Keeping up with those Political Ads

One of the things that can drive you crazy during a campaign is ads, "Are they true? What's going on behind the words?" So here is factcheck.org which gives good insight into the ads coming out.

Just the Facts

Just the facts

Sometimes you just wonder

Did he really mean it?

I'm reading in Matthew right now. In chapter 15 Jesus says that he has come only for the lost sheep of Israel. But one has to wonder if those are words that we are to take as true or as a challenge to his disciples--who certainly think that as a Rabbi Jesus comes for the lost sheep of Israel. The reason I think we should see Jesus using these words as a challenge rather than reality is that not only does he heal the Canaanite's daughter (Matthew 15.28), but the next thing we see is Jesus in the area of the Decapolis (a Gentile area) and he is healing all kinds of people so that these people glorify "the God of Israel". Those lost words "the God of Israel" alert us to the fact that these folks Jesus is working with and healing are not the lost sheep of Israel. The next thing we find (Matthew 15.32-39) is Jesus feeding the 4000--which is a feeding not of Jewish people (that was the feeding of the 5000), but of Gentiles. In this gospel story it is fun to see the number 7 used since it was the teaching of the Jewish people that the decapolis was the area where the 7 nations that were driven out of the land during the conquest went.

It seems to me that we are too quick at times to take the words of Jesus as meaning literally what he says, rather than, listening to them as his disciples would have heard them given all that was going on in deeds as well as in words.

If you want to do more thinking on this kind of thing look at Jesus' words about why he speaks in parables (Matthew 13.14-15). He quotes Isaiah and infers that he speaks in parables so that people will not understand. But then in 13.34 (the summary verse) we're told that he speaks in parables to fulfill a prophecy from Psalm 78. Psalm 78 is not about hiding things, but about telling them to the next generation so that they see the wonders of God's kingdom. So which is it? Is Jesus trying to hide things from the people or tell them the wonders of the kingdom? Could it be we need to think differently about what Jesus means when he quotes Isaiah?

Know the Context, Get in on the Fun

I've just finished reading the New Testament and so I've rewound my readings back to Matthew (actually I just finished reading the OT too, so I've rewound to Joshua since I do Torah reading all during the year). As I've begun those readings in Matthew I've been drawn to the Old Testament references that Matthew uses so heavily in the first chapters. As I look at those OT references I'm reminded of the importance of not just grabbing the verse that Matthew uses but going back to the whole OT passage to check out its context--because that tells the story of what Matthew is trying to fully get across. There even seems to be sets of OT passages that feed off of each other.

For instance, in chapter 1.23 we are told that the coming of Christ is to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah that the virgin will be with child and he shall be called "Immanuel" meaning "God with us." The context of this Isaiah passage is God giving a sign to the king of Judah that assured him that the enemies of Judah would be destroyed while Judah will survive. So the coming of Messiah is a sign that the enemies of God's people will be destroyed. In Matthew 2 we discover that the wise men are seeking Jesus. Here Matthew quotes from the book of Micah,
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
The context of this passage is that the one who is coming will bring about rescue/salvation for God's people. Suddenly, Matthew has combined "Immanuel" (one who is a sign of rescue) with the actual one who rescues, the one who will be the people's Shalom. Matthew begins to show us that Jesus is more than just a sign and he is more than just a rescuer--he is both.

Or is he? The next OT passage we come to is from Hosea 11.1 -- "out of Israel I call my son" The context of this passage is that Israel, God's son, is unfaithful to him. The son does not become what the Father hoped for, will this Son who he calls out of Egypt be faithful so that he can be a true sign and a rescuer.

Next Matthew takes us to Bethlehem and the killing of the infants there. Now he quotes Jeremiah 31
18"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."

The picture is of the people if Judah walking by the tomb of Rachel as they go into exile. Rachel is weeping as her "children" go into exile in Babylon. The question is, "who can rescue from such horrors as exile and death?" Could there be one, Could this Jesus be the one? Again, will he be faithful and so rescue God's people?

Finally, Matthew quotes one more prophet, he tells us that Jesus goes and lives in Nazareth thus fulfilling the words of the prophets, "he will be called a Nazarene". Just a quick note on this one--notice that Jesus does not fulfill the words of a prophet, but the words of the prophets. This means that there is a general condition here that Jesus fulfills that was written about the Messiah by the prophets. Any prophecies that connect with the idea of being a "Nazarene" apply. The who concept of Nazarene is one of being despised, but it is also connected with the promise of a root that will come out of Jesse (see Isaiah 11.1).

So over all these OT passages give us Immanuel who is to rescue his people--the question is: is he the right stuff, will he pull it off or will he be like the first son God called out of Egypt? If he does turn out to be the right one, he will be an odd rescuer for he will be in the line of kings (see Matthew 1) and yet despised--not at all what people were expecting.

Matthew sets up the story of Jesus for us by bringing tension and causing us to wonder just who this Jesus is. It's brilliant writing, use of the Old Testament, and it gets the reader involved deeply in what will happen next.

Creation Can't Wait

I was doing some work in Romans and came across a passage I've read often and often liked, namely, Romans 8 where it talks about creation being held in bondage. This time though, I did a bit of research into the Greek and found something really cool. The Greek words used indicate that creation is frustrated because it can't do the job God has for it as fully and wonderfully as it longs to--namely reveal the glory of God. Psalm 19 tells us:
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

So here's what I'm thinking. If the heavens/creation declare God's glory already and they are frustrated because they are not fully doing their job, one can only image what beauty there will be in the new creation. But also I think part of creation's frustration is that it both adds to and detracts from God's glory. It adds in all the beauty but detracts in things like disease and tsunamis. Creation longs for the day when it will only add to God's glory and show it.

Vacation

Linda and I were gone for couple of weeks. We spent some time in Indianapolis. They have great bike trails that go into all kinds of different areas of the city. It was pretty much a lazy time of getting up in the morning, walking to Starbucks, finding a place to ride, enjoying lunch at some small diner on the trail. One of the great things about our hotel was the outdoor pool that for some reason no one but us ever used.
We also spent time just hanging around the new house--since it was nicer than the hotel.
But now we are back and back to work. So also my blog is reviving after a couple of weeks down time.

God at the Center

I have a Bible that has the Reformed Creeds and confessions in the back. I was reading a bit of the Belgic Confession. The Belgic Confession was written in the 16th century by Guido De Bres, a Frenchman who eventually would be put to death for his reformed convictions. As I read I was struck by how the confession starts with a strong focus on God rather than on us. Even when it speaks of salvation the focus remains on God. This is a bold contrast to the gospel that in 21st century North America typically focuses on us and God's serving us. So here are some of the words of the Belgic. Notice especially the second part where the emphasis on God's glory and salvation is in the context of our belonging God.

Article 2

The Means by Which We Know God
We know him by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government
of the universe,
since that universe is before our eyes
like a beautiful book
in which all creatures,
great and small,
are as letters
to make us ponder
the invisible things of God:
his eternal power
and his divinity,
as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.

All these things are enough to convict men
and to leave them without excuse.

Second, he makes himself known to us more openly
by his holy and divine Word,
as much as we need in this life,
for his glory and for the salvation of his own.

Lucifer

In the midst of a world of light and love, of song and feast and dance, [Lucifer] could find nothing to think of more interesting than his own prestige.
C.S. Lewis

Tree of Life

My schedule of Torah readings is all messed up, so I decided to just start at the beginning this past week in Genesis 1. As I began the first reading (Genesis 1.1-6.8) and came to the part about the fall of Adam and Eve I wondered about something: When Adam and Eve fall into sin God cuts them off from the Tree of Life. He puts an angel in place to guard the tree so that Adam and Eve can't get eternal life. Why does he do this? Why does he guard the tree instead of just destroying it? Is the guarding of the tree--rather than destroying it--a symbol of hope: there can yet be eternal life, but this is not the path to it?
In the New Testament the tree of life shows up again in Revelation 22.1 "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life* with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." The tree of life ends up not in a garden but in the city of God. Now it doesn't bring eternal life, for Jesus has done that, instead it brings healing to the nations.
One other thing which makes one think a bit in the fall story is that Eve eats of the tree of good and evil believing that it will make her wise ("the tree was to be desired to make one wise.... Gen.3.6). But the real wisdom comes from not our attempts to grab what we think is wise, but to take on God's wisdom. The book of Proverbs talks about the tree of life and says:
Prov. 3:13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,
14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.

The Importance of God's Grace

"If God were a Kantian, who would not have us till we came to Him from the purest and best motives, who could b saved?" C.S. Lewis

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3