When the Pharisees and the Jews ask for a sign from Jesus, they are acting like Pharaoh.
"When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Show a miracle for yourselves,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.'" (Ex. 7:9)
Showing posts with label Bible - Matthew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible - Matthew. Show all posts
Friday, February 11, 2011
Pharisees as Pharaohs
Monday, January 03, 2011
Fulfilling the Law and the Prophets
In the old theonomy discussions, Mt. 5:17 always played a prominent role. In what sense does Jesus "fulfill" the law and the prophets? But the word "fulfill" is something of a key term in Matthew's gospel. The Greek word PLAYRAO is used 16 times in Matthew’s gospel, and in 13 of those occurrences, Matthew uses the word to describe how Jesus’ own actions or words “fulfill” what was spoken in the Law and Prophets and Writings of the Hebrew Scriptures: E.g. “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet…” (Mt. 1:22, cf. 2:15, 2:17, 2:23, 5:17, 26:54, etc.).
Given the fact that Jesus is explicitly and implicitly reenacting the story of Israel, it does not seem likely that Matthew used this word 13 times accidentally. 12 is the number of the tribes of Israel, and 13 suggests that Jesus is the fulfillment of the old Israel plus one. He is Israel and yet something far greater.
But if one wanted to understand what Jesus meant by not coming to destroy the law and the prophets but rather has come to "fulfill" the law and the prophets, it seems like the first step would be to do a thorough exegetical study of all those other uses. When Matthew says Joseph and Mary's flight to Egypt is a "fulfillment" of Hosea's prophecy, "Out of Egypt, I have called my son...," we ought to look at that "fulfillment" if we want to understand how Jesus came to "fulfill" the law and the prophets and not destroy them.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Who Carry the Terms of Surrender
Really like Jamie Soles' paraphrase of the Beatitudes found on his album Weight of Glory:
Blessed
(Matthew 5:2-11)
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Those who recognize their poverty
Those who know that they have nothing to bring
The kingdom of heaven is theirs
Blessed are the ones that mourn
Those who grieve for their iniquity
Those who demonstrate repentance and faith
Their comforter is the Lord
Blessed are the humble
Who believe their God in everything
Who obey His Word unquestioning
For they shall inherit the earth
Blessed are the hungry
And the thirsty after righteousness
Who are satisfied with nothing less
Their hunger and thirst shall be filled
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God
And blessed are the ones who make peace
Who carry the terms of surrender
They publish the gospel of peace and are called sons of God
Blessed are the ones that suffer
Evil deeds and scorn in Jesus' name
The poor in spirit are one and the same
The kingdom of heaven is yours
Blessed are the persecuted
Oh rejoice and be exceeding glad
For such treatment all the prophets had
And great is your waiting reward
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Cycle of Generations
In his new book The Four, Peter Leithart notes that the gospel of Matthew begins with a number of similarities to Genesis. Matthew begins with a "book of generations" which is one of the organizing principles of the book of Genesis (cf. 2:4, 5:1, etc.). He also notes some resemblances between Matthew's gospel and the epistle of James.
One similarity, which he doesn't explicitly mention (but which I suspect he's alluding to), is the fact that the word "generations" is used only five times in the NT, twice in Matthew and twice in James (once in Luke).
Both of the uses in James need some elucidating, but just on the surface, Js. 3:6 is one of the instances and James is warning particularly about the dangers of the tongue (see my earlier post). James says that the tongue is set among our members so that it can defile the whole body and set "on fire the whole course of nature." Literally, James says that it can set on fire the "cycle of generations." With the emphasis at the beginning of the chapter on "teachers," it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to see James addressing specifically generational challenges. He seems to be warning teachers in particular about the use of their tongues and the kind of impact it has on their students, children, congregations, etc. Their words have the potential to send their hearers to hell. Jesus has similar warnings for people who cause little ones to stumble.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Jesus Fund
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24)
This next week we will celebrate Christmas, and while Mammon would always compete for your affection and service, he rears his ugly head at this time of year with particular enthusiasm. Jesus goes on to explain that serving God means a lack of worry. Those who love God and despise Mammon do not worry about what they will eat, what they will wear, what they will drink. Those who place their hope and trust in God do not worry. But Mammon drives his slaves with the whip of worry and fear. And this worry manifests itself in countless nagging questions: Have we spent too much? Have we been generous enough? Have we saved enough? Isn’t that too expensive? How will we ever afford that? How can we spend this much when others do not have any at all? But these fears and worries are satanic. Jesus said, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” Instead, Jesus says, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Seeking first the kingdom means loving God with all that you are: mind, body, soul, strength. It means that all that we have belongs to Jesus. Every cent in our bank accounts, all of our assets, all of our abilities, all of our talents, they all belong to King Jesus, and we lay them all at His feet. And then, because we love Jesus and hate Mammon, we open our hands and we give. We give generously and extravagantly. We give gifts and presents as though we have an endless supply; because we do. Because our King owns everything; He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He doesn’t need a single cent from us, but He loves it when we live like He is the Extravagant Father that He is. So it’s almost Christmas time, and we should want our homes overflowing with presents, and our neighbors should know that we have enormous bank accounts by the generous gifts we give them. It’s not our money, of course, we should explain to their astonished faces, Jesus has a fund that has no end, no limits. Of course, don’t spend money like a slave; don’t spend and grasp like the Gentiles who charge up their credit cards as though we are storing up treasure under the tree. No, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. But when your treasure is in heaven, it is in a bank account that will never run out. So give to the poor, give to missions, give to your children, give to your wife. Give because you love Jesus. Give because everything belongs to Him. Give because God gave His Son, and in Him we have an inheritance that cannot fade away.
Monday, December 06, 2010
Joyful and Sober
Advent is a season full of joyful expectation, but it is also a season of sober preparation. And we really do need to work hard at holding these two things together. Our two greatest dangers are either going along with the cultural flow of shopping and parties and excitement, which when done rightly is basically jumping up and down on the joyful expectation side of things. And this can be wonderful and good. But our other danger is overreacting to imbalance in this area, and veering off into gloomy, cranky austerity, sneering and humbugging all the overindulgence and joyfoppery. But Advent is a season of joyful expectation and sober preparation. It should be joyful and sobering to consider the coming of our King.
In Matthew 22, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding feast in which a King invites his friends to the wedding of his son. Many of the intended guests spurn the invitation and kill the servants delivering the invitations, so they are destroyed and the invitation goes out to the highways and all are invited, good and bad alike until the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king comes to see the guests he found a man who did not have a wedding garment on, and the king had his servants bind the man and cast him out into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. This parable comes just shortly after the parable of the two sons, in which the first son said that he would not obey his father but later went and obeyed, while the second son said he would obey but then did not.
Jesus’ parables are warnings in two different directions. He warns against those who are disobedient and in high handed rebellion, those who refuse His commands, those who reject Him openly and explicitly, but Jesus is also warning against those who say they will obey, who say they will come to the wedding, but who then in fact do not obey, who do not prepare for the wedding. This is the second Sunday in Advent, but every Sunday is an Advent Sunday. Every Sunday the King comes to see the wedding guests. And ultimately every one of us will meet the King face to face.
And this is the point: Do not use Advent to merely get ready for Christmas. Use Advent as a time to prepare to meet your King. None of us knows the day or hour when we will meet Him. Our lives are frail and fragile, and our God holds the breath of every living creature in His wise hands. Whether Christ returns or we are taken from this life to be with Christ, we will appear before the King. The King will come, and every one of us will stand before Him and give an account for our lives. Are you clinging to Christ? Are all your hopes bound up in Him? Have you already died, and is your life hidden with God in Christ? Then by the grace of God, to live is Christ and to die is gain, and this is cause for joyful expectation.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Cute Piggy Banks
Saving for retirement, saving up an inheritance for our grandchildren, saving up for the disaster that might hit is like little kids putting their nickels and dimes and pennies in a piggy bank. This is good practice; there is wisdom here (Pr. 13:22). But it's also kind of cute because we have a Father in heaven who provides us with all that we need (Mt. 6:25-34).
Glory and Provision
One other thought on the Spirit as a glory and covering:
In both Genesis and in Isaiah, at least part of the point has to do with provision and protection. A husband provides for his bride, and this is exactly what Yahweh did in the Garden of Eden and what Yahweh promises to do for His people in Isaiah. He insists upon being the one who clothes them and feeds them. That is the sign that He is in fact their Husband. Feeding themselves and clothing themselves or allowing others to feed and clothe them are acts of infidelity and adultery.
And surely this is what Jesus has in mind when He urges His disciples not to worry about what they will eat or drink or what they will wear (Mt. 6:25). When Jesus says that we cannot serve two masters/lords, perhaps another fitting translation would be no one can serve two "husbands." No bride can have two husbands; you cannot be married to both God and mammon.
Therefore, Jesus say, if God is your husband/lord/master, then trust Him to provide for all of your needs. Be a faithful bride, and do not worry, do not fear. God has the entire world at His disposal; He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He still has all of the treasures of Eden at His fingertips. His provision and abundance is His glory to cover us with.
It is His glory to multiply our flour and oil, to multiply the loaves and the fish, to pay our bills, to provide for all our needs according to His riches in glory.
Proverbs 30:13-15
Prov. 30:13 There is a generation -- oh, how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up.
This proverb links to the previous one with the word “eyes.” “These generation” cannot see themselves, and therefore they cannot see others around them either. They cannot see the fact that they are covered in their own excrement, and this is because they are proud and greedy.
Here, the pride is underlined. As we have noted many times, eyes are the organs of judgment, and when people only do what is right in their own eyes, they set themselves up as the standard and the judge and are sure to quickly fall into folly. The reason people cannot see their own sins is frequently not because of pure ignorance but because of vigorous systems of self-justification, lowering the bar and reformulating the standards to make ourselves fit. We frequently do this through comparisons: well, I’m not as bad as so and so. But the standard is always Christ. The law is the law of love.
Jesus warns against “evil eyes” and “bad eyes” (Mt. 6:22-23, Mk. 7:22, Lk. 11:34) which according to the law is refusing to be generous to the poor (Dt. 15:9) and the flip side of this is greed (Prov. 28:22). The parable of the laborers in the vineyard uses this expression in the same way (Mt. 20:15). But the difference between good eyes and bad eyes is the difference between wisdom and folly (Eccl. 2:14).
Eyes can be lifted up to the Lord in faithfulness (Ps. 121:1, 123:1, Is. 40:26, etc.). But lifted up eyes are also idolatrous and this is connected with injustice and oppression of the poor (Ez. 18:6, 12, 15, 23:27, 33:25). This contrast suggests some sense of dependence, hope, refuge sought in wherever the eyes are lifted toward. And anything other than God and His provision is clearly arrogant and proud.
But this also adds another dimension to the healing of blind eyes. To open eyes and restore sight is to restore the ability to see our own sin and poverty and the ability to see the needs around us. To open the eyes of the blind is to transform graspers into givers (Is. 42:7). When our eyes are lifted to the God of heaven, we see His provision and inheritance which is far more than we need and this makes us generous (Acts 28:16). But John says that greed and pride has a spiral effect: hating a brother is itself darkness and a blinding of the eyes (1 Jn. 2:11). And hatred is not merely active assault. Hatred is the lack of active love and mercy in actions and deeds and in truth (1 Jn. 2:16-18).
Prov. 30: 14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, To devour the poor from off the earth, And the needy from among men.
And just in case we did not catch what Agur meant by “lifted up eyes,” it becomes more explicit in this next proverb where the oppression of the poor is central.
This proverb hinges on the main verb “devour/eat” which makes the swords and butcher knives more graphic. This generation feasts on the poor and the needy, and this generation chews them with their teeth and fangs. The language of cutting and chopping with fangs and teeth is beastly and savage. Literally, they consume the needy from Adam which underlines the image of God in these human beings. This generation devours the poor like beasts, but they are like predators of human beings. They are like beasts hunting and devouring people. In other words, the poor are more human than the rich and powerful (cf. Dt. 32:24).
We noted in back in 30:12 the sacrificial/ceremonial connotations of this generation considering themselves “pure.” They are covered in shit, but they think they are ceremonially clean and appropriate for worship. They justify themselves and lift up their eyes in prayer and worship, and here they are ironically offering sacrifice as well.
Throughout the sacrificial system, worship of Yahweh with sacrifice included meals, eating before God, and even the fire of the offering “consumes” the pieces of the animal symbolizing God’s own “consumption” of His people. But here, this arrogant generation is feasting on the poor and the needy. They are dismembering the poor and the needy and eating them up.
This is why David prays that God would break the teeth of the wicked (Ps. 3:7, 58:6), and this is why God broke Israel’s teeth in the exile, making her harmless to the poor and needy that she was devouring (Lam. 3:16). Micah suggests that when people are chewing up the poor, they do not do it with diabolical laughter, but they are frequently talking about peace and listening to the preachers and prophets (Mic. 3:5).
These generation’s greed and selfishness is aptly summarized by the following verse:
Prov. 30:15: The leech has two daughters – Give and Give!
The leech is a bloodsucker that is never satisfied. This is what “this generation” is like, and it flows out of the “three things that are never satisfied, four that never say ‘enough!’” Waltke says that this is probably a reference to the “horse leech” which has two sucking organs, one to attach itself to its host and the other to suck blood with. The leech is a parasite; it lives off the life of others. And this is exactly the opposite of love. This is hatred of neighbors, living without care or concern for how our actions may affect others.
This underlines the greed of the “this generation” again. And it may be more helpful to think of “this generation” as a culture, a culture that trusts the provision of Yahweh, or a culture that demands to be its own god, its own provider. Think of Israel in the wilderness. The beastly empires that Daniel seas in his vision have “huge iron teeth” to devour everything in their way (Dan. 7:5, 7, 19, cf. Joel 1:6). Thus, "generation" is not merely people born in particular century or decade, but in this context "generation" is a way of life, a culture, an empire.
This kind of arrogant greed starts with dishonoring parents because parents are one of God’s first provisions of us. Long before we "woke up" in this world, God was generously providing for all of our needs through our parents, but rejection of parents’ provision and wisdom occurs because of pride and selfishness, and this necessarily results in the oppression of the poor and defenseless.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Plunder and Leaven: What's that Bling?
On the one hand, Yahweh tells Israel to get rid of all the leaven of Egypt. Get rid of Egyptian culture, Egyptian wisdom, Egyptian strength. God promises to give Israel a new identity, a new culture, His wisdom, He will be their strength.
On the other hand, Yahweh tells Israel to ask their neighbors for gold and clothing and jewelry. And when Israel goes marching out of Egypt, they do so having plundered the Egyptians.
So Israel is supposed to plunder Egypt but leave the leaven behind.
What's the difference between plunder and leaven? Why is plunder OK but leaven is not?
Later in Exodus, the Israelites will use some of this plunder to make a golden calf. Later still, they will use it to build the tabernacle. If leaven means influence and strength and growth, then the golden calf incident indicates that Israel didn't leave all the leaven behind. The leaven of Egypt wants to use gold and clothing and jewelry to mess with the worship of God's people. The leaven of Egypt is ultimately displayed in worshiping idols. But the plunder is for building Yahweh's house; the plunder is for adorning the worship of God.
The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees is the same (Mt. 16:6-12). It is corrupting the worship of God's people; but the plunder of Jesus is the people of God with which He is building a new tabernacle.
And the same principle would seem to apply to clothing, jewelry, and gold today. What are you using it for? Is it being used to build the Church, building up the people of God? Or are you using that bling for a golden calf in your life? Is that dress for the edification of the people of God? What about that house, that car, that haircut, that music you're listening to? Is that plunder that you're hauling off to build the tabernacle with or have you just gotten bored waiting for Moses up on that mountain?
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Real Exodus, Real Freedom
Reading the original Exodus story has all kinds of implications for the coming of the Gospel in Jesus. When we read the Exodus story as a purely physical bondage, a bunch of Hebrews got held up by the Egyptian thug, Pharaoh, in a dark alley, and God came and laid the smack down and delivered His people. Then, when Jesus comes on the scene and starts acting like Moses and the gospel writers are weaving Exodus imagery through their narratives, we say something like: "O that's neat imagery!" And we think Jesus was doing something highly metaphorical, a "spiritual" version of the Exodus. He's *like* Moses, we say.
But if Israelite culture was shot through with idolatry, compromises with Egyptian culture, then the situation that emerges is far more complicated and far more similar to all the other exodus events in Scripture. If the original Exodus was an extraction of God's people out of relationships, social customs and forms, cultural norms, economic forces, etc., then the only thing partially metaphorical about Christ's Exodus event is the geographical movement. Jesus is not literally leading a new Israel out of the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan.
Again, if Egyptian slavery was something more complex than we often imagine, then the Exodus is something more complex and deeper than we frequently imagine. What emerges is something suggesting that the geographical concerns of the first Exodus are actually the metaphor. Leaving Egypt and going through the wilderness to the land of Canaan is actually the metaphor for the real leaving and cleaving which must take place in the hearts of the Israelites. And in that sense, the first Exodus was a failure because that Israel never really left Egypt. The rest of Israelite history bears this out with Yahweh repeatedly trying to convince Israel to leave Egypt behind. Thus, when Jesus comes to strike the final blow to Egypt/Pharaoh in His death and resurrection, He comes to bring the real exodus, and therefore real freedom.
The Israelites are neck deep in slavery to Egyptian movies, Egyptian politics, Egyptian economics, Egyptian poetry, Egyptian colleges, Egyptian health care, all the Egyptian gods, and Yahweh has come to set them free, despite their protests to the contrary. And when we describe the liberation of Israel in such terms, it becomes far more clear why Christ came as the Greater Moses to free His new Israel from every Egypt, all the gods, all the plagues, every manifestation of sin and death. The real Exodus always was about beginning life over again, forming a new community in Israel, a new calendar, a new economy, a new family, a new culture, new patterns of worship, etc. And the Christian Church is that new Israel, that new way of being human, that new way of being community, a new way of doing politics and economics and art.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Delivered from the Powers
In Colossians 1:18, when Paul goes from describing Jesus as the "firstborn from the dead" does he have the Passover and Exodus in mind?
It seems likely: First, you have the "firstborn" language which recalls the tenth plague, but secondly, he immediately thinks of "reconciliation" through the blood of the cross (1:20). If the Passover event was an enormous act of reconciliation, a gathering together of the tribes of Israel into the "congregation" of Israel and making peace with God through the blood of the lamb, then it makes sense to think of Christ as "the firstborn from the dead" and therefore simultaneously the great Reconciler of the new Israel. We might note that Paul has already mentioned being "delivered" from the power of darkness and being "conveyed" into the kingdom of the Son "in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (1:13-14). The word "delivered" is the same used in the Septuagint for what God has come to do for Israel in the Exodus (Ex. 6:6, 12:27, 14:30), and clearly the imagery of a transfer of power, an eclipse of kingdoms, has the Exodus all over it.
This suggests that when Jesus teaches us to pray "deliver us from evil" (Mt. 6:13, same Greek word), He is teaching us to pray that God would bring us out of Egypt, out from under the bondage of all the Egyptian gods, all the principalities and powers.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Prayer for His Harvest
As David Platt pointed out in his recent book Radical, when Jesus notices that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, he doesn't tell his disciples to therefore go out themselves and start harvesting. Rather, he tells them to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest (Mt. 9:37-38). He says they should pray. Prayer isn't a cheap form of discipleship; prayer is essential.
I think one of the other striking things about Christ's words is that the harvest belongs to the Lord. God is the Lord of the harvest; it's His harvest. And so we pray to the Lord of the harvest that the right harvesters might be sent out and at the right time and to the right places.
As it turns out, in the very next verses Christ does send out the disciples, but this comes after instructing them to pray. And perhaps this makes for a helpful qualification for those who think that they are perhaps called to missions and evangelism and mercy ministry. Have you been praying that God would send people?
Monday, August 02, 2010
Beloved Sons for Battle
It's not an accident that in the gospels when God the Father declares that Jesus is His beloved Son, Jesus is immediately led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Mt. 3:17-4:1). When God loves His people, He sends them into battle.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Joseph the Dreamer
When Matthew's gospel opens with a Joseph who has dreams (1:20, 2:13, 2:19, 2:22), we cannot pretend that we have never heard of this sort of thing before. And when Matthew writes: "... an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt..." we ought to even wonder for a brief second exactly where we are in the Bible. Is this the end of Genesis?
Of course there are many other details that confirm exactly where Matthew wants us. We have a child-murdering Pharaoh in the character of Herod, and Matthew explicitly refers to the first Exodus story by quoting Hosea 11. Only God's Son is called out of Egypt in order to deliver Israel.
The geography is all reversed. Israel has become an Egypt, and the Israelite king has become a pharaoh. Instead of fleeing to Midian for safety, the holy family flees to Egypt for safety. And when John comes preaching and baptizing, he is inviting Israelites in the Promised Land to embark on a new Exodus, to cross the Jordan and enter the land again, in a new way.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Like, Who's that Naked Guy?
It's no accident that there are four gospels. God intentionally gave us four records of the life of Jesus. More so, God gave us four records that are fairly similar (obviously), and they were canonized as the first four books of the New Testament. This means that the faithful, diligent reader must read through the same material four times.
This means that thinking through the literary and theological effects of four gospels seems a worthy pursuit. Assuming that the Bible is meant to be read straight through, we run into repetition in a few places in the Old Testament. Chronicles is a retelling of Kings, and there are portions of stories that are retold such as 2 Kings 18-20 and Isaiah 36-39 as well as songs (compare 2 Sam. 22 and Psalm 18). Deuteronomy recaps various portions of Exodus and Numbers and Leviticus. Judges overlaps with Joshua. And the instructions of the building of the tabernacle are repeated at the end of Exodus as those instructions are carried out. We might also point out the genealogies that repeat names and family lines in various places of Scripture.
But when a reader comes to the gospels there is something even more obvious and startling going on. The three synoptics with John's fourth gospel piling on top emphasize, underline, and echo with various stories, parables, sermons, teaching, miracles, and of course the passion narratives in particular. If there are various portions of Old Covenant Scriptures that repeat themselves, the gospels are way over the top.
What kind of readers/hearers does this kind of repetition create? What is usually called the "synoptic problem" with regards to sources and dissimilarities seems rather actually to be something of an intentional solution, part of the plan. As the Word has its way with God's people, there are a number of tracks that are meant to be played repeatedly. If God wanted us to have to plow through the same material four times every time we started the New Covenant Scriptures, we might ask 'why?'.
What does a fourfold repetition of very similar stories do to us? For example, the repetition makes minor characters closer to major characters. Mary, the mother of Jesus is important as the Virgin Mother of Jesus, but she really does not play much of an explicit role elsewhere in the New Testament, but her presence in the gospels gives her a four-fold standing in the story. By the time we get to John, and she is asking Jesus to help with the wine-shortage problem at the wedding in Cana, we feel like we really know this woman a bit more than when we began in Matthew's gospel. A relatively minor character (in terms of time on stage) grows and expands and matures over the course of four gospels.
But this works not only by repetition, but also by absence. Because of the similarities, there is a constant invitation to compare the gospels, and therefore especially the first three. And then not only do the similarities stand out, but so do the dissimilarities. Like, who's that naked guy running in the garden after Jesus is arrested in Mark's gospel? A seemingly tiny detail becomes huge, startling, and seemingly important. We might not remember a random event like that in Judges as well as we ought to if we're regularly reading straight through the four gospels.
What else does having four gospels do to readers? What kind people does a fourfold repetition of the central story of our faith create?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Posting Security Guards on the Coast of Florida to ward off the Hurricanes
One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is the tower Babel. I love that story for a number of reasons, but one of them is for how amusing it is. All the nations gathered together in one speech, all proud and excited, planning to build a great city with a tower stretching into heaven. It’s huge, it’s gigantic, it’s worldwide, it’s corporate, it’s got fancy letter head, and all the networks are covering this project. The suits and ties are all there, along with the PhDs and the politicians and the rock stars and scientists. All the talk shows are talking, all the best sellers are musing on this city, this tower, this amazing project. And then the line comes, in subtle Mosaic sarcasm: “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.” And the Lord squinted down at the little red spot on the side walk of the universe, hmm…. He thought, what’s that little pile of ants milling so excitedly about? And the Lord came down to see what all the fuss was about. And while the Tower of Babel project was off to a good start, the text continues to emphasize the fact that God had to go down and see it, go down and scatter them. The Lord of the Universe goes down and gently confuses all the chatter, scatters them, and sends them off in confusion, cute little, pesky people.
And I get the same feeling when I read that they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. O really? You sealed the tomb and set a guard, did you? How cute. Of course the pretense is that the disciples might come and steal the body, but really, all we’ve seen the disciples do in these last few chapters is run and deny all association with Christ. I hardly think they were real threats. But this sealing, this guarding is about like putting a band-aid on the crack of an enormous hydro-electric dam. This is like posting a few security guards on the coast of Florida to ward off the hurricanes. Yeah, you guys just stand there. Good luck. Just how would you seal the tomb of the Lord of the Universe? Just how would you keep Him in there? Of course they couldn’t, of course they didn’t. And here we are celebrating that fact. And we are still little people, small, insignificant, but in the great grace and mercy of God, He has invited us to sit with Him, to eat with Him, and He loves His people. Your God loves you, and the same God who could not be held down by soldiers and ropes, draws you up by His grace to fellowship with Him.
Monday, March 08, 2010
The Cup of the Kingdom
“They gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, he would not drink. Then they crucified Him…” (Mt. 27:34)
We should recall that running up to this scene Jesus has described His own sufferings and death as a “cup” that He will drink. Back in chapter 20, Jesus asked James and John if they were able to drink the cup that He was about to drink (20:22). In chapter 26, when He instituted the Lord’s Supper at Passover, He gave the disciples the cup which He said was His blood shed (26:27-28). And then later in chapter 26, Jesus prayed to the Father that the cup might be taken from Him, but that if He had to drink it, He would submit to the will of the Father. So as Jesus refuses to drink the cup of sour wine mingled with gall, He is simultaneously accepting that cup of suffering which He has been speaking about all along. He was probably offered the sour wine as an anesthetic to help deaden some of the pain of crucifixion, but the cup that He was to drink required that He accept the pain. And so He does. He refuses one cup in order to drink the other. But what’s also interesting is that there is another string of uses of the word “drink.” At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, he records Jesus admonishing His disciples not worry about what they will eat or drink or wear because their heavenly Father will provide for all their needs (6:25-32). Then toward the end, in chapter 25, in the parable of the sheep and the goats in the kingdom, the emphasis is on giving Jesus food and drink and clothing through ministering to the “least of these my brethren” (Mt. 25:35-46). These passages describe what life in the Kingdom is to be like. In the Kingdom, we are not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear because we are expected to care for another, bearing one another’s burdens such that even the least among us are fed and clothed. But in the passion narrative, we see Jesus fulfilling this Kingdom life in shocking ways. He prays to his heavenly Father, and a cup to drink is provided. He calls out to His heavenly Father and He has clothing, even a scarlet robe. In the life of the Kingdom, the Father provides, but the Father provides a cup and clothing that is not painless. In fact, the point in Jesus’ decline of one cup in preference for the other, is an acceptance of pain, an endurance of suffering over the cup that might mask the pain. So what is this cup that we drink? This cup is the cup of suffering and death and blood, the cup of the cross. But this cross is not a dead-end; this cup of the cross is the cup that we drink in the Kingdom, assuring us that we need not worry about food or drink or clothing. This is the cup that we share with one another, even the least of these. And this cup is our glory, our crown, our joy, our hope.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Second Sunday after Christmas: Is. 42:1-13, Matt. 3:1-17, Acts 10:22-48
Opening Prayer: O Christ our God, give us Your wisdom and Your Spirit that we might know you and follow and believe in You. Amen.
Introduction
This is the Second Sunday after Christmas, and so we continue to meditate on what Christmas means. Last week, Pastor Leithart preached on God’s long standing promise to Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in his seed. That seed is Christ, but that seed is to be understood corporately, as all those in Christ. Our lessons point to something similar this week, only this time, they emphasize particularly the work of the Spirit in accomplishing this task.
Is. 42:1-13
Isaiah describes God’s promise to send His Elect One who will be anointed with God’s Spirit (42:1). He will bring justice to the gentiles (42:2-4). The same God who fashioned the worlds will call His Elect One in righteousness (42:5); He will be a covenant to the people and a light to the gentiles (42:6). This light and covenant for the gentiles will be for their deliverance (42:7); this deliverance is the justice that God promised. He will do this for His own glory (42:8). Just as God’s Spirit led Israel out of bondage in the Exodus, so too the same Spirit-Light will come for the whole world, and remake it (42:9), and the whole earth will rejoice (42:10-12). Yahweh will be like a Samson, a warrior filled with the Spirit going to battle for His people (42:13)
Matt. 3:1-17
We looked at Luke’s parallel passage a couple of weeks ago and noted all the Exodus themes. This time, note particularly the promise of the Holy Spirit (3:11). While there is some sense in which the Spirit is the mode of baptism, following the parallel with water, we shouldn’t miss the fact that the Spirit is also the means of baptism. The One who is coming after John will judge with justice and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire precisely because He has the Spirit (3:12). John hesitates to baptize Jesus, but Isaiah has foretold that God will anoint His Elect One with His Spirit in order to bring justice to the gentiles. This seems to be what Jesus is referring to when He says that it is fitting for John to baptize Him to “fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15). John’s baptism of Jesus is how God is planning to anoint Him with the Spirit to bring His righteousness to the gentiles (3:16). And this anointing is the occasion for God’s declaration that this is His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased (3:17). We know that Jesus is now driven by the Spirit, because immediately after this, He is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit for battle with the devil (4:1).
Acts 10: 22-48
The main character of Acts is the Holy Spirit. When Jesus leaves the disciples, He promises the Spirit, and it is the Spirit and His messengers that drive the plot of Acts filling and driving His people (2:4, 4:8, 31, 8:29). The conflict is between those who receive the Spirit-fire (the wheat) (2:38, 9:31) and those who reject Him (the chaff) (5:3, 32, 7:51). In our text, Peter receives word from messengers that Cornelius would like to hear Peter speak to him (10:22-23). The Spirit has instructed Peter to go with them (10:19). Cornelius is a God-fearer, but Peter has been prepared before hand to speak with an “unclean” man (10:24-29), and Cornelius explains how an angel appeared to him instructing him to call for Peter (10:30-33). Peter’s sermon explains that he now understands that God shows no partiality (10:34), but every nationality that “works justice is accepted by Him.” Peter’s sermon might be troubling to good Reformed types. It sure sounds like God is responding to Cornelius’s good works (10:4, 10:31). If Paul were a good Reformed preacher, he’d make sure that point got cleared up rather than seeming to agree with him (10:35)! But the fact that Cornelius has heard all about the gospel of Jesus (10:37) means that Cornelius is already a disciple of Jesus in some sense. Peter says that Jesus Christ was God’s word of peace to the nations (10:36), and that as a result of his death and resurrection (10:37-41), Jesus has been appointed “judge of the living and the dead” (10:42). This means that whoever believes in Jesus will receive remission of sins (10:43). Proof of their forgiveness is that the Spirit is poured out on them (10:44-48).
Applications & Conclusions
The gospels present the coming of Jesus and His ministry as entirely empowered and driven by the Holy Spirit, and this same Spirit drives and fills His people.
Christmas is as much about the coming of the Spirit as it is about the coming of Christ. The Spirit overshadows Mary, fills Elizabeth and Zacharias and Simeon. The Spirit came upon Jesus in His baptism and then drove Him into the wilderness. The same Spirit led Jesus through Galilee bringing justice to God’s people, proclaiming the year of release, setting captives free, and forgiving sins. The same Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, and ushered Him up to the throne of God. And then the Spirit came rushing down on the disciples who were praying in the upper room.
In one sense, we might say that the Spirit is the forgiveness of sins; the Spirit is our proof, our seal, our evidence of forgiveness from God. The Spirit is our comforter, our guarantee that God is well pleased with us.
The justice of God is His forgiveness, His deliverance from sin and darkness and death. The justice that is for the gentiles and the ends of the earth is the declaration that Jesus is the Judge. Like Samson, He has come filled with the Spirit to fight our enemies and deliver us from sin and death.
Our mission is to walk in the Spirit and to flee everything that grieves Him (Eph. 4:30-32): all bitterness, wrath, anger, and evil speaking, and putting on kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness because God has forgiven us in Christ. Forgiveness is the justice of God in Christ.
“Merry Christmas” means that the Spirit has come and overshadowed this world. The Spirit has led the Son to become our salvation, and now whoever believes in His name receives remission of sins.
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Closing Prayer: Gracious Father we thank you for sending Your Spirit here to overshadow Mary that she might bear our Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you, O Holy Spirit, for filling the Lord Jesus and leading Him to bring forgiveness and justice to the world through His life, death, and resurrection. O, Lord Jesus, we give you thanks for pouring out Your Spirit on your Church that we might know forgiveness and extend that justice the ends of the earth. And we pray these things filled with the same Spirit calling to you, O Father, as your Son taught us to pray, singing…
Monday, December 21, 2009
Fourth Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 7, Rom. 1, Matt. 1
Introduction
As we look forward to our celebration of the birth of Jesus, this last Sunday of Advent celebrates the faithfulness and justice of God in coming to His people as the basis for our faith today.
Immanuel: With or Without Us
Isaiah 7 has several similarities to Isaiah 36-38. In this case Ahaz is the king of Judah who is threatened by the Assyrians. This is prior to the final fall of Israel, and Pekah King of Israel has teamed up with Rezin king of Syria to threaten Judah (7:1-2). God promises deliverance (7:3-9) and says that the only requirement is for Ahaz to believe this (7:9). God asks Ahaz to ask for a sign presumably to demonstrate his faith, but Ahaz refuses (7:10-13). Recall that Hezekiah is the son of Ahaz of the line of David. Hezekiah does better than his father since when he is threatened, he repeatedly looks to Yahweh and when his life is threatened, he asks for a sign in the heavens above and is saved (38:7, cf. 2 Kgs. 20:8). Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, and so God gives one Himself: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel (7:14). He will eat “curds and honey” apparently because he is part of the remnant left from the Assyrian conquest (7:15-17, cf. 7:22). Notice that the name “Immanuel” is used twice more in the following verses: once apparently referring to the land of Israel/Judah (8:8) and once the reason why no counsel will stand against God’s determined purposes (8:10).
Romans: Justice by Faith
Paul begins by emphasizing what he means by the “gospel” – it is what he was separated to (1:1), what was promised (1:2), the birth of Jesus from the seed of David (1:3), the declaration that Jesus is the Son of God by the resurrection (1:4), and through all of this comes the authorization to call all nations to obedience to the faith (1:5), even the Romans (1:6), and so Paul addresses them with the grace and peace of King Jesus (1:7). Paul knows he is addressing Christians from the empire that currently runs the world, and yet it is their “faith” that is known throughout the world (1:8). And Paul prays for them (1:9-10). Paul hopes to come to them that they might be part of his harvest among all the gentiles (1:11-14). Paul says that this gospel is for all nations, and he is not ashamed of it (1:14-16). It is here that Paul gives his reason: the gospel is the display, the revelation of the justice of God (1:17).
Matthew: The Righteousness of God
Jesus is identified as the “Son of David, the Son of Abraham” and so begins Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ (1:1), recounting the 14 generations between Abraham and David, David to the Exile, and from the captivity to Christ (1:17). Matthew’s genealogy is striking for its inclusion of several women: Tamar (1:3), Rahab (1:5), and Bathsheba (1:6), all oppressed in various ways by faithless men. Joseph is a just man and unwilling to see Mary shamed, and determined to divorce her quietly (1:19). Notice that Joseph is also called “son of David” by the angel of the Lord (1:20). The prophecy of this son includes a name linking the extraordinary son with His mission (1:21), and Joseph signifies his faith by giving the name to the Son (1:25).
Conclusion & Applications
The same God who turns back armies weaves all of history together. It is the power of God to take failures and injustice and weave it into his righteous purposes. The gospel of Jesus, His Advent, is the great display of God’s justice, His justice in coming for His people, His justice in healing our diseases, atoning for our sins, and rising from the dead. Jesus is the faithful one, and God’s powerful justice is displayed in our stories as we live by faith in the sign that God gave Ahaz.
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