Blog Archives

November 26th, 2022

11/26/2022

ccording to the typical calendar, this Sunday is not the beginning of something new. But in terms of the church year, it most certainly is. The three-year series begins this Sunday, with a focus that looks to the first of the three very similar gospel accounts, the Gospel according to Matthew. The church year essentially begins looking at the first time Jesus came, what is usually known as Christmas, and it will end with looking at the second time Jesus will come.

For the first Sunday in the church year, the First Sunday in Advent, it is noteworthy to mention that the usual gospel text that is read is the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, the last time before his death (Matthew 21:1-11). This is a good reminder how each gospel account is not necessarily a chronological account, as if a study of the order of the events were more important than the ramification of those events for eternity. Each gospel account has been carefully shaped in a unique and salvation-related way.

How the Gospel according to Matthew points to Jesus in a salvation-related way is a topic worthy of some focus. Your thoughts and ideas as to the best topics to study will continue to be appreciated, but at this point in time, this gospel account will be the focus and a more literary and salvation-related progression will be identified within this gospel account.

It has been mentioned before how the beginning of a writing can be very helpful in denoting some of the structural factors that are found within the account. And the only time that the first chapter of this gospel account appears in the three-year series is the text at the very end, and it is the text for the very last Sunday in Advent. Adding some more details to this obscure first chapter may be helpful. And here is the first verse:

A book of generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.

The above verse of the book may be a bit frightening to some. It looks like a genealogy lies before us, and one most certainly is.

Prepare for boredom, right?

Not at all!

Knowing the descendants of Cain may not be all that important, but they have been attributed with some significant discoveries and inventions (see Genesis 4). The descendants of Seth are certainly important, since their line continues past the Flood, but to have a person who is born as both fully man and fully God is obviously totally unique. This deserves a significant amount of attention, even if one does not like genealogies.

A significant amount of effort was given to the writing of this first chapter of this first account. What may be said about the above first sentence?

It may remind a person of the book of Genesis. There are a significant number of genealogies within that book. And the word ‘generation’ is important there. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is the translation of the Hebrew word ‘toledoth’. This is a word that comes up five times in the first ‘half’ of the book (1:1-11:26), the beginning of the nations, and five times in the second ‘half’ (11:27-50:26), the beginning of the Lord’s people.

The importance of numbers should be mentioned at this point in time as well. I am not referring to the book of the bible, although that is an important book, but the Hebrew language is also the set of Hebrew numbers. They did not have separate symbols for numbers. (Basically, the letter ‘a’ is 1, ‘b’ is 2, etc.)

From what appears in the introduction, King David is an important person. And the name David, in the Hebrew language, is equal to the number fourteen. And that number will come up later in the chapter. And it will have a very interesting purpose.
Hopefully you will not be bored. This genealogy is unlike any other. And Jesus (having the Old Testament name ‘Joshua’) is unlike any other.

0 Comments

November 19th, 2022

11/19/2022

0 Comments

As was mentioned last time, this Sunday is called the Last Sunday of the Church Year, and this is also our last Sunday in the Gospel according to Luke for a while. Next week starts us again at the very beginning of the three-year series, and we will start again with the first of the three similar accounts, the Gospel according to Matthew.

As was also mentioned last time, this Sunday has other endings. The Old Testament text is from the last book of the Old Testament (Mal 3:13-18), and the Gospel text is about the end of Jesus’ life, when he was on the cross (Luke 23:27-43). But it could also be stated that this gospel text has a significant beginning.

Technically speaking, the gospel text does not include the death of Jesus. The last verse of the text is verse 43, and Jesus is still alive at that point, alive enough to tell the criminal next to him that today he will be with him in Paradise.

In the previous verse, the criminal had asked the following favor of Jesus: ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ This response of Jesus is left out of the other accounts, and it is even a significant difference from what is given in the other accounts. There we have both criminals mocking him, along with the others around him (see Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32b; cf. John 19:18). But obviously there was eventually a change of heart.

The uniqueness of Jesus’ statement to the eventually repentant criminal is compounded by the fact that Paradise is only two other places within the entire New Testament. Besides this occurrence, it is also in 2 Corinthians 12:4 and Revelation 2:7. It may be helpful to see these verses in context (and what follows is a somewhat-literal translation of these texts):

I know a man in Christ, before fourteen years, whether in body I know not, or outside the body, I know not, God knows, caught such a one to a third heaven. And I know such a man, whether in body or without the body, I know not, God knows, that he was caught into the paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not permissible for a man to speak (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

To the angel of the Ephesus church, write: These things says the one holding the seven stars in the right of him, the walking one in midst of the seven lampstands, the golden: I know the works of you and the labor and the endurance of you, and that you are not able to bear the bad ones, and testing the ones saying themselves apostles and are not, and you found them liars; and endurance you have, and bearing because of the name of me, and you have not grown weary. But I have against you that the love of you, the first, you did leave. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, and repent, and the first works do; and if not, I am coming to you and will move the lampstand of you out of the place of it, if you do not repent. But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which also I hate. The one having an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the overcoming one, I will give to him to eat of the tree of the life, which is in the paradise of God (Revelation 2:1-7).

The first time a word is used in the New Testament is an important thing, especially if it is a word that was around near the beginning of time as well. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word paradise also appears in Genesis 2:8. There are only a few words that appear at the beginning and at the end of the scriptures—with Jesus using it in the middle.

0 Comments

November 12th, 2022

11/12/2022

0 Comments

After the Sunday celebrations of Reformation Day and All Saints’ Day, there are only two more Sundays in this church year. We are nearing the end. We are also at the end of the three-year series. This year has been series C, and we have been looking at the last of the three very similar gospel accounts, the Gospel according to Luke.

With all of those endings, you may not be too surprised that, for these last two Sundays, the Old Testament readings are from the very end of the Old Testament, the writings of the prophet Malachi. And, at first glance, it may be considered a bit unusual that, this next Sunday has the text is from the fourth chapter (4:1-6), while next Sunday, the last Sunday in the church year, is from the previous chapter (3:13-18). But the Old Testament readings are designed to fit with the gospel texts. And there are two significantly different endings described in the gospel texts for those Sundays, and, understandably so, there are two different endings described in those two chapters of Malachi.

It is not a bad thing to read or study the bible from beginning to end. But the four gospel accounts are extremely important and cover a very important topic. There are sometimes in other places where the same events are important enough to be given another time, and obviously from a different perspective. That there are not just two but FOUR gospel accounts make this focus EXTREMELY important. And both the differences and similarities are important as well.

This Sunday’s gospel text [Luke 21:5-28 (29-36)] deals with the signs of Jesus’ second coming, a significant ending indeed. And there are certain situations where the ending is extremely important. Endings are important in the media today because they want you to go back to them again sometime soon. How many times is the ending of a movie remembered much more easily than its beginning? Endings are certainly important. But the ending would not happen without a beginning.

As was said, endings are certainly important, but I would like to suggest that beginnings are even more important, especially from a literary point of view. There are clues within a book’s beginning to help guide the one who will be studying it.

The beginning of the gospel account that will be the focus in a very short period of time is the Gospel according to Matthew, and that beginning has a very interesting beginning. Here is a somewhat-literal translation of the first verse: ‘A book of genesis of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.’ The literal translation helped to show the connection to the first book of the bible. And in that book of the bible the first verse or sentence has seven words in the Hebrew, with the second verse having exactly double that.

There are also other things that are prominent in Matthew 1:1. The number of Greek words of this sentence is eight, and that is a very Jewish number. It should also be noted that the chronology of the people noted in this verse is backward. When you get to the genealogy, the direction goes the other way, and you start at the oldest person, and, in this case, it is Abraham. And at the end of the genealogy, it is pointed out that fourteen generations are in each section of the genealogy. What is interesting is that there are not fourteen generations in the last section of the genealogy—unless you count someone else twice. This has bothered many people for a while, especially since Matthew was said to be a tax collector, and that is someone who should be able to count! But he makes up for it in the texts which follow. Some of the details are so intricate that you would be able to say that he is a master of the connection between words and numbers. But that may be saved for another time.

0 Comments

November 5th, 2022

11/5/2022

0 Comments

For the last four Sundays, these writings have connected the four gospel accounts to the four living creatures of the LORD’s throne. And those connections have been made on the basis of the historical presents that are in each gospel account. Historical presents are those verbs which, given in the sentence, are usually in the past tense, but they are given in the text in the present. These appearances are somewhat rare, and it is helpful when they appear. Unfortunately, they only appear in the New American Standard version, and even there, the translation appears in the past, but there is an asterisk to note that the original verb is actually in the present tense.

At the start of the Advent season this year, at the end of this November, the gospel texts will again be from the gospel according to Matthew, and the three-year cycle will begin again. It may be helpful to point out at this time that the input of any reader of this blog would be appreciated. The situation continues that I currently serve two congregations that are a significant distance from one another, and, with the current schedule on Sunday morning, it is not possible to offer a serious study of the bible at that time. And thus, the reason for this blog.

Understandably, the reach of this blog is far beyond the area of central Missouri. Input from others would also be appreciated. The title is instructive: A Sabbath Day’s Journey is a short, quick, and hopefully helpful look at a text that combines both testaments and appreciates the structure that was given, pretty much from day one. In the first creation account, in the first chapter of Genesis, FIRST there was evening and THEN there was morning. Without electricity, candles, or anything like that, one must rely on God to do something. And that is exactly what he does. Are there any aspects of the gospel that could be investigated even further? Are there any parts of God’s deep and wonderful scripture that could be further investigated?

Perhaps it may be helpful to look at one more section of scripture that contains historical presents. They appeared in some places in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, they appeared frequently in three of the four gospel accounts. In the account where they were the rarest, in the Gospel according to Luke, there were some strong connections to the historical presents in the Acts of the Apostles. It should be noted that historical presents also appear in the last book of the New Testament, the Revelation of John.

In the previous books, the first appearance of the historical present helped to see their purpose in the rest of the book. For the person (who understands Greek) listening to the Greek text for the first time, to hear that word in the present tense, when it should be in the past, that would be a significant moment. What is in the text has direct ramifications for what is happening at this place and time.

One of the texts for this Sunday, since All Saints’ Day is observed on this Sunday, is from the Revelation of John. The first reading is from Revelation 7:9-17, with the option of including verses 2-8. This longer reading is essentially chapter 7 of the book.

The two chapters before chapter 7, chapters 5 & 6, both contain the first historical presents of the book. In chapter 4, the scene of God’s throne and surrounding area is basically laid out. In the next chapter, chapter 5, the focus is on ‘the Lamb’, obviously Jesus. And in the next chapter, he starts to break open a book that has seven seals on it.
Given that context, here are the first three historical presents in Revelation (in a somewhat-literal translation, with the important verb in bold):

And I wept much, because no one worthy was found to open the book or to look at it. And one of the elders says to me, ‘Do not weep; behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, overcame to open the book and the seven seals of it [5:4-5].

And (the lamb) came, and he has taken out of the right (hand) of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls, full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying:

Worthy are you to receive the book and to open the seals of it, because you were slain, and you purchased to God in your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation; and you made them to our God a kingdom and priests, and they will reign upon the earth [5:7-10].

And I saw when (the lamb) opened the seal, the sixth, and a great earthquake happened, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell into the earth, as a fig tree throws the unripe figs of it, by a great wind being shaken; and the heaven split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island out of their places were moved. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the chiliarchs and the rich and the strong and every slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one sitting on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb, for the day, the great one, has come of their wrath, and who is able to stand [6:12-17]?

There is a noticeable progression from the elder’s encouraging words, then progressing to the new song, and then the contrast to those who are not a part of Jesus’ kingdom. This is a reminder of the bigger picture and what things are EXTREMELY important.

0 Comments

A Sabbath Day's Journey

November 26th, 2022

November 19th, 2022

November 12th, 2022

November 5th, 2022

Archives