Josh SN – that interpretation of Matthew 15 is just nuts, playing with words and willfully misunderstanding them to make a rhetorical point.

The simplest explanation is that when criticised for a breach of the law, Jesus responded to the Pharisees by reversing the question in hyperbole (very usual for him). “Do you care so much about the Law, then? Do you really? I think not. There are places in the Law Pharisees won’t go. You have other reasons for criticising me that you will not admit to yourselves.”

As to the “revolutionary” appellation, there is a failure of simple logic there. To say that Jesus was a type of revolutionary, therefore other revolutionaries are like Jesus is logically equivalent to saying “Jesus was persecuted, I am persecuted, therefore I am like Jesus.” In fact, my psychotic patients do say exactly that.

Josh’s point that there isn’t much in this essay that refers back to its titular purpose is spot on, though.