Matthew 22: The marriage feast is a parable whereby the invitees ignore the king’s invitation to a dinner, take captive the king’s captives, kill the captives, get themselves killed, and the king’s new captives recruit partygoers, one of whom isn’t wearing proper attire. Teeth gnashed. JC lets the Pharisees know how he feels about their Caesar coins. The Sadducees, a rival Jew gang of the aristocracy and priesthood, questioned JC about the relative importance of dead wives. JC notes there are no rivalries among heavenly angels as a response. (the scripture cited here by the Sadducees that JC thinks they do not understand involves the punishment of a brother that refuses to impregnate his dead brother’s wife. The verdicts were: spitting in the face; taking away his shoes; public ridicule. Dt. 25.5) The Pharisees counter-attack JC with a question from a lawyer regarding the primary commandment. JC replies to love God, and secondarily, to treat neighbors well. JC then asks the Pharisees what they think of Christ, and of His lineage. The Pharisees answer that Christ is the son of David, and JC cites Ps. 110.1 (reference to Jehovah in OT, not here.) where David refers to Jehovah as Lord, thereby making it impossible for David to be Jehovah’s son. Or not.
Matthew 23: Much woe on the Pharisees, hypocrites! But let’s talk hell for a moment. The Greek from which this American version was translated is talking about Gehenna, and I feel some explanation is at hand here. The Pharisees, while being surely condemned by JC, the place JC cites is likely a valley just outside the Jerusalem city walls. The exact location is a little unclear, but it is suggested this might be an east-west valley shortly outside the city. So, Christians can sling around hell arbitrarily, but there are quite often very real distinctions regarding place and context that must occasionally be considered. I thought this was one of those times, but in any event, JC is not fond of the way the Pharisees conduct their business, and this chapter outlines his specific grievances quite thoroughly. Kinda talks some shit on Jerusalem as well.
Matthew 24: The end is near. Gnashing of teeth. Long, painful chapter. Some will be chosen, some won’t; people shouldn’t listen to prophets because all are false prophets, and those chosen will be gone anyway once shit goes down.
Matthew 25: Parables: Ten virgins go to meet the bridegroom, but five (as is true in most cases) are smarter than the other five, and take oil with them for their lamps/torches. When torches are needed, the five that are smarter, I presume, share a husband. Next, JC delivers an economic lesson on distribution and investment, and casts a weird eye on the contribution of savings to the micro trends at play here. Investment is strongly encouraged. It’s a pretty good lesson on the multiplier effect, depending on the translated edition. I’m probably missing the point on some level, (as usual) but it almost looks like these are the oldest economic writings I’ve read. I know other civilizations had some advanced economic development and writings… I’m not an economics historian, sadly, and I think this was intended to serve as a parable. We jumped from one of the worst reads in the entire volume thus far to one of the more interesting ones, and it almost feels like there is a separate author narrating the action at the jump from 24 to 25. Maybe it was just the result of the first decent night’s sleep in a week.
Matthew 26: JC then informs the disciples he’s in trouble two days after the Passover. Caiaphas, the high priest was currently conspiring to put a hit on JC. If JC didn’t have woman problems before this point, they become evident when an unidentified woman slathers JC with an expensive ointment. This occurred in Bethany, at Simon the leper’s house. Poor Simon. Shit. The disciples question the waste, and perhaps the taste of this endeavor, but JC replies that they shouldn’t be bothering the woman, who is doing good things in preparation of JC’s death. This prompts Judas Iscariot to “sell high” at 30 pieces (not sheckels) of silver. JC announces to the disciples to eat of his body, and to drink of his cup the blood of the new testament/covenant. (these are the choices here! I don’t see where covenant came down in usage over the years from new, if that was the linguistic evolution. Stylistic preference, I guess, or maybe an error in proofreading. The editors blather on and on apologizing for mistakes in the 1885 revision onward.) After dining, where JC outs JI as a traitor, and after a hymn, back to the mount of Olives. JC tells Peter of Peter’s coming denial of JC. Peter denies he will deny. JC gets sad with the original God party, Peter, James, and John. (Kind of feels like a Beatles recording in 1970.) At Gethsemane, the God party are put on watch for a JC prayer session, but they fall asleep at the guard. (It’s unclear how much sleep these guys are getting, but it looks like a pretty active time.) Three times, JC goes off to pray, and three times he returns to the God party at rest. But JI doesn’t care, because he got the silver, and he intercepts the God party’s camp. It looks like it’s going to be a fight, but JC advises against the fight, allowing prophecy’s fulfillment. Apostles scatter. At what reads to be “the trial before the Sanhedrin” in the marginal notes, Jesus is taken before a local assembly of 23 judges at the house of Caiaphas. JC kind of admits to being at the right hand of God evermore, resulting in a judge renting himself of garments, and JC to be spit on, slapped around, and mocked publically. Peter, in attendance for the hearing, denies he knows JC to a maid, to another maid, and to a passer-by, at which point the cock crows thrice, fulfilling prophecy.
Matthew 27: JC is delivered to Governor Pilate. Judas repents, returning the silver to the sanctuary of the chief priests and elders, and then hangs himself. The chief priests don’t know what to do with the money, because now they curiously consider it blood money, even though it was initially blood money. It looks like the money was used in a donation to a potter’s field, and it is very unclear the authority by which this action takes place. Pilate does what he can, recognizing JC as a righteous man. Pilate offers up the bloodthirsty crowd a choice of freedom between JC and another popular prisoner, Barabbas. The crowd elects to free Barabbas. It appears JC has made some enemies among the general population at this point. Pilate literally and symbolically washes his hands of the situation on delivery of Barabbas to freedom and JC to condemnation. The soldiers of Pilate then make a big deal of JC’s condemnation and mocking at the Praetorium/palace, and get the show on the road with Simon of Cyrene helping bear the burden of the cross. At Golgotha, JC and a pair of robbers are crucified together, and JC is relentlessly mocked and taunted by the other two fuckers getting simultaneously killed! At JC’s end, he cries “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?) The earth quakes, apparently fracturing the temple, upon the lifting of JC’s spirit. Joseph asks for, and receives the body of JC, wraps it in a cloth, and entombs it, sealed in stone. Many women were there ministering unto JC, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Pilate knows trouble is yet brewing, and he takes the sound advice to place a guard at Jesus’ tomb, for there were also a great many who were allies of JC…
Matthew 28: At dawn at the first day of the week after Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the sepulchre. Another earthquake, resulting in an angel sitting on the now moved stone, who tells the women not to fear, that JC has risen, go to Galilee to see him…so the disciples do this, and worship JC. Meanwhile, the guards of the sepulchre inform the court what had happened. The guards are paid to tell everyone that they fell asleep on the job, and that the disciples had stolen away the body. The eleven remaining disciples, though some are doubters at this time, are commanded to spread the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit all over the place.
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