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Today’s Text

Today’s Text

Some of you may have heard me talk before about how our imagination is hurt by the language “The Twelve Disciples.” If you read the text you will see that this is an unhelpful picture. There were many more than twelve disciples. Even the language of “The Twelve Apostles” distracts us from the fact that this label is broader than the twelve. I have come to think that we must call this special group something like “The Twelve.” What it lacks in descriptive details it gains in accuracy.

By know you may be wondering why I even care. There are a few reasons. I will list them in the order that they occur to me right now.

1. It reminds us that many are called to the ministry of discipleship and apostleship. Let us not fall into the trap of our high-church brothers and sisters and assume that apostleship (being sent as an ambassador for God) is limited to a small group of twelve. Even worse let us not think that only twelve are disciples.

2. There were women among Jesus original disciples.

3. Jesus taught his disciples. I am excited by the small group movement and the appropriate correction it offered to the dominance of the school model. Nevertheless I resent the way that some in the small group movement assume that small group are a sufficient medium for spiritual growth. (They are necessary I think but not sufficient.) Even more so I resent how the small group movement co-ops the ministry of Jesus and the early church and implies that small groups were the central or the only way that discipleship happened.

On the contrary, we see in Luke 6, that Jesus called the Twelve to be with him but then he immediately turns around and teaches to all the disciples. It is interesting to me that we have a balance in the gospels between things that happened with the Twelve and things that happened before all the disciples. When we confuse the term disciples and assume that it is talking about the twelve we miss this.

I am a huge fan of relational discipleship. It is an essential part of helping other grow in Christlikeness. But let us not pretend that Jesus’s strategy for discipleship was to choose twelve to pour into and then trust that at the right time they would pour into twelve more etc. Jeus sworked with 3, 12, 100’s, and the crowds. This same pattern can be seen in Acts and the letters of Paul. Why would we think that any part of this paterrn would ever be sufficient for us. WE need all.

4. I have more but that is enough for now.

-Ethan

Today’s Text

Before we talk about this text in detail, let’s make sure that we haven’t lost sight of the forest for the trees. Since the encounter at his hometown, we can see that Jesus is in a growing controversy with the leaders of the day. He still draws a crowd but there are now definitely two growing camps: Jesus enemies and his disciples. These two sabbath stories highlight the reality that his enemies are not passive in their distaste. They are apparently stalking him. He is being followed and already evidence is being gather for their assault on Jesus and his ministry.

In some sense these Sabbath controversies are trivial but they serve two important functions. First we must remember that Sabbath-breaking was one of the important accusations made against Jesus at his trial. Secondly, these Sabbath controversies symbolize everything that the Pharisees missed about what God intended for them as God’s people. This trajectory of God’s message being different than what anyone expected has been a consistent theme in Luke and it is very evident here.

In this text in particular I find myself fascinated by the choice that Jesus presents. “Which is lawful to seek to save a life or destroy one.” This is not an idle choice. There Pharisees were actually there seeking to destroy Jesus. Jesus was there to save. The irony is that they were not breaking the law and Jesus was. Technically it was okay to act to save a life in immediate danger even on the Sabbath. But this man was not in immediate danger. He could have been saved the next day. So by healing, Jesus was breaking the Pharisaical sabbath rules. But the Pharisees who were there stalking him looking for a way to destroy him were not.

I don’t know if we have any traditions like that. But it is worth asking, Do we have any practices in the church that put us in a position where it is okay to do evil but not good. I’ll take your comments. If i think of any I will post mine later.

-Ethan

Today’s Text

If you have questions about Sabbath and what all is going on there, you can ask. I’ll focus on one little snippet.

Barclay in his classic little companion highlights the question Jesus asked, “have you not read…?” He points out that of course they had read it. They had read it hundreds of times. However they had stopped being shaped by the text and instead tried to shape the text. They had stopped submitting to the text and instead wielded scripture like a weapon serving their own agendas.
I wish that I had a good HP7 spoiler to give as an illustration, but I don’t so that will have to wait.

-Ethan

Today’s Text

I love this gospel. I keep waiting for the text that is lame and boring and doesn’t make we want to begin by saying, “This is a great text. There is so much great stuff to talk about.” This week isn’t is it. So let’s get started.

This is a great text. There is so much great stuff to talk about. First of all we have the calling of Levi. [To fully understand this text, you have to understand what tax collectors did (not the same as what they do today.) and just how hated they were by the general population and by devout Jews in particular. If you have any questions about this, then ask. You need to know.] There are lots of beautiful details but for now let’s notice this. Jesus came for sinners. We need to proclaim this truth and demonstrate it with our lives. Jesus is on the side of the sinners. He works to make sinners lives better. He is interested in the well-being of sinners.

If I walked up to you at a sporting event and asked, “Who ya for?” You would understand my question. You would either tell me that you don’t care or you would tell me which team you want to win.

Apparently, when Jesus sees sinners, and see all the horrible things that they do he thinks to himself, “I am for these people.” Liberation theologians talk about the preferential option for the poor, and to a large degree I agree with this principle. But even more than that, Jesus has a preferential option for the degenerate. Jesus is especially concerned about the fate of murderers and liars and cheats. Precisely the traits that make me want to stay away from someone apparently draw Jesus toward them.

Think of the most dramatically evil character on the world scene. [Depending on your political perspective, you might be thinking of Osama Bin Laden, Dick Cheney, Ceasar Chavez, or Hillary Clinton. Don't ask who I picked because I won't say.] Whoever you thought of, you can be sure that Jesus is especially concerned about them. That is right. They are especially why Jesus came. I do not share this trait. I wish I did but I rarely do. I think that I am not alone.

I think that when the forces of evil line up against the forces of truth, justice and the democratic/capitalist way. We are too quick to be for the “good” guys and against others. I think that when someone calls themselves my enemy or acts like my enemy, I am too quick to agree with them. Instead I think that we need to be like Jesus and be radically for them.(Feel free to try to talk some sense into me Alex, but I won’t go down without a fight.) (That was supposed to be humorous irony but somehow it doesn’t work in print.)

[Important note to avoid misinterpretation. To be "for" a sinner is certainly not to be in support of their sinful activity. Rather it is to be particularly committed to their good.]

Apparently Jesus practice of partying with tax collectors was part of a general posture of partying in general as we see in the little discussion of fasting. And then we get to a wonderful parable.

No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’

Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they are still stuck with old wine. And more than that he is is telling them. Don’t try to fit my new teaching into your old worldview. Don’t think that I came just to patch a few holes in your old way of thinking. Notice the old clothes get torn and the old wineskins burst. Jesus new way cannot just be patched on to our default way of life. Jesus is not trying to fix up our current life but to provide us with a whole new life.

I need to confess that I have too often been content to help people tweak their lives and tweak their worldview. I think that is not sufficient. I think that much more is needed. [I am reminded of the argument about how the eye could not have evolved. Too many things have to come together at the same time. In the same way, I don't think that one evolves into loving your enemies.] Concerning the topic discussed above, I know that my attitude needs to be more than tweeked. It needs to be reborn. I want my life patched up because I want to pretend that for the most part my life is just fine.

-Ethan

[Here is possibly unrelated note. As we try to connect with our culture, I find it hard to know when we can try to fix and when we have no choice but to say, "Sorry, there is no way to patch this." We are used to overseas missionaries having to deal with this but I worry that in our own culture we are not as careful as we should be. As I think about the cultural epidemics of narcissism and individualism, hero worship, pleasure seeking, etc. I marvel at the difficulty of designing a culturally coherent worship service that still stands against these habits of our age that seem to me to be beyond patching.]

Today’s Text

This is a great story. There is so much that is wonderful about this story. I will probably bounce a around and touch a on a few things and then settle in on how we prove a spiritual reality.

For starters, notice that this is just one of those days. Luke is showing us that this event is intended to be representative of Jesus ministry. Not that these specific things happened a lot but that Jesus was during this time focusing on a teaching ministry that included both interaction with theological challenges and response to local needs.
Second, take a look at the role of faith in this text. In verse 20 we find Jesus making reference to the collective faith of these men. I have always wondered if we should draw any significant theological conclusions from that. Practically however this story is a reminder to me that the ministry of bringing someone to meet Jesus remains a vital part of the Christian life and may just result in their forgiveness and healing.
Third, Notice what Jesus is claiming. This is big. In our theologically unaware culture we are often too quick to hear things at face value. Jesus’ claim to forgive sins is not merely a claim of a specific spiritual ability. Rather, it is an identity claim as his opponents rightly understand. When he discerns his opponents questions, he does not counter by saying, “You misunderstand. Let me explain to you how I am able to forgive sins apart from being God.” Rather he affirms the connection they have made. This is certainly not the only text in this regard, but this is among th important texts that demonstrate that Jesus thought he was God.
Now finally, notice how he proves it. I find it immensely gratifying that Jesus was willing to prove his dramatic spiritual claim. He could have said, well I really can forgive sins and you will just have to take my word for it. But instead he recognizes that the burden of proof lies with him and not his opponents and so he responds to their appropriate doubt and demonstrates his great power. The point of course is that he cannot independently verify the claim to forgive sins so the only thing he can do is demonstrate by a related and verifiable display of power that something remarkable is happening here. He asks which is harder and this question sis a bit of a paradox. Actual forgiveness is of course harder than healing, but to claim forgiveness is easy (much the faith healers who are able to “cure” diseases which only they have been able to diagnose). To claim to make someone walk however is quite bold because it is easy to verify.

I still think that Christians are making incredible (as in beyond belief) claims. And I think we should expect people to scoff. For instance we Christians occasionally claim things like, “Christ lives in me”, “God speaks to me”, “I have been gifted by the Holy Spirit”, I can talk to God”, “the Bible is God’s word”, “Jesus rose from the dead”, etc.  I think that it is acceptable for the world to question this language.  And I think that we should be prepared to respond with a “but so that you may know” response.  I am impressed with the philosophical integrity and strength of the Christian faith, but am increasingly convinced that the way we will demonstrate this strength is through lives well lived.  Likewise I appreciate the spiritual reality of the life of faith, but I don’t think that we can expect to directly appeal to this part of our faith.  Rather I think that we need to be prepared with our “but so that you may know.”

I am not sure exactly what this will but it must be something that can be observed and measured by the world.  It must be something that is not easily explained in other ways.

At the very least it must include:Service, Sacrifice, Generosity, Joy, Living Free from guilt, Progressive politics (just kidding),

I wonder how you would end the sentence, “But so that you may know that Christ lives in me, ______________________.”

It is unfathomable that for some reason I persist in thinking that I can faithful serve God without pursuing prayer and solitude. Every time I read the gospel I am struck again. Jesus prays well and deeply. No wonder he could risk it all and choose God’s will over his own.

As if it needed to be stronger, it is worth noting that verb tense here is the one that describes regular action not just occasional action.

I simply must pray more and I must spend regular time in solitude. Until I do, I am a sham.

-Ethan

Today’s Text
For the sake of textual clarity it is worth commenting on the instructions to go to the priest. I once taught a student who ws convinced that this instruction to show himself to the priest was designed to broadcast Jesus ability and to mock the inability of the priests. AS he put it, “This was Jesus way to say, ‘In your face!’ to the priests.” I think that this is very likely not the case.

Much more likely is that we see Jesus here encouraging the man to do what was necessary and customary to demonstrate to the community that he was clean. Leviticus offer detailed instructions for demonstrating freedom from leprosy and other skin diseases. As N.T. Wright comments in “Luke for Everyone,” if he had just gone home and said, “Don’t worry everybody I met a traveling preacher and he says that I am all better now,” he would not have been believed. Instead he goes through the official channels and offers the right sacrifices both to give glory to God and demonstrate to the community that he has been healed.

What I am more excited by is the overturning of the basic theory of cleanliness (both ritual and hygenic) that this healing demonstrates. In the kitchen the basic rule of cleanliness is this, if something dirty touches something clean then both things are now dirty. This is how ritual cleanliness works as well. If you touch a corpse you are unclean until you have done the right things to get clean again. If you touch someone who is unclean then you are unclean. (It is worth noting that all the stuff they did for ritual cleanliness pales in comparison with what we do just for basic hygiene in the modern world.)

This concept grew beyond ritual cleanliness in powerful and socially significant ways. There is a saying, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” And it is a saying because it is at least partly true. This is a moral and social expansion of the theory of cleanliness. If someone hangs around immoral people they must be immoral. The Pharisees were well known and admired for their adherence to not only the ritual laws of cleanliness, but also these broader social implications of this whole theory of keeping clean. To stay nice and clean they not only didn’t touch dirty things, they did not socialize with dirty or immoral people.

Luke wants us to know in ways that are obvious and blunt that Jesus has overturned this entire theory of cleanliness. For Jesus and consequently for Christians a new law is at work. Now when clean meets unclean, the clean stays clean and the unclean gets cleaned. The old arithmetic is undone. Now obviously in the kitchen the rules are the same but everywhere else things are changed. Jesus touches lepers and not only is he not made unclean, the leper is cleansed. Jesus associates with notorious sinners and not only is he not sullied, they are reformed. Somehow the power of Christ is neither diluted or corrupted as it contacts the dirt and disease and immorality around it.

Purity was once maintained by a strategy of separation, but no there is a new strategy. We stay pure by staying connected, to one another and most especially to the source of all purity, Jesus. And once we are connected we can confidently venture out into a unclean world knowing that a new arithmetic is at work. Our clothes cannot be stained by the blood of the world for they are washed in a blood that is stronger still.

The church always lives in danger of falling back to the old laws of cleanliness. We always are tempted to maintain purity through self-imposed ghettos. But when we do this we belie the power of Christ.

I will offer one very very important comment about how we embody this reality. Each community and each person must be very honest about the areas of their life that are not yet clean or that have been dirty in the past. Basically I mean what Paul says when he advises, “if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” I certainly don’t want to advise any of us to run off into a situation where we will fall to temptation.

But nevertheless, I think that in general the church today is too timid to engage the unclean world in love. We are too ready to build fort when we should be building a mission post. If we are connected to one another, and connected to the source of purity, then we do not need to fear touching the lepers. For Chist’s purity is meant for all people. Even an unclean man like me.

-Ethan

Today’s Text

Have you seen the show Mythbusters. It is a fun show. It has just the right mix of science and juvenile foolishness. Each week they analyze some myth of popular culture to see if it is possible. My favorite so far is their test to see if a little kid really kid float away if they happened to grab the entire bunch of balloons from the clown at the fair. This myth was busted. They kept inflating balloons until they lifted a 20 pound weight. It took hundreds.

Sometimes teaching scripture is a bit like that. I don’t mean that I have to inflate hundreds of balloons, but rather that I find in necessary to destroy cherished myths. I used to enjoy this, but I enjoy it no longer. Many times these myths have become so intertwined with peoples faith that to undermine the myth also threatens their faith. (Learning about the writing and transmission of scripture can do this to some people.) So today when I know that I will be shaking myths I try to do so with great caution. (This is one of the many reasons that Revelation is so hard to teach.)
Today I get to start by busting a myth. I doubt it will shake anyones faith but it is a pretty common myth and it is a hard one to shake. Even though I know better, I find myself letting the myth impact my reading of this story. The myth goes something like this.

One day, Jesus saw some Fisherman and he called them to follow him and they dropped their nets and followed him.

You might be thinking to yourself, “That is no myth. That just happened. I just read that.” I suppose that you are half right. But it becomes a myth because we have separated this event out of its context. I have had many people describe this event as the first meeting between Peter and Jesus. Even when people don’t make that factual error, this story is often related in both art and preaching as happening out of the blue, with little context in the life of Peter.

That is simply not the case. Peter is not meeting Jesus for the first time. There is no reason to think that he is surprised to be asked. He is not swayed by the mystical power of Jesus’ command apart from other influences. If you take the time time to look at other gospels you can find out more, but even from Luke alone we find that Peter does not encounter Jesus with no background. Rather it is the case that Jesus has been preaching in the region for some time. He is well-known and apparently easy to recognize. (If Peter had heard the upside down sermon he would have liked it. Fishermen were pretty low on the social ladder.) He has recently miraculously healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus has already involved Peter in ministry by using his boat for his sermon, and he has demonstrated his power again by a fishing miracle.

We can be sure of at least four significant interactions before the call to join him as a disciple. Three of these involved miracles and two involved sermons. And it is very reasonable to assume that Peter has heard more of Jesus in other places. So the myth that Jesus just called some guy and that guy just responded on little evidence and even less explanation is busted. (Some of you may have never believed the myth, but it is common enough that I expect it has affected your reading of this text.)

So without the myth what do we have.  Jesus is in the region of Galilee and is preaching.  He is preaching from Simon’s (who will be Peter) boat.  So far this in keeping with his ministry strategy.  Preach, heal and then move on. However in this story two things change.  We get a new kind of miracle and he asks someone to follow him.  This new kind of miracle shows that Jesus not only has command over illness but that he has command over nature.  For Peter, this particular miracle has economic implications.  If Jesus had made hundreds of pigeons appear that would have been a good trick, but this is worth something. Peter and his buddies must find themselves thinking, “If Jesus worked for us we could really make some money.”  But if that thought is in the back of their minds it is overwhelmed by the realization that they are not worthy.  That seems to me to be an appropriate reaction.  I am too quick to feel worthy when I am used by God.  Peter gets it, I think.
But Jesus isn’t working for them which brings us to the next new thing that happens.  Jesus calls them to follow him.  I find myself imagining this response.  “That is a good idea Jesus but first why don’t you do that trick with the fish a few times and lets make a little money.”  Their response is more fitting.

We noticed earlier that John the Baptist called people to stay in their current lives and live them better.  Jesus has not broken from that model as far as we know, until now.  Here he does so in a dramatic way.  First he shows that if he backed Simon’s agenda they could catch more fish then Simon has ever seen.  Then he calls Simon away from that agenda.  Just when Simon’s current job is at its best, he calls him to something new.  Jesus miracle both emboldens Simon as his friends and puts them in a situation where they have something to lose. Someone else will sell those fish.  Someone else will use those boats.

I suppose that someone could right a book based on this theory – “Called away from Success.”  It wouldn’t sell very well, but that is okay.  It certainly isn’t always true either.  But it is worth noticing, that in this situation, they were called into the missionfield at the top of their game, on their best day of business ever.

-Ethan

Today’s Text

I’ll say a word about demons (more than I want to really). It was common during that last century to dismiss demons. During that century our understanding of mental maladies increased so greatly that many were convinced that one no longer needed supernatural explanation for disease or distress. In some extreme versions of this literature, writers would examine the short accounts of demon possession and try to determine the “real” problem. Christians who did this not doubting Jesus power to heal, they just were responding to the different interpretive framework that modern medicine provided for understanding illness. Since Jesus never affirmed nor critiqued the framework of his time, I would suggest that we are not bound by it.

In recent years a counter-trend has developed. It finds it roots in two parallel streams. The first is a renewed interest in Satan. Even in my life time I have heard an amazing transition in speech about Satan. In particular, the metaphor of a great cosmic battle between two great forces, has been slowly moving to a central place in popular thought. On a personally, I regularly talk to out-of-work cold sufferers who understand themselves to be beset by Satan. (I have some concerns about this trend but that is for another time.)

In parallel to this we have the collapse of modernity and its impact on how we think about modern medicine. Even as medicine is more and more capable, we as a culture are increasingly skeptical of its ability to explain everything. So we are more ready to accept the possibility that some physiological maladies might have non-material causes.

In light of this we are more open to the realities of demon possession. (This is in no small part due to increased globalization which has brought us into contact with cultures that have never forgotten about demons.) I think that in general this is a good thing. However, I do sometimes worry that this is moving toward excess. As Lewis reminds us in his classic “The Screwtape Letters” the devil is equally pleased by both the materialist and the magician. And so I hope that we as a church will walk the fine line of acknowledging the real power of the demonic, without seeing a demon behind every bush or sneeze.

As we strike this balance what is most important for me to affirm is that in this text we learn that Jesus is stronger than demons. Not a little bit stronger, and not just acquainted with something stronger. Jesus is immeasurably stronger. They cower before him because they know who he is. I think that we are in a cultural mood right now to give satan and his minions way too much power. As far as I understand scritpture the only thing that God has not overcome is the power of human choice (this of course is by God’s choice and not resulting from weakness). So I am always wary when we talk about satan having “blocked our way” or having been “overcome” by a demon.

If you want to know more I would talk to Tom Moen. I am still learning on this topic.

What do you do, if you are healed from a fever? You get up a serve. This story will preach. It is short but so powerful. Jesus encounters a sick woman. He heals her. She serves. I hope that the church is always proclaim this truth. We have been saved from death for a life of work in God’s kingdom. (If you don’t believe that this story presents a relevant principle for all of us, check out Ephesians 2. I will give 10,000 points to the first person who can comment with the relevant verse.)

I think that I know a few great stories form church history of people were injured in wars and stuff who while in the hospital began to care for others and then eventually that grew into a lifetime of caring for other. That would be cool if I could throw one of those in. I can’t right now, but I do know a guy who used to come to me for math tutoring who later became a math tutor. (Somehow that doesn’t have the same drama does it.)

Anyway, here is my new thing whenever I recover from a fever, I am going to try to thank God for my restored health and look for the service that God would have me do.

We learn a lot about Jesus ministry in this section.  We learn that he was not satisfied to enjoy the love a crowd but he always pressed on to share the news with those who had not heard. We learn that he taught in the synagogues and he taught with a new authority.  He healed and cast out demons.  He is a now a many without a home but he is also firmly pursuing his own way. (See last post.)
We will keep looking to see what Jesus expects from the good people of his day.  For now it is enough to notice that Jesus has not given up on the synagogue or the people of Galilee.

May we who are recovering become the servants of those who are still sick,

-Ethan