Lessons from Paul's Life (November 23, 2014)

Saul's Background

Acts 21:39:  Saul is from Tarsus in Cilicia.  It's an important city, the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia.  It's a guardian city in Asia Minor, protecting the traffic through the Cilician Gates, which were a small mountain passage on the main road.  The majority of the traffic in and out of Turkey flows through here.  Tarsus is known for textiles.  The entire plain of Tarsus grows plants for the textile industry.   It is a university town.  It has the 3rd largest school of philosophy in the ancient world, behind only Alexandria and Athens.

In 67 BC, all Jews under Roman rule received Roman citizenship.  Saul was born in 5 BC, born into Roman citizenship.  He is a tentmaker, which probably really meant a leatherworker, and he would produce tents and sandals.  He grew up in an urban cosmopolitan Greek city, ethnically Jewish, and socially both Jewish and Greco-Roman.

Acts 22:3:  Saul was educated by Gamaliel.  His family moved 500 miles to Jerusalem so he could be discipled under him.  Not just anybody could study under Gamaliel, so Saul had to have been exceptionally qualified.  Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, who was the leader of one of the two main schools of rabbinical thought at the time.  Hillel was known for being progressive (but not liberal), needing to account for the changing times.  He was known for teaching, "What you do not want others to do to you, don't do to them".  He died when Jesus was 15.  The other school was led by Shammai, who was known for being conservative.  When Jesus was questioned by the religious leaders, it was essentially to ask, "Which school do you line up with?"  If we can think of Jesus as siding with anyone, he sided with Hillel 7 times, and only once with Shammai, and that was on the question of divorce.  Shammai died a couple years before Jesus was born.

Acts 5:34-39:  Gamaliel was known as someone who was open.  He ran the school of Hillel.  He was considered the best of his day.  He was loved by everyone.  He was not judgmental.  He was tolerant.  He would let everyone have their say.  He wrote letters to scattered Jews.  This could be where Saul learned to write his epistles to encourage new believers.  It was a huge loss when Gamaliel died.

Acts 7:59-8:3, 9:1-2:  Saul started out tolerant, like Gamaliel and Hillel.  But he's not operating that way here.  Something has changed that causes him to persecute Christians.  He has moved away from Hillel and towards Shammai, pretty much acting like a zealot.

Galatians 1:13-14:  Saul (in retrospect) says that he was extremely zealous for the traditions of his fathers.

Philippians 3:4b-6:  Saul thinks he is being obedient to God when he is zealously persecuting the church.

This notion of "zeal" comes up a lot here with Paul.  He is identifying with the zealot tradition, which is about a man of God seeing people who are not obeying God, and taking matters into his own hands to correct it, for the honor of God.  Let's look at its origins.

Numbers 25:6-13:  Phineas took it upon himself to kill the Israelite man who was consorting with an Midianite woman in the tabernacle as Israel was beginning to worship the god of the Moabites.  This started the zealot tradition.

I Kings 18:40:  Elijah was another one who acted zealously.  He killed the prophets of Baal after the showdown on Mt. Carmel.

Elijah and Phineas were the models of the zealot tradition during the Maccabean Revolt.  Not least in the first century, these two men were merged together in several traditions, with attributes of each being credited to the other.

This is the sort of thing that is fueling Saul.  Being the great scholar that he was, he knew of the zealot tradition, and in moving from Hillel to Shammai, he started acting it out.  He took matters into his own hands to correct what to him were obvious wrongs, for the honor of God.  And that's when God steps in.

Saul's Calling

Acts 9:3-16:  God calls Saul's name twice, as we've discussed before.  It signifies a divine call at a critical moment.  Nothing will be the same.  "I have a new path for you".  We speak of Saul's conversion, but we need to remember that he already was a devout and zealous follower of God, as best he knew.  He saw the church as a threat to what he understood of God's program.  "Saul, Saul, stop fighting against me.  You don't understand what I'm doing.  It's far bigger than you've imagined.  You need to leave your zealous ways behind.  I have a new calling for you.  You are going to carry my name to the Gentiles.  And you're going to suffer a lot for me".

The story of his calling is retold 3 times in other scripture passages, with slightly different emphases for different contexts:

• Acts 22:3-21 defending himself before the Jewish leaders
• Acts 26:9-18 defending himself before King Agrippa (in a Roman context)
• Galatians 1:13-17 defending his gospel to the Galatian church

This Damascus Road experience for Saul follows some of the experiences of the Old Testament prophets, of which he surely would have taken notice:

Ezekiel 1:28 - 2:3:  Ezekiel has his massive vision described earlier in the chapter, and at the end he is surrounded by a brilliant light, he falls facedown, and hears a voice speaking to him, telling him what his mission was, just like Saul did.

Jonah 1:17:  Jonah did not want to preach to the Gentiles.  God had to re-direct him, and he would have experienced 3 days of darkness and no food while inside the fish, just like Saul did.

Saul, the Hebrew scholar, would have had no trouble in recognizing that he was being called by God in the same way these prophets were.  He saw himself very differently after that.  Here's what he has to say of himself, when he is able to look back on it:

Galatians 1:15-16:  He says that God set him apart from his mother's womb, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.  This is just like the calling of some of the other major Old Testament prophets:

Isaiah 49:1, 6:  God called him from his mother's womb to be his servant both to Israel and to the Gentiles.

Jeremiah 1:5:  Before he was formed in the womb and born, God set him apart and appointed him as a prophet to the nations (Gentiles).

So, in retrospect, Saul sees himself as in the company of the prophets of old.  But there's one prophet in particular that he identifies with as he is being redirected.  Let's go back to Elijah.

Saul's Retraining

I Kings 19:1-9:  Elijah freaks out after his great victory and runs for his life.  He travels 40 days to reach Horeb, the mountain of God, which is also known as Mt. Sinai.

I Kings 19:10:  God asks him what he is doing there, and he says, "I have been very zealous for God.  Israel has rejected you, killed your prophets, I'm the only one left and they're after me too.  This is a broken prophet, disillusioned and humiliated.  He wants to resign his commission.  "I'm done".

I Kings 19:11-14:  God is not in the violent wind, earthquake, or file.  It's as though God is telling him to forsake his zealous/violent ways.  "That's not how I am".  He's in the whisper.  But when God asks him again why he is there, Elijah gives the exact same answer.  It's as though he didn't get it.

I Kings 19:15-18:  God tells Elijah that he's got it all wrong.  God has 7000 who have not worshiped Baal, and he tells him to get back to work.  He doesn't affirm that Elijah had done good in killing the prophets of Baal; he doesn't affirm his zeal; he ignores it.  He just says, "Go to Damascus and get back to your calling".

Now, back to Saul, in Damascus, preaching and teaching about Jesus in the synagogues:

Acts 9:22-26:  Saul is growing more and more powerful, proving to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.  But then there's a conspiracy to kill him just like Elijah, and he has to escape for his life. Between verses 25 and 26, it sounds like he escaped directly to Jerusalem, but there's a time gap in there that we don't see.

Galatians 1:17-18:  When he fled from Damascus, he went to Arabia for some period of time, and it was 3 years before he went to Jerusalem for the first time after his "conversion".  Why did he go to Arabia?

Galatians 4:25:  This verse is teaching a different lesson, but it makes the point that Mt. Sinai is in Arabia.  Why do we care?  Recall that Elijah went to Mt. Sinai when he had to escape.  Mt. Sinai is in Arabia.  Saul went to Arabia to escape.  Surely he went to Mt. Sinai like Elijah did.  He needed to be retrained, just like Elijah, and God took him to the desert to do it (like he did and does with so many people).

• He needed to leave the whole zealot thing behind him.  Jesus had ended the zealot tradition when he told Peter, "Put away your sword", but Paul had continued it.  He needed to turn away from Shammai and back toward Hillel.
• He needed to understand that like the other prophets, his mission was to take the gospel to the Gentiles, because he had been preaching only to Jews.

And then he returned to Damascus, just like God told Elijah to go back to Damascus and get back to work.  When he ultimately did go to Jerusalem, he was introduced to the Christians there, and he debated with the Grecian Jews, who threatened to kill him, so the brothers took him to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.



The first missionary journey


Acts 13:2:  Saul is now in Antioch, with Barnabas.  We'll see in a moment how he got there.  But while there, the Holy Spirit says to set aside Barnabas and Saul for the work he had for them. 

Why Barnabas?

He is a respected leader in the church.  He is a mentor to Saul; they have a long-standing relationship.

Acts 4:36-37:  Barnabas sold a field and gave the money to the apostles for the needs of the brothers.  He was well recognized among the believers.

Acts 9:27:  Barnabas was Saul's advocate to the church leaders when he finally got to Jerusalem.

Acts 11:19-21:  When the persecution broke out, the church was scattered as far away as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.  The church started in Antioch among the Jews, but then some men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and started preaching among the Gentiles.  So the Antioch church is catching fire, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles (Greeks).

Acts 11:22-24:  Barnabas is sent there to watch over and encourage the growing church.  He is a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

Acts 11:25-26:  Barnabas is a Levite.  He's at home among the Jews in his church, but among the Greeks in the church, and in the Greco-Roman world of Antioch, he is out of his league.  He goes to get Saul, who is at home in this world, to help him lead the church.

Now think about Saul in this church.  The persecuted Jewish Christians were scattered here.  Saul had set out to destroy them.  Now Barnabas introduces Saul as their pastor.  They had been uprooted from their homes, their land, their families (the most grievous losses a Jew can suffer) because of him.  Saul is pastoring a community he is responsible for displacing.  He would have had to lean on Barnabas a lot that year.  Barnabas would have been a shepherd to him, helping him face his past.  Saul would have had to learn a lot about grace, and about receiving grace.

Their ministry was powerful and effective.  A great number of people were brought to the Lord.  The disciples were first called Christians here.  After a year, Barnabas and Saul delivered a love gift from the church in Antioch to the church at Jerusalem, based on the prophet Agabus predicting a severe famine through the whole Roman world.  After delivering the gift, they returned to Antioch, bringing John Mark with them, where they were when God said to separate them for the work he had for them (Acts 13:2).

Why Mark?

Mark has good credentials.  He's closely connected to the Apostles.  He was an eye-witness of Jesus.

Colossians 4:10:  Mark is Barnabas' cousin.

Acts 12:12:  Peter's first place to go out of prison is to Mark's mom's home.  Mark is connected to Peter, who is the head of the disciples.

I Peter 5:13:  "My son, Mark"

Mark 14:51-52:  This is a self-reference, to Mark as the author of the gospel.  He was an eye-witness of Jesus.

Why Cyprus?

"Okay, God has called us to a work.  What is it?  Where do we go?"  The Text doesn't say how they knew.  We can put together a plausible story from what we read and know through history, and it gives us a clue about how God leads us. 

Acts 13:4-5:  They go to Cyprus.  Mark goes with them.  Why do they go here?  We have a clue in the passage we read earlier:

Acts 4:36-37:  Barnabas is from Cyprus.  "Let's go visit my family".

Acts 13:6-12:  Barnabas and Saul head to Paphos on the far side of the island.  Sergius Paulus is the proconsul, and he becomes a believer.  And somewhere in here, Saul becomes known as Paul.

Acts 13:13:  They sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, and Mark left them to return to Jerusalem:

• He was "way too Jewish" to tolerate the pagan Greco-Roman world of the Gentiles.
• He is closely connected with Peter, who still struggles with the Gentile issue (remember Paul had to reprimand Peter at some point after Peter supposedly had figured this out).
• Paul was devastated.  (Remember Paul and Barnabas didn't take the second missionary journey together because they were so sharply divided over Mark), an he wouldn't have anything to do with Mark for a long time.
• He lost an eye-witness of Jesus
• Paul is perhaps still struggling with grace himself, still trying to move back to Hillel from Shammai, as it were
• Eventually Paul and Mark were reconciled, but it took years.
• Maybe they weren't supposed to bring him; after all the Holy Spirit had said to separate Saul and Barnabas for the work to which he had called them.

Why Antioch?

Acts 13:14:  They left Perga and went to Pisidian Antioch.  This is a different Antioch (not Syrian Antioch where they were sent from).  It is the Antioch near or toward Pisidia.  It is the leading city of Phrygia.  (There were 16 cities named Antioch).

• It is a major city.  Tarsus and Pisidian Antioch were the major guardian cities of the road through the interior of Asia Minor
• Caesar Augustus is the one who builds up Antioch in 25 BC
• He spreads it out over 7 hills like Rome
• It has the Roman administrative system
• It is divided up exactly like Rome
• It has 7 wards (vici) each named after a Roman district
• The Roman 5th and 7th Legions were stationed here; a strong allegiance to Rome
• A thoroughly Roman colony
• Sergius Paulus is from Pisidian Antioch
• In 1877, the Sergius Paulus stone was found near Paphos, bearing his name and title of Procounsul.  It is now in the museum in Antioch.
• He was Paul's first recorded convert on this journey
• Paul takes his name.  Paul is Paulus in Greek.  Saul is going to need a Greek name to minister to the Gentiles.
• No doubt Sergius Paulus said something like, "You want to go to Rome?  Antioch is just like Rome, and I've got connections there.  Let me give you a letter of introduction."

Paul takes the lead over Barnabas

Acts 13:15-16:  Paul takes the lead in speaking.

• He speaks over his elder.  You would never do that.  But Barnabas has recognized he was out of his league in this Greco-Roman city and gave the floor to Paul.  He recognized that this was Paul's turf.
• Paul gives a sermon in the form of the 1st century classical Greek rhetoric, using an argument style architected by Aristotle.  Paul can speak the language/culture here.  No doubt it would have been representative of his sermons in all of the cities he's going to go to, but this is the first time it is given, so that's why it is recorded here.  He is thinking on his feet, and he is brilliant.  Barnabas must have been blown away by Paul's eloquence.

1. Acts 13:16:  Resortium (introduction)
2. Acts 13:17-25:  Narratio (background/context)
3. Acts 13:26:  Propositio (proposition or thesis)
4. Acts 13:27-37:  Probatio (evidence) He quotes Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 55:3, and Psalm 16:10
5. Acts 13:38-41:  Peratio (closing argument)

Acts 13:42:  What is different here?  It now says "Paul and Barnabas", whereas up to this point, it has been the other way around.  Paul is now pre-eminent.  Barnabas has been shepherding and mentoring Paul, but now sees that he has been gifted by God and recognizes him as the leader.  There are only two places after this where Barnabas is mentioned first.

Acts 13:43-48:  The whole city gathered to hear them the next week.  The Jews became jealous, and they rejected Paul's message and heaped abuse on him. Paul always made a point to give the message to the Jews first, but when they reject it, he moves on to the Gentiles, according to God's call on him.  The Gentiles receive the message gladly, because they now see there's a place for them, whereas there wasn't under Judaism.

Acts 13:49-52:  It's time to move on.  The Jews expel them from the city, so they shake the dust from their feet like Jesus instructed his disciples, and they head to Iconium, the next city down the road.

Acts 14:1-7:  They just get started, and its the same problem here with the Jews, to they have to move on.

Acts 14:8-13:  They heal the lame man, and immediately the crowd thinks the gods have come down in human form.  Barnabas is Zeus, and Paul is Hermes.  Why would they think that, and why those two in particular?

• There's a story by Ovid, called Metamorphoses.  It's the story of a Lyconian city in Phrygia where Zeus and Hermes come unrecognized to a village and the people are not hospitable, except for an older couple named Philemon and Baucis.  She recognizes that they are gods. They don't have much, but they give them all they have.  Zeus and Hermes ensure their wine does not run out.  They say they are going to destroy the town for lack of hospitality, and take Philemon and Baucis with them up a mountain.  At some point they are allowed to turn around and they see that a flood has destroyed the town, but that their house has been turned into a magnificent temple.  They grant them a wish, to be the guardians of the temple.  Ovid lived 43BC to 17 or 18 AD, so it is relatively fresh in the people's minds, so they don't want to make that mistake again.
• Barnabas was call Zeus because he was older, and Zeus was the king of the gods.  Paul was called Hermes "because he was the chief speaker", and Hermes (or Mercury) was the messenger god and eloquent.
• This is one of the places where Barnabas was mentioned first.  Why?  Because Zeus was the king of the gods.

Acts 14:19-20:  The Jews come from Antioch and Iconium, and turn the crowd against them.  It's amazing that they came all that way, and amazing that they can change the crowd's mind so easily.  Paul gets up after being stoned and left for dead; time to move on to another city.

Acts 14:21-26:  Here it seems that if God had a specific destination for them, they have finally arrived, because they won a large number of disciples and were able to establish the church without interference from the Jews.  There was a church here for hundreds of years.

Paul and Barnabas could easily have continued eastward to Antioch.  It was a straight shot on the Roman road, through the Cilician Gates to Tarsus, then on to Antioch, about 150 miles altogether.  But they don't.  Instead they go back to revisit all of the churches and strengthen the believers, no doubt at great risk to their lives.  They travel back about 300 miles walking to Attalia, preaching the word in Perga on the way.  Then they sail out through the port of Attalia and back to Antioch about 325 miles to report of their work.  In chapter 15 they go on to Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Council where the decision was made that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to become Christians.  And verse 12 there is the other place where Barnabas is mentioned first.  This is sensible since he's back where he is more well-known than Paul.

Lessons from Paul's life

1. Grace -- Paul struggled with it. We struggle with it.  It's hard to receive, and hard to give.  But we need to do this well.  Jesus said the mark of his people would be their love for each other, and grace has to be related to that.
2. Halakh or peripateo, your walk is your life, your life is your walk.  Paul's missionary journey is a good metaphor for our lives.  We need to be ministering wherever we go.
3. God doesn't give you a map.  You don't get much to go on.  Just the next step.  It's about the journey, not the destination.
1. Dr. Bourgond calls it "flashlight theology".  You have to move to the edge of what you can see, to be able to see beyond it.
2. This is about determining God's will for your life.  God usually calls us to a form or a role in ministry, not usually to a specific place.
1. If God has called you to teach, learn how to teach, and let him take you to where you are going to serve
2. It's likely that there are many good choices.  Pick one.
3. Try something and let God steer you.  Go until God says, "no"; don't wait for him to say, "go".
4. Give God something to work with, as our teachers would say.
3. It's a life of faith following leads.  That's how Paul did it.
4. Commitment to your calling
1. Paul and Barnabas went back into harm's way to strengthen the believers and appoint leaders.  Paul always wanted to present every man perfect in Christ.
2. Acts 9:16:  Paul knows that suffering is in his path.
3. Acts 14:22:   "We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God".
4. II Timothy 3:10-12:  Paul speaks of the sufferings he endured in Antioch, Lystra, and Iconium.  We all will suffer for our commitment.
5. Commitment to the long-term journey.  Be patient with what God is up to.  It's okay to not have all the answers.  Maybe we don't understand all of the steps along the way.  Maybe its going to take some time.  Just keep going.
6. We no doubt have heard it said, "The safest place to be is in the center of God's will".  More likely, that's the most dangerous place to be.  Just because the journey is hard doesn't mean you're not on the right path.  Everywhere Paul went there was danger, but it's true that danger comes to Paul because he is dangerous.  Satan can leave you alone if you're not dangerous.
5. Paul always had companions with him.  He did this in community.  You can't do this as a lone ranger.  Discernment is best done in community, with your mentors engaged with you in a decision -- hear the voice of God through them.
1. Now wanting to accept help is a matter of pride -- you don't want to show weakness.
2. Best to get help -- God's strength is made perfect in weakness.
3. Who am I journeying with?
4. What is my motivation?
5. Is my pride getting in the way?
6. Hazak, hazak, venit hezek -- Be strong, be strong, together we are strong.
7. If we all make it, then I make it.

Jesus' Last Week Part 2 (November 16, 2014)

Talking points

This lesson is a continuation of the previous one.

Garden of Gethsemane

The Passover meal is done.  It is midnight or later.  Jesus and his disciples leave Jerusalem, go across the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane.  There's a cave there, where there was (and maybe still is) an olive press (or oil press).  The word for "oil press" is gatshemen, with shemen for "oil" and presumably gat for "press".  We get the word "Gethsemane" from it.  So the garden here doesn't so much bear the name Gethsemane, as it is simply descriptive -- the garden with the oil press.  Olive presses were used September through November.  Otherwise the press wasn't used, and the cave was a cool place.  Jesus and his disciples frequented the garden, and no doubt cooled down in here on occasions through the years.


In Luke 22:44, Jesus is in anguish over what lies ahead of him, and the weight of it all presses blood out of him, like the gatshemen presses the oil out of the olives.

In Matthew 26:36-46, Jesus asks his disciples to pray, but they keep falling asleep. We often chide them for this, but think how late it is, and how much food and wine they've had.  They're exhausted.  Jesus prays for this cup to be taken.  "I don't want it, but I'll drink it if that's what you want".  Why does he do this three times, and then is resigned to go ahead with it?

Deuteronomy 17:6 gives us a clue.  Here it says a person cannot be put to death based on the testimony of a single witness; two or three witnesses are required.  It is as though each time Jesus goes to pray about the matter he receives a "witness" or a confirmation that he is going to have to die, and after three confirmations, there's no more point in asking again.  This is a common idiom we see in the Scriptures.  For example:

• The apostle Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed and then he stopped praying about it (2 Corinthians 12:8).
• Peter saw the vision of the sheet being let down from heaven three time and then he was free to go with Cornelius (Acts 10).
• Peter denied Jesus three times, and Jesus re-affirmed him three times.
• Paul warned the Corinthians of a correction that was now required after three visits (2 Corinthians 13:1).
• Jesus said where two or three are gathered in his name, he would be in the midst of them.
• Jesus used this idiom in teaching, often making a point and then illustrating it with two or three parables.

In John 18:11, he asks, "Shall I not drink the cup my Father has given me?"   At this point he is committed to submitting to the Father's plan. But why does he keep calling it a "cup"?

The Seder litergy actually had 5 cups, though they only drank 4 of them.  They didn't know what to do with the 5th cup.  It was the cup of God's wrath that they thought would be poured out on the world in the end times when the Messiah came.  Some Old Testament references to the cup of God's wrath include Psalm 75:8 and Jeremiah 25:15-16.  The Jews didn't drink the 5th cup because the Messiah had not come and God's wrath had not yet been poured out.  (Similarly, I think Jesus didn't drink the 4th cup because the Restoration hadn't happened yet).  In the Hebrew mind, when Elijah came, he would explain the cup.  The Messiah would come right after and would pour out the cup of God's wrath on the nations.  Elijah had come, as John the Baptist.  John warned of the wrath to come, and Jesus came after him.  But Jesus didn't pour out the cup on the world; instead he drank that cup of God's wrath while he was on the cross.

Jesus on the Cross

The proceedings that night and early morning were highly illegal.  We've all heard things about that, and no doubt will again next Easter.  But Jesus was on the cross at 9:00 in the morning, the time of the morning sacrifices at the temple.  People coming into the city to "go to work" had no idea what had happened the night before.  It wasn't the general populace that wanted him dead; not the crowds that had hailed him the previous Sunday.  It was only the religious leaders who had made this happen all night.  He would have been crucified at eye-level, right beside the road.  The Romans had perfected this torture, and it served as a stark warning to anyone who thought they could cross Rome.

In Matthew 27:45-46 we see God pouring out his wrath from noon until 3:00.  Sometimes it has been suggested that a solar eclipse could have explained the darkness, but that's impossible because this is right near Passover when the moon is full.  Jesus cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  We've been taught that during that time God turned his back on his Son because God cannot look on sin.  And that may very well be, but there are a couple of reasons we might want to question whether that is what is happening:

1. God looks upon sinful man all the time.  After Adam and Eve sinned, God came looking for them.  When Israel lived in the desert, God lived in the tabernacle right in their midst, even as they continually sinned and did not obey him.  Jesus was God and lived right among sinful humanity.
2. It doesn't sound like the way Jesus would have addressed God.  Didn't he always refer to him as, "My Father"?  He did that in the garden just a bit earlier.  If he was going to say anything like this, wouldn't it have been, "My Father, my Father, why have you forsaken me?"?

So this doesn't sound like something Jesus is simply saying of his own accord.  In fact he is quoting Psalm 22:1.  This is his "death text".  Every Jew wanted to have God's words on his lips when he died.  Many of them would speak the Sh'ma as their last words.  Jesus is drawing everyone's attention to Psalm 22.  This is an amazing Psalm because it has many verses which describe the crucifixion process (7-8, 14-18) and was written hundreds of years before crucifixion was invented.  In particular it describes unique characteristics of Jesus' crucifixion (the casting lots for his clothes, for example).  In drawing everyone's attention to this Psalm, isn't he saying, "Look what just happened here!  Can there be any doubt that I am the Messiah?  The Messiah's agenda was not what you expected".  Then the Psalm changes its tone pretty quickly.  When you get to verse 24, it says, "God has not despised me, nor hidden his face from me.  He has listened to my cry for help.  He has not forsaken me". 

In John 19:28-30, it says that Jesus knows that everything has now been finished.  God is done pouring out his wrath; it has been satisfied.  Jesus cries out, "I thirst".  He has been drinking this cup, willingly, committed to it.  "Is it empty? Is there no more?"  And when he realizes that it is all done, he says, "It is finished".  We know that's the Greek word Tetelestai, which carries the idea of something being paid in full.  It was used when armies had finished conquering their foes.  When Jesus says it, we think of his finished work of redemption on the cross -- our salvation is paid in full, and God's wrath is fully satisfied.  But there's more to it as well.  Psalm 22:31 (the last verse in the Psalm) ends with the words "He has done it".  Those words are exactly the same in Hebrew as the words "It is finished".  Jesus is brilliant even as he is dying, communicating so many levels of meaning in the simple things he says.  He is going out of his way to call attention to Psalm 22, which speaks not only of his death, but of God being with him, and of God ruling the nations.  This is not a story of being forsaken; it is a story of the coming Restoration.

The passage in John makes it sound like the last thing Jesus said was "It is finished", but when you piece the gospels together, there was yet another thing he said.  Matthew 27:50 says Jesus cried out with a loud voice, but it doesn't say what he cried out.  Luke 23:46 gives us what he says:  "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit".  This is the last thing he says, and it is still part of his death text.  Here he is quoting Psalm 31:5, drawing attention to what it says there: "Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God".  He is about to let his spirit go.  He is completely dependent on God to deliver him or to "bring him back".  And then he "powers down".  This would have been 3:00, at the time of the evening sacrifice at the temple.

Mark 15:38 says the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  That curtain was 4 inches thick and 68 feet tall, so this didn't happen accidentally.  We've traditionally understood this to mean that there was no longer a need for a separation between God and man because of the sacrifice Christ made, and that is true.  Another picture of this is that God moved out of the temple (and moved into his people on Pentecost).  Yet another picture is that of the Jewish mourning ritual, where one tears his clothes from top to bottom as a sign of mourning; it's as though God was mourning the death of his Son.

Triumph

Mark 15:39 says that the centurion who watched Jesus die said, "Surely this man was the Son of God".  (Or some versions say "a son of a god").  In either case, what was there about this that made him say that?  The centurion knows something we don't, and Mark, in writing his gospel to the Gentiles knows that they know about this too and will recognize it from his writings.

Julius Caesar was the first emperor of Rome, and he moved the power from the Roman Senate to the Emperor.  The Senate didn't resist him when he did this.  Augustus (also known as Octavian) was his great-nephew, whom he adopted as his son.  When Julius Caesar died, he was declared to be divine, and Augustus, who became Caesar in his place, was therefore the son of a god.  All emperors following Augustus were given the title "Caesar" as well, and were regarded as divine sons of the gods.  I've always thought of Roman and Greek gods and mythology as nothing more than a fairy tale, but all of it, including the divinity of the emperor, was a fundamental part of the Greco-Roman world view, and it affected everyone's daily life. We'll explore this a bit more in later lessons.

Caesar Augustus inaugurated a 12-day advent for himself.  He actually took over the Roman Triumph procession, that was awarded to conquering generals, and turned it into something only for emperors, to celebrate their divinity and the Imperial Cult - the worship of the emperor.  He started this, and other Caesars continued it.  It was done when they became Caesar, and they could do it again any time they felt they needed a little ego-boost, or to strengthen the hold that emperor worship had on the people.  When Augustus did this, it was said of him, "The divine king of salvation awaited since Pharaoh is on his way".  This is a totally messianic-sounding proclamation of a coming king and a coming age.  It is interesting that Jesus was born "in the days of Caesar Augustus", and the proclamation rightly and fully applies to him in spite of it being said of Caesar.

This advent was known as a "triumph".  It was a city-wide festival parade.  It was the only time in Roman society where all classes could participate together.  All of the emperors did it, and some did it multiple times.  It had 9 different steps.  Here is what the "triumph" looked like:

1. The Praetorian guard would meet in the Praetorium.  This was the elite Italian guard whose job was to protect Caesar -- his "secret servicemen".  There were 5500-6000 soldiers in the guard.
2. Caesar was dressed in the garb of the god Zeus (or Jupiter depending on whether you use his Roman or Greek name).  He was the king of the gods.  His garb included a purple robe, a golden wreath, and a branch or reed or scepter in his hand, signifying the authority of Rome.
3. The soldiers would hail Caesar as lord and god, the savior of the world.
4. There would be a procession through Rome, stopping in the forum at the base of the temple to Zeus/Jupiter.  A sacrificial bull was part of the procession, signifying power and authority in the Roman world.
5. The procession ended on the highest hill in Rome, known as Capitoline Hill, or head hill.
6. Caesar would be offered wine, which he would refuse.  He would pour it on the altar or on the bull.  The bull was killed simultaneously.  The mixture of blood and wine conferred power and deity onto Caesar.
7. Caesar was proclaimed lord and god by all of the people.
8. Caesar would ascend to the top of the hill, to the applause of all the people.  He could either go alone (Augustus did that), or he could go with someone on his right and someone on his left.
9. The people would look for a divine sign of confirmation from the gods.
• Perhaps a flock of doves would fly over
• Anything out of the ordinary throughout the day (sometimes the emperors made sure something out of the ordinary would happen)
• There was an eclipse in the case of one of the emperors

 Mark lays out Jesus' crucifixion story in chapter 15 to match those steps:

1. Verse 16:  The Praetorian guard numbered about 200 in Jerusalem
2. Verse 17:  Jesus was mockingly dressed in the garb of a god.  Matthew 27:39 also says that they put a staff in his right hand.
3. Verses 18-19:  Jesus was mockingly hailed by the soldiers as king
4. Verses 20-21:  Jesus' procession went through and outside the city.  There was no bull present, but Jesus was about to be sacrificed, as the bull would have been.
5. Verse 22:  Golgatha literally means "the skull".  It's not clear whether it got its name because of how it looked, or because of of the crucifixions that routinely occurred there.
6. Verses 23-24:  Jesus refused the wine; he said he would not drink it again until the Restoration.
7. Verses 25-26:  Jesus' identify as King of the Jews is confirmed.
8. Verse 27:  Jesus is crucified with one on each side.
9. Verses 38-39:  The curtain in the temple was torn.  Matthew describes an earthquake, and holy people being raised from the dead and walking around the city.

So  the centurion knew what this looked like.  Mark is saying that not only is Jesus Christ the Son of God, but that the crucifixion is not a defeat, but a triumph.  Rome says, "we have a gospel, a son of god, peace to the world (Pax Romana)", all distinguishing features of Christianity.  But the contrast is stark.  Rome says, "You sacrifice for me".  Jesus says, "I sacrifice for you; I'm nothing like the emperor gods".

Jesus was taken down from the cross and hastily put into the tomb while it was still Friday, the first day of Unleavened Bread, which that year occurred the day before the weekly Sabbath.

Resurrection

Jesus rises on Sunday morning.  It is the day after the weekly Sabbath.  Is is the day of barley First Fruits.  I Corinthians 15:20-23 describes Jesus as the first fruits of the resurrection of all of the dead.  Jesus is again fulfilling the Old Testament feasts.

In John 20:17, Jesus instructs Mary not to hold on to him, "For I have not yet ascended to the Father".  And then he says to tell his brothers that he is ascending to "my Father and your Father, to my Godand your God".  A week later, in John 20:26-27, when the disciples are gathered, he invites Thomas to touch his hands and side.  Somehow now, it is okay to touch him, whereas before it wasn't.  I don't really know what "ascending to the Father" meant in this situation (because I only think of "ascending" as when Jesus left the earth 40 days later), but it appears that Jesus "ascended to the Father" between those two events.  I think that is somehow related to the priest waving the grain offering on the day of First Fruits, but I can't develop this any further.

In Acts 13:35, Paul indicates that Jesus' resurrection was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Psalm 16:10, "you will not let your holy one see decay".  Paul goes on to argue that David could not be speaking of himself here, since he died and was buried and decayed, but rather, this is a Messianic prophecy.  In the Hebrew mind, decay started on day 4 of death.  If someone died quietly, in their sleep or whatever, people would come to the tomb for the first 3 days and call for him to come out, just in case he wasn't really dead.  But if there was no response, then on day 4 the person was "dead dead".  It's interesting how this plays with Lazarus' death.  When Jesus heard he was sick, he stayed for 2 more days where he was before going back to Judea (John 11:6).  When Jesus finally gets there and Lazarus has now been dead for 4 days, Martha objects when Jesus wants to have the tomb opened, because at day 4 now, Lazarus would stink (John 11:39).  He's "dead dead" at this point.  Jesus, in calling Lazarus out of the tomb, was doing what they would have done for the previous 3 days.   

Jesus himself was known to be dead while he was on the cross because the centurion verified it by piercing his heart with a sword, so there was no need to wait for 4 days for Jesus to be "dead dead".  But in fulfillment of David's prophecy, that's why it was so important for Jesus to only be in the tomb 3 days, so his body would not see decay (which starts on day 4).  And Jesus himself had said that he would rise on the third day.

And so the timeline from Exodus and Leviticus all match up during Jesus' last week, allowing him to be killed on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, be dead for 3 days, and rise on the barley First Fruits.  All of these "calendars" converged perfectly that week.

Pentecost

In Acts 2:1, it says they were all in one place when the day of Pentecost came.  This was 50 days (by Hebrew reckoning) from barley first fruits and the resurrection.  It was the day of wheat first fruits.  Jesus had been with his disciples over a period of 40 days after his resurrection.  When he was taken up to heaven, he told them to return to Jerusalem and wait for the Gift his Father had promised; it would happen in a few days.  Luke says they were continually at the temple.  Surely they expected that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen on Pentecost.  And it happened at 9:00 in the morning, the time of the morning sacrifice.  A sound like the blowing of a violent wind came and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  We typically think of this as being the upper room, but that seems doubtful.  Luke says they were continually at the temple, and 120 seems like a lot of people to be packed into an upper room.  Then there's the fact that a crowd was immediately drawn to them, so they had to be somewhere where a crowd could be.  It is more likely that the reference to "the house" is to the house of God -- the temple.  

Back in John 12:24, Jesus gave a veiled reference to his death when he spoke of a kernel of wheat falling into the ground and dying, so it can bring forth much fruit.  It is interesting that he referred to wheat in particular.  He was planted into the ground on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and raised on barley first fruit, and now it is wheat first fruit.  Acts 2:41 says that those who received Peter's message that day were baptized, and about 3000 were added to their number that day.  The 3000 were the first fruit of Jesus' death.  And the fact that they needed water to baptize these people lends itself to believing that all of this occurred on the southern steps going into the temple, where all of the pools for ceremonial washing before going in to the temple, were located.

Go back to Exodus 32:28, where the Israelites have received the Torah, but when Moses didn't come down from the mountain soon enough to suit them, they asked Aaron to make them gods to lead them.  Aaron made the golden calf, and the Israelites partied in worship of it.  When Moses returned, he instructed the Levites to kill those who were participating in this, and about 3000 died.  It seems that in giving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, God is "un-doing" what was done when he gave the Torah.  (It also seems to me that the gift of tongues at Pentecost was God "un-doing" the confusion of the languages at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)).

God gave the Holy Spirit 50 days after the resurrection, like he gave the Torah 50 days after the crossing of the Red Sea, and all of these events occurred on the 2 First Fruit days.  The Torah was God's wedding covenant with Israel.  The Holy Spirit is God's guarantee or pledge of our salvation.  Both represent new beginnings, first fruit.  Both are God's gifts so his people can know how to live out his calling on their lives and represent him to others.  Again, it's all about "wearing blue well".

It seems that God is really up to something with the Hebrew feasts.  All of these are the spring feasts.  There are 3 feasts that occur in the fall, as well.  None of this can be random.  It all has to mean something.  I believe the the fall feasts will find their fulfillment as a part of Christ's return.








Handouts

Gethsemane

shemen, gatshemen
Luke 22:44
Matthew 26:36-46
Deuteronomy 17:6
John 18:11
Psalm 75:8
Jeremiah 25:15-16

Jesus on the Cross

Matthew 27:45-46
remez
Psalm 22:1
Psalm 22:7-8, 14-18
Psalm 22:24
John 19:28-30
Psalm 22:31
Matthew 27:50
Luke 23:46
Psalm 31:5
Mark 15:38
Mark 15:39
Mark 15:16-27, 38-39
Golgatha

Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:20-23
John 20:17
John 20:26-27
Acts 13:35
Psalm 16:10
John 11:6, 39

Pentecost

Acts 2:1
John 12:24
Acts 2:41
Exodus 32:28

Jesus' Last Week Part 1 (November 9, 2014)

Talking points

This lesson comes in two parts because it is too long for one week.  It is mostly about Jesus' "last week".  It doesn't have a real application, other than to help bring to life some of the rich pictures that are hidden in the Text that we don't even know are there.  All of this will be framed in the context of Jesus as the Passover Lamb.  The New Testament has several references to Jesus being the "Lamb of God" or the "Passover Lamb", and without blemish or defect.  This is not an after-thought, tacked on to the Old Testament stories.  Rather, the Old Testament stories hint at a very rich fulfillment in Jesus.  We're going to explore that, by first exploring some of those Old Testament stories themselves.

The Spring Jewish Festivals

The Jewish calendar is based on the moon.  A new month starts with each new moon.  So the months will vary between 29 and 30 days.  In Exodus 12:1-6, God is reorienting their calendar.  That current month is to now be the first month of their year.  It was named Nisan, and was also known as Aviv or Abib.  The month of Nisan is the month with the first full moon after the spring equinox.  Since each month always starts with a new moon, the full moon is always on the 14th of the month.  Some years actually had 13 months, because when it was time for Nisan to come around again, it's full moon would have been before the spring equinox.  When that happened, an extra month was inserted at the end of the year, so Nisan could always come out right.

Passover

So sometime that month, God gave the instructions to Moses regarding the lamb.  The 10th day of the month was to be "lamb selection day".  They would choose a lamb without blemish and take it into the house with them for the next few days, and continually inspect it to assure it has no defects.  Then they would slaughter it on the 14th day at twilight.  I think of twilight as being right after the sun has set, but this would have been as their day is ending (right before sunset).  They would slaughter it at the end of the 14th day, and by the time they would eat it after sunset, it would now be the next day (the evening of the 15th; remember Hebrew days start at sunset).  From the Text, it appears that Moses gave these instructions to the Israelites on the 14th, because it sounds like they had to hurry to slaughter the lamb that day, so the instructions regarding starting on the 10th day would have been for when they commemorate the Passover in subsequent years.  They were to eat their bread with no yeast.  When they were leaving Egypt, there was no time to wait for yeast to rise.  But also, yeast is a symbol for sin, and God had them purge their houses of it.  The angel of death was going to pass over their house that evening (assuming they have the blood of the lamb on their doorposts), but would kill the firstborn of the Egyptians.  The Israelites were to leave Egypt during the day on the 15th.  The word for Passover is pesach, but it doesn't mean "Passover"; it means "protective sacrifice" -- that which enabled the "passing over".  It protects you from what is about to happen all around you.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread started the day after Passover.  It was 7 days long, and the first and last days are essentially Sabbaths (sometimes they are referred to as Sabbaths, and sometimes not).  These were in addition to the regular weekly Sabbaths (though in some years one of them would coincide).  The people were to hold a sacred assembly on the first and last days, and were not to do any work except what was needed to prepare food.

Crossing the Red Sea

Israel crossed the Red Sea some number of days after starting their departure from Egypt on the 15th.  It appears that they crossed in a single night, and that the Egyptians were dead on the shore by daybreak.  It would be nice to know how long after their departure on the 15th this actually was, but I don't think we can know for sure.  There are some reasons to believe it might be on the third day (the 17th):

• In Exodus 5:3, before they had left, Moses had asked permission for Israel to go 3 days journey into the wilderness to worship God.
• The recounting of their journey in Numbers 33:1-8 has been construed to indicate a crossing on the 17th, but the reasoning seems to be off by a day or two as I see it

But the stronger reasons come by inference from other Old Testament stories where significant new beginnings occurred on the 17th of that month:

• Genesis 8:4 says the ark touched down on the earth on the 17th day of the 7th month.  That was the month of Nisan, which God later told Moses was to be their first month
• Exodus 12:40-41 says that it was 430 years to the day after Israel went into Egypt that the Lord brought them out.  It's not clear to me whether "the day the Lord brought them out of Egypt" refers to the day they started leaving (the 15th), or to the day they actually left Egypt by crossing the Red Sea.   In the Hebrew mind, their nation was born the day they crossed the Red Sea.  Whatever day they crossed, it was the same day 430 years earlier that their forefathers went into Egypt, so if it actually was on the 17th, then both events occurred on the 17th.
• Joshua 5:10 - 6:2 describes Israel crossing the Jordan River and preparing to take Jericho.  Events are described as occurring on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of that same month, and then the very next thing is the encounter that Joshua has with the "commander of the Lord's army", who gives instructions for taking Jericho.  It is reasonable (though not certain) to think that this occurred on the 17th.
• In 2 Chronicles 29:1-28, Hezekiah has the temple cleaned up and the sacrifices resumed after years of neglect.  This occurred on the 17th of that same month.
• In the book of Esther, the evil Haman has all but ensured the destruction of the Jews, but his plot is exposed to the king.  As a result, Haman is hanged and the Jews are granted the right to defend themselves against the destruction that has been decreed toward them.  Dates are given throughout the story, and it appears that all of this occurred on the 17th of that same month.  The Jews later overthrew their enemies, killing 75,000 of them.

So while it is conjecture about Israel crossing the Red Sea on the 17th, it seems undeniable that God is up to something here that we'd like to be able to get our heads around.

Israel arrives in the desert of Sinai on the first day of the 3rd month, so they've been on the road a little more than 6 weeks at that point.  They camped in front of Mt. Sinai, but the Text doesn't say how long it took to get there from the point where they entered the desert, so we don't know exactly when this occurred.  But once they get there, Moses goes up the mountain and meets with God, who tells him to have the people be ready on the 3rd day (today, tomorrow, the next day) for him to come down the mountain and give the Torah.  By Jewish tradition, God came down the mountain 50 days after the people left Egypt (crossed the Red Sea), but I don't see how we can know that from the Text.  By Jewish counting methods, this would count the day they crossed the Red Sea as day 1, and the day God gave the Torah as day 50.

First Fruits

The book of Leviticus gives more information regarding the Feasts.  It confirms again that Passover is on the 14th, and the Festival of Unleavened Bread starts on the 15th and goes for 7 days, with the first and last days being extra Sabbaths.  But there is more.

The day of First Fruits is the day after the weekly Sabbath (not the extra Sabbaths) following Passover.  (The Text doesn't seem to indicate exactly which weekly Sabbath this is, but it meant, and was practiced, as the first weekly Sabbath following Passover).  This would be for the barley harvest.  You give your first barley grain to the priest who waves it before the Lord.  You cannot begin harvesting your crop until after this first fruit ceremony.  First Fruit is all about giving God the first portion of your harvest, acknowledging his provision and trusting him to provide for you after you've given him the first.

So think about when the barley First Fruit can occur.  It is the day after the weekly Sabbath after Passover.  Passover is on the 14th, the weekly Sabbath after it can occur anywhere from the 15th to the 21st.  This means First Fruits can be anywhere from 16th to the 22nd, so on some years it will occur on the 17th.

Then you count off 50 days starting with the day of the barley First Fruit and come to another "day after the Sabbath" seven weeks later, and you have another First Fruit, for the wheat crop.  This festival is called shavuot.  Here you offer 2 loaves made from your wheat with leaven, and this is another extra Sabbath.

The fact that the two First Fruit days are 50 days "apart" (by Jewish reckoning) and that by tradition the Torah was given 50 days "after" crossing the Red Sea (again by Jewish reckoning) is really significant.  The crossing of the Red Sea was the day the nation was born.  The Torah was God's marriage covenant with Israel.  Both of those event surely qualify as "first fruit events".  There can be no doubt but that those two events occurred on the two days of First Fruit.  God hadn't established the Sabbath Day for Israel yet at the time they left Egypt, but he did establish it for them along the way (when he started giving them manna on 6 of 7 days), before they arrived at Mt. Sinai.  No doubt, the Sabbath Day was established for Israel to coincide with being the day before these first fruit events.

So go back to the major Old Testament events representing new beginnings that occurred, or may have occurred, on the 17th of the month.  I've got to believe they actually occurred on the barley First Fruit day.  In the cases where the Text is clear that they occurred on the 17th, then surely the barley First Fruit was on the 17th that year.  Where it is not clear that they occurred on the 17th, they at least occurred on a day close to it, which was (I believe) when the day of First Fruits would have occurred that year, sometime from the 16th to the 22nd.

Palm Sunday

Jesus comes into Jerusalem riding the colt, which leaves no question he is announcing himself as the Messiah.  He has hidden that fact before many times, to prevent what is about to happen this week from happening too soon.  But now the time is right.  He is to be proclaimed as the Messiah, and he says that if the people didn't do it, the rocks would.  The people understand he is the Messiah, and think that the age of peace associated with the Great Day of the Lord is going to arrive after the Messiah throws Rome off their backs.  Their cries of Hosanna are not necessarily what we think they are. They mean "God save us!", and they come from the time of the Macabees (164 BC) where they were used as a war cry.  Judas Macabees started a revolt against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and liberated Jerusalem.  Then there was a celebration of his military success, complete with the shouts of hosanna and the palm branches, just like we see when Jesus is coming to Jerusalem. "Go get 'em, Jesus!  The Macabees did it.  We can do it again!"  Everybody believed the Messiah would come on some Passover, and they all expected him to lead a revolt against an oppressive foreign power, just like Moses led the people out of Egypt on Passover.  It's what they all wanted; it's what they thought the Messiah would do.  Given their view of the End Times, you really can't blame them for thinking that way when they see Jesus on the colt.

But it's a different experience for Jesus.  When Jesus came over the Mount of Olives and saw Jerusalem, he cried.  The word for "cry" in the Text is the Greek word klaio, which means to cry vehemently and uncontrollably, like parents who have lost a child.  It's not merely being overcome with emotion, which would be the meaning of the Hebrew word dakrou, like when Jesus wept over Lazarus' death.  Jesus cried here, because the city did not recognize the Kingdom of God and his Messianic agenda when he came, and it was going to be brutal for them as a result.  "If you only knew what would bring you peace.  You think it comes by the sword.  You want to kill the oppressors, but that's not the way of the Kingdom".  Ironically, peace would only come when they killed him.  In Matthew 23:37, Jesus calls the name of Jerusalem twice.  That only happens on 8 occasions in the entire Text, and indicates God's calling of someone to a new path.  Israel could have had a path of peace, but now it is going to be disaster.  Their time has come and gone, and won't come again until Christ comes again in the End Times, when they will finally recognize him.

I can't confirm from the Scriptures that the day Jesus entered Jerusalem was the day after the weekly Sabbath (Sunday), but church tradition from the earliest times holds that as true.   So as best we can sort out the narratives in the Text and rely on church tradition, Passover was Thursday that week, and that being the 14th would have made the Sunday before it, which we regard as Palm Sunday, be on the 10th.  So Jesus enters Jerusalem on Lamb Selection day.  He presents himself as the Messiah and as God's Lamb.

The first thing he does is to cleanse the temple from the money changers.  (Recall that one of the expectations of the Messiah was that he would clean up the corruption in the temple).  We've all heard this story many times.  He was angry because the religious establishment was keeping people from worshiping God, and he cleaned it up.  This parallels the cleaning that had to be done in the Israelites' homes to purge them of all leaven before Passover.  But besides cleansing the temple, the story includes an innocent-sounding verse, that makes you wonder why it is included.  Matthew 21:14 says that the blind and the lame came to him at the temple and he healed them.  Why are the blind and the lame singled out?  2 Samuel 5:6-8 tells us that before David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites, they taunted him, saying that even the blind and the lame could defend the city; David would never take it.  But he did, and he came to refer to the Jebusites as "the blind and the lame".  And in his hatred for them, he said "the blind and the lame will not enter the house".  Whether he meant his palace, or the temple (the house of God that he wanted to build, but which Solomon built instead), isn't clear, but it came to be the temple.  The priests excluded the blind and the lame from participating in the temple worship.  So when Jesus cleanses the temple, they realize that he has opened up the temple to them as well.

Lamb Inspection

Jesus spends the next few days teaching, and in the same way that the lamb was inspected for defects every day before Passover, he tangled with the religious leaders and was tested by them as they tried to trap him. 

•  In Matthew 21:23-27, Jesus' authority was questioned by the chief priests and elders.  "By what authority do you do these things, and who gave you this authority?"  He had cleansed the temple the day before, and they were upset about it.  It is interesting that they asked about his authority.  Recall that there were several occasions where the gospels say that Jesus "spoke as one who had authority, not as their teachers of the Law".  The notion of "having authority" was significant.  It was conferred from one person to another.  It started with Aaron, the brother of Moses, and was traced down the line through the generations.  There was a ceremony where one person with authority would confer it on his successor, and there were witnesses.  A person with authority could provide new interpretations from the Law and the Prophets; a person without it could only teach what others taught.  The chief priests and the elders didn't like what Jesus was doing and wanted to have a word with whoever it was that conferred authority onto him. 
  
  Jesus says he won't answer their question unless they first answer his question, which they decide they cannot do.  How many times have you looked at this and thought Jesus looked maybe a little childish here, maybe a little bit like a brat?  But recall that the rabbinical teaching method was to answer a question with another question which actually answers the original question and takes the conversation further.  That's what Jesus is doing here, but the chief priests and elders don't realize that Jesus was actually answering their question.  He asks them about John's baptism.  John was the one who baptized Jesus, and at that event God said "this is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased".  Jesus is indicating that he had received his authority both from John (who had received it from God - recall John's birth), and from God.  Jesus goes on to speak with authority in the many situations that follow.
   
• Starting in Matthew 21:28, Jesus goes on to tell a number of parables about the Kingdom, using them to speak against the chief priests and the Pharisees.  This goes on through Matthew 22:14.
   
• Starting in Matthew 22:15, the Pharisees and the Herodians team up against Jesus.  These two groups couldn't stand each other.  The Herodians were Jews who had positions of power and favor with Herod (and therefore with Rome); the Pharisees tried their best to obey every possible law in order that God would bring about his Kingdom and throw Rome off their backs.  But these two groups had a common enemy in Jesus, and they tried to trick him with a question about paying taxes to Caesar; surely his answer would have to offend one group or the other.   In typical rabbinic style, Jesus started answer their question with another question.  "Whose image and inscription is on the coin used for paying the taxes"?  They replied that it was Caesar's.  Jews weren't to make images of anything, so Jesus is indicating (1) that coin is not God's, and (2) Caesar is not God.  "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's".  His answer amazed them so much that they left him and went away.
  
• But the Sadducees were next, starting in Matthew 22:23 with a question about the resurrection.  They didn't believe in the resurrection, and they suggest a preposterous story that the resurrection couldn't possibly account for.  Jesus answers that the resurrection will be unlike anything they expect, and so their story is moot.  Furthermore, he says that the Scriptures say God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, indicating that the patriarchs are still alive.  This is a new interpretation.  The crowds are astonished, and the Sadducees are silenced.
  
• The Pharisees then think it is their turn and they get together and one of them, an expert in the Law, tests Jesus with the question, starting in Matthew 22:34, "What is the greatest commandment?"  He's looking for a fight, but Jesus tells him that the whole Law is important, and all of it hangs on loving God with all your being, and loving your neighbor as yourself.  There's really no argument for this.

Then before they can do anything else, Jesus goes on the offensive and asks them a question about David and the Messiah that they can't answer.  "If David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?"  Matthew 22:46 says that from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.  The inspection process is done!

Jesus' Passover Meal -- The Lord's Supper

Next we look at Jesus' Passover celebration.

Based on an interpretation of the Text and on early church tradition, we're assuming that Passover (on the 14th) took place on Thursday that week and that Jesus celebrated the passover meal in the evening of the 15th (Thursday night to us, the beginning of Friday the 15th and the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Hebrews) and was crucified later that day (Friday the 15th).  This is not an easy thing to understand if you research it.  I'm not sure it's right, but I can't do any better.  There are reasonable sounding arguments for many different explanations of the timing of the week, based on different ways of reading the Text and understanding the traditions and history.  There are many layers and nuances to this that Gentiles and people without an innate understanding of Hebrews history and culture (including me) would not even notice or think about.  So I can't prove that the timing of events actually took place the way I'm describing them here.  And there are things about it that don't seem "right" to me, and I can't find a way to make them all "right".  But we're going with the traditional church calendar timeline for this week, since it comes from the earliest church traditions.  Whether it is exactly right or not probably doesn't matter.  It will be close enough to see the big picture.

Luke 22:1-6 describes Judas becoming Satan's pawn and agreeing to hand Jesus over to the religious leaders.  How would Judas have gotten to this point?  He was probably a Zealot (as was Simon, one of the other disciples).  The Zealots were militantly anti-Roman.  Judas was probably one of them because of his surname, Iscariot.  This is believed to be a form of the title sicarii, meaning "dagger-men", a group of ultra-Zealots who carried a knife with them at all times to be prepared to assassinate traitors and capitulators.  It was known as the "sicarii knife".  Today we would have called him "Judas the dagger-man".  As a Zealot, Judas would have been attracted to Jesus' message at first, but then when the Kingdom didn't seem to be about overthrowing Rome, he would have lost interest.  Judas here may be thinking of revenge against a false Messiah, but more likely he is trying to force Jesus' hand, putting him into a position where he would have to act as Judas thought he should.  The #1 command for all Jews was to "Love the Lord your God ...".  For Zealots, the #2 command was "No idolatry" (which would include paying taxes and tribute to Rome).  Jesus' #2 command was "Love your neighbor as yourself".  As these differences became more and more clear, Judas had to take matters into his own hand.  His intent probably was not for Jesus to be killed (as we see such remorse on his part when it went that way and he couldn't stop it), but just to force Jesus to get started with his military agenda.  At some point, however, he was Satan's pawn, with Satan taking advantage of Judas' inclinations and using that for his own purposes.

When Jesus wants to get ready to celebrate the Passover, he gives some cryptic instructions in Luke 22:7-13. Why would he have done it that way?  It most certainly would be so Judas would not know where Jesus would be celebrating the Passover, so Judas could not do something against Jesus at that time.  Luke 22:14-16 indicates that Jesus was very eager to celebrate this particular Passover with his disciples.  It was going to be his last, and he still had many things to teach them and was running out of time.

Jesus' Passover meal would have been the traditional Jewish Passover Seder.  This is a long drawn-out meal taking 4-5 hours.  All Seders followed the same script.  In fact the word seder means "order".  I want to look at a couple aspects of it.

The meal would not have been at a long table with Jesus in the middle like Michaelangelo has painted it.  It would instead have been at a triclinium, which is a 3-sided table in the shape of a U around an open area, with the 4th side open for serving the meal to all 3 sides from within.   The people did not "sit" at the table, but rather "reclined".  They basically would lay on their left sides, propped up with their left arm, eating with their right, with their heads near the table, and feet away from it.  For purposes of describing it here, let's assume we are observing it in front of the open area, so the table starts on our left and goes back away from us, then goes across the back and toward the right, then on the right side it comes again to the front towards us.  The people on our left would be laying on their left sides facing towards us, while the people on the right would be laying on their left sides facing away from us.  The people at the back would be laying on their left sides, facing to our left.  The second position from the front on the left side would be the position of the host, which would be Jesus.  From the story in John 13:21-26, we can figure out where some of the key people were positioned.  John leans back against Jesus to talk to him, so he has to be on the left side in the very front position, next to Jesus (so while reclining on his left side he could lean back to him); he would be the first person we would see on the left side from our place of observation.  Peter is not near John, and communicates with him by motioning.  Where would Peter have to sit so he could have the best eye-contact with John?  Directly across from him, on the right side at the front.  He would be the first person we would see on the right side from our place of observation, and we would see his back.  (I believe this is a weak argument for where Peter would have been seated, but there is much literature available that puts him in that position).  Judas would have been on the other side of Jesus so Jesus could have given him the bread after dipping it (other Gospels say Judas was the one dipping with Jesus, so he would have been next to him).  Another reason for Judas to be next to Jesus would be for Judas and Jesus to have this exchange privately so none of the other disciples knew what was going on.

The amazing thing about this seating arrangement is the role associated with the places these disciples were reclining in, and what Jesus was communicating with it:

• John was in the place of the "intimate friend".  He was the disciple Jesus loved.  "John, you're the youngest.  I care for you like a son.  You're going to take care of my mother".
• Peter was in the servant's place.  "Peter, you're going to be the leader after I'm gone, but you've got to learn how to serve.  Remember the whole foot-washing incident?  You had the role of the servant, but you didn't wash everyone's feet and I had to do it for you".
• Judas was in the place of the "guest of honor".  "Judas, I love you and will not stop loving you in spite of what you're doing".

Jesus tells them that one of them will betray him.  Matthew 26:21-25 records their responses.  All of the (other) disciples say, "Surely you don't mean me, Lord?", but Judas says, "Surely you don't mean me, rabbi?".  "Lord" means master -- I will obey you.  Rabbi means teacher - I will listen to you.  There's not the same level of commitment to Jesus in their responses.  Jesus answers him, "You have said so".  By Judas' own words he incriminated himself; his words betrayed him.

Then Jesus starts what we call "The Lord's Supper" (Matthew 26:26-30).  We're familiar with the symbolism from a Christian standpoint, but there's more to it when we look at the Passover Seder.

• Jesus takes a cup  and says it is his blood of the (new) covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
• After that cup he says he will not drink of the fruit of the vine from then on until he drinks of it new with them in his Father's kingdom.
• When they sang a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.

In I Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul describes the Lord's Supper based on what he had received in revelation from Christ.  He says Jesus took the cup after supper.  So here's where we need to dig in deeper.  In the Passover Seder there were 4 cups of wine.  Two were drank before the meal, and 2 after.  The cups had symbolic meaning, and were taken from the Passover and Israel's Exodus from Egypt.  Their meaning comes from Exodus 6:6-7:

1. The cup of Sanctification comes from the phrase, "I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians".
2. The cup of Deliverance comes from the phrase, "I will free you from being slaves to them".
3. The cup of Redemption comes from the phrase, "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment".
4. The cup of Restoration comes from the phrase, "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God".

The cup Jesus offered was after supper, so it was the cup of Redemption.  "This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins".  He did not drink the cup of Restoration; he said he would not drink of the fruit of the vine again until he did so in the Kingdom (where everything would be restored).  Why does the Text say they went out after they'd sung a hymn?  Why do we need to know that?  The next-to-last event in the Seder was the singing of Psalms 113-118, so that would have been the hymn they sang.  The last event in the Seder was the drinking of the 4th cup, so the Text is confirming that they did not drink it.

This lesson continues next week.

Handouts

John 1:29
1 Peter 1:18-19
1 Corinthians 5:7

The Spring Jewish Festivals

    Passover
        Exodus 12:1-6
        Aviv or Abib
        Nisan
        pesach
        Exodus 12:21-23

     Feast of Unleavened Bread
        Exodus 12:14-18

     Crossing the Red Sea
        Exodus 5:3
        Numbers 33:1-8
        Genesis 8:4
        Exodus 12:40-41
        Joshua 5:10 - 6:2
        2 Chronicles 29:1-28
        Esther 3:12 and following
        Exodus 19:1-2
        Exodus 19:10-11

    First Fruits
        Leviticus 23:5-8
        Leviticus 23:9-11, 14
        Leviticus 23:15-17, 20-21
        shavuot

Palm Sunday
    Luke 19:28-31
    Zechariah 9:9
    Luke 19:37-40
    Matthew 21:8-9
    hosanna
    Luke 19:41-44
    klaio (Greek)
    dakrou (Hebrew)
    Matthew 23:37
    Matthew 14:12-14
    2 Samuel 5:6-8

Lamb Inspection
    Matthew 21:23-27
    Matthew 21:28 - Matthew 22:14
    Matthew 22:15-22
    Matthew 22:23-34
    Matthew 22:35-40
    Matthew 22:41-46

Jesus’ Passover Meal - The Lord's Supper
    Luke 22:1-6
    Luke 22:7-13
    Luke 22:14-16
    seder
    John 13:21-26
    triclinium
    Matthew 26:21-25
    Matthew 26:26-30
    1 Corinthians 11:23-26
    Exodus 6:6-7

The Kingdom of Heaven Part 2 (November 2, 2014)

Talking Points

This is a continuation of the prior lesson.

Messiah

Several prophetic passages about the Messiah indicate that justice and righteousness are the pillars of God's throne and kingdom, and that the Messiah will reign with justice and righteousness.  I've always thought of these in more abstract terms, but last week's lesson focused in on these being practical issues, regarding how we treat the poor, the disadvantaged, the oppressed, etc.

• The Messiah would uphold Justice and Righteousness
• Jeremiah 23:5  I will raise up to David a righteous branch.  A King who will do what is just and right in the land.
• Isaiah 9:7  He will reign on David's throne, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness
• The angelic announcement at Jesus' birth foretold the Kingdom: shalom (peace) on earth, ratzon (good will) toward men.  (Note that the italicized words here are the Hebrew words that would have been used if Luke had been written in Hebrew).
• The use of the term ratzon, is a remez, a hint that takes you back to earlier usages of unique words or phrases in the Text.  A common rabbinical teaching method was to import the context/meaning of those earlier passages into the current context to shed more light on it.  In this case, the use of ratzon is found in Isaiah 61:2, where it says to proclaim the "year of the Lord's favor".  This is the term ratzon la'Adonai.  It is the divine good-will that reaches out to others in mercy, compassion, and blessing. 
• This is an announcement that the "Year of the Lord's Favor" is coming.  Shalom is coming.  Justice and Righteousness are coming.  We often think of these only in the sense of when Jesus comes again, and that his first coming was only to pay for sins.  But if he only came to pay for sins, there's so much of what he did that he wouldn't have to have done.  He came to bring the Kingdom, to show us what the Kingdom looks like now and how it is to be lived/walked out (halakh), which is what Israel was supposed to have done (hence we find him reliving Israel's history).  In addition to providing salvation from sin, he came to show us how to "wear blue well".  God is restoring everything all the way back to Genesis 1 that was broken in the fall of Genesis 3.  He's not just providing salvation from sin, because the story starts in Genesis 1, not Genesis 3.
• When John is put into prison, Jesus began his ministry, in Galilee.  There's a definite transition point there.  John came to prepare the way for Jesus, and his mission is done; it's time for Jesus to start, and he's bringing the Kingdom of God.  When he preaches, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near", he's not talking about near in time; he's speaking of proximity.  He is the king; the kingdom is near everyone near to him.  He preaches the good news of the Kingdom in synagogues all over Judea and Galilee.

Jesus in the Synagogue in Nazareth

We get some really good insight into Jesus' ministry during an encounter in the synagogue of his home town of Nazareth when it was his turn to read on the Sabbath.  In order to understand the Text, we first need an understanding of what a synagogue service was like.

What did a synagogue service look like?

In Jesus' time, the synagogue was a place for a school, was sort of like a rec center, and had services on the Sabbath.  It wasn't a formalized institution until after Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70AD and a new place of worship was needed.  The service on the Sabbath consisted of the following elements:

1. Mikvah (ceremonial or ritual cleansing).  There were baths outside of the synagogue for this purpose.
2. Come in and sit down
3. Singing of the Psalms
4. Recite the Sh'ma together.
5. Amidah - 18 blessings and a benediction
6. Reading of the Torah.  There would be the reader for the day.  A schedule for the community.  You would know in advance and could prepare.  The reader would read from the bema, the raised platform in the center.  5-10 minutes.
7. Reading from the prophetic books -- a passage that goes along with the Torah passage.
8. Derashah (sermon).  The person who read from the prophets would give the sermon.  It was done from the Moses Seat.  3-5 minutes.  The speaker would discuss the implications of the passage he had read, and how he was applying it to his life.  When it was your week to read, you would know your section ahead of time so you could be prepared.

Jesus went to the synagogue in his home town (Nazareth).  We pick up the story in Luke 4:16-22, where the description starts with step 7.  The Torah would have already been read, because it says Jesus stood up (presumably on the bema) and read from the prophets.  Then he sat down (on the Moses Seat) and his sermon consisted entirely of "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing".  The passage speaks of being anointed, which would refer to the Messiah.  In saying that the Scripture is being fulfilled right then, Jesus is saying he is the anointed one, proclaiming, among other things, that he is the Messiah.

What's special about Nazareth?

The people are glad; ecstatic.  "This is Joseph's son!"  Why are they so excited about this?  We need to know who these people are.  Jeremiah 23:5 says, "I will raise up for David a righteous branch".  Israel has always been represented by the olive tree.  You can't kill an olive tree.  You can cut it down to a stump and it regrows itself from there.  You can't kill Israel; God always has a remnant.  This passage is a prophecy about the Messiah coming from David's line.  The Hebrew word for a branch or shoot from an olive stump is netzer.  The city of Nazareth was about people who were anticipating the coming of the Messiah and expected him to come from among them.  They took the name of their city from the word netzer.  Nazareth means "people of the branch".  So of course, they're ecstatic when they realize one of their own actually is the Messiah.

Messianic expectations

• Nobody thought he would be divine (Son of God).  The passage in Daniel 7:13-14 is perhaps the only possible Old Testament passage that could be interpreted as saying that the Messiah would be divine.  It speaks of a "son of man" (human being) approaching the Ancient of Days and being in his presence.  This person would have to be divine to be there, but it is not necessarily clear that this person is the Messiah.
• Like Moses, he would teach the Torah with utmost brilliance.  (Deuteronomy 18:15).
• Like Moses, he would be a deliverer
• He would cleanse the temple
• He would lead a successful military revolt against a foreign pagan oppressive empire (Rome at the time)
• He would inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven with God reigning over the nations from Jerusalem

The Jews had a 2-part view of history

• The present age
• The age to come (end times) brought by the Messiah.  Judgment will happen. The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.  Israel will be vindicated.  Rome will be expunged.  God will reign in Jerusalem after a revolution.

Jesus had a 3-part view of history

• The present age
• The Messiah's first coming, which would be about ratzon la'Adonai 
• The Messiah's second coming, which would be about judgment and end times

Jesus' Scripture reading in Nazareth.

Jesus reads from Isaiah, mostly from 61:1-2, but it doesn't appear quite the same in Luke 4:18-19 as it does in Isaiah.  Some of that is related to translation, but there are 2 significant differences:

1. Jesus stops with "to proclaim the year of the Lord's Favor".  He doesn't read the next phrase, "and the day of vengeance of our God".  The implication is clear:  He is here about ratzon la'Adonai.  He is not here about the day of God's wrath; that will come later.  Right now, he is here about the kingdom breaking forth and showing the mercy of God.
2. Jesus "adds" the phrase "to set the oppressed free", which isn't in that Isaiah passage.  He reads it from Isaiah 58:5-6, which speaks of setting the oppressed free and also includes the phrase "a day acceptable to the Lord" (ratzon la'Adonai).  "Setting the oppressed free" is a remez, calling attention to the Isaiah 58 passage, which is the only other passage in the Old Testament in which ratzon la'Adonai appears.  It's like a witness; supporting material in a debate.  It's very much like Jesus' teaching style where he would illustrate a point 2 or 3 ways, which comes from Deuteronomy 17:6, which speaks of matters being established by the mouths of 2 or 3 witnesses.  Isaiah 58:7 goes on to describe what this Day of the Lord's Favor looks like.  This is what God wants to see happening.  This is how he wants to be represented in the world.  It's such a simple, positive message.

So that's the first surprise:  The Messiah is not about the judgment and vengeance the people were expecting.  He's about the divine good will.  The second surprise is that he was not here just for the Jews.  They expected that the Messiah would rule the world from Jerusalem and Israel would be vindicated, but Jesus is saying that the Gentiles are to be included in the Kingdom. This upset the people so much that they attempted to stone him. But both of these surprises were announced by the angels at Jesus' birth:  "Peace on earth, good will to men", and "good news for all the people".

John the Baptist

John's role as the preparer of the way

John introduced the Kingdom of Heaven, starting in Matthew 3.  "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near".  But what he describes after that is quite a bit different than what Jesus said.  John ties together the Day of God's Favor with the Day of God's Wrath, like the prophets and the rest of the Jews did.  He speaks of the coming wrath, the axe cutting down the tree, the winnowing fork in the hand, clearing the threshing floor, burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.  He mentions baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Most of what he has to say is about judgment.  He does not understand the Kingdom the way Jesus did.

In Matthew 11, John is in prison, and sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one "who is to come" or whether they should expect someone else.  John doesn't see Jesus acting like the Messiah as he understood him.  John knows Jesus is the Messiah; he baptized him.  And he knows that he (John) is the one who fulfilled the role prophesied in Malachi 3 & 4 of the one to prepare the way for the Messiah.  But Jesus is showing mercy, baptizing with the Holy Spirit; John wants him to "baptize with fire" too.  "I've prepared the way for you; you're supposed to come and clean things up.  Cast some fire!  Judge the wicked!  Start with Herod who put me in prison!"  In Luke 12:49-50, Jesus says that baptizing with fire is part of his mission (at some point), but that he's not eager for that; he wishes that day were already behind him.  He is here now for ratzon la'Adonai.

Jesus tells John's disciples to go back and report to John what they see, and he quotes from several Messianic prophecies of Isaiah regarding things relating to ratzon la'Adonai.  "This is my Messianic agenda.  You misunderstand it."  John was stumbling.  It is interesting that in the passages Jesus quotes, he omits any reference to captives being released from prison, indicating to John that he is not going to be released.  His calling was to prepare the way, and he has done that; his job is done.  "It's not what you expected, but don't stumble over it".

In Matthew 11:13, Jesus says that all of the Law and Prophets prophesied until John.  John was part of the era of the prophets, not the era of the Kingdom.  John will not participate in the Kingdom; he can only look forward to it like the other prophets did.  When he was put in prison, his job was done and that era ended and the Kingdom era began (Matthew 4:12-17).

In Matthew 11:7-10 Jesus commends John.  He was a very special prophet because he paved the way for the Messiah.  The reference to a reed swayed by the wind is from the Aesop Fable about the reed and the oak tree.  The read could sway with the wind and not break, but the oak would stand firm and resist the wind until it broke.  John was no reed; he stood up to Herod, and it ultimately broke him.

In Matthew 11:11, Jesus commends John, saying there is no one greater than him, but yet whoever was least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than John.  The Kingdom has started and John will not be in it; therefore anyone in the kingdom will be greater or more blessed than John.  It's not a question of eternal destination; it's a question of whether you will participate in it in this life.  Jesus took the Great Day of the Lord and brought it forward from eternity and broke into time with it, right after the time of John. John was part of the era of the prophets which ended then.

Misunderstanding Kingdom Violence

Matthew 11:12 speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven being subjected to violence, and violent men taking hold of it.  This verse has been used to justify violence and oppression in the name of Christianity.  It was used to justify the Crusades -- taking the Kingdom by force.  This doesn't make any sense.  God hates oppression, and Jesus said we need to receive or enter the Kingdom like a little child.  The power of the Kingdom overtakes you; you don't wield forcefully wield the Kingdom.

• Micah 2:12-13:  The rabbis say this is a Messianic passage.  Sheep are penned up at night and get restless and burst out in the morning when the barricade is removed, and they follow their shepherd.  The exile of Israel is like that before the coming of the Messiah.  They have been gathered.  They are restless waiting for the Messiah.  The One who breaks open the way (the "Breaker") will open the way for them to explode out to follow their Messiah.
• Malachi 4:5:  Elijah comes (back) before the Messiah.  The rabbis teach that Elijah is "The Breaker".
• Matthew 17:9-13:  On the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples have come to realize that Jesus is the Messiah.  So they ask him why the scribes say that Elijah has to come first (since obviously the Messiah is already here).  Jesus says Elijah has already come; he was John the Baptist.
• Matthew 11:14:  Jesus says that John the Baptist is Elijah.  He has come and opened the way.  So John is "The Breaker".

So in this passage about kingdom violence, Jesus is saying John has opened the way for the Israelites who are restlessly longing for the  Messiah, to enter the Kingdom.  They are bursting forth, exploding into it from their restless pent-up longing for it.  Think of the large crowds that followed John.  Think of the large crowds that followed Jesus.  Think of the many broken people who were healed by him in so many ways.  The Kingdom was forcefully advancing and people were breaking out powerfully to enter it.  Jesus is explaining that this is the fulfillment of Micah's prophecy.

The Sermon on the Mount and other of Jesus' teachings

We've heard many sermons and studies on the Beatitudes, to mine their depths.  And these are good; we need to aspire to those virtues.  But at a higher level, they are Jesus declaring the Kingdom values.  He is saying that those who are looking for these things are going to be blessed, and in fact are blessed right now, because the Kingdom is here and that's what it is all about.  For example, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted" and Isaiah 61:2 says, "... to comfort all who mourn".   "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they are going to be filled" -- that's what the Kingdom is about.  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" -- the Kingdom is about mercy because God desires it (not sacrifice).  "Blessed are the peacemakers for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" -- the Kingdom is about restoring shalom.  And so on.

The Kingdom is about shalom, justice, righteousness, ratzon la'Adonai.  Jesus goes on in the Sermon on the Mount to show what the Kingdom values really look like; what God meant when he gave the Torah; how to live them out; how to be priests and wear blue and represent God the way he wants to be represented; how to walk out (halakh) the Torah.  If Jesus came only to die, he wouldn't have to have done most of what he did.

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says his yoke is easy; his burden is light.  "Yoke" is a rabbi's interpretation of the Text.  He is saying that what he wants from us is not complex; it's easy to understand.  It is not the burden that the religious system puts on you.  He says, "and you will find rest for your souls".  That's a remez to Jeremiah 6:16, which says to ask for the ancient paths and the good way, and walk (halakh) in them and "you will find rest for your souls".  In John 14:6, Jesus says he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  "I am the ancient path; I am the good way.  I'm here to help you walk out (halakh) what God wanted."

Last week we looked at justice and righteousness as being the things God really wants.  Verses like Matthew 25:40, and 45-46 are scary because it is a personal affront to God when the poor, needy, oppressed -- the least of these -- are deprived of justice and righteousness, their basic needs.  This is God's heart, and the consequences of missing it are severe.  This doesn't mean that we need to do these things to enter the Kingdom; you can't earn it or work for it.  It means that if we've entered, this is how it will show up in our lives.  Remember the Hebrew understanding, that you don't really believe something unless it changes your behavior.

The Gates of Hades

Matthew 16:13-19 is a difficult passage, with some common interpretations.  In this passage, Peter is commended by Jesus for his statement that Jesus was the Son of God, because that is something that he could not have come up with on his own; God had to have revealed it to him.  But then there are some difficult passages:

• On this rock I will build my church.
• The gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
• I will give you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind or loose on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven.

This all occurs in the area of Caesarea Philippi.  Why do we need to know that?

• This area is well known as an area of worship of the god Pan or Panias.  And before that in the Israel kingdom times, it was the site of one of their high places for Baal worship.  Where is this place?  It's on the southern face of Mt. Hermon.  There's a cave there, and the area in front of it is where all of this worship took place.
• Pan worship started in the 3rd century BC.  It was active in Jesus' day.  It was nuts.  Pan was a combination goat/shepherd god, a god of fertility, symbolized by a half-goat/half-man.  His worship was crazy, like a panic, and the word "panic" actually derives from his name.  The sanctuary of Pan was on the rock area right in front of the cave.  His worship involved throwing animals into the cave as sacrifice, and it involved all kinds of sexual immorality, including sex with goats.  It all happened right there on the rock area in front of the cave; on the edge of Mt. Hermon, the biggest mountain in Israel and the source of the Jordan river.  It was the Las Vegas of the day.

Why did Jesus bring his disciples here, to Sin City, where what was going on was anything but Jewish?

•  The god Pan was the son of the god Hermes, after whom the mountain was named.  Hermes was known as "the messenger of the gods", and he was the conductor of the souls of the dead to Hades.  The entrance to Hades was thought to be right there in the cave.  Pan and Hermes were thought to regularly go back and forth between Hades and earth through the cave.
• At the Cave of Pan at Caesarea Philippi, there stood a statue of Pan, guarding the threshold to the cave.  The cave came to be known as the "gateway to Hades".
• So it appears that in bringing his disciples to this place for this encounter, Jesus is saying things like this:
• I (not Pan) am the Son of God (Peter's declaration)
• I am going to build my kingdom to address all of the brokenness and false religion that exists right here, and will prevail over it.
• You, Peter, are going to "succeed" me in the leadership when I am gone.  When decisions need to be made in areas where there is no commandment or Scriptural precedent, whatever you decide is how it will be.  (And the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 is a good example of this, where the church decided that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to become Christians.)

Conclusion

This is where the rubber hits the road for me:  Matthew 6:33.  "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you".

Even though this is our marriage verse, we've misunderstood this verse all our lives.  We've been thinking just in terms of salvation and eternal destination in heaven.  But the Kingdom of God and God's Righteousness are synonymous; a Hebrew parallelism.  They are the same thing.  The end-game is not salvation.  Salvation is essential, but it's only the beginning.  We need to be involved in expanding the kingdom, pushing out the brokenness, living/walking out kingdom values.  We've been involved in missions all our lives, but it's only been about eternity.  Now, we  understand it needs to also be about expanding God's Kingdom on earth.  This has absolutely changed our life purpose.

How do we represent God the way he wants to be represented?  How do we "wear blue well"?  The details will vary for each of us.  It seems the right perspective is that its about living in such a way as to give people a reason to want to know God.  It doesn't seem that the message of salvation from sin is a starting point most people in our culture would identify with.  They need to see in our lives a reflection of what matters to God.

• Be known for what we're for; not for what we're against.  
• Give God something to work with
• God is not looking for people to deliver a message; he is looking for people to be the message.

Handouts

 Messiah
    Jeremiah 23:5
    Isaiah 9:7
    Luke 2:10
    Luke 2:14
    shalom
    ratzon
    ratzon la’Adonai
    halakh
    Matthew 4:13-17
    Luke 4:42-44
    Matthew 4:23

Synagogue service
    1.    Mikvah (ceremonial cleansing)
    2.    Come in and sit down
    3.    Singing of the Psalms, led by the hyzzan
    4.    Sh’ma
    5.    Amidah (18 blessings and a benediction)
    6.    Torah read from the bema
    7.    Prophets
    8.    Derashah (sermon)
    Luke 4:16-22

Messianic expectations
    Deuteronomy 18:15

Jesus’ sermon in Nazareth

• Luke 4:18-19    The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
• Isaiah 61:1-2    The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn...

    Isaiah 58:5-6
    Isaiah 58:6-7
    Luke 4:23-30
    Luke 2:10
    Luke 2:14

John the Baptist
    Matthew 3:1-2
    Matthew 3:7-12
    Matthew 11:2-6
    Zechariah 9:9
    Malachi 3:1-2
    Malachi 4:5
    Luke 12:49-50
    Matthew 11:13
    Matthew 11:7-10
    Matthew 11:11

Kingdom violence
    Matthew 11:12
    Micah 2:12-13
    Malachi 3:5
    Matthew 11:14
    Matthew 17:9-13

Jesus’ teachings
    Matthew 5-7
    Matthew 11:28-30
    Jeremiah 6:16
    John 14:1
    Matthew 25:40, 45-46

The Gates of Hades
    Matthew 16:13-19

Conclusion
    Matthew 6:33