Getting Rhetorical

By Matt

I picked up on 4 questions for today, all of them fairly rhetorical so I'll be the jerk who answers them anyways :)

1. "Is that going to get us anywhere?" (Matthew 5:38) - When I wrote this out on my pad of paper after finding it, I wrote, "Is that going to get you anywhere?" However, "you" isn't the pronoun Jesus uses; it's "us" instead (ever notice there's an "us" in Jesus?). Maybe the more amazing thing in this question is that God is counting himself as one of the humans. If "eye for an eye" isn't going to work for humanity, it's not going to work for divinity.
2. "If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus?" (Matthew 5:46) - No, I guess I shouldn't.
   
3. "If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal?" (Matthew 5:47) - I expect that Jesus is talking to northerners here ;) But seriously, this question and the one above it point out how silly our attempts at love can really be when all we're doing is loving at the bare minimum level. Our call is to "love extravagantly."
4. "Do you think God sits in a box seat?" (Matthew 6:5) - This one makes absolutely no sense out of context so I'll back it up. Jesus is talking here about people who go into great theatrics during prayer to make sure God notices. The answer to the question here is no, God doesn't sit in the box seat. If you're up on stage, here's up there with you. If you're sitting in the seats, he's there too. We don't have to play to the box seats, God is with us whether we're calling to him silently or out loud.