Proper 16 – Year C
Sermon Notes from the Church’s Ministry Among Jewish People
RCL Readings – Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 103:1-8; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17
ACNA Readings – Isaiah 28:14-22; Psalm 46; Hebrews 12:15-29; Luke 13:22-30
Isaiah 28:14-22. The people of Israel have several everlasting covenants with the Lord: the covenants of Abraham, David and Moses, and of course the New Covenant. Now Isaiah has some harsh things to say about the leadership in Jerusalem for they have made another covenant, a false covenant, this time with death and Sheol (the underworld). In context this is referring to an alliance with Egypt for protection against Assyria. Isaiah proclaims that this new covenant is based on lies and falsehoods. The Egyptians are weak; there is no security nor future with them and the alliance will only lead to destruction. The situation spiritually is the same as it is politically. God had established his people in Zion and the Israelites should have trusted in the promises of God and not embraced the lies of the world. They had become too comfortable thinking that God would not notice their sins or how they trusted in the strength on men or perhaps, if he did notice, do nothing about it. Isaiah proclaims something once thought impossible: the Lord who had fought against the Philistines and the Amorites would now rise up and fight against his own people. We should not become complacent into thinking God is not a God of justice but only a God of love. This would be a dangerous misrepresentation of the Lord. God will deal with sin. Perhaps we ought to deal with it first.
Psalm 46. The sons of Korah had to make a difficult choice during the wanderings in the wilderness. Do they side with their own flesh and blood or choose to side with the Lord? They chose God and watched as the earth swallowed up their rebellious family. By the time of King David the descendants of Korah served as Levities in the sanctuary, very much involved in musical worship. With this tragic past as part of their history the sons of Korah encourage us to look to God as our source of help and refuge in times of distress and trial. God is a very present help; he is close to us and not someone distant and removed from our situation. God is described as a mighty fortress, he is heralded as the commander of heavenly armies, he is powerful and strong and can certainly afford protection to his people. There is no need for us to surrender to fear nor lose hope for the future. In verse 10, the imperatives “Be still and know that I am God” are in the plural ( הַרְפּ֣וּ וּ֭דְעוּ). Our acceptance of the kingship of God and his love is not only at an individual level but as a community. Being still does not refer to inactivity but rather we should stop raging against God’s will and know he cares for the nations and the world he created.
Psalm 103. Bless the LORD. This is the command that David gives to himself at the beginning of this Psalm. He proceeds to declare that all things that are under God’s governance must bless the LORD. David is surely under God’s governance, for it was God that made man and woman and breathed life into them that they might be a living being—נפש (nephesh, soul). It was from creation that God blessed the world—the living creatures of sea and air; man and woman; and the Sabbath.[1]
God continues to bless people—Noah, Abram, Sarai, Isaac, and Jacob. God even blesses those who bless Abraham’s descendants, such as when God blessed Potiphar’s household when Joseph worked for him.[2]
Texts about blessings, such as Jacob stealing Isaac’s blessing for Esau, can be very hard for us to understand today as we don’t understand the importance of a blessing. Blessings were given by those in authority, such as a god, king, priest, or father. Regardless of who was giving the blessing, they generally invoked the gods to bestow divine favour and legitimacy.
So how can David, or angels, bless God? Is David simply giving God thanks or praising Him? Surely, it can’t mean that David, the created being, can actually bless God. Psalm 103:2 continues from blessing to “forget not”. Interestingly, this is the same formula as Deuteronomy 8:10-11, “And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land He has given you.” First, the call to bless God. “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules, and His statutes, which I command you today.” Second, the warning to not forget.
Psalm 103 is a long litany of just how God has blessed us. Blessings aren’t simply words, but should have practical results. “Forget not all His benefits.” Benefits is גמול (gemul) and is most commonly translated as recompense. God is repaying David for his blessing of God. However, from the same root word comes the phrase גמילות חסדים (gemilut hesedim, acts of loving kindness). Jewish scholars searched the Scriptures and found that God continuously practiced acts of loving kindness, such as clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and feeding the hungry and thirsty. These may seem quite familiar as it will be the way that Jesus will judge us, whether we practically imitate God’s mercy as Jesus did while on earth.[3]
Psalm 103 quickly shows that the actions of God far exceeds what recompense could be expected. God forgives. God heals. God redeems. God is just. Compared with God, man is nothing. And yet David also compares God’s care for us with a father regarding their children. God has authority over all things and surely He is the one who has blessed us with all good things. So we return to the question of how can David and all the works of God “bless the LORD”?
So many people take passages like Deuteronomy 8:10 and Psalm 103 and decide to say grace before eating or go to church and sing some hymns as a way to bless God. We have every reason to thank and praise God for all the good that He has done. But it is “to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments” that the steadfast love of the LORD is shown. This is the way to bless God in a way that is pleasing to Him.
God’s blessings aren’t strictly repayment for obedience and our obedience isn't just to curry favour. Our acts of obedience bless God. Jesus says, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Why wouldn’t we want to bless the God who is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”? Who “does not deal with us according to our sins”? Let us bless the LORD—doing His will and obeying the voice of His word.
Hebrew 12:15-29. Salvation is both an individual event and a community experience. Hebrews urges the community to look out for each other so that “no one fails to obtain the grace of God” and subsequently loses eternal life. This section actually beings in the previous verse 14 where the author admonishes us to pursue peace and holiness, concluding that without holiness no one will see the Lord. The idea of “pursuing peace” was a mitzvah for Jewish people in the Late Second Temple Period and is still a pursuit in modern Judaism. A generation before Jesus, the sage Hillel said: “Be the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and drawing them close to Torah” (Pirke Avot 1:12). Hebrews now gives us even more reasons why we should pursue peace as it pertains to the salvation of others around us. The author contrasts the physical Mount Sinai with the heavenly Mount Zion to describe how much everything is superior in the New Covenant. In Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period, the blood of Abel features prominently in various judgment scenes of the world to come, such as the Testament of Abraham. In that text, all mankind must first process past Abel who sprinkles his blood on them, and only the righteous proceed. Hebrews makes it clear that the blood of Jesus is far superior to that of the blood of Abel. Verses 25 to 29 then give us another warning not to ignore the voice of Jesus. We are admonished by the author not only to listen to Jesus as individuals but also to care for our neighbours by making sure they listen, too. Not only should I be concerned about my own personal sexual immorality but I should be concerned for my neighbours’ godlessness as well. Sin is both a personal as well as a community issue. Loving our neighbour includes helping each other overcome the works of the enemy.
Hebrews 12:18-29. The imagery from verse 18 onwards is both awesome and fearsome. The events of Mount Sinai are recounted with fire, darkness, storm and trumpet blast (12:18-19), divine words spoken (12:19), animals being stoned to death for touching a holy place (12:20). Moses is even said to have been terrified (12:20). This is contrasted with the events of Mount Zion where a heavenly Jerusalem is revealed with angels joyfully assembled (12:22). The work of Jesus as mediator is affirmed. Instead of the blood of Abel that cries out for justice, the blood of the new covenant established in and through Jesus speaks a better word (12:24). “Father, forgive them,” cries out Jesus from the cross. With utterances worthy of the prophets of old, the writer of Hebrews calls people to be thankful, worshipping God with reverence and awe (12:28), and warns that there is no escape for those who refuse him (12:29).
Luke 13:22-30. After setting his face towards Jerusalem in Luke 9, Jesus does not make a straight line for the Holy City. He travels slowly, meandering between the towns and villages, teaching as he goes. In an unnamed village by an unnamed person, Jesus is asked a very pertinent question of the day: are only a few people going to be saved? The response of Jesus is to make it personal. He does not say what God is going to do regarding who or how many people will be saved but rather focuses on our individual responsibility towards the Kingdom. “Make every effort,” says Jesus. We should note that Jesus is not talking to pagans who know nothing about God; these are Jewish people with a long sacred history. The concept that only a relatively few people would actually enter the Kingdom was a well-known part of Second Temple Period literature. In the book of 4 Ezra 8:3, it says, “Many have been created but only a few saved”’. This is reminiscent of the saying of Jesus in Matthew 22:14, “Many are called but few are chosen”. The concept of a narrow door is found in the Testament of Abraham 11:1-5 which describes the judgment scene at the end of time in which the inhabitants of the world either go through a narrow or wide gate. Again this is paralleled in the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14 where he urges us to take the narrow option. Jesus is challenging the people, and us, in their complacency. In his teaching, we discover that the people who think they already belong in the kingdom find themselves in the end to be excluded and on the outside of the door. The people knocking on the outside for entrance complain that they know the master of the house, that they once had fellowship with him. However, in rebuke, they are called “evildoers”. They are on the outside of the house, not because of something they don’t know or because of not knowing who the master of the house was, but because of something they have done. They have done evil!
This is a message for the Church today. People who think they fellowship with the Lord should not become complacent in their knowledge of the Scriptures or of Jesus the Messiah. We are called to strive to enter the narrow gate. What is one of the obstacles? Works of evil. This is not works righteousness. Good works don’t gain you entrance. It’s works of evil that keep you outside. There is a difference.
Luke 13:31-35.[4] There is a distinct break in Luke’s account of Jesus’ ministry prior to the transfiguration and after the transfiguration. As Jesus stood on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, they spoke about His exodus. Jesus had come into the world, the Son of the Most High who would reign in a kingdom without end. But from Luke 9:31, Jesus was actively going to Jerusalem where He would die. While the disciples couldn’t fully grasp the idea of Jesus’ death because of their bias, another group could see where the end of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem would take Him.
The Pharisees are often disparaged in Christianity, but both the gospels and Jesus give a more nuanced picture of the Pharisees. The Pharisees weren’t a large group, just over 6,000. They sought to interpret Scripture and often found themselves in conflict with corrupt authorities, such as the Saducean High Priesthood and the kings (including Herod).[5] Jesus ate and drank with Pharisees, talked and debated with them,[6] and (in the Galilee[7]) had a good relationship with many—several Pharisees even becoming disciples of Jesus. Paul, when speaking of himself, doesn’t state that he was a Pharisee but rather that he is a Pharisee. While the path he had taken was as an enemy of the cross of Christ, it wasn’t because he was a Pharisee or a Jew—he seems to have seen no conflict with being both a Pharisee and disciple of Jesus.
Jesus had just warned about hypocrisy and, instead of taking great offense, at least some Pharisees seem to have heeded Jesus’ warning before giving their own warning to Him. Jesus’ reply is somehow both incredibly condescending of Herod and yet full of humility. The fox has come to represent cunning and trickiness—the clever fox spoken of in fairytales. But in that time a fox was considered to be incredibly insignificant. Herod is no lion, he is a mere fox that can’t possibly harm Jesus. Jesus, on the other hand, has power even over demons and disease.
This begs the question, if Herod has no power, why does Jesus continue to speak of His imminent death in Jerusalem? Jesus speaks of Jerusalem as being a city of death to God’s faithful. But rather than condemning the people of Jerusalem, Jesus declares His desire to protect and shelter the people of Jerusalem. Jesus is going to go to Jerusalem and He will die because it is the course that He set and He is going to follow it to the end. Jesus didn’t come to earth because it was easy or to save those who already loved Him. Jesus knew that He would go to the cross and He knew that it was to save His enemies.
Luke 13:10-17. Typical commentaries on this healing event portray a very negative view of Jews and Judaism. Here are two examples. The first is by Michael Wilcock in the Bible Speaks Today series. The second is by Tom Wright in the Luke For Everyone series. Wilcock says:
Both the parable and the miracle which Luke records next (concerning the barren fig tree and the crippled woman) are about religion: not real inward religion, whose spiritual and moral aspects have been touched on already, but religion as an institution. It is on the religious system of Judaism as it existed in the time of Jesus that we see the searchlight of his gaze now turned.
So the searchlight of Jesus focuses on the sabbath, which Wilcock describes as follows: “The sabbath day was an epitome of Jewish religion: a gift from God, full of spiritual meaning, but so fossilized and encrusted with traditions that it had become practically lifeless.” To Wilcock, this passage speaks of “the hypocritical Jews.” Tom Wright takes a different tack, but no less negative one. He likens the tying up of the woman by Satan to refer to “the one who has Israel as a whole in his grip…The enemy, the accuser, has had Israel in his power these many years, and Jesus’ kingdom-message is the one thing that can free her. But Israel’s insistence on tight boundaries, including the rigid application of the sabbath law, is preventing it happening.” A lifeless religion, the hypocritical Jews, Israel in the grip of Satan – these negative generalities, and other similar commentaries on the text, say more about our anti-Jewish heritage, than anything else.
By way of contrast, David Flusser (The Sage of Galilee) says “for Jesus there was, of course, the peculiar problem of his relationship to the law and its precepts, but this arises for every believing Jew who takes his Judaism seriously…the Synoptic Gospels, if read through the eyes of their own time, still portray a picture of Jesus as a faithful, law-observant Jew.” In another healing on the sabbath (Luke 6: 6-11), Jesus alludes to what Flusser calls “a well-known classical expression of the Jewish humane approach to the other”. An ancient rabbinical saying says,
Therefore only a single man was created in the world, to teach that if any man has caused a single soul to perish Scripture imputes it to him as though he had caused a whole world to perish; and if any man saves alive a single soul Scripture imputes it to him as though he had saved alive a whole world.
According to Flusser, this saying was known by the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher Philo (20 BCE – 40 CE). A positive view of some sabbath activities is also referenced by Jesus. So perhaps Jesus was not making a generalised statement against the law, religion, and Judaism in particular by healing this woman but an important statement about his own authority and radical life-giving presence. In so doing he also affirmed and displayed the true meaning of the Sabbath within Judaism as he was the Word made flesh.
Luke 13:1-9.[8] Jesus, just having finished teaching about a time of great trouble and judgment and the need to appease their accuser, is given an example of Galileans who were unable to make peace with their accuser, Pontius Pilate, and died because of it.[9] There was a known understanding that sin would lead to punishment—largely because the Bible continuously states this fact.
Assumptions like, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind” is not an unreasonable conclusion to a people who were scattered and exiled due to their own sin.[10] Whether it was the Galileans dying at the hands of Pontius Pilate or those killed at the pool of Siloam (perhaps from an earthquake, shoddy building, or both) Jesus doesn’t focus on the dead and their sin in Luke 13. Instead, He turns to the living and delivers a warning to them.
It’s not that the people who died were sinless—the Scriptures do not hide that sin leads to death. But the Scriptures also state that God is gracious. Jesus gives a parable about a fig tree that is not producing fruit. The fig tree hasn’t produced fruit for many years and so, logically, it ought to be cut down. Perhaps a new fig tree can be planted or the land can be used for something else. Instead, it is given another chance. The caretaker of the fig tree puts in the work to ensure that it is given the greatest chance to produce fruit and live. But if, even after all that, it does not produce fruit, it will be cut down. The warning is clear. We should be careful to look to our own sin and produce fruit in keeping with repentance.[11]
Mark 2:23-3:6. Sometimes we forget that the Pharisees were not always opposed to the Jesus movement. In Luke 13:31 we see the Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod was planning to kill him. While they disagreed on many issues, there were many commonalities between Jesus and the Pharisees and Jesus spent a lot of time in the company of the Pharisees. In the first of two Sabbath encounters, Jesus was travelling through the grainfields with both His disciples and the Pharisees just before the harvest season–they were almost certainly travelling together and dialoguing as they travelled.
In this encounter the Pharisees charged the disciples of Jesus with doing something unlawful on the Sabbath.[12] [13] During the late 2nd Temple period the oral traditions defined meal preparation as a form of work, which would be forbidden on the Sabbath. This was a valid question and one that had practical implications in the daily life of the community. These types of discussions are still common today in the church, although with different cultural and practical questions, and often result in slight differences of opinion–but hopefully not disunity.
In His defense, Jesus made reference to David's use of ‘holy bread’ in the Temple in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 to demonstrate a higher principle that human need is more important than religious ritual. In Judaism, both ancient and modern, the Sabbath is considered a gift and a blessing that God gave the world. The Sabbath was a time of refreshing and renewal, community worship and important time with family. But like all gifts it has to be received and cannot be imposed.
Jesus could have ended the discussion here, having made His point and bringing a verse from the Scriptures to defend His argument. However, Jesus wanted to make one more point. Not only was Sabbath made for man, but the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Mark does not record any pushback to this statement by Jesus from the Pharisees nor of any questions from the disciples. Perhaps no one understood that Jesus was making a reference to Himself.
Mark’s narrative then brings us into a Synagogue.[14] The ministry of Jesus was so well known that, when confronted with someone who was injured, the people in the synagogue knew what Jesus was likely to do. Previously, in Mark 1:32, Jesus waited until after the Sabbath had ended to heal but now, they (presumably the Pharisees) watched intently to see if He would heal on the Sabbath.
Rather than simply heal the man, Jesus opened a discussion on the theological and doctrinal issue–one that was very important to practical living.[15] Jesus asked a question.[16] The question by Jesus emphasized the truth about the Sabbath: there is no wrong day to do something good–for goodness comes from God.
The man’s hand is described as withered–dried up like a dying plant. Yet he is commanded to stretch forth his hand. This would have been difficult to do and required effort on his part to move a mostly paralyzed part of his body. Having defended His action on a theological level, using an argument that was (or would shortly become) the commonly accepted practical doctrine of His time, Jesus healed the man.
Mark states that Jesus actually got mad at the people in the synagogue. They should have, and actually did, know better. But they acted out of stubbornness. Not only was Jesus angry but He was also hurt, distressed–there should always be room in our hearts for repentance. But in the end, pride and stubbornness brought two parties that were theological and political enemies together.[17] Even among the Pharisees, a number of them decided that they wanted to destroy Jesus.[18]
Endnotes
[1] Genesis 1:22; Genesis 1:28, 5:2; Genesis 2:3, Exodus 20:11
[2] Genesis 39:4-5
[3] Matthew 25:31-46
[4] ACNA includes Luke 13:22-30
[5] Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 17.2.4
[6] The arguments between Jesus and the Pharisees weren’t all that dissimilar to the arguments the Pharisees had amongst themselves (as you will find in any place of learning where people deeply care about their faith and are seeking the truth).
[7] Many of the Pharisees in Jerusalem seem to have been caught up in the very corruption they had previously fought against.
[8] ACNA may include Luke 13:10-17
[9] Josephus gives an example of Pontius Pilate’s brutality in War of the Jews 2.9.4. After using the gifts of the people to the Temple to pay for an aqueduct, a multitude came to protest against Pilate, “Now when he was apprized aforehand of this disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in their armour with the multitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under the habits of private men… He then gave the signal from his tribunal. Not the Jews were so badly beaten, that many of them perished by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to death by themselves…”
[10] John 9:1-5 states that the blindness of that specific man is neither the fault of the man nor his parents. While sin and death are connected, not all suffering is the fruit of that particular person’s sin—it can also come about because of the rebellion of others against God and His people.
[11] The following passage, Luke 13:10-17, happens at a later point. Sadly, Luke’s account of Jesus’ call for repentance followed by a ruler of a synagogue being indignant at Jesus’ healing of a woman on the Sabbath is sometimes used to emphasize the deep sin of the Jewish people and Israel as a whole. This emphasis ignores many factors.
First, of course, is that people living in hypocrisy should not come as a surprise. Jesus does clearly state a warning to His people that they must repent, as John did before Him. We also read that many listened to John’s message of repentance and turned to God. Many also listened to Jesus’ warning and turned to God. Second, Jesus’ message was a rebuke in accordance with (not opposition to) contemporary Jewish thought that met with the people’s agreement and rejoicing. It was a direct reminder of a staple belief in Judaism in the time of Jesus called פיקוח נפש (pikuach nefesh), that is, saving a life is more important than keeping the Sabbath. Sanhedrin 37a states that “to save one life is tantamount to saving a whole world.”
[12] The Torah provides a provision in which the poor and hungry can glean produce from a field (Deuteronomy 23:25) without the action considered stealing. The issue the Pharisees had wasn’t the gleaning itself but the day in which the disciples were doing it.
[13] Jesus Himself was not charged with gleaning, however, He allowed His disciples to prepare the food. His non-participation doesn't indicate that Jesus Himself adhered to the strict Sabbath interpretations of the sages of His day nor does His permission indicate that He actively fought against their interpretation.
[14] Rather than being a chronological or topographical continuation from His previous discussion with the Pharisees, this seems to be a topical continuation as Mark focused on the Sabbath. It seems likely this is from late in Jesus’ career (and possibly in the south) as the Pharisees of the Galilee continued to positively interact with Jesus for much of His ministry (such as Mark 2, where Jesus and the Pharisees are commonly in close proximity and dialogue and Luke 13:31 where the Pharisees tried to save Jesus’ life.)
[15] See Hebraic Perspective.
[16] Asking questions was a very Hebraic thing to do. In the world of the Jewish sages you taught by asking questions rather than simply telling the people things forthrightly. Something passed down to the church through the Catechism, “a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers.” (Oxford Dictionary: Catechism)
[17] As the leadership of Israel was being decided a generation before the Roman conquest, around 800 Pharisees were crucified, after their wives and children were executed before their eyes. In turn, when the Pharisees retook partial control, many of the Saducees who had participated in their murder were assassinated.
[18] We also know that, among the Pharisees, a number opened their eyes, unstopped their ears, and became the disciples of Jesus.