Harmony #56: The Cost of Following Jesus (Luke 9:51-62; Matthew 8:19-22)

Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely (“set his face”) to go to Jerusalem.

In both Matthew and Luke’s Gospel, this incident is placed on the heels of Jesus doing the kind of miraculous things that drew a large crowd (even though the incidents are different). In Matthew’s gospel, he is trying to get away from large crowds when this incident happens.

It’s no surprise, then, that these three conversation reflect a Jesus who wasn’t interested in people following him because he was popular, or because they thought it was cool, or believed they could follow Jesus when it was convenient. Jesus demonstrated over and over that he wasn’t interested in numbers for numbers’ sake. He didn’t want Himself or His Kingdom to be trendy.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus had just finished talking to his disciples about his upcoming death. Consider the grim circumstances as we see Jesus’ response to three potential followers. He knows what’s coming; he knows what his disciples are going to go through. They have no idea that he is literally going to be taking up a cross, and that they will follow him to Golgotha. The metaphors are about to become reality.

  He sent messengers on ahead of him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him, but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem.[1]

Now when his disciples James and John[2] saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you belong to. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them,” and they went on to another village.

There was a reason Jesus had not sent the 12 to Samaritan villages yet. They weren’t ready. First, they took this insult way too personally. It wasn’t a secret that Samaritans did NOT worship in Jerusalem. This was part of the animosity between Jews and Samaritans. When the Samaritans found out Jesus was going to the Temple in Jerusalem, of course they weren’t going to help. To them, that was enabling false worship. Their response should not have been a surprise.

The disciples could have said, “Well, we tried. The worst they could do was say no.” Instead, they decided the best response would be to kill everyone – without having to get their hands dirty. Could God do it for them? Did God feel the same way about these Samaritans as they did?

The answer is, of course, no. “You do not know what kind of Spirit you belong to.” That was not the heart of God for the Samaritans. Don’t forget, this is right after all this teaching on forgiveness. Yikes. Tough crowd.

“Whatever…errors may be in religion, we must never persecute [those who believe them]. Let us, if needful, argue with them, reason with them, and try to show them a more excellent way. But let us never take up the "carnal" weapon to promote the spread of truth. Let us never be tempted, directly or indirectly, to persecute anyone, under pretense of the glory of Christ and the good of the Church. Let us rather remember, that the religion [professed] from fear of death, or dread of penalties, is worth nothing at all, and that if we swell our ranks by fear and threatening, in reality we gain no strength… The appeals that we make must be to…consciences and wills.”      - JC Ryle

Let’s pick up from there.

As they were walking along the road, an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”[3]

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

* * * * * *

The first man seems to be sincerely eager to be a part of what Jesus is doing. After all, he just saw some amazing things. Who wouldn’t want to be closer to that? I think Jesus’ response is similar to the response Jesus gave the Rich Young Ruler who also wanted to follow him.[4] Jesus said to that ruler, “Go get rid of all your money.” Jesus identified the idol that had to go.

To this man, Jesus uses an image from nature to point out that there is no expectation of comfort. I mean, they had just been denied access to town to spend the night. They were on their way to Jerusalem where Jesus would be killed and his disciples scattered.

My sense is that Jesus jumps straight to his vulnerability, his idol: the desire for comfort, maybe even popularity. “People won’t like you. They will reject you. You may even be denied ordinary, normal things by those who reject you. Follow me, and you might become deeply unpopular, despised, rejected, even unable to have the material comforts others enjoy.”

We should expect to be made uncomfortable as followers of Jesus. And our response should not be longing for God to judge them, but to save them.

* * * * *

The second man makes what seems to be a reasonable request (burying his father), but there is more going on here than first appears. Several options have been offered.[5] I think one stands out, but you will see the others in commentaries, so let’s take a look at them.

The first option is that the guy’s father had died and Jesus was telling him not to go help bury him. This is the least likely. In Judaism, someone who died had to be buried the same day.[6]There was no way that man would have been hanging out with Jesus. It was a really big deal to honor your parents with a proper burial. It’s also likely the father was not sick and close to dying, or the man would have asked Jesus to heal him.

The second option is that this was an expression meaning that he had to stay with his father as long as his father was alive. G. Campbell Morgan refers to a traveler in the Middle East who was trying to enlist a young Arab man as his guide. The man replied that he could not go because he had to bury his father. When the traveler expressed his sympathy, he learned that the young man’s father had not died; he was waiting to be a guide until he no longer had to take care of his father. So perhaps this man was saying, “After my father is gone, I will follow You.”[7]

[Another layer: the man would likely receive his inheritance when his father died. Leaving him might cause him to lose out on his share of his father’s estate.[8]]

The third option is that the man is waiting for the time a year after the body was first buried when the bones of the deceased were placed in an ossuary box and interred with other deceased relatives.[9]

Depending on which option is correct, it will change how you view what Jesus meant when he said, “let the dead bury the dead.”

Options #1 and #2 implies,

• “Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead; let those not yet alive to the claims of the kingdom bury the naturally dead.” [10]

• Some wonder if this is about the vespillones, the corpse-bearers who carried out the bodies of the poor at night; in Hebrew phraseology, they were “the men of the dead.”[11]

Option #3 would read more like, “Let the already dead (the ancestors) take care of their own.”[12] After all, the man’s father had been honored in the burial already; the second step was tradition, and it was not an insult to his father not to observe it. I favor this reading.

“Jesus was saying in essence, “Look, you have already honored your father by giving him a proper burial in the family burial cave. Instead of waiting for the flesh to decompose, go preach the kingdom of God and tell the people that faith alone in Christ is the only true means of atonement.” (“Let The Dead Bury Their Dead - Meaning.” Alice Anacioco. biblical-christianity.com)

* * * * *

The third man’s request also seems reasonable – he’s going to follow, but he needs to say his goodbyes. This is not unprecedented in Jewish teaching.

Earlier in Luke 9, Jesus had already been connected with Elijah several times. Near the end of Elijah's ministry, God told him to call Elisha to take his place. Elijah found Elisha plowing a field with twelve yoke of oxen and placed his cloak on the younger man's shoulders. Elisha knew what this meant and asked permission to say goodbye to his parents, which Elijah allowed. Only then did Elisha follow Elijah (1 Kings 19:19–21).  So far so good. Reasonable request. But….

“’To bid farewell’ signifies to set apart or assign, as a soldier to his post or an official to his office, and later to detach soldiers. Hence to dismiss one with orders...the man desiring to return home, not merely to take formal leave, but also to give his final instructions to his friends and servants.” Vincent's Word Studies

In other words, it sure looks like the man has a back up plan. Whatever happens to him while following Jesus, Plan B is waiting for him if necessary. Jesus responds by playing off this same Old Testament text, since Elisha was plowing in his family’s field when Elijah met him:

“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

I like the careful wording of this verse in Meyer’s NT Commentary:

“No one who has offered to labor in my service, and, withal, still attaches his interest to his earlier relations is well fitted/adapted to labor for the kingdom of the Messiah.” 

The farmer must keep looking forward in order to plow a straight furrow. Likewise, a disciple constantly distracted by past associations cannot provide effective service for the kingdom of God.[13]

* * * * *

Jesus tells these three would-be disciples that a true disciple…

1.    Risks rejection by the world (57-58). Disciples do not put attach their hearts to earthly material comforts: wealth, comfort, reputation, tradition. “Don’t pity Jesus for having no place to rest his head. Pity the man so chained to his mortgage that he can’t respond to the call of Christ. Don’t pity Jesus for sleeping by the campfire. Pity the woman so sold to her career that she cannot follow Christ to a foreign land. Don’t pity the disciples who are called the “scum of the earth.” Pity those who are enslaved to the opinions of the world.“[14]

2.    Makes proclamation a priority (59-60) In the OT, only prophets were permitted to neglect funeral customs in order to reveal God’s revelation. So, Jesus’ call to ignore funeral customs signals that an important period of time has arrived on the divine calendar.“Nothing should delay or stop us from spreading the good news that the Kingdom is here, not even good obligations and attachments.” (Daniel l. Sonnenberg)

3.    Leaves the old life behind (61-62) It is not an emotional, spur-of-the moment decision. It is not a decision that can be postponed till later. It is not a phase we go through while we keep our options open. Following Jesus means signing away the rights to your own life. You sign on the bottom line and let him fill in the details. It means Jesus first. No conditions. No delays. No buts. No excuses. A disciple cannot trust Jesus halfway. “Christ must reign in the heart without a rival. All other loves and all other loyalties must be secondary.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

* * * * *

So, how do we summarize the lesson today?

I wonder: what is really first in your life? Are we saying to Jesus, “I will follow you,” but adding our qualification, our disclaimer under our breath, perhaps hoping Jesus won’t hear? God first…but really being successful first, career first, financial well-being first. God first…but really being a good citizen, or being nice and well-liked first. God first…but really comfort and safety and security first.

When God calls you, and you say yes to following Jesus, what are the “buts” that are on the tip of your tongue, or muttered under your breath, or the truth you really mean instead? How do you finish this sentence to Jesus, “I will follow you, but first let me…” what?

Jesus tries to convey to us a sense of urgency. The good news doesn’t have time to wait. The world needs the message of Jesus right now. Look around. Look at the news. Look at the headlines. Look at our nation. Look at our community. Look at our congregation. Look at your own life.

We need the message of Jesus, the news about God’s reign on earth, the good news of God’s grace and favor and God’s way that rejects the ways of greed and selfishness and oppression and we need it now. And so Jesus needs disciples, messengers of the good news right now. People who are ready to say “But first you God, and then everything else can come next.”

 – Beth Quick, bethquick.com

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[1] The Samaritans probably rejected the messengers because Samaritans did not accept Jerusalem as the place of worship (see John 4:20)

[2] James eventually gave his life as a martyr; John became known as the Apostle of Love.

[4] Mark 10:17-27

[5] I’ll add here in the footnotes that it is possible that Jesus, who is about to take a Nazarite vow, is giving this man a heads up: if he truly follows the example of Jesus, he would not be able to bury his father when it was time.‘All the days of his separation to the LORD he shall not go near to a dead person. He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.” (Numbers 6:6-8)

[6] “In Jesus’ culture, the obligation to bury one’s father took precedence even over saying the Shema (The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is by N.T. Wright)? So how could Jesus tell His disciples not to go bury their fathers?According to first-century Jewish burial customs, when a person died, they were normally buried immediately (usually on the same day) in the family burial cave that had been hewn out of bedrock. This custom is based on the injunction found in the Mosaic Law not to leave the corpse of an executed person on the tree overnight (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).” (Let The Dead Bury Their Dead – Meaning,” Alice Anacioco, biblical-christianity.com)

[7] As cited by Steven Cole at preceptaustin.com

[8] “He wanted to make sure he received his inheritance. Then, when his circumstances were secure, he’d be equipped to be a disciple.” (Tony Evans Study Bible)

[9] “After the body was placed in a burial cave and is left to decompose, the family will separate itself and mourn for seven days. This initial mourning period is called shivah which is followed by a less intense 30-day period of mourning called shloshim. However, the entire mourning period was not fully over. The final act of mourning is when the family would return after a year to gather all the bones and place them with the bones of other family members on another shelf or the floor. This is now the secondary burial, also referred to as ossilegium. In the Jerusalem Talmud, it says, “When the flesh had wasted away, the bones were collected and placed in chests (ossuaries). On that day (the son) mourned, but the following day he was glad because his forebears rested from judgment” (Moed Qatan 1:5). (“Let The Dead Bury Their Dead” Meaning. Alice Anacioco.) biblical-christianity.com)

[10] Blessed Theophylact gives a concise explanation: “He is saying, “Let your dead relatives, that is, those who do not believe, take care of your unbelieving father in his old age until death.” To bury means here to bestow care on him even to the grave. Even in common parlance we say, “So and so buried his father,” which means not only that he placed him in the ground when he died, but that he also did every other good thing for him that was necessary, caring for him until his end and his burial.” (Let The Dead Bury Their Dead,” Fr. John Whiteford, OrthoChristian.com)

[11] Expositor's Greek Testament

[12] “The phrase “own dead” indicates the inclusion of the fathers among the dead.
“He's essentially making a joke, saying, "Your dad's bones aren't going anywhere. They are safe in the family tomb with all your other ancestors. I'm sure they'll keep him company"; in other words, "Let the dead (your other ancestors in the family tomb) take care of your father's bones until someone else in the family shows up to bury them." (“Let The Dead Bury Their Own Dead,” http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2018/07/let-dead-bury-their-own-dead.html)

[13] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds of the New Testament

[14] The Three Rookies: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Convenient Excuses.” Ray Pritchard

Harmony 55: Enough Faith To Forgive (Luke 17:1-10)

I am sometimes surprised where my study takes me. Today’s passage is one of those days.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.”

We covered this several weeks ago. I’m just giving us the context leading up to today’s passage. Don’t cause God’s children to stumble out of their faith. Jesus wasn’t suggesting the millstone as a punishment; he was referencing a thing the Romans did to the worst of traitors to make a point about how serious this is. Next, he gives an example on how not to make them stumble.

“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” The disciples said to the Lord, “Increase our faith (increase your gift of faith to us).”[1]

The apostles recognized this kind of forgiveness was not something they were doing; in fact, they didn’t think they could. It’s an incredibly challenging teaching. “Um, Jesus, we are going to need more faith if you want us to do this kind of forgiving.” Jesus responded with an analogy similar to one we’ve heard before, then told them a parable to make an important point – and here’s where I was surprised where my study led.

I had always thought of this as a prayer I ought to pray. In the context of Jesus’ response, I don’t think it is. Jesus basically responds to their request by saying, “You don’t need more faith. You need to use the faith God has already given you.” Here’s the text, then I will explain my conclusion and its implications for us. 

So the Lord replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you can say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.[2]

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants;[3]we have only done our duty.’”

Does that sound a little harsh or maybe even demeaning? Is that how God will speak to His servants – His children?

First, let’s note that this perspective on being a servant would not have been new information to the disciples. Similar teachings about humility and service to God appear in Jewish writings.

• Rabbi ben Zakkai (contemporary of Jesus) is cited in the Mishnah as saying, “If you have wrought much in the Law claim not merit for yourself, for to this end you were created.”

• Antigonus of Soko (3rd century BCE) said, "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of reward; rather, be like servants who do not serve their master for the sake of reward, and let the awe of Heaven be upon you.”[4]

The circumstances of service and duty that Jesus describes here between the servants and the master were not demeaning; they were normal in that society, and Jewish audience would have seen no insult in this.[5]

Second, let’s talk about the ‘unprofitable’ part. I believe this parable affirms something else already taught in Judaism: we cannot increase God’s glory. We can’t add to the treasury of spiritual riches that come from the throne of God.

“Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him? What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless? (Job 22:2-3)

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

You have derived your being from the infinite fountain of life: you are upheld by the continued energy of the Almighty: his glories are infinite and eternal, and your obedience and services, however excellent in themselves, and profitable to you, have added nothing, and can add nothing, to the absolute excellencies and glories of your God. (Adam Clarke)

If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other people.” ( Job 35:7-8)

Being ‘unprofitable’ reminds us that we don’t add to the greatness of God; therefore, we aren't bargaining with God in the sense that God owes us because we have enriched Him in some fashion. However, our righteous living impacts other people, which brings me to the next point.

Third, let’s look at other places in Scripture that are not parables to see the heart of God toward those who serve Christ and His kingdom.[6]

• “Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a aithful minister of Christ” (1:7)

• Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord” (4:7)

• “Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother” (4:9)

• “When the Lord comes, He will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts; then each one’s declaration of praise will come from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5)?

• “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been shown approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (Jas 1:12).

• “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day” (2 Tim 4:7-8)?

• “Do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Heb 13:16)

• “We make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” (2 Cor 5:9)

Clearly, the point of the parable is not that serving God is useless or unworthy of affirmation. Let’s not make this parable carry more weight than it’s intended to bear. Jesus is making a point that has to do with faith.

• According 1 Corinthians 12, faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit who “apportions to each one individually as he wills.”

• Romans 12:3 says, "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith."[7]

Notice that faith is not a thing we make, or drum up by focusing really hard, or earn. It is a gift from God.[8] A prayer to increase faith would be asking God to give a larger measure of faith than God had already given – as if God did not know what He was doing the first time, or wasn’t keeping track of what our needs are.

The disciples seem to be asking, “Give us more faith than what you have given us. There’s no way we can do what you are calling us to do with our current amount of faith.” Jesus basically responds, “You don’t need special merit or favor in your faith. You have what you need. If you are doing that which your faith asks of you, you’re good. The faith I have given you makes you capable of far greater things than you understand.”

I don’t think it was a question of them needing more faith. I think they simply needed to live out the faith God had already given them. And what would this look like? The parable comes back to the theme we’ve been riffing on for weeks now: They should use the faith they have been given in service to God and others.

Faith demonstrates its power when it is put into practice by serving God and others. God uses…

“faith that is pure and simple, that is, faith with integrity. Our faith does not make us powerful authorities but humble servants of God.”[9]

Jesus has equipped us to faithfully do what our faith leads us to do.

Here, I think, is the problem: the disciples wanted an instantaneous abundance of maturity. “Jesus, snap your fingers and makes us spiritually powerful.” I heard a popular preacher once tell an audience that Jesus appeared to him in a dream and told him he (God) was giving him an instant 10 years of spiritual maturity because God didn’t have time to wait for him to get it one day at a time. It may come as no surprise that this man’s ministry crashed and burned.

Jesus told his disciples, “It doesn’t work like that. You have faith. Even the smallest amount of faith has great power. Do the things your faith calls you to do.”[10]

“A small measure of real faith was sufficient to teach them that God would give them strength enough to keep themselves from committing this offense against love and charity of which he warned them so solemnly...”[11]

“The general sense of the parable is clear. It teaches two things to all who would be, then or in the ages to come, his disciples - patience and humility. They were not to look to accomplishing great things by a strong faith given to them in a moment of time, but they were to labor on patiently and bravely, and afterwards, as in the parable-story, they too should eat and drink.”[12]

This is not a glamorous teaching. It turns out that, when we follow Jesus, we not only take up a cross, but we begin what Eugene Peterson called “a long, slow obedience in the same direction” as Jesus.

• How do you hike the Appalachian Trail? One step at a time.

• How do you become Mr. Olympia? One workout at a time.

• How do you get to the stage of the Grand Old Oprey? One gig at a time.

• How do you make a feast? One ingredient at a time.

How does the life-changing power of our faith become real to us in such a way that we experience the transformation into maturity that God intends for us? One act of Holy Spirit - enabled obedience at a time.

I kind of like the cooking analogy. I wish I were a more capable cook than I am. But you know what? I have the ingredients in the house. I have recipes. I have my wife’s presence and wisdom. If she would say, “Why don’t you make Sea Urchin Guacamole Tacos with Spicy Moroccan Carrot Salad and Charred Brussels Sprouts With Anchovy Butter,” that would seem like way too much. But what if I have what I need? Maybe I haven’t used anchovies before, but I can now. It’s right there. I have ingredients, and directions, and the presence and help of the one who called me to this task and equipped me for it. I have what I need to do what I have been asked to do. Am I really good at it? Not yet, but I could be if I commit to learning how to use that which I have been given.

I think this is the point of Jesus’ response. God is a good father who knows how to give good gifts to His children. When God gives you a measure of faith, it’s a good and sufficient gift. He has equipped you for that to which He has called you. Peter noted that we can add things to our faith that are good for our maturity and growth, but God has given us the faith He determined we needed.  From 2 Peter 1:1-8.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through themyou may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I wonder if we strengthen the faith we have been given by exercising it like a muscle. When we use it, it becomes stronger. Or to my kitchen analogy, if you want to become proficient with the ingredients you have been given, you have to keep cooking with them. One day we will realize we have the resources and strength from the provision of God’s storehouse to do that which seemed impossible.

• How do you become a person who is known for speaking with grace and truth? By drawing from the faith God has already given you, adding Holy Spirit-enabled knowledge and love, and speaking with grace and truth next time. And then the next time.

• How can you become a person who is known for patience? By drawing from the faith God has already given you, adding Holy Spirit enabled self-control, and being patient next time…and next time…

• How can you become a person who is known for kindness and gentleness? By drawing from the faith God has already given you, adding Holy Spirit enabled goodness and mutual affection, and being kind and gentle next time…

• How can we possible be the kind of person who forgives 70x7 times? By drawing from the faith God has already given you, adding Holy Spirit enabled perseverance and love, and forgiving next time…and next time…

If God calls us, He will equip us. He has called us to follow in his footsteps. God has given us the Holy Spirit to work and move and transform us; He has given us his Word to nourish and guide us; He has given us the church to stabilize, and comfort, and encourage us.

Once again, 1 Corinthians 12 lists faith as a gift of the Holy Spirit who “apportions to each one individually as he wills.” I wonder if what Jesus was intending to convey to his disciples was that the better request is this:

“Lord, thank you for the faith you have given us; increase our trust; increase our servant’s heart; increase our love of God and others; increase our strength to add character to our faith; help us to put the faith you have given us into practice.”

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[1] Faith and belief are not interchangeable in the Bible. God gives us faith; we respond with belief. See this commentary at biblehub.com (https://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm)

[2] “The passives (verbs) here are probably a circumlocution for God performing the action (the so-called divine passive). The issue is not the amount of faith (which in the example is only very tiny), but its presence, which can accomplish impossible things. To cause a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea is impossible. The expression is a rhetorical idiom. It is like saying a camel can go through the eye of a needle (Luke 18:25).” – notes from the NET Bible on biblegateway.com

[3] “Ἀχοεῖος is not worthless or of no value; for that servant is not useless who does all that his master orders him. Ἄχρηστος is… of whom there is no need, one to whom God the Master owes no thanks or favor. Human pride is liable to fancy that it has done God a favor by doing well, and that God could not do without men’s services...”(Bengals Gnomen)

[4] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds of the New Testament

[5] Expositor’s Bible Commentary

[6] Thank you, https://transformingourconforming.com/a-profitable-servant/, for compiling this list.

[7] “Faith (4102/pistis) is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people…faith for the believer is "God's divine persuasion" – and therefore distinct from human belief (confidence)…The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can know… the persuasion of His will (1 Jn 5:4).” HELPS Word Studies

[8] HELPS Word Studies once again:” Belief and faith are not exactly equivalent terms. When Jesus told people, "Your faith has made you well," faith was still His gift (Eph 2:8,9). Any gift however, once received, becomes the "possession" of the recipient. Faith however is always from God and is purely His work (2 Thes 1:11). Note: The Greek definite article is uniformly used in the expressions "your faith," "their faith" (which occur over 30 times in the Greek NT). This genitive construction with the article refers to "the principle of faith (operating in) you" – not "your faith" in the sense that faith is ever generated by the recipient.”

[9] Africa Bible Commentary

[10] “They had been asking for faith, not only in a measure sufficient for obedience, but as excluding all uncertainty and doubt. They were looking for the crown of labor before their work was done, for the wreath of the conqueror before they had fought the battle.” (Ellicott’s Bible Commentary)

[11] Pulpit Commentary

[12] Pulpit Commentary

Harmony #54: Taking Care Of the Little Ones: Restoration and Forgiveness (Matthew 18:10 – 35)

There is a unifying story arc in Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18. He started by noting that the greatest in the Kingdom are willing to be in the kind of humbled state children had in that society. Second, he noted that we dare not cause the ‘little ones’ to sin or despise the ‘little ones’ in the church. The rest of the chapter, including today’s section, builds on this.

·    Finding the Lost Sheep: believers should, like Jesus, take care of the ‘little ones.’

·    Handling sin in the church (a lost ‘little one’ and the rest of the flock)

·    The parable of the Unmerciful Servant (illustration of prior points).[1]

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost. 

 What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

That is God’s heart for the little ones, the lost and perishing sheep. That’s meant to be the hearts of us, the ‘undershepherds’: to seek and save those who are lost, wondering, and perishing. No mention is made of the rescued responding the right way or not wandering off again. The shepherd simply seeks the lost sheep and restores it to the flock, and we may assume that he does it again and again and again. Now, here’s an illustration of how to go after lost sheep.

“If your brother or sister sins,[2] go and point out their fault,[3] just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.

I had not thought of this before, because this chapter is often chopped up into neat presentations, but I think this is a ‘people’ example to explain the ‘sheep’ example. It’s seeking and saving the lost.  Just like The Shepherd is not willing that any sheep perish, we should not be willing that any of our herd wander away. And we see right away what the goal is: restoration.

[4] But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[5] If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.[6]

 So this was recorded by Matthew, who was a tax collector. Gotta ask: how did Jesus treat pagans and tax collectors? He pursued them as if they were lost sheep. This isn’t about writing people off. It’s likely about not sharing the communion meal with them, which was where the heart of church community took place. You can’t let a sinfully toxic person poison the flock. But you also can’t ignore a lost and wandering sheep. More on that later.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.[7] Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”[8]

This is an image from Old Testament law. Truth was established by the testimony of two to three witnesses. This is the process by which things are ‘bound and loosed’ on earth as it is in heaven. On this process, God gives His stamp of approval (“there I am with them”).

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[9] 

Peter’s like, “Excuse me? What if it’s the same person over and over? And what if it’s against me? What if that little sheep punches me when it starts wandering? Would seven times of forgiveness be enough?” The rabbis only required three times; this probably seemed generous to Peter. But Jesus responds with a number that the disciples had heard before from the story of Lamech (Adam and Eve’s greeaaatt grandson).

One day he said to his wives, “Wives of Lamech, I need to tell you something! I killed a man who struck me. Surely Lamech must be avenged seventy-seven times” (Genesis 4:23–24).

Lamech was bragging that his vengeance would never end. Jesus takes his unending vengeance and converts into unending forgiveness.[10] Then Jesus tells a parable to illustrate the importance of forgiveness.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand[11]talents was brought to him.  

Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.[12]At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 

 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’[13] In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”[14]

The entire purpose of this parable is to answer Peter’s question, “How many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me?” Jesus is making a point about forgiveness in the church, between sisters and brothers in Christ. We have been forgiven much; we must forgive much.[15]He’s making a point (using a common Roman scenario) about the extravagant way in which we are to forgive others[16] – and the stingy way we are not.

We just read a parable in which we only took one part literally/seriously (Jesus doesn’t leave us to go and save the one). We have to be careful that we don’t make parables say more than they are intended to say. I don’t think we are to read this parable as if the King/Master cleanly correlates with God or that other details are meant to represent precise theology. I have several reasons.[17]

·      After just telling his disciples to forgive without end, this King forgives once.

·      God wouldn’t sell family members to appease a debt.

·      The second servant just disappears from the story, apparently languishing in jail. You’d think the king/God would set that right.

·      God doesn’t need people telling him what his people have done wrong.

·      The parable doesn’t offer a “picture” of a repentant worshipper asking for forgiveness. A dude gets caught and tries to panic bargain his way out of it.

Let’s not ask the parable to carry more weight than its main point: those who have been forgiven must forgive.

It might be as specific as addressing the scenario Peter just brought up. If that’s the case, Peter would be the arrogant servant not wanting to forgive someone who has wronged him far less than Peter has wronged others. It reminds me of taking the beam out of our own eye before taking the speck out of others (Matthew 7:5). We all carry beams. We can’t forget that. We can’t forget how often and how much we receive forgiveness.

I also don’t think we should read too much into the ‘torturer’.[18] Jesus’ audience would have known that the Gentiles who could not pay their debt were cast into debtor’s prison. There is a principle of sowing and reaping here. If you do not forgive others, you will be the one in miserable bondage,[19] not them.[20] 

What is clear is that there are consequences to unforgiveness. It cannot go unaddressed. This is necessary to protect those around the one sinning, as well as to get his attention. And those who refuse to forgive will be miserable in their unforgiveness.

“It temporarily delivers a believer to the power of Satan “for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:5). The purpose of this is to bring him to his senses and cause him to confess his sin.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

My final note for unpacking the story: Jesus says that his Father in heaven would do the same thing in the kingdom of heaven. It’s worth asking the question: why does God punish/discipline/prune those who are in the Kingdom?

“If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all… our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.” (Hebrews 12:8-10)

This is what Jesus explained was the point of church discipline – “winning a brother over” is about the restoration that follows repentance.

FIVE POINTS OF APPLICATION

1. The entire purpose of this parable is to answer Peter’s question, “How many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me?” Just as there are no limits to the actions we should take in avoiding sin (‘cut out your eye’), so also there should be no limits to the extent of our forgiveness from the heart for others.

“The kingdom comes with limitless grace in the midst of an evil world, but with it comes limitless demand…God searches out those who stray and wills that none be lost, and the community can lay no bounds to its forgiveness or forget that its forgiveness is modeled on God’s forgiveness of its members’ own much larger debt.”[21]

The ability to extend forgiveness is evidence of having truly understood that beauty of the forgiveness God (and others) extend to us.

2. I think there is a human tendency to want to be forgiven much while at the same time forgive little. We want people to ‘take up their cross’ to forgive us, but we don’t want to put that kind of effort into it. We want people to cover a multitude of our significant sins or remarkable flaws with their love and forgiveness, but the minute we are hurt by someone else, the gloves come off and the walls go up. And then, the tendency is to exaggerate what others have done to us and minimize what we have done to them. This parable fundamentally reminds us to do unto others as we would have done to us, to give to others what has been given to us.

3. When the other servants were “greatly distressed,” the word (λυπέω) can refer to emotional/physical pain or “offense” in this context.[22] The king responds when ‘the little ones’ have been hurt, as a good king would.

“The kingdom cannot be present if evil is not being named and defeated…the judgment language is hyperbole…but it assures people there will be a reckoning and that God will vindicate the oppressed.”[23]

The confrontation of sin is not just for the sake of the perpetrator; it’s for the sake of the victim and potential victims. Caring is both/and, not an either/or. Confrontation is care when done with grace and truth.

4. Forgiving “from the heart” needs a scriptural context. Remember the verse, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7)? Notice what the heart is doing – thinking. The word “brain” in never used in the Bible. “Heart” covers both emotions and thoughts. Forgiving someone requires a commitment of the mind. Forgiving from the heart begins as, among other things…

·      deciding to absolve them of the personal debt they owe you

·      deciding to pray for their repentance and restoration

Forgiveness may eventually become a feeling, but it starts as a decision.

5. Restoration. Relational restoration can and often does happen on the other side of genuine repentance and genuine forgiveness. Situational restoration is trickier.

Forgiveness from the heart does not necessarily shield people from the practical consequences of their sin. If someone robs your house, assaults you on the street, hijacks your credit card, or crashes into your car while DUI, you can forgive them from the heart yet still testify against them in court. Like love, forgiveness can cover a multitude of sins. But it doesn't erase them, it doesn’t enable the harmful activity to continue, and it doesn’t mean we should release people to continue their harm.

It is an act of love to forgive from the heart someone who has wronged us. It is also an act of love for everyone around that person to ‘bind and loose’ in such a way that those around them are spared the pain we went through.

Tim Keller gets the final word.

“Most of the wrongs done to us cannot be assessed in purely economic terms. Someone may have robbed you of some happiness, reputation, opportunity, or certain aspects of your freedom. No price tag can be put on such things, yet we still have a sense of violated justice that does not go away when the other person says, ‘I’m really sorry.’  

When we are seriously wronged we have an indelible sense that the perpetrators have incurred a debt that must be dealt with. Once you have been wronged and you realize there is a just debt that can’t simply be dismissed— there are only two things to do.The first option is to seek ways to make the perpetrators suffer for what they have done. 

You can… actively initiate or passively wish for some kind of pain in their lives commensurate to what you experienced. There are many ways to do this. You can viciously confront them, saying things that hurt. You can go around to others to tarnish their reputation. If the perpetrators suffer, you may begin to feel a certain satisfaction, feeling that they are now paying off their debt. 

There are some serious problems with this option, however. You may become harder and colder, more self-pitying, and therefore more self-absorbed. If the wrongdoer was a person of wealth or authority you may instinctively dislike and resist that sort of person for the rest of your life. If it was a person of the opposite sex or another race you might become permanently cynical and prejudiced against whole classes of people.  

In addition, the perpetrator and his friends and family often feel they have the right to respond to your payback in kind. Cycles of reaction and retaliation can go on for years. Evil has been done to you— yes. But when you try to get payment through revenge the evil does not disappear. Instead it spreads, and it spreads most tragically of all into you and your own character. 

There is another option, however. You can forgive. Forgiveness means refusing to [personally] make them pay for what they did. However, to refrain from lashing out at someone when you want to do so with all your being is agony. It is a form of suffering. You not only suffer the original loss of happiness, reputation, and opportunity, but now you forgo the consolation of inflicting the same on them.

You are absorbing the debt, taking the cost of it completely on yourself instead of taking it out of the other person. It hurts terribly. Many people would say it feels like a kind of death. Yes, but it is a death that leads to resurrection instead of the lifelong living death of bitterness and cynicism. 

 As a pastor I have counseled many people about forgiveness, and I have found that if they do this— if they simply refuse to take vengeance on the wrongdoer in action and even in their inner fantasies— the anger slowly begins to subside. You are not giving it any fuel and so the resentment burns lower and lower…  

There are many good reasons that we should want to confront wrongdoers. Wrongdoers have inflicted damage and… it costs something to fix the damage. We should confront wrongdoers— to wake them up to their real character, to move them to repair their relationships, or to at least constrain them and protect others from being harmed by them in the future.  

Notice, however, that all those reasons for confrontation are reasons of love. The best way to love them and the other potential victims around them is to confront them in the hope that they will repent, change, and make things right. The desire for vengeance, however, is motivated not by goodwill but by ill will…

Forgiveness…leads to a new peace, a resurrection. It is the only way to stop the spread of the evil... only when you have lost the need to see the other person hurt will you have any chance of actually bringing about change, reconciliation, and healing. You have to submit to the costly suffering and death of forgiveness if there is going to be any resurrection.”

______________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Thanks for pointing out this progression, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3987/0a89d9e22b8cb51863d874718b5060bc4472.pdf

[2]  The earliest manuscripts (Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus) lack the addition of “against you”; the later Byzantine manuscripts include it. It was likely added because Peter will soon apply this teaching personally, and adding “against me” at the beginning here would match what he asks later.

[3]  “Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.” (Leviticus 19:17)

[4] “As throughout the NT, the goal of all Christian discipline is restoration and rehabilitation, not retribution.” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[5] Follows the guideline in Deut. 19:15.

[6] “ To whom thou art, as a Christian, to owe earnest and persevering good will, and acts of kindness; but have no religious communion with him, till, if he have been convicted, he acknowledge his fault.” (Adam Clarke) 

[7]  “When a congregation acts in accordance with Scripture to promote God’s glory and the good of an erring member, heaven backs up the church.” (Tony Evans Study Bible)

[8]  “It temporarily delivers a believer to the power of Satan “for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:5). The purpose is to bring him to his senses and cause him to confess his sin. Until then, believers should be courteous but should also show by their attitude that they do not condone his sin and cannot have fellowship with him as a fellow believer. The assembly should be prompt to receive him back as soon as there is evidence of godly repentance.” (Believers Bible Commentary)

[9] “Christ’s reply lifts the subject out of the legal sphere (seven times - a hard rule), into the evangelic: times without number, infinite placability.” (Expositor’s Greek Testament) 

[10] Tony Evans Study Bible

[11] The highest number in Greek arithmetic.

[12] There were no prisons in Jewish culture, but there were in the Roman world. “The Roman Constitution, known as the Laws of Twelve Tables (Table III, Laws IV-X), has a series of detailed laws… [debtors] may be taken to court, put in chains, and forced into various arrangements to pay off their debts as slaves…others can come to pay off their debts on their behalf and they can be released from prison. Debts that could not be repaid were to be enslaved by creditors or sold in the slave market.” (“Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.” https://academic-accelerator.com/encyclopedia/parable-of-the-unforgiving-servant)

[13] “"Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get" (Matt 7.1-2).” 

[14] “Those who know God’s mercy must operate on the principle of mercy. If they do not show mercy but insist on justice, they will not receive mercy, but justice.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[15] I don’t think it is meant to be read as a teaching on atonement theology or final judgment Klyne Snodgrass’ book Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide To The Parables Of Jesus does an excellent job explaining this.

[16] The parable’s conclusion sounds a lot like a teaching in Sirach 28:2-4 “Forgive your neighbor the wrong he had done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord? If one has no mercy toward another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins?”

[17] “The king in the parable surely does not live up to Jesus’ saying on repeated and unlimited forgiveness. Moreover, when the king in the parable is seen as a metaphor for God (based on Mt 18:35), the picture of God painted in the parable is quite unflattering in that God is pictured as ‘a vindictive person whose mercies are dependent on human behavior.’” https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3987/0a89d9e22b8cb51863d874718b5060bc4472.pdf

[18] “Just as we don’t take [the money figures] literally, neither ought we take literally Jesus threatening torture and jail for withholding forgiveness (the very things he criticized the unforgiving servant for doing)…I hear him using holy hyperbole to say, “God forgave you your debt and you won’t forgive another? How would you like it if God did the same to you – didn’t forgive you, called you wicked, and handed you over to be tortured in a debtor’s prison for 160,000 years?” I think he would answer, “I wouldn’t.” https://readingacts.com/2022/01/19/the-parable-of-the-unmerciful-servant-matthew-1823-35/#

[19] “There are many poor souls who are tortured by their own unforgiveness toward others.” (“Matthew 18 – qualities and attitudes of kingdom citizens.”  enduringword.com)

[20] Shari Abbot, “What is the Meaning of Jesus’ Parable of the Ungrateful Servant? (Matthew 18:23-35).”  reasonsforhopejesus.com

[21] Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide To The Parables Of Jesus, Klyne R. Snodgrass

[22] https://readingacts.com/2022/01/19/the-parable-of-the-unmerciful-servant-matthew-1823-35/#

[23] Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide To The Parables Of Jesus, Klyne R. Snodgrass

Harmony #53: Who Is the Greatest? (Mark 9:33-50; Matthew 18:1-14; Luke 9:46-50; 17:1-3)

They came to Capernaum. When Jesus was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. After he sat down, he called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

 He took a little child and had him stand by his side among them, and said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,  for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.”

Jesus said to his disciples, ”Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea. Watch yourselves!

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out.

It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into Gehenna, where “the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.” Everyone will be salted with fire.  Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

* * * * *

Here is the same passage, but with added commentary that provides context and explanation baked into the story. It’s like my version of The Message that will hopefully add clarity.

After a long journey and a private but heated discussion among the disciples, they came to Capernaum. When Jesus joined them in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet, because it was a little embarrassing. On the way they, had argued about who was the greatest.

 Peter had the keys to the gates of Hades given to him; then only Peter, James and John had been on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus while the rest of them were failing to bind and cast out a demon after having been successful before. Then, Jesus rebuked them. So, yeah, there was some posturing going on.

So Jesus sat down like all rabbis did when it was time to teach, and he called the twelve to him. “Fellas, listen carefully. If anyone wants to be first in the Kingdom of heaven – if anyone wants to be the greatest – it’s not going to look like the world’s greatness. The greatest in the Kingdom is the one who serves everyone. Greatness is not defined by power, prestige, or skill; it’s defined by humility and service.”[1]  

 He gestured to one of their host’s children. “You know how children are treated by the Gentiles. They are the least in the family, the ones with the lowest status. They have no privileged position.” He called to one of their hosts’ toddlers to come stand by his side.

 “I tell you the truth, unless you turn your attitude and focus around and are willing to embrace that kind of role, you will never understand life in the kingdom of heaven! Whoever is content to be in a humble station in life like this little child – they are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever takes the time to welcome this child on my behalf – elevating them by your attention, re-enforcing their dignity and worth by treating them as people worthy of honor – well, whoever does that, it’s as if they were welcoming and honoring me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” He watched the child run off to play. “The least among you all is the one who is great.”[2]

Well. That was not how the disciples had expected that conversation to go. John finally broke the awkward silence with some news he hoped would perhaps impress Jesus instead of creating the need for yet another teachable moment.

 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop,[3] because he was not one of us.”[4]

“So, you weren’t able to free people from demons, and he was, and you tried to stop him?” Jesus asked. “Don’t you remember what has been shown to you in the Torah?” And as they talked amongst themselves, they remembered:

“Two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”  But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” [5]

 Seeing that they remembered, Jesus continued. “Were you jealous? Do you think that my Spirit only falls on you? Do you think the good this man did is suspect because he didn’t have your permission? Why are you acting like territorial religious leaders who judge anyone who’s not just like you? You are binding something Heaven has loosed.

Those who do miracle through faith in me are expanding the Kingdom of God. He is clearly not against us; he is helping the mission and ministry of my Kingdom – he’s setting captives free! Anybody who is not against us is for us. Even if all someone does is give you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah, that person – no matter who they are - will be rewarded.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “My heart breaks for the world when people, instead of being the Rock on which I build my church, (*looks pointedly at Peter*) become stumbling blocks (*looks pointedly at Peter*) on the road to Kingdom! No doubt, stumbling blocks are sure to come, but my heart is grieved for the ones through whom they come!”

(The disciples whispered among themselves, “Is he talking about us? I think he’s talking about us.”)

“What you do to a child, you do to me. Remember? This man, whom you want to stop, is a child in my Kingdom. You should be welcoming this spiritual child on my behalf like you should a physical child – elevating him by your attention, re-enforcing his dignity and worth by treating him as someone worthy of honor. Listen: do not let your life be the cause of one of my children stumbling. If your arrogant attitude and corrupted character push people away from me instead of draw people toward me?[6] Well…

You’ve heard how the Romans tie a millstone around the necks of traitors and throw them into the sea, and their bodies are never recovered, right? You know that they believe it's the most dishonorable and terrible kind if death. It would be better for those who cause my children to stumble to have a millstone tied around their necks and to be thrown into the sea.[7] It’s that big of a deal to me. So, watch yourselves!”

“Teacher, we have been taught that it is a curse if the earth does not receive our bodies after we die. Moses wrote of a punishment where ‘carcasses shall be food unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth.’[8] Jeremiah showed us the judgment of King Jehoiakim in which he was buried ‘with the burial of a donkey, cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’[9] You have told us many times how important it is to feed the hungry and clothe the naked; Tobit teaches that a decent burial even to a stranger ranks with giving bread to the hungry and garments to the naked.”[10] It’s a terrible curse to not be buried with our ancestors, for our soul to wander in Sheol for eternity with no people and no home.”[11]

Jesus nodded. “Indeed.  It would be better for those who cause my children to stumble to have a millstone tied around their necks and to be thrown into the sea.”

“I’m picking up what you’re laying down,” muttered Peter.

“I’m not sure you are,” responded Jesus.“You have been raised by rabbis who taught you that when you sin, you inflict judgment upon yourself.[12] The more severe the sin you sow, the more severe the harvest of judgment you bring upon yourself.[13] With that in mind, if your hand or foot causes you to stumble or become a stumbling block, cut it off.  If your eye causes you to stumble or become a stumbling block, pluck it out. The consequence of causing one of my children to stumble because of your life is…” Here Jesus paused. “Tell me what you know about the Valley of Ben Hinnom.”

“Teacher, it’s the ravine south of Jerusalem where Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their “little ones,” the children, to Molek.[14] Jeremiah prophesied it would be renamed the Valley of Slaughter when the Babylonians would discard the unburied bodies of the people of Jerusalem in the very place they had sacrificed their children.[15]

Jesus nodded. “Isaiah described the fate of those who do terrible things to the children of God. He describes a battlefield where those who did great evil have been harvested the death that followed the evil they planted.  “the worms[16] that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.[17] Remind you of anything you have seen?”

“Yes, Teacher. It’s Gehenna. It’s a fate worse than being buried in the sea. The Talmud teaches that death by fire is a dishonorable way to die, and that burning the remains of the dead shows terrible disrespect to their bodies. When one’s remains are burned, the soul cannot leave the body, and they will not be able to participate in the world to come.[18] Burning the dead is the ultimate punishment.”[19]

“That is indeed what you have been taught. And I am telling you that those who do evil to my children will bring upon themselves the wages of their sin – and those wages are terrible. [20]  In fact, it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God maimed, crippled and half blind than to be physically whole and be thrown into a Gehenna of judgment[21] with those who kill and abuse in any way not only children but also the children of the people of God.”[22] 

John broke a sobering silence with the question all of them were thinking, “Lord, This is a hard teaching. The Law never tells us to maim ourselves. That is something others do, but not us. Are you trying to make a point, or is this a command? Or both?”

Jesus replied, “I’m making a point. The millstone and the battlefield full of worms and fire were images to help you understand how seriously you must take this teaching. This is too. Your hand, foot, and eye are what you do, where you go, and what you desire. When any part is corrupted, it corrupts the whole.[23]

This is why everyone must be salted with fire, just like every sacrifice must be salted with salt that never loses its power. Be salt, and be at peace with each other.” Noticing their confusion, he added, “Talk amongst yourselves.”

* * * * * *

Which is what we are going to do J We’ve talked before about how Jesus often taught in a way that was meant to provoke discussion after he was done. No doubt, this teaching did exactly that.

Weston Fields noted that “salted with fire” passage has at least 15 different explanations. Like last week, what I have to offer is an opinion on how to understand what Jesus is trying to convey. I favor the 1 that believes Jesus is referencing Old Testament teaching. It is likely his disciples would have thought of this passage, which was about the ritual cleaning of items in the Tabernacle:

“Every thing that may abide the fire, you shall make go through the fire, and it shall be clean; and all that abides not in the fire, you shall make go through the water.” Numbers 31:23.

Fire purifies. When it’s not obviously literal, it’s often a way of describing what the Word of God does to people through the refining power of truth.

 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that stops his hands from holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.” (Isaiah 33:14-15)

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder … If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  their work will be shown for what it is… revealed with fire [that] will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3: 10-15)[24]

Fire is also used to represent trials that purify us by burning out the wood, hay and straw of our lives.

Just as some sacrifices needed salt to be acceptable (Lev 2:13), so the disciples (perhaps themselves seen as sacrifices, Rom 12:1) will need to be salted with the purifying fire of suffering … if they are to enter the kingdom of heaven. (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)[25]

If fire purifies, salt preserves.

For example, it was added to offering in the Old Testament, I suspect because the food of the offerings fed the priests (and what was left fed the families who brought the sacrifice):

“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Lev. 2:13).

Salted with fire - followers of Jesus will actually be preserved in the Kingdom by the fire in their lives. This could be the discipline of self-denial that accompanies taking up a cross, which includes how we face trials and tribulations in life. This could be about testing and persecution that follows those who follow closely in the footsteps of Christ. It’s likely both.

The refining fire of cross-bearing is what God uses to make us holy (set apart in the Kingdom); the fire of testing and persecution is what we experience because we are holy. (paraphrase of a quote from the Expositor’s Greek Testament)

BE SALT, AND BE AT PEACE WITH EACH OTHER

Salt was a sign of covenant obligations (Leviticus 2:13; 2 Chronicles 13:5). To eat salt together meant to make peace by (in a sense) entering into covenant intended to preserve us as individuals and as a group.[26] In Matthew’s gospel, this teaching is followed immediately by:

·      the Parable of the Lost Sheep, which focuses on the love, compassion, and faithfulness of God 

·      a teaching on restoring someone who has fallen into deep sin[27]

·      the Parable of the Debtor who owed Ten Thousand Talents, which focuses on forgiveness

This is where that whole section was leading: the importance of being a presence in the world such that we bring holy healing and preservation, not chaos and sinful decay.

The man casting out demons. As salt, the disciples should have valued and validated the work of God in the world wherever they saw it.  Whenever someone truly builds the Kingdom in the name of Jesus – whenever someone ‘binds and loosens’ what has already been planned in Heaven as an outworking of worship – we should be applauding. Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Those who applaud and support others when they are positively impacting the world for the Kingdom.

But what if their denomination makes me nervous? What if how they do ministry is different from how I would do it? We have to get over ourselves. Just because a denomination (or non-denomination) approach to church fits us, or just because we do ministry in a particular way, doesn’t mean it’s the only way. God’s a big God. We don’t define the parameters how, when, and through whom God will work. God does.

The child . We must preserve and honor the dignity and worth of ‘the least of these’ in our culture and in our church. Caring for the least is what makes us great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus wasn’t telling them this is how you get power and prestige. He’s teaching that a sign of greatness in the Kingdom is investing in the overlooked, the forgotten, the dismissed, the marginalized, the disdained, the used and abused. Jesus never intended those who follow him to pander to the powerful; he intended for us to preserve the powerless.

Jesus is more than clear: We dare not make them stumble. In a church setting, the stumbling seems to be the kind of situation where we run into someone in such a way that our impact in their life pushes them away from wanting to be a follower of Jesus. We can be salt, or we can be a poisonous stumbling block.

·      Hypocrisy is poison; integrity is salt, and brings peace;

·      Rudeness is poison; kindness is salt, and brings peace.

·      Abuse is poison; care is salt, and brings peace.

·      Pride is poison; repentance is salt, and brings peace.

·      Bitterness is poison; forgiveness is salt, and brings peace.

·      Combativeness is poison; peace-making is salt, and brings peace.

·      Arrogance is poison; humility is salt, and brings peace.

·      Cliques are poison; fellowship is salt, and brings peace.

·      Anger is poison; gentleness is salt, and brings peace.

·      Power flexes are poison; meekness is salt, and brings peace.

·      Indifference and hate are poison; love is salt, and brings peace.

·      Lies are poison; truth is salt, and brings peace.

·      ‘Us vs. them’ is poison; ‘us for them’ is salt, and brings peace.

We can be poison, or we can salt. Do we want to be great by Kingdom standards? Then let’s be salt, and live at peace with each other.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

[1] “Jesus is not attacking leadership positions, but showing the way in which such roles should be exercised (i.e., as the ‘last . . . and servant of all’). This principle is exemplified by Jesus Himself who ‘came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[2] “To show kindness to a child—who can offer nothing in return—is to serve God (9:37). Greatness is not achieved through marvelous actions that all see. It’s often achieved through lowly and unseen acts of service toward those who cannot repay.” (CSB Tony Evans Study Bible) “They should care for those who have little status in the world, such as a little child. (ESV Global Study Bible)

[3] “There are some who are so wedded to their own creed, and religious system, that they would rather let sinners perish than suffer those who differ from them to become the instruments of their salvation. Even the good that is done they either deny or suspect, because the person does not follow them. This is an evil disease.” (Adam Clarke)

[4] “Here their self-importance leads them to think that they, like the Pharisees and teachers of the law, can define who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’ of God’s people (cf. Luke 11:52).” NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)  “This phrase does not deny that the man was not a follower of Jesus; he was casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Probably what is meant is that he does not recognize the authority of the Twelve.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[5] “Numbers 11:26-29 The reader will observe that Joshua and John were of the same bigoted spirit;Jesus and Moses acted from the spirit of candor and benevolence. (Adam Clarke)

[6] “Derailing the faith of those of little worldly importance through an egotistical use of power calls for the most severe punishment.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[7] Augustus used this method on people he really disliked. He appears to have used this to punish people involved in the insurrection led by Judas of Galilee (a contemporary of Jesus).

[8] Deuteronomy 28:26

[9] Jeremiah 22:19

[10] Tobit 1:17–18. This was a popular Jewish book written in the 2nd century BC.

[11] Read Death and Bereavement in Judaism at the Jewish Virtual Library. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ancient-burial-practices

[12]  https://medium.com/@BrazenChurch/hell-a-biblical-staple-the-bible-never-actually-mentions-c28b18b1aaaa

[13] Galatians 6:7

[14] 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6

[15] Jeremiah 7:30–34; 19:1–15

[16] Isaiah associates worms with death. ‘Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you, and worms are your covering.’ (14:11)

[17] In Daniel 12:2, the same word is translated as "contempt". 

[18] “Judaism and Cremation: Overview of Jewish Beliefs on Cremation.” https://www.cremationsocietyofphiladelphia.com/judaism-and-cremation/#Jewish_Law_Forbids_Cremation

[19] https://www.jpost.com/magazine/ask-the-rabbi-why-does-jewish-law-prohibit-cremation-576174

[20] The immediate object of the description of the worm as never dying and the fire as never being quenched, appears to be to mark the destination of those men as a perpetual witness to the consuming judgments of God, and one which all flesh may see. … present the men in question as a perpetual spectacle of shame to all beholders.” (Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges)

[21] “Gehenna’s association with abusing children is grimly appropriate.” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[22] Our Bibles often say “Hell” to refer to four distinct words: Sheol (Hebrew), the subterranean world of the dead; Hades (Greek), the abode of the dead; Tartarus (Greek), a place of eternal torment for fallen angels found only in 2 Peter 2:4; and Gehenna (Greek), the valley of Hinnom (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley of Jerusalem. Gehenna accounts for 12 of the 13 times we read of Hell in the New Testament.

[23] We see this principle in  James 3:6 “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by Gehenna.”

[24] “No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw - each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” (1 Corinthians 3:11–13)

[25]“Perhaps the best interpretation is that believers are being offered to God (compare Rom. 12:1), and the fire with which they will be ‘salted’ is purification by the “fire” of suffering and hardship. (ESV Global Study Bible)  Every true disciple is to be a total sacrifice to God (cf. Ro 12:1); and as salt always accompanied the temple sacrifices, so fire—i.e., persecution, trials, and suffering—will accompany the true disciple's sacrifices (cf. 10:30; 1Pe 1:7; 4:12).” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[26] Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges

[27] An application of binding and losing – still on that theme J

Harmony #52: Mountains, Madness and Mustard Seeds (Mark 9:14-29; Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 9:37-43)

Today’s passage is actually part thee in an ongoing story-within-a-story that started at the Gates of Hades.

When Jesus called Peter a rock and said the gates of Hades would not prevail against those who confess Jesus as the Christ, his conversation with his disciples was set in the Caesarea Philippi, which was considered the ‘red light’ district of that area of the world. It was filled with temples and shrines dedicated to the worship of their half-goat, half-man god known as Pan (#panic #pandemonium).

Also, there was a cave known to the pagan occupants as the gate to the underworld, Hades. They believed fertility gods lived in this cave during the winter. To attract the gods’ return in the spring, they would engage in some pretty unsettling rituals.

Jesus is right there when he declared to his disciples that the ‘gates of Hades’ would not prevail. They would not be defeated by the power of evil on display.[1] Then Jesus clarified that he was placing Heaven-backed authority (“binding and loosing”) in their hands for the purposes of this battle. In a world challenged by the pandemonium and chaos of evil, the power of God will bring order and goodness.

Last week, we saw that Peter got distracted by his own authority and failed to properly ‘bind and loose’. Jesus warned, “You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” How do people set their mind on God’s interest? By denying themselves, taking up their crosses, and following Jesus. It has to do with surrender, obedience, and focus. This is a huge part of what trust/faith is: believing not only that Jesus is the Way, but also that the way of Jesus is the Way. We have to follow Jesus in the fellowship of his suffering if we want to experience the life-giving power of his resurrection. And it’s going to take Resurrection power to overcome the pandemonium and chaos of the gates of Hades.

Next up is an event on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36). I’m finding it hard to turn that into a sermon on its own, so I want to note what happened in the service of telling that bigger story of which the Transfiguration is a part. There are two things happening: what’s happening on the Mount, and what’s happening at the base.

While Jesus is praying on the mountain, he begins to look like Moses did when he came down from Mt. Sinai: “shining like the sun/lightning, and his clothes became very bright, brilliantly white as light.” The awed disciples[2] observe a miraculous vision of Moses and Elijah (Jesus fulfills the Law and Prophets) talking with Jesus about his upcoming departure (exodos). A voice from heaven echoes the voice that spoke when John the Baptist baptized Jesus: “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him.”

The disciples are terrified, but Jesus reassures them with basically the same thing he said to them when he walked to them on the water on the Sea of Galilee: “Do not be afraid.” Then, they head down the mountain as the disciples process what this departure/exodos is going to be.

This is a “new and better Moses” story: The disciples don’t understand just yet, but a New Covenant is brewing, and the people of God are about to experience an exodus from captivity to sin and an entry into new life in the Promised Land of the Kingdom.[3] This brings us to today’s passage.

Now on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, they came to the disciples and saw a large crowd around them and experts in the law arguing with them. When the whole crowd saw Jesus, they were amazed and ran at once and greeted him. He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”

Then a man from the crowd came to him, knelt before him and cried out, “Teacher, I brought you my son. I beg you to look at him—he is my only child! He is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute. Whenever it seizes him, he suddenly screams, it throws him down into convulsions, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. It hardly ever leaves him alone, torturing him severely.

Enter pandemonium and chaos. We are still in the midst of that theme. The disciples had been given the power to bind this kind of evil. But…

I brought him to your disciples  and begged them to cast it out, but they could not do so.” Jesus answered them, “You faithless and crooked generation! There is no sense of God and no focus to your lives![4] [5]How much longer shall I be with you to bear with you and sustain you?[6]

This is an interesting plot twist. The disciples were previously successful in casting out demons; they had just been given permission to ‘bind and loose,’ and now they couldn’t do it? Hmmm. Jesus’ descent from the glory on the mountain to find an unbelieving generation defeated by an impure spirit recalls Moses’ descent to find Israel copying Egypt’s worship with a calf made of gold (Exodus 32:17–24; Numbers 14:11). More on this later.

[Jesus said],“Bring your son here to me.” So they brought the boy to him. But as the boy was approaching and the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. Lord, have mercy on him, because he suffers terribly. If you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute  and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Side note: Jesus could have waited for a crowd to gather. Who doesn’t love a huge audience? Well, Jesus, for one. Jesus consistently avoided undue publicity; in this case, he protected the boy from becoming a sideshow to a huge audience.[7] I believe that the power of God still miraculously heals people. I get nervous when those who claim to offer these miracles seem to need to do it in a stadium. It doesn’t follow the pattern of Jesus. Miracles aren’t for show.

It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!” But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up. Then Jesus gave him back to his father. The boy was healed from that moment, and they were all astonished at the mighty power of God.

Then after Jesus went into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” Jesus told them, “It was because of your little faith/trust. I tell you the truth, if you have faith/trust the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to here’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind can come out only by prayer.”

I think the disciples are still learning about the complexities of  ‘binding and loosing,’ which involves being active in the world in a way that demonstrates the power and presence of God. How does this power ‘work’? They were familiar with magicians who tried to find the right combination or rituals and talismans to invoke the power to achieve the desired goals. The right technique would force the power to do the bidding of the sorcerer, right? (See Simon in Acts 8.)[8] So, yet another teachable moment for Jesus.

WHAT IS THE MOUNTAIN?

Jesus says “this” mountain. He’s not talking about mountains in general. He says the same thing one other time, in Matthew 21:21-22.[9] It’s not a promise of Spirit-empowered telekinesis where we can move things with our minds if we have enough faith. Jesus is focusing on something right in front of them that is mountainous in the moment. There is a TON of commentary trying to figure this out. I have an opinion, which is the best I can offer. Meanwhile, here are the competitors.

1.  Jesus is perhaps gesturing to a mountain and making a point that has something to do with a geographical location. Mt. Hermon, the Temple Mount, and the Herodium are the most popular candidates.

·  Mt. Hermon was a sight of a lot of pagan worship where the ‘gates of Hades’ are unleashed and where the very popular Book of Enoch said the Watchers of Genesis 6 descended from Heaven and defiled humanity. It would have represented a ‘gate of Hades,’ another physical location with spiritual warfare.

·  The Temple Mount, because that’s where Jesus had just left in Matthew 21 after calling out its destructive religiosity, and to reference it here might be calling out temples operating under the Old Covenant, and they are going to have to give way .[10]

·  The Herodium, because it was a mountain that Herod literally had moved by thousands of laborers so he could build a palace/fortress there.[11] Jesus would be making a practical point.

2.  But mountains also represent things in the Bible.

·  The Jews used to say that eminent teachers were “a rooter up of mountains,”[12] as if spiritual mysteries that look insurmountable can, in fact, be ‘moved’ by wisdom and truth.

·  The term ‘mountain’ was a metaphor for a large tribe, nation or empire. In Habakkuk 3:6refers to nations as “the everlasting mountains were scattered.”[13] Revelation 8 identifies “something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea,”reminds us of Babylon in Jeremiah 51:25,42, which declares: “…destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth…I will make you a burnt out mountain…” So, perhaps that ‘mountain’ represents a national/cultural worldview.

·  Removal of mountains was proverbial for overcoming great difficulties (see Isa 40:4; 49:11; 54:10; Mt 21:21-22; 1Co 13:2). People of God could accomplish great works for the kingdom with sincere faith and prayer.[14]

So, what was “this” mountain in the passage we read today? Once again, the best I can give is an opinion. Perhaps all the readings have some merit. I’m just seeing this one move front and center.

·  If it’s geographical, I’m leaning toward the Herodium, a mountain that had been moved if for no other reason than the fact that it was moved, and how it was moved is important for the point Jesus is about to make. More on that later.

·  If it’s a particular problem, it appears to relate to the casting out of evil spirits.

·  If it’s a nation/culture…I don’t think it is in this passage :)

·  I’m partial to the idea that he is talking about the ‘mover of mountains,’ the one who understands the teachings and person of Jesus in such a way that they know Jesus and can apply the wisdom and truth of heaven to spiritual challenges.

WHY COULDN’T THEY MOVE IT?

Here’s why I prefer the ‘mover of mountains’ reading. Jesus pointed out that they lacked faith/trust, and then singled out things that have to do with “cross-bearing”: self-discipline, focus and humility (lack of ‘prayer and fasting’). Or, as the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible puts it,

“Their relationship with Jesus has been compromised by their failure to embrace the newly revealed cross-bearing path of true discipleship.”

This showed up over and over in the commentaries I read.

 “Those only whose own spiritual life and faith are made strong by self-denial and by communion with God in prayer are able to cast forth this kind of evil spirit.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)

It seems that Christ not only suggests that faith was greatly wanting in his disciples… but they had been wanting in prayer to God, to assist them in the exercise of their miraculous gifts… while Christ [was] on the mount, they had been feasting and indulging themselves with the people, and so were in a very undue disposition of mind, for such extraordinary service. (Gill’s Exposition of the Bible)

I get the impression that the disciples who failed to cast out the evil spirit were seeking to do this kind of ministry with their own authority, like magicians who rely on their own power and draw attention to themselves. They didn’t know Jesus well enough to trust Him to use His power. If Gill’s Exposition is correct, Jesus and his three disciples descended the mountain to a scene reminiscent of what happened when Moses descended the mountain and found idol worship happening – in this case, the idol of Self.

Jesus' answer suggests that they had taken for granted the power given them or had come to believe that it was inherent in themselves. So they no longer depended prayerfully on God for it, and their failure showed their lack of prayer. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

It seems they were counting on a Spirit-filled ministry without the commitment to Spirit-led discipleship.[15] They were not grounded in a proper relationship to God – one of a surrendered faith/trust demonstrated by the rhythms of surrender and a posture of faith/trust. They weren’t trusting the King to rule and move in His Kingdom.

The gates of Hades – in this case, the evil spirits of pandemonium and chaos -  weren’t going to leave their victims alone because the disciples were amazing. They would be defeated by the power of God. It wasn’t the rituals and incantations or even mouthing the words of prayer (Proverbs 28:9) or offering of a sacrifice (Amos 5:21-22) or any ‘work’; the One to whom the prayer was offered is the only one who can intervene with the power necessary to move that mountain, and they would have known this had they known Jesus better.

This is part three of the three-part story (see slide).

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THESE EVENTS

If we desire that our lives be a healing presence in the world, we must take up our cross to follow Jesus. I don’t want to re-preach last week’s sermon, but the highlights are

·  surrender to the authority of God (giving up self-rule)

·  obedience to the ways of God (Holy Spirit-enabled self-discipline and focus)

·  relationship with God (prayer, reading of Scripture, honest fellowship with God’s people).

We pray for God to change the world, to change our nation, to bring revival to Traverse City. You know where that starts? In me. In you. It’s not some vague spiritual fog that’s going to blanket the city. It’s not us flexing our ‘binding and loosing’ muscles in a grand display. It’s one person at time giving themselves whole-heartedly to the person and mission of Jesus, who then takes that transformation to their family, friends, workplace, sports teams, gym, social clubs…

When this happens, God, not us, moves spiritual mountains. I’ve been thinking of the different possible readings and the different conclusions you can reach from them.

· If Jesus was referring to the Herodium, there was a lesson for how God moves mountains: one shovel full at a time. It’s how you eat an elephant (one spoonful at a time). If this is where Jesus was going, it’s a reminder that faithful perseverance in the service and plan of Jesus can indeed accomplish remarkable things.

· If Jesus was referring to spiritual manifestations of the gates of Hades, faithful, surrendered service and reliance on the power of God to demolish spiritual strongholds: principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world; spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).

·  If Jesus was referring to spiritual problems that are our mountains, the answer still remains the same: living in faithful, surrendered service that is committed to knowing Jesus so that from our lives flows “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Do you see the pattern? A confession of faith followed by taking up a cross and following a Savior we have committed to knowing and trusting. The result is that we trust the power and presence of the Mountain Mover to do that which we could never do on our own.

This is the means by which we can be present in the world with the power of the resurrected Jesus at work in us and through us to be the salt and light he intends for His church to be.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Bible Study Tools.com

[2] Recalls Israel’s response to Moses’ appearance Exodus 34:29

[3] Asbury Bible Commentary

[4] The Message’s version captures some important nuance that I am using here.

[5] This is likely an allusion to Deuteronomy 32:20. Still riffing on Moses parallels.

[6] Echoing Moses in Numbers 14:27 - ““How long must I bear with this evil congregation that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.”

[7] NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible

[8] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary of the New Testament

[9] A guy who is partial to the ‘mountain’ in Matthew 21 being the Herodium notes this: “By keeping our geography lens on, as we stand on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives looking out into the wilderness towards the Herodium, continuing our gaze [to] the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is highly saline and therefore unable to support aquatic life. In the Mishnah, the rabbis give instruction that any unholy object – whether they be items inscribed with pagan figures, or any item that is associated with idol worship is to be destroyed by being thrown into the Dead Sea. [This included] items associated with Roman Emperors and Roman rule. So by throwing pagan objects into the sea, and specifically the Dead Sea, the land would be purified and cleansed.” https://www.calebsjournal.com/why-drown-a-mountain/

[10] When this statement was made, the Lord and His disciples were coming towards Jerusalem from the village of Bethany. As they came over the Mount of Olives, they had a spectacular view of the beautiful Temple that was built on a mountain ridge across the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives. When the Lord said "this mountain," He was likely referring to the mountain on which the Temple was built. Telford [says] the Temple "was known to the Jewish people as 'the mountain of the house' or 'this mountain… "This mountain," with all its religious activity… viciously opposed to Christ and His teachings… Therefore the removal of this obstacle would be like a mountain taken up and thrown into the sea. And so the unbelieving nation of Israel was rooted up and thrown into the surrounding "sea" of Gentile nations. (https://www.growingchristians.org/devotions/fig-trees-and-mountains)

[11] Also, to enlarge the Temple Mount, he flattened a hilltop. Josephus writes that Herod’s masterpiece was the Temple of Jerusalem.

[12] Cambridge Bible For Schools and Colleges

[13] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[14] Thanks, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, for this helpful list that I paraphrased.

[15] I like this turn of a phrase from the Believer’s Bible Commentary.

Harmony #51: Carrying The Cross Of Christ (Matthew 16:21-28; Mark 8:31-9:1; Luke 9:22-27)

From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and be rejected and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

So Peter (interrupted and) took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!”But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Adversary (Satan)! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his psuche (life)[1] will lose it, but whoever loses his psuche (life) for my sake and for the gospel will save it. For what benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his psuche (soul)?  What can a person give in exchange for his psuche (soul)?

Interesting. Last week, Peter’s confession of faith meant he was the kind of person on which the church would be built (“You are petros, and upon this petra I will build my church”). Jesus followed this immediately with a teaching on how this kind of person would have permission to ‘bind and loose.’ The idea was that his followers had the ability to make decisions that would clarify godly restraints and freedoms - if they were done in line with the order God had already established in heaven.

Well, Peter seems to have misunderstood the scope of this new authority. He does something unthinkable in Judaism: he, the disciple, flexes that ‘binding’ power by stepping in and not only stopping but correcting the rabbi he is following. Worse than that, he stopped and corrected the person he had just described as The Christ, the son of the living God. It’s not his finest moment.

It must have been cool when Jesus made a pun with his name when he declared him to be the Rock. Now, there is another pun on his name: he’s a “stumbling block,” skandalon, “the native rock rising up through the earth, which trips up the traveler.”[2] Peter did not ‘bind on earth’ what had been bound in heaven. As Jesus notes, “You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”

I’m sure it seemed wise in the moment, but if Peter had gotten his way he would have stopped God’s plan of salvation. By offering the King a kingdom that bypassed the road to the cross, Peter unwittingly echoed the path of ease laid out by Satan when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (see Matthew 4). In Peter’s intervening words, Jesus recognizes the plan of the Adversary at work.

Then Jesus turns Peter’s attempt to save Jesus’ physical life into a teachable moment concerning priorities in life that will have an impact on our physical and spiritual life. Here, I paraphrase from what Paul wrote to the Philippians:

“If you are going to follow me - if you want to experience the power of my resurrection -  you have to follow me into the fellowship of my suffering on the cross.”[3]

* * * * *

The call to discipleship is a call to “deny ourselves”, which broadly speaking means giving up self-rule. It’s not as simple as passing up that third donut or doomscrolling for one hour instead of two. It’s bigger than that. We have a King now. We are called to align ourselves with the plans of the King and the commitments of the Kingdom. This means, among other things, we will take up a cross and follow Jesus into a kind of death before we emerge into newness of psuche (life of the soul). Only God’s will matters for life and for eternity.[4] 

We are going to end up talking about the call to spiritual death and resurrection, but I’d like to start by talking about physical death in order to make some comparisons. I think there are some connections between the two. What we can learn about the clash between what we believe and what we feel in relation to physical death may be instructive as we consider the call in the Bible to be crucified with Christ, to die so we may live.

If you are a follower of Christ and study Scripture, there are two things you know/believe about death:

·      Life as we know it is going to end.

·      There is life on the other side, better and different than this one.

I think the hurdle of believing this in our head is often not as daunting as really feeling the truth of this in our soul. I noticed this contrast recently when I was re-reading a journal I kept after my father’s death from cancer.  At one point I began a poem this way:

My fountainhead shriveled, dried up in his bed.

With my tears I watered the grave of the dead

then staggered back home,

a few miles too far from a father who loved me,

and who is not anymore.

At the time the thought that would not leave me was that my father was dead. It was so hard to say those words out loud:  “My father is dead.”  It was so final. The finality of it was overwhelming to me. There seemed no way for me to say, “Death, where is your victory?” when there was a body in a grave. In spite of what I knew in my head to be true about Dad’s life to come – I mean, I’ve been soaked in Scripture all my life - letting that to soak into me was a different story entirely.

I found help in an unexpected area – movies. I think my imagination needed to be captured to remind my emotions about the “hope that lies within me.”

There is a scene in Lord Of The Rings in which Pippen says to Gandalf, in the midst of battle,

“PIPPIN: I didn't think it would end this way.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
PIPPIN: What? Gandalf? See what?
GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
PIPPIN: Well, that isn't so bad.
GANDALF: No. No, it isn't.”

Indeed. I remember singing a hymn growing up that described the life that awaits followers of Jesus as “joy unspeakable, and full of glory.”

So in my journal, I had written a poem about my father who loved me, but who was not anymore.But later I wrote something different.  I was making a list of things that I wanted God to help me remember in the midst of my grief, and one of those was:

“Help me remember that my father did not stop living; he just stopped living here.”

We fear death because it looks like existence is over. It certainly appears that way. But as I was so powerfully reminded in those months and years following Dad’s death, both in Scripture and in good stories, death is not the end. And if I only knew what kind of new life waited on the other side, I would be a different man. This is seeing the living that is found in dying. But…

 If I want a new life, I must first have a death.

So, let’s apply the physical principles to the spiritual part of our lives.

#1  Life as we know it is going to end.

I suspect we process the challenge of spiritual death in much the same way we process physical death. The Bible is not confusing on this issue. If you plan to be a follower of Jesus, you must commit to dying.

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with…”(Romans 6:6)

"I affirm by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."  (I Corinthians 15:31)

Life as we knew it before following Jesus is going to end.  It’s going to feel like a death, because it is. And it’s going to be hard, because dying is hard.

• I have to stop judging people when it makes me feel so good about myself?

• I have to overcome my addictive behaviors when they numb me so well, or entertain me so much, or make me feel so good?

• I have to stop gossiping, even though my friendships have a lot of “shared prayer concerns” and adrenaline-inducing scandals of our neighbors and friends?

• I have to go home and work things out with my spouse when holding a grudge is so much easier?

• I have to choose my words wisely and carefully and think about how what I am about to say is going to land on other people?

Yes.  We have to die. Life as we know it – with us at the center of our own little world - is supposed to end.

The funny thing is, before we died to the sinfulness in us - the habits and behaviors and mindsets - life was already hard. Sin takes a toll on us. What we reap, we sow. And yet we are really reluctant to leave it at times.

" When we make our own misery, we sometimes cling to it even when we want so bad to change because the misery is something we know. The misery is comfortable."            - Dean Koontz

This idea of dying suggest pain, which is true, but until we believe that the result of death will be better than the result of the life we now have, we won’t change.[5]

• It’s hard to stop judging people, because if that’s the only way I have to feel good about myself, then apparently I will be miserable if I stop.

• It’s hard to overcome addictive behaviors: what will numb me now?  What will entertain me now? What will make me feel good now?

• It’s hard to stop gossiping, because then I will realize how few things of substance I actually say, and how talking about others has allowed me to avoid talking about myself, and that’s a can of worms that I don’t want to open.

• It’s hard to go home and work things out with my spouse: I would much rather savor the idea that I am right and she is wrong, rather than allow her to hold up a mirror and show me a little more clearly who I am.

• It’s hard to take the time to analyze the power and impact of my words, because now I can’t just blurt things out, and I have to get to know other people so I can better understand how they might experience what I have to say, and I might be wrong in what I was just about to say (and I might have been wrong before, now that I think about it…)

#2  We believe there is new life on the other side of resurrection – but it is so hard to see.

"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." C.S. Lewis

If if I am correct that we process spiritual and physical death the same way, then I suspect that we have a hard time matching what we believe to be the truth about life on the other side of spiritual death vs. what it feels like in the moment as we think about getting there. But notice what the Bible says awaits us on the other side of spiritual death.

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:6-7)

Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much grain. (John 12:24)

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him… count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus…Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:8-14)

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish (garbage thrown to the dogs). (Philippians 3:8-9)

"If, then, you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory."  (Colossians 3:1-4)

So from just these verses, I know that if I die a spiritual death, and God raises me up,

A)  I am brought from death to life (transformed)

B)  I am no longer enslaved to sin (free)

C)   I will produce much grain (impactful)

D)  I will be an instrument of righteousness (effective)

E)   I will know Christ Jesus my Lord (connected with God)

F)   I will share in God’s glory (identified with God)[6]

But new life is not just about us. It’s about my wife, my kids, my friends, my neighbors. They need me to die, so that I can really learn how to live.

• When I, as a husband, die to self-justification and defensiveness, I am raised into a life of self-awareness and growth, and I am relieved of the obligation of making my wife the scapegoat for our problems, and that is a marriage with new life.

• When we die to addictive behaviors, we are raised to a new life in which we are free of the control of sin; instead of numbing our pain we meet it and conquer it; instead of being constantly distracted from life we engage it; instead of relying on the occasional rush of drugs or adrenaline to make us happy, we rely on the presence of God to find peace.  And now the community has yet one more person who is engaged, and conquering (or at least working on it), and a little more steady, and a little more peaceful…

• When we die to gossip, we are raised into compassion for others.  Now instead of everybody wrestling with shame as they wonder how many people are talking about them behind their backs because they, in a moment of weakness, talked to you, they are looking forward to meeting with you again because they know that you are safe, and that you care.  And now our conversations with others can take on some depth.  “No, we can’t talk about Bob today.”  “Now what?”  How about your kids, your marriage, your walk with God…”

• When we die to unthoughtful speech, we free the people around us from living in fear about what we might say next, how we might callously offend, how we might belittle or undermine or dig. We replace thoughtlessness with thoughtfulness; we replace our right to say what we want with the responsibility of saying that which “fills people with good things.” (Proverbs 12:14)

I like how C.S. Lewis summarizes this idea:

"The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life... Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in." (Mere Christianity)

And for all of us who want to celebrate spiritual resurrection, let’s practice a rhythm of dying and living this week.  Die to yourself and then live with a friend over coffee; die to yourself and then live with your spouse over supper; die on your own, in prayer before God, and then stand and walk in newness of life.

Take up your cross this week and let Resurrection reveal its power.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Jesus seems to use both definitions of this word to make a point. From HELPS Word Studies:
“5590 psyxḗ (from psyxō, "to breathe, blow" which is the root of the English words "psyche," "psychology") – soul (psyche); a person's distinct identity(unique personhood), i.e. individual personality.” This is translated as “life” in the first half of the paragraph.

“5590 (psyxē) corresponds exactly to the OT 5315 /phágō ("soul"). The soul is the direct aftermath of God breathing (blowing) His gift of life into a person, making them an ensouled being.” This is translated “soul” in the second half of the paragraph.

[2] One of the definitions according to HELPS word studies.

[3] What Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10

[4] “To follow Him means to live as He lived with all that involves of humility, poverty, compassion, love, grace, and every other godly virtue…Jesus warned that those who hug their lives for selfish purposes would never find fulfillment; those who recklessly abandon their lives to Him, not counting the cost, would find the reason for their existence.”(Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[5] “You find that the things you let go of while following Jesus were the things that were going to destroy you in the end.” Francis Chan

[6] “I will ask you a terrible question, and God knows I ask it also of myself. Is the truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, just this: that to live without him is the real death, that to die with him the only life?” Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat

Harmony #50: Upon This Rock (Matthew 16:13-19; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21)

Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, when Jesus was praying by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I, the Son of Man, am?” They answered, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.”

  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”[1]And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!

 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

There are three leading interpretations of this play on words:[2]

·      Jesus Himself is the rock, as Peter later testifies (1 Pet. 2:5–8). But in this passage, Jesus describes Himself as the builder of the church on the rock, so that’s likely not the meaning here.

·      Peter’s confession that Jesus is “the Christ” is the rock upon which the church is built. In this reading, a confession of faith in Jesus is the foundation on which everything else is built.

·      Peter himself is the rock in that he is a representative apostle whose confession of Christ has been revealed to him by the Father. Peter acknowledged Jesus not by his name, but by his title: The Christ. In this reading, Jesus’ response is not just a statement of the obvious, but includes some type of title/role acknowledgment. Peter later writes (1 Pet. 2:4–8) that all believers have become “living stones” by virtue of their association with Christ, with the apostles as the foundation (Eph. 2:20, 21; Rev. 21:14). 

I believe this “rock” is most likely the confession of faith, the acknowledgment of the Lordship of Jesus. The church is built  on belief/trust/faith in Christ. But it could be that Peter is the first of many “living stones.” Maybe they both go together. The main point is that Jesus has validated that God’s church will be built on a confession of faith, whether it’s the belief, the people who hold it, or both.[3]  

The gates of Hades will not prevail against it (the church)

Hades was a common ancient expression for the realm of the dead across cultures, including Jewish culture (Job 38:17; Isaiah 38:10). In Acts, it is portrayed as is the temporary abode of the dead (Acts 2:27). In Revelation 1, Jesus is described as having the keys to Death and Hades. In Revelation 20, “Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them…then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.” So they will not prevail. They will not survive. Their judgment is sure. Meanwhile, the “gates” will not prevail against a church that confesses Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Gates are the decision-making place in the city. The plans of evil will not destroy the church or its mission. Gates are defensive. Those gates will fall. The church is meant to proactively take the power of the gospel to the very heart of evil. The power of the Gospel will break through.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

This is in sharp contrast to what Jesus told the Pharisees,

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in” (Matthew 23:13).

I think there is more than one implication from this.

1. The key that opens the Kingdom of Heaven is the Gospel

“When the Jews made a man a doctor of the law, they put into his hand the key of the closet in the temple where the sacred books were kept, and also tablets to write upon; signifying, by this, that they gave him authority to teach, and to explain the Scriptures to the people.” (Adam Clarke)

We see this in the life of Peter. He is the first apostle to preach the message of the kingdom to:

·      the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2); about three thousand Jewish people are saved that day.

·      to the Samaritans (Acts 8) who believed the gospel and received the Holy Spirit.

·      to the Gentiles (Acts 10), Roman centurion’s household, who also received the Holy Spirit.

Matt. 18:18 notes that the same promise is given to them all, but Peter seems to have a unique role in starting this global spread of the gospel.

2. Those entrusted with the key are entrusted with authority (“binding and loosing”) to implement what has already been established in heaven.

The expressions bind and loose were common in Jewish temple language that meant something was either forbidden or allowed. Josephus said of the Pharisees in the time of Queen Alexandra: "They were the real administrators of the public affairs; they removed and readmitted whom they pleased; they bound and loosed [things] at their pleasure."[4] This included establishing sacred days, admitting or removing people from the Temple community, and identifying which offerings were acceptable.

The expression was common; for example, it was not unusual to hear a disagreement between rabbinical schools recorded this way: “The school of Shammai binds it, the school of Hillel looseth it.”[5] The idea was that certain things done on earth – if they were done in line with the order of God - was at the same time done in heaven. For example, when the priest on the Day of Atonement offered the two goats upon earth, they believed the same were offered in heaven; when priests cast the lots on earth, a priest also casts the lots in heaven.[6]

We see this principle of binding and loosing in this way throughout the New Testament:

·      As the disciples’ rabbi, Jesus had already done this binding and loosing for His own disciples (for example, when He allowed them to take the grains of wheat in the field[7], or when he healed on the Sabbath[8]).

·      Jesus tasked all the disciples with preaching the gospel and discerning God’s will (for example, calling all foods clean[9], or doing away with circumcision as a rite of initiation for men[10]).

·      When “the apostles and the elders” came together in Jerusalem to consider the conditions on which Gentile believers might be recognized as fellow members of the church, their decision was issued as something which “seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28).

Meanwhile, note: whatever the apostles bound or loosed on earth must have already been bound or loosed in heaven. They weren’t supposed to just be making stuff up or running with tradition or a gut feeling. It had to be biblically sound and Holy Spirit led (and we see the importance of a community leading in this kind of decision).

“Heaven, not the apostles, initiates all binding and loosing, while the apostles announce these things.”[11]

So, one way they did this was by helping the church understand how to apply Scripture or scriptural principles. We’ve already looked at a couple examples. Another way involved managing disputes or handling discipline within the church, both cases where it is important that truth is established.  Paul talked about a judgment (a verdict) pronounced by the church of Corinth in which “I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present” (1 Corinthians 5:3–5). We read a more clear scenario in Matthew 18:15-20.

Go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you and repents, you have regained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector.

 I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven. Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”

William Kelly writes,

“Whenever the Church acts in the name of the Lord and really does His will, the stamp of God is upon their deeds.”[12]

3. When heaven is opened, the resources of the Kingdom are available.

In an old Greek comedy, a speech mentioned somebody having “the keys of the market,” which meant they had the free use of authority to buy and eat whatever meat was sold in it.[13]  If we apply that context to this passage, having the key to the Kingdom seems to include giving us access to divinely authorized heavenly resources.

What are they? The truth of the Scripture to guide us; the gifts and fruits of the Spirit that come with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; ongoing transformation into the image of Jesus; the nourishment of church community; the increasing shalom of God (peace with God, with others, within ourselves, with God’s creation). The list could go on….

* * * * * *

What does this mean to us today?

·      Jesus builds His church on the cornerstone of Jesus[14] and the testimony of those who confess that Jesus is Lord and commit their lives to following Him into salvation and transformation. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of those in the Kingdom and the Door into the Kingdom. All are welcome to enter in the physical front doors of this building and join our congregational church life. I hope people near and far from Jesus and anywhere inbetween experience the love of Jesus from us when they visit or become a part of the life of this community. But walking into our front door is not the same as walking into the Kingdom of God. Our front door ushers you into our physical community; only Jesus ushers you into the eternal life of the Kingdom that begins now and never ends.

·      We enter into a Kingdom that even Death and Hell cannot stop. This is not a promise that we won’t suffer or even die for the sake of Christ, or that our lives will never be impacted by the presence of evil in the world. It’s a reminder that the agenda of Heaven will defeat the agenda of Hell. Good will have the last word, not evil. The end of the story is that God wins. This is part of the hope of the gospel. God will set things right. We might not understand God’s timing, or why each chapter unfolds the way it does, but we know the end to the story.

·      Jesus is the Door to the Kingdom, but He has given us a key to ‘open the door’ to the kingdom for others by our presentation of the gospel through our words and our lives. We can’t do the Holy Spirit work of drawing people to Jesus, but we can present Him by sharing the gospel and by living lives that show the transformative power of God in our lives. Just like John the Baptist, “prepared the way”[15] for Jesus, we can prepare the way for the message of the Gospel in word and deed. On the other hand, we can speak and live in such a way that people don’t want to open that door. We have to be careful. Having the ‘keys’ is a wonderful and daunting responsibility.

·      Re: “binding and loosing” - We are meant to live out the reality of “on earth as it is in heaven.’ If we put boundaries and guidelines around what it means to be a follower of Jesus, it better reflect what God intended to convey through Scripture and how God intended us to apply it through the help of the Holy Spirit. If we speak to the freedoms we Christians have in Christ, they better be the freedoms God intended to convey in Scripture applied how God intended with the help of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We must be very careful the minute we step outside of an obvious teaching in Scripture and attempt to apply it to life.

·      God’s resources are for our good and God’s glory. The effectual work of Jesus’ death and resurrection is a real thing that a) makes peace between us and God and b) empowers genuine peace with others. The fruit and gifts of having the Holy Spirit indwell us are real things that not only build us but build those around us. Connection in a spiritually healthy church community offers tangible experiences of the ‘the hands and feet of Jesus.’ I believe God wants us to flourish as His image bearers, as His ambassadors, as His children. He has given us what we need to do so.

______________________________________________________________________________________
[1] Caesarea Philippi was the center of worship for a number of pagan gods such as Baal and Pan. There is pointed contrast here: Jesus is the Son of the God who is alive, unlike the pagan gods. 

[2] Thanks for this handy summary, ESV Reformation Study Bible!

[3] Ephesians 2:19 to 22:“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

[4] “Authority, Rabbinical” in the Jewish Encyclopledia

[5] Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

[6] Adam Clarke

[7] Matthew 12:1-8

[8] Mark 3:1-6

[9] Acts 10

[10] Acts 15

[11] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[12] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[13] Bengal’s Gnomen

[14] 1 Corinthians 3:11

[15] Matthew 3:3

Harmony #49: “I Am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:1-21)

“I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.[2] The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice.” Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

The story from the previous chapter is continuing. The once blind man is the sheep who hears Jesus’ voice; those who kicked him out of the synagogue are the thieves and robbers;[3] Jesus is the good shepherd whose voice the healed man is following.

So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep.[4]  All who came before me were thieves and robbers,[5] but the sheep did not listen to them.[6] I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.[7]

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them.  Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold.[8] I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.[9]

 This sheepfold is the Jewish people; the other sheep are the Gentiles.

 This is why the Father loves me—because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father.”

Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words. Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! Why do you listen to him?”  Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?”

We learn something about shepherds and sheep in this passage – that is, about Jesus and humanity. There is potentially a lot to unpack from this passage, but I am going to focus on two main points.

The first point is this, and we will circle back to it at the end: Jesus is the Good Shepherd. We are on Episode 49 in his life, so I suspect this point is clear by now J He contrasts himself sharply with the false shepherds, the hired hands and the wolves; that is, those inside and outside of the flock who are there to plunder the sheep rather than bring them life.

The second point is this: sheep recognize and respond to the voice of our shepherd. This is apparently a thing with sheep. They know the voice, or the shepherd blows a whistle or plays on a flute, and the sheep will follow. Court cases where someone’s sheep were stolen have been decided by having the shepherds in question call to the sheep. On the flip side, the same instinct that enables a sheep to recognize the voice of the true shepherd also prompts it to flee from a stranger.[10]

Do you want to know who your shepherd really is? Ask yourself which voice you follow and which voice you flee.

I want to walk us through some scenarios. This isn’t about the initial response to the call of Jesus to follow him. That is obviously an important part of the parable. As we have been going through the life of Jesus, we have noted how many times he identifies himself through his words and actions as the promised Messiah, the Savior. Just last week we saw the blind man hear his voice, respond, and worship him. There’s a reason we keep coming back to the reality of Jesus as the Savior of the world: the Bible keeps reminding us of it!

But there’s a second part to this parable. There’s a rhythm of the sheep ‘going in and out’, which I think is another way of saying that life goes on J If they share a pen with other flocks or are in fields with other flocks, there’s going to be other shepherds calling out. There might still be thieves breaking in to attempt to plunder the herd, or wolves lurking about. The sheep must remain attuned to the voice of the shepherd. It could literally save their lives. So here we are this morning, sheep :) Let’s do a little self-assessment How are we doing listening to the voice of the Shepherd who brings us life vs. the thieves and wolves that would plunder us?

·      Repentance or hardness of heart? Do we follow the voice that leads us to see your sins and failures honestly and acknowledge them to God and others so we can bear the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8), or do we follow a voice that tells us to excuse ourselves, or not think of our sins as that big of a deal, or think that at least we aren’t as bad as THEY are!! (Luke 18:10-14)

·      Forgiveness or bitterness? Do we follow the voice that leads us to extend to others what God has given to us through Jesus and that we hope others will extend to us (Ephesians 4:31-32), or do we cling to unforgiveness and bitterness, keeping score of what’s been done to us, filing it away for future use in case we ever need to shame or control someone?

·      Humility or pride? Do we follow the voice that reminds us to see ourselves honestly, which is going to bring about humility (1 Peter 5:5) because not everything about us is awesome? Or do we follow that voice that lies about how amazing we are so that we can avoid having to see ourselves as God and others see us, because that might involve repentance and humility?

·      Kindness or callousness?  Do we follow the voice of kindness, an attribute of God that leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4) and that Paul described as spiritual clothes in which to dress ourselves (Colossians 3:12)?  Are we looking out for others, purposefully saying and doing things that remind people that they matter and they are worthy of care? Or do we overlook or ignore those around us because we don’t think they deserve kindness?

·      Peace-making or peace-breaking? Do we follow the voice that leads us into spaces to bring peace to situations (Matthew 5:9), or do we follow the voice that leads us into unnecessary drama, silly arguments and destructive gossip? When we get into a fender bender with someone who apparently met their first roundabout, and we both get out of our cars, will we escalate or deescalate the situation? What about when the self-checkout doesn’t work? Or when our friends are in tension? Or when our spouse has had a long day and isn’t in the best of moods? Do we make it better or worse?

·      Self-control or indulgence? Do we follow the voice that leads us into discipline and health physically, relationally, spiritually (Proverbs 16:32), or the one that tells us anyone or anything that wants to put a boundary around some part of us is the problem? Do we love the saying, “You can’t have me at my best if you can’t handle me at my worst” because what we really mean is, “I don’t want to have to care if I hurt you by my lack of control”?

·      Hope or Despair? Do we follow a voice that reminds us God is with us – in the storm, in the sun, for better or worse, for rich or for poor, even through another round of elections (!)? We have hope, because Jesus rose from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). We serve a risen Savior who is King over even the most daunting of situations and adversaries.  Or do we hear someone say that the sky is falling, take our eyes off of Jesus, and begin to sink into a kind of clinging despair that keeps us anxious and fearful?

·      Community or isolation? Do we follow a voice that calls us into the rhythms of church community and relationship (Romans 12), or the one that tells us we can do this on our own?

·      Honest transparency or hiddenness? Do we follow a voice that leads us into being known not only by God but also by others (Galatians 6:2; Proverbs 28:13), or do we hide everything in us that we think others might not like or approve of?

·      Turn the other cheek or slap back? Do we follow a voice that does not respond to antagonism with antagonism but with generosity and kindness (Matthew 5:38-39)? Does it tell us to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21)? Or do we follow a voice that tells us an eye for an eye is absolutely our right?

·      Generosity or greed? Do we follow a voice that leads us into holding our possessions with an open hand, realizing it’s God’s anyway as we look for ways to bless others (Acts 4:32-33)? Or do we follow the voice that just keeps whispering that we don’t have enough yet, and we already gave God some so the rest is ours to do with what we want?

·      Hospitality or stinginess? Do we follow the voice that reminds us to think the best of others until proven wrong (Philippians 2:3; Romans 12:10), or do we lead with negative and judgmental assumptions until proven wrong? “That guy on the corner of 14th street should just get a job!” Maybe it’s not that simple. “I can’t believe that person ignored me at church today.” Maybe that person can’t believe they pushed through their anxiety and depression and made it to church today, and that’s the most they have to give this morning.

·      Gentleness or harshness? Do we follow the voice that reminds us that a soft answer turns away wrath (Proverbs 15:1)? Or when that other voice whispers, “Listen, if they can dish it out, they better be ready to take it!” are we ready to meet fire with fire?

·      Grace or merit? Do we follow the voice that leads us to extend undeserved mercy (Proverbs 3:3-4) in line with what Jesus did for us (Luke 6:36), or do people need to earn grace from us…which won’t be grace anymore if it’s earned.  

·      Justice or injustice? Do we follow a voice that leads us into unjust places in the world to right wrongs and challenge corruption (Micah 6:8; Proverbs 31:8-9), or do we follow the voice that says either it’s not happening or it’s not important?

·      Serving or being served? Do we follow the voice and the life of the one who was broken and spilled out for others (Galatians 5:13), or the voice that keeps telling us that those around us are resources to be plundered to make us happy and comfortable?

·      Patience or lashing out? Do we follow the voice that tells us in moments when we want to lash out to take a deep breath and send up a prayer as we count to 10 (Colossians 3:12), or the voice that tells us it will feel really good to let that person have it?

·      Love or not-love (hate?fear?indifference?) Do we follow the voice of agape love into radical, self-giving care for those around us, either directly or by praying and hoping for their best, or do we refuse to invest our lives because we despise them, or are afraid of them, or we just don’t care?

To what voice do you listen? Who is your shepherd?

* * * * *

And now, let’s come back to the shepherd whose voice we are trying to hear.  What makes the Good Shepherd so good? There are some obvious points in the parable: 

·      His ability to save the sheep

·      His protection and provision for the sheep

·      His knowledge of the flock

·      His expanding of the flock

But as I was studying this week, a different aspect stood out to me. The Good Shepherd does not drive his sheep; He leads them.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing that I need. He makes a resting place in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The sheep want to follow the Good Shepherd – and why not? There is something compelling, safe, and nourishing about his presence. They don’t have to be coerced into the flock; they have been convinced. They don’t have to be frightened into the kingdom; they are fascinated. They don’t have to be pressured; they have been persuaded. They don’t have to be entertained; they have been entranced.

What does it look like to model this principle in our representation of the Good Shepherd to the world? If Jesus is leading his sheep, I wonder what it looks like for us to lead those around into the way of the Shepherd? How might we be compelling, safe and nourishing people like the Good Shepherd such that others want to follow us where we are going – which is to the fields and the fold of the Good Shepherd?

I think we just saw the list. When we listen to the voice of the Shepherd, and we follow Him – first into salvation and then into sanctification - our lives and relationships will increasingly reflect the character of the Shepherd:

·      Forgiveness

·      Humility

·      Kindness

·      Peace-making

·      Self-control

·      Hope

·      Community

·      Honest transparency

·      Overcoming evil with good

·      Generosity

·      Hospitality

·      Gentleness

·      Grace

·      Justice

·      Serving

·      Patience

·      Love

If that’s the community that emerges as we follow Jesus, that’s Kingdom gold. That’s the abundance of life into which the Shepherd has been leading us all along.

____________________________________________________________________________

[1] The most important background for this metaphor is Ezek 34, where God berates Israel’s false shepherds for fleecing God’s sheep rather than guarding, guiding, and nurturing them (cf. Isa 56:11; Jer 23:1–4; Zech 11).

[2] thief . . . robber. Symbolizes the Pharisees, who belittle and expel the sheep (see, e.g., how they treat the healed man in ch. 9). (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[3] Jesus portrays some of Israel’s leaders in his day as being like the leaders of Israel who were condemned as exploitive shepherds in the OT (Jer 23:1 – 2; Eze 34:2 – 6,8). (NIV  Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[4] I am the gate. Because the hill country was cool during winter, shepherds kept sheep in pens close to home; during pasturing season, however, they used temporary shelter… some shepherds sleep across the entrance to a temporary shelter, guarding it themselves. (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[5] “ All professing to be themselves the door, to be the means by which men enter the fold, to be the Mediator between man and God.” (Ellicott’s Commentary)

[6] All who came before me may refer to messianic pretenders (e.g., Acts 5:36–37; 21:38). thieves and robbers. Compare Ezek. 34:2–4; see note on John 10:1.

[7] Jesus’ promise of abundant life brings to mind OT prophecies of abundant blessing (e.g., Ezek. 34:12–15, 25–31).

[8] The other sheep that are not of this fold are Gentiles (see Isa. 56:8).

[9]  Ezekiel 34:23, “I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd.”

[10] Believer’s Bible Commentary

Harmony #48: Healing a Man Born Blind (John 9:1-41)

Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” [1] Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,[2] but he was born blind[3] so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.

As I understand that last comment, Jesus is smacking down the idea that sickness must be a result of someone’s sin, and instead elevating the value of the sick person by viewing them as one in whom God’s glory rather than their sinfulness will be revealed.

We must perform the deeds of the one who sent me as long as it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva.[4] He smeared the mud on the blind man’s eyes and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So the blind man went away and washed, and came back seeing.

I wouldn't overthink why Jesus did it this way. It meant something to the man and did not seem to surprise the people. Apparently, using saliva was a common medical approach to eye issues. What confounded the people was not how Jesus did it, but what it accomplished.

First side note: Jesus healed people in all kinds of ways: up close, at a distance; upon request or on no request; instantly or in stages. There is no need to try to discover a miraculous potion made of clay and spittle. 

Second side note: Jesus didn’t need to apply a known medicinal practice to this man’s eyes. He could have just healed him. This isn’t the first time Jesus has outwardly used a natural remedy while bringing about a supernatural result. As I see it, it’s okay to go to a doctor and pray for healing. These don't have to be contradictory things. Even if you think it’s just ‘going through the motions’, using medical help for illness does not reveal a lack of faith.

Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously as a beggar began saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some people said, “This is the man!” while others said, “No, but he looks like him.”

The man himself kept insisting, “I am the one!” So they asked him, “How then were you made to see?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and was able to see.”

They said to him, “Where is that man?” He replied, “I don’t know.” They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.  (Now the day on which Jesus made the mud and caused him to see was a Sabbath.) So the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight. He replied, “He put mud on my eyes and I washed, and now I am able to see.”

Then some of the Pharisees[5] began to say, “This man is not from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division among them. So again they asked the man who used to be blind, “What do you say about him, since he caused you to see?”

“He is a prophet,” the man replied. Now the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned the parents of the man who had become able to see. They asked the parents, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”

So his parents replied, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see. Ask him, he is a mature adult. He will speak for himself.”

(His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is a mature adult, ask him.”)

Then they summoned the man who used to be blind a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth. We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing—that although I was blind, now I can see.”[6]

Then they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he cause you to see?” He answered, “I told you already and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You people don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?” They heaped insults on him, saying, “You are his disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man comes from!”[7]

The man replied, “This is a remarkable thing, that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is devout and does his will, God listens to him. Never before has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

They replied, “You were born completely in sinfulness, and yet you presume to teach us?” So they threw him out. [8]Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, so he found the man and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

The man replied, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus told him, “You have seen him; he is the one speaking with you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Jesus said, “For judgment (a verdict) I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind.”  Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked him, “We are not blind too, are we?”[9] Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains.”[10]

* * * * *

Let’s talk about this verdict of judgment, and blindness, and light.

When light comes into the world, it renders a verdict in the sense that it shows truth. I tore apart an old sofa last week. Before the light revealed what all had fallen between the cracks, I had no idea how much junk had accumulated in the frame. But then light rendered a verdict: a lot. That’s how light works. It shows us what is true, and then we have to decide what to do with that. It is inevitable: when light is introduced, it separates light from darkness. This is a principle as old as Genesis 1.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3-4)

So how do we reconcile Jesus saying, “For judgment I have come into the world” with John writing, “God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but to save it”? (John 3:17). By the same principle, the light is not a judgment in the sense of a punishment; it’s just that when light is introduced, it renders a verdict on reality.

Ephesians 5:13 “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible…”

John 3:19-21  “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”[11]

The arrival of Jesus brought a light of truth the revealed the condition of humanity and the nature of God. The light that starts by revealing truth goes on to reveal what people will do with it (that’s the verdict): people either love truth or they don’t. It’s one reason non-violent Jesus can say in Matthew 11:25 and Matthew 10:34; "I came not to bring peace, but a sword." Those sound like fighting words, but they’re not: the sword is the Word of God whose truth pierces us to our souls (Hebrews 4:12).

A new kind of light is introduced, and it clarifies the chasm between spiritual light and spiritual darkness. Those who love the darkness of deception will be held responsible for why they rejected the truth. Here’s a good explanation for the judgment question from Ellicott’s Commentary:[12]

“The special form of the word rendered “judgment” in this place is used nowhere else by St. John, and indicates that…His coming was a bringing light into the darkness of…hearts, a testing of the false and the true…That light judged no one, and yet by it everyone was judged.” (Ellicott’s Commentary For English Readers)[13]

“As those are most blind who will not see, so their blindness is most dangerous who fancy they do see. No patients are managed with so much difficulty as those who… say they are well, and that nothing ails them. The sin of those that are self-confident remains… and therefore the power of their sin remains unbroken.” (Benson Commentary)

I was thinking of when I have had knee and shoulder surgeries done, or when I got my stent. I was broken and sick and needed healing. The doctors did not do Xrays and MRIs to bring condemnation but to bring clarity as to the nature of the problem. They were there to save me. Did what their ‘light’ revealed render a verdict? You bet. ‘That’ is torn; ‘that’ is not. ‘That’ is blocked; ‘that’ is not. That new knowledge didn’t make me more sick; it clarified just how sick I was – and what kind of treatment could make me well.

That’s how Jesus can say he came to save the world not condemn it, even while bringing truth that renders a verdict on the true nature of the world, humanity, and of Jesus himself. Light brings (an often uncomfortable) truth that is for our good and that is meant to save us; we have to decide what to do with the truth we have been given.

That’s the first point.

Second point: People are responsible for the light given to them. When the Bible tells us that not one person is righteous on their own[14], it’s referring to everyone everywhere, even those who have not had the light of the Gospel specifically presented to them. How is that fair?  Well, the author of Romans shed some light on this.

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus (Romans 2:12-16). 

Let’s walk through this one phrase at  time just so we have clarity. 

·  For when the Gentiles (those who don’t have the Law)

·  by nature (they have imago dei. There are moral and ethical requirements widely recognized and honored in people generally. It was a commonplace of rabbinic teaching that Abraham kept the laws of Sinai long before they were given.[15])

·  do the things contained in the law (they do right things)[16]

·  these, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves, (“Gentiles, though not given the Mosaic law, also have some knowledge of God’s law”[17] by the light and grace of God. It’s a moral code, fallen and incomplete though it may be.)[18]

·  who show the law written in their hearts, (by the same divine hand which wrote the commandments on the tables of stone) 

·  their conscience and their thoughts bearing witness, accusing or defending them ([19]“The way conscience operates is described as a process of accusation or defense by the thoughts of a person, the inner life being pictured as a kind of debating forum, so that at times one finds oneself exonerated at the bar of conscience, at other times convicted of wrong.”[20]  

Here is an example of how this works. A fourth century Roman emperor named Julian the Apostate (he was raised Christian and reverted to paganism) wrote “Against the Galilaeans,” which criticized Christianity and its Jewish foundation. At one point, he disparages the uniqueness of the Ten Commandments:

“What nation is there, I swear before the gods, which does not think that it ought to keep the commandments, excluding ‘Thou shalt not worship other gods’ and ‘Remember the Sabbath day’? Thus also penalties have been assigned to transgressors...” (Against the Galilaeans, 152D).[21]

Unwittingly, I think, Julian made Paul’s point in Romans: God has provided all with the ability to respond to a moral order that can be known at least to some degree. God, through general revelation of nature and conscience, has ensured that people know that there is good and evil, and that they are responsible to do good and not evil.  

The apostle hath explained what the light of nature is, and demonstrated that there is such a light existing. It is a revelation from God written originally on the heart or mind of man; consequently is a revelation common to all nations; and, so far as it goes, it agrees with the things written in the external revelation which God hath made to some nations. (Benson’s Commentary)

Even Gentiles, who had not the written law, had that within, which directed them what to do by the light of nature. Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness…Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness. As they kept or broke these natural laws and dictates, their consciences either acquitted or condemned them. (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary)

The point is not that those without divine revelations will escape the Day of Reckoning.  They will have to give an answer like everyone else for what they have done with what they were given. And, like all of us, they will not keep the dictates of the Law.

“Paul emphasized that all individuals will be judged on the basis of their response to the revelation they have received. Gentiles will not be condemned for failing to adhere to the stipulations of the law, which were unknown to them.  God will not judge Gentiles on the basis of the Jewish law, and the Jew will not be excused by the Gentiles’ failure to uphold the law… Furthermore, human conscience serves as grounds for condemnation because it establishes a framework of right and wrong and reflects the law written in their hearts”. (NKJV Evangelical Study Bible)[22]

People will not have to give an answer based on the light they did not receive; we will all give an answer for what we have done with the light we have been given. Those who have never seen a Bible can still know God’s revelation of himself in nature and in their consciences. They, too, have a light for which they will give an answer. All will be judged for their actions and motives, which are controlled by their consciences.[23] 

·    How are you responding internally to the light you have been given? If you are sitting in this church, the Bible is yours to read. How are you responding to the light Jesus has revealed to you? How are you responding to the person of Jesus as revealed in Scripture? What has it shown in your heart, soul, and mind, and how are you responding. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24) How’s that going? Are you able to be honest, humble, surrendered, committed to dealing with what the light reveals?

·    What are you doing externally with the light of revelation you have been given? Is it changing the rhythms of life? Is it ordering your steps? Are you living like a different kind of person than you were before you had the truth? Has the truth set you free from the bondage of sin? Are you stepping into or hiding from the light?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

[1] “Many in ancient times believed serious birth defects were the product of personal sin—thus the disciples’ question in verse 2.” (CBS Tony Evans Study Bible)

[2] (Acts 28:4) “The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.”

[3] F. F. Bruce notes, "This does not mean that God deliberately caused the child to be born blind in order that, after many years, his glory should be displayed in the removal of the blindness; to think so would again be an aspersion on the character of God. It does mean that God overruled the disaster of the child's blindness so that, when the child grew to manhood, he might, by recovering his sight, see the glory of God in the face of Christ, and others, seeing this work of God, might turn to the true Light of the World.”

[4] “We know from the pages of Pliny, and Tacitus, and Suetonius, that the saliva jejuna was held to be a remedy in cases of blindness, and that the same remedy was used by the Jews is established by the writings of the Rabbis.” (Ellicott’s Commentary) 

[5] The Pharisaic school of Hillel permitted prayer for the sick on the Sabbath; the dominant Shammaite schoo didn’t. (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) 

[6] “Many people do not bear witness to Christ because they fear they will be asked questions they cannot answer…“That I don't know, but what I do know is this,” is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others.” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[7] “Critics sometimes insulted their opponents by refusing to name them (and)denying their importance.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[8] “The man who had been physically blind had become a believer, for his spiritual eyes had also been opened. On the other hand, the Pharisees could see physically but were spiritually blind.”(Africa Bible Commentary)

[9] “Many ancient writers spoke of spiritual or moral blindness (see Isaiah 6:9 – 10; 42:18 – 19); some also spoke of those who were physically blind yet had great spiritual insight.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[10] Paul makes a similar argument in Rom. 1:18–3:20.

[11] There are plenty of other ‘light’ verses, such as this one in 2 Corinthians 4:6  “ God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”

[12] “Bringing a sword” is simply an observation that not all will accept the truth about Jesus, and disagreement over this issue will lead to conflict.

[13] “His coming would manifest the disposition and character of every man. The humble, teachable, and upright, though they were as much in the dark with respect to religion and the knowledge of divine things, as the blind man had been with respect to the light of the sun, should be greatly enlightened by his coming: whereas those, who in their own opinion were wise, and learned, and clear-sighted, should appear to be, what they really were, blind, that is…foolish.” (Benson Commentary)

[14] Romans 3:10

[15] Expositor’s Bible Commentary

[16] In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul deals with a disturbing situation in the Corinthian church: “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.” Seneca the Younger (another contemporary of Paul) wrote a play called Phaedra in which Phaedra desires her step-son, Hippolytus. Phaedra’s nurse counsels her: “I beg you, then, extinguish the flames of your incestuous love, a sin which the barbarians have yet to commit. The nomadic Getae do not practice incest, nor the inhospitable Taurians, nor the scattered Scythians. Expel this perversion from your mind.” (Paul and the Pagans, faith.edu)

[17] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament

[18] “Without individual conscience, there could be no public moral code. But we believe the main reference here to be to the public code; to the general consciousness and opinion of heathens that right and wrong are eternally different, and that judgment is to be accordingly hereafter…and as all pointing to a great manifestation of the truth of the principle at the Last Day.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)

[19] Expositor’s Bible Commentary

[20] Benson’s Commentary

[21] “Paul and the Pagans,” faith.edu

[22] “Heathen sinners shall be justly condemned; for though without the law, they have a substitute for it.” Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

[23] Africa Bible Commentary

Harmony #46: The Meeting of Misery and Mercy[1] (John 7-8:12)

Jesus moves around the Galilean countryside to avoid Judea, because there were Jews there who wanted to kill him. His brothers try to convince him to do a bunch of public miracle, and Jesus declines. His brothers leave for the Festival of Booths, and eventually Jesus slips in. When he gets there, the Jewish leaders are looking for him and the crowds are divided about who he is. Jesus eventually heads to the Temple (Sadducee territory) and starts to preach. The people are amazed at his ability. Jesus say,

I do not claim ownership of My words; they are a gift from the One who sent Me. If anyone is willing to act according to His purposes and is open to hearing truth, he will know the source of My teaching. Does it come from God or from Me?  If a man speaks his own words, constantly quoting himself, he is after adulation. But I chase only after glory for the One who sent Me. My intention is authentic and true. You’ll find no wrong motives in Me… (7: 16-18)

The people are like: I think this is the guy they want to kill, but nobody is challenging him. Do they think he really is the Messiah? But, he’s from Galilee so….maybe not.

You think you know Me and where I have come from, but I have not come here on My own. I have been sent by the One who embodies truth. You do not know Him.  I know Him because I came from Him. He has sent Me. Some were trying to seize Him because of His words, but no one laid as much as a finger on Him—His time had not yet arrived.  (7: 28-30)

Meanwhile, some of the crowd was thinking he might be the Messiah. So the Pharisees and temple authorities sent officers (Roman-backed muscle) to arrest Jesus. They don’t. We will see why in minute. On the last day of the festival, Jesus speaks again.

If any of you is thirsty, come to Me and drink. If you believe in Me, rivers of living water will flow from within you [a reference to Isaiah 41]  Jesus was referring to the realities of life in the Spirit made available to everyone who believes in Him. But the Spirit had not yet arrived because Jesus had not been glorified…  (7:37-39)

Rumors spread. Some want to arrest him, but no one does. The officers who failed to arrest him say,

We listened to Him. Never has a man spoken like this man. (7:46)

The Pharisees were like, “You are stupid, and this is why we are under God’s curse. (7:49) But Nicodemus (that Nicodemus) said,

Does our law condemn someone without first giving him a fair hearing and learning something about him? (7:51)

 Cue the episode with the woman caught in adultery, which in this context definitely reads like a set-up to find a way to condemn Jesus.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  He awoke early in the morning to return to the temple. When He arrived, the people surrounded Him, so He sat down and began to teach them. While He was teaching, the scribes and Pharisees brought in a woman who was caught in the act of adultery; and they stood her before Jesus.

The Pharisees said, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  Moses says in the law that we are to kill such women by stoning. What do You say about it?’ This was all set up as a test for Jesus; His answers would give them grounds to accuse Him of crimes against Moses’ law. Jesus bent over and wrote something in the dirt with His finger. They persisted in badgering Jesus, so He stood up straight.

Jesus replied, ‘Let those among you who have not sinned cast the first stone.’[2]  Once again Jesus bent down to the ground and resumed writing with His finger. The Pharisees who heard Him stood still for a few moments and thenbegan to leave slowly, one by one, beginning with the older men.

 Eventually only Jesus and the woman remained, and Jesus looked up. Jesus said, ‘Dear woman, where is everyone? Are we alone? Did no one step forward to condemn you?’ The woman replied, ‘Lord, no one has condemned me.’ Jesus said,‘Well, I do not condemn you either; go, and from now on sin no more.’

Again, Jesus spoke to the crowds. ‘I am the light that shines through the world[3]; if you walk with Me, you will thrive in the nourishing light that gives life and will not know darkness.’

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In the story of the Woman Caught In Adultery, we see Jesus embody God’s perspective on how to balance judgment and mercy.[4] We will first look at the context of the story, then at the person of Jesus, and finally why this story matters to us. Let’s start with some background.

·      This happened on the day after thcelebration of the Feast of the Tabernacle/ Feast of Booths. The Jews lived in huts during this time to commemorate how the Israelites lived in tents during the Exodus.

·      Moses had commanded that during the days of this Feast the law be read, so this was an annual, purposeful focus on the Law of God.

·      The main purpose was to thank God for his provision during the past in the wilderness wanderings (Lev 23:39-43) and in the present as seen in the harvest just completed (Deuteronomy 16:13-15).

·      The people were reminded of their profound dependence upon God for provision. They would recite Psalm 118:25 every day: “O Lord, defend/rescue/deliver us, and prosper us.”

·      They had a ceremony in which four different types of plants were brought to the altar. These four plants symbolized four different kinds of Jews.  One plant had a good fragrance and a good taste, symbolizing knowledge of the Torah and good deeds. One only had fragrance (only good deeds); one only had taste (only knowledge of the Torah), and one had neither. 

·      There was a series of water offerings each morning in the temple, commemorating the provision of water in the wilderness. When Jesus tells them to come to him to drink (7:37-38), he is linking himself to God’s provision in the Exodus.

·      Menorahs would be lit in the House of Water Drawing, which was in the Court of Women in the temple. People would dance and sing, “Blessed be he who hath not sinned; and he who sinned and repented, he is forgiven.”[5]

·      Jesus' proclamation that he is the light of the world (8:12) linked him to the feast's lamp-lighting ceremonies that commemorated the pillar of fire during the Exodus. The morning that Jesus is challenged is the morning that four festival lamps in the court in the Temple ("The light of the world") were put out.

So Jesus claimed to be the Water and the Light while quoting a revered Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, all to show that he is the Messiah for whom they have been longing. The good news was that the God whom they worshipped during this feast was with them. Many of the people were starting to believe. The Pharisees want to kill him; they think he was blaspheming. But to kill him they need a formal trial and a Rome-sanctioned execution.[6]

So the next morning, on the Sabbath, they meet Jesus in the temple. The temple area was about 35 acres, and in the middle sat a courtyard surrounded on three sides by a large, covered walkway that connected the temple court to Herod’s garrison. His soldiers patrolled the courtyard by walking on top of the covered walkways in case anything bad developed. Josephus noted that during feast days, an entire legion (over 4,000 men) would patrol the temple area.

Into this venue, the Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery for judgment. They most likely bring her into the Court of Women. If all went well, they might be able to trick Jesus into ordering capital punishment, and then Rome would take care of their problem because at the time the Sanhedrin needed Rome’s permission for capital punishment. If that didn’t happen, they figured they could show how much more they knew about the law with the hope that this crowd of simpletons would finally reject him as Law Breaker and so reject him as the Messiah.

This seems like a win/win for the Pharisees. Jesus gets arrested or his lack of knowledge of the Law gets him rejected. Things do not go as planned.

·      As has often been noted, they only brought the woman. That’s unusual to say the least. Even then, it took two to tango, and the Law demanded that both be brought to the trial.

·      A formal accusation required two eyewitnesses. There was no circumstantial evidence allowed in a case like this. The eyewitnesses would have warned couple ahead of time about the consequences of their action, the couple had to acknowledge this, and then the witnesses had to watch them do it. Odds are really good those standards were not met. I suspect Jesus (and perhaps the whole crowd) realized this.

·      The death penalty was virtually obsolete in Jewish culture by the time of Jesus[7] (in fact, that sentence was highly unusual ever since the time of Moses). Over the centuries, the Sanhedrin had increasingly made the standards incredibly high because they believed the Law was meant to teach, not kill.[8]

·      Remember: the Sanhedrin needed Rome’s permission.

·      A legit trial had to happen in front of a duly constituted court, which included over twenty Sanhedrin leaders who sat in a semicircle so they could be sure they were all paying attention. If capital punishment happened outside of a court ruling, those who administered the punishment were considered murderers.

·      The Talmudic Sanhedrin trecate (treatise), written before the time of Christ, clarified Deuteronomy’s command that the eyewitnesses should start the stoning (thus the “cast the first stone”).[9] There apparently aren't any eyewitnesses – or at least the text does not record their presence.

·      Capital punishment could not be carried out on a day sacred to religion – and this was a Sabbath.

So, following a celebration in which the people prayed for God to save them, and in which they celebrated the combination of Law and Good Deeds, Jesus will show what it looks like when their longings are fulfilled. He begins by honoring the Law.

When an accusation was brought, a priest was required to write the law that had been broken, along with the names of the accused, somewhere where the marks were not permanent – which was usually the dust on the floor of the temple. Early Armenian translations of this passage claim that is the proper understanding of this passage[10] - that Jesus wrote first the name and crime of the woman in the dust on the temple courtyard floor.

After Jesus writes, he says,  “Let those sinless of the same crime (which should be one of her eyewitness accusers) cast the first stone.”  It’s a brilliant response. First, I suspect it reminded the crowd of the song that had been sung in that very court - “Blessed be he who hath not sinned; and he who sinned and repented, he is forgiven”. If so, Jesus’ comment reminded them of their sin and chastised them for wanting to do something that is at odds with what they just celebrated.

After Jesus says this, He begins writing again; considering the Armenian texts as well as the fact that everyone will eventually leave, it seems reasonable to speculate that he wrote the names and crimes of the Pharisees who broke the law, which was all of them.

Surely his audience remembered Jeremiah 17:13:

"All those who leave your way shall be put to shame (publicly embarrassed), those who turn aside from my ways will have their names written in the dust and blotted out, for they have departed from Yahweh, the fountain of the waters of life."

By writing, he points to himself as the Baptizer of Israel, and to the Pharisees as those whose name will be blotted out.[11]

And that was that. The crowd melts away. Jesus asks, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” She replies, “No one, Lord.” Jesus responds, “I don’t condemn you either [that is, I am not an eyewitness against you], but stop your sin.”

No one could say Jesus was a Lawbreaker, but He refused to use the Law as a tool of oppression and shame. Going back to the symbols of the previous week’s festival: He had the fragrance of the Law and the taste of good deeds.

And then, just in case the crowd was missing all the ways Jesus was proclaiming himself to be the Messiah, the Savior they longed for, he immediately says, in a courtyard in which the menorahs and the “light of the world” festival lamps had been lit and then put out,

“I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

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How do we balance judgment and mercy? How should we treat sin – and sinners – in our midst of our church community?[12] This question ought to matter to all of us, because no one in this room is exempt. You will sin; you will have to deal with the sin of others. We are all going to be in the place of either the Pharisees or the woman who sinned at some point in our life. So what do we do? How do we learn from this story?

We look to Jesus for our example.

We must exercise righteous judgment of sin and show mercy and grace to those who sin.

This is not always easy.

If we aren't careful we can get so caught up in condemning the sin that we forget to love to those who sin. Religious Pharisees think mercy is a sign of moral weakness. They think people should get what’s coming to them – especially people whose sins are so visibly public. They appoint themselves as moral watchdogs in the church trained not simply to be truthful and challenging but to tear the sinner to pieces. Their goal is not to point people who deserve judgment toward the mercy found only in Christ. They might never say that out loud, but their goal is suffering, not sanctification; punishment, not restoration.

When we look to Jesus, we see that our goal should be not to shame, humiliate, or drive to despair those around us who are caught in sin; our goal should be to bring to repentance and restoration those who have fallen. We may need to start by calling sin what it is in the lives of those who refuse to see it in themselves (as Jesus did with the Pharisees). But even if we do that so the self-righteous and proud are humbled – even if we are the self-righteous and proud who are humbled by our honest brothers and sisters in Christ - we must never lose sight of the goal of the Great Physician: to heal the sin-sick soul. The great commentator Matthew Henry wrote,

“In this matter Christ attended to the great work about which he came into the world, that was, to bring sinners to repentance; not to destroy, but to save. He aimed to bring, not only the accused to repentance, by showing her his mercy, but the prosecutors also, by showing them their sins; they thought to ensnare him, he sought to convince and convert them.”

If the first thing we have to be careful of is too much judgment of sin, the second thing is becoming so focused on extending mercy to the sinner that we forget there is a just judgment for sin. This story if often cited as an example of why we shouldn’t exercise judgment, That badly misses the point. Jesus absolutely judged. When Jesus wrote in the dust, he (presumably) wrote that they were all lawbreakers. He didn't let the Pharisees off the hook. He didn’t say to the woman, “Hey, it’s no problem. Go do what you want.”  He said, “No one hear can formally accuse you, but…stop sinning.” He didn’t try to contextualize her situation. He didn’t say, “You’re perfect just the way you are.” In his mercy, he gave her the same kind of truth he gave the Pharisees: she had sinned, and she needed to repent.

Telling the truth about sin is not a bad thing. Offering sincere, honest, biblically sound judgment about sinful actions is not a sign that you are mean; it is a sign that you understand the importance of walking in the way of Christ.

Love actually requires honest judgment. Why? Because sin destroys. Someone talked last week in Message+ about people who are the “casualties of sin.” Right. It eats away at your peace with God, with others, and within ourselves. Sin corrodes relationships, it distorts love, it sows something we are going to reap, and “the wages is sin is death.” A holy, loving God must use judgment in the service of justice so that evil does not have the last word. For all of us who have experienced the sin of others crush our lives, it is heaven’s promise that evil will be held to account.[13] 

But we have to be careful. If we don’t confront sin in love, we will be abrasive and mean (see 1 Corinthians 13).  And if we don’t do this with an eye on the sin in our own lives, we will do this with a kind of pride that God despises.

Here’s the reality: all of us have hurt others with our words, our attitudes, our choices, our violence. A holy, loving God cannot let that evil go unaddressed. We long for justice when it’s meant for people who have done us wrong, but if God’s justice were to rain down on us all and give us the justice we deserve right now, we would all beg for mercy. There is no one righteous (Romans 3:10). If Jesus were here, and we all demanded that sin be addressed, we would all walk away as Jesus wrote in the dust on the floor of this church.

Here's the tension we must embrace: We should long for God’s justice (as we see the devastation of sin and the need for someone to hold people to account) but we should also crave God’s mercy (as we see our own sin, condemnation and need for a Savior).

When justice and mercy work together, just judgment drives us to our knees at the foot of the Cross; mercy reaches down from that cross and pulls us to our feet. This is where we look back to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), the embodiment of God’s justice and mercy.

It is on the cross that God’s holy justice was perfectly satisfied while His holy mercy was perfectly displayed.[14] Someone has to pay the price for sin, and God in his mercy said, “Let it be me.”  This included the woman and her accusers - and all of us. The Israelite prayer, “O Lord, rescue us, deliver us, save us,” has come true; Jesus has come so that the world through him might be saved. 

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[1] This is how Augustine described the story of the woman caught in adultery

[2] “ αναμαρτητος, meaning the same kind of sin, adultery, fornication, c. Kypke has largely proved that the verb αμαρτανειν is used in this sense by the best Greek writers.” (Adam Clarke)

[3] “So in Bamidbar Rabba: "The Israelites said to God, O Lord of the universe, thou commandest us to light lamps to thee, yet thou art THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: and with thee the light dwelleth."’ (Adam Clarke)

[4] Your Bible may note, “Many early manuscripts omit 7:53–8:11.” Eusebius, the first historian of the Church, claimed to have learned the story from Papias, who lived from about 60 AD to about 130 AD.  Augustine thought the early church removed the story out of fear that adultery would be encouraged by Jesus’ display of mercy. Whatever the reasons, the event is alluded to very early. It appears to have been widely known and accepted in the early church, and it soon appears in the canon.

[5] http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/john_gospel/Chapter%208.htm

[6] At times, Rome allowed the Sanhedrin packed with their picks to use capital punishment. At the time this happened, the Sanhedrin needed Rome’s permission.

[7] (Mishnah Makkot 1:10): “A Sanhedrin that puts a man to death once in seven years is called destructive. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah says: even once in seventy years. Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Tarfon say: had we been in the Sanhedrin none would ever have been put to death. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: they would have multiplied shedders of blood in Israel.” Read a good article here: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-death-penalty-in-jewish-tradition/2/

[8] http://www.reformjudaismmag.net/02summer/focus.shtml

[9] “With reference to two offenders subject to this penalty, the Pentateuch says, "Thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people" (Deut. xiii. 10 [A. V. 9]), and again (ib. xvii. 7), "The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people." (Sanh. vi. 4; 45a et seq.; Sifra, Emor, xix.; Sifre, Num. 114; ib. Deut. 89, 90, 149, 151). “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_and_corporal_punishment_in_Judaism#In_Rabbinic_Law

[10] https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/john-8.html

[11] The Bible does not connect those dots, but considering the audience and the context, it seems likely.

[12] I realize the ‘church’ had not started yet, but the religious Jewish community is probably the closest comparison we have before the NT church community began.

[13] So is there any place for judgment and justice when God extends mercy? First, the Bible clearly teaches that there will be practical consequences to our actions. Forgiveness does not necessarily negate the fact that we will reap what we sow. The woman’s adultery may still have ruined her marriage even thought the forgiveness of Christ was available to her. Second, there are consequences to our actions within God ordained systems of government. Those harmed by rape may extend forgiveness, but the rapist will still go to jail – and rightly so. Finally, there is an ultimate day of judgment when we will all give an answer to God for what we have done. It’s possible to the first two forms of judgment can be avoided depending on the nature of the sin, but no one will escape the final accounting.

[14] Read “The Only Thing That Counts” for a better understanding of why Jesus needed to die in order for God’s justice to be satisfied. http://clgonline.org/the-only-thing-that-counts-galatians-51-8/