always like not being able to walk and then walking again. Sometimes healing is taking place in a less obvious way like in your soul. It is obvious to those who know you well but not everyone. I really identify with the stories of people wanting Jesus to heal them. Soul wounds can be just as debilitating as physical ones. WS: Thanks so much for sharing. This kind of thinking is a continuation of your 18
physical and spiritual healing. Two things to think about FIRST, God is not in the business of changing circumstances. If this were true, then we are victims of a petulant God: "Why didn't God heal us in the first place? It doesn't work this way, although this is a very popular and relevant way of thinking. This kind of thinking is evidence that we make OBJECTS of our faith: God is an object out there who does miracles for us so that "good things happen to good people." THE WAY LIFE IS does these things to us. When you experienced the remission of your illness, you expressed your deep gratitude and we rejoice with you. However, this emission is as deeply mysterious as getting the pain in the first place! THE WAY LIFE IS is responsible for both! So where does God come into the picture? God does not change our circumstances! GOD CHANGES OUR RELATIONSHIP WE HAVE TO OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. God changes us! When the pains of life become unbearable, the Word tells us to look in a new direction. Observe, this doesn't change the circumstances; still we are in pain. When we look in a new direction, what is changed is our relationship to the pain. In effect we say, "YES!" to the pain. We decide to make the pain our friend instead of our enemy. Do you hear the GOOD NEWS here? The Way Life Is can no longer defeat us, we are no longer victims of our circumstances; we can be victors. This is Good News. It is REPENTANCE that results in healing. It is looking at our physical ailments from a new perspective. I suppose an interesting result of this new direction is that some of our physical circumstances are psychosomatic. Healing our psychic (our soul-relationship?) brings healing to our bodies. SECOND, it is helpful to remember that the Bible is built on metaphors. The danger is approaching the bible literally. Why this is dangerous is that the literal approach misses the significance of the bible's message. IHOPer comment, you provide the evidence for this illustration. Taking the miracle of healing literally makes no human sense to us because it is out of our realm OF EXPERIENCE. As I ruminate on this, an old hymn comes to mind, There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole. What is the experience of the Good News of Repentance, and how does it get applied to wounded souls? IHOPer comment: I guess if I am honest with myself I have "wounds" that I carry with me and Jesus can heal them if I let that happen. You have to choose to "get well" if it is the kind of wound that is a soul wound. WS: You are on target here; it is a matter of your choice to be a victim or a victor. Our being victimized (wounded) is without question. It may be helpful to add here the danger of making an OBJECT of our healing: "If Jesus can heal them..." Taken from "Gut Trip Analysis," the Christ already turned our heads in a new direction, and we have yet to awaken and make the transition. This healing is already accomplished, ONLY WE CAN ACCEPT IT! This is the "choice" we have to make. ABOUT THIS SCRIPTURE: Material from SermonStarter--- Mt. 4: 12 to 23, Year A. Prelude: At our United Methodist Seminary, like St. Paul s School of Theology, this is a time when seniors write their Credos. This is a very serious business of seminarians because their professors carefully read and critique them, and then the students are 19
asked to verbally defend them before their professors. It s a scary time. I m not certain that Jesus was all that scared, but today s reading can be considered apart of Jesus Credo This I believe. The Key: Vs. 16, The people in darkness have seen a great light. In this sermon we move from the land in the shadow of death to live in the land of the great light. ABOUT THIS SCRIPTURE: Material from SermonStarter--- Mt. 4: 12 to 25, Year A. The Mission of Isaiah In God s conversation with Abram, and later with Moses, the challenge for the Nation of Israel was to take the message of God s love to all the world. The one big problem is that the Promised Land given by God belonged to someone else, and the Nation spent most of its time defending what they thought God gave to them. This made their work of spreading the Good News of God s love a difficult process. Prior to The Babylonian Exile, Jeremiah forth-told (the examination of the Times and what would be the result) that Judah (southern Palestine) would be defeated because they had failed to be obedient to the 10 Commandments. Isaiah contradicted Jeremiah, believing they would be defeated because they failed to be obedient to their assignment of spreading God s love. As we know, Jesus picks up Isaiah s format (Isaiah 9: 1 & 2) as his own. The Purpose of Matthew--- It is necessary to add to the statement above about Matthew that Jesus Teaching Manual begins with establishing an internship, of which the material is printed in the early chapters of Matthew. Also, at this point Jesus is writing his theological credo. The Kingdom of Heaven--- In Gut Trip Analysis, all theological terms are to first taken experientially. The first question always is, How do we experience them? In this regard, the KOH is not a place but rather a relationship. When we experience a sense of deep satisfaction after a hard day s labor then we have experienced a little bit of living in the presence of God; i.e., the kingdom of heaven. Repentance--- Repentance is experienced as a turning around. The function of repentance is not to change my human circumstance, but rather to change me; i.e., to transform my perception of my problem. Take, for instance, the Bus Stop story: A man waits at a city bus stop under a sign saying The Bus Stops Here Every 15 minutes. After waiting for 30 minutes, a neighbor comes by asking, Are you waiting for the bus? When we affirm that we are, the neighbor informs us, I ve got good news for you; the bus doesn t stop here any more. Is this Good News? Ah, yes, we can stop waiting and start walking. Has this information changed the Bus Stop? Not at all but now my perception of my situation is changed, and I can do something about me. Do you hear the Good News in this? Repentance is frequently defined as looking in a new direction. While standing in the same place, but now I can look in a new direction and find hope. Christians are Yes people--- One IHOP correspondent said it was unrealistic that Peter and Andrew, and James and John, would respond so quickly as simply to leave their fishing equipment and father Zebedee in the boat and leave to follow Jesus. My response to her was to note that Christians are the Yes people. Our first response always is Yes. If our first response, No, then we limit our options. However, when we first respond with Yes, then we can add qualifiers as necessary. In the movie Joe Vs. the Volcano, Joe is confronted with the possibility of jumping into a volcano on behalf of a Jewish remnant who had integrated into the Polynesian island community. Joe (Tom Hanks) thinks for 20
just a second, and responds, OK! This is a prime example of Christian surrender (faith). Nazareth and Zebulun/Naphtali, and Galilee of the Gentiles--- In the New Testament place names are to be treated as Theological Geography. The writers of the New Testament are like today s TV or movie producers. Nothing can be left to chance, and every word, action, backdrop, activity, raised eyebrow, or song choice has a purpose. Consequently, the NT writers set the location of their material very deliberately. Gut Trip Analysis helps us immeasurably. In today s scripture, Nazareth, the Safe Place, is the place Jesus leaves. So what does Nazareth represent but a place of deep familiarity. Jesus is choosing to expose himself to something that is unfamiliar and this is the Gentile world. So the question for us is, How do we experience the Gentile world? First, we are Gentiles. Second, our human experience is constantly exposed to situations and circumstances that are totally unfamiliar and frightening. This can be as personal as getting lost using a road map, to those with dementia, the loss of a relationship, or going broke or winning the lottery. The solution is that there is no place where Jesus hasn t already left Nazareth and found his way into our lost world. The Good News is that we can look in a new direction (repent) and see Jesus leading the way out. A persistent theme of Theological Geography. Gut Trip Analysis always treats any geography mentioned in the Gospels as theological metaphors. Consequently, physical geography is not germane to the message. Vs. 12, Returned to Galilee Galilee represents our spiritual home, the place of our intended living in a relationship to God. Vs. 13, Leaving Nazareth He went and lived in Capernaum Nazareth is a place of familiarity. Capernaum is in Gentile territory; a place of unfamiliarity. From our perspective, Nazareth is home while Capernaum is a place of danger. Vs. 15B, the Galilee of the Gentiles A place of darkness and a type of death. Vs. 17B, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near Gut Trip treats the KOH as a relationship and not a place. Vs. 18A, Jesus walking besides the Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee can represent living in a sense of place or living in our spiritual home. Also, there may be some baptismal imagery here too. 21