Matthew: Chapters 14 to 17

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CHAPTER 14

It surprises me how this book keeps going back to John the Baptist.  I figured he’d been arrested, jailed, and beheaded all in short order. Nope.  He was arrested early on, we hear from him again later on, and now – halfway through the gospel – he finally loses his head. 

It’s a famous story.  Degenerate king promises the daughter of his half-brother anything she wants because a dance of hers “delighted Herod so much.”  What kind of dance does a girl do that delights a man that much?  Not the sort of dance you’re supposed to do for your uncle, that’s for sure.  Well, she demands the head of John the Baptist.  It’s not really clear why she wants this.  The whole story here is a little unwritten.  It’s mostly done to make Herod (not the same Herod that killed all those infants at the top of the Gospel; his kid) and his whole family look like horrible degenerates.  Mission accomplished.

The king doesn’t really want to kill John the Baptist because it will anger the people.  So many people think he’s the Messiah, after all.  But, well, he gave his word to the dancer.  And despite being a murderous, degenerate overlord – he’s still a man of his word.  At least when giving his word to a dancer who delights him so much. 

Actually, why does John the Baptist still have such a strong following?  Shouldn’t they have shifted to Christ by now?   This story would actually work better if it came earlier in the gospel for just that reason.  Also – why are the authorities so skittish about killing John the Baptist when later on they’re so willing to kill Jesus?  One guy they don’t want to kill because some people think he’s the Messiah, and other guy they want to kill because people think he’s the Messiah.  It sounds like John the Baptist has quite the loyal following – but later the masses will call for Christ’s death.  (Note: I don’t know how much of this comes from Matthew or other Gospels).  Still, it seems like Christ should’ve paid more attention to how the Baptist avoided angering the powers that be.  Then again, as I wrote that sentence, I realize, “Avoided angering the powers that be?  They freaking executed John!”   Maybe I’m really overdoing this difference between the two, but it does seem like Christ has more enemies.  Eh, I guess it's because he did more denouncing of the Pharisees while John hung out by the river dunking people.  (John also denounced the Pharisees, but he seemed less political about it.  I guess).

After his death, a few famous miracles happen.  Jesus feeds 5,000 men (and unnumbered women and kids) with five loaves of bread and two fish.  Then he walks on water during a storm.  Those are pretty impressive, but I don’t have much to say about them.  OK – he does miracles.  Duly noted.

Oh, and a VERY BIG THING happens after Christ walks on water – his apostles flatly say he must be the Son of God.  This is a first.  We’ve been gradually hedging in that direction ever since Christ left Satan behind in the desert, but this is the first time since Christ began his ministry that anyone has explicitly said that about him.  (And please note:  it wasn’t Christ himself, just his followers).

CHAPTER 15

The Pharisees hate Jesus Christ, part 278.  This time, they get on Christ for a reason that actually makes sense.  Christ’s posse doesn’t always wash their hands before they eat.  That’s unclean – literally and Biblically.  Chris brushes off the substance of their comment with a zinger comeback: “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person, but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”  ZING!  Yeah, in general that makes sense – but there is something to be said for being sanitary, J.C.  Bacteria can actually defile, too.  More importantly, this foreshadows St. Peter’s eventual vision of pork chops in Acts of the Apostles that’ll allow the early Christians to convert Gentiles without requiring circumcision. 

Christ follows this up with a parable for his apostles, and when Peter doesn’t quite get it, Jesus is annoyed.  “Are even you still without understanding?”  Jeez, Pete – I’d expect the dumb apostles to be slow, but shouldn’t you start figuring these things out.  This is the development of another theme.  Jesus loves talking in parables, and while early on he has no problem explaining them, as he goes on he becomes increasingly ticked off when people don’t get it.  That isn’t really fair.  Parables, by their very nature, are open to various interpretations.  Christ expects people to follow the flow of his mind after a while, and that’s not fair.  Or he thinks there is just one possible interpretation, which just ain’t right.

Next comes an interesting little story about the relationship between Christ and non-Jews.  A Canaanite woman asks for help, and Jesus initially blows her off, exclaiming that he’s only here to help the Jews.  For a religion that will eventually do much better with non-Jews, that’s a very interesting statement – but it does remind us that Christ himself focused entirely on the children of Israel.  However, when she shows strong faith in him, Jesus heals her daughter, to the delight of Ms. Canaan.  So even though Christ is here for the Jews, he’ll still help out non-Jews who are strong in faith.  I think we just learned a little bit about how Matthew is writing for.  I know that Luke is supposed to be the most anti-Semitic of the gospels.  Matthew seems to have some mixed feelings on how Christ related to the Jews. 

Can I point out one thing here really quick?   It’s one way that the gospels come in stark contrast to the later parts of the Old Testament: there are so many miracles going on.  Sure, there are plenty of miracles in the Old Testament, but they are all in the distant past.  There last great miracle if Elijah versus the priests of Baal.  The last miracle of any sort is Isaiah moving the sun’s shadow by 10 minutes or so on the sundial.  That’s around 700 BC.  (Well, OK – there are the Daniel stories, but the Bible doesn’t really put it with the histories.   Even still, those miracles occurred around 500 BC or so).  After that, God moves behind the scenes. 

Then comes Jesus and you can’t go more than a half-dozen verses without getting smacked upside the head within a few miracles.  He completely comes out of nowhere with this stuff.  You wonder why everyone did flock to him instead of rejecting him.  (Well, as a non-believer, I have my standard answer – this stuff is myth, not history.  Maybe there was some faith healing, but no 7,000 people fed with a bit of bread and fish. No water walking.  And so on). But my point here isn’t to query the veracity of the stories.  The issue here is what a massive, marked change this is from all that came before.

Oh, and the chapter ends with Christ recycling one of his own miracles.  This time he feds a few thousand with hardly any food.  That’s the second straight chapter he’s done that in.

CHAPTER 16

You know how we should gather that this whole Christ movement is really starting to gather steam? Simple – now the Sadducees show up.  So far Christ’s problems have been with the Pharisees.  While they are enforcers and sticklers for every petty rule (don’t heal that man on a Sabbath!) the Sadducees are the real powers.  So if the Pharisees are getting the Sadducees involved, that means things are getting a little trickier for Christ.

And the Sadducees don’t just show up to chit-chat with Christ.  They make a demand/request for Christ: give us a sign.  If you really are all that and a bag of hammers, Jesus, give us a sign to prove it.  Jesus says the same thing he said earlier when asked to provide proof for who he is.  He says you can’t demand proof: “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign.”  Get bent, Pharisees.  You too, Sadducees. 

Christ tries to talk some more parables with his apostles, but they again ask for an explanation, and Christ unloads on them for being dummies. 

That said, Jesus he keeps them around and quizzes them.  Today’s pop quiz: Name That Son of Man?  Guys, any idea who it is?   “Some say John the Baptist” one of them says, “Others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  OK, a few things about that guess.  First, lame effort with the passive voice “Some say” stuff.  What do you say – not what some say?  Second – hey, way to go Jeremiah!  In his own lifetime he was the most hated prophet of all time, now he’s in the running for messiah.  Not bad!  He sure is more likeable now that he’s dead and not actually around to antagonize people.  Third – c’mon, unnamed disciple.  You’ve seen Christ perform all of these miracles and he’s asking you directly.  This is what you say?  I guess the exclamation after Christ walked on water was said in the heat of the moment rather than anything actually thought out. 

To be fair, it really is quite a leap to flatly say “You’re God” to a man’s face like that.  It would be easier to say in the heat of the moment.  Jesus hasn’t said this about himself yet and a little while ago, is he really going to trust you now with such a big bit of info?

But one apostle figures it out: Peter.  Christ gives him the big reward – and utters a few sentences that go a long way towards justifying the future structure of Christian religion.  “you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  Ladies and gentlemen – it’s the part that justifies the structure of the Roman Catholic Church!  By traditional accounts, Peter will go to Rome and set up the first Christian Church there.  That makes him the first Pope, and all following Popes are his successors – the keepers to the keys of the heavenly kingdom.

I knew this was in here, but I didn’t realize how strong the statement was.  I thought it was just some throwaway line about “upon this rock I will build my church” but it’s much more explicit than that. I didn’t realize that this is where talk of keeping the keys to the kingdom of heaven comes from. 

Now that Christ is open with his disciples about his divine nature, it’s time to let them know how this will all play out. He’ll have to go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and then rise from the dead on the third day.  Clearly, our author Matthew isn’t a suspense writer – he keeps telling us several chapters in advance what’ll happen.  Then again, Matthew isn’t trying to be just some potboiler suspense novel. 

Peter is horrified by the news and begs Jesus not to do this.  Christ replies with a lightning fast mood swing, “Get behind me, Satan!  You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  Man, just 23 seconds ago he was making Peter the key master and gatekeeper all in one, and now he’s got Peter in league with Zuul.  Less fish and loaves for the Messiah, and more Prozac.

CHAPTER 17

Much of this chapter is recovering previously covered ground.  Christ heals people. (The boy Christ heels is a lunatic.  His father complains that he falls into fire and into water.  Maybe he’s just a klutz).  Jesus also tells his followers that he’ll be killed, but rise on the third day. 

One new thing happens.  Jesus takes his inner circle apostles up to a mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared and God flatly says that Jesus is his son.  The disciples all but wet their pants at this scene (I was reminded of the moment in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when God speaks to Arthur’n’friends).  Oh, and it turns out that John the Baptist was Elijah returned.  That’s been alluded to previously, but now it’s been made clear. 

Quick thought on John the Baptist.  He comes off like a really big deal in his own right – the authorities are afraid of his followers, Christ is influenced by him, and some think he’s Elijah or the Messiah – but I wonder how big he really was.  I’m sure he was a to-do, but could he really have been an Elijah-level figure?  I doubt that.  There hadn’t been anyone like Elijah since, well, Elijah – 800 years ago or so. And we only know of the Baptist because of Christ, not because of himself.  My hunch is that the Baptist was just the big fish in a small pond.  He was a big area in his small neck of the wood in rural, hick country Judah, and people started comparing him to great names from the past, because that’s what people do.  It’s like every time there is a great sporting event or whatever, it’s hailed as One of the Greatest Ever – and then forgotten about a few years later when the next Greatest Ever comes around.

The end of the chapter is a weird story about paying the temple tax.  When it began, I thought, “Oh, here is where we get `rend unto Caesar’ right?”  Nope.  It’s just something about paying the tax with some allegorical meaning about Christ’s status or something.  I couldn’t quite figure it out.

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