If the link fails, try pasting the url below into your browser.
https://secretpath108.blogspot.com/2021/01/table-of-content.html
Not everyone can receive God's word, Jesus pointed out. Not everyone will appreciate your kindly advice. Careful!
As we say these days, oil and water don't mix.
NEXT PAGE:
Strip for action!
https://secretpath191.blogspot.com/2020/11/strip-for-action.html
As we say these days, oil and water don't mix.
You don't give Temple offerings to the dogs, nor do you toss your pearls in front of pigs. They might run wild and turn on you and tear you up.
This doublet seems to refer to the animal sacrifices offered in the
Temple (and unofficially at other sites in previous times). It is
obscene to give food meant for God and his priests to dogs. Similarly,
one doesn't feed pigs -- which were unclean animals for Jews -- with
precious things like pearls.
So the doublet appears to be a bit of folk wisdom that advises people to be careful with what they share with others. Some people are simply not suited to share in your advice. Most of us have experienced this sort of situation. You give kindly advice about your friend's spouse and he turns and is ever after implacably against you. Or, sometimes experts in Jewish law would not recount their interpretations with certain people who were deemed unfit.
Matthew places the pearls saying right after the two-by-four saying. So the writer likely saw the sayings as easily relating to each other: Don't be critical of others, even if you feel such criticism necessary, or you may get trouble.
Yet I wonder whether Jesus was being quite so simple. It seems to me very possible that the saying fits with the sayings (and parables elsewhere) about the cost of following Jesus. When your gospel light shines from you, everyone can see it. Some of them can't stand it, even if you don't evangelize, and they are bound to cause you trouble. Isn't that exactly what happened to Jesus? Bestial people turned and tore him when he offered spiritual food to the desperate. And Jesus warns his followers to expect persecution. Why? Because the world and the spirit of this world -- Mammon/Satan -- hates their very presence.
Of course it is apparent to anyone that those persons who are altogether in the flesh (ruled by the animal self = the body), who are not at all seeking God, do not want to hear your spiritual gems. The more you try to talk God to them, the more they will resent you, and may very well do you harm, one way or another. For example, suppose you see a drug deal in progress and you urge the parties to desist in order that they not continue hurting themselves. A very possible result is that you will be shot by some money-crazed or drug-crazed gunman.
Of course, that is an extreme example. More usual is the case of the superior who passes you over for promotion while snickering at you behind your back for being a "Jesus freak."
The more a Christian lets his light shine in the world, the more the tendency of the dogs and swine to turn and rend him.
So one interpretation of this couplet might be that those who follow Christ will face persecution. The more their light shines before men, the more some will want to blot out that light. Although it is good advice not to talk to certain people about spiritual matters because they may become enraged and bring about harm, it remains true that the more focused a Christian is on the things of God, the more he stands out like a sore thumb among worldlings, no matter that he tries to be meek and lowly. In particular, people in authority tend to wield power by taking advantage of fear and lack of knowledge. But the Christ in the Christian is not a spirit of fear. And the Spirit provides knowledge that the wordly controllers may wish to conceal.
A Christian who shows little fear and does not respond to the secretive behaviorist "animal training" techniques of oppressors is seen as a major threat. What if others start marching to the beat of a different drummer? The oppressors fear losing their sway (recall the reaction of the Sanhedrin to Jesus words and deeds). And, even worse, many an unregenerate "self" fears its annihilation and is terrorized that the Christian light will cause it to shrivel up and die (which, in fact, is a valid fear, the natural self being an unclean spirit). Oppressors need not be national dictators and their minions; they are often people at school, on the job, or in the family who are unconscious of their true motives.
Yet, persecution helps the Christian and helps to spread God's kingdom, whatever Satan's motives. Persecution is often thought of as "hard testing." One's faith is sorely tried. It may be very tempting to turn away from identifying with Christ when the devil strikes. How deeply rooted is your faith? Would you be able to accept your own murder, and possibly the deaths of loved ones, rather than publicly renounce Christ and his teaching?
Here the Christian enters the Valley of Decision. The true Christian will be delivered out of such trials, though we have the example of the cross to show us how severe the testing can become. I don't say that all real Christians will face being murdered -- though in some parts of the world today Christians do indeed pay with their lives for their faith. But persecution sifts the wheat from the chaff. It tests your mettle. It refines off the dross from your being, and helps you to be more purely committed to God. If you are a real Christian, it makes you a better person even though you have no desire to go through this suffering and temptation.
So, please Lord, lead us not into any temptation that we cannot withstand; and deliver us out of the troubles inflicted by the adversary.
So the doublet appears to be a bit of folk wisdom that advises people to be careful with what they share with others. Some people are simply not suited to share in your advice. Most of us have experienced this sort of situation. You give kindly advice about your friend's spouse and he turns and is ever after implacably against you. Or, sometimes experts in Jewish law would not recount their interpretations with certain people who were deemed unfit.
Matthew places the pearls saying right after the two-by-four saying. So the writer likely saw the sayings as easily relating to each other: Don't be critical of others, even if you feel such criticism necessary, or you may get trouble.
Yet I wonder whether Jesus was being quite so simple. It seems to me very possible that the saying fits with the sayings (and parables elsewhere) about the cost of following Jesus. When your gospel light shines from you, everyone can see it. Some of them can't stand it, even if you don't evangelize, and they are bound to cause you trouble. Isn't that exactly what happened to Jesus? Bestial people turned and tore him when he offered spiritual food to the desperate. And Jesus warns his followers to expect persecution. Why? Because the world and the spirit of this world -- Mammon/Satan -- hates their very presence.
Of course it is apparent to anyone that those persons who are altogether in the flesh (ruled by the animal self = the body), who are not at all seeking God, do not want to hear your spiritual gems. The more you try to talk God to them, the more they will resent you, and may very well do you harm, one way or another. For example, suppose you see a drug deal in progress and you urge the parties to desist in order that they not continue hurting themselves. A very possible result is that you will be shot by some money-crazed or drug-crazed gunman.
Of course, that is an extreme example. More usual is the case of the superior who passes you over for promotion while snickering at you behind your back for being a "Jesus freak."
The more a Christian lets his light shine in the world, the more the tendency of the dogs and swine to turn and rend him.
So one interpretation of this couplet might be that those who follow Christ will face persecution. The more their light shines before men, the more some will want to blot out that light. Although it is good advice not to talk to certain people about spiritual matters because they may become enraged and bring about harm, it remains true that the more focused a Christian is on the things of God, the more he stands out like a sore thumb among worldlings, no matter that he tries to be meek and lowly. In particular, people in authority tend to wield power by taking advantage of fear and lack of knowledge. But the Christ in the Christian is not a spirit of fear. And the Spirit provides knowledge that the wordly controllers may wish to conceal.
A Christian who shows little fear and does not respond to the secretive behaviorist "animal training" techniques of oppressors is seen as a major threat. What if others start marching to the beat of a different drummer? The oppressors fear losing their sway (recall the reaction of the Sanhedrin to Jesus words and deeds). And, even worse, many an unregenerate "self" fears its annihilation and is terrorized that the Christian light will cause it to shrivel up and die (which, in fact, is a valid fear, the natural self being an unclean spirit). Oppressors need not be national dictators and their minions; they are often people at school, on the job, or in the family who are unconscious of their true motives.
Yet, persecution helps the Christian and helps to spread God's kingdom, whatever Satan's motives. Persecution is often thought of as "hard testing." One's faith is sorely tried. It may be very tempting to turn away from identifying with Christ when the devil strikes. How deeply rooted is your faith? Would you be able to accept your own murder, and possibly the deaths of loved ones, rather than publicly renounce Christ and his teaching?
Here the Christian enters the Valley of Decision. The true Christian will be delivered out of such trials, though we have the example of the cross to show us how severe the testing can become. I don't say that all real Christians will face being murdered -- though in some parts of the world today Christians do indeed pay with their lives for their faith. But persecution sifts the wheat from the chaff. It tests your mettle. It refines off the dross from your being, and helps you to be more purely committed to God. If you are a real Christian, it makes you a better person even though you have no desire to go through this suffering and temptation.
So, please Lord, lead us not into any temptation that we cannot withstand; and deliver us out of the troubles inflicted by the adversary.
NEXT PAGE:
Strip for action!
https://secretpath191.blogspot.com/2020/11/strip-for-action.html
No comments:
Post a Comment