Leave a comment to be added. :)


1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19: 1-4

With everything that has been going on this week, the news that came this morning was just the icing on the cake.

My Grandma's doggy, Rosco, passed away last night. She woke up this morning and he was laying at her feet, like he always did at night, and he was already gone. She is absolutely devastated.

My mom wanted us to give her some time alone this morning, and we are about to leave here soon to go visit her. My mom said she feels "numb". I feel numb. Rosco wasn't even that old (8, maybe?). I guess it was just his time. He's now up in heaven with my Grandpa.

Please send my Grandma prayers. Rosco was her best friend (and was my Grandpa's best friend). That dog meant the world to her. :(

YAY I AM DONE WITH THE EXEGESIS.

Now I just gotta whip up a reflection and a Bibliography and we're good to go! :)

-----

In Galatians 6.1-10, Paul writes his climax to the letter of the Galatians, telling the Galatians exactly what they need to do to live their lives as people of the Lord. In the letter, Paul speaks out against the Judaizers who set out to lead his converts astray, and this climax is the end note Paul needs to leave in order to ensure the Galatians follow the Word instead of the strict law, which Paul feels is no longer relevant to ensure a true following of the Word of the Lord. In this section, Paul outlines rules that they should follow, starting with how to resolve an issue should someone see another brother be led astray, how to take care of oneself without being tempted, caring for the teachers of the word first and foremost, and ending with the idiom “you reap what you sow”, in accordance to their daily lives as Christians.

The writer of the Letter to the Galatians is Paul. Paul is a convert from Judaism to Christianity. He once led a life of violence against the Christian Church, until the Lord came to him and made him see the err of his ways. Once he realized his calling in life, he began on missionary journeys to establish churches and spread the word of the Lord. His letter is addressing the Galatians, a group of Gentiles he converted into Christianity, who are being lead astray from the word of the Lord by the Judaizers (a group of Jewish-Christians who believe that one should be a good Jew before being able to be a good Christian). According to John L. Pilch, the Galatians were most likely “converts to Christianity from Paganism” (1069). The letter was written around 40-50 C.E., during a part of Paul's missionary journeys, approximately 10-20 years before the Jewish Revolt against Rome. At the time, the tension between the Christian and Jewish churches were high, and the idea of Gentiles and Jews standing side-by-side in a place of worship was still considered something of blasphemy. This piece can be considered a sermon or a speech directed to the converts who are being led astray in the churches he has established.

Paul begins this climax by saying “My friends [brothers], if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.” (6.1). This first maxim addresses the Galatians who are not being led astray. He is telling the Galatians who know the word of the Lord in their hearts to go forth and address the issues with those who have lost the Word, or “Spirit”, but to do so gently and be careful not to be boastful or have an overt sense of pride. In the New Interpreter's Bible, Richard Hayes addresses the possibility of being “tempted” as one of two things; either one should be care to “not be tempted to perform the same sin as the erring member”, or “the admonisher could be tempted into an attitude of pride or condescension” (332). Paul feels that members of the church have a responsibility to take care of one another, and this is further addressed in this speech to the Galatians.

Paul continues to tell those with the Spirit in their hearts that we all must “bear one another's burdens”, for if “those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves”. In this, he is also addressing members of the community who are boastful. The line at 6.3 is a clear reminder of this. Paul then goes on to state that “one must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause of pride. For all must carry their own loads” (6.4-5). Upon first reading, this seems as though it is a contradiction to what he just said, that we all should bear one another's burdens. Upon further inspection, it is plausible that Paul means that one should strive to do good and take care of one another in the church community, but be sure to be good to ourselves as well as God will ultimately hold each one of us accountable for our own actions in the end. Beverly Gaventa in Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible says that the English translations of the Bible “obscure the fact that the exhortations alternate between the use of the plural and the use of the singular” (1383), and this can lead to some confusion to the casual reader. Reading this section in its context and learning Paul's difference between personal accountability and community accountability is helpful in interpreting Paul's meaning here.

Verse 6.6 stands alone, stating that “Those who are taught the Word must share in all good things with their teacher”. This is a visual connotation to the readers that above all other problems, the first objective is to take utmost care for the teacher's of the Word. This includes pastors/ministers of the church. By putting this verse alone, it serves as a visual reminder to take care of their leaders, because without proper teaching of the Word, the Word becomes distorted, the church falls apart, and its people are lead astray. This is also a reminder to the Galatians that Paul is the founder of their church, and he has left the leaders of the church to take care of themselves, and by allowing themselves to be lead astray by the Judaizers, they are not taking care of their leaders and allowing themselves to crumble. According to John Pilch, this verse stands alone because it is a free thought from what proceeds and what follows, and it alludes to making financial contributions to the leaders of the church (1078), however, given the time that this letter was written and what was happening to the Galatian church by the words of the Judaizers, there is no reason to ignore that there may be an emotional connotation to the separation of this verse as well.

Verses 7-10 end Paul's sermon to the Galatians, using the extended metaphor of “harvest time” that he used throughout his letter. He reminds the Galatians that “God is not mocked”, meaning that God sees everything they do and knows every thought they make, and they cannot hide from or mock the wisdom of the Lord. He goes on to present the idiom, “you reap what you sow”, reminding the Galatians that if they should succumb to a life sown to the “flesh”,they will reap corruption, and if they reap a life sown to the “Spirit”, they will reap eternal life from the Spirit. The “flesh”, according to Richard Hayes, is a direct reference to circumcision, stating that “to sow to the flesh means to place one's confidence and hope for the future in the mundane expedient of cutting the flesh” (336). In contrast, sowing to the Spirit means to simply live in the light of God's word, and this contrast shows the Galatians that the strict law of the Jewish religion is just a simple and unnecessary step in the long and hard journey of following the word of the Lord. Paul states in 6.9, “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up”. Here he is reminding them that the proper road to do good for others in their community and for themselves is often a hard road to follow, but they will “reap” the benefits of leading a moral life when God comes to them at judgment time, ensuring that they will find salvation and eternal life in the Lord if they follow this rule. He ends this climax on an uplifting note, telling the Galatians, “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith” (6.10). This is a gentle reminder to the Galatians that they must not work against each other, but with each other.

Matthew presents a very vivid and different portrait of Jesus in comparison to Mark while using many of his same parables and stories to teach the word of Jesus. He uses additional parables to continue the wisdom Jesus holds for his people, and he makes Jesus appear to be The One, the omnipresent Son of the Lord, not just God's Son in human form in the manner Mark presents him.

He presents this in the beginning by putting Jesus up on a mountain to preach to His followers, instead of having them at His level to follow His word (Mt. 5:1-). He preachs a (very) long and carefully-worded sermon to His people, and it is said at the end, "Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." (Mt. 7:28) Later, in the parable of Jesus on the boat with his followers at Matthew 8:23, His tone to his disciples is calm, asking them simply, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?". In the book of Mark, His tone has angry notations, for He wants them to listen! Herein Matthew, He is wise... almost wise beyond His years. Another instance is when the woman touches His cloak. In Matthew, Jesus' reaction to her touch is calm and gentle, almost as if He knew she was there and what she was going to do. In Mark, His reaction to this was being briefly startled, which is more a normal human reaction rather than a Messiah's reaction. Throughout all of Jesus' parables, He is calm, wise, and almost soft-spoken; to Matthew, this is the way a true Messiah should be presented, unlike the "human" way He was presented in Mark. Stark emotion from Jesus is rare in Matthew up until his crucifixion, where He calls out to God in the same way he did in Mark.

Matthew's portrait of Jesus is probably presented in this manner because Matthew seems to be trying to convince his people (Jewish) that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament's prophecies. He ties Jesus to Isaiah throughout his gospel (Mt. 4:12, Mt. 11:7-11, Mt. 13:14-16, etc.) in order to convince the Jewish masses to follow the word of the Son of God, sent to them by God in order to save their people.

Also, the ending of Matthew presents Jesus in a way that shows the Jewish people that Jesus is a God who should not be feared. In the ending of Mark, only two people come to find his resurrected, and they flee in fear and tell nobody. In the longer ending of Mark, Jesus has to re-present Himself to his people to follow Him. In the ending of Matthew, however, although he claims these two people were fearful, they also "left the tomb with great joy" and they ran to tell the disciples the news of their resurrected Lord (Mt. 28:8). He ends this gospel with another reference to the Old Testament, referring to the original quote from Mt. 1:23, for Jesus says to His people, "...And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Before I start to write in this big, blank space, I need to address a few things that I had to do before I wrote this up. I had to consult two of my best friends before I even began to piece this together correctly. One friend is not a believer of the Christian God, one friend is questioning her beliefs, and then there is me, who knows what she believes and has been raised in it to know where to stand. I needed those two plus myself to be in agreement before I put anything down in a blank in order to not offend you; you being everyone in this class.

I'll begin this with the generic, Jesus was portrayed as a leader and a teacher (Mark 16.1-21). He was an exorcist (Mark 1.23-24) and healer (Mark 1.30-13, 1.40-45, etc.). All of these things have been presented in other's responses to this assignment, and I don't think that's fair to just outline what people so far have already said.

We already know Mark holds Jesus high on a pedestal, which makes sense since he's the Son of God. He does this by placing a huge emphasis on what Jesus does throughout his journey up to his death. But while he does this, he makes Jesus very human, and he illustrates a huge struggle Jesus has between his human self and his self who is aware he is the Son of God. The first place I saw this was at Mark 4.13, "And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?..." His words to his disciples shows a sense of frustration, which can not only be attributed to the fact that they do not understand him, but the fact that he wants to get across to these people, but can't, because he doesn't really know how. Jesus is almost immature in this, and you know what? I would be too if I had to grow up knowing that I'd die a terrible death because I was the Son of God. It's funny, I can flip through randomly in the Gospel of Mark and find clues to Jesus' battle. I just flipped the page, and the page header is Mark 9.21. On this page is Mark 9.30-37, which marks more misunderstandings between himself and his disciples. I flip again, and I'm at my assignment for the paper due soon, Mark 4.35-41. He's mad, guys! He doesn't get why they don't have faith and they don't get why he's mad!

Where am I going? I'm not so sure. I think I will get this more as I finish reading the gospels. But in Mark's Portrait of Jesus, Jesus is everything to everyone, but he is also a struggling human being with "powers" he knows he has to control, and to the common reader studying his story, he's almost arrogant about it. In the end, however, he's human. He's portrayed to be as close to human as he can be, because from chapter 15 to the end, the only words he can manage are words that prove just how afraid he was of what he had to come to understand, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" ("My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?") (Mark 15.34).

Feel free to debunk me and teach me, because this is what I am getting out of the Gospel of Mark. Jesus was a leader, a teacher, an exorcist, a healer, but he was also human, very human, and this shows very clearly in this gospel as well. It is what makes him who he is, and what he died for, and it is (likely) why the people believe when he is resurrected.