Moving Mountains

I was sitting in church this Sunday listening to the sermon on Matthew 21:18-22 and got some pretty cool stuff out of it Specifically verses 21-22. Lets get our feet wet as we explore the text from the first Century Jewish prospective, and speculate to what they may have been thinking and how it may relate to today.

 Matthew 21:18-22



¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Before we jump into the text we need some background information on Jewish culture. First lets look at the scriptures and other texts that the anchient Jews (and many current Jews) would have been intimatly familiar with.


The Tanakh is a accronym for the Torah (The Law aks: first 5 books of the bible), Nebi'im (The Prophets) and Ketuvim (The Writtings) which is what Christians know as the Old Testiment.


The Talmud is a collection of rabbinical writtings that are known as the Oral Torah, believed to have been given to Moses with the Torah, and were preserved orally untill they were written sometime between the second and fith century. The Talmud interpreted, explained and applied the Torah Scriptures. The Talmud has two parts, the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is considered the Law book and consists of legal rulings, teachings of rabbi's between the first and third centuries. The Gemara is a comentary on the Mishnah.


The Midrash is comprised of rabbinical teachings fron fourth through sixth centuries.


My pastor was talking about how in the Mishnah's discussion of Isaiah 44:9-20 in which the Prophet Isaiah is discussing the idiocity of worshiping a thing created by human hands. In the Mishnah Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel says "If one finds a vessel that has on it the shape of the sun, moon, or a dragon he should throw them into the Dead Sea." This was a common known saying and practice to throw idols into the Dead Sea. Why? Because nothing can live in the Dead Sea it is 8.6 times as salty as the ocean, has 13.7% Salinity, to drink the water of the Dead Sea will kill you. So to throw a Idol into the Dead sea was to destroy it.


Now that we have a basic understanding of Jewish religous texts we need an understanding of Jewish history, specifically surrounding Herod the Great. Herod was the King of the Jews ruling from 37-4 BC, and was both a brilliant architect, and a crazy man. Herod built extravigant fortresses throughout Israel. He rebuilt the Temple to gain favor of the Jews, built an extravigant castle like fortress known as Ceasarea Maretema. He built a fortress in the middle of the desert known as Masada where he burried his favorite (only Jewish) wife after executing her at a banquet because he believed she cheated on him while he was away at war. He also built another fortress on the outskirts of Bethlehem which he named after himself... the Herodion. Now all of his projects were extravigant, but most had architectual engineering that was before its time, such as swimming pools in the middle of the desert, a fresh water swimming pool in the mediteratian sea, hot and cold baths, fresh water availability where there is no fresh water. For the construction of the Herodion, Herod had chosen one of two twin mountains to put his fortress, but wanted his palace to be the highest place, so everyone would have to look up to him. He leveled the adjacent mountain and put it ontop of the other, and built his fortress within and ontop of the mountain.

 There is much more in the history of Herod, that caused the Jewish people to both fear and admire him, but this should be sufficient background to jump into Matthew 21:21-22,


"²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” "


This scene takes place on the way from Bethany to Jerusalem which is just on the other side of the Mt. of Olives. The Herodion is visible from the Mt. of Olives and likely Jesus was either pointing to or it was culturally known that He was talking about the Herodion and how Herod has moved his mountain. The pastor linked this to the Jewish people being able to let go of the idolatry and fear of Herod and throw that into the sea. Now the nearest large body of water to Jerusalem that is referred to as a Sea in Israel is the Dead Sea. 


I would agree with the pastors interpretation, but I think there is a modern lesson to be learned as well beyond moving the mountains and idols we have in our own lifes. While touring Israel, anywhere that something significant happened, or was the location that Emperor Constantine thought something significant happened, the Crusaders built a Catholic shrine on. Many generations have build shrine upon shrine on biblical locations, and people from all around the world come to worship those location. These locations have become Idols to much of the world. I think it could be possible that Jesus being God, and all knowing, knew that someday people would come to worship the Mt. of Olives among other locations that Jesus's ministry impacted. 


The Mt. of Olives was a significant place outlined in prophecy that it would be an important landmark in the coming of the Messiah, and is suppose to be an important landmark in the second coming of Christ. But I think that Jesus could have also been referring to the Mt. of Olives, saying in essence, if this place becomes an idol to you, where you worship these places rather than worshiping God, then cast them into the Sea. If the Mt. of Olives is forced into the Sea by those who struggle with worshiping the place, it will not hinder the return of Christ. Do not worship places. Remember the things that happened, but this earth will pass away. God did not intend for us to worship the land, but to worship IN the land. He did not intend to worship Nature, but to be in awe of Gods power through Nature and to Worship Him alone. 


Whatever mountain is getting between you and worshiping the Almighty.... cast it into the sea. 


To listen the original sermon go to http://www.crossroadsnampa.com/category/sermons and select the sermon from 1.26.12




References:
http://www.religionfacts.com/judaism/texts.htm
http://deadseaglory-us.com/index.php?link=dead
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+21:18-22&version=NIV
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Herod_the_Great
http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/Herodion.html
http://www.crossroadsnampa.com/category/sermons

Is history (the old testament) important?

I have been looking for a muse in which to start this blog, and after 4 completely random spiritual conversations with complete strangers over the last week, I think I finally found the topic in which to start this venture of recording my spiritual thoughts and journey. But I need to give you a foundation of understanding of where I am coming from. I am not a Jew, I don't pretend to be, and I surely do not understand everything in their culture or their beliefs, but I do believe that understanding first century Jewish culture, leads to the understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. I want to know Christ as I would know my bridegroom. So here we go...

From observation and conversations, some (not all )churches in America, and some (not all) American Christians seem to think that since Jesus came to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the old covenant God had with the Jews, that it (the Old Testament) is no longer important to study and understand. How can this be true, if we count the entire bible to be the word of God? 77% of the bible is the Old Testament, why is it that Modern Christianity is only based on 23% of Gods words? In statistics 23% of something is not usually a favorable sample. Not to discredit the New Testament at all as the Gospels are vital to understanding the character of God the Son within the Holy Trinity, and the remaining text in the New Testament helps us understand God the Spirit as well as how the church body ought to operate and the things that are to come, but the Old Testament is rich in the history of our faith, prophecies that are fulfilled in the new testament and more importantly the character of God the Father and God the Spirit.

Not only do we leave behind the history, hero's and foundations of our faith, but we forget to look at the culture of God's people, and consider the original audience of our modern bible.

Why is this so important? Well What religion was Jesus? Was He a Catholic, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Mormon, a Baptist, a Lutheran? No Jesus Was a JEW! He was born as a Jew, He grew up as a Jew, He practiced Jewish customs, He went through the Jewish rights of passage to be called Rabbi. Jesus was accepted as a Jew. (Not as the King of the Jews, but He was accepted as a Jew).

So why do we as modern Christians feel the entitlement to tell God that 77% of His word doesn't matter, and that the culture in which the Son of God came and lived in that influenced how he taught, the word pictures He used, His mannerisms, and life experiences doesn't matter cause we have it so much more figured out? Why do we feel entitled to even write out His full name (myself included)? The Jewish people out of respect, admiration and Love for God, write His name as G-d.

I used to believe that the Old Testament was boring and didn't matter anymore because that was the old law and since Jesus came, it wasn't for us. But there's a reason its still part of the Word of God. And it Speaks to me. Beautiful is the character of God the Father. It is not angry, but loving. He is a GOOD FATHER and Judge.