Tuesday, February 7, 2012

HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Two Discussion of verse 13

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There's the website with all of it !!

Just search vid932008 on www.google.ca to see it come up first in the list.

On this site there are almost all the blog posts in an easily accessible non-linear format, as well as all the animation dating back to 2008, and most of the other artwork and poetry.

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Since I get such a kick, still, out of blathering on about this stuff, here's the continuation of the discussion of HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Two !






Verse 13

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Two, New International Version



Verse 13

The Escape to Civilization

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared before father and said “Get One up, take mother and escape into civilization, for the head of the household is going to search for the infant One to kill him.

from the text of the animation, HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Two

written by R David Foster





Verse 13 Discussion


Joseph had a dream, and acted upon it. In his dream, he saw and heard an angel tell him to escape with his family to Egypt, because the Jewish head of state, Herod, whom the Wise Men had visited, was going to search for the child to kill him. In fact, Herod didn't search for the child, as far as we know, but instead had every child two years and under, in the region of Bethlehem killed. So something as simple as acting on a dream had serious consequences, or rather, not acting on the message of a dream would have had disastrous consequences.



But why go to Egypt? Egypt at the time was very civilized and prosperous. Since the time of Jacob and Joseph, with his coat of many colours, Egypt had been the bread basket of the middle east, with the cultivation irrigated by the Nile. During Jesus era, Egypt was a prosperous civilization. Sure they had pagan gods, but they were civilized and there was order. This is what civilization is – order. In Canada, we defer to the Crown, and the Crown keeps order. We used to be called the Dominion of Canada, harkening to the phrase “God's Dominion”. As far as infinite consensus goes, though, it has nothing to do with order. The biggest stick is the Crown, and its will will be done. This has nothing to do with gods, God or infinite. There is only arbitrary rulings, which patch up conflicts without resolving them, that are enforced by the bigger stick.



Anyone who is injured, will suffer their injury, and the bigger stick cannot make that better, only appease dissension with a ruling. It is like the parable statement “ If you who are evil, know to give your children good things, than so much so will God give you good things.” The Crown, or bigger stick, may or may not be good, but it is not God, and will only appease dissension to maintain order – its order, the Crown's order, and further their control of that order. This is civilization – the maintenance of a finite order, by whatever means, on an infinite creation. There is much lacking between this finite order and infinite creation, but there is and will be order.



Judea on the other hand, was governed more so by God, and everyone's interpretation of God, which made it akin to the wild west, as it is to this day. Rebellions and submission cycled constantly. There was a lack of order. There was God, and religion, but there was still no infinite consensus, so there was not order. The Romans had to constantly exercise their power through the use of force to impose order, just as it is today in Palestine. Just as the natives of North America, failed to maintain an infinite consensus, and thereby appeared uncivilized, without order, Judea was not civilized, or at least not as civilized as Egypt.



So Joseph took his family to the civilized region of Egypt, where no arbitrary executions were allowed, because it was civilized and there was order to keep and maintain, even if it was away from the Temple and the heart of Judaism, the faith of Jesus' youth.



In the animation text, the head of the household, with their authority being challenged by this new infant One, the relationship between a female and a male, seeks to kill it. One can easily imagine the constant barrage of criticism, arbitrary rulings and condemnation the One relationship suffered at the hands of this challenged head of the household. Just as Joseph could not endure the infanticide and fled, the One relationship must escape, even if they are to part from their God – their partner. Otherwise the destruction of the One is certain.



Furthermore, this departing, is like a martyrdom, that although a serious defeat, allows the martyred One to grow in the awareness of the community in spite of its end. It is not the end of the One, but the beginning of the sacred life of the One. Jesus would have to do something to honour all those who died just because he was born. This would sober up even Jesus ! And whether or not the One in the animation remains the relationship between the two specific people at the time, or becomes a One relationship between two different people, the One survives. The escape honours and preserves the One for all time.



I omitted the “stay there until I tell you” part from the animation text, and that was likely just an oversight, but what was written is what was written. I suppose it didn't speak to me, but looking back now, I would suggest that there is no sign as to when the One relationship may reunite, other than when directed by the Holy Spirit, if they reunite at all.



I also omitted the taking of the child or the infant One with them, which again was likely an oversight, but perhaps that did not speak to me. Nevertheless, the One survives as the father and mother survive.



Finally, in any One relationship, a balance of female and male, whole and part, the participants take any of the three roles of parent, friend and child, and may be reciprocated by the partner taking any of the three roles. If one spouse acts like a parent the other may respond by any role of child, adult or parent, and there need not be any conflict no matter what role the response takes. The same is so for the roles of child and adult; the other spouse may respond in the role once again, of parent, adult or child.



In the animation text, father is given the message, and he takes mother. Both spouses are acting like parents, with knowledgeable care, understanding and nurturing of the infant One, the relationship.



So even though the One was not stated as being taken, it exists just as Jesus is present to each and all of us today. And though no one is waiting to be told by an angel in a dream to return from civilization, the One awaits its return to the participants in any relationship with the potential of balancing whole and part, female and male.

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Sunday, February 5th, 2012

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