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A Sabbath Day's Journey

By: Rev. Paul Landgraf
What is a Sabbath day's journey? First of all, it is a Jewish expression. We measure distances in meters or yards. The Jews had a certain distance that they could walk on Saturday before it would be considered work. So their synagogues that they went to on Saturday could not be very far away. The word appears only in Acts 1:12 and indicates a distance of about three-quarters of a mile.

With that in mind, I think it is important to remember the origins of Christianity. Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'. Much of the Old Testament has a literary structure that we are not aware of because of our modern emphasis on chapter and verse divisions. Within many of these blogs, I try to get the reader to see a bigger picture, a larger perspective that often includes the Old Testament and the environment that was present when the New Testament was seeing the Light of the day.

Second, a Sabbath day's journey is intentionally short. These 'journeys' with a text, almost always one of the three readings for that Sunday, are deliberately brief discussions. This blog was never designed to be a comprehensive look at any text. Sometimes a specific word is studied in detail. But, as a whole, a blog entry, by itself, is meant to be quite brief.

Finally, since the term 'Sabbath day's journey' appears in Acts, it is meant to appeal to a wide variety of people. This blog is meant for those who cannot come on Sunday mornings. And it is also for those who do come on Sunday mornings but would also like a further study of the text. It is also for those who live somewhere else in the world (besides Drake and Freedom, Missouri, USA) and would simply like a further study of the text. It was meant to get these different groups of people to start thinking about the biblical texts. Part of the reason for this blog is that I am not able to have a bible class on Sunday mornings with either congregation, and so, to have a blog like this seemed like a good idea. I hope it is helpful for you, in whatever situation you may be.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read this!

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).
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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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June 26th, 2021

6/26/2021

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For the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, the Old Testament reading AGAIN is taken from a rarely used book, this time the book of Lamentations [3:22-33]. And this is the ONLY time throughout the three-year series that a text will be from this book.

The book may rarely be used because it is poetry, and we already have poetry in the Psalms, within the Introit. It may also be rarely used because there is a significant amount of bad news within the book, but you probably guessed that from its title. It is interesting, though, that near the middle point of the book and its middle chapter, there is a significant amount of good news, and this is the text for this Sunday.

This middle point is extremely easy to spot because the book relies heavily upon an acrostic structure. It is somewhat like a child’s alphabet book that starts each page with a different letter of the alphabet, all in order, from the first letter to the last. I would imagine that doing an acrostic poem in any language is difficult, but there is a great difficulty in English because of the very few words that start with the letter ‘x’.

In Hebrew that problem is not as huge, but this is a depressing topic. There is a lamentation because of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Perhaps the closest thing to this topic in English is the word ‘xenophobia’, the fear of anything foreign.

There are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and that is the reason for the twenty-two letters in most of the chapters of this book, but there are sixty-six in this lengthy middle chapter. And each letter has three verses that start with that letter. And, at the very middle, is when this text stops, and then the topic goes quite quickly back to the bad news.

To help gain an appreciation for this structure, what follows is the entire text for this Sunday, with each section starting with a different letter. But this is NOT in alphabetical order—that would definitely be too difficult. But there is some coherency with similar beginnings, and this is a somewhat-literal translation (although some allowances were made to fit this distinct design and to deal with the complexity of Hebrew poetry):

Great loves of Yahweh, specifically—we are not consumed, specifically—his compassions are not ended.4
Great is your faithfulness; new ones are in the mornings.
Given this part, Yahweh, my soul says, therefore I will wait for him.
Fine is Yahweh to those hoping in him, to the soul seeking him.
Fine to those also waiting and quiet for the salvation of Yahweh.
Fine for the strong man, specifically, that he carries a yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone, and let him be silent, specifically—He laid it on him.
Let him give to the dust his mouth; perhaps there is hope.
Let him give to the one striking his cheek, let him be filled with disgrace.
Specifically, the Lord will not cast off forever.
Specifically, if he causes grief, so he will show compassion as many of his great loves.
Specifically, he will not bring afflictions from his heart or bring griefs to the children of a man.

This is a good reminder that sometimes it is good to stop in the middle of something. And that may be where you find the LORD with some GOOD news.
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June 19th, 2021

6/19/2021

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For the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, the Old Testament reading takes a look at the book of Job [38:1-11], and that is certainly a rare occasion. But it is also a helpful one since we have recently looked at both the cherubim and seraphim and their connection to the LORD—whom they both worship. Last week the connection was made between the angels and the tabernacle, and that connection may be seen in other parts of the Old Testament.

The setting of Job that starts everything is when the Satan comes before the LORD when he is in his position of power and authority (Job 1:6), and this is a similar situation to when the LORD has cherubim and seraphim around him. In fact, the text of that verse [in the English Standard Version] goes this way in the Hebrew:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them [Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; used by permission; all rights reserved].

And the very same verse goes this way in a Greek translation (in a somewhat-literal translation into English):

And it happened in that day, and, behold, the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came with them.

A significant difference between the two verses is that those who are ‘sons of God’ in the first translation are called ‘angels of God’ in the second. The word ‘angel’ means ‘messenger’, and if a message were truly and extremely important, a king would send his son with the message. And that is exactly what we have in the case of the New Testament.

The position of any king on his throne is an important one. And recently we have seen angels around the throne of the LORD in various ways. And since we are looking at the book of Job this week, why not look at the Psalms, which are right next door?

The Psalter is one of the most important books of the Bible. It is certainly the largest book of the Bible. It is actually made up of five books which connect to the first five books of the Bible. The book is important enough to appear each Sunday within the church’s liturgy. Each Sunday has the Introit and a Psalm attached to it. But a larger picture of the Psalter may be more helpful.

A frequent structure of a book is that which follows the pattern of the tabernacle or temple. The progression of the text toward ‘the most holy place’ or ‘the holy of holies’ is important. It may also be seen in this central and third book of the Psalms, from Psalm 73-89.

The topic of the ‘holy place’ or sanctuary comes up early within this section. The writer of the first Psalm in this section has been focusing on the wicked for a while, but then he has this transition point at Psalm 73:16-17 [in the English Standard Version]:

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

There are two places where this important ‘council’ is mentioned, near the middle of the book and at the final Psalm of the book. Since Psalm 82 is near the middle and quite short—as well as quite clear regarding this ‘council’—it is given in its entirety here [again in the ESV]:

God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!

What should be added, interestingly enough, is that two Psalms before and two Psalms after this Psalm 82, these two Psalms contain the only mentions of ‘hosts’ or ‘armies’ within this section of the Psalter—and this term is usually connected to a group of angels—and there is also one mention of ‘cherubim’ at the very beginning of Psalm 80.

Here are some verses from Psalm 80 [in the ESV]:

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth (verse 1).
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved! O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers (verses 3-4)?
Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved (verse 7)!
Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself (verses 14-15).
Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved (verse 19)!

Here are some [ESV] verses from Psalm 84:

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God (verses 1-3).
O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob (verse 8)!
O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you (verse 12)!

There is a definite emphasis on angels who are surrounding the LORD. Many people think that the Psalter was quickly put together. But there is a structure here. And it is a structure that points us to the LORD, and that should not be surprising. The primary focus for the angels is on the One who sends them.

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June 12th, 2021

6/12/2021

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This is the third Sunday after Pentecost, and it is the Sunday after our first look at the first cherubim in the Bible, the ones guarding the way to the tree of life. This Sunday’s Old Testament text [Ezekiel 17:22-24] also happens to be about trees.
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It may be a coincidence that the next time cherubim are mentioned in the scriptures, a special type of tree is also mentioned there. The ark of the covenant was made out of acacia wood, a hardwood usually used to make cabinets, etc. (see Exodus 25:10).

The ark of the covenant was to be the footstool of the LORD’s throne (see 1 Samuel 4:4 and Psalm 132:7). And above the ark were to be two cherubim—made out of gold this time (see Exodus 25:18)—although there was the instruction at Exodus 20:4 not to make any graven or carved image. Here we see a very special exception.

Trees are important. Trees have life. And do not forget about the tree of life! More importantly, it is the LORD who ultimately makes all these trees and gives life. EVEN MORE important is the Lord Jesus Christ who gave up his one life on a tree. And then there is this verse from Deuteronomy [21:23] that shows the great significance of it all: Cursed to God is he who is hanged on a tree (a somewhat-literal translation).’

The cherubim are also important. And the cherubim are most mentioned frequently when it comes to the tabernacle and temple. The word ‘cherub’ has been connected to blessing, and that is what the LORD does in that situation, since he is no longer so far away. The word in Hebrew is connected to a word in the ancient language of Akkadian which means to pray, consecrate, and bless [See Ludwig Koehler & Walter Baumgartner’s, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament: Study Edition; Brill, 2001; volume 1, page 497.] The temple is a place to communicate with the LORD, and it is a place in which he has chosen to give out his gifts.

There are four living creatures that are connected to the LORD’s throne, and those four creatures show the different ways in which the LORD is actively communicating and giving out his gifts. [See also Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, book 3, chapter 11, section 8.]

When the four living creatures are listed for the first time in Ezekiel 1(:10), when Ezekiel has the vision—he says at the very beginning of the book, ‘I saw the visions of God’—they are in the usual order of the four gospel accounts: Human (& Matthew), Lion (& Mark), Ox (& Luke), Eagle (&John). Much has already been said about the connections between these four gospel accounts and the four living creatures, but there is still much more that could be written.

When the glory of the LORD is leaving the temple in Ezekiel 10 (see especially verse 14), there is a slightly different order of the creatures, and there is also a cherub instead of an ox. The change from an ox to a cherub is not a significant one, and it may even be helpful since it may be more proper to think of a cherub as a composite creature that could be ridden. When we think of a cherub, we can get too used to an angel in human form. (See also 2 Samuel 22:11 & Psalm 18:10.)

The reason for the change from ox to cherub may be that the ox would have been listed as the first of the four creatures. And perhaps the cherub is mentioned instead because this is a special event and an ox is seen to be a lowly, hardworking animal. The glory leaving the temple is an important thing and should not be seen as a mundane task.

The glory leaving the temple is a significant prediction of what was ultimately going to happen in the New Testament. At first glance, the glory leaving the temple would leave a person being sad. But if that glory were given to Jesus, there might be a totally different reaction. And a possible reason for pointing to the Gospel according to Luke (since the ox/cherub is connected to this gospel account) is that this account goes back in its genealogy, all the way to the Adam (see Luke 3). In this way, this account would ‘lead the way’ for the glory to be given to Jesus.

Something is promised, and then something is given. At the heart of the issue are the words of the Lord. He is dependable in what he says. This is emphasized in the last part of the verse of the Old Testament text (again, in a somewhat-literal translation): ‘I, Yahweh, have spoken and done.’ This focuses on first the words and then the actions of the LORD. And that is what we see promised in the scriptures. And this is what we see that goes on during worship.
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June 5th, 2021

6/5/2021

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Last Sunday it could be said that the focus was on seraphim, and we looked at the only passage that mentions this type of angel, Isaiah’s temple vision in chapter six of his book. This Sunday, the Second Sunday after Pentecost, the Old Testament reading focuses on the fall into sin [Genesis 3:8-15], but soon after that text is the first time that another type of angel appears. This time we will be looking at the cherubim.

A word somewhat similar to cherub is chubby, but please do not think of these angels as chubby and cute. Their first mention is in Genesis 3:24, and they have some serious business on their hands. And here is a somewhat-literal translation:

And he [Yahweh God] drove out the man and caused to dwell on the east to the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the sword, the one turning every way, to guard the path of the tree of the life.

There are obviously many more passages about cherubim, and we will be looking at some of them in the next few weeks. But this one is special. This one is the first. And it seems as though you might also say that this one is ‘popular’. Here is a quotation from Stephen Cook, who is connected to the Society of Biblical Literature, to give you an idea as to the extent of their popularity:

In the ancient Near East, cherubim were winged, composite beings (“sphinxes”), regulating access to the center of the cosmos and divinity. They guarded temples and royal thrones, prime earthly access points to the transcendent (page 179 of “Cosmos, Kabod, and Cherub: Ontological and Epistemological Hierarchy in Ezekiel.” This chapter is by Stephen L. Cook, pages 179-197, in Ezekiel’s Hierarchical World: Wrestling with a Tiered Reality; SBL Symposium Series, number 31; Brill, 2004.)

What is interesting is that these cherubs in other cultures not only have the job of guarding, but they are sometimes seen guarding a tree. Here is a much longer quote from the same work and from the next page (page 180), but hopefully it is helpful:

Parallel imagery of monstrous, guarding beings positioning themselves symmetrically about a holy, divine axis is common both in the ancient Near East and in the mythologies of world cultures. In these images, the cosmos’s axis often appears as a highly stylized, symbolic tree, which marks paradise, or Eden, where God is present (cf. Gen 3:24; Ezek 31:9). Earthly temples aim to model this locale (cf. Ezek 41:18), presenting themselves as Eden, God’s mountaintop garden….

A cylinder seal from northern Syria (Alalakh level I-Ii, 1225-1175 B.C.E.) shows seated, winged sphinxes flanking a sacred, cosmic tree. They have raised their paws, forming a shield against all encroachers. Similarly, two ram-headed sphinxes mirror each other across a palmette tree on an ivory carving from Arslan Tash (ninth century B.C.E.). Antithetical sphinxes, from about the same time, also appear on an ivory panel from Nimrud. They flank the same voluted tree, which rises heavenward in tiers.

From farther west, winged male sphinxes guard the cosmic center on five cast plaques from Mycenean Cyprus (twelfth to early eleventh century B.C.E.). The plaques form part of a tripod’s ring-shaped top. On each one, sphinxes sit upright, at attention, arrayed about a stylized, lily-like tree. They are lean and hungry, and wear round helmets with knobs and plumes.

This quotation seems to say that there may be something to this biblical text, and having cherubs and trees appear in so many other places, it may actually be true!
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May 29th, 2021

5/29/2021

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The focus for the first Sunday after Pentecost is dedicated to a significant teaching in the Christian Church, that of the Trinity. One Old Testament passage that has been connected to the Trinity is in Isaiah, chapter 6[:1-8], since there is a threefold call from one angel to the other.

The topic of angels is often popular, and the word ‘angel’ appears in many places in scripture. We will be looking at some more of them in the weeks ahead. This angelic appearance in Isaiah 6 is a significant one, since it is actually the Hebrew word ‘seraphim’ that appears here. And that word seems to describe a unique type of angel that is only found here.

You might think that this word for angels appears at least a few more times in the Bible, since it appears in SEVEN hymns within the Lutheran Service Book [507:2, 624:7, 670:2, 939:1, 940:2, 941:1, 960:1, and if you include the word in the singular of the Hebrew—the word ‘seraph(s)’—then you may also add two more hymns, 621:4 and 670:1]!

You can probably imagine that people have guessed throughout the centuries about what these seraphim looked like. This particular Hebrew word appears at other times in the Bible, but it means ‘to burn’. This is certainly significant. And it also seems to be the case that its use is somewhat negative.

In the discussion of this word in the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, [volume 14, article by Rüterswörden, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, page 219], the author writes the following concerning Genesis 11:3, the burning of bricks to make the tower of Babel: ‘This is the only passage using the verb to write about a constructive rather than a destructive act.’ But a point could also be made that this action was ultimately and definitely destructive to the human race. Either way, one of the common negative uses is that of a snake which, after biting someone, causes a ‘burning’ sensation, and this is quite understandable—although, thankfully, I have never experienced such a thing.

Some have said that these ‘burning ones’ are snakes with six wings. There is some archaeological evidence to make this a possibility. If this interests you, and if you are familiar with the German, you may wish to look at the following book: Othmar Keel, Jahwe-Visionen und Siegelkunst: Eine neue Deutung der Majestätsschilderungen in Jes 6, Ez 1 und 10 und Sach 4 (Stuttgart, Germany: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1977).

What these particular angels are looking like does not seem to be important in the text. The first thing that seems important in this text is the contrast between the king, Uzziah, who just died (and is probably lying down in a grave somewhere), and THE King, the Lord, who is described as sitting on a throne (see verse 5). In the twenty-first century, the idea of sitting does not mean a position of authority to us; it usually means a position of rest. But the idea of sitting is an important one and should not be forgotten.
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The second thing that seems to be important in this Isaiah 6 text is the position of the others who are involved. After a quick description of the Lord, there is some detail as to the position of the seraphim, and note that they are described in relation to the Lord. The following is the first part of that Isaiah text, in a somewhat-literal translation, but the positions of those involved are capitalized:

In the year of the death of the king, Uzziah, and I saw the Lord, sitting upon a throne, HIGH, and LIFTED UP, and his robes, ones filling the temple. Seraphim, ones STANDING, FROM ABOVE TO HIM, six wings, six wings to each, with two, he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he FLEW.

Being high and lifted up, like the position of the Lord, is a pretty amazing thing. But then, the seraphim are still above him! That position above the Lord does not seem to be a position of authority, since they are covering some significant body parts. The head is important as the highest thing on a person’s body; the feet are important as the lowest thing. In Joshua 10:24 there is the time that the feet of those who won the battle were placed on the necks of those who lost. The Lord is definitely in charge, and those particular angels, the seraphim, were definitely subject to him.

We will be looking at another type of angel, the cherubim, next time.
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May 22nd, 2021

5/22/2021

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This Sunday starts the season of Pentecost, and we will again turn out attention toward the Old Testament. And we will stay there for a while. Looking at the Old Testament is helpful for seeing the great significance of Jesus’ humble activity while in this world.

The text for Pentecost Sunday is from Ezekiel 37[:1-14]. With this chapter, we are not only near the end of the Old Testament and near the end of the section of so-called Major Prophets, but we are also near the end of the book of Ezekiel. This is the last reading that is taken from that book that contains forty-eight chapters. It is also the most popular reading, and the same text will appear, not only within the Easter Vigil, but also in the Fifth Sunday in Lent in the ‘A series’.

The text that we have here is sometimes connected to the end of time, since it speaks of a resurrection from the dead, and this is sometimes connected to the end of the book, since it deals with a significant vision of a ‘new temple’, and this is often connected to the new heavens and the new earth.

I have mentioned at other times the importance of the Greek translation of the Old Testament, usually called the Septuagint. A comment could be made about it here as well, since in some manuscripts, this chapter is right before the section on the new temple in chapter 40. But this resurrection is also appropriate here since the bodies that are resurrection are called a very great ‘army’ (in verse 10), and this fits well with the ‘final battle’ that is described in chapters 38 & 39.

In the Concordia Commentary on Ezekiel 21-48, Dr. Horace D. Hummel puts together how this new temple also and especially points to Christ. He quotes various commentaries. He also points out that the guide Ezekiel has as he shows him this new temple calls Ezekiel ‘son of man’, and this is the same title that Yahweh calls Ezekiel. [For more details, see page 11149-1160 et al., but especially 1158; St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2007.]
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For the next few weeks we will be looking at the ways in which the Lord has chosen to deliver his messages. Sometimes we pass over the mention of an ‘angel’ all too quickly. A messenger has a critical job. The gospel is a critical message. 
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May 15th, 2021

5/15/2021

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t is the last, the Seventh Sunday of the Easter season, but, in a way, the Easter season will continue every Sunday until the end of time. The Lord will continue to meet with his people, as the resurrected Lord met with his followers on Sunday, and that is called, in some languages, the Lord’s Day, and that is for a good reason. The term ‘lord’ shows authority, and it would be good to remember who is really in charge of that day and what is truly important. Jesus showed his authority over sin, death, and hell.

The First Reading, for the last time, is from the book of Acts, chapter 1[:12-26]. The text moves in a positive direction, despite Jesus having just ascended. You get the idea that Jesus is still involved and giving his input. The apostles want to bring their number back up to twelve, and, by the end of the chapter, the twelfth one is in place, and he is doing his job—although we do not hear anything more about Matthias specifically—that is a good thing. That is the way the flow of the text seems to be moving within this entire book, the Acts of the Apostles, although a better title may be ‘the Acts of the Risen Lord’. Throughout the chapters there are some difficulties, but those difficulties are handled. And the Lord’s Church continues to grow.

This seems to be a stark contrast to what is considered the end of the Gospel according to Mark, in its most reliable manuscripts. There, the women have just talked to the ‘young man’ at the empty tomb of Jesus. He tells them to tell Jesus’ disciples that Jesus will see them in Galilee, just as he had promised. Then what follows is this last verse, in a somewhat-literal translation, of the most ancient manuscripts of this gospel account:

And [the women] going out, they fled from the tomb, for trembling and ecstasy had them, and they said nothing to no one, for they feared.

Much has been written about this ending. Some people insist that this cannot be the ending of a gospel account. [For more details in a recent writing, see Excursus 19: A Consideration of the ‘Long Ending’ of Mark: 16:9-20, in Concordia Commentary: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture, Mark 8:27-16:20; Mark 8:27-16:8, James W. Voelz; Mark 16:9-20, Christopher W. Mitchell; Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, 2019; pages 1222-1237.]

Such a negative reaction regarding this ending usually comes from a negative reaction to fear, the last description of the women who went away from the tomb. But, as Rev. Dr. James Voelz points out in the commentary mentioned above, fear is not always a bad thing.

Dr. Voelz references these verses below that are also in the Gospel according to Mark. They are somewhat literally translated below, and they have fear mentioned somewhere in them, but it is not an exclusively negative fear. Along with the fear is some action that is far more important. For the first three, it is some sort of miracle, but for the second two, it goes to a much more important issue of Jesus’ main purpose on earth:

5:15     Jesus just healed the man who had a ‘legion’ of demons. The demons went into some nearby pigs, and those pigs died. Those who were watching the pigs told what happened in the nearby town, and then there is this verse: ‘And they come toward Jesus, and they behold the one having been demon-possessed, sitting, and having been robed, and being in his senses, the one having the legion, and they feared.’

5:33     A woman who had a flow of blood was just healed by Jesus, because she believed that she will be healed if only she touches his clothes, but Jesus wants her to say something about it. Then there is this verse: ‘And the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell before him, and she told him all the truth.’

6:50     Jesus is walking on the water, and the disciples think that he is a ghost, and they cry out. Then there is this verse: ‘For all saw him and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and he says to them, ‘Have courage; I AM; do not fear.’

10:32   Jesus has already predicted twice before that he will be going to Jerusalem to die, and he is about to predict this one more time. Then there is this verse: ‘And they were in the way, going up into Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed, and, those following were afraid; and taking again the twelve, he began to tell them the things about to happen to him.’

11:18   Jesus just cleansed the temple, and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was being so strict! And he was saying that people have made ‘his house’ a ‘den of robbers’. And then there is this verse: ‘And the scribes and the chief priests heard, and they sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, for all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.’

Another positive connection can also be made by comparing this account to the other gospel accounts—this is something that is difficult to do when studying a biblical text from just one gospel account or when studying a commentary. But such a study can be very helpful. And such a study can be easy since these accounts are not in four large scrolls, but they are in a ‘codex’, a book, so that comparisons can easily be made. If taken with the other gospel accounts, to see this in light of a fourfold gospel, then the ramifications are much more positive.

There is a somewhat similar resurrection account in the Gospel according to Matthew, and the women are running from the empty tomb, but then these words are included, and this is, again, in a somewhat-literal translation [28:9-10]:

And, behold, Jesus met them saying, ‘Hail!’ And those approaching him held his feet, and they worshipped him. Then Jesus says to them, ‘Do not fear; go, announce to my brothers that they may go away into Galilee, and there they will see me.’

In the Gospel according to Matthew, this message is set up in strong contrast to the message that the soldiers passed on to others, that Jesus really did not rise from the dead, but that his disciples came and stole his body. The Jewish leaders are trying to calm the soldier’s fears, assuring them that they will not get into trouble.
This is such a strong contrast to the positive fear within those five texts above. This fear is within the context of something very good happening, something that was strongly connected to Jesus’ role on earth of savior from sin.

This ending may have been this short to remind people that, when we look at what we see, it is not always good. Within a larger context, this fear is a positive one, especially in light of what the Lord has already promised and done.

The Lord appeared to those women who were afraid. The Lord will return again at a time in which some Christians may be afraid. There will always be interruptions in our lives, both good ones and bad ones. But no matter what happens, the Lord always keeps his promises.
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May 10th, 2021

5/10/2021

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The First Reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter is again from the book of Acts, and we get to the farthest point in that book during this ‘B-series’ season of Easter. We are at Peter’s speech to Gentiles and its great results in Acts 10[:34-48]. Within the text (see verse 44), there is this great interruption, and then there is this great ‘Gentile Pentecost’.
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Whether or not Peter’s first Pentecost speech in Acts 2 was interrupted by the hearers being ‘cut to the heart’ (verse 37) and responding (‘What shall we do?’) is unclear. But there is a clear interruption in the second speech of Peter, in Acts 3, and this time, it is a terrible interruption. The authorities come upon Peter and John while they were still speaking, and they are arrested (see Acts 4:1).

Many things can be interrupted, and interruptions can seem either good or bad. I thought it would be nice to look at other interruptions of one or more persons talking, but especially in the Gospel according to Luke. If there are significant interruptions in Acts, there might be a hint of why they appear in the gospel account by the same writer.
Sometimes there are interruptions in more than one account, and this heightens their importance. Interruptions appear in Matthew 9:18, Mark 5:35, and Luke 8:49, and all three deal with the raising of Jairus’ daughter, but they appear at two different points in the story. What is the same in all three stories is that, at the point of the interruption, the news that the daughter has just died has just been shared. The news of a death is definitely worth an interruption.

Another interruption that appears in the Gospel according to Luke deals with the so-called transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:34), and this one also appears in the Gospel according to Matthew (17:5). Peter has some ideas of what should be done with this Jesus who looks so brilliantly white, and who is with Moses and Elijah, and Peter is interrupted by God the Father with some more important information. It seems like interruptions have to do with some important death and life issues.

The importance of interruptions continues as Jesus gets closer to the cross and the empty tomb. In all of the three most-similar accounts (Matthew 26:47, Mark 14:43, and Luke 22:47), Jesus, of all people, is interrupted this time, as the religious leaders are coming to arrest him.

It is interesting that, at this point in the Gospel according to John, there is not an interruption, but there is Judas who KNOWS the place where Jesus was and Jesus who KNOWS literally all the things that are about to happen (18:2 & 4). There is essentially no interruption when it comes to the Lord’s perspective. Interruptions are things that are unexpected, but that is not an issue when it comes to the Creator of the universe. All interruptions, whether they seem good or bad, have been brilliantly planned.

The great contrast between Jesus and us is seen in the last interruption of simple speech in the Gospel according to Luke. In Luke 22:60, Peter is interrupted by the rooster crowing, and this worked out exactly as Jesus said it would happen—with only seconds away from him being wrong! While Peter was still speaking and denying that he knew Jesus for the third time, that rooster crowed, and Jesus was in the right.

That leaves Jesus with the potential for ‘showing off’ and for us of only being reminded of how sinful and selfish we are. But the final interruption changes all of that. In Luke 24:51, Jesus is interrupted and is taken up into heaven while he is not simply speaking, but when he is blessing the disciples. That cannot be a mistake. There is no better occasion for Jesus’ ascension into heaven than that of being in the midst of blessing his followers, his disciples, his witnesses, his martyrs (that is the Greek word for ‘witness’). And the great thing is that he did not have to stop what he was doing.

Interruptions are not always bad. No interruptions happen without the Lord’s knowledge. Until that Final Interruption, the Lord continues to bless his people.

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