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April 24th, 2021

4/24/2021

On this, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, with this Sunday also having the name of ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’, you might think that all the texts have something to do with sheep. But that is not the case when it comes to the text from Acts. In the text from Acts for this week, in chapter 4[:1-12], Peter is coming down hard on some of the religious leaders of the day [for a detailed list of them, see 4:5-6]. Perhaps it was because they were not being very good shepherds of the people.

Peter basically told them that ‘you crucified … Jesus Christ, the Nazarene … [verse 10].’ And he basically has made this same statement before. In his first two sermons in Acts 2 and 3, both are to the Jews in Jerusalem, and he covers the same point. But he describes the crucifixion somewhat differently.

It might be helpful to compare those sermons in the book of Acts to other similar speeches that show up later. I think that something particularly interesting is the description of the crucifixion in each of those sermons, as the speaker lays out some of the immense ramifications of what this God-man, Jesus, did with that relatively small piece of wood. What follows are somewhat-literal translations of the crucifixion sections of those four ‘sermons’:

Acts 2:23 …this man, in the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, was given up through the hands of lawless men, fastening, you did away with him….

Acts 3:14-15a But you, yourselves, denied the holy and righteous one, and you asked for a man, a murderer, to be granted to you, and the originator of life you killed….

Acts 10:39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the country of the Jews and Jerusalem; whom also they did away with, hanging him on a tree.

Acts 13:28-29 And no cause of death finding, they asked Pilate for him to be done away with; and as they finished all the things concerning him having been written, taking down from the tree, they placed him into a tomb.

In essence, here are some of the basic crucifixion statements within each of the above quotations:

You did away with him, fastening … you killed the originator of life … they did away with him, hanging on a tree … they finished all the things concerning him having been written.

Obviously, there is a significant amount of variety in those statements. The greatest variety is within the statements of ‘you’ or ‘they’, who actually did the crucifying. As was said before, in the first two, the words are being spoken to the people in Jerusalem, quite soon after the crucifixion. In the last two, the words are spoken to others. In the third one, Peter is speaking within the house of Cornelius. (And it certainly took a while for Peter to feel comfortable in the house of a Gentile.) But the end result of Peter’s talk is quite similar to the day of Pentecost [see 10:44-45]. In the fourth one, Paul is in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch—quite a distance from Jerusalem—and he is giving those gathered there a word of exhortation.

I like the variety within these four summaries of Jesus on the cross, and this variety even reminds me of the variety within the four gospel accounts, especially when it comes to the crucifixion and the progression to that event within the gospel accounts. Here are some of the connections that I have found that connect these four sermons to the normal order of the four accounts. Perhaps you may come up with even more:

In Acts 2, there is an emphasis on God’s knowing beforehand, and the Gospel according to Matthew has a strong connection to the Old Testament and what God did in the past among his people, Israel. Also, when describing the crucifixion, the word ‘fastening’ is used, and this is an extremely rare word. At the base of this word is the word ‘to build’, and even this word is rare in the New Testament! It is something that a person usually constructs or puts together (but see Hebrew 8:2). Also connected to this word is the idea of being firm. And after the soldiers are described as crucifying Jesus, they are uniquely described as ‘sitting’ and guarding him there [Matthew 27:36]. One may see a few references to people within this particular crucifixion-description, and that happens in the Gospel according to Matthew with all the teaching that is happening.

In Acts 3, a different word for the crucifixion is used, a much stronger word, a word clearly connected to killing. And regarding the person of Jesus, the first definition in the dictionary for that word here is ‘one who has a preeminent position’ [A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Christian Literature, third edition, University of Chicago Press, 2000; page 138]. One can see this ‘preeminent’ position given to Jesus within the Gospel according to Mark in some different ways. The disciples of Jesus are not portrayed very positively here, especially when compared to other accounts, and Jesus therefore tends to stand out more. For a good example of this, see Mark 10:32.

In Acts 10, the word ‘hanging’ is used, and this is also used in Acts 5:30 in the speech of Peter and the apostles to the Sanhedrin. But it only appears in the four gospel accounts to describe a crucifixion in Luke 23:39, when it describes those who were ‘hanged’ with Jesus. And the fact that Jesus was hanging is within a larger statement that Peter is one of the witnesses to what Jesus did, and such a statement is quite clearly made in Luke 24:48.

Acts 13 has by far the most unusual description of the crucifixion. To ‘finish’ all the things having been written concerning him does not clearly mention death. Here, again, seems to be an oblique reference to the Old Testament, and the Gospel according to John does go back to the very beginning at its start.

The closest mention of death in this section of Acts 13 is that the people asked for Pilate literally to ‘take away’ Jesus, and it is the same word used in the other cases. In the same way, Jesus’ trial is described in a somewhat similar fashion in this account to the way it is described in the other accounts.

Another thing to note is that the word ‘finish’ comes up in some surprising ways near the very end of Jesus’ life in the Gospel according to John. Here is a somewhat-literal translation of this interesting section:

After this, Jesus knowing that now all things have been finished, that the scripture might be finished [usually this phrase uses the verb ‘to fulfill’], says, “I thirst.” A jar of vinegar, full, was set; a sponge, therefore, full of the vinegar, putting around a hyssop, they brought it to his mouth. When, therefore, he took the vinegar, Jesus said, “It has been finished,” and bowing his head, he delivered up the spirit [John 19:29-30].

Even if there were no connections between these statements and the four gospel accounts, there is still a significant amount of variety within those above four statements. And why is that? The easy way that this question was answered was that the different writers wrote at different times in different places in different situations. While that could be true, it also could be true that the thing written about is so important that it takes a few different perspectives to explain adequately what is happening and what are the huge ramifications of such an all-important thing.

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April 17th, 2021

4/17/2021

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On this, the Third Sunday of Easter, the pattern continues of looking at the so-called ‘Acts of the Apostles’ for the First Reading. Last week the text was from Acts 4. This time the text is from Acts 3[:11-21]. On the Day of Pentecost, we will obviously be looking at chapter 2. The book itself has a chronology, a progression, but that is not always followed in the readings.

It might be helpful to go back to the very beginning. The title of this book is ‘The Acts of the Apostles’, and apostles are those who are sent out. The work starts with Jesus essentially sending out the apostles in Jerusalem, and it ends with Paul, also one of the apostles, who just made it to Rome.

Paul is essentially called an apostle in Acts 14:4 and 14, and some would say that this chapter is near the transition between the focus of those apostles talking to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. In a way, this is most certainly true, but in the very last chapter of the book, Paul is still speaking to the Jews in Rome. There is a more theological (God’s word) emphasis at this middle point within the book. And one way to find that emphasis may be to look at the words that people are speaking.

One thing that many people have commented on is the large number of speeches within this book. When someone speaks, those words could all be written down, or those words could be summarized. There is a large number of speeches that are laid out within the text, and they make that text significantly longer.

Although this may take a little while (a little longer than my usual length), it might be helpful to look at some of the ‘reactions’ (and perhaps it would be good to lay out that word in this way: re-Act-ions) within this book. What follows is a list of the words that occur after some of the longer sections of essentially quoted words in this book. Looking at these may help to see what is most important. To be somewhat consistent, groups of words that made up three or more verses were chosen, and these texts are somewhat-literal translations.

At the end of Peter’s speech to the ‘brothers’ in Acts 1:

(verse 23-26) ‘So they set two: Joseph, the one called Barsabbas, who was also named Justus, and Matthias. And praying … and they cast lots for them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles.

At the end of Peter’s speech to the Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost in Acts 2:

(verses 37-41) And hearing this, they were stung in the heart, and they said to Peter and the remaining apostles, ‘What may we do, men, brothers?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized, each one of you ….’ …and there were added in that day about 3000 souls.

At the end of Peter’s speech (while he was with John) to the people in the porch of Solomon in Acts 3:

(chapter 4, verses 1-4) And while they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people … and the number of men became about 5000.

At the end of Peter’s speech (while he was with John) in Acts 4 to the Jewish leaders:

(verse 13-14) And beholding the boldness of Peter and John, and perceiving that they were unlettered men and laymen, they marveled and … they had nothing to say against them.

At the end of the believers’ prayer in Acts 4:

(verse 31) And as they were making their request, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and all were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

At the end of Peter’s speech (with the apostles) to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:

(verse 33-35) And those hearing this were cut and intended to kill them. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel … said to them….

At the end of Gamaliel’s speech to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:

(verse 39-41) And they obeyed him. And having called the apostles, they were beating them and they commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and they released them. And they went rejoicing from the face of the Sanhedrin….

At the end of Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:

(verse 54) And hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts, and they gnashed their teeth at him.

At the end of Peter’s speech in Acts 10:

(verse 44-45) While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all the ones hearing the word. The circumcised believers who came with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out also on the Gentiles.

At the end of Peter’s speech to the circumcised believers in Acts 11:

(verse 18) When they heard this, they were silent and glorified God saying, ‘Then also to the nations God gives repentance into life.’

At the end of Paul’s word of exhortation (with Barnabas) at the synagogue in Acts 13:

(verse 42) As they were going out, they exhorted them that these words be spoken on the next Sabbath….

At the end of Paul’s speech (with Barnabas) in Lystra in Acts 14:

(verse 18) And saying these things, they barely restrained the crowds not to sacrifice to them.

At the end of Peter’s speech at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:

(verse 12) And all the multitude was silent, and they heard Barnabas and Paul relating the signs and wonders that God did among the nations through them.

At the end of James’ speech at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:

(verse 22) Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with all the church, to send to Antioch chosen men of them with Paul and Barnabas, Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers….

At the end of Paul’s speech in Athens in Acts 17:

(verse 32) And hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some, on the one hand, scoffed, but some, on the other hand, said, ‘We will hear you also again concerning this.’

At the end of the city clerk’s speech at Ephesus in Acts 19:

(verse 41-chapter 20, verse 1) After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly. And after the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and, after exhorting and leaving them, he went out to go into Macedonia.

At the end Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:

(verse 36) And having said these things, placing his knees with all of them, he prayed.

At the end of Paul’s speech to the crowd in Jerusalem in Acts 22:

(verse 22) And they heard him as far as this word, and they lifted up their voices saying, ‘Take this man from the earth, for it is not fitting for him to live!’

At the end of Tertullus’ presentation of the case against Paul before Felix in Acts 24:

(verse 9) And also the Jews joined in asserting these things to be thus.

At the end of Paul’s reply to Felix in Acts 24:

(verse 22) And Felix postponed the things, knowing more exactly the things concerning the Way....

At the end of Festus’ discussion with the king regarding Paul’s case in Acts 25:

(verse 22) And Agrippa said to Festus, ‘I would like to hear the man myself.’

At the end of Paul’s speech to the leaders of the Jews in Acts 28:

(verse 21-22) And they said to him, ‘We ourselves have not received letters about you from Judea, nor has arrived any of the brothers who have told or spoke anything evil about you. But we think it is worthy to hear what things you think from you, concerning this sect, known to us; it is everywhere spoken against.’

At the end of Paul’s ‘final statement’ in Acts 28:

(verse 29 is only in some manuscripts and 30-31) After having said these things, the Jews left, having a large argument among themselves. And he remained a whole two years in his own rented place, and he welcomed all the ones coming to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, unhindered.

It could be said that there is a lot of Act-ivity after these speeches. There are some very significant actions—some people were significantly changed, for better or worse; some are stung, some are cut to the heart, some are ready to kill. At the end of a very long speech, if it took a lot of room—and a lot of money to get it on the papyrus—then you might expect a big reaction. Perhaps you have heard of this saying: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. A big action USUALLY has a big reaction.

Our Lord, though, does not have to prove himself. His words always do what they say, but not always in a big way. A big reaction may draw more attention, but that is usually the way of power and not the way of love.

I think it is significant that there is some ‘silence’ after two of these speeches, in Acts 11 and 15—although at the end of that first speech, there ends up being some talking by glorifying God. (And it seems significant that the Acts 15 crowd is described as a ‘multitude’.) I also think that it is significant that these two speeches are more theological ones. They are speeches dealing with the salvation going to the Gentiles as well. And that, I think, should interest you.

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April 10th, 2021

4/10/2021

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You probably know that the season of Easter continues after Easter Sunday, and perhaps you also already know that, during the Easter season, the first of the three readings for each Sunday comes from the book of Acts instead of the Old Testament. This will continue until the Day of Pentecost, when the second reading, instead of coming from the Epistles, will come from the second chapter of Acts.

The Old Testament is certainly an important part of the Bible, but the book of Acts is also important. The title of this blog, ‘A Sabbath Day’s Journey’, meaning a short ‘journey’ with a few words of scripture, is a phrase that comes from the book of Acts. And that description, in a way, connects both testaments together.

The decision for the early church to start writing the New Testament was certainly a significant one. They just experienced the One who, as promised, would crush the serpent’s head [Genesis 3:15]. This was also the One who would follow the messenger, John the Baptist, the ‘way-preparer’ [Malachi 3:1]. The entire Old Testament, basically from beginning to end, spoke of this Jesus, this Savior. How could they NOT write something down?

Imagine, though, if one chapter in Acts would have the following description:

And the remaining apostles all got together and decided that Matthew should write one account about Jesus, that Mark—with the help of Peter—should write another, etc.

I think that, with such a text, there would be too much of a focus on both the apostles and the writers. And the texts would end up becoming history lessons.

There is, instead, a lot of focus on action in Acts. That point should be clearly made, despite how obvious that may be from the title. But, along with that, there is a correspondingly small focus on writing. And the combination of both those things, working together, may help the reader or listener to focus ultimately on Jesus.

The book of Acts, actually called the Acts of the Apostles, may also be thought of the Acts of the risen and ascended Lord among his people. To be more specific, the final words of the book describe this happening in Rome through the mouth of Saint Paul: He was…

proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness unhindered [Acts 28:31].

The way in which the Acts of the Apostles has a small focus on writing may be an interesting aspect upon which to contemplate. In today’s society, communication by actions is seen as more important than communication by words. It may be helpful to see the great value in words once again, and, in this case, the value of written words. You may have a lot of thoughts in your brain, but when there’s a thought that you are willing to take the time and write it down, that action makes that thought quite important. And although there are a few written words in front of you, they are important, and all words are very important. They were very important, literally, from day one.

The book of Acts starts out with an interesting focus, not on writing, but definitely on Jesus. Here is a somewhat-literal translation:

The first word I made concerning all things, O Theophilus, which the Jesus began both to do and to teach, until which the day having given orders to the apostles, whom he chose, through Holy Spirit, he was taken up…[Acts 1:1-2].

The Gospel according to Luke, according to the above statement, is only a word that describes what Jesus BEGAN to do. This is similar to the Gospel according to Mark with its description at the start of the ‘beginning of the gospel’. This two-fold emphasis on Jesus and the beginning of his work may be the reason that there are so many emphases on various actions and so few on writing within Acts.

Here is a very brief overview of written things in Acts (but perhaps you would like to study this more on your own):

There, of course, is an obvious emphasis on the writings of the Old Testament. This is seen almost immediately in Acts 1[:16] with a fulfillment of something in the Old Testament. In 1:20, Peter says that something is WRITTEN in the Psalms. (A lot of the other quotations from the Old Testament are described in SPOKEN terms. See Acts 2:16, 25, 31, 34; 3:18, 22; 4:25, etc.) Again, with the speech of Stephen to the Sanhedrin, there is talk about what was written in the prophets, specifically Amos [Acts 7:42], and Saint Paul makes the same point in his word of exhortation, the first of his quotations, this time also from the Psalms [Acts 13:33]. The next time a written Old Testament passage is given is during the Jerusalem Council, and James is quoting from the prophets, again from Amos [Acts 15:15].

Another obvious emphasis is when letters are included within the text of this book. This happens twice within this book. The second time this happens is at Acts 23:25, and it is interesting that, right before the letter, there is this phrase: ‘…writing a letter, having this pattern….’ I would suggest you not trust the content of THAT letter! The first time is the most famous time, at the Jerusalem Council, and there is no indication there this is a pattern or type [see Acts 15:23]. At the Jerusalem Council is where they are dealing with the gospel, and that is a most-important topic.

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April 4th, 2021

4/4/2021

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You probably already knew that this Sunday is a very special Sunday, Easter Sunday. This is the Sunday when we ESPECIALLY celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. And the Old Testament text is somewhat appropriate, although its location within the entire book may make it unfamiliar.

The Old Testament text for Easter Day for this year is from Isaiah 25[:6-9]. The latter chapters (40-66) are about twice as popular for an Old Testament text, but there are some wonderful gospel messages in the first several chapters of the book as well.

This particular text talks about death being swallowed up forever. The specific text is found in verses 7 and 8, and the following is a somewhat-literal translation:

And he will destroy, on this mountain, faces of the shroud, the one covering over all the peoples and the sheet, the one covering over all the nations; he will swallow the death into perpetuity….

The Greek translation of this book was probably made that first century before Jesus’ birth, and having to wait for such a long time for some good news may have made the translator not so optimistic regarding this eternal swallowing of death. One could read the Greek translation of that final Hebrew phrase in this way: ‘The death has prevailed and swallowed up.’

Is death devouring or being devoured? Admittedly, there is conflicting evidence based on what we see in our own lives and in what we see in some of these beautiful gospel texts of scripture.

A wonderful promise that is a bit easier to see has to do with God’s promises regarding mountains. Another picture that is put forward before the mention of death is that of being on a mountain, and this is a frequent picture within the Old Testament. Whether dealing with Israel or another nation, with a mountain comes power. Those who stand on it in battle have a distinct advantage when fighting those who are lower.

Although in this text our attention is turned toward Jerusalem and Mount Zion, other nations would certainly understand this illustration. In fact, the context of this text brings up many other nations. Chapters 13-23 are full of judgments against the nations, and some of them are worse than others. And some of them are also ‘closer to home’ than others.

Here are their basic groupings according to chapter—they are included to give you an idea of those who were being condemned, and there are frequent references to height within these chapters (hill, mount, high places, to ‘go up’, etc.; and please note that a VALLEY is condemned when it comes to the people of Israel near the end of this section):

13-14   Babylon and Assyria
14        Philistia
15-16   Moab
17        Damascus (Aram) and Israel
18        Cush
19-20   Egypt and Cush (and Assyria)
21        Babylon
21        Dumah (Edom)
21        Arabia
22        Valley of Vision (Jerusalem)
23        Tyre

After these chapters comes another interesting section, and it is also the place from where our text comes. It is a concluding section, a mixture of condemnations and blessings, and it is in a song-like structure. The tone of the words starts out with a lot of condemnation as the LORD promises to destroy the earth, but eventually there is also some good news that some will definitely be saved. And the use of the word mount or mountain within this section is interesting.

The entire concluding section for chapters 13-23 is from chapters 24 through 27. There is one mention of a mount in chapter 24, at the last verse, and then somewhat nearby, in chapter 25, at verses 6, 7, and 10. And then there is only one other mention at the very end of this section, at the last few words of chapter 27.

The last mention may be a help to point out a significant, middle part of the previous section, since the original text did not have the divisions of chapter and verse. And it certainly would be appropriate to remind the readers/listeners about these important mountains in the middle of an important section. And this is especially true when a person thinks that God, ‘the One above’, has been silent.

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