A PRAYER TO START
Pray this prayer, one prayed by Flannery O’Conner, to step out of the way to see God in Christ today…
Dear God, I cannot love Thee the way I want to. You are the slim crescent of a moon that I see and my self is the earth’s shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon. The crescent is very beautiful and perhaps that is all one like I am should or could see; but what I am afraid of, dear God, is that my self shadow will grow so large that it blocks the whole moon, and that I will judge myself by the shadow that is nothing.
I do not know You God because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.
DIVING INTO THE DETAILS
The book of Matthew is no ordinary biographical account of the life of Jesus, simply telling stories so we can get to know the details of Jesus’ historical life. Rather, Matthew wrote his gospel in a very particular manner so that his readers would not miss his intent: to praise the honor of Jesus’ life and death. Today, some 2,000 plus years later we have little hesitation praising Jesus and honoring Jesus; but that’s because Matthew’s Spirit inspired brilliance took root in the first centuries. You see, the way Jesus lived, what Jesus taught, and especially how Jesus died; was anything but honorable to those who witnessed him. In fact, from beginning to end, Matthew provides an account of Jesus that surprised the world of his day, and, quite honestly, needs to surprise you and I still.
Now it is important of us to capture this virtue of honor. Honor is not a word we use much today, but in the days of Jesus’ it was the one thing sought above all else. Regardless of class or standing, “Honor above all else” was the pursuit of every man and women and child, especially of those who wanted to make anything out of their life, for honor was achievable by everyone—to various degrees. There was honorable living among peasants, honor among craftsmen, honor among the noble and even honor among thieves, or so they say. Communal norms ascribing value and worth to the way one lived. Aristotle shares the cultural weight of honor in the time of Jesus,
"If then the great-souled man claims and is worthy of great things and most of all the greatest of things, Greatness of Soul must be concerned with some one object especially. ‘Worthy’ is a term of relation: it denotes having claim to goods external to oneself. Now the greatest external good we should assume to be the thing which we offer as a tribute to the gods, and which is most coveted by men of high station, and is the prize awarded for the noblest deeds; and such a thing is honor, for honor is clearly the greatest of external goods. Therefore the great-souled man is he who has the right disposition in relation to honors and disgraces…since it is honor above all else which great men claim and deserve."
And so, Matthew writes to honor Jesus. In fact, Matthew’s gospel is laid out in a form of writing called an “ecomium”. This classic rhetorical style was used to tell the stories of great and noble figures for the purpose of praising their honor. This very particular manner of writing included stories of the origin and lineage of the hero’s birth, especially those supernatural and extraordinary events surrounding them. It was assumed that all great ones had spectacular births and either a noble lineage (especially for Jews) or that they would overcome their linage buy honorable deeds.
Take a quick glance at Matthew 1:1-17. You’ll notice how Matthew’s account of Jesus’ arrival focuses first on Jesus lineage, coming from the destined kingly line of David and tracing his heritage back to the father of the nation, Abraham. What more dignified blood could flow through Jesus’ veins? As the first chapter concludes we began to see that Matthew gives us a brief but spectacular account of conceiving and protecting of the origin of Jesus. This quick account is packed full of dreams and angels, includes murderous and jealous kings, and exotic and mysterious sages from distant lands, a just-in-the-nick-of-time escape and assumed provision while on the run before returning safely home to grow up. Jesus’ life started out in remarkable fashion!
Ecomia writings also included accounts of how the honorable ones were nurtured and trained. While we easily miss what would have been culturally assumed, chapters 3 and 4 contain all that we need to know about Jesus upbringing. Read 4:1-11 and notice how Jesus responds to the tempter. Jesus is well versed in word challenges offered by Satan. He is not confused by the philosophical and theological dialogue; rather he is quick witted and grounded in the texts of his heritage. Again, in our time, we say “Of course Jesus knows the scriptures, he is Jesus!”; yet, the battle that ensues mirrors a scholars debate. This would mean that Jesus, raised to work as a carpenter was no less apprenticed in what was called the haberim. The haberim or “the friends”, were associations throughout the region and time of Jesus’ upbringing which were made up of men in secular professions who spent their spare time debating the Law of Moses and scriptures in order to apply these texts to their real life world (Bailey, 24). By joining the haberim, Jesus and any other young man, would be committing to become a “student of the rabbis”; thus, Jesus himself was trained as a teacher and called a rabbi, and was even recognized as such by a high ranking Rabbi (John 3:1-2).
Continuing the structure of the ecomium, Matthew, starting in chapter 5, begins to report the accomplishments and deeds that would solidify Jesus’ honor. It’s important to note that honor was a social construct. It consisted of not only what one thought of him or herself, but how that image was affirmed (or not) by the community. Thus one could earn honor by doing things that the society deemed as valuable or worthy such as powerful teaching, deeds that made the community better like healings or raised the reputation of the village like miracles. Read Matthew 8:1-34. Notice the reaction of the crowds to Jesus’ teaching and actions as they provide the social confirmation of Jesus’ honor. Notice too the confirmation of Jesus’ stature by the centurion captain. Throughout chapters 5-16 Matthew will describe over and over again the words and deeds of Jesus that brought recognizable honor to him, even if the honor appeared in the form of envy. You’ll notice the religious leaders often were jealous of the honor Jesus received by the community. Their envy actually confirmed that Jesus was indeed honorable, for honor was a “limited good”. There was only so much honor to go around, and for Jesus to receive honor from the society meant that the religious leaders would have less of it. That’s why John the Baptist says of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:39). The envy and hatred of ruling parties towards Jesus indicate that Jesus was taking something from them, namely honor. This will be an important subplot throughout Matthew’s story.
At the end of chapter 16 the gospel story and Jesus begin to turn towards to the cross. In an ecomium, the final section was the depiction of the noble death of the one being honored. Often such deaths were in heroic fashion or full of pomp and circumstance that lauded the nobleman’s stature. Jesus’ death story too contains an ostentatious scene of praise; the triumphal entry in chapter 21. Such a display for all the world to see (John 12:19-20) would usher in Jesus’ final challenges, the testing of his honor by all those in authority in Jerusalem (the Pharisees, the scribes and lawyers, the Sadducees, the Roman governor and even its soldiers). Read Matthew 22:15-46. Challenging of honor was common and expected in Jesus’ time. Again, it was a good that was limited yet direly sought. To be challenged meant there was a least a claim to honor, and a test would ensue to confirm or deny the claim. Finally, Jesus death story was made honorable in its encapsulation between the transfiguration (chapter 17) and his resurrection (chapter 28). Jesus was revealed as worthy in divine fashion and deemed as worthy in his overcoming what was an culturally an ignoble death.
Thus, Matthew’s ecomium was complete. A biography with a purpose, to praise the honor of Jesus’ life and death. As we travel through Matthew’s story we will notice that while he follows the structure of a common ecomium of the age, our author goes to great lengths to demonstrate that Jesus’ honor, and the honor of those who call him Lord and friend, comes from very different sources than those socially accepted. In the cultural setting of Jesus, honor was affirmed through such things as the possession of land, though Jesus would say “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”. Or, through the display of wealth, though Jesus would say “You cannot serve God and money”. Also, family lineage, though Jesus self-identified with highly dishonorable Gentile women in his family tree. And then there was: title and rank, family affiliation and stability, gender, ethnicity, access to influence, promoting your reputation, and even religious piety; all of which Jesus will confront with a surprisingly different, if not completely opposite, understanding of value and worth. In this way, the Jesus of Matthew’s gospel turns upside the very thing that is the greatest good: honor. He’ll do the same for you and me if we let him!
DEVELOPING DISCERNMENT
If Jesus is to surprise us still today, we need to learn to discern what it is that we seek as the greatest good and see how Jesus’ words and deeds subvert our neighborhoods, workplaces, homes, city and personal values. Don’t skip this part. Information is of little use in living a transformed life if we are un-discerning people. Take the time to thoughtfully answer these questions, and maybe use them as conversation starters in Gospel Community, at work or in your home. Doing so will pay dividends in the long run!
What CULTURALLY is our assumed greatest good?
- What do you see celebrated most often in news, media feeds, social and religious groups you belong etc.? What accomplishments? What objects? What actions?
- What do you see regularly encouraged to pursue?
- What is degraded the most? What values, beliefs, actions, attitudes, objects, etc.?
What are your PERSONAL highest values?
- What do you celebrate most often? What about as a family growing up?
- What do you spend the most of your time pursuing—whether in day dreams or in real actions using resources like time, money and relationships.
- What do you avoid at all costs?
What IMAGE are we EXPECTED to conform to as men, as women, as parents as employees?
- How would you answer someone who asked what it means to be a “man” or a “women”? How would your neighbor answer?
- How would you answer your boss if he or she asked what it meant to be a good employee in your work place? How would your co-workers answer?
- How would you answer someone expecting a child who asked what is the key to parenting? How would your friends answer?
- What must you avoid (doing, saying, etc.) if you are man? A women? A parent? An employee?
As we assess what is honorable, good, and worthy in our culture and hearts, let us allow the stories of Jesus to subvert our commonsense a bit. Begin to re-frame the values we and our neighbors hold so that we and our neighbors might share in the good life of Jesus. This is where learning to speak the truth to one another and our neighbor begins!
A PRAYER TO CLOSE
Pray this prayer from Eugene Peterson as you go about the day with eyes wide open
I pause now, O God, and survey my surroundings, aware that I live in the midst of your presence and action. I want to be well-oriented in your ways, not for a moment forgetful of who and where I am because of your love in Jesus Christ. Amen.