Matthew 5:1 Not Disciples: Jesus Wants Us To Think

The verse below, as found in The Immanence Bible, is from what is now called Chapter Five of Matthew.  Of course, Bibles did not have verse numbers until more than 1,000 years after Jesus' appearance on the planet.  Humans did divide the writings into chapters early on.  But verse numbers came much later. In TIB we go back in time: there are chapter numbers, but only subsections of 10 verses per unit within each chapter.

So, the first verse of Matthew 5 in TIB is this one:

Seeing the multitudes, he goes up
      onto a mountain. When he sits down.
those who are thinking
      come to him.


Mountains are good places to learn and think.  And a good place leave the multitudes behind. When Jesus goes up onto a mountain, those who wanted to engage with him, as they thought things through, headed in his direction. It is an interesting commentary on our culture that most of our Bibles translate the Greek word MATHETES as "disciple."  That is not necessarily a bad translation.  The problem is that this Greek word comes from the root sense of "learning."  Not from "to discipline."  TIBIV tries to reflect that etymology a little more clearly and perhaps let us hear Jesus in a fresh way.

That's the point of this new translation, The Immanence Bible Book of Matthew, Compact Edition.  Jesus was not dictating precisely how a human life is to be lived. He was thinking through the idea of "the kingdom of heaven."  Or, as TIB translates (very literally), "the realm of upward vision."  Jesus wants us to think about life: about how we all might live in accord with the highest vision we have of human society.  That's the point of this challenge/teaching as found in Matthew 5.

Matthew 3:3 Listening in the Wilderness

"The voice of one crying, 'In the wilderness make ready the way of the Presence.
      Make the paths straight.'"

Part of the mission of The Immanence Bible, Book of Matthew is to allow the reader to think a little less anthropomorphically while reading the story of Jesus.  One way to accomplish this mission is by translating KURIOS by a variety of words (as all English Bibles do).  The primary translation used here is "Presence."  It is this Presence that guides and leads us in our lives.

In the verse above, John joins with Isaiah in calling for a wilderness experience that makes way for the Presence.  Sometimes it takes a less familiar, more 'primitive' setting, for us to hear the inner voice.  And as we listen, we make ready the way for this Presence.  And then as we live our guidance, we are making the paths straight (even if they take a very winding way!). 

And sometimes it takes a different setting, in the area of Bible translation, to help us listen to the inward voice.  Enjoy reading of Immanence.