What happened on Sunday morning part 3

What final messages did Jesus give to the disciples after his resurrection?
*Mark: (not in earliest manuscripts) when he appeared to the eleven as they were eating (in Jerusalem)-" Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." In Jesus's name they would drive out demons, speak in new tongues, pick up snakes, drink poison, and heal sick people.
*Matthew: (on the mountain in galilee?) Jesus said "go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Surely I am with you to the very end of the age."
*Luke: (in Jerusalem) Jesus said "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations...I am going to send you what my father has promised but stay in the city intil you have been clothed with power from on high." (No baptism mentioned.)
*John:(by the sea of Tiberias after eating a breakfast of fish) Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep then prophesizes about Peter's future. Then he says "follow me!" Nothing about preaching to all nations, miracles, or baptism. He also implies that he will return from an unspecified location.

What was the last sight of Jesus?
*Mark: After the final message, Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of god. How does the author know this? Does god have hands?
*Matthew: No mention of anything at all happening to Jesus after his final message.
*Luke: Jesus led the disciples from Jerusalem to the vicinity of Bethany and was taken up into heaven.
*John: No mention of anything happening to Jesus after his final message.

Acts, supposedly a continuation of Luke, has Jesus sticking around for forty days before he is taken up and hidden by a cloud. Then two men in white, presumably angels, tell the disciples Jesus is in heaven, but he will come back. Matthew, Mark and Luke do not speak of a return. Other New Testament books speak of Jesus being raised from the dead but give no details. Many passages in the gospels show that the authors believed in resurrection of the dead and have Jesus talking about the resurrection of the righteous,  but they also show there were factions of Jews who did not believe this.

What does an empty tomb mean? Only one thing: there is no body there. It doesn't tell you how, when, where, or why. The story in John actually gives the most likely explanation, if a man Jesus actually died and was laid in a tomb. "They took his body and didn't tell us." Christians like to say nobody else's tomb is empty, but that's not true at all. Plenty of tombs are empty for various reasons, usually becuse the body was moved. As simple as that.

Things to remember about these stories: They do not claim to be written by eyewitnesses or to be inspired by god. We don't know who wrote them. There is no knowledge or indication of the year this happened, so it can't be pinned down in history. The stories are written in the third person, told as if these things happened to other people. They have a limited omnicient perspective, being able to show the actions words and feelings of separate people in separate places, but they don't know exactly when or how Jesus was "raised from the dead." That part is left mysterious and magical..

Where is Jesus's tomb supposed to have been?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_Tomb
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talpiot_Tomb

More: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_of_Jesus

Edited

What happened on Sunday morning part 2

What was the response when the women told people about finding Jesus gone from the tomb?

*Mark: WhenMary Magdalene told the mourners Jesus was alive, they did not believe her story.

*Matthew: The disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Previous passages say nothing about a mountain,

*Luke: when the women told the disciples, they did not believe and thought they were talking nonsense. Peter got up and ran to the tomb, saw the linen grave clothes, and wondered what happened.

*John: Peter and "the other disciple" raced to the tomb at the news. The other disciple got there first. He saw the grave clothes. They believed Jesus was gone but didn't understand that he had risen from the dead.

What are the reports of initial Jesus sightings after that?
*Mark: Jesus appeared in a different form to two of the mourners while they were walking in the country. They returned and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them.
*Matthew: the eleven disciples went to the mountain in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.
*Luke: That same day, two disciples, one named Cleopas, encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They did not recognize him when he talked to them. They talked together, travelled together, and sat down to eat together. When Jesus broke the bread and gave thanks, they finally recognized him. As soon as they recognized him, he vanished. They went right back to Jerusalem, where they told their story to the eleven who also had a story of Jesus appearing to Simon (Peter?)
*John: After Peter and the other disciple went home. Mary remained at the tomb weeping, then saw two angels in white seated where the body had been. They asked her why she was crying. She said it was because Jesus's body had been taken and she didn't know where. Then she turned around and saw  someone she thought was the gardener but who was actually Jesus. He spoke her name. She cried out "Teacher!" He told her not to hold on to him because he had not yet returned to the father, God. She was to tell the disciples. And she did. No response at the news is indicated. This is a different sequence of events than the other stories.

What are the reports of further Jesus sightings?
*Mark: Jesus appeared to the eleven while they were eating and rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
*Matthew: none

*Luke: While Cleopas and the other follower of Jesus were talking to the eleven, Jesus appeared in their midst. They thought he was a ghost and were startled. He told them to touch him and see that he had flesh and bones. He showed them his hands and feet. He ate some food to prove he was alive. He opened their minds so they could understand scripture.
*John: It was still resurrection Sunday, in the evening, when Jesus appeared to the disciples in a locked room. He said "Peace be with you." He showed them his hands and feet. He breathed on them and said, "recieve the holy spirit." Thomas was not with the disciples at that time. (That makes ten, not eleven present.) Whe he heard the story, he doubted and said he would have to touch Jesus to believe. A week later, Jesus appeared in the locked room again. This time, Thomas was there and he got to see and touch Jesus. Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Tiberious where he helped them catch fish, and had breakfast with them, and talked to Peter.

Now we see the stories clearly diverging in details, especially Matthew and John. Matthew has the disciples going to a mountain in Galilee, that's it. Is Jesus a spirit or flesh and blood? John includes a fish story. Notice the element of doubt introduced in each story. More to come...

Celebrate life.

Even though I am not a believer, I enjoy Easter Sundays. Not the mandatory gruesome story of unneccessary torture, but the celebration of life. The sun is out. The windows are open. Everything is greening up and warming up. Children are laughing and anticipating fun and sugar highs. I know, I'm lucky to be living in this place and this time, even if things can't always be the way I want them to be.

Maybe things aren't quite so rosy for you. I wish I could dispense good feelings like chocolate. I have experienced harder and more painful times, but I always appreciated just  being alive. Maybe I'm wired that way.

Stop what you are doing. Take a moment to look around and find something beautiful, anything,  even a flowering weed or the color of your own eyes. Watch an ant crawl across a sidewalk. Feel yourself breathing. Find your pulse. You are alive right now. Celebrate.

What happened on Sunday morning? part 1

Last year, on the Saturday before Easter, I posted "What happened on Saturday?" Today, I want to look at the events of "resurrection Sunday" as recorded in the Bible. We will look at Mark 16, Matthew 28, Luke 24, and John 20. We will also try to see what passages outside the gospels might say about the resurrection.

First, all four gospels record what happened on the morning ofthe first day of the week.
*Mark: very early just after just after sunrise
*Matthew: at dawn
*Luke: very early in the morning
*John: early, while it was still dark

Who went to the tomb?
*Mark: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bringing spices for the body.
*Matthew: Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" to look at the tomb
*Luke: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women, taking spices.
*John: Mary Magdalene

How was the tomb opened?
*Mark: the large stone in front of the tomb was already rolled away from the entrance
*Matthew: there was a violent earthquake because of an angel coming down from heaven to roll away the stone.
*Luke: the stone was already rolled away
*John: the stone was already removed from the entrance

What people or things did the women see at the tomb?
*Mark: a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side as the women entered the tomb. He said Jesus was not there, he had risen and was going ahead of them to Galilee.
*Matthew: an angel of the lord was sitting on top of the stone. His appearance was like lightening, his clothes as white as snow. He said Jesus was not there he had risen. The tomb guards were so afraid they were shaking and unable to move. The angel told the women to go tell Jesus's disciples that Jesus was going ahead of them to Galilee and they would see him there.
*Luke: two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening suddenly appeared. The men said Jesus was not there, he had risen.
*John: no people or things mentioned

What did the women do when they found Jesus was gone?
*Mark: 16:8 says the women said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. 16:10 (not found in the earliest manuscripts) contradicts that and says Mary Magdalene went and told those who had been with Jesus who were mourning.
*Matthew: the women ran to tell the disciples. On the way, Jesus appeared and spoke to them. They clasped his feet and worshipped him. He reiterated the command to tell the disciples to go to Galilee where they would see him.
*Luke: the women told everything to the eleven remaining disciples and "all the others."
*John: Mary ran to Peter and the disciple "Jesus loved." She said, "they have taken the lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him!" No supernatural explanations have been provided yet.

So far, I see that Luke and Mark have many similarities, but are not exactly alike  in details. Matthew is kind of like Mark and Luke smashed together then embellished with many extra details. It is much more dramatic and wordy. John's story is very quiet and down played, with very little detail and nothing of a supernatural nature yet.

Galatians chapter 4 part 2

*In verses 21-31, Paul is trying to redeem his metaphor of God and God's relationship to the jews and gentiles by comparing it to Abraham's relationship to his two sons, born of Sarah and Hagar. Hagar was a slave, Sarah was a free woman. Abraham's son by Hagar was "born in the ordinary way." That is Abraham consented to have sex with his wife's slave, at his wife's urging. Whether the slave consented doesn't enter into the matter. The child that was born would have been a slave also. The children of slave women, even by their masters, were slaves. This has been a fact of slavery even up to the age of American enslavement of Africans. Let's be clear, "Biblical slavery" was not any different than the slavery that was fought against in more modern times. It certainly wasn't a kinder more humane slavery. Slaves were only treated as well as their masters wanted to treat them.

*According to Paul, Sarah's son was not born in the ordinary way, but was born as the result of a promise. Well, folks, in case you didn't know, there is only one way for children to be born. That is pretty ordinary, promise or no promise. Abraham was a man. Sarah was a woman. If they actually lived and had a child, he was born in the ordinary way. What did god do to cause this birth? Guide the sperm to the right egg? Produce a one time egg in a dried up old woman? Let's not forget that Sarah was ninety years old  and have a little chuckle at the thought. Human female fertility ends well before the age of sixty. If I found out I was pregnant at ninety, I would probably die from the shock. I would probably die laughing if a 100 year old man tried to have sex with me when I am 90.

*Paul says, in a round about way, that  his metaphor is equating the children of the slave woman Hagar with the present day Israelites, who are children of the covenant friom Mount Sinai (the law of Moses). This is how the metaphor works so far:  Abraham= father/god. Hagar= Slave Mother/Mount Sinai/Jerusalem. Hagar's children=Jews/slave children born in the ordinary way. This is turning the tables on the Israelite identity. The Israelites banked on being the legitimate children of god and Abraham, the children of the promise. Paul is saying that may have been the physical reality, but not the spiritual one. I'm sure this did not go over well with the Jews.

*Paul goes on to say that there is a "Jerusalem that is above" that is free. If you follow the metaphor, Sarah=Free (non-slave) mother/spiritual Jerusalem. Isaac=Galatian christians/ gentile christians/ all christians/ children of promise born by the power of the spirit. In the Abrahamic story, the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the spirit. "It is the same now." Wow. Is Paul actually saying the Jews are persecuting the  christians? Well, he did it himself once, didn't he? (Gal. 1:13) Wait. It gets even more interesting.

*Paul goes on to ask, "What does the scripture say?" Then he claims scripture says," Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son" (!!!) It's true. Genesis 21:10 does say this. It is Sarah speaking, not God. Paul knows this. He goes on to say "we" (christians) are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.  Do you realize what Paul is implying here, in light of his extended metaphor? Spiritual Jerusalem (Sarah) advocates getting rid of physical Jerusalem's (Hagar's) children (the jews) in favor of her own children (christians.) He says the slave woman's son (Jews) will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son (christians.)

I'm blown away by today's reading. This is something I never heard in church. Sure we read this passage, but it was usually not dissected the way I've done here. Hagar was usually associated with every non believer, not just Jews. But I think it is quite clear that Paul is advocating a complete separation with Judaism, even going so far as to say Jews will not recieve the promised inheritance. We haven't been told what that inheritance is yet, but maybe that is to come.

Galatians chapter 4

After reading chapter 4:

*Verses 1-7. Paul says that Galatians previously had the status of children who have not reached the age of inheritance. Under aged children are still like slaves to their father. (In that day and age) So the Galatians were like slaves under the basic principles of the world. Time passed and god sent his son, "born of a woman, born under law" to redeem  those under the law (the Jews) that they might recieve the full rights as sons. To me, the analogy breaks down here because  children don't need to be redeemed by other children to inherit from ther fathers. It happens naturally. Maybe I'm missing something. Also, here we see god as the father and  an unnamed human mother as parents of "the son." Paul never names Jesus's mother in any of his writings.

*After the son redeemed the slaves/children (which are they?), they became the recipients of the full rights as sons (of god). Because the Galatians are sons of god, (when did that happen?), god sent the spirit of his son into their hearts. Now they are no longer slaves but sons and heirs.  Aren't sons still sons/heirs even when they are underage? This whole metaphor feels leaky: A child is like slave-- you were like children-- therefore you were  slaves, not sons. Someone, who was a son, redeemed you and you became sons too. Because you are now a real son, now can you call god your daddy (abba). Now god will make you his heir. Of what?

Plus is Paul talking Jews, Gentiles, or both, in these passages?

*Verses 8-11 seem to be clearly speaking to gentile Galatians. He talks about when they previously participated in non-Yahweh religious practices, observing special days, presumably pagan rituals. Paul says they were once enslaved by their old practices, do they want to go back to that lifestyle? Maybe they did. Maybe it didn't feel like slavery to them. Religious syncretism was a common thing. Paul wonders if he has wasted his time and effort on them.

*In verse 12, Paul begs them to become like him because he became like them. He was very ill when he was in that part of the world and they took extra good care of him. So he preached the gospel to them while he was there. Apparently they recieved it with joy (or they were humoring him.) They May have just been really nice people that would have listened to anyone's stories of religious salvation. We don't have the Galatian's side of the story.

*Paul complains about the people who are trying to teach the Galatians different things than Paul did. Those nice Galatians appear to be willing to go along with the newcomer's teachings, too. He doesn't want the Galatians to be zealous for their teachings but for his teachings instead. The other teachings are "for no good." Paul is confused and wishes he were there to sort things out. He implies that christ is not fully formed in them, and it's causing him pain for them like a mother giving birth to her children. So, Paul thinks of the Galatians as his children in the faith, and he wants them to be obedient to him.

Edited.

Galatians chapter 3 part 4

*Now we finish the chapter, starting at verse 26. The Jews have been released from the prison of the law, what about everyone else? Now, Paul says, every single person who has faith in christ is a child of god. Everyone who has been baptized has clothed themselves with christ. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female." Paul is saying that distinctions of ethnicity, social status, and gender don't matter. "If you belong to christ, you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise."

*There Is a question  I have now that may be answered in the rest of Galatians. We'll see.

What are christians heirs of, exactly? What is this promise, this inheritance? So far, we have not had an explanation of this in Galatians. Look back to god's promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, 15, 17. They are: Abraham will have many descendants, his descendants will be given the land of Canaan, and El/yahweh would be his god. That's basically it in a nutshell. There is never any mention of any christ figure, any punishment for sin with redemption, or any eternal life package.  Christians obviously didn't inherit the land of Canaan. But they did inherit Yahweh as their god. Yahweh used to be a one nation god, but now he is not. Is that what Paul means?

In Genesis 12:2-3 god says to Abraham, "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Is that the promise Paul is referring to? Is he saying christians will be a blessing to the world and that whoever blesses them will be blessed, and whoever curses them will be cursed?

*Also, about "Abraham's seed." Paul claimed the word seed meant one person- christ. Now he is using the word seed to mean all the people who believe in the christ. Paul is playing fast and loose with his definitions, isn't he? We can't fault him too much. The whole Bible plays with words right and left, using puns, innuendoes, metaphors and similes, and alternate meanings. Paul is just following in the path of those that have gone before. It wouldn't matter,  if the Bible was just literature. But, if we are supposed to take it as a guide to reality, we should be able to pin down exactly what is meant.

*It's interesting that this passage clearly supports baptism as essential to being "clothed with christ." That is one of the fundamental teachings of the church I belonged to. It is one teaching of theirs that I would say follows what the bible actually teaches. Too bad, I don't believe the bible has any real authority to tell anybody anything.

*I still don't get why the gentiles need faith in Jesus to become god's children. Why can't they go the direct route like Abraham and just have faith in god. It would be less complicated. Still, that would not make it more true.