At the Edge of the Sermon on the Mount

In its own century

Now set it back into its own century. What was the community that first heard this actually worried about? Simply imagining that changes the temperature of every line.（雅歌 4:9-12）

Leaving the question open

A short detour. There is a passage elsewhere with the same shape though no direct connection, and setting them next to each other makes the writers' different concerns visible.（マタイによる福音書 12:33）

Let me set the terms. This is not an argument about doctrinal correctness. It is one reader's account of what the text can be made to yield. I am going to leave the ending open on purpose.

In its own century

Pull a single verse out of its paragraph and you can make it say almost anything. This particular verse has been made to say a great deal. Which is precisely why it deserves to be read with what stands on either side of it.（バルク書 4:22-27）

Before we start

Some people are consoled by this verse and others are wounded by it, often in the same room. The writer almost certainly did not anticipate that. It is left for readers to carry.

A short detour. There is a passage elsewhere with the same shape though no direct connection, and setting them next to each other makes the writers' different concerns visible.（ガラテヤ人への手紙 2:10）

What I read

This is where I stopped. I could not go forward, so I stayed with the same few lines for a long time. I have come to think the staying was the point.（アモス書 9:10）

（マルコによる福音書 第4章）