Greetings Bible Study class!

After a week break for the celebration of Trinity's 125th anniversary, we will be back together this Sunday continuing our study of the New Testament. It will be great to be back together again.

The last time we were together we had the opportunity to look at the 6 different gospel accounts of the Feeding of the Multitude (two different versions in Matthew and Mark as well as one each in Luke and John). We had a fun activity that stretched our thinking on the differences found in each of the gospels. We broke into four small groups and were given envelopes with line by line accounts of the Feeding of the Multitude. Each group was to reconstruct the story and try to determine which gospel account they had been given. It was a lively room! All the groups did well and most groups found surprises in terms of which account they were studying. As a large group, we then compared and contrasted the accounts with some great insights.

This week we will continue our study of the Feeding of the Multitude. We will again be dividing into small groups to discuss our four questions:
1. What does the story tell me about me?
2. What does the story tell me about God?
3. What does the story tell me about my relationship with God?
4. What will I do?

The particular passages to read this week are:
Matthew 14:13-21
Mark 6:31-44
Luke 9:10-17
John 6:5-15

See you Sunday!

Pastor Dan and Laura

New Testament Made Easy Feeding the Multitudes I

Hi everyone!

Thanks for an enriching class on October 12. We broke into 3 small groups of six and pondered our four questions, applied to the Beatitudes in Matthew and Luke. Each pod had it's own lively conversations about these teachings from Jesus. At the end of class we heard a few nutshell reports -- one poignant observation was that this passage isn't comfortable in some respect for any of us, and this is a good thing -- Jesus takes us out of our "comfort zone" of complacency, and this is how we grow.

For next week, we'll take a look at the only miraculous event reported in all four Gospels: the feeding of the multitude. There are, actually, two separate feedings of multitudes; let's focus on the "First Event" described in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I am attaching some material from Wikipedia below, which I think is about as concise and helpful as it gets in setting up our study of these sections. For this material and more, go to wikipedia.com and search "Jesus feeding the multitude".

So, to prep for October 19 please read through the material attached, at the least. If you are feeling ambitious, by all means read the separate accounts for yourself and begin pondering. The chapters and verses are included in the first paragraph of wiki notes below.

This story, to me, is one of the most picturesque and compelling in the Bible. I expect we'll have a great time and learn a lot from each other.

I'll miss you all very much on the 19th, as I'll be in Portland on Annual Conference business -- I'm on a committee which oversees our various campus ministries. One of the things I'm sure we'll be talking about is lack of funds . . . kind of like we only have five loaves and two fishes, is what I'm thinking. So maybe this particular story has an application where I'll be! Coincidentally (?) it's also stewardship emphasis day at St. Paul's this Sunday.

God bless

Pastor Dan

* * *
Feeding the multitude (also known as The miracle of the loaves and fish) is the name of two miracles attributed to Jesus, the first of which is reported by all four of the canonical Gospels of the Christian religion (Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15), while the second is reported by Mark (8) and Matthew (15) but neither Luke nor John. The first is the only miracle (apart from the resurrection) present in both the narrative of the Gospel of John and that of the Synoptic Gospels.

First event

According to the narrative of the Gospels, the first event happened after Jesus had been teaching in an area away from the towns, and insisted that the people be fed where they were, rather than sending them to the nearest towns. The Synoptics state that the location was a "desert place" near Bethsaida, while John does not state a specific location, only specifying that it was very grassy.

The canonical Gospels all report that, upon investigating the provisions of the crowd, the disciples were only able to find 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, and the Gospel of John adds that these came from a single boy in the crowd. The Gospels state that Jesus blessed the food, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, who distributed it to the people present - 5000 not counting women and children - all of them being fed. The disciples, therefore, distributed great multitudes of food among the people, much more than the original 5 loaves and 2 fish, implying that Jesus miraculously created more food. The Gospels also state that after the meal was over, the disciples collected the scraps, filling 12 baskets.

. . .

Explanations in the New Testament


The Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha is the site where some Christians believe the miracle to have taken place.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is described as using the first event to illustrate a lesson to his disciples, arguing that the disciples look for him not because of the miracles, but because they ate the loaves and were filled up, and then instructing the disciples not to seek the meat which perishes but that which endures to everlasting life. This has often been interpreted[citation needed] as a veiled criticism of people who consumed the teachings of Jesus (ate the loaves) but did not value a miraculous nature of Jesus himself.
Mark, however, presents a much more esoteric explanation, implying by emphasis in the text that there is something significant about the numbers involved. After the second event, modern texts of Mark state that the disciples left in a boat for Dalmanutha, but some early texts of Mark state that it was Magdala, home of Mary Magdalene, that they went to, and Matthew states that they went to the similarly named Magadan. Once there, the Pharisees are described as requesting a miracle from Jesus, but Jesus criticises the request, and states that no miraculous sign will be given to that generation. The ancient Gnostics argued that this implied that the resurrection of Jesus was not an actual physical event, since it would otherwise clearly be a miraculous sign, but that it should instead be understood as allegory or doceticly. However, sources not sympathetic to Christianity like Josephus also mention Jesus's ability to perform miracles.
Mark goes on to state that, after this response, Jesus and the disciples leave in a boat and at the other side of the lake discover they have only one loaf of bread with them, to which Jesus responds watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod (Mark 8:15). Mark states that the disciples interpret this as criticism of them for not bringing enough bread, but Jesus soon corrects them, and criticises their lack of understanding. In Mark's gospel Jesus is then described as giving a rather cryptic explanation of the food miracles, by asking the disciples how many baskets of scraps were collected at each event, and then questioning do you still not understand?. This can be viewed as asking how they do not yet understand who he is, given the miracle that has just occurred; this seems appropriate given that Peter's confession of Christ, the turning point in Mark's gospel, occurs just a few verses later.

Sermon on the Mount/Plain October 5 2008

Hi Everyone!

Blessings to you all & hope your Monday is a good beginning for a great week.

Here's what we did Sunday, October 5 in 'New Testament Made Easy':

Welcome to first time folks, Willa, Dave, Carolee, Mary, Laura, and Greg. We missed some of you -- Steve & Melanie (thanks for serving in the nursery!), Mark & Melanie (thinking of you visiting your church family in Tri-cities), Dan & Melinda (crashing from college tour!), and Eric & Angela (in the midst of moving).

The subject for today, and next week, is Jesus' wonderful sermon. This is most often referred to as "The Sermon on the Mount". This is Matthew's version, who places Jesus on a hillside as he preaches to his disciples. Most scholars believe this is a deliberate association with Moses, who brought the gift of God's law from the mountain. Jesus' sermon in Matthew covers three whole chapters, 5, 6, and 7. In Luke the sermon is commonly known as "The Sermon on the Plain", because there Jesus comes down to a level place among his disciples and many people gathered to hear and to be healed. Luke's version is also shorter, taking place in chapter 6 of that book.

We noted some of these differences, and others. In Matthew ('The Rabbi') Jesus is portrayed in the primary role of teacher (Rabbi!) in the tradition of Moses, the most revered teacher of the Israelites and Jews. The focus in Matthew is the meat of the message. He is speaking to the disciples, but in such a way as anyone would overhear. In Luke ('The Chronicler') Jesus is portrayed as someone who positions himself to be more in touch with common people, as he stands not above them but in their midst, and speaks directly to them. In the landscape of Luke, Jesus' presence is the ultimate 'leveler', challenging the class system and oppression of the poor in his day.

These profiles in Matthew and Luke are not contradictory, but do present Jesus seen through different lenses of interpretation.

It is possible that these two sermons represent two different occasions; or that they are constructions by the authors, based on source material at their disposal and written to emphasize their respective understandings of Jesus.

We noted that these sermons are powerful, and hard to digest all at once. As we move toward not only understanding Jesus' message, but putting it into practice, we will have much to think about and some definite challenges.

We moved into studying one portion of the sermons, known commonly as "The Beatitudes", which we think means "blessings". Next week we'll do a bit more comparison/contrast and move into small groups where we can ponder our four questions: 1) What does the passage tell me about me 2) What does the passage tell me about God 3) What does the passage tell me about my relationship with God 4) What will I do?

God bless you all; we love our class and look forward to seeing you every Sunday.

Pastor Dan & Laura

Healing of the Paralytic II

Hi Everyone

Great class last week, with 17 of us Bible studying the story of the healing of the paralytic. Thanks, Laura, for great facilitation. We used most of the time in class for small group discussion, answering our five questions: What does the story tell me about me? What does the story tell me about God? What does the story tell me about my relationship with God? and . . . What will I do?

I appreciated the sharing in our corner; and the opportunity to ponder those questions. For me, the part of the story that kept drawing my eye was when Jesus forgave the man's sins. I'm sure God is telling me I have further to go in fully understanding that amazing love, for myself. What I will seek to do is fully accept that unconditional love; an internal, attitude "do". Relaxing a bit more this week in the reality of God's delight in me (and you), knowing sins within and without me are taken care of by Jesus Christ's love -- what a wonderful experience. Laura and I hope each of you are finding new closeness to Christ as you "do" what God is leading you to do through this Bible study.

For this week -- we will begin a study of Jesus' great message, presented in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, and in Luke.6:17-46. Please read through this material prior to class; no need for in depth study, just a quick scan with an eye to subject matter and any particular differences that easily stand out. We'll begin class with a short overview, comparing the contrasting the versions, then proceed to more in-depth study in smaller groups.

New participants are always welcome, so feel free to invite anyone you may think would enjoy and benefit from this class and study.

As always, class notes are also posted at www.stpaulpastor.blogspot.com. Feel free also to refer your friends, family and acquaintances to this site, whether or not they can or wish to come to class on Sunday. By the way, all the notes from last year's study "The Old Testament Made Easy" are also archived and available at this blog site.

God bless & look forward with excitement to being with you on Sunday

Dan and Laura

New Testament Made Easy Week III: Synoptic Gospels

Here are notes from week III, "New Testament Made Easy" class:

Laura, following up on awareness of different learning styles, put together a basket of art and craft supplies for our use during class. This is a way to encourage active listening for those who find it helpful to use their hands or draw or colorize during class. Several folks made good use of colored markers/pencils and pipe cleaners.

After our opening prayer we took a few moments to share insights from our own researches into the "synoptic gospels", from web based resources. For all our information, www.ibs.org, the site for International Bible Society, is a great and useful place for general research & outlines of books of the Bible.

We spent a good amount of time talking over a three-way comparison of the story of healing of the paralytic, content shared by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We began to move through analysis to application to our lives, thinking about the message of sin, healing, and forgiveness through Christ. With some background established about how to compare/contrast the three gospel books, it feels like we are eager to move toward discussion of what the Scripture means for us.

We hope, in preparation for this coming Sunday, we will all have thought about our four basic questions:

1. What does the story tell me about me?
2. What does the story tell me about God?
3. What does the story tell me about my relationship with God?
4. What will I do?

We will continue our discussion this Sunday, September 28.

Have a great week. Laura and I are blessed, blessed to have you all in this class.

New Testament Made Easy Week II: Synoptic Gospels

Hi All

Thanks for your presence and participation last Sunday! Laura and I are enjoying you all and look forward to upcoming sessions together.

Here are some highlights from last time:

We spent the first part of class working a little more on the theory of "sources" as applies to similarities and differences among three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We presented a diagram representing how common and unique oral and written sources about Jesus may have found their way into the respective books. This diagram is on printed notes; if you missed you may pick one up next Sunday.

We discussed, as a large group, some of the characteristics that distinguish common stories from each other in the "synoptic" Gospels. We reviewed a chart comparing three accounts of the calling of Matthew Levi, noting that all three books treat the story in a very similar way with small differences in detail. Of interest for example is that Matthew's book refers to this disciple as only "Matthew", while Mark and Luke refer to him as 'Levi the son of Alphaeus' and 'Levi'. How interesting, since Matthew writes to a Jewish audience, yet uses his Greek name, "Mathias", while Mark and Luke, who write to more general audiences use his Hebrew name. We also noticed that some of the words of Jesus are identical, word for word, in each book, giving an example of evidence scholars note when theorizing that there was, at one time, a collection of the sayings of Jesus, which all three writers may have used.

We also explained that the "Q" document, a theoretical work that may have been used by these three authors, is called "Q" because it is a German word "Quelle" (pronounced "kwell-eh", accent on first syllable, thanks, Harold), meaning, literally, "source".

We discussed last week's reading assignment: Matthew and Luke, chapters 1 and 2. We figured out pretty quickly that these chapters share a common subject, the birth of Jesus Christ, but present different accounts, emphasizing different characters, and with different details. For instance, in Matthew Joseph is the recipient of an angel's message about Jesus; in Luke Mary receives a message. Luke also goes into much more detail, in general. We didn't mention that Mark does not contain an account of Jesus' birth. So chapters 1-2 of Matthew and Luke are an example of content that is unique to each writer.

In order to focus on the message and meaning of the birth stories, we split into four groups of four and discussed two passages from Matthew and Luke that speak to the "why" of Jesus' birth. Both Matthew 1:18-24 and Luke 1:76-80 refer to Jesus as the one who will forgive sins and bring salvation from a merciful God.

For next week, we invite you to review a couple of web sources:

www.wikipedia.com, search "synoptic gospels"
www.crivoice.org/pdf/synoptic.pdf, search "synoptic Gospel problem"

Laura will be your lead teacher on Sunday, September 21, 10:00 a.m. in the church parlor. Hope to see you then, and also be aware that guests are welcome. Feel free to refer anyone to the class blog, www.stpaulpastor.blogspot.com for class notes and opportunity to comment. We also welcome questions and insights sent to this email address, pastordanta@mac.com.

Blessings!

Pastor Dan and Laura

New Testament Made Easy Week One

For this Sunday, please prepare for class by reading the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke, with an eye toward comparison/contrast. This will start us on a study of the three "synoptic" gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Some review/key points from September 7:

* Purpose of the class is to enhance our church's mission, to grow in our understanding and application of Scripture to life, and to have a good time together!

* The New Testament is like a "library" of books of different types, all pertaining to the life of Christ and of the early Christian churches. The New Testament contains 27 books of several types: Gospels (presentations of the life of Jesus Christ), History (Acts, about the growth of the early church), Letters (to churches, individuals, and groups of Christians).

* The New Testament, as we know it, was not compiled until near the end of the fourth century A.D. Until that time, Christians read and claimed as sacred text many different books. What we know as our canon of Scripture (what is standard for us) and our "orthodox" Christian theology stems from decisions made after over three and half centuries from the time Christ walked the earth.

* Our four Gospel books can be characterized by their authorship and audience:

-- Mark, "The Rebel", earliest of the gospels, closest to ancient sources, depicting Christ's power over against evil and demonic forces
-- Matthew, "The Rabbi", wrote to a Jewish audience and focused on how Jesus fulfilled descriptions of the Messiah in the Jewish scriptures
-- Luke, "The Chronicler", Dr. Luke, Paul's companion, who exhibits a physicians compassion for all people and a particular eye for historical detail
-- John, "The Mystic", attributed to the "Beloved Disciple", and a book very different than the others because it comes from a different ancient Christian community and unique sources; describes Jesus Christ as the incarnation of the eternal Word (logos), the Light of the World and of human life and hearts.

* Be prepared to consider four questions for application during our studies:

1. What does the Scripture tell me about me?
2. What does the Scripture tell me about God?
3. What does the Scripture tell me about my relationship with God?
4. What will I do?
* * *
See you Sunday, 10:00 in the church parlor, at the back of the sanctuary!