. . . a belated blogging, as I was sick with a severe cold from last Monday until today. . .. Continuing on to discuss verse 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Three, and the animation Matthew's Three Fold .
Verse 7
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Three, New International Version
7 But when he saw many of the Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Verse 7
Animation Text by R David Foster, 2009
7 But when she saw many of the ordained coming to where she was acknowledging she said to them : “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Verse 7 Discussion
The Sadducees were a religious authority of the time, who had their own brand of Judaic religion, along with the Pharisees and possibly others. Today, in Christianity, the religious authorities are Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Monks, Nuns, Deacons, and Ministers. Other religions have Rabbis, Monks, Imams and others. Religion, being in the world although not of the world, has a business side. This business side is a limitation. It takes a heroic effort to maintain religion in the real world, and this maintenance is plagued with problems. Some, however, do quite well in this business, probably due to leaning toward the business side rather than the religious side. This is a problem, this favouring of the maintenance of the religion as a business over the spiritual leadership of the people. Whenever we turn from gazing at the infinite in infinity and instead look at the finite we limit our perception. This limitation has consequences which John calls a “coming wrath”. When a society fails the leaders of that society pay a heavy price, and as the leaders of religions, if the religions fail, the leaders will pay a heavy price. This is especially true of the leaders that fight strongly for the maintenance of such a failing religion. These leaders are what John calls a “brood of vipers”, as they may already be seriously focusing on the finite maintenance of the business of their religion at the expense of spiritual leadership, and placing the cost on the people, as vipers bite without benevolence. And Joan says the same of the ordained leaders of many religions, who have the religious authority throughout the world.
The animation of this verse shows examples of various authorities of world religions, at the entrance to Joan's auditorium, and then a cycle of a hammer and a sickle, common symbols of communism, and more importantly, secularism. This is the consequence of unproductive religion. As an opiate to the masses, religion has no value. It is not an escape from reality, but rather a delving in, headfirst, to reality. If this truth is lost, the secular world, with finite goals, will surpass the benefits of religion, whose purpose is to study infinite goals. If the spiritual leaders fail to produce results, other priorities will take precedence.
Both the Sadducees and the ordained may have been genuinely interested in hearing for themselves, what John and Joan had to say, and may have taken their message to heart, but that is not for us to know. There position as authorities may have given them an advantage in incorporating John's and Joan's message in the practices of themselves and their colleagues, or they may only be looking for flaws and possible traps that could be set for the preachers. We do not know.
Even Jesus had to deal with this business side of religion. For one thing, many wanted to crown him king when he fed the multitudes. He avoided that. In other stories, a wealthy woman funded his ministry, by providing for the needs of his group of followers. The idea throughout, is that people gave freely in the presence of Jesus' group, as the group gave freely of their wisdom. No wisdom - no food.
Jesus established a following and in the book of Acts this following continued without Jesus participation. In the book of Acts, Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep, -Jesus' sheep- as Jesus did not participate as a person beyond his ascension. The followers of the “Way” tried many ways as to how to keep their practical needs met, throughout the ages. Finally, Jesus taught his followers to give to God what is God's and give to Caesar, or the state, what is Caesar's, or the state's.
This is how marriage will exist, in this society of infinite good – in the same way that the state exists within the world of religion, a marriage will be a spiritual entity existing in the world of the church. The state ministers to its' members, the church ministers to the people and the marriage is ministered by the church and the state and likewise ministers to the church and the state. The practical worldly aspects of the marriage are governed by the state, and the personal challenges of the participants of a marriage are governed by the church, and the relationship between the spouses governs the state and the church. This is not so radical. Imagine a state without the presence of marriage. Most people consider the will of their father and/or mother, or spouse, when they vote or otherwise act politically. Most people consider the will of their parents and/or spouse when they deal with the church or other religion. Family is an extremely powerful influence to this day. And a family is ideally a marriage.
Neither Jesus, John or Joan were compelled to proclaim – they spoke freely from the heart. Likewise, no one is compelled to become a religious authority – they do it by choice. This free will gift is essential to how one must approach religious responsibility. Give what you can and leave the rest up to God. We are finite beings from an infinite source in an infinite world. No one can do everything but everyone can do something. Giving freely of your self, your talent, and your wealth is your only responsibility. No one should ever make a demand of you that is beyond your best effort, or even beyond your effort today. This is true in marriage. Give what you can and leave the rest up to the rest of infinity. We will all fall short – that is a given ! But each of us can do something, and that will all add up to everything. And the first and foremost place to invest your gifts and efforts is in your marriage, or at least your influence on a balance of whole and part.
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989 words
Friday, April 15th, 2011
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