Sunday Dive

Episode 041: Jesus vs. Torah (Mass Readings for Jul 5, 2020)

Episode Summary

“My yoke is easy and my burden is light,” Jesus promises the crowds in our Gospel today. The image of a yoke was common in first century Judaism but always referred to the yoke of the Torah. When Jesus claims to have his own yoke he is claiming to be greater than the revelation which is the Torah. But indeed he is greater than the that revelation mediated by Moses precisely because Jesus is God himself.

Episode Notes

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES

Davies, W. D., and Dale C. Allison Jr. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Vol. 2. International Critical Commentary. London; New York: T&T Clark International, 2004.

Mitch, Curtis, and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2010.

Verbum Bible Software - www.verbum.com

REFERENCES

Psalm 116:6 - "The LORD preserves the simple [nepiois]; when I was brought low, he saved me."

Psalm 119:130 - "The unfolding of thy words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple [nepiois]."

Jeremiah 31:34 - "And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest."

Exodus 33:14 - “'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'"

Numbers 12:3 - "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth."

1 Corinthians 11:2 - "I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered [paradidomi] them to you."

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 - "'For I received from the Lord what I also delivered [paradidomi] to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'”

1 Kings 12:3-4, 13-15 - "And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 'Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us, and we will serve you.' [13] And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel which the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, 'My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.' So the king did not hearken to the people."