HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Foretold Discussion of Verse 4

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Since I get such a kick, still, out of blathering on about this stuff, I'm continuing on with the discussion of HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Foretold !!

 Verse 4   4Jesus answered, “It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'a”

-a-  4 Deuteronomy 8:3

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

 Verse 4  4One humbled him, “Why do we need beer ?”

from the text of the animation HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's Foretold
written by R David Foster

 Verse 4 Discussion          
 
 Bread or convictions – the eternal dichotomy !  Is it better to accept injustice so as to sustain our physical needs or to strive for justice at the expense of our physical needs?  This is dependent on whether our physical needs are met by the fulfillment of justice, or if instead, the two are independent of each other.  But then again, is it better to gain the world and loose one's eternal life, or to save one's eternal life and loose the world.

 Jesus' reply implies that the word from the mouth of God sustains, rather than just bread sustaining one.  God may send bread, but he sends other things as well, and the entirety of the word sustains, where bread alone is insufficient.  So Mabel may get you a (Black) Label beer, but there is more to Mabel than beer. It is the entirety of the situation that sustains, and this situation always includes the infinite, whether your other half of the infinite, your spouse, or plain old infinity.

 The temptation is to neglect the infinite, the whole of the situation one finds themselves in, and to just take what one decides they need, rather than let things play out and allow one's needs to be met by the infinite.  Attending to one's spouse may actually produce a beer without having to ask for it.   This is the point of this verse – that one is always tempted to neglect either the whole or the parts of a situation and act without reference to the whole or the parts of a situation and to just exercise free will and take what one believes they need.  Furthermore, one may even fight to gain what they either feel they deserve, or believe they have a right to maintain.  This is not forgiveness and this is not what Jesus did.  This is what Judas did.  Judas, to my mind, thought that Jesus would surely stand up for himself if he was confronted by the Jewish leaders, and he thought that Jesus just needed a push for him to take over. This is why Judas was a disciple, because he believed in Jesus' ministry, and this is why Judas proceeded with his betrayal even though he knew Jesus knew what he was doing. He likely took Jesus' acknowledgment of what he was to do as approval of his betrayal of Jesus.

 There is not ever any overpowering force demanding obedience – we are all free to choose life or else. Jesus ministry was not to dominate but to lure and encourage people to encounter and love God and their neighbour, infinity, for the wonder that it is.  So Jesus, in his life before infinity, would not grasp at what he believed he needed, but would trust infinity to love and provide for him and those that followed.  It is like the world of Disney's animated film, The Jungle Book, in which Baloo the bear sings - “ Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities, forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities, that's why a bear can rest at ease, with just the bare necessities of life.”  Jesus' bare necessity was his relationship with infinity, and the demands of that relationship.  He could have abandoned it at any time, yet he freely chose to accept it and be content with it.

 So the husband asks the wife to buy beer, if she really appreciates him, but her response dismisses his request with the  question “Why do we need beer?” True, beer is not necessary, but it does make for a celebratory mood, and the husband may have felt like celebrating.  But the wife was cleaning, and did not feel like celebrating. There is a disconnect. Even though the wife is cleaning right in front of him, the husband neglects the truth of the situation and wants to celebrate.  To him, cleaning could wait, especially until after the celebration, when it would make more sense to clean.  Alternatively, the husband could have helped with the cleaning, and then suggested they celebrate together. As well, the wife could have realized that the husband was free to celebrate at this time, and taken advantage of the situation to celebrate with him, rather than tend to their home, putting it above her spouse.

 There is not any right or wrong action here, only a disconnect.  The temptation is more of an initiative that is not taken up.  Jesus was hungry enough to eat stones, yet he chose not to test God or himself by attempting magic.  He chose, rather than against magic, to be content and appreciate the solitude and clear head his environment was providing him, and to take advantage of that, to prepare for when he would not have solitude and be heady with wine. Rather than reject magic, he chose life.  The spouses, in ignorance, or perhaps just lack of infinite will, do not choose each other in this verse.  There is space between the pillars of the temple, but if there becomes too much space, the temple of the sacred One relationship, balancing whole and part, will fall.

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Mother's Day, Sunday, May 13th, 2012

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