Matthew 5-9

I got to the beatitudes, and got hung up on the first one: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." I read a few interpretations and some people do go on a bit without saying anything. I guess it could mean a number of things, like start where you are, or all this is for people who have a blank in this spot, or even you know, the people who pretend to be spiritual aren't necessarily going to get into heaven. I do feel like it is paradoxical, or I don't know what the original Aromaic word for spirit really means, or maybe it was Luke who got it right, and Matthew just added "in spirit" for his own reasons. 

5. To continue there is some business about light. He says he's building on the laws. He says murder is wrong. He says try to reconcile quarles, and resolve issues before they get to court. Adultery is wrong. It's better to cut your eye out than to commit adultery in your heart, better than going to hell. Divorce should only be given for immorality. If you marry a divorced person, that is adultery. Oaths should not be sworn to god. I wonder if the courts are aware of that. Swearing an oath on your head might make your hair go white.

Then there's the give the other cheek business. "Give to one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." Guess that means you shouldn't avoid taxes. 

Love your enemies, that feels like the Buddhist idea that the difficult person gives you the challenges to practice kindness and equanimity. He says even the pagans can be loving to people who love them, the ideals of Christianity are "perfect" because god is perfect.

6. "Righteousness in front of others" isn't good. Wow, wonder why that's so popular among Christians I know. Do not announce that you have given to the needy. The reward is in the giving, not the recognition from society. God will know, that is enough. Pray in private, don't make a big deal about it in public.

There is a version of the prayer Our Father. I've said that one in AA. Again there is a Matthew and a Luke version. You can be forgiven if you forgive others.

If you fast, don't make a big deal of it, do it in private.

By storing up virtue through private actions, you accumulate what can't be stolen or eaten by vermine. 

6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

I did not know there was an injunction in the bible not to worry. 6:25 "...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?" It seems to imply you lack faith to worry. Seek first virtues god likes as spelled out above. "don't worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

7. I find it quite interesting that judgmentalism isn't recommended by the bible. Seems so common. It has the quote I most like about seeing a mote in another's eye, but not a huge wood chip in your eye. 

7.6 Don't feed virtue to others who are animals? Feels like a contradiction from the turning the other cheek stuff. Maybe it's about guarding the sacred, and not bragging about virtue. Pearls before swine, they wouldn't know what they are. 

Mt 7:7-12 Seems to be the whole ask and you shall receive thing. This is why I'm reading the bible, it contains stuff embedded in the culture, perhaps we don't know where it comes from. I don't know where the authors of the Bible got it, if it's new or it was already in their culture. Just as you give good gifts to your children, god will give you good gifts.

Mt 7:13 It's not easy to follow this path. That makes me think of various quotes in the Pali Canon of Buddhism about how hard it is to become enlightened.

Mt. 7:15. Watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing. Like Buddhism, it uses the tree analogy and good and bad fruit.

Mt. 7:21-23. God can see through superficial worship. Build your life on a good foundation. 

8. Jesus healed a man with leprosy. We have a cure for that now. Jesus healed a centurion's servant.

Isaiah says "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases." when Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.

Mt 8:18-22 Jesus says he has no place, just follow him. He says to let the dead bury the dead. This seems to fly in the face of the elaborate rituals around death in Christianity. I've heard the phrase let the dead bury the dead quite a few times.

Jesus stops a storm that is worry people in a boat.

There is a confusing bit about 2 possessed men. He tells them to go into a herd of pigs and the pigs run into the water a die. The people didn't like that and asked him to go.

9 He cured a paralysed man. Someone questioned why he was hanging out with what was considered bad people of the times, tax collectors and sinners. He liked himself to a doctor healing the sick. Someone asked him why his disciples don't fast and he gave a confusing parable about pouring new wine into new wineskins. I think what he's saying is that they eat when they can and don't when they can't, and that a person shouldn't judge them. Then he heals a dead girl, and a sick woman, then a blind person and a mute. Jesus began to get famous, but the Pharisee thought he was a demon to drive out demons. There was too much work for the people, but they finished the harvest with his inspiration. 

I don't groove to the miraculous stuff, in Buddhism or Christianity, but I like the bit about being wary of judgmentalism, and not showing off virtue. I really like the generosity stuff, kindness, and harmony.