Jesus Mortal |
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Massacre of the innocents In Matthew, King Herod the Great massacres infants in an attempt to snuff Jesus, newly born as king of the Jews. The legend is known as the massacre of the innocents. The story is preposterous because it presumes Herod the Great is some sort of goof. Herod supposedly takes to killing all the boys in Bethlehem under two years old in attempt to eliminate the king of the Jews, who, the Persian magicians had said, had been born there. The massacre takes place after the magicians, warned in a dream, skip out of town instead of telling Herod who this infant king is. But hold on a minute. These magicians just showed up at Joseph’s house with gold, frankinscence, and myrrh as gifts for his infant son. Are we to believe that the neighbors didn’t notice? In Matthew’s nativity story, Joseph and Mary live in Bethlehem; they’re not weary travelers visiting for a census, as in Luke. Their neighbors know who they are. For his part, the historical Herod demonstrated repeatedly that he had the cunning and the intelligence resources to suss out plots on his life and various rebel movements. But Matthew would have us believe that this wily operator wasn’t able to figure out which little kid in Bethlehem received magical guests and accepted kingly gifts? The magicians’ visit would have been the talk of the town. Anyone could have found baby Jesus. Another sour element to the story is God’s intervention. He knows that Herod is about to slaughter some number of infants, and he only protects Jesus. He lets the other babies get massacred. Apparently God was happy to let infants be murdered if it benefited Jesus’ resume, identifying him as like Moses. In Moses’ story Yahweh massacres the first born of the Egyptians, also as a demonstration. Dead kids really make one’s point. But for Matthew’s Jewish audience, the story wasn’t so complicated. The Jews hated Herod, and this legend tells them that Jesus was Herod’s enemy from the get-go. It also makes Jesus out to have escaped an infant massacre, one more way in which Matthew likens Jesus to Moses. The happy ending for the murdered infants is that they went to heaven. In church tradition, being martyred for Christ counts as a high-class baptism, and these kids all got it. Reflecting this understanding, the murdered children are known as the holy innocents.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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