Who is Jesus - Chapter 4

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Chapter Four – Baptism and Temptation

Read Matthew 3:1-4:21; Mark 1: 1-15; Luke 3:1-4:21; John 1: 1-36

This chapter is intended to explore the questions of our faith from a doctrinal perspective. Why did Jesus get baptized? Was it necessary? Who is John the Baptizer? What was he offering to the people? Why do we have the temptation story? All of these questions are valid questions before the people who call themselves Christians and have been debated throughout the ages.

Let’s start with John. What we know of John from Luke’s Gospel is that he is related to Jesus through Mary. They are cousins though all of the accounts later give no indication of that. Mark, Mathew and John simply indicate that John the Baptizer comes out of the wilderness as if he is a wild man from God. That may not be far from the truth as we study the extent of John’s ministry. Historically we know that John existed and Herod of Antipas, the son of the Herod of Jesus birth, had him beheaded. John preached a sermon of repentance and baptized through the water a baptism of repentance. This custom of cleansing with water comes through the Jewish purification rituals that had existed for centuries. But John adds a twist in that he indicates that the cleansing must come from within. Come to the water and repent your sins before God and be forgiven for those sins and go forth in grace and mercy before God. John is often thought to fulfill the prophecy of Micah 4:1-5 and the prophecies of Isaiah 40:3 which tell us that one would come out of the world before the Messiah paving the way for his arrival. Many scholars today believe that John may well have been Elijah; certainly his appearance and message fit the description of Elijah from Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament. Regardless of what you believe in that regard, John did in fact pave the way for Jesus ministry. He brought together a group of followers, some of them would go on to follow Jesus, and he began the people thinking about repentance to God.  

So what exactly was John offering? John was offering hope in the midst of great unrest and struggle. On the one hand the people were struggling with the hard hand of Rome. Taxes were taking a heavy toll and Rome would put up with very little before lashing out at the inhabitants of Israel. On the other hand, they were struggling with their own religious identity. The leadership which called themselves Jewish clearly was more Roman than Jew. Herod was not a well-liked leader and many would long for his removal. The Religious leadership of the day in the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees and Pharisees seemed more about law than they did about forgiveness and repentance. So John’s message of hope in the midst of this tension was well received. Josephus, the historian indicates that large crowds followed him wherever he went. And what he invited folks to do is to get right with God. Not in the legalistic way that the Sadducees and Pharisees were demanding, but in the old way of the prophets. And his message that one was coming after him that would be the Messiah gave people hope that freedom was on the way.

All four Gospel writers spend time with the Baptism story. In fact it does a number of important things for the greater story of Jesus. First it promotes the idea that Jesus has been chosen specifically by God for the message He brings. Second, the Gospels of Mark, Luke and Matthew indicate that God declares Jesus to be His Son. In John God declares Jesus to the Lamb of God, indicating for the 1^st century Jew that this is the completion of the Passover story? All four Gospel accounts use this baptism to begin the story of Jesus. Matthew and Luke have birth narratives but we hear nothing about what Jesus’s message until after the baptism story. So for all the Gospel accounts, the Baptism of Jesus is the beginning of His ministry. Why reveal it in such a way? First, by god proclaiming Jesus identity, Jesus authority to preach and teach what He does is secured. Secondly the baptism of Jesus clears the way for his message of repentance, forgiveness and love amidst the struggles of legalism and law that exists.  

One of the most discussed questions of the Gospel accounts of Jesus is whether He needed to be baptized or not. There are really two theories that dominate the argument. The first is that Jesus, having been born of God, is born pure from sin. If this is the case then why get baptized at all. The argument is that Jesus receives baptism from John for recognition and to be obedient to the will of God. So does He need it? NO! But He needs to do it in order that God will be pleased with Him and so it is out of obedience. The second theory is more controversial. Because Jesus was born to a human mother, then all the inherent natures of Adam are also in Jesus. In other words, Jesus has the inherent nature we all have to be disobedient to the will of God and so baptism becomes necessary to cleanse that nature. We have the temptation story to use as argument that the latter rather than the former reason is true.

Let’s take a little detour here. Up until the Protestant Reformation the prevailing doctrine of baptism was that it was an act of God. Though we simply had to show up, God is doing what only God can do. And that is to cleanse us of the taint of original sin which has flowed down through generation after generation. If you want to understand that, realize that we all have within us this inherent nature to want to do it our way, on our time and with our rules. We fight this imposing will of God in our lives from birth onward. So baptism cleanses us of the taint of that nature so that we are free to learn and grow within the nature of God’s will. Since God is the principle actor, the when, the how and the method are not as important as the actual act itself. After the Protestant Reformation, the Ana-Baptist movement, from which many Baptist understandings derive, believed that baptism was not a God thing, but an outward sign of inward change of the person. Hence the term, “Believer’s Baptism”.

So what is the purpose of the Temptation story? We should note that the story is not part of John’s Gospel. John clearly wants us to know that Jesus is God right from the very beginning and having a temptation story lends nothing to that proclamation so it is clearly missing. Matthew, Mark and Luke though have the story intertwined in the beginning of his ministry. Why? To tell a story within a story I believe. First we have the baptism of Jesus and God proclaims Him to be God’s Son. And then we have Jesus tempted in the wilderness by Satan. Now if Jesus could not be tempted why have the story? But what if Jesus could be tempted in His humanness? What if Jesus temptation story is for us more so than for Jesus? What if the story is to show us what perfection in human form looks like? Jesus being tempted by Satan would lead one to believe that He could be tempted and yet He never succumbs to that temptation. He is tempted in His hunger, He is tempted in His belief in who He is, and He is tempted in His power and authority. Yet, in all of that Jesus never wavers in His obedience to follow God’s will. In the story we have the perfect example of what it means to live as we were originally designed to live.  

Who is Jesus - Chapter 3

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Chapter Three – Birth Narrative

Read Matthew 1 & 2; Luke 1:1 – 2:40

First things first!

I had a professor in Seminary who started a New Testament class with this line, “Everything you have learned about Jesus healing and other miracles is a myth.” I remember many of the class got up and walked out at that point. The class was excellent for those of us that stayed. What he wanted us to understand is that we were not there at those events, so we simply have the accounts of those that were. And it is faith in the end that allows our unbelief because of the lack of materialistic tangible evidence to be overwhelmed by the accounts of witnesses who gave their very lives for that witness. I mean really, who would give their lives for a lie. Maybe one or two might do such an unthinkable thing, but thousands and thousands across the generations. Not likely and this strong testimony has brought many to Christ.

So to fully understand the birth narratives we have to understand that there is an audience for each of the Gospel writers and it affects the story they tell. All too often we have bought into the nativity scenes that I love so much and collect which include both shepherds and Magi together in a winter scene with snow on the ground. So let me be like the Professor I had so many years ago and work through some of the issues we have with birth narratives.

Is December 25^th the day?

Bible says in Luke 1: 24-36 that Jesus is conceived in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Zacharias was a priest serving in the temple during the course of Abijah (shifts for serving, twice a year). Historically we place this around June, meaning John was conceived in June. Six months brings us to December which means John was born in March and Jesus likely around September. We have further evidence in Luke 2: 7-8, the shepherds were watching their fields by night. Shepherds typically would have taken their sheep into winter quarters in the late part of October since Israel is wet and cold in the December.

Why then December 25^th?

December 25^th was a holiday long before it became an official Christian holiday in the fourth century. The holiday was to celebrate the winter solstice and praise of the sun god across a number of civilizations and understandings. It was the practice of the early church to take these pagan holidays and make them Christian holidays. You may glean whatever you want from that, but suffice it to say that we celebrate the birth of the light of the world during the darkest time of the year for the Northern Hemisphere.

What year did it happen?

We are not certain of the date. The original Gregorian calendar is off anywhere from 4-10 years in its year 0. We know some facts that help us to pinpoint it a little better. Herod died in 4 BC. Herod was alive when Jesus was born in both the Matthew and Luke narratives. Herod’s decree to kill all the male children 2 and younger place the date of the Magi at the latest to be 4 BC and probably before that since some point to March of 4 BC for his death. Further confusion comes from the Luke story that Quinarius was Governor. Quinarius became the Governor almost 10 years after Herod’s death. Luke and Matthew both had agendas for their stories though they would have incorporated truth in them to validate the stories.

How many Magi?

In Matthew’s story (Matthew 2: 1-12) no number is given and it is likely that there were more than three. Three has been the traditional number because of the number of gifts but in truth, the Magi would have come with greater numbers to see this fulfillment of prophecy. We believe the Magi to be those who followed closely Astrology and were descendants likely of the Court of Daniel under Nebuchadnezzar. So they would have known the prophecies concerning the Messiah and would have been looking for signs in the heavens.

Was the Star real?

Certainly the Magi followed something. Over the centuries there has been much debate about what they saw. Unable to pinpoint an exact date creates some confusion among scientists as to exactly what they saw. Without holding out the possibility of some miraculous image that God put there, there are accounts of at least one super nova, a comet and a conjunction of the planets during the time period Jesus birth could have come.

Did they really bring gifts?

More than likely! They would have come expecting to find a King since the prophecy that they believed to be fulfilled would be the King of Israel in the same nature as David. The actual gifts listed in Luke have significant meaning to the life and death of Jesus. Gold represents the idea that He was King. Frankincense was a healing balm which could lead us to the miracles of His healing or His need for healing at the hands of the Romans and Jewish leadership at the end. Myrrh was also a healing balm but more importantly was used to disguise the stench of death in the tomb. We can glean the significance of this gift.

Interestingly enough gift giving was part of the pagan practice of winter solstice and praise to the appropriate sun god. Santa Clause was a take-off on a real saint. The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned. The prisons were so full of bishops, priests, and deacons, there was no room for the real criminals—murderers, thieves and robbers. After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church.

Was Jesus born in a stable?

Stables were not the norm in first century Israel with the exception of the Roman’s or the very affluent. Most people kept their animals in their homes, if they had a little money they might have multiple levels within their homes with the animals in the basement or in a cave adjacent to the home. More than likely Mary and Joseph’s situation would have found them in crowded quarters when her time comes due and she was probably moved to the basement or cave to get the birth away from others. Remember that 30 % of Hebrew children did not make it through birth. There were no drugs or medical procedures to make the process easier so it would have been painful and loud. Not to mention that a manger makes a perfect first crib.

Was Mary Pure from Birth?

This has long been a Catholic position that Jesus was born without sin because He was born to Mary who also was divinely born. There is no scriptural evidence of this and so most Protestant churches discount this stance. Mary is simply a young woman with whom God finds favor and she brings the burden of being the mother of the Son of God.

There is no record of the slaughter of the innocents, did it happen?

Bethlehem was a small town and the number of young males under the age of two would likely have been so small that any record of such an event would have gone virtually unnoticed. The better question is could Herod have done such a thing. Herod was an evil person who had his wife and two sons killed just because he was concerned they wanted his throne. To have Magi come looking for the new King of Israel would undoubtedly have caused him to become angry enough to eradicate such a threat to his rule.

So what do the Gospels say and why do they say it?

Dr. Efird from Duke Seminary often says that we need to ask the right question when it comes to scripture. To understand the right question here we need to ask ourselves who the audience is for each Gospel author. Let’s start with those who have no birth narrative, Mark and John.

Mark is writing the Gentile world, specifically to the Roman world and where Jesus was born is insignificant to the idea that he was born. In fact, it serves Mark’s Gospel account better to leave this omission hanging out there because it doesn’t matter where God’s servant came from. That Jesus would come as both servant and Lord is a great paradox that Mark would want to be absorbed by the Roman reader. To come to know that God reaches out to the world, regardless of where you came from is further stated when we have no family status to bind us.

John is writing the intellect of his day. John’s focus in making a connection between Logos (Word) and the idea of logic used to support a claim and its authenticity. So John begins his narrative by indicating what Christian’s embrace, the idea that Jesus is part of the Trinity and has always been. That this birth is truly unique in the history of the world, that God had become flesh and lived among us. John has no desire to get bogged done in the controversy of a virgin birth that swelled around the early church so he simply doesn’t spend time there. He states what he knows to be truth.

Matthew is clearly writing to the Jew, the nation of Israel when he writes the birth narrative. Matthew believes that Jesus is the fulfillment of the plan that God put in place with Abraham for the nation of Israel. Interestingly he flows us through this elaborate genealogy that includes four women, five if you include Mary. Matthew may have had several things in mind in doing this. Tamar mothers an ancestor to David, Rahab assures the nation survives; Ruth’s son is David’s grandfather, and Bathsheba whose son is Solomon. Since Joseph is not the biological father to Jesus and lineage was traced in the ancient world through the male, maybe he was trying to proclaim Jesus rightful lineage through Mary. But maybe even more important two of the women were Gentiles. Matthew may well be trying to tie together the rightfulness of a Gentile/ Jewish Christian faith nation.

Matthew uses the Magi as proof that Jesus is who He is proclaimed to be, anointed by none other than the Magi who anoint those who are born to be Kings and Rulers. Jesus bloodline is pure and His right to rule the nation of Israel is secure. The further narration of Matthew will go further to establish that Jesus is pure, that He follows the Law of Moses, that He is obedient to God’s will and that what we will see at His death is the true culmination of what God had put in place through Abraham and Jacob. Jesus flight to Egypt remembers for us the story of Joseph and His return the story of Moses and the wilderness fulfilled completely when Jesus becomes the Lamb of God on the cross.  

Luke on the other hand is writing to the Gentile. Unlike John is focused most likely on the intellectual Greek, but Luke is writing to common folk like you and I who have not had the deep rich historical perspective of the Hebrew nation ingrained in us from birth. The census, even though it is clearly out of context, is probably in their to remind us that Rome has placed an unfair burden on the Hebrew people and Herod their puppet is enforcing it drawing resentment and anger. Luke may well have felt that Gentiles needed to understand Hebrew history and context to get what Jesus meant.

His use of Shepherds serves multiple purposes for Luke. Since they are considered the lowest class of people in Jesus day, that they would receive the message and be the first to see Baby Jesus indicates that Jesus has come for the world, not the elite, the religious special people or the affluent. Also we cannot help but make the comparison to David who was himself a Shepherd that God called to rule the nation of Israel. Luke also wants us to get this connection with prophecy that the Messiah would have one who comes before Him, proclaiming the way for Him. This could serve two purposes for Luke regarding John the Baptizer. John the Baptizer’s birth parallels well the story of Abraham and Sarah, barren and aged, who God brings to them a son. John then paves the way for the conclusion of the Israel story as he goes about baptizing a baptism of repentance and proclaiming that the Messiah will follow him. It also assures that John’s role in the story is subservient to Jesus who follows him. Luke is also concerned that we see that Jesus message is for the marginalized, the children, the sick, the poor and women.

Jesus Early Life

What we know about Jesus early life comes more from historical anthropology and archeology than from the Bible. We know that Joseph was a craftsman and his children would have been most likely to become craftsmen as well. So in all likelihood Jesus would have been raised learning Joseph’s craft. Jesus would have spent His early life studying the Torah. He would have learned to read and probably write so He would not have been illiterate. We know from scripture that His knowledge of the scriptures surprised the older, much more learned teachers. We can guess that Mary may well have spent time with Jesus telling Him the story of His birth. How much that would have influenced Him to spend more time in the scriptures is purely room for pondering. We know that He was a Jew, would have been circumcised no later than His eight day of life which (Luke 2: 20) gives us this splendid story of Simeon and Anna in the Temple. The true census which occurred ten to twelve years after His birth may well be what brings Him to Jerusalem or the observance of Passover which every family would have tried to come to the Temple each year to participate in.

Jesus would have grown up in a family with brothers and sisters (identified in Matthew and Mark) and would have had to do whatever the family was required to earn a living. That would mean working in the fields at harvest time. There He would likely have seen the unfairness of labor methods, the rich becoming richer over the efforts of those they hired and treated unfairly. He would have seen the taxation of families and the poverty that was all around him. This would likely have shaped His future and we see this in His teaching use of Vineyards and Laborers. 

Judas

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 3/26/17

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^NRS  Matthew 27:1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. ² They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor. ³ When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴ He said, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." ⁵ Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. ⁶ But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money." ⁷ After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter's field as a place to bury foreigners. ⁸ For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, ¹⁰ and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

In "The Christian Leader," Don Ratzlaff retells a story Vernon Grounds came across in Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai. The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point. The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! . . . The incident had a profound effect. . . The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: "No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness." Sacrificial love has transforming power.

We come to this place, the Fourth Weekend of Lent, as reflective people who desire to know God more deeply and intently. But do we? I often wonder at the marvelous expressions of hate and anger when it comes to Judas by the early church. If that were not enough, the challenges then we face of those who believe suicide to be an unforgivable sin. That belief stems from this very passage.  But was it Judas’s cross to bear or did his human nature take advantage? There are some great discussions around whether or not Judas was simply a scapegoat or a traitor. We shall explore some of them today.

Today we regard Judas as the traitor, the one who gave over Jesus to the Jewish authorities so that Jesus would be beaten and crucified. But the world has made Judas an even greater villain than that, using his name to proclaim evil throughout the world. If it were not for Judas….. But who was Judas? Judas was one of the twelve that Jesus had chosen from among the hundreds that followed Him. Judas was from Judea, unlike most of the disciples who were from the areas around Galilee. Judas became the treasurer for the twelve, which meant he controlled the money of the group, arranged things for them as they came into a new city and sought after food and shelter for Jesus and the Disciples. So, with the exception of John’s Gospel, was an accepted member of the twelve disciples. Many scholars point to the possibility that Judas was an Essene. Essene’s in that day and age were part of the radical movement of Judaism. They had a tremendous desire to run the Romans out of Israel and make their nation great again. This fact may come back to haunt Judas later.

With all probability Judas was a man who wanted the good life, a life of means and followed Jesus not so much for the spiritual side of things but because he truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Now understand that meant that Judas was waiting for the King David side of Jesus to show through, the conquering hero that would make the nation great again and then rule like David but this time forever. This might well appeal to a man who desired means and the good life, especially if he could reach the inner circle of the King where he could attain his desire. So into our story comes Judas. There are a number of things during this season of Lent that I would like you to know about Judas. One of them is that Judas desired Jesus to bring His white horse and armor to the dance that was life in the 1^st century. I believe that Judas knew that Jesus was the Messiah, but wanted the Messiah that all Jews wanted, the judge and conquering David hero. So many scholars would argue that Judas did not do what he did for the money; rather he did it to force Jesus hand. He figured if he turned Jesus over to the Jewish leadership then Jesus would have to conquer and prevail.

The second thing we should probably know about Judas is that his life and actions were predicted by God centuries earlier. Psalm 41: 9 says, “Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.” Zechariah had prophesized this event in chapter 11, “12 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"--the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.” So what do we make of it that God had already foretold that Judas was going to sell out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and that Judas would be buried in the potter’s field purchased with those same thirty pieces of silver. Was Judas set up to be the fall guy? Somebody had to turn Jesus over. So is Judas the guy, almost arguably, predestined to be the fall guy for the rest of the history of the world? Certainly Judas had a choice. By the way, Matthew has it wrong in that Jeremiah was not the prophet here by Zechariah was. Finally we have this passage in Luke and a corresponding one in John that tells us, “^NRS  Luke 22:3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve...” So one could successfully argue that Judas was not responsible or in the immortal words of Flip Wilson, The devil made him do it.

So those are the facts if you will, what is the truth? Did Judas betray Jesus? Or did he in his misguided desire to force Jesus hand do the one thing that Jesus needed doing in order to make His way to the cross? Lots of questions to make you ponder! So let me ask one more. Did Judas betray Jesus or was it someone else?

I love this discussion at this point because I think it makes the story more personal. From the moment that Judas identified and sold out Jesus the scripture tells us that he repented, did you hear those words, and was mortified beyond comprehension so he took his life. His death is why suicide is often thought to be unforgivable. It’s not by the way, God understands all and knows all and I believe that God knows the heart and mind, even if it is ill, at that moment. So one then could argue that there is great room for Judas’s redemption within the Gospel account. It’s not what we have been taught but then fire and brimstone sermons don’t always speak the biblical truth, just the speaker’s perception of that truth.

So I often wonder of a man who did what needed to be done and then falls into the background, while those who write the history flee in all directions. Peter denies Christ not once, but three times. Except for John, the rest of the Disciples are nowhere to be found at the cross on Golgotha. So I often wonder who betrayed Jesus, the one who did what needed to be done, or the ones who fled and denied knowing Him following His arrest.

Which then brings me to the further discussion, how often are we Judas? I have to admit that I find myself often wanting things differently than what I perceive God wants. How often do I change the rules for self? How many times do we as the people who call ourselves Christians, followers of Christ, let our egos and our desires determine the decisions we make. I have been with you a short time but you and I are no different than any other church across America where we focus on what we want. We place our desires above the desire of God for the church daily and often in meetings where we push our agenda’s at the expense of God. How often do we portray Judas every day when we sell off our souls to the culture or the worldly materialism and leave Jesus at the hands of the modern day Pilate’s? Whenever I hear the stories of Peter I hear my name in his place, denying Christ when it suits me or when I fear that those around me won’t like me or desert me for my faith in Christ. It is the season of Lent and if you were expecting a feel good sermon, well, it is the season of Lent.    

So what is the moral of this story? Judas, desiring his view of the world to come true plays a role in the story of Jesus redemptive power of the cross. His anguish at what he had done overwhelms him to the point of taking his own life. Remember what I told you last week, that the world can often overwhelm you if you fail to keep God close. But the scripture tells us he repents of his sin in the end. Not everyone agrees but then if they did, what fun would the world be. More importantly, how often are we Judas. How often do we sell Christ for that shiny new car or those new clothes or ignore the homeless because I have somewhere else to be or push my agenda for this mission or that activity not because it is for the good of the church but for my own desire? How often? Repent and return to one who loves you. Not once, but as many as the times we turned away! 

God won't give you more than you can handle

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 3/19/17

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^NRS  1 Corinthians 10:9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. ¹⁰ And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹² So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. ¹³ No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. ¹⁴ Therefore, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.

Sitting around a campfire one evening an old, but wise Cherokee Indian Chief told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside our people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside of us all. One wolf is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other wolf is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The young grandson thought about it for a moment and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” Grandfather looked at him with wisdom and love and said, “The one you feed.”

I am often in the middle of crisis where families are struggling. And I have heard this discussion hundreds if not thousands of times. “I know that you are going through a tough time right now. I know that you feel like there is no hope and that you cannot get through this. But you are going to make it because God never gives you more than you can handle.”

Adam Hamilton calls statements like this one and in fact the one last week that everything happens for a reason as “Half-truths.” The scripture that is cited in the one we heard today from 1^st Corinthians. The scripture tells us that we will not be tested beyond our strength. But all too often we confuse testing with life. In life we have many temptations. Temptations come not from God but from us. Have you ever been on a diet? When you are on a diet everyone around you is aware that you are struggling with the foods that you love that you need to stay away from. Yet, they constantly bombard you with offers that would pull you away from your diet whether they do so consciously or not. Of the temptations that bombard us every day on TV, the radio and the Internet sometimes overwhelm us into doing or buying something we don’t need. I am glad that I don’t have to go through the school experience today. Our young people are bombarded with more temptations that we can even imagine. With the advent of the internet and smart phones, that bombardment continues both day and night. But we can get through it right? God would not give us more than we can handle?

God never would put is in a place where we would purposely get harmed. God cannot sin and God would not create for us a place to sin. However we know that God gave us free will and because of that we humans have the ability to sin and to entice others into sin. It is why I believe the world around us is so focused on materialism and pleasure. Buy this or that thing and it will make you feel better, look better and be more desirable to others. That is what we hear every day. But does it really? Or does it really mean that someone would tempt you out of your money so that they might be wealthier? Probably so!

What the scripture is telling us as Paul writes to the church of Corinth is that God will test us but never beyond our endurance. Corinth was a great city of the Roman Empire full of Pagan sacrifice and sin. Most of the meats sold within the city were meats that had been worshipped over and then were available to be purchased. Many of the Christians were struggling with trying to be good Christians and yet living in a world full of temptation.  Sounds like our world today doesn’t it?  So how do we do it? How do we live lives worthy of the calling we have been called to in the midst of temptation all around us?

Jesus was tempted. It is a great story for Lent. He went into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. Satan called upon him in his hunger and his thirst, called upon Him in His weakened state hopeful that He would fall from grace. But Satan did not tempt Jesus in His weakness. No, Satan forced Jesus to struggle with His ego. Satan called upon Jesus to use His power to bring food for His hunger, to bring worship and praise from those who despised Him and to bring Jesus to His knees before Satan. Jesus found his strength in the faith of God alone. Jesus resisted these temptations not because of His own strength, ego and will but by trusting God. The scripture today is saying to us that no – the world will bring havoc and chaos into your world – and if we trust in God, God will help us handle whatever the world has sent our way.

Paul writes these wonderful words in Romans chapter eight;

^NRS  Romans 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But we will be tested. Abraham was tested with his firstborn son Isaac? Would Abraham be faithful to God when he was asked to do something so difficult and emotionally tugging? Would he bring his son to be sacrificed in order to be obeidient to God? There are so many emotional tugs in this story for those who are parents. What would you do? David stood before Goliath with his sling and stones. Would he prevail when he was out matched and out sized? Daniel stood before his king and was asked to deny his God and worship the King? Would he have the strength of faith to do so? Testing comes when God has something greater for us in mind. Testing comes when we have reached a threshold of faith and God needs us to go a little further, a little deeper and stand against the world in the will of God. We all get tested during our lifetimes. Mine came many years ago when I had to choose between a six figure income, prestige and materialism or following the faith life that God had in front of me to be in this place at this moment in time. Testing never will call you to sin. Testing will call you to endure what you can endure with God’s help.

Have you ever had a moment when you saw or heard something and that thing that had happened to you so many years ago came crashing back into your focus? Have you ever had something happen to you that you just felt that you could not endure or get through? A number of years ago I had the privilege to know a family that had a tragedy happen to them that could have broken them apart. But they endured! They endured by reaching out to folks who supported them in their grief, gave them strength to find answers where they could and then find a focus for their pain. That family is still facing their grief every year at the time of their loss. I see their anguish in their Facebook posts and their e-mails. But they found a way to trust God to see their way forward. And we can too! But in order to do so we need to let God in. Sometimes that means seeking professional assistance in our anguish. We all remember where we were on September 11^th, 2001! Yet, here we are facing the future unafraid because of our faith that God was present that day and is present here with us today.

God won’t give you more than you can handle but the world will. When the world does, God will be there to help lift us up if we will simply trust God. The world will tempt us to do things, buy things and go in directions that we should not go. But we must have faith and trust in the message that God is sending us. God will test us to the edge of our endurance and when we pass that test God will lead us into opportunities and challenges beyond our wildest imagination. Testing never asks us to sin! Temptation always does! Life is complicated, challenging and full of trial. As for me and my house, we will choose the Lord! 

Who is Jesus - Chapter 2

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Chapter Two – Prophecy and Expectation

Read Exodus chapter 12; Psalm 2, 16, & 22; Isaiah 9, 11, 49, & 53; Micah 5

I thought that a change of pace would be nice compared to all the other prophetic voices about Jesus. What is more important to this study is not that Jesus fulfills the prophecy about Him; rather what is important is what the Hebrew people expected Him to be. Over the course of this chapter we are going to explore not only the scriptures regarding His coming, birth and even death and resurrection, but how did that impact the Hebrew people. The reason that in Chapter One we studied the people, the land and the political landscape is because it impacts all of that. We must remember that the people were under an oppressive world. The rich got richer and the expense of the middle and lower class. Taxes continued to increase and the people were crying out to God to be redeemed, reclaimed and set free. I can imagine for a moment with the history the Hebrew people enjoy, the connection to the Passover story and redemption and freedom that came to those folks through Moses. Just the same as we struggle with certain concepts of the End of Days, like rapture and the likelihood that Christ is coming again, but just once, the Hebrew people believed that Christ was coming just once.

We of course know that of the thousands of prophetic voices in the Old Testament, over 350 were fulfilled in the birth, the life and the death of Jesus. There is so much that we could explore here like the idea that he would be born from the womb of a young woman, a pure woman (Gen 3:15, Isa 7:14, Jere 31:22). That he would be from the lineage of Jacob through David because of the promise to David by God that his throne would go on forever (2 Sam 7:13) and he would be born in Bethlehem, the city of David (Mic 5:2). We could go on and on with the prophecies that Jesus fulfills simply in the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. But our focus is on Jesus.

In Exodus chapter 12 we see prophetic voice which tells us that a lamb without blemish will come. For the Hebrew this is a direct connection to Passover. Remember that the people have already made a connection due to their condition, like the early Hebrew people, they too are under foreign rule and oppressed. Psalm 2 speaks to a Jesus that will come as the anointed one, to be a King. In fact it is this prophesy that probably sent the Magi on their fateful journey with Herod. That he will rule the nations with a rod of iron. That he would be born to be the savior. We’ll come back to Psalm 22 later. In Psalm 89 we see that this Messiah will be higher than the highest kings, from David’s seed and his kingdom will endure forever. In Isaiah 9 we see that this Messiah will come to bring peace, justice, wisdom and love, just what the people are crying out for in the midst of their struggles. In Isaiah 22 we see that the Messiah will be all authority to govern that no nation will rise against him. In the 49^th chapter of Isaiah we see that the Messiah will restore Israel and be its salvation.

Now to a certain extent I have picked and chosen the scriptures that I wanted you to focus on. For a reason! If you are living in an oppressive environment, subject to unfair taxation, Laws so restricting that you find it almost impossible to live day to day, what might you focus on? I would suspect that all those prophetic voices about the Messiah’s death (Dan 9), his body given up for the sins of the world (Isa 53), betrayed for money (Zech 11:12) would not be the things your mind could possibly comprehend if you are looking for a conquering King to come and make Israel a nation above all nations. In fact I would venture to say that you might not even hear those particular scriptures voiced by the Pharisee’s and Sadducees and local Scribes. Their role is to stir the people to believe and look for the one that suits their purposes. The Sadducees were probably heavy on the Shepherd, Servant role while the Pharisees would have heavy on the conquering King. But that the Messiah would die and rise again. Impossible so we are not even going to voice those scriptures. I often think that the powers that be that created the Lectionary have a feel good agenda because they too ignore much of the prophetic voice in scripture.

So there you have it. The first century Hebrew/ Jew would have been crying out to God for salvation from their current condition. They would have been crying out to God for a Moses like Messiah that would come and set them free. My guess is that they completely would have missed the whole wilderness experience as a future possibility when the Messiah comes. Funny that story seems to repeat itself well within the context of the world we now live and have lived in since Jesus death and resurrection.

So it should really come as no surprise that the modern day Hebrew/ Jew still believes that Jesus was not the Messiah. He did not come and conquer Rome. He did not come and bring the throne of David back to its rightful power. Well…… not at least in this world. And that is where the modern day Christian gets it while the Jew struggles with it. I believe it is also why many in the Jewish community figured it out after Jesus death and resurrection. As they reviewed the scriptures they had probably not heard much previously, they realized that God is working in God’s way and it God’s time. 

Everything happens for a reason

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 3/12/17

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^NRS  Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,  ²⁰ loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

An old man was standing on a crowded bus. A young man standing next to him asked, "What time is it?" The old man said nothing. As the young man walked away, the old man's friend asked, "Why were you so rude to the young man?" The old man answered, "If I had given him the time of day, he’d want to know where I am going. Then we might talk about our interests. If we did that he might invite himself to my house for dinner. If he came to my house, he would meet my lovely daughter. If he met her, they would both fall in love and frankly, I don’t want my daughter marrying someone who can’t afford a watch."

As I originally intended this sermon to go based on the scripture was to focus on the idea that everything happens for a reason. All the time the reason is that we make a decision that has consequences and sometimes the consequences make us question why we ever made that decision in the first place. But most folks would say that this statement came from Calvin who clearly felt that everything happened as a result of God. We Methodists take a dim view of such propensity to feel that everything in life has a God plan associated with it. If that were true then you could most certainly get drunk, drive your car and kill someone and claim it wasn’t your fault, because frankly speaking, God made me do it. Preposterous don’t you think that we would believe that to be true. But often I hear people say to me, well it was God’s will or it was God’s plan. Now don’t think that I believe that God has no plan for the world, God most certainly does. But God intended the world to be able to think and direct itself in many ways. God chose to give us a mind and free will and hoped that we would make decisions based on the will of God. And too often we do not! And too often when we do not we blame it on God!

God desires of us to lead lives worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Namely, that we love one another and find ways to witness to the power of God throughout our daily lives. That means we do things because it betters the world around us, not necessarily because it betters our own world alone. God proclaims in this message that we choose life so that we may live. God wants us to know that God alone has set life and death in front of us so that we might enjoy life the way God intended it from the beginning of creation.

Oftentimes I think that Solomon had it right when he wrote the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. He writes there that everything has a season which I think the modern world has misinterpreted as everything happens for a reason. It does, but oftentimes the reason is because we made a decision that had consequences. But I do believe everything happens in a season. 

In 1965 a group called the Byrd’s made this passage more recognizable with a song called turn, turn, turn. It reminded us that for everything there is a season, a time to live and a time to die, a time for war and a time for peace, it’s not too late. For those of us that lived through that time period we remember the war, the struggle in America as the peace movement took hold and how a new ideal tried to take hold in its wake. I believe that we are in the midst of one of those transitions in America again and we certainly need to be in a transition in the church. I remember when I was serving as a Chaplain at Southside Regional; the Chaplain Supervisor would often say that for everything there is a season. She would remind us to not get bogged down in life so much so that we focused on something beyond its time. That has been true in my life as well. There have been seasons for war, for peace, for love and unfortunately for hate. There have seasons of mourning and seasons of joy and celebration. But each season must come to an end at some point and a new season of life begins. That sounds so depressing I guess and yet we live in a world of physical seasons. We are moving quickly towards summer when folks take advantage of the warm weather to enjoy the gifts from God of water and sand. We have fall and winter and spring as well with their unique gifts and promises that they bring. Each of us has different seasons in our lives to look forward to. With God as a part of our journey, we know that no matter the season, there is always hope and joy.

This morning I want you to observe the world around you as you sit here in this place. Look around at the beauty of the sanctuary, at the pews and the carpet, at the people who are here this morning and at the bulletin which changes weekly. All of these things change over time. What we see here today may not be the image of this place we will see in fifty years. Folks here this morning may be on different adventures and journeys in the next ten years. Some will be with the Saints singing in the heavenly choir. I want you to look beside you and in front of you and embrace the people there. Let them know that they are loved in Christian love as they travel their journeys wherever they may travel. And then tell them that you have now stepped into a new journey from the one that you were on when you got here.

As a church we need to embrace a new journey, new beginnings and new ministries and mission. Paul tells us that when we receive the power of the Holy Spirit within us we become a new creation. That new creation reflects and imitates Christ. We cannot stay where we are or resolve to look to the past and hope that the past will be again. Water under the bridge never flows back upstream, but it does evaporate and then fall to earth as nurturing rain to begin the cycle all over again. And so it is with the church. We lament, I love that word. It really means to whine and there is whole book about whining in the Bible called Lamentations or the Book of Lamenting. But when we lament about how good the past is or try hard to stay in it, we often leave out the most important part. When we were children and had those great Sunday school teachers, it was because we had people willing to volunteer. When we had churches full of people we also had activities and ministries that welcomed and invited people in. When we were the center of the community it was because we reached out to the community every opportunity we had. You see the common denominator to why church used to be so wonderful and full is that our parents and grandparents did not focus on their desires, ok they did, but the primary focus was on God’s desires not their own. Our future is to reclaim that new creation. As a church we need to get back in touch with God through prayer and discipline, reading and focusing on what God wants us to do as a church. As part of this new season I want to be open to the Holy Spirit working in us and through us. The ways we have always done it no longer work. Carey Nieuwhof reminds us that “Churches that love their model more than the mission will die.” That means we need to recognize that everything has a season and if we are not careful, holding onto a season for too long we will die as the new season overcomes us like a vine chokes out a rose bush.

My thoughts as I am listening to the Holy Spirit speak through the people of God here at Sydenstricker is that most of us are willing to hear that call. It means finding ways that allow us to love one another or get out of the way because our season has past and support those who season is yet to come. It means loving one another without regard to self and focusing on building relationships that share that love with one another. It means asking God the question, what next, rather than holding on to what used to be. 

The Discipline, our book of Law for the United Methodist Church sums up our purpose this way: “The church of Jesus Christ exists in and for the world…The function of the local church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is to help people accept and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and to live their daily lives in light of their relationship with God.”[i] Our primary task then is to work towards being disciples of Jesus Christ and making disciples for the transformation of the world. Here at Sydenstricker that means that we need to focus on a new season with new understandings, holding onto those things of value with an openness to do whatever it takes to bring people into relationship with one another and ultimately with God, nothing less, nothing else.

A new season has dawned. It is more confusing, more challenging and yet more exciting and potentially more rewarding than the past. But in order to get there we must reach out and embrace it. We can become the church that is the center of our community but it means that we have to open to God’s call on our lives and the life of the church. We are entering into a new season. There is a season, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven.  

---

[i] 2016 Book of Discipline, Part VI, Section 1, Paragraph 202. 

Wallow in the Ashes

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC on 3/5/17

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^NRS  Jeremiah 6:26 O my poor people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only child, most bitter lamentation: for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. ²⁷ I have made you a tester and a refiner among my people so that you may know and test their ways. ²⁸ They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron, all of them act corruptly. ²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed. ³⁰ They are called "rejected silver," for the LORD has rejected them.

Today is the first opportunity we have to worship in the season of Lent and in a short while I will share with you the tradition of the ashes that comes to us through the history of God’s chosen people. But we begin this season of Lent reflecting on who we are, whose we are and who we are supposed to be. My thoughts move me to question how we can reflect if we don’t first put into perspective what it means to be redeemed. We are a people redeemed and claimed. We are a people adopted as the children of Jesus Christ. A people promised an inheritance beyond the measure of human understanding. Before there was sin, God loved creation. When sin came into the world God still loved creation. The more we disobey, the more God desires us back. How is it possible that we can fall so short of the glory of God and yet God still desires to be in relationship with us? These are the things to reflect on.

The aspects of prayer and reflection, meditation and peace have been a part of the Judean experience from the beginning. At the time of Moses, prayer and meditation were an integral part of the life of individuals as they worshipped God. The people of Moses day looked to God to provide them salvation, strength and leadership in their lives and they communicated this to God through prayer. Often they would use ashes or torn cloth to symbolize their repentance and their sorrow.

The concept of ashes comes down to us through centuries of use. In the time of Jesus, ashes were often used in times of sorrow or grieving when a loved one had been lost or a great sin had been committed. In was an outward sign of an inward anxiety asking God for help and assistance to be restored. All of this tells us that as we celebrate the season of Lent, it is not a Catholic holiday that is no longer appropriate for protestant faiths. Rather, it is the perfect time to lift ourselves back out of the world we have become so integrated into and restore our relationship with God.

I want to share this story with you today. It is a story I heard some time ago and the author is unknown to me. It involves a woman and her daughter. They live in the mountainous region of South America. A remote region, probably rural like the region we live in, maybe even more so than that. Money is not something that is abundant supply and the young girl desires more. So one day she takes off for the big city. Her mother scared of what might happen to her begins to pray for her well-being. She then gathers what meager money she has and uses it to print up flyers with her daughter’s picture on it and a short comment at the bottom. She follows her daughter into Rio, searching for her in all the places that she can think of. You know the places, the places where crime and violence are a way of life. She leaves the flyers on the walls of bus stations, bars and seedy motels. After searching for some time, she doesn’t find her daughter and her money runs out. So she heads home empty handed. Several months later her daughter coming down the stairs of one of those motels sees her picture on the wall in front of her. Intrigued, she steps up to the picture. And she reads these words.

“No matter where you have been, No matter what you have done, I love you!

Please come home!”

You see that is the message that God is sending us tonight. It doesn’t matter where we have been, what kind of life we have led or what we may have done in that life. God’s love for us is unwavering and never ending. And God wants us to come home. In this case home is in relationship with God.

There are many religious understandings in the world. And some would argue that many know God. But the truth is that the God of Abraham, Moses, and David is the God of creation. The God who calls us even now is the God who formed us from the dust of the earth, breathed into our lungs life and even now works in the world to maintain and renew that creation. But even more significant than that, if it is possible to be more significant than creation itself; is that this God loves us so much that God came down into the world. Jesus, God’s son, walked among us, shared our joys and our sorrows and shared our gladness and our pain. Jesus born the son of a human mother came into the world in the most humble surroundings. As He grew He learned a trade just as many of us tonight learned how to be teachers, engineers, factory workers and productive people in our communities. At the young age of thirty He began a ministry that showed us how to interact with the world. He showed us how to have compassion in the face of adversity and how to resist temptation. These are the stories of his life found in the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And then He showed us how much we are loved. Without breaking any law or committing any crime, he went to the cross for each of us. Without committing any sin he shed as he was brutally beaten, each lash representing one of our disobedient acts and then his blood on the cross weeping its way down the cross like the tears of the mother who searched in vain for her daughter among the people of Rio. And then He died!

Is Lent a time of self-denial? This evening, Jesus speaks to us through His Word, and He tells us that Lent is a time of self-denial, a time to give up something. But Jesus isn’t concerned with chocolate and fat – He’s concerned with what’s going on in our hearts. Lent is a time to give up those sins in our lives. It’s a time to give up the sin of hypocrisy – acting like a Christian on the outside, but being proud and self-centered on the inside. Lent is a time to give up the sin of duplicity – being a Christian on Sundays, but being an unbeliever on Fridays. It’s a time to give up the sin of being lethargic – “someday I’ll get my act together spiritually. Right now, though, I’m just too busy focusing on everything except God.” What is Lent? Lent is that man who stood in the back of the temple, and looked down at the ground, and prayed to God, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Lent is a time for us to be like that man, to give up our sinful habits, our sinful attitudes, to stand before God and to ask him to forgive us, to wash our sins away, and to empower us to turn away from our sinful past and to live new lives that are dedicated to God. And after we lay our sins before Christ, Lent is also a time to give up our guilty feelings. Just as that tax collector walked home justified before God, so can we walk away, knowing that we have been forgiven.

“I no longer have to feel guilty about my sins. I no longer have to beat myself up about the way I’ve been living. I have been forgiven. My sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ. I can start over. I can work hard to be someone who obeys God, who worships God every day with the way I live my life.” Lent is an attitude, isn’t it? It’s an attitude of honesty and humility, as we confess our sins to God.

I heard a story that I want to share with you this morning about a boy and his boat. The author of this story is not known to me. Tom carried his new boat to the edge of the river. He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string. How smoothly the boat sailed! Tom sat in the warm sunshine, admiring the little boat that he had built. Suddenly a strong current caught the boat. Tom tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke. The little boat raced downstream. Tom ran along the sandy shore as fast as he could. But his little boat soon slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat. Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, Tom sadly went home. A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a store window. When he got closer, he could see -- sure enough -- it was his! Tom hurried to the store manager: "Sir, that's my boat in your window! I made it!" "Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you'll have to buy it for one dollar." Tom ran home and counted all his money. Exactly one dollar! When he reached the store, he rushed to the counter. "Here's the money for my boat." As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, "Now you're twice mine. First, I made you and now I bought you." 

The message of this story is the message of God. This is the message of Lent. He created us and then paid the price for us when we became lost so that we might again be found. God believed in us so much that God would offer his life for ours. As we enter into the season of Lent, let us reflect on what that means. Are we living our lives in such a way that others would see our actions, words and deeds are worthy of that kind of sacrifice? Are you living your life focused on selfish things or unselfish things? Is your life all about you or about how you can serve the world? Do we walk this journey feeling our perfection or focused on becoming perfect? These are the questions of Lent. This Lent season reflect on your life and how your life mimics the life of Christ. God thinks your life is worth dying for. Would you wallow in the ashes for Him, the one who died for you?

Who is Jesus - Intro and Chapter 1

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Introduction

As I began to consider what my next venture in the world of Biblical study should be, I looked at the very first Bible Study, Sunday school that I ever did. Though that study took a great deal longer than this one will, the course material will be much of the same as we study the world of Jesus, the people, the political undercurrents and his influence and message on this hostile world for the Jew. Jesus had a profound effect on his day and unlike any other single person in the history of the world, Jesus is still influencing the world of our day. So we need to know more about Him and His world. What was the principle message for the people of His day and how has thought transformed our world. What injustice did He struggle against that still may exist in our world today. What does it mean to truly allow God to abide in us as Christ has proclaimed that we should do?

Jesus came into His day and time into a world that was struggling on so many levels. First it was struggling with the day to day issues required to survive, put food on the table and raise a family where the mortality rate approached 50 % by the age of 5. Second there was oppression from the Roman rule that held the Hebrew people to a tight check and claimed 12-15 % of their income. Third was an equally oppressive religious order that required them to strict obedience to the rules of the order that by Jesus day numbered near 4000 as well as claiming 10-15 % of the income as a tithe. Women of that day were considered chattel (property) and had little or no rights. Most of the people were looking for hope. It is into that world that Jesus comes. With a message of love and radical living that was revolutionary to the order of the day. That Jesus was a rebel in His first century world is a given. That He was on a collision course with the order of His day and His death was preordained is also a given. What all that would mean is still bringing revolution to the world today.

So let us meet Jesus.

Chapter One – People, Land, and Political Landscape

For us to really understand Jesus, we need to understand the landscape that he lived in. Jesus early life would have been full of sights that included great persecution of the Jewish people, harsh living under Roman occupation and a history full of strife for the nation called Israel.

The people of Israel

In Jesus day there were estimated to be between 500,000 and 600,000 people who populated the land. The average lifespan was between 40-45 years and an estimated 30 % never made it past the age of 18. It was a very harsh environment indeed. Men outlived women by almost ten years unlike our statistics today. But there is evidence that those that did live beyond early life lived to an old age. In some ways the people of Israel were not unlike the Eastern Shore of Virginia in that a large percentage either worked the land or the sea including those who we would call Shepherds. There were also trade people of many different crafts including carpentry and merchants.

Most folks lived in modest homes which would have included a number of rooms but privacy would have been at a premium. Among the poor, a one or two room house would have been the norm, while we have archeological evidence that a larger structure for multiple families was often common. The family’s livestock would often be housed under the same roof as the family so the place was generally quite crowded. Walls would have been whitewashed stucco while homes in the hilly regions were built into the landscape. Roofs were important not only to protecting the family inside but also collecting rain water in a desert like climate most of the year.

Most of the Hebrew people of Jesus day were educated people in that they could read and write. The language of Jesus day was Aramaic, (a mix of old Hebrew and Babylonian), though anyone that would have to trade in any way most likely learned some form of Greek. At an early age young boys would be schooled in the Torah. They would learn how to read it and begin to understand it.

Bread was the principle staple of the Hebrew meal, though those on the coast would often have fish as part of their main meals. Hebrew people we believe ate really two meals a day, a morning or mid-morning meal and then in the evening. Meals would typically consist of what we might call a stew, with meat being a rarity. Those whose jobs entailed dealing with farms or fishing would spend their early mornings at their tasks.

Most people of that day and time walked where they needed to go. Some might have donkeys and only the rich would have horses to ride. Travel was dangerous especially among the mountainous or hilly areas where travelers were often subject to robbers. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are below sea level, one at 630 feet and the latter at 1200 feet. Taxation was a central issue for the people of Israel with the Roman tax being around 12 -15 % of the value of the goods collected or the estimated value of what the land could produce. Then there was a religious tithe that was often ruthlessly collected which amounted to another 10-15 % of the value of the work. So from the beginning it would be difficult to ever get ahead. Young men who could not get to the point that they could ever secure the money to buy a home remained single and often moved towards the larger cities in search for work.  

History

Some history is important to help understand the political structure and climate of Israel by the time Jesus comes on the scene.  If we trace the story through the Old Testament we know that Abraham came to this area somewhere between 2900 BC and 2500 BC. They settled the land that God had sent Abraham into. As we know the story we Abraham’s descendants worked the land, probably fought battles as ruler ships changed until the time of Jacob and his twelve sons. From there we find the Hebrew people in Egypt under persecution and oppression and God sends one of their own, the step-brother if you will to the Pharaoh that he deals with. What is interesting is the whole archeological evidence that tends to support the exodus in the mid 1400’s BC with Thutmose III in power. From there the people of Israel wander in the wilderness for forty years under the leadership of Moses and then come back into the land we call modern day Israel and Syria. There is increasing archeological evidence to the real dynasties of David and Solomon. And the Assyrians first and the Babylonians second conquer Israel and scatter the people amongst the nations of the world of their days. During the Mede-Persian period the people are allowed to return and the Temple of Solomon is rebuilt.

During Alexander’s conquest of the Middle East, Israel again falls to a much stronger more dominant force. Antiochus Epiphanes IV, son of Selencus who was a general under Alexander and received a fourth of the Kingdom upon his death, ruled the land around 167 BC. Antiochus was determined to eradicate all religious practices except those Hellenistic Greek worship. This led to the Maccabean revolution in and around that period. The Maccabees were successful and for a time, Israel is under its own ruler ship ruled by the Hasmonean family.  The eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. The Hasmonean family established the Sanhedrin since we see that name first during their rule. The Sanhedrin is the name given in the Mishnah to the council of seventy-one Jewish sages who constituted the Supreme Court and legislative body in Judea during the Roman period and for some time after that period until around 350 AD.

The peace in Israel did not last long for Rome came a conquering around 63 BC. Most accounts indicate it was a fairly bloodless conquering and the rulers of Israel were allowed to stay in charge under Roman rule. Herod the Great came to leadership around 37 BC and dies around 4 BC.

The Political Climate

Under Roman rule, the Hebrew people still had great control over the people of Israel. To understand how that all worked we need to be introduced to the Priesthood of Israel. The Sanhedrin made up of 71 of the most influential and educated of the Hebrew people ruled on matters of Religious order. We make little distinction here between self-rule and religious rule since the two are clearly clouded by the time of Jesus. Herod is both ruler and oversees that the religious leadership stays in line with Roman rule. Roman rule was overseen by a provisional governor who received their post because of family connections or political maneuvering. But that leaves us to the religious side.

Sadducees – probably the oldest of the original orders, these are the people who primarily wanted to get along. Life was good under Roman rule for those with influence. They more often than not were affluent, well placed with family connections and claimed their origin on Zadok, the High Priest appointed by Solomon. We would probably see them as liberals, more connected to not raising waves whatever the cost. Their principle beliefs included denying the authority of tradition, doubted any scripture after the Mosaic Law, and did not believe in Angels or the resurrection.

Pharisees – most would identify the Pharisees as the religious leaders of Hebrew society. Their equivalent would most likely be the Priests, Preachers and Lay preachers of today’s world. They were however, religious zealots for the Law. They were also strict about observing all the traditions and ceremonies that God had decreed throughout the scriptures. Pharisees believed that a deeply religious life included following all the laws established in the scriptures. It is thought that they opposed Jesus even more deeply than the Sadducees since He often broke the Law during healing and teaching ministries.

Scribes – were the people who kept the sacred documents. They were the most educated on what the documents had to say since they were the ones who transcribed them. They acted as Lawyers when interpretation of the Law was in question.

Essenes – were a religious cult at the time of Jesus. They had broken away believing that the Hebrew leadership should stand up and fight Roman rule. The Essenes broke away and went to live in tribal communities. Some commentaries indicate that they may well have believed that God would send two Messiah’s, one to teach and one to rule. The Essenes are believed to be the people who hid the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Into this world, Jesus arrives.