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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | "Least in the kingdom of God"? | Matt 11:11 | Zsuzsi | 122648 | ||
Hi Emmaus, Thanks for your replies... Yes, this is the interpretation that I have found most often. But I must admit that this is very hard for me to accept! Here are my reasons: 1) VictorA was actually faster with making this point, but let me repeat it: did John get to the kingdom? If he did, then Jesus' statement does not make sense; if he didn't, what about Lk 13:28 and Mt 8:11 where He states that all the great prophets would enter the Kingdom? (See my reply to Victor A) 2) Do you distinguish between the kingdom of the New Covenant and the kingdom of the Old Covenant? Are born AC people really more priviliged or blessed than born BC people in this sense? (How is that in agreement with God's justice?) 3) To me that interpretation does not seem to fit well into the contexts of Luke 7 and Matt 11, into Jesus comparing Himself with John. John notes in Luke 7:29-30 that "...even the tax collectors.. acknowledged God's justice... But the Pharisees ... rejected God's purpose for themselves" According to this interpretation, how does God's justice come in here, and what is God's purpose for the Pharisees and experts in the law? Also, In Matt 11:12, Jesus states: "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." What exactly does He mean by this? 4) Fourthly, the Greek 'mikroterov', i.e. 'smallest/least' is interpreted in a negative way, but it actually carries a positive meaning ('humble')... Jesus uses the same word (its noun form) for the little ones He loves so much, for example in Mt 18:6, and He prefers to use 'elaxistov' with its definitely negative sense for 'the least in the kingdom of heaven' in Mt 5:19... If we take that Jesus was referring to Himself, the rest of these two chapters is also more easily understood: first He confirms that He is the Messiah, then confirms the greatness of John, even telling that John is greater than a prophet; but He explains that John is only a forerunner of the Messiah! Although John is the greatest human ever born, the Son of Man is greater than him, even if He has now 'made Himself nothing' (Phil 2:17), becoming the least in heaven and came to earth as a fully human person to suffer and die for sinners. This is why the Kingdom 'suffers' (c.v. "The kingdom of God is within/among you" Lk 17:21).. John's disciples testified of God's Truth, for John himself had told them long ago: "The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all." (Jn 3:31), but the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, which was to believe that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. (This is usually the very thing in Jesus' teachings that the Pharisees did not want to accept!) It took the utmost, ultimate sacrifce and supreme humility of Jesus to become a human like us and submit to suffering and death! Remember how He humbled Himself when He was baptized by John (Matt 3:13-15)? And that He even washed the feet of His disciples? "Do you understand what I have done for you?" (John 13:12) - His question is the same to us! Please read Phil 2:6-11 (I have quoted it to Angel as well), I believe it summarizes my viewpoint very well. Hope this explains my thoughts about this... God bless you, Zsuzsi |
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2 | "Least in the kingdom of God"? | Matt 11:11 | Emmaus | 122656 | ||
Zsuzsi, "Also, In Matt 11:12, Jesus states: "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." What exactly does He mean by this?" Two possible ways to interpret this. 1) John's pwersonal sacrifices and self denial are a call for the "violence" of bodily penance. We "subject our bodies" as paul says elswhere.Those who subject the body to the spirit are able to take hold of the Kingdom of God. 2) Satan has attempted to take men from God's kingdom; John himself was imprisoned and executed by Herod for announcing the kingdom of God (Matt 4:12; 14:1). Jesus likewise sufferes a violent death for inaugurating God's kingdom and rebuking those who oppose it (Matt 23:13). This is a paraphrase of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible footnotes. Ignatius Press, San Francisco CA., 2000 Emmaus |
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3 | "Least in the kingdom of God"? | Matt 11:11 | Zsuzsi | 122667 | ||
Emmaus... :-) This is so Catholic... :-) I was brought up in an environment which encouraged me to 'mortify' myself... The Lord took pains to teach me that the point in sacrifice is not to cause great suffering to ourselves (that would be masochism, not Christianity) or to try to 'save' ourselves (or anyone else) instead of humbly and thankfully accepting what Jesus has already labored for, but to unite ourselves with the Savior in all ways, including suffering. Their love for Jesus kept even the most dedicated Catholic saints going, not any commandment they received or any desire they had to suffer... Too many people teach today that you need to say 'NO' to yourself in order to say 'YES' to God - I believe that by being reborn, our whole inner nature changes: in our inner being we actually delight in God's law (Romans 7:22) - what we need to struggle with is our yet unredeemed flesh. If we give way to our sinful fleshly desires, we grieve the Holy Spirit within us, i.e. we grieve our own inner selves. Yes, I do not deny the need for personal discipline. Through sacrifices we also learn to appreciate what Jesus went through for us. But that does not mean unnecessary morbidity... We do fast, to let ourselves know, from time to time, that the Giver is more satisfying than the gift - but we don't do it constantly, that would be anorexia; we do stay up late at night in prayer, because we love spending time with Jesus more than we love sleeping - but we don't do it constantly, that would be suicide... I cannot imagine it is pleasing to God to keep life in a person who tortures his/herself for no reason: Jesus has already died for all of our sins! I had to be reminded that 'Do not kill' is a commandment: even we ourselves are those whom we are trying to kill. As for 2), Jesus said we should not fear those who kill the body, for only Satan can destroy the spirit and the body (Luke 12:4-5); and I do not identify Herod or any Jew with Satan.. But these are intriguing interpretations indeed, thanks for sharing them with me. Zsuzsi |
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4 | "Least in the kingdom of God"? | Matt 11:11 | Brian.g | 123398 | ||
Zsuzsi I’m sorry for jumping into your discussion with Emmaus. However, I enjoyed it and wanted to offer a few thoughts on the topic. So, I hope you both don’t mind…. There is a term called 'self-mastery'. This concept is a paradox in the sense that by being the absolute master of our own lives, we freely put ourselves into slavery. Jesus and Paul were both excellent examples and teachers of the concept. Very simply, as we are able to control and/or remove from ourselves all of the different forms of personal slavery (Gen 4:7 and Mt 6:24) - whether it’s the holding on to old feuds, dislikes for this person or that person, addictions, and so on. Then we are able to progress to the point in which we are in a position to allow ourselves to more fully and freely experience Gods love. (By the way, God provides healing grace to help us reach that point). The more we allow ourselves to freely accept Gods love, the more we will desire to continue experiencing the greatness of that love. And, we will also desire to respond to that love with our own love and desire to serve God with all of our heart, soul and mind (Mt 22:37) – to put ourselves into a voluntary slavery. Love responds to love. Our response to that love will be such that we will want to do whatever God asks of us. As an act of self-love (Mk 12:31) we always move towards what we feel is the greatest good. By desiring to live within the presence of Gods love, we are freely choosing this as the greatest good. God’s purpose for creating man is for all men and women to live in union with God (Lev 19:2 and Jn 17:21). God’s desire is that we give glory to God (Jn 17:1) and to help our brothers and sisters come into union with God (Jn 17:22 and Mt 9:31) in order that they also will experience (as we do) Gods love (Jn 17:26 and Mk 12:31). To paraphrase St Catherine of Siena: ‘The sweetest tears that we can ever express, are for those who will never experience God’s love – because their source is a love for our brother, as strong as we have for ourselves”. The question now becomes, to what degree do we try to serve God; specifically in helping our brothers and sisters experience Gods love. Will it be just on Sunday at our church service or will it be every moment of every day, in good weather or bad, to people who respond to our efforts as well as those who will mock us and humiliate us and sometimes, provide us with physical suffering (Jn 17:14). However, keep in mind that there where times in which Jesus, Himself, turned and left a town rather than being attacked. So God prefers that we also use a little bit of wisdom. By mastering our own being, we will have absolute and complete control over our life - and when we fully experience Gods love, we will freely give up our own life in order to become a slave to serve God (Mt 10:39 and Rom 1:1). Not a physical death, but a death to serving our own desires (our other masters) and choosing the life of serving God. Our free-response sacrifice (a free-will response to Gods love) for the glory of God is not just to appreciate what Jesus did for us – but it is actually joining Jesus in the act of His love for God (Jn 17:18-22). It was this act (His ministry and suffering on the cross) – all done with the purpose of serving God by bringing His brothers and sisters to know God’s love (Mt 12:49-50). This is how the acts of sacrifice and suffering is loved by God, as well as God’s love for the individual. Any other sacrifice and suffering not with this center, is hollow. We must also remember that the main teaching of Jesus, first and foremost, was about loving God, not loving Jesus. Although, we do love Jesus with all of our heart, soul and mind. Brian |
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