Monday-Tuesday
I
am behind one day in my sermon preparation because of writing my article for
the Church newsletter. So, let’s catch up!
We
have a lot of intrigue this week! Peter had a mother-in-law? Peter was married?
Is Peter’s wife mentioned in the Bible? Did they have children?
More
or less satisfactory answers will be given to all these questions, as we go Stumbling
Through the Scriptures© this week.
Once
again, we find ourselves in chapter one of Mark. The passage for this week
revolves around the healing of Peter’s Mother-In-Law in verses 29-39.
TEACHING POINT: This week I am doing a
verse-by-verse analysis as we go through the text. Remember, Bible study is more
memorable when you can retell the story in your own words. Learning to ‘tell
the story’ can make it fun for your children and grandchildren as you dramatize
the Bible. You can take liberties as long as those liberties don’t violate a proper
Christology (i.e. Christ as God and Man, Christ as Lord and Savior). God, and
the writers God used, want you to continue the storytelling tradition so common
in the life of Bible families. Therefore, getting to the first storytelling
phase early in the week is important. I hope to be there tomorrow or Thursday.
In any event, I rewrite the on Saturday as I find errors in my thinking and/or needed
edits: i.e. new information, best guesses, more background, commentary thoughts.
It is fun when reading and studying the Bible if you attempt to understand the
background of the story. You might want to ask questions like these:
- · What were the colors, the smells, etc. … around the story location?
- · Was property own? Who owned the property?
- · Why are only certain characters mentioned?
- · How are the characters involved with each other?
- · Why does everybody seem to be sick?
New International
Version (NIV)
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Young’s Literal
Translation (YLT)
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Healing of Peter’s Mother-In-Law
29 As
soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the
home of Simon and Andrew.
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Healing of Peter’s Mother-In-Law
29 And immediately, having come forth out of the synagogue, they
went to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John,
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Note: The sons of Zebedee,
James and John, at the very least have a working relationship with the
brothers Andrew and Simon-Peter. We assume they are also friends. They are
the first four disciples to follow Jesus to become ‘Fishers of Men.’ What
immediately sticks out is that Simon and Andrew are still living in the same
house. We should also notice they evidently own the house. However, they
could be renting or the time-frame equivalent! More than likely they own the
house.
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30 Simon’s
mother-in-law was in bed with a
fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her.
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30 and the mother-in-law
of Simon was lying fevered, and immediately they tell him about her,
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Note: Wow! The first thing that jumps off the page is…”Peter has a
mother-in-law?” Why, that would mean Peter has (or had) a wife?!? The first
Pope had a wife? What did Peter do with her? You can’t help not to be
distracted! Perhaps there is some sordid detail about Peter’s life, …or not.
After all, Peter was known to be impetuous! I am recalling the nursey rhyme:
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
Had a Wife and couldn’t Keep Her
Put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well
Remember “rabbit trails?” As a
reminder, rabbit trails are those ideas that pop into your head… ideas that
may end up providing great insight or as I said last week… sometimes rabbits
(ideas) are never caught or are not worth eating. At this very moment, I remembered
this nursery rhyme. Nursery rhymes are often about dark stories. This is the
case of “Peter, Peter.” The old nursery rhyme was about a man named Peter who
killed his wife, dismembered her, and hid her in a pumpkin. “Wow, Mommy and
Daddy… thanks for telling me that rhyme just before I go to bed!” However, the
original rhyme was about a chimney sweep who stuffed his wife up a chimney.
Now you might ask? What does
this have to do with Bible study? You are right to ask! Remember, our goal is
to get to the point! To retell the story. Note, please make it age
appropriate. I may or may not use the story of this nursery rhyme… but I have
to at least consider the Lord ‘might have’ placed it in my head. IT IS A PART
OF THE BIZARRE CREATIVE PROCESS THE GOD GIVES ALL OF US! These types of
thoughts are what we call an ‘attention getter.’ In other words, when
teaching, we should often associate something bizarre with the story you are
telling. Hoping the listeners will remember the ‘main’ story. This is also true
about advertising! We love the funny ads, but when you ask what product they
were selling… most cannot recall. The “art in storytelling” is to associate
humor and oddity in a way that does not detract from the story. I will talk about
the rhythm of a story later.
Now, back to the verse. “Mother-in-law”
stands out! As they often do!!! (humor). In any event, I always try to find a
corresponding story in the opposite testament. Since Mark is in the New
Testament, I ask myself, “What corresponding story is in the Old Testament!”
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP IN BIBLE STUDY! I put “mother-in-law” into my
computerized Bible (biblegateway.com) and discovered two major references.
The first is found in Deuteronomy 27:23. This is wheret God curses those who would
‘sleep with their mother-in-law.” Oooooh! Yuck!
“Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
Can you imagine bringing this
up during prayer time in Church… “and all the people said Amen! In any event,
I doubt I will work this reference into my message because it does not, at
this point in my understanding, add anything to the story. Unless, of course,
I decided to talk about how Christianity has elevated the role of woman. In
any event, a little background on Deuteronomy 27:23. You may be asking, “Who
would do such a thing?” Well, unfortunately in many cultures, old men could
take very young ‘teenage’ wives. These wives were bartered away to build
alliances between families for the purposes of business, economics, power and
of course, lust. Gross!!!! Old men often die leaving their young brides
behind and the sons might have a ‘hankering’ for a mom-in-law or step-mom who
looks like Olivia Munn. This occurred in the New Testament in First Corinthians
5:1. The Apostle Paul says…
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality
among you, and of a kind that even pagans
do not tolerate: A man is sleeping
with his father's wife.
Once again, oooh! Yuck! Remember,
sexual immorality has always been a problem. Please notice the ‘messy’
subjects of which the Bible speaks! This is why I love the Bible! It deals
with very ‘messy’ folks, who are either running towards God or away from God carrying
ALL their flaws. Just like you and me.
Now the next reference is from
the Book of Ruth. Naomi is Ruth’s mother-in-law. And Naomi and Ruth are both ‘many-great’
grandmas of Jesus! You can go to Matthew 1 to try to count just how ‘great’ a
grandma Naomi would be! You might also like to view my former seminary professors
blog on “Jesus’ Great-Grandmothers.” Thank you Dr. Mariottini!
VERY IMPORTANT CONCEPT (VIC): I hope you have noticed something! Bible Study is
important! For as you study the Scriptures you learn a lot about a lot of
EVERYTHING! Therefore, folks who diligently study the Bible seem to have a
better literary, philosophical, political, theological, social, and practical
sense about them. Unless they go down a very narrow liberal fundamentalist or
conservative fundamentalist pathway. Remember, GOD IS ABOUT REAL LIFE. In any
event, your adventure in the Bible from week to week will take you to ALL
kinds of subjects. Some time back, I studied the viability of the nine-foot
giant named Goliath. My questions about Goliath’s height took me to an anthropological
(human study) of nutrition in Goliath’s time. This caused me to take a closer
look at the text. I discovered that ‘nine’ is a debatable translation. The
nutrition study indicated the average height of anyone in David’s time would
be 5’ 4” tall. I am 5’ 6” tall. If I lived in King David’s time, I could have
played center on King David’s basketball team (if they had one)! WHY? BECAUSE,
I WOULD BE THE TALL GUY! I soon found myself leaning in the direction that Goliath
was 6-7 feet tall and probably suffered from gigantism… along with his
brothers.
Gigantism is an abnormal functioning of the pituitary gland. In gigantism, the pituitary releases TOO MUCH GH hormone, which causes abnormal growth. I was curious about the genetic likelihood of his four brothers, who were also giants… but I ran out of time. It would be a subject for another day… and so it is with Bible study, ALWAYS MORE TO LEARN about the SCRIPTURE and the WORLD AROUND US! The Internet today can provide an unending amount of resources for FREE BIBLE STUDY. However, DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ! In any event, I discovered the difficulty in Goliath’s head being cut-off. I never thought about this before until a random thought went through my head and parked itself. If only Goliath’s broad-sword (heavy straight-sword) was on the field of battle, then it would have been difficult, to chop off the head cleanly for reasons indicated in the Scripture. Goliath’s sword was heavy! And, David needed to take the “trophy” back to King Saul. So, “How did David do it?” As is my tradition, if I cannot find research, then I try to track down an expert. I found an expert in Israel. Now, these experts are guys and gals who wear “pocket protectors” and don’t see much sunlight unless they are out on a dig. I have discovered these researchers are like “old farmers” who won’t talk until you ask them about… “their back forty (acres).” These same farmers then won’t shut up! So, it is with these researchers. They are often excited someone, ANYONE wants to hear and read about their life’s work! In any event, this researcher sent me his papers and we had a long talk on the telephone. YES! I CALLED ISRAEL! We have an invention called the telephone, USE IT! It turns out the Philistines, having been influenced by their past culture, carried the equivalent of a small, round-edge sword that fit in the small of their backs. It would be like a scimitar. They used this style of sword for close order combat. Similar to using a rifle versus a pistol in combat. Therefore, the sword David used was ‘more than likely’ (but not absolutely) this round edge sword. A sword that would ‘roll through’ the neck for a clean cut. Yuck!
Will I use that story on
Sunday? No! However, the purpose of my blog is to teach you how to study the
Bible, how to find the resources, and why it is important to study the Bible.
Just wait till we get to the part about how old testament promises (oaths)
were made! Double YUCK!
Well, I will continue with this
chart tomorrow… I need to go do some visits.
Come back tomorrow. Same time,
same station to find out if Peter had a wife? Children? To find out what
happened to Peter’s wife? Are Peter’s children mentioned in the Bible? Will
the stars keep on shining… this and other questions will soon be answered…?
See you tomorrow! God Bless!
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The
list can be endless, but you get the idea. I can read a passage a hundred times
and Christ’s Holy Spirit will cause me to ask new questions which each reading
and study. As time goes on, I will share some sources that may be valuable in
creating and understanding the background. Now, back to work!
As
mentioned, it is all right to make your best, educated guess in all the above,
if the Bible does not tell us for sure. And, if the ‘educated guess’ does not
jeopardize a proper Christology. I will have a Christology blog article in the future.
In
my Bible Study tradition, I like to compare the text between the New
International Version (NIV) and the Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). The
method I am showing you today is called ‘Charting.’ It is easier for me to see
things if the notes are next to the verse. In addition, the chart (table below)
allows me to continue to add-to and edit the chart throughout the week. I can
also color code ideas. As the week progresses you will find me doing a lot of
editing to this chart.
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