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July 31st, 2021

7/31/2021

As always, the Old Testament reading is connected to the Gospel reading of the New Testament. And the next three weeks are quite special in that the gospel text is from the Gospel according to John. This happens at no other time. And the Gospel according to John is exceedingly special, and so that will be the focus here, at least for the next three weeks.

The other gospel accounts are very similar to each other and are often called the ‘synoptic’ or the accounts with a similar viewpoint. But the Gospel according to John is so special that it often uses more library space than the space devoted to the other gospel accounts.

When examining the differences between those three accounts and the Gospel according to John, there is a lot that could be said. And many of the people who examine those differences go to various libraries and schools and examine those differences to their depths. But the first people to hear about those differences did not go to schools and libraries, but they went to churches—and not only churches, but to synagogues as well. The context of those places is significantly different in those two places than that of the school or the library. The ultimate focus of both the church and synagogue should be a gracious LORD.

Within such a context, it may be helpful to see this fourth gospel account as a modified ‘word of exhortation’ or ‘word of encouragement’. This is a Jewish type of message, one that people would expect after the ‘Old Testament’ readings. The entire Epistle to the Hebrews (see Hebrews 13:22) may be considered an actual word of exhortation, and Paul’s speech in Acts 13 is called the same thing (see Acts 13:15).

It seems like there are two basic parts to a word of exhortation, the word of the Lord that is laid out at the beginning, and the exhortation that comes from that word that appears at the end. There are some similarities in the Hebrews and Acts texts that may point to these two transition points: ‘Thus he has said … therefore, do not….’ These points are found in the following verses (and are sometimes translated in a way that does not make these words obvious): Acts 13:34 & 40; Hebrews 4:4 & 10:35

The Gospel according to John lays out a word, and words are certainly special at the beginning of the account [see John 1:1-14]. And the two words of the first phrase, that of the word section, they also appear at a major division in this gospel account, that of the end of chapter 12 and the first part of chapter 13 [see John 12:50].

But this gospel account as a ‘word of exhortation’ falls very short if you were expecting some kind of exhortation at the very end. An overwhelming amount of the text is given to the emphasis on the word.

There are some commands given in the last chapter of this gospel account. It may be interesting to see some of these commands (given in a somewhat-literal translation) in John 21:

Verse 6            Jesus to his disciples   ‘Cast the net in the right side of the boat, and you will find.’
Verse 12          Jesus to his disciples   ‘Come, breakfast.’
Verse 15          Jesus to Peter              ‘Feed my lambs.’
Verse 16          Jesus to Peter              ‘Shepherd my (little) sheep.’
Verse 17          Jesus to Peter              ‘Feed my (little) sheep.’
Verse 19          Jesus to Peter              ‘Follow me.’
Verse 22          Jesus to Peter              ‘You, follow me.’

There is a lot of repetition here, but that is okay. Although all the commands are directed to the people of that time, the three central commands seem to be the most important. But the really important words given in this account are eternal. Jesus said, in the last verse of the text for today [John 6:35], ‘I am the bread of life.’ He did NOT say that he WAS or WILL BE the bread of life. That is a big difference.

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July 24th, 2021

7/24/2021

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The Old Testament reading for this Sunday is directed toward part of the Flood account [Genesis 9:8-17], and much could be said about this. People have focused on the Flood for MANY years (although it has not been MILLIONS of years), especially since a worldwide flood left the earth, in some ways, as if it had evolved over millions of years.

The nice thing from a literary perspective is that what is given is not just accurate, both historically and theologically, but this account also an emphasis on God’s remembering (see Genesis 8:1). That is what is in the center of a concentric structure which is the account of the Flood, but actually it is the account of Noah’s ‘account’ (or ‘lineage’ or ‘generation’). This is an important word throughout the Pentateuch.

There are ‘accounts’ from Genesis 2:4 to Numbers 3:1. And at the middle of this account of Noah, there is the phrase that ‘God remembered Noah.’ That’s an important factor, and it makes a difference to the rest of the account.

What is interesting is that, after the text for this Sunday, within this account of Noah something happens that is somewhat negative. Noah drinks too much wine. It’s a dangerous thing, and other writers have brought that point up elsewhere.

That ‘situation’ about Noah is started with this interesting phrase (9:20a): ‘Noah began to be a man of the soil.’ For one thing, the word ‘began’ is related to the idea of profanity, and that is certainly not a good thing. The word is used before this at Genesis 6:1 when the so-called ‘sons of God’ do not begin to do a good job with the daughters of men, and, at this very point, God gives his first mention of the punishment of the Flood. Another point that could be made is that the word ‘soil’ is like the name ‘Adam’, and that also takes us back to a bad thing. Because of sin of the first two people, the LORD God curses the soil.

These negative points on the end of certain sections may be found elsewhere in the Old Testament. Sometimes things are left in a very bad situation. This happens at the end of Genesis, at the end of the Pentateuch, and at the end of the entire Old Testament. Comparisons can be made to the present. When something bad happens, that may actually turn into a very good thing. For both the ancient and the modern groups of people, it is a nice thing to remember that ‘God remembers’. A bigger perspective is usually much more helpful.

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July 18th, 2021

7/18/2021

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The Old Testament Reading for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost is from Jeremiah 23[:1-6], and the text predicts the reign of a very important king. It is very unfortunate that this picture of a king does not have the significance that it did in the past. Very few people in the twenty-first century have an accurate picture in their minds as to what it means to be a king.

One picture that may be helpful that has been present from almost day one—actually this happened on day four—is that the things in the sky have some dominion. Here are those words in a somewhat-literal translation [Genesis 1:16-18]:

And God made two of the great lights, the greater light, for governing of the day and the lesser light, for governing of the night, and also the stars. And God gave them in the expanse of the heavens to cause light upon the earth, and to govern in the day and in the night and to separate between the light and between the darkness, and God saw that it was good.

The sun, moon, and stars all govern in a way, and they are over the people of the earth. In much the same way, a king reigns over some people. In a very simple way, it is a height issue. The king is over those he governs. He sometime does this by sitting. The problem with sitting is that the king would usually be lower than the others if the others are standing. But the others may be doing something like falling on their faces, and that ends up being an extremely low position.

One interesting tradition is the use of stars in the thrones of the ancient kings. Stars have been grouped into constellations for centuries, almost from day one. I mentioned last week that the book of Job mentions the constellations of Pleiades and Orion, and that is a very old book.

One very interesting connection is between the constellations and the living creatures of the LORD’s throne that are mentioned in both the Old Testament and the New, although they basically have a different order each time they are mentioned, and that can be confusing.

The various constellations are below. The first row are the names of the constellations if you are interested in something like astrology (having the stars determine the future—that seems to be VERY much out of the range of their authority, although it is certainly NOT out of the LORD's authority). The second row are the more typical names of all the constellations. The third row are the four living creatures that come up, each at the same interval (except for the difference between an eagle and a scorpion; this may be explained in that a scorpion has been connected to evil because of its ability to kill; and if you would like to look at the stars that make up this constellation, one might see an eagle's head calling out).

Aires                ram
Taurus             bull                              ox
Gemini            twins
Cancer crab
Leo lion                              lion
Virgo               virgin
Libra              scale
Scorpio            scorpion                      eagle
Sagittarius       archer
Capricorn        goat
Aquarius          water-bearer              man
Pisces              fish

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July 11th, 2021

7/11/2021

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For the Old Testament Reading on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, this time we go to one of the so-called ‘minor’ prophets. (They were called that because of the length of their works and not because of the frivolity in their messages.) The text is from Amos 7[:7-15].

Sometimes prophets are quickly and easily dismissed. But they usually have some very good and important things to say. This prophet will be quoted twice in the book of Acts, once at the very important Council of Jerusalem (see Acts 15).

Councils are important, and Amos mentions an extremely important council somewhat earlier in the book. Here is a somewhat-literal translation of 3:7:

Specifically, the Lord Yahweh will not do a thing, specifically, unless he reveals his ‘plan’ to his servants, the prophets.

This word translated ‘plan’ here is much more complicated than just having one word as its equivalent. In Holladay’s ‘concise’ lexicon, the definition of ‘confidential conversation’ is given for its occurrence here [William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament; Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA: Eerdmans Publishing, 1971; page 254]. The verses that are cross-referenced within the Concordia Self-Study Bible are the following: Genesis 18:17, I Samuel 3:7, Daniel 9:22, John 15:15, and Revelation 10:7. There are the LORD’s plans from literally Genesis to Revelation. Plans are important, and prophets are important throughout the Old and New Testaments; they often reveal the LORD’s plans.

Some people have described the Old Testament as the LORD gradually becoming less involved than he was before, and that can certainly be seen in some ways. It seems as though the LORD was used to walking in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. And then things, of course, started to fall apart.

Then things continued to fall apart even more. The prophets usually promised that some bad things would happen in the future. That seemed to be pretty normal, but, they were still despised, and people did not want to hear this bad news. That is pretty normal as well.

Amos was one of the first of the minor prophets (about 700 years before Christ), and there were more after him, but you can tell that, at this point in time, the people wanted to hear some good news.

As things continued on through the centuries, this desire for good news continued to grow. And it may also be seen in the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. What follows are a couple of examples of this.

In the Greek translation of Amos 5:8, the LORD is not described as one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion (this is, incidentally, the only time, other than the book of Job, where these constellations are mentioned), but, very simply, he ‘who makes all things.’ It seems that the mention of these two constellations was somewhat negative and that the translator wanted to be more positive.

At Amos 7:7, the Hebrew text simply has the following: ‘This he showed me.’ But the Greek, ‘This the Lord showed me.’ The translator wanted to make sure that the reader knew who was talking.

And one of the most interesting changes is in Amos 4:13. Here is the Hebrew text in a somewhat-literal translation:

Specifically, behold, one forming mountains and one creating wind and one revealing to man what is his thought, and one making dawn, darkness, and one walking upon the high places of the earth, Yahweh, God of hosts, his name.

Here is the Greek translation of the same verse:

For, behold, I am strengthening thunder and creating wind and proclaim to men his Christ, forming morning and darkness, and mounting upon the high places of the earth; Lord, the God, the ruler of all, his name.

Did you catch the most significant difference? The Greek starts with a first-person reference, and this is not that important. But instead of ‘what is his thought’ (in the Hebrew—and that phrase is very similar in its letters to the one word for ‘Messiah’), the text has the anointed one, the Christ (in Greek). People were waiting for the Christ for a LONG time.

When the Christ finally came, he came with a special prophet who prepared the way for him. But he surprised the people by the way this Christ acted, going to the cross. And this Anointed One continues to surprise, since we are often so focused on ourselves.

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July 3rd, 2021

7/3/2021

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For the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, the Old Testament reading happens to be from the book right after the book of the reading for the fifth Sunday, the book of Lamentations. [This order of the Old Testament is the order with which most people are familiar.] The text for this Sunday is from the book of Ezekiel [2:1-5]. And this is the earliest text for that book within the three-year series of readings; there is never a reading from Ezekiel’s first chapter.

The first chapter of Ezekiel is a significant one, especially since, within the three-year series, the Old Testament readings are designed to connect to the readings from the four gospel accounts. And many Christians in the past centuries have connected, in various ways, Ezekiel’s special vision and its four living creatures to the four gospel accounts of the New Testament. There have also been various connections between the four living creatures of the vision and some other admittedly important things in creation. It may be helpful to look at some of those connections and to consider, at least briefly, why they came about.

What essentially was this vision in Ezekiel, chapter one? At the beginning of the first chapter, the writer explains that he saw ‘appearances of God’ (1:1b; literal translation). At the end of the first chapter—which, by the way, is the beginning of the second chapter in the Greek translation—the writer notes that this was ‘the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh’ (1:28; again, a literal translation). In a word, the vision is about ‘glory’.

Literally, the word ‘glory’ means ‘weight’ or ‘heaviness’ [William L. Holladay’s A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament; Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; page 150]. The colloquialism, ‘to throw one’s weight around’, gets us quickly to the significance of this word. What is the significance or weight of these four living creatures which are given such close attention in this first chapter of Ezekiel?

To see what others have said, and to have a better appreciation for those things that are ancient, the Ancient Christian Commentary series is very helpful, and the following quote, which admittedly is EXTREMELY long, has been taken from the volume on Ezekiel and Daniel. You may find the references too detailed, but the variety has been laid out in a clear and meaningful summary, and yet with some great and helpful detail:

We have already mentioned the four living creatures—the man, the lion, the ox and the eagle [the order of the living creatures in Ezekiel 1:10]. Because of the complex schemes that were developed in the patristic period, a word of fuller explanation is needed….

The first scheme identified the lion as John, the ox as Luke, the man as Matthew and the eagle as Mark [the order of the living creatures in Revelation 4:7]. This is what we come across in Irenaeus (Against Heresies 3.11.8), and it is followed by Victorinus of Petovium in his commentary on Revelation; Juvencus, the Spanish presbyter-poet; and Chromatius of Aquileia, in his commentary on Matthew. They all give the same rationale: the lion is John, because his Gospel begins full of confidence; the ox is Luke, because his Gospel begins with priestly sacrifice; the man is Matthew, because his Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus; and the eagle is Mark, because his Gospel begins with the prophecy of Isaiah (Is 43).

The second scheme becomes the standard one: the lion is Mark, the ox is Luke, the man is Matthew, and the eagle is John. This arrangement first appears in Epiphanius’s On Weights and Measures, and he is followed by Jerome, Apponius and Gregory the Great. They all give a similar rationale and again use the opening words of each Gospel to support them; Matthew is the man because he begins with a genealogy; Mark is the lion, roaring in the desert, like his prophetic opening; Luke is the ox, because he begins with temple sacrifice; and John is the eagle, flying heavenwards like the divine Word.

The third scheme we first come across in the fragments of Hippolytus on Ezekiel, and he is followed by Augustine (who enters some caution about these schemes, observing that they should all point ultimately to Christ alone), Ambrose and Primasius of Hadrumetum. The lion is Matthew, because Christ is descended from the tribe of Judah; the ox is Luke, because Christ is shown in his priestly glory; the man is Mark, because of the humanity of Christ shown in that Gospel; and the eagle is John, because the mystery of the Word ascends to heaven.

It is interesting to speculate on why these schemes were worked out in the first place. Irenaeus may well have been following a tradition going back to Papias, and since the canon of the New Testament was in process of formation, such a typology, whether from Ezekiel or Revelation or both, could give support to there being no fewer and no more than four Gospels. At any rate, the fact remains that the aforementioned writers, representing both mainstream and out-of-the-way profiles, developed this tradition of interpretation….

Meanwhile, in the East, where the book of Revelation was more suspect, other ways of interpreting the creatures emerged. There are the four elements, with the lion as fire, the ox as earth, the man as air and the eagle as water. This is what we find in Methodius of Olympus and Novatian. Macarius and Ammonas avoid the book of Revelation and stick to Ezekiel when they interpret the creatures. For Macarius, the eagle is the king of birds, the lion is the king of the wild beasts, the ox is the king of domestic animals, while man is the king of all creatures in general. He also makes them correspond to the four ruling factors in the soul: the eagle is the will, the lion is the conscience, the ox is intelligence, and the man is love. Ammonas takes another psychological approach: the lion is a cherub, the Spirit of God resting on the soul to enable it to praise God; the man is the desire to inquire; the ox is faithfulness in struggle; and the eagle is the desire to ascend to the heights. [Introduction to Ezekiel by Kenneth Stevenson, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament, Volume 13; InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, USA, 2008; pages xxiii-xxv.]

There is admittedly a lot there. But there is a lot of history in anything that has been around for thousands of years.

God has a lot of weight and significance, of that, there is no doubt. He is certainly significant when it comes to the universe’s four elements, the creation of various animals or beasts, or even the creation of the four ‘ruling factors of the soul’. But how important are these factors when the perspective becomes an eternal one? When and how does God REALLY ‘throw his weight around’? At that place is truly his glory.

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