Old MacDonald Theology Meets the Real Jesus

Context is everything when we read our Bibles.  But most of us only read the scriptures based on our own conditions, our own time period, or what we conceive that Jesus might have meant.  How do we really know what was going through the minds of the writers when compiling the writings of the Bible? They had their own audience.  They didn’t think like we do.  If we were able to have the Israelite or the first century Jew living in our heads we might look at Scriptures differently.  They were writing to people who were like them.  They were not writing to us.

 Yes, they are writing for our benefit…….all Scripture is for our benefit.  That’s why God called inspired men to put down in writing what we need to know to make our lives meaningful.  We know from the Scriptures what God has intended for His creation.  We are to become a people fit for His new Kingdom on earth. 

However,   when reading all Scripture, especially the words of the New Testament ( I like to call them the Apostolic Writings) then we must read them as our Lord intended for His 1^st century audience.   Yet the biblical writings are not limited to the ancient world.  “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable …in training for righteousness,” Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Tim. 2:16)

When reading out of context though we end up studying the Bible as if it were Old MacDonald’s farm! Here a verse, there a verse, everywhere a verse, verse.  But if we pay attention to what surrounds the verse as well as the cultural setting we get a clearer sense as to what we are to learn from Scripture.

But you ask, how can we apply it today?  Here is a case in point.  In Matthew 5:42 Jesus is telling the listeners……” Give to one who begs from you and do not refuse one who would borrow from you.”  How should we understand this verse today?  Should we simply give to anyone who asks of us, or did Jesus mean something else entirely?   Now read Matthew 5:38-48

You will need to look at the verses before and after this saying.  He prefaces this with an example from Exodus…21-14…..eye for an eye! Then he talks about slapping but not slapping back; tunics and cloaks; loving ones neighbor; tax collectors; Gentiles (those who don’t know God); holiness or perfection…… (having completion or wholeness, moral and ethical integrity).

Jesus is reflecting the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures.  He is fulfilling the teachings or completing them to make them meaningful to his hearers.  Loving ones neighbor is a quotation of Leviticus 19:18. Hating your enemy is not found directly but an allusion to a number of verses or perhaps even a saying of the time. 

By taking a closer look at these statements (before and after v. 42) we can see the larger theme being given.  Jesus is addressing how to treat someone who has wronged you…….not what to do when someone asks you for money!! These verses are of a larger theme………..we call it the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus is telling his hearers (and us) that as disciples we should reflect God’s sacrificial love; this sums up and is the intent of  God’s laws.  Doing unto others as we want them to do to us! 

So give the guy some money when he is needy and in want. Give a cup of cold water to the thirsty. Show the love of God through you.  This is what disciples must do!  It’s a matter of the heart!