To conclude . . . finally. (Nope! I am not giving an excuse or a reason for my absence! Read smile here.)
Not Right/Wrong but Honor/Shame
We spend all of our discussions centered around whether something is right or wrong. That was seldom, if ever, in the equation during the Biblical era. The question for them was “Will this honor or shame my family?”
For example: When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I stole a candy bar from a local grocery store. My Dad found out. Uh oh. After the obligatory “punishment,” I had to go back to the store, apologize and pay for it. He made sure I did too. It would never occur in that fashion in a Bibilcal era. They dealt with things privately. If it were to become public, it would shame the family.
Read the passage where it is Jesus vs. lawyers or vs. the Pharisees. It almost always is an attempt to take his honor.
In their culture, honor was so important, that the position of honor was seated, not standing. To stand was to say you were the lesser. Teaching was almost always done from a seated position. Check out the stories in the Bible, e.g. Jesus sits on a boat to teach. There are exceptions, but not many.
Not Future/Present/Past but Present/Past/Future
In most of our discussions, we talk about tomorrow, the future, first. We talk about where we are headed, our vision, our hopes, etc. Then we talk about today. We barely discuss or learn from the past. We look to the past as a final resort usually.
Biblical personalities, are living in the present. It is like this, for the most part, they were poor. Today was important, not planning for tomorrow.” Today we look to the future and plan for it. They live in the present, which comes out of the past, and have little time to discuss the future. They asked for “daily bread,” we plan for retirement.
At Passover, a place is set for Elijah, and at one point, someone gets up and goes to the door to see if he is there. It is about the present welcoming the past.
Not Individual but the Group
There is no private rights. The rights of the group is key. All of life is very public. There is no discussion of a right to privacy in the Middle East even today. Everyone is in everyone else’s business. The idea is that the group is what is important.
All of these four items are crucial, but the final one gets me more than the others. What does that say about me?
these are excellent points dude. i’m looking forward to hearing the rest in the succinct format you’ve put the rest in. great stuff.
Terry, I appreciate your attention to these [exegetical] points on the biblical mindset, or maybe more accurately, the mindset and sensibilities of people during Bible times in the context of the particular social environs of their day.
With regard to your point prior to the final one, I wonder how an eschatological perspective would relate and possibly be in dialogue with the material on this point. If one were to delve further along these lines toward biblical theology upon exegesis, yet another sequence might present itself when talking about the inbreaking kingdom of God that Jesus was about in the Gospel accounts, such as Present/Future/Past.
Reggie McNeal writes in the preface to his book, “The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church”, that [for those in Christ] “The present makes clearest sense in light of the future.” (e.g.?: Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Christ has died.) While “We humans write history by looking at the past.”, ….
“God creates history ahead of time. He never forecasts. God always backcasts. He began with the end in mind. The future is always incipient in the present… The empty tomb confirmed the invasion of the future into the present.” The future is always tugging at, if you will, the present tense, leaving the past behind, straining, pulling forward toward what is ahead, etc. (Philippians 3:13)
I can envision the “clueless” twelve disciples still not quite “getting it” and Jesus saying something like, “You’ve been with me, how long? And still you don’t understand? the kingdom is at hand!?! Among you in your very midst! Get with it!!” Eternity of life is [getting to know] here and now, in process, not just later in heaven (John 17:3). And yet, I can imagine their psyche being continually impacted by an increasing impartation of the kingdom mindset — waves upon waves of mercy and grace imbued upon and washing over and even through them, as they would experience Jesus’ love capturing them.
Just some musings above on my part elicited upon reflection on your blog post.
BTW - No excuses for absence accepted…
only grateful appreciation by one blessed in your mentorship for your return to minister through the matrix
continuing in a see of netropolitan voices here in the virtual oasis of this time and space continuum instantiation…. — http://rex.espiritu.net
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