Kingdom Parables

What I love about certain of Jesus; parables is that they are completely focused on the Kingdom of Heaven. My favorite chunk of these parables can be found in Matthew 13 where Jesus again and again says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..." and then explains! I love all the different terms and stories that Jesus uses to explain this thing known as the Kingdom. He talks about how it's like a mustard seed, that grows like crazy.

Mustard seeds. One mustard seed weighs 1/800th of an ounce. Mustard seeds are TINY. But they grow! In the first century, only mustard farmers were allowed to grow mustard seed. If a person planted them in their yard, it would spread, and soon take over an entire neighborhood or even more! Thus roman law outlawed the used of mustard seed except by professionals. Interesting eh? The Kingdom of Heaven is like an unstoppable invasive species!!

But Jesus isn't done. The Kingdom is also like a PEARL! The Kingdom is also like TREASURE! It's like YEAST! Jesus is so excited about the kingdom that he continues over and over again, explaining what the Kingdom is like. And you know what? If he came around today, he would use everyday objects for us too!

Jesus was a master teacher, and loved using stories that people would remember and tell their children for a long time, about what the Kingdom of heaven looks like. We have a master storyteller weaving our story right now. I find that comforting!

Wright Chapter 5

Was Jesus God?

Yes he was, yes he is, and yes he will always be! I actually really enjoyed Wright's chapter on Jesus divinity. The best party about it was his research on what the Jews during Jesus time period were thinking. I really deeply respect NT Wright as a first Century palestine scholar and am enjoying the insight that he has into Jesus' world. He's right too that we have to understand the culture and people that Jesus was a part of in order to understand what Jesus is truly saying at times.

It was interesting about how much Jesus acts as the new covenant away from the Temple, although I don't think Wright's argument that the Temple and JEsus couldn't coexist in Jerusalem at the same time and thats why Jesus had so much conflict with it. Rather I see Jesus deeply regarding and respecting the Temple. Calling it "My Father's house," and "A House of Prayer." I believe his conflict was with the people of the Temple and how they were using it. Yes it's true that Jesus marks the symbol of the new covenant where he forgives our sins, and he is our place of worship, etc, but I don't think that it puts him exactly in conflict with the Temple during his lifetime.

Jesus has established a new line, a new family, a new covenant. I think this was symbolized at his death when the curtain in the Temple tore at Jesus' death. I think Jesus loved the temple. He had made pilgrimages there for a lot of his life, and I think he honored the covenant between YHWH and Israel across the centuries. And with a smile, he brought the new covenant....

Why Miracles?

I love these passages that focus on the ministry of Jesus. For me it speaks to his Kingdom ministry. Not only was he proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was near, he was showing it was! In the Greek, the word used for the "nearness" of the Kingdom of God is a spatial nearness rather then a chronological time based nearness. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom is TANGIBLE and you can reach out and touch it!

He was proclaiming, "Hey! The Kingdom is here! If you don't believe me, here, I'll feed all 5000 of you men! (my guess is since they only counted how many men were there, that meant there were 10000 people there; probably more!). In heaven there won't be hunger, so let's touch heaven here from earth, and give food to EVERYONE and eliminate hunger in this moment where heaven touches earth.

I love how these miracles and healings are all apart of Jesus ushering the Kingdom. He doesn't only proclaim the Kingdom, he touches heaven to earth.

I love that in heaven we won't be hungry, so let's not be hungry on earth! There won't be blindness in heaven, so Jesus says "See!" There won't be paralysis in heaven, so Jesus says, "Walk!"

How does this affect life here and now? Well, I know there won't be loneliness in heaven. I see loneliness here at Fox. I see broken relationships here, it won't be so in heaven. I love this concept!!

Wright Chapter 4

This was a super interesting chapter for me. Wright looked in depth at the person of Jesus and almost his relationship to himself as a Messiah. The interesting part to me was that John Mark preached on the crucified messiah this last week at church, so the whole time I was reading this chapter I had John Mark running through my head.

This was good, but at the same time Wright went very deep very quickly in this chapter. He didn't have the space to flesh out everything he's thinking, but at the same time, all the different aspects of what he's saying about what Jesus believed about himself were hard to track for me.

In his conclusion, Wright brought up two common objections, which was interesting because they were my two objections to the chapter. One, that there's no way that we can know what Jesus was thinking back then, and two, that how does it really affect our walk with Christ today?

His answer to the first was basically that a strong case can be made for what he just argued. To the second he posits that we want to know the real Jesus don't we? As Christians we should want to know the real Jesus rather than some idol that we've made him out to be.

Usually I really love Wright's thinking. But in this chapter he was hard to swallow. This is for two reasons, 1) because a lot of what he was saying is hard for me to digest without doing my own research. and 2) I feel almost insulted that I'm not seeking the "true" Jesus by not taking everything he says at face value.

I respect his opinion on what Jesus was thinking during that time, and he is probably right! But at he same time, I haven't done enough research of my own on this topic to know if what he's saying is worth trusting or not. Until then, I must remain resigned to the other areas of study to which I have committed myself to.

Wright Chapter 3

In this chapter, N.T. Wright addressed some of the main symbols of Judaism and how Jesus was actually responding to them. In conclusion of the chapter he covers what Jesus' symbols of the Kingdom were. The two separations Wright makes are interesting because he brings up a different interaction between the pharisees that I hadn't seen/thought of before. The clash with the Pharisees was not one of the Pharisees being the thought police of ancient palestine, but rather their entire worldview of Judaism.

Jesus was not replacing Judaism, but continuing and fulfilling it! The Pharisees were in a state of self-defense of Judaism and Jewish traditions. They were holding out for the messiah to reinstate Israel. What they didn't expect from Jesus is that he was opening up the story of Judaism to the rest of the world. He was expanding God's plan unto the rest of the world, and the Pharisees were not okay with that. They had forgotten that Israel was to be light to the world, and they were God's plan for salvation for the Gentiles. Jesus came and CLASHED with the Pharisees over this.

The scary part is that we are just as in danger of being pharisees today. I don't mean in the legalistic sense like we usually mean by the temptation to be pharisaical. What I mean is that as Christians we can easily slip into the EXACT same trap of holing up and waiting for our messiah to come and make the world the way we want it. We are CALLED to GO and be the salvation for the rest of the world. Not that we are the saving variable in the equation of salvation, but rather we are to offer and speak the message of the gospel TO THE WORLD!

Let us not be the new breed of pharisees.

Up to the Cross

The section of the Gospel of Luke found from verse 9:51 all the way to 19:57 are the events of Jesus' ministry that are on the way back to Jerusalem where Jesus would be killed on the cross. On top of that, the section in John 13 through 17 is all about Jesus last meal with the Disciples before his crucifixion.

What a journey, what a life. It is in these last weeks of Jesus earthly ministry I think that we can find deeper meaning in every word, in every action. Jesus is a man. Yes he is God as well, but that does not change the fact that he is a man.

Two thousand years ago, he knew he was walking towards his death. He KNEW that if he would go to Jerusalem he would be killed. He knew it. Yet every day, each step bringing him closer and closer to death, Jesus taught, healed, and performed miracles.

Finally, he reaches Jerusalem, and he celebrates the Passover with his Disciples in the upper room. There he gives some of the most crucial teachings in his entire ministry. Jesus pours his heart out to the disciples about his relationship to the Father, and how the disciples are to be in relationship--to each other, to the Father, the Spirit, and himself.

Again and again Jesus echoes his central message of love and relationship. On the eve of his betrayal he hones in on the central and foundational issues that he wants the disciples to remember and know, and 2000 years later, we can read these words, and take them to heart.

A Healing and a Raising

One of my favorite stories in the gospels is the account found in Matthew 9:18-26, and Mark 5:21-43. It’s the story of Jesus healing a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years and raising a synagogue ruler’s daughter from the dead.

This story can be found in both these gospels and in Luke as well. Interestingly, the stories are always paired together. No gospel writer wanted to leave on in without the other. While Jesus is on the way to heal this girl who is about to die, a woman touches Jesus in the middle of the crowd. Something that the people there would have known that we don’t automatically pick up on when we read it is what this woman had just done was SCANDALOUS.

For the past twelve years she’s been bleeding, thus making her ceremonially unclean. If anyone touches her, they are rendered ceremonially unclean. When she goes out in the streets she has to declare herself unclean so that people will know to be sure not to touch her. She’s been ostracized by her community because of this illness, and she places her entire faith on Jesus healing her. She sneaks through the crowd, RENDERING EVERYONE SHE TOUCHED UNCLEAN, all to get to Jesus. Then she TOUCHED THE RABBI—making him ceremonially unclean. But with Jesus, he made HER clean.

Jesus publically healed this woman, because this is what she would need. He declared publically in front of everyone who had been avoiding her for the past 12 years, “She is now clean, welcome her back!” You see, Jesus is about complete healing. The word used in the Greek in Mark means “saved” spiritually. Jesus addressed her problem, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Jesus is about complete healing.

He then goes on to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. This time, he acts in secrecy. Could it be that he didn’t want that little girl to grow up as the freak who was dead, but came back to life? Some would argue that he kept it a secret like so many other things in order to preserve his secret of being the Messiah. I think it could be both, but I know this for SURE—when Jesus raised her from the dead, SHE was his concern, just as the woman who was bleeding was his concern, NOT seeming impressive, or making a statement. Jesus healed them to make them whole.

NT Wright Chapter 2

This chapter of Wright’s book fascinated me. I love listening to Wright as he speaks as an authoritative 1st Century scholar. He brings light into the context that Jesus was speaking. So often we look at the text of the Gospels without truly understanding the meta-narrative of the first century. And when you take the text out of context, all you’re left with is a con!

The larger picture that Wright refers to is that of Israel’s story of being rescued out of Egypt, being told and retold in different contexts. In Jesus’ day, this narrative was told with the Roman Empire signifying Egypt and Israel waited to be rescued by the Lord. Jesus spoke into this with his new Kingdom message. He ushered in this new Kingdom himself. He brought it by his presence, his ministry, and his death on the cross. But it didn’t stop there, he passed on his sacred mission to the disciples after his resurrection and by sending the Holy Spirit.

It’s an interesting perspective to look at everything Jesus said through the lens of the first century. I believe that they were spoken in the context of the day, but at the same time are somehow eternal and applicable today. I don’t think one needs to be a rigorous scholar of the first century to understand Jesus message, but I am so grateful for N.T. Wright and his contemporaries who help the rest of us along in our journeys to understand what Jesus meant.