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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

Today’s Text
This is an amazing story. The heart of the story is radical enough, but the frame is so unsettling that I find myself still a little stunned by it.

I’ll start by summarizing the center of the text, and then we will look at the frame and then we will come back to the heart of the text.

The center of the text is Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue. As the famous visiting Rabbi it was natural for him to be invited to teach. He chooses a beloved text. This should have been an easy sermon, and it is. Go back and read Is 61. Really, I mean it. Okay, here are the first few verses since I worry that you won’t go read it.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach 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,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Now you see what I mean. They would have all loved this text and when he pulled it out they would have all settled in for a great happy day at the synagogue. Of course Jesus stopped before the part about “provide for those who grieve in Zion” (not to mention the part bout vengeance) but that would not have mattered, they would have known the whole text.

And then he rolls up the scroll and every eye is fastened on him, the teenage boys are hushed and you could have heard a mustard seed drop. And he tells them exactly what they have been longing to hear. This miracle-working, authoritative-preaching, local-boy-done-good preaches the very midrash on Isaiah 61 that all of them were longing to hear.

They had heard too many sermons on this texts that began, “Someday, this text ….” but this was brand new. Jesus – who spoke with a new authority – said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Can you imagine the joy in that room. We don’t have to guess at their reaction. They loved what they were hearing. (As a side note the word in NIV “gracious” sound very bland because we use the word to mean polite. they did not mean that his words were polite, they meant they were grace filled – and in a big way. ) They couldn’t have been more excited. I need you to pause for a second and contemplate what this oppressed Jewish community would have thought if their hometown hero had arrived and told them that he was about to bring the great restoration that they had always wanted. [I remember when Bill Frist became senate majority leader (thanks Alex for the correction), everyone in Tenn. was excited about all the good things that would come to us because he was in that position of power.] Certainly among other things, when they remind each other that this was Joseph’s son they are anticipating all the wonderful things that are coming for Israel and for them especially.

And then things get crazy. But wait let’s see the frame before we move on.

The frame is very simple, He arrives a home town hero and leaves a rejected and despised prophet. This town that had “brought him up” now tries to “throw him down.” In Luke’s understated artistry he closes the frame by telling us that Jesus is now going his own way.

What could have happened? Let’s go back to the center. Just when he has them in the palm of his hand he suggests to them, “I suppose that you want all this to start here.” And then he tells them a few stories. Stories they did not want to hear. Stories that tell them all the same thing. Jesus is telling them, “Don’t think that this good news is just for God’s special people.” In fact he leaves them wondering if it is even for them at all.

When Jesus comes to the people who most expected to hear good news, instead they hear bad news. They hear that his decision to focus on the poor and oppressed and the imprisoned means that he will not focus on everyones needs. Liberation theologians call this Christ’s preferential option for the poor.

We often marvel at how few of the Jewish people accepted Jesus. We sometimes even mock them. How could they miss it? I think we can only do that if we have not studied the gospels very carefully and have not studied ourselves very well. This sermon which lifts up their hopes so high, then crashes them on the ground. I suppose thier desire to do the same to Jesus is only natural.

I am not entirely sure what to make of this story. Two things are clear to me, one is less so.

1. It is clear that this story is pivotal to the narrative of Luke. It is explains Jesus transition to a homeless, anti-establishment, fringe figure who worked on the edges of established institutions. He is naming himself as not the man they expected. It also explains Jesus priorities for the rest of the gospel. Jesus is the man to fulfill the song of his mother.

2. It is clear that the church needs to always check it priorities against the priorities of this sermon. Are we still partners with Jesus in this ministry? I must confess that the priorities of my life line up with much that Jesus has taught but do little to reflect this passage.

3.Here is what is fuzzy to me.  In my life, I know that I have more in common with the people of Nazareth then with the demoniac by the sea.  If Jesus has a preferential option for those who are poor and far from knowing God, then as a middle class boy who grew up in the church, I wonder what that means.  Now I know that theologically I am plenty sinful and lost and am certainly evil enough but so were those in the synagogue of Nazareth. When Jesus effectively tells them, “I didn’t some for you,” what good news is left?  I certainly don’t believe for a minute that Jesus ministry is only good news for some.  I have some ideas, but I want to withhold judgment and see if Luke gives us any more insight.  What good news is their for these people like me, the people of Nazareth, who are so sure that they will get the first prize?

-Ethan

Today’s Text
Greetings Today we have another “guest blogger.” This is from Barcley’s (Thanks for the correction Alex!) wonderful and classic series The Daily Study Bible. If your parents or grandparents had a commentary series, this was it.

No sooner had Jesus left the wilderness but He was faced with another decision. He knew that for Him the hour had struck; He had settled once and for all the method which He was going to take. Now He had to decide, Where would He start?

(i) He began in Galilee. Galilee was an area in the north of Palestine about fifty miles from north to south and twentyfive miles from east to west. The name itself means a circle and comes from the Hebrew word Galil. It was so called because it was encircled by non-Jewish nations. Just because of that new influences had always played upon Galilee and it was the most forward-looking and the least conservative part of Palestine. It was an extraordinarily densely populated part of Palestine. Josephus, who was himself at one time governor of the area, says that it had 204 villages or towns, none with a population less than 15,000.

It seems incredible that there could be about 3,000,000 people congregated in Galilee. It was a land of extraordinary fertility. There was a proverb which said that, ” It is easier to raise a legion of olive trees in Galilee than to bring up one child in Judea.” The wonderful climate and the superb water supply made it the garden of Palestine. The very list of trees which grew there shows how amazingly fertile it was-the vine, the olive, the fig, the oak, the walnut, the terebinth, the palm, the cedar, the cypress, the balsam, the fir tree, the pine, the sycamore, the bay tree, the myrtle, the almond, the pomegranate, the citron and the oleander.

The Galileans themselves were the Highlanders of Palestine. Josephus says of them, ” They were ever fond of innovations and by nature disposed to changes, and delighted in seditions. They were ever ready to follow a leader who would begin an insurrection. They were quick in temper and given to quarreling.” ” The Galileans,” it was said, ” have never been destitute of courage.” ” They were ever more anxious for honor than for gain.” So that is the land in which Jesus began. It was His own land; and it would give Him, at least at the beginning, an audience who would listen and kindle at His message.

(ii) He began in the Synagogue. The Synagogue was the real center of religious life in Palestine. There was only one Temple; but the law said that wherever there were ten Jewish families there must be a Synagogue; and so in every town and village it was in the Synagogue that the people met to worship. There were no sacrifices in the Synagogue. The Temple was designed for sacrifice; the Synagogue for teaching. But how could Jesus gain an entry into the Synagogue and how could he, a layman, the carpenter from Nazareth, deliver His message there?

In the Synagogue service there were three parts. (a) The worship part in prayer was offered. (b) The reading of the scriptures. Seven people from the congregation read. As they read the ancient Hebrew, which was no longer widely understood, was translated by the Targumist into Aramaic or Greek, in the case of the Law, one verse at a time, in the case of the prophets three verses at a time. (c) The teaching part of the service. In the Synagogue there was no professional ministry; there was no one person to give the address; the president would invite any distinguished person present to speak and then discussion and talk would follow. That is how Jesus got His chance. The Synagogue and its platform at this stage were open to Him.

(iii) The passage ends by saying that He was held in high
reputation by all. This period of Jesus’ ministry has been called the Galilean springtime. He had come like a breath of the very wind of God. The opposition had not yet crystallised. Men’s hearts were hungry for the word of life, and they had not yet realized what a blow He was to strike at the orthodoxy of His time. A man with a message will always command an audience.