Tassels

Jesus, being a rabbi, wore tassels on a cloth. As Vander Laan explains,

As a Jewish rabbi, Jesus probably wore tassels on the corners of his garment. The Jewish practice of wearing these tassels developed from God’s command in Numbers 15: “You are to make tassels on the corners of your garments so you will remember all the commands of the LORD” (v. 38-39).

Later in Jewish history, the tassels were incorporated into the Jewish prayer shawl, called the tallit, which is worn by many Jews today. On each corner of the prayer shawl are long tassels, or tzitzit, knotted five times to remind Jews of the five books of Moses. The four spaces between these knots represent the letters of God’s name, YHWH. And the knots along the prayer shawl edges use exactly 613 knotted strings, representing the 613 laws of the Torah.

Ezekiel prophesied that the Messiah would come with healing in his “wings.” But the Hebrew word for “wings” could also be used to identify the tassels that Jewish men wore on the corners of their robe. Based on this prophecy, the Jews expected the Messiah to have healing in his tassels.

During his ministry, one woman demonstrated her faith in Jesus by seeking healing in his tassels. Matthew 9 tells us that a sick woman, whose disease had probably left her untouched for twelve years, thought to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed” (v. 21).

When she touched the Messiah’s tassels, the woman was healed. And Jesus commended her for her faith. Link

I love Paul Hiebert's diagram (below) of our fair city, Fresno, in "Transforming Worldviews."
(full text here)

Like many cities of its era, Fresno was built around, grew around , and oriented to, the railroad tracks.
So downtown streets literally follow and parallel the tracks...which run northeast-southwest.. and are not tied/tethered to a traditional (whose tradition was it, anyway?) north/south, west/east grid.

But the rest of the city follows a traditional north-south, west-east pattern.
There was less attitude and latitude for straying from literal latitude by the time the city expanded beyond downtown.

So, in some circles, we are famous/infamous for two things: introducing the credit card, and being laid out sideways.

Heading south on Blackstone (the main drag ....and many do drag there!..and north-south corridor) , one sees on the horizon, in fact as the horizon ("NO Line on the Horizon.. time is irrrelevant, it's not linear") the tallest skyscraper between San Francisco and Los Angeles But the building's corners are perfectly angled to the tracks, and look sideways, disoriented, crooked ..and from a parallel universe and orientation. But once the road hits downtown, it all evens out. Which is odd.

Watch it all here:

Congressman on the ten commandments..watch here

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Inclusio: a literary world technique. Something is repeated at beginning and end of a text or book to give you a clue as to main theme. a literary device in which a word, phrase, or idea is included at the beginning and ened of a text (and sometimes in the middle). Example: the "with you"s of Matthew 1:23 , 18:20 and 28:20

Len Sweet is on to something, suggesting a Bible-wide inclusio. How wide and big can these things get? Wouldn't this cue us and clue us in to the heart message of the whole Book? Check it out!
Ever notice Matthew starts with "His name will be called Emmanuel, which means 'God with us.' And ends...very last sentence...with "I will be with you."?
No accident. And neither is the midpoint and message of the gospel: "I will be with you" (18:20). In Jesus, God is with us. Jesus is the With-Us God.
Inclusio with chiasm, baby.
You knew God was with us in Christ.. But now you see it as you look at Matthew structurally.. --

"Jesus is the new Moses."

BTW: Note an inclusio in that the first and last teachings happen on a mountain..hmmmm

SERMON ON THE MOUNT, Mathew chapter 5

Remember:

Who was the sermon addressed to?
Why did he teach on a MOUNTAIN?
Why did Jesus sit down to teach?

When we read the "beatitudes," the first section of the Sermon on the Mount: -- do you catch any inclusio? (Note the first and last beatitudes (only) of chapter 5 end

with a promise of the kingdom of heaven, implying that the other promises in between "being filled," "inherit the earth," "be comforted" all have to do with Kingdom

--and if Jesus is a NEW MOSES of sorts, then we should look at

SERMON ON THE MOUNT: Discussion on how Jesus was interpreting/reinterpreting the law of Moses/Torah(Matt 5:17-48). Some would suggest that he is using the rabbi's technique of "Building a fence around the TORAH."

For example, if you are tempted to overeat, one strategy would be to build a literal fence around the refrigerator...or the equivalent: don't keep snacks around. See:

What does building a fence around the Torah mean?

Some wonder of this is what Jesus is doing here. See: Jesus' Antitheses - Could they be his attempt to build a fence around the Torah?

One can see how this could turn to legalism...and when do you stop building fences? See:

A Fence Around the Law

Greg Camp and Laura Roberts write:

In each of the five examples, Jesus begins by citing an existing commandment. His following statement may be translated as either "And I say to you... " or as "But I say to you ...” The first option shows Jesus' comments to be in keeping with the commandments, therefore his words will be an expansion or commentary on the law. This is good, standard rabbinic technique. He is offering his authoritative interpretation, or amplification, to God's torah, as rabbis would do after reading the torah aloud in the synagogue. The second translation puts Jesus in tension with the law, or at least with the contemporary interpretations that were being offered. Jesus is being established as an authoritative teacher who stands in the same rabbinic tradition of other rabbis, but is being portrayed as qualitatively superior to their legal reasoning.

After citing a law Jesus then proceeds to amplify, or "build a hedge" around the law. This was a common practice of commenting on how to put a law into practice or on how to take steps to avoid breaking the law. The idea was that if you built a safe wall of auxiliary laws around the central law, then you would have ample warning before you ever came close to breaking the central law. A modern example might be that if you were trying to diet you would need to exercise more and eat less. In order to make sure that that happened you might dispose of all fats and sweets in the house so as not to be tempted. Additionally, you might begin to carry other types of snacks or drink with you so as to have a substitute if temptation came around, and so forth. In the first example of not killing, Jesus builds a hedge that involves not being angry and not using certain types of language about others. One of the difficulties is that it becomes very difficult not to break his hedges. This might drive his hearers to believe that he is a hyper-Pharisee. Some interpreters have wanted to argue that Jesus does this in order to drive us to grace—except grace is never mentioned in this context. This is a wrong-headed approach to get out of the clear message that Jesus is proclaiming: you must have a transformed life. By building his hedges, Jesus is really getting to the heart of what the law was about. In the first example, the intent is not just to get people not to kill each other (though that is a good thing to avoid), rather it is there to promote a different attitude about how to live together. Taken together, the 10 Words (Commandments) and the other laws which follow in Exodus-Numbers paint a picture of a people who will look out for one another rather than just avoiding doing injury to one another. This becomes clear in Jesus’ solution at the end of the first example. The solution is not to throw yourself on grace or to become paralyzed by fear, but to seek right relations with the other person. There seems to be an implicit acknowledgment that problems will arise. The solution is to seek the best for the other person and for the relationship. This is the heart of the law. The problem with the law is that it can only keep you from sin, but it cannot make you do good. The rabbi Hillel said “what is hateful to you, do not do to others.” In 7:12, Jesus provides his own interpretation “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.” He changes the saying from refraining from sin, to actively doing good. The thesis statement in 5:20 is “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This then is how to exceed, or go beyond the law. In each of the five examples, the way to exceed the law is to make the relationship right.

Instead of drawing a new line in the sand that you are not supposed to cross before you are considered guilty, Jesus, confirms that the center is "love your neighbor" and then just draws an arrow (vector) and tells you to go do it. There is never a point at which you are able to finally fulfill the commandment to love. You can never say that you have loved enough. In the gospel of Matthew, the supreme example of this is Jesus' own life and death. His obedience and love knew no boundaries. --by Greg Camp and Laura Roberts

Ted Grimsrud, in your "God's Healing Strategy" book suggests:

"A better way [as opposed to legalistically legislating morality] to approach [the commandments] would be to ask first, 'What does this commandment teach us about God?'...Hence, the point of the commandments is not establishing absolute, impersonal, even coercive rules which must never be violated. The point rather is that a loving God desires ongoing relationships of care and respect....Paul's interpretation of the Law in Romans 13 makes clear the deepest meaning of the law not as rule-following, but as being open to God's love and finding ways to express that love towards others: 'The commandments..are summed up in this word, Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (pp. 33-34)

One can see how this could turn to legalism...and when do you stop building fences? See: A Fence Around the Law

---- on the 6 antitheses of the Sermon on The Mount, remember my Paraguay stories?

"Ever committed adultery, John?" (oops...)

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OK, below is the backstory of the "LAUGHING BRIDE," which illustrates "building a fence around the Torah":

How do you name the difference in the shift of the 6 antitheses? What does it feel like Jesus is doing? He's making the law______:

harder?
easier?

Is he making it impossible on purpose?

Remember this video when you study Matthew 18 for next week:

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.. A quick trip up the mountain"..SEE BELOW:
Students can manually mark this item complete: 7)"...and Moses went up to God": a ten-hour trip in two miniutes

OK it's not a quick trip at all, but this assignment will be (just a few minutes!)

The tour guide and group in that video had to make a

6,000 foot climb,

including ten hours of hiking, riding several camels,

eating two meals on the way, and drinking over 100 bottles of water!

But what's really amazing is what the text says Moses did! Watch now, and post a few sentences in response about what it said, and how this is an example of the need to read the Bible in context (con-text), and a Three Worlds Perspective.

-------- -Ten commandments as a wedding:

and the "question of the day". .

Off the top of your head, list words and ideas that come to mind when you think of the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt Sinai.

Then scroll down for the question..

Was "wedding" on your list?

.....or "love"?

What does all this have to do with a wedding?

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AS A WEDDING:

We watched "HE LED YOU LIKE A BRIDE," a Ray Vander Laan "Faith Lessons" video from Mount Sinai. Here is the complete video, which is on this DVD.

IT dealt with the many"historical world"hyperlinks from Ten Commandments to wedding.

Here's a study guide for the video:..

see pp.197-251 here

Often when I officiate weddings, and the groom is nervous, I try to lighten the mood. I pull out my little black book in front of all the groomsmen and fake a shocking, "Oh my goodness, I accidentally brought my funeral book by mistake!! But I'll just read from it anyway..i mean it's the same idea. Is that OK?" Then there is a laugh of relief when they realize I'm kidding!
But at Margaret and Paul's wedding.....

for the first time, I couldn'tfind my wedding book right away, so i did actually bring the funeral book instead. It didn't really matter, as after doing years of weddings I don't need the book, I just use it to stick little sticky notes in for the sermon, prompts, names etc....oh, and to look pastoral and cool.
So I just crossed out the big title "FUNERAL" on the spine with a black marker, so folks wouldn't see it while I was up front (:
Then for a laugh and a few pics, after the service, I rubbed off the ink so you could read it.

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I recommend showing this video to a group or class ,and doing it this way.

Show the first (Regional Emmy winner) video below starting at 4 second mark, telling the group that no one should say anything, or make any noise, while watching; just concentrate hard on following the instructions: