Jesus Was Crazy
Jun 13th, 2008 by Micah Tillman | 5 Comments |
Once upon a time, someone wrote an article called, “Jesus Wasn’t Crazy: How to Bless Those Who Curse.” In it he wrote:
When you read John (e.g., 1.50-51, 6.48-58) you start to think maybe Jesus is crazy.
Well, today he was reading Matthew. Not all of Matthew. Just some of it. Part of what he read was Chapter 13.
It’s the parables chapter.
And it doesn’t make a lick of sense.
It’s got this tension in it where Jesus will tell the crowds a parable, and then explain it to his disciples later. But toward the end he just starts rattling off parable after parable with no explanations. (Not that the explanations really help me anyway.)
And then we get to the best part (vv. 51-52):
“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (NRSV)
Wha?!
How in the world does “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” follow from the disciples’ understanding the preceding parables?
(Jesus starts with a “Therefore,” so he’s saying it follows from something, at least.)
And whether or not it follows from anything, what does it mean?
I love it. So weird.
It’s kind of nice to know I don’t have Jesus figured out yet. But I really feel like I’m missing out. I don’t have the eyes to see or ears to hear. And that hurts.
Well, you’re also reading from a wackadoo translation. I myself prefer the NASB for its accuracy to the original languages (word-by-word, that is), and the NIV for its readability and also accuracy.
This is the NIV: 52He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
NASB: 52And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
I think that teacher makes sense here, because of the way in the chapter entire Jesus has been talking to his disciples about whether or not they’ve understood him — and if they have, then they should be prepared to share that understanding. I found some commentary online which I think sheds some light on this:
“True teachers of the kingdom display the kingdom’s treasure for all to see. Matthew concludes this central discourse of his Gospel with a final, eighth parable. If Jesus’ disciples have truly understood his teaching (v. 51), they are prepared to teach others the value of the kingdom (v. 52). Jesus expects his disciples to build both on the biblical teachings that had come before him and on his gospel of the kingdom; the heavy New Testament dependence on both shows that they did so. Because these disciples understand (v. 51), they prove that they are the good soil, those who pressed in close enough to Jesus to know him (v. 23; compare 13:11-12, 16).”
Here then, the old treasure is the disciples’ pre-Jesus knowledge of God, and the new treasure is their post-Jesus knowledge of the same. And if they have understood then they will present the old as well as the new to those who need/want to learn.
(From http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/index.php?action=getCommentaryText&cid=1&source=1&seq=i.47.13.14 — full commentary for the chapter is at http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/index.php?action=getChapterSections&cid=1&source=1&schap=13 .)
Wackadoo, eh?
You Canadians have been using strange language ’round here recently . . . .
That was actually very helpful. Thanks Christine! I still don’t get a lot of the parables, but at least the ending there is clearer.
The ESV is also a more accurate translation but keep in mind Jesus always throws conventional wisdom upside down. Jesus is subversive and I’m not trying to parrot some of those Jesus Seminar guys but he is offensive to the Right and the Left. God is not a Partisan and its obvious through God the Son. He was known to hang around the poor and the outcasts though.
Some people say, “either Jesus was the son of God or he was insane!” and I wonder if they’ve read the Bible. Maybe a little bit of both, yeah? The more freakish things Jesus does the more I like him, though. (My favorite is the fig tree. I mean, seriously…hilarious.)
*laugh* Uh-huh.