Post by Mark on Jan 1, 2010 4:33:49 GMT -8
When we read the text with vivid twenty-twenty hind-sight, we have to think of the disciples as being complete idiots. In Matthew 26:2, Yeshua plainly says that He is going to be betrayed and crucified at the end of two days. We easily forget that the nature of the Hebrew language (and method of communication) is wrought with hyperbole. When He suggested, earlier that one should cut of his hand to gain entrance into the kingdom, or pluck out his eye, He was wasn’t prescribing self-mutilation. In the same manner, as He tells His disciples that He is soon to be crucified; they likely didn’t interpret His words as being literal.
The Greek word stoy-kia, translated crucified, doesn’t necessarily mean to be placed up on an execution stake as the word stow-rah-oh means (as used earlier in Matthew 20:19 and 23:34). Stoy-kia has the idea of laying something out in an orderly arrangement. Its near kin is stoy-keh-oh which means to march rank in file, conformed to the dominant order- so as to be easily counted or accounted for. Both words come from the root stoy-bas which means to spread out or lay flat.
From this, the disciples might have easily presumed that Messiah was going to be betrayed and put on display for evaluation. There could certainly be little surprise to that. Such a showdown had been coming for a long time. Such an interpretation of his words would have been reasonable, since Yeshua had just finished (in Matthew 25) teaching how every man would be evaluated in the end of the age.
So, why did Messiah use the word “stoy-kia” instead of “stow-rah-oh”? Was He being deliberately vague? It’s not likely if we believe that He was being honest with them in John 15:14-15.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
It seems more likely that the emphasis of what Messiah had to share with them in Matthew 26 was more than just understanding that He was going to be brutally executed.
Something happened when Messiah was tried and crucified that is hard for us to come to terms with in our personal acceptance of these events. Yeshua was more than just murdered: He was laid out on display so that all the world can see what true righteousness and humility looks like. It’s not coincidence that thi sstatement followed His teaching on the sheep being divided from the goats, the parable of the servants and their allotted talents, the story comparing the five wise and five foolish virgins. It’s as though He is accentuating the point: after sharing how some are able to do well, now see how it is perfectly done. For greater love has no man than He who lays down His life for His friends.
We can look at the parable of the virgins and come out looking pretty good. We can interpret the parable of the servants and look justified. We can even consider ourselves as the sheep as opposed to the goats. But how do we compare as spread out and laid bear when compared with Messiah?
The Greek word stoy-kia, translated crucified, doesn’t necessarily mean to be placed up on an execution stake as the word stow-rah-oh means (as used earlier in Matthew 20:19 and 23:34). Stoy-kia has the idea of laying something out in an orderly arrangement. Its near kin is stoy-keh-oh which means to march rank in file, conformed to the dominant order- so as to be easily counted or accounted for. Both words come from the root stoy-bas which means to spread out or lay flat.
From this, the disciples might have easily presumed that Messiah was going to be betrayed and put on display for evaluation. There could certainly be little surprise to that. Such a showdown had been coming for a long time. Such an interpretation of his words would have been reasonable, since Yeshua had just finished (in Matthew 25) teaching how every man would be evaluated in the end of the age.
So, why did Messiah use the word “stoy-kia” instead of “stow-rah-oh”? Was He being deliberately vague? It’s not likely if we believe that He was being honest with them in John 15:14-15.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
It seems more likely that the emphasis of what Messiah had to share with them in Matthew 26 was more than just understanding that He was going to be brutally executed.
Something happened when Messiah was tried and crucified that is hard for us to come to terms with in our personal acceptance of these events. Yeshua was more than just murdered: He was laid out on display so that all the world can see what true righteousness and humility looks like. It’s not coincidence that thi sstatement followed His teaching on the sheep being divided from the goats, the parable of the servants and their allotted talents, the story comparing the five wise and five foolish virgins. It’s as though He is accentuating the point: after sharing how some are able to do well, now see how it is perfectly done. For greater love has no man than He who lays down His life for His friends.
We can look at the parable of the virgins and come out looking pretty good. We can interpret the parable of the servants and look justified. We can even consider ourselves as the sheep as opposed to the goats. But how do we compare as spread out and laid bear when compared with Messiah?
