Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Archives for February 2011

God’s Concern for the Individual, Matthew 18, Blog Through the Bible Project

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The Parable of the Wandering Sheep

    10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. [11] a]”>[a
a]”>]

   12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

I haven’t had sheep, but we do have rabbits( as pets) four of them. And when one runs away, we do leave the rest of the animals (we’ve had 9 pets at one time) and go out at night, with torches, looking for the wandering bunny. 
And Jesus says, that he has the same concern for each human being
Bangladeshi workers watched Chinese nationals board a ship bound for Greece in the Benghazi port

for the migrant workers– from Vietnam and Thailand, Bangladesh and Ghana —stranded by war in Libya, and, in some cases, forsaken by their employers, Turkish construction companies whose managers  quickly left Libya, sometimes without returning the workers’ passports.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/world/africa/27migrants.html

or the Africans there

New York Times, same article. “There seemed to be little assistance available for black African workers, including many from Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso. Libya has become a dangerous place to be a black man, after Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi used African mercenaries to kill opponents of his government. Now the workers, some of whom  have seen colleagues killed, are kept under armed guard and moved from place to place because residents have objected to their presence.”  


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Joseph’s Miraculous Forgiveness of his Brothers, Genesis 45

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Genesis 45

Joseph Makes Himself Known

 1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.

 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
Joseph is a wonderful person–affectionate, caring and loving. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and it is a warm, loving, heart.
 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,
Inexplicable kindness. God has changed his heart in his years of suffering, and his years of exaltation.
because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Forgiveness is somewhat easier when you can see how God has worked out all things for good.

8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.
NIV notes–God had a purpose to work through the brother’s jealous and cruel act.
” He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’
 12 “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
The love between father and son is mutual.
 14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
In the previous chapter, the brothers have acknowledged their guilt regarding Joseph, and have expressed concern for their father and younger brother. This enables the reconciliation between them and Joseph.
Joseph’s forgiveness still has something of the miraculous about it–and was only possible because God had changed his heart.
 16 When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, 18 and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’
 19 “You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. 20 Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’”
 21 So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. 22 To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels


Listen to George VI’s famous Christmas 1939 address. You can hear evidences of a conquered stutter, can’t you?
http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/12/25/ 


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The Path of the Righteous Shines Ever Brighter, Prov. 4, Blog Through the Bible Project

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Proverbs 4

Get Wisdom at Any Cost
 


















1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; 
   pay attention and gain understanding. 
2 I give you sound learning, 
   so do not forsake my teaching. 
3 For I too was a son to my father, 
   still tender, and cherished by my mother. 
4 Then he taught me, and he said to me, 
   “Take hold of my words with all your heart; 
   keep my commands, and you will live. 
5 Get wisdom, get understanding; 
   do not forget my words or turn away from them. 
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; 
   love her, and she will watch over you. 
There is protection in seeking divine wisdom

7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. 
The beginning of wisdom is to value and treasure wisdom.   Though it cost all you have, get understanding. 
It is worth spending much money, to gain spiritual wisdom
.8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you; 
   embrace her, and she will honor you. 
9 She will give you a garland to grace your head 
   and present you with a glorious crown.”
In normal circumstances, the wisdom which comes from God leads to exaltation, honour and glory.

 10 Listen, my son, accept what I say,
   and the years of your life will be many.
11 I instruct you in the way of wisdom
   and lead you along straight paths.
12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
   when you run, you will not stumble. 
God’s wisdom enables one to metaphorically proceed in a straight line without stumbling or tripping.
13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
   guard it well, for it is your life.
14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
   or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
   turn from it and go on your way.
16 For they cannot rest until they do evil;
   they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness
   and drink the wine of violence.
 18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
   shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
In the normal course of events, the life of the righteous grows from strength to strength–in ever-increasing brightness.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
   they do not know what makes them stumble.
Sinners find obstacles they do not understand in their paths.
Esv notes–The doctrine of the two ways. A choice between entering the way of wisdom and the way of folly. The path taken will determine the outcome of one’s life.
 20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
   turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
   keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
   and health to one’s whole body.
Following the counsels of wisdom enhance bodily health.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
   for everything you do flows from it.
Watch your heart. The bitterness or unforgiveness in it. The things in your heart which you might long for more than you long for God. The idols in your heart which consume your thoughts. 
24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;
   keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead;
   fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
   and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
   keep your foot from evil.
Keep focused. Avoid evil.

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Matthew 18, The Absolute Seriousness of Sin, Blog Through the Bible Project

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Matthew 18
7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 


9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Jesus again used hyperbole, one of his favourite rhetorical devices. Take extreme measures, if necessary, to avoid sin.

To my mind, there are two types of sin, unpremeditated, and planned, lifestyle sort of sin. Lashing out verbally when provoked, telling a white lie when on the spot,  is a different kettle of fish to deliberately taking revenge, telling or writing a deliberate lie. Of course, if one habitually loses one’s temper, then examination, analysis and repentance is necessary

It is worth remembering the absolute seriousness with which Jesus took sin. And now I am going to pause to reflect on areas in which I might habitually persist in sin–and repent.

(Which led to a costly decision!!)

ESV notes–Matthew 18 is the fourth of Jesus’s five major discourses in Matthew’s Gospel.
Jesus uses hyperbole (intentional overstatement) to emphasize the necessity of rigorous self-discipline and radically removing sin from the disciples’ life before it leads to judgement.
NIV –“Deal as drastically as necessary with sin, in order to remove it from your life.”
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Always Query Received Wisdom

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Smart parking?


One thing Roy and I have in common is an instinctive, and ingrained healthy distrust of received wisdom. 


I think we particularly enjoyed our week in Rome because we ignored the guidebook’s advice on driving in Rome: Don’t dream of it.


Jamie, a friend of ours who is a confident driver, drove in Rome and said it was surprisingly compact.


And so we found it. With the satnav we got Roy for his birthday, we were able to get to places in far less time than we would have spent figuring out public transportation , walking to it, and walking from it to our destination. 


Another pleasant surprise was parking. Spots outside the Vatican Museums, 4 euros for 8 hours. Wow! Free spots just outside the Colosseum, and indeed every church we visited.


Given that I have a whole lot less energy that I should, I was pleased that I was able to conserve it for seeing Rome’s wondrous sights. 


 In fact, we drive everywhere, Oxford, London, Paris, and Athen when we went there, and are generally lucky in finding parking (though not in Athens, where we were always leaving our car where we shouldn’t, and were always told off in voluble Greek. No tickets though!


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The Colosseum, the Jewish Revolt, the Diaspora, and Christianity

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Rome Colosseum




Okay, we did the Colosseum today, partly because it was one of those “When in Rome” things. On reflection, we rather wish that we had done the Basilicas.


However, there is no way to grasp the sheer magnitude of the place without seeing it in real life.


The nearly 2000 year old structure was so solidly built that despite the depredations of earthquakes, fires, riots, war, and the plundering of its apparently inexhaustible supply of ready cut travertine blocks for St. Peter’s, the Barberini and Cancelleria palaces,  and pollution and the vibrations of cars and the metro, it’s still relatively intact. “A noble wreck in ruinous perfection,” Byron called it.


Construction commenced in AD 72 with the booty from Vespasian’s brutal crushing of the Jewish revolt. 


70, 000 Hebrew slaves did the heavy work at the Colosseum, hauling 50,000 cartloads of pre-cut travertine from the quarries at Tivoli 27 km away.

Interestingly, these were the people Paul wrote his letter to the Romans to.

Vespasian chose the site of a lake that lay in front of Nero’s Aureus Doma, Golden Palace, where Nero had erected a Colossus, giant statue, of himself as a Sun God (hence its name).

It was inaugurated in 8 years, a short time for such a massive building by Vespasian’s son, Titus.

Before the building of the Colosseum, gladiatorial and other bloody sports took place in the Forum in wooden stands specially erected and taken down for the occasion.

The colosseum was designed over four levels, seating up to 70-80,000 people. “Tickets” were free–carved on wood, with the entrance, row, aisle, and seat under. There were 80 entrances, beneath the magnificent arches. Thus 80,000 people could be seated within minutes, with admirable Roman efficiency (now inherited by the Swiss, Germans and US military??).

The word arena is derived from the Latin for sand, which covered the floor to soak up blood. 

And here, the gladiators greeted Caesar with their famous greeting, “Hail Caesar, we who are about to die, salute you. Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutamus.”

 In the hundred day games that inaugurated the Colosseum, 9000 beasts were massacred, 12 a minute, and during the 450 years it was used, several breeds of African elephants and lions were rendered extinct. 

As Christianity took hold, the gladiatorial games gradually grew less popular. They were eventually banned in 404 AD, and animal fights ended in the next century.

Isn’t it amazing that people who now weep at the suffering of animals could once see bears tied to bulls, fighting to the death, dogs set against wolves, lions taking on tigers, all to the death!

Has Christianity contributed to an evolution and softening of the heart? I hope so. 
                                            * * *

Interior of the Coliseum, with a partially reconstructed arena floor in the foreground

Coliseum — interior archway leading to the arena.



The Jewish historian Josephus who was present at the festivities and the display of the Jewish booty after the crushing of the Jewish revolt writes,

  “As dawn began to break, Titus and Vespasian emerged, crowned in laurel wreaths and wearing the time-honored purple clothes, and walked to the Octavian colonnade. There the Senate, the magistrates and those of Equestrian status were waiting for their arrival.
A tribunal had been erected in front of the colonnade, with ivory chairs placed on it for them. As they walked forward to take their seats, all the soldiers raised an immediate cheer, paying abundant testimony to their valor, while Titus and Vespasian sat unarmed, dressed in silk garments and wearing their laurel wreaths. Vespasian acknowledged their acclaim, and, although they were keen to continue cheering, made a sign for silence. As all fell completely quiet, he rose, and, covering most of his head with a veil, made the traditional prayers. Titus followed him in doing likewise. . . Afterwards, donning the triumphal robes and sacrificing to the gods stationed at the gate, they sent the procession on its way through the theatres to give the crowds a better view.

In Rome, The Arch of Titus
celebrating the Roman
victory over the Jews still stands
It is impossible to do justice in the description of the number of things to be seen and to the magnificence of everything that met the eye, whether in skilled craftsmanship, staggering richness or natural rarity. For almost all the remarkable and valuable objects which have ever been collected, piece by piece, by prosperous people, were on that day massed together, affording a clear demonstration of the might of the Roman Empire. The quantities of silver, gold and ivory, worked into every conceivable form, were not like those usually carried in a triumph, but resembled, as it were, a running river of wealth. Purple cloth of extreme rarity was carried along, some of it fashioned by Babylonian skill into accurate pictorial representations. Translucent gems, embedded in diadems or other objects, were borne in such profusion as to dispel any idea that they were rare. . . In charge of each part of the procession was a number of men in purple and gold costumes, while those selected for the triumph itself wore choice clothes of astonishing richness. Even the prisoners were worth seeing – no disordered mob, but the variety and beauty of their clothes diverted the eye from the disfigurement of their injuries.
The greatest amazement was caused by the floats. Their size gave grounds for alarm about their stability, for many were three or four stories high, and in the richness of their manufacture they provided an astonishing and pleasurable sight. Many were covered in cloth of gold, and worked gold or ivory was fixed on all of them. The war was divided into various aspects and represented in many tableaux which gave a good indication of its character. Here was a fertile land being ravaged, here whole detachments of enemy being slaughtered, others -in flight and others being led off into captivity. Here were walls of colossal size being pounded down by siege-engines, here strongpoints being captured, and here well-defended fortifications overwhelmed. On one float the army could be seen pouring inside the walls, on another was a place running with blood. Others showed defenseless men raising their hands in entreaty, firebrands being hurled at temples or buildings falling on their owners. On yet others were depicted rivers, which, after the destruction and desolation, flowed no longer through tilled fields providing water for men and cattle, but through a land on fire from end to end. It was to such miseries that the Jews doomed themselves by the war. . . Standing on his individual float was the commander of each of the captured cities showing the way he had been taken prisoner. . .

The sack of Jerusalem depicted
on the Arch of Titus
Spoil in abundance was carried past. None of it compared with that taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, a golden table many stones in weight and a golden lamp stand, similarly made, which was quite unlike any object in daily use. A centre shaft rose from a base, and from the shaft thin branches or arms extended, in a pattern very like that of tridents, each wrought at its end into a lamp. There were seven of these lamps, thus emphasizing the honour paid by the Jews to the number seven. A tablet of the Jewish Law was carried last of all the spoil. After it came a large group carrying statues of victory, all of them made of ivory and gold. The procession was completed by Vespasian, and, behind him, Titus. Domitian rode on horseback wearing a beautiful uniform and on a mount that was wonderfully well worth seeing.
The procession ended up at the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, where the generals got down. They still had to wait for the traditional moment when the news was brought of the death of the enemy leader. In this case he was Simon, son of Giovas, who had passed in procession with the captives, and had been dragged under the lash, with his head in a noose, to a spot near the Forum. That is the traditional place at Rome for the execution of those condemned to death for war-crimes. When his end was announced and a general cheer had arisen, they started the sacrifices, and after completing them with the customary prayers, they retired to the palace. . .
For on that day the city of Rome made holiday for their victory in the war against the Jews, for the end of civil disorder, and for the rising expectations of peace and prosperity.”

Other trivia: Vespasian partly financed the building of the Colosseum with taxes on using public urinals. The urine was collected and used to dye wool.
When asked by a son how he could bear to make money with such a malodorous substance, he replied, “Pecunia non olet,”–money doesn’t smell. Indeed! 

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