Week 7: July 26: The Sermon on the Mount of the Kingdom of God

 In Matthew's Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out the Kingdom of God in more thoroughness than anywhere else in Scripture.

Read and discussion:  Matthew 5:3-12.  [Matthew chapters 5-7 for entire sermon]

Readings for Week 7 / discussion notes for Week 6

 Week 7:  July 26:  The Sermon on the Mount of the Kingdom of God

In Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out the Kingdom of God in more thoroughness than anywhere else in Scripture.

Reading:  Matthew 5:3-12 (The Beatitudes), (chapters 5-7 for entire sermon)

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Discussion notes from Week 6 on the Kingdom and healing.

The usual rollicking group arrived, more than a few new faces, and an anonymous co-facilitator to help aid and abet our discussion on the Kingdom of God and the healing of a paralyzed man.

When we did the 26 healing miracles as our bible discussion last summer, we looked at them like we did with the parables:  the physical plane that the miracle took place, the details of the miracle itself (who spoke, who was there, did anybody touch anybody, etc.), the spiritual meaning, and finally, what did it mean to us as healing ministers.  But we didn’t talk “bigger” than that, like what does this mean in the Kingdom of God? What do Jesus’ healings mean in the Kingdom of God?

When the bystanders say, We have never seen anything like this at the end of the reading, was it new to the bystanders, never saw?  Others did healings, cast out demons, but Jesus first says, Your sins are forgiven — that’s what they have never seen.  Had Jesus just healed the man’s paralysis, He takes the part of another miracle worker.  Physical healing is the easier; spiritual healing is the greater.  Really?  Do we believe that when we’re in the chapel doing healing prayer?  (We don’t say, Your sins are forgiven.)

Sins aren’t forgiven by the priest.  God alone does.  This is why these words of forgiveness from Jesus are scandalous.  This story is not about the healing:   let’s heal people and be done. The healing He came to do was against death itself.  He is identifying Himself as God, and the healing is almost an afterthought.

We can lose sight of the grand scheme.  We are supposed to ask for healing; the Lord invites us to ask.  We see people healed, their lives transformed by healing.  We see many more who we pray for who do not seem to be healed in a way we understand or want healing.  We experience hurt and God allows it for a greater good we may not ever understand, because God loves us.  

In this particular healing, the paralytic is carried by his friends.  Is that part of the Kingdom of God?  Not the only door, but one of the doors to the Kingdom of God is that you are brought by your friends?  There is an icon of this healing, and its focus is on carrying the paralytic. 

Giving others the opportunity to help is part of the healing.  Discussion of the love felt when others carry your illness or loss to healing prayer, send cards, outreach others, “intercession incarnate”.  Studies have shown that people heal better when they are prayed for, whether they know they are being prayed for or not.  Reminded us of when, first week, we asked “what is the kingdom”? one answer was:  LOVE.

Everything God does is for our good and our redemption.  That good does not end at our death—it is an eternal end.  (Thank you, Father Kraft, for this teaching.).  God does not allow anything to prevent the ultimate salvation of humanity, which comes in the sending of His Son.

(Side discussions on whether or not we will see our beloved dead in the afterlife, including pets, etc, what will our resurrected bodies look like, what age is our perfected resurrected bodies, etc.  You had to be there.)

Our bodies will not be infirm in the Kingdom - in this way, we came back to the paralytic and healing and the Kingdom.  So, why Jesus healed the paralytic physically after forgiving his sins is because the Kingdom is where we are united in wholeness—whatever our wholeness looks like to God, not necessarily what it looks like to us.  Humanity is redeemed through the word of God who took on the flesh.

The healing miracle was chosen as a way of looking at the Kingdom of God—so different from the parables of Jesus or the dreams in the Hebrew scripture, and there are other ways of looking at the Kingdom, and we will be discussing these in the coming four weeks.

Week 6: July 19: The Kingdom of God and Healing

 The healing miracles Jesus performed cover everything from fevers to blindness to demonic possession.  But what do they say about the Kingdom of God?

Read and discussion:  Mark 2:8-12

READINGS FOR NEXT WEEK/Notes from Week 5: Parables (part II) and the Buddhist Parable

Week 6:  July 19:  The Kingdom of God and Healing

The healing miracles Jesus performed cover everything from fevers to blindness to demonic possession. But what do they say about the Kingdom of God?

Reading:  Mark 1:8-12

Attached⬇️:  discussion notes from Week 5, Parables Part II., also the Buddhist parable discussed Week 5.)

If you were not there, we missed you and prayed for you.  And then we dived into parables part II, but by way of a Buddhist parable (attached): does it show (by its absence) what is keynote in Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom of Heaven?

There is no judgement in a Buddhist parable (as there is no judgement and no judge in Buddhism itself).  Aren’t we avoiding the strong flavor of judgement in these parables?

We wandered in the weeds of choice:  do the wedding guests choose not to accept the invitation to the feast?  Yes, and with the lamest of excuses, I mean—I have to take care of my OX?  But the parable of the net coming into the water and swooping out with the fish and throwing away the bad:  there is judgement about what is a good fish and what is a bad fish, and there is a judge making judgements and the fish did not get a choice in the matter at all.

Judgement is made.  Somebody decides on entry into the Kingdom of God.  

We squirmed.

Many of us want universal salvation - EVERYBODY gets into the Kingdom of God.  Some denominations preach this.  But you don’t escape judgement or punishment.  

The Kingdom of God has a gate.

A lot of these parables are directed at believers. — and in fact, the gatekeepers of their belief, Jewish leaders especially.  For the wedding banquet, these people believe it’s going to be just them, that they have the exclusive rights of invitation, of entry.  The parable says no, it’s going to be the people they least expect.

The reasons the people in the parable give to get out of the wedding banquet are all worldly.  That relates to our worldly excuses to get out of going to the Kingdom of God.  We’re too busy to go to church, to know our neighbor, the things we are supposed to do.  What we spend our time on is what matters.  

How often do we read this parable and think we’re part of the latter group, the righteous who will get into the Kingdom—not the ones with the lame excuses?  We like to read this parable and think:  I’m not like THEM.

But if we’re not thinking of ourselves as the righteous ones invited to the feast, we’re left with being the poor, the drunks, the prostitutes who are picked up and brought in to the feast next.  A conundrum.

We don’t want to talk about the judgement in the parables of the Kingdom of God because (as initial judge), we know we’re not going to cut it.  

Jesus is saying these parables before his death, and mostly to the people of Israel—who have good reasons for thinking they will be chosen.  But after His death and resurrection, everybody in the world will be judged be God.  Period.  Those who attach themselves to Christ in baptism attach themselves to His judgement.

Like the Fast Pass at Disneyland?

The people He is talking to are the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, who are going to convict and crucify Him.  They were invited, they didn’t get it, they aren’t going to get in.  If Jesus was telling these parables now, who would he be telling them to?

To you.  The everyday person.  Everybody is invited to the banquet.  If you turn around and say:  I don’t believe in God—you’ve rejected the invitation.

Everybody gets picked, but only a few get chosen.  

We squirmed some more.

In the second parable it says, The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, so there is an entity and that entity is sorting and selecting.  These things happen/will happen; we have to be prepared.  

Maybe the separation is between who have chosen to have a relationship with God, and accepted the invitation to the Kingdom/feast; and those who made the conscious choice to the worldly excuses:  I like these, I can see these, I’m doing my thing, I’m saying no.   Without judgement/separation, there can’t be a Kingdom of God in a final judgement.  But on this earth, we are choosing to participate in the Kingdom of God.  It’s a choice in whether or not we choose to participate in a relationship with God.

In the fish parable, attention was drawn to Matthew 13:52:  “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.”. Matthew composed this gospel to show fulfillment of the old (Hebrew scripture) with the new (Jesus).  Jesus is saying not to give up everything the Jewish leaders ever knew but use discernment to recognize the truth in the new truth in their midst.  Training for the Kingdom requires the old and the new treasures.  

Hard to see these parables written for people 2,000 years ago and making understanding of them in today’s world.  We have to understand the old and the new, and bringing them into today.  That’s why we do these discussions.

//Buddhist Parable//

The Parable of the Burning House from the Lotus Sutra

One day, a fire broke out in the house of a wealthy man who had many children. The wealthy man shouted at his children inside the burning house to flee. But, the children were absorbed in their games and did not heed his warning, though the house was being consumed by flames.

Then, the wealthy man devised a practical way to lure the children from the burning house. Knowing that the children were fond of interesting playthings, he called out to them, "Listen! Outside the gate are the carts that you have always wanted: carts pulled by goats, carts pulled by deer, and carts pulled by oxen. Why don't you come out and play with them?" The wealthy man knew that these things would be irresistible to his children.

The children, eager to play with these new toys rushed out of the house but, instead of the carts that he had promised, the father gave them a cart much better than any he has described - a cart draped with precious stones and pulled by white bullocks. The important thing being that the children were saved from the dangers of the house on fire.

In this parable the father, of course, is the Buddha and sentient beings are the children trapped in the burning house. The Burning House represents the world burning with the fires of old age, sickness and death. The teachings of the Buddha are like the father getting the boys to leave their pleasures for a greater pleasure, Nirvana. 

In this parable the father, of course, is the Buddha and sentient beings are the children trapped in the burning house. The Burning House represents the world burning with the fires of old age, sickness and death. The teachings of the Buddha are like the father getting the boys to leave their pleasures for a greater pleasure, Nirvana. 

Week 5: July 12: Parables of the Kingdom, Part II

 Using metaphors of feasting and fishing, Jesus tells us what the Kingdom of God is.

Read and discussion:  Luke 14:15-24 (feast); Matthew 13:47-53.   (fishing)

Discussion Week 4, Parables (I)

 There is no meeting on July 5, which is part of the July 4 celebration of independence from Great Britain.

Week 5:  July 12:  Parables of the Kingdom, Part II

Using metaphors of feasting and fishing, Jesus tells us what the Kingdom of God is.

Reading:  Luke 14:15-24 (feast); Matthew 13:47-14:12 (fishing

Below⬇️:  discussion notes from Week 4, Parables of the Kingdom Part I

It was a terrific discussion, and if you missed it (you know who you are), you missed it.  After the opening prayer, rules and regulations, we closed our eyes and listened to a reading of Mark 4:26-33, story of scattering seed and the Kingdom of God is like… tiny mustard seed that grows into a large tree; what does it mean spiritually, and finally the “so what?” question will be asked later.

What did we see in our mind’s eye?  A farmer—the old fashioned kind, not the agribusiness sort; how tough the lot of a farmer is, relying on nature; the mustard seed—how mustard adds taste and vividness; a stalk of corn; a garden plot; the magic of “there it is”; BUGS; wild mustard; growing of the seed being like magic; the excitement when you first see the sprouting!  We visualized the farmer, the seed, the growth, the garden, the magic of the process.  

We closed our eyes and listened to a reading of Matthew 25:14-30, the distribution by the master to three slaves of five/three/one talents.

What did we see in our mind’s eye?  The poor fellow with the one talent—he’s scared!  Sounds like an Old Testament God figure, the harsh judgement.  We don’t like this parable!.  But the master knows them, knows what they can do—and he was right.  

What is the spiritual meaning of these things?  The farmer in first parable is God.  The seed is faith, potential, talent, Holy Spirit, the Word, the Gospel.  But we do not know how the seed grows.  Have to be open to receiving it.  The garden is US;  are we all fruitful gardens?  We’re working on it.  It’s a process, and we don’t always understand it, but if we keep faithful to God’s process our garden becomes fruitful.  The magic is God’s magic—the Holy Spirit.  Growth is evangelism, spreading the Word.

The talent parable:   The master is God.  The slaves are US.  (Some grumbling about using the slave word.  Compromised that we are “workers” for Christ..). The talents are spiritual resources.  Not how much you are given; what you are doing for God with what you are given.  We’re working for God to grow more, to grow something, maybe the Kingdom of God.

SO WHAT?  Pulling these two parables together:  you have the grace of the garden and you plant and tend, but there also has to be trust in the master.  The slave’s fear was projected onto the master, not that the master was like he projected.  God says, “you can handle this” — and one will become two, and two become four and more talents.

Complaint(s) about the talent being taken away and weeping and gnashing.  It’s the Last Judgement.  You’re called to use God’s gifts/rejecting God.  Question about knowing when you are called — from head or heart?  Doing things for our own gratification instead of for God?  God will keep calling.  We have to hear it.  Intuition.  Serving God can be a lot of things, not narrowly “church” service.

Week 4: June 28: Parables of the Kingdom, Part I

 Who doesn't love a good story?  Jesus told many parables of the Kingdom of God, and while some sound odd to our ears today, they formed the core of Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom.  This week we look at one using agriculture and one using money as their metaphor.

Read and discussion:  Mark 4:26-33; Matthew 25:14-30 

PLEASE NOTE:  THERE IS NO MEETING JULY 5.