Book 1: An Illumination of Matthew
Part 1: The Dark Ground of Christ
Chapter 3: Revolutionary Ferment
This episode concludes Part 1: The Dark Ground of Christ. I look at the John the Baptist "moment" and the densely symbolic temptation sequence together as providing the final external and internal preparations for Christ to emerge.
1:03 – What John the Baptist represents
2:56 – The social position and values of the Sadducees
4:12 – The social position and values of the Pharisees
5:28 – The two-party governing body of the Sanhedrin
6:23 – The John the Baptist moment / movement
7:51 – The Jewish-Roman wars in the background of the Gospels
9:03 – The ambiguity of John’s vocation: “clearing the way”
9:56 – The transfer of authority & expectation at Jesus’ baptism
11:27 – Jesus’ need to become intimately acquainted with Satan
13:31 – What did Jesus do during his 20’s?
14:17 – Time to be born (an existential sermonette)
15:38 – The actuality of Jesus’ temptation
16:53 – Temptation 1: meet everyone’s concrete/immediate needs
20:09 – Answer 1: we live not by bread alone, but by every divine word
22:48 – Temptation 2: do a publicity stunt
24:31 – Answer 2: do not put YHWH (Being) to the test
26:34 – Temptation 3: give yourself to pursuing political power to do the “greatest” good
29:51 – Answer 3 is ultimately what Jesus actually did instead of pursuing power