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:
- Mikvah (ceremonial or ritual cleansing). There were baths outside of the synagogue for this purpose.
- Come in and sit down
- Singing of the Psalms
- Recite the Sh'ma together.
- Amidah - 18 blessings and a benediction
- 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.
- Reading from the prophetic books -- a passage that goes along with the Torah passage.
- 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.
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 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.
- 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 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:
- 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.
- 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.
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".
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 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.
- 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.
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 58:6-7
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
No comments:
Post a Comment