Welcome back to The Moral Vision of Jesus Christ, an ongoing study of the Gospels of Jesus Christ.
Recall that, last we met, I talked about some of the circumstances in my life that had led me away from this study for a period of time, and about how this study might be altered somewhat to suit evolving needs. Today, we'll read some more of the Gospel, and I'll riff a little on the purpose of this study.
Please know that I love what I was doing with this before, and, if I had all of the time in the world, I would continue doing just that. I love the textual analysis and the deep historical dives. I love the Koine Greek stuff, and the Apocrypha, and Jerusalem. I love ancient Rome, Indo-European, and listing the irreconcilable differences between John and The Synoptics. I love all of that dearly. Someday, maybe, life will afford me with unlimited free-time, and a purpose-built library/research-center. Until that time, I think I'm going to have to throttle the depth of this study some.
Hang with me while I figure out what that will look like, exactly. I'm winging it.
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Matthew 6:16 through 6:18
16 “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18 so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.
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The point of this work has always been to ascertain the morality of Jesus Christ through honest textual analysis of the Gospel, and then to contrast that morality with the morality of modern American "Christians" in an effort to help reform their oft grossly deformed mentalities and world-views. As I've recently alluded to, this can probably be done at a far faster rate than the one we've been working at thus far.
Interestingly enough, a huge percentage of what can be suspected about the moral philosophy of the historical Jesus Christ appears in the first pages of the first Gospel. Indeed, this Sermon on the Mount we've been reading in Matthew, which constitutes only a small fraction of the entirety of the Gospel, will provide us with more of the raw moral data we seek than any other section or number of sections of the Gospel text combined. This means that we've actually already covered a large percentage of the most important ground we will ever cover in the course of this study.
The point is that our greatest feat may already have been long since accomplished here. In fact, I would now contend that our greatest feat could be accomplished by anyone at any time by simply reading Matt chapters 5-7 several times over.
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that there are glaring and nearly universal incongruities between the behaviors and professed beliefs of the average modern American "Christian" and the prescribed morality of Jesus Christ. If that has been my point, then I've overdone myself by a factor of a whole heck of a lot, here. All it ever took was an honest glance at Matt chapters 5-7.
I might affect more in society by firing up my laser-jet and printing thousands of copies of the Sermon on the Mount and just putting them under windshield wipers and on cork boards throughout the city. I've come to realize that my commentary and analytical prying in this forum certainly aren't augmenting the Christian message in any way.
I'll keep my analysis to a minimum today, then, by saying just this: the fact that Jesus expected fasting to be a part of his followers' spiritual practice indicates to me, again, that he was not interested in the things of this earth. Jesus never says "the focus of your life should be the accumulation of wealth, property, or capital." Jesus never says "this life is meant to be one unending feast of consumer delights." He tells his people "there is meaning and power to be found in shunning the comforts of this world." On top of reminding us to shun the comforts of the world, today's passages remind us again that Jesus doesn't want us to do good in order to gain the approval of others. An action performed for the sight of others cannot be moral. Jesus doesn't appreciate virtue-signaling.
And that's it.
Join us next time.
Love.
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