Day 13, 12/16/23: The Son of Man is Going to Suffer

"...the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands" (Matthew 17:13).

Jesus tells his disciples that John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy of Elijah's return as Jesus' forerunner (Mt 17:10-13; Mal 4:5-6). And as they did unjustly to John [beheading], they would do to him (Mt 17:12; 16:21). The reason John was executed was because he proclaimed repentance (Mt 3:1-2), the message of "turning your life over to a higher power."

I Know My Sin (Psalm 51)

Read Psalm 51 and 2 Samuel 11:1-12:13.

Sin will take me further than I want to go.
Sin will keep me longer than I want to stay.
Sin will cost me more than I want to pay.

• Why do you think you sin (1 Jn 2:16; Eccl 6:7; 5:10)? Is sin a big deal?
• Can a man reveal your sin (Jn 16:8)?
• Do you commit adultery and murder like David? See Exo 20:13-14, 17; Dt 5:17-18, 21; Mt 5:21-22, 27-28; Prov 5:20; 6:24-25; Rom 7:15, 17, 18, 19, 23. Did David break any other commandments?

1. What are 3 words in reference to God (Ps 51:1)? 3 verbs for cleansing and 3 nouns for sin (Ps 51:1-2)? 
• What is the basis of David's plea (Exo 34:6-7; Mic 7:18)? Why (Eccl 7:20; Rom 3:23)? 
• What is the difference between mercy and grace? Does he deserve mercy? Is mercy a license to sin?
2. How did his sin affect him (Ps 51:3, 8, 12; 13:2; 38:2, 6)? Who is ultimately offended by his sin (Ps 51:4; Gen 39:7, 9)? 
• How bad do you feel about your sin (Ps 51:17)?

Right Away was not right now, but Stretched out for a Long Time. Augustine.

"I was sure that it was better for me to give myself up to your love than to give in to my own desires. However, although the one way appealed to me and was gaining mastery, the other still afforded me pleasure and kept me victim. I had no answer to give to you when you said to me, 'Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.' When on all sides you showed me that your words were true, and I was overcome by your truth, I had no answer whatsoever to make, but only those slow and drowsy words, 'Right away. Yes, right away.' 'Let me be for a little while.' But 'Right away—right away' was never right now, and 'Let me be for a little while' stretched out for a long time."—St. Augustine. On delaying repentance more fully/procrastination.

A Mother's Prayer and Tears: "And Thou sent Thine hand from above, and drew my soul out of that profound darkness, my mother, Thy faithful one, weeping to Thee for me, more than mothers weep the bodily deaths of their children. For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from Thee, discerned the death wherein I lay, and Thou heard her, O Lord; Thou heard her, and despised not her tears, when streaming down, they watered the ground under her eyes in every place where she prayed; yea Thou heard her."–St. Augustine in The Confessions.

"O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams."–St. Augustine. “There are two loves, the love of God and the love of the world. If the love of the world takes possession of you, there is no way for the love of God to enter into you. Let the love of the world take the second place, and let the love of God dwell in you. Let the better love take over.”—St. Augustine.

 

Healing and Refreshment (Acts 3)

“Whoever confesses his sins … is already working with God. God indicts your sins; if you also indict them, you are joined with God. Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you hear ‘man’ – this is what God has made; when you hear ‘sinner’ – this is what man himself has made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made … When you begin to abhor what you have made, it is then that your good works are beginning, since you are accusing yourself of your evil works. The beginning of good works is the confession of evil works. You do the truth and come to the light.”—The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Acts 3-7 describes the life and increase of the early church in Jerusalem (Ac 1:8a), and the simultaneous opposition to it from the Jewish religious leaders. Acts 3-4 is a drama in 3 parts:

1. The mighty work (3:1-10). Healing of a man lame from birth.
2. The mighty word (3:11-26). Peter preaches to the crowd his temple sermon, his 2nd sermon.
3. The mighty ones (4:1-21). The bold, brave courageous and ordinary apostles on trial.

1. 
   What can you learn about prayer from Peter and John (Ac 3:1; 2:42; 4:24; Lk 18:1; Mk 1:35)?
• How have they changed (Mt 18:1; Mk 9:34; Lk 9:46)?
• [The temple hours of prayer were set at the 3rd, 6th and 9th hours.] Can you pray 3 times a day (Ps 55:17; Dan 6:10).
2. What was the strategy of the lame man and/or those who "carried" and "put" him daily  at the temple (Ac 3:2-3)?
• Putting yourself in the place of the beggar (Ac 4:22), how would you have felt about your life?
3. Why did Peter say, "Look at us!" (Ac 3:4)?
• Do you feel comfortable looking at and asking beggars to look at you? What was the beggar expecting (Ac 3:5)?
4. Did Peter have "silver and gold" (Ac 3:6; 2:45)?
• What is the value of "the name of Jesus" (Ac 3:6, 16; 4:10)? 
• Whose faith healed the lame man (Lk 5:20; Mt 9:22 Mk 5:34; 10:52; Lk 8:48; 18:42)?
• How do you respond when others ask for help? What do you have to give them?
• What has Peter and John experienced over the past 60 days that has changed them?
5. How quickly was the lame man healed (Ac 3:7)? What did he do (Ac 3:8)?
• What similarities do we all share with this lame man (Ac 3:2; Gen 8:21; Ps 51:5; Rom 3:23; Eph 2:8-9; Ac 1:8; Rom 1:16)?
6. How did the people respond (Ac 3:9-11; 2:22, 43)? To whom did the crowd attribute the miracle (Ac 3:12)?
• When God blessed and used Peter to perform such a great miracle what temptation is there for him (Dt 9:4-6)?
• Does church leadership draw attention to the leader or to their particular church? Is the leader holier, better, closer to God and with superior powers that others do not have access to?
• Could God use you to be part of a miracle? Why or why not?
7. Why did Peter connect Jesus with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ac 3:13a)?
• What did Peter accuse the Jews of doing (Ac 3:13-15; 2:23, 36; 4:10)? Is this a justification for anti-Semitism? Was it only the Jews who had Jesus killed? Are you responsible for the death of Christ? Do you speak boldly against sin? What did God do (Ac 3:15b)?
• In serving God, do you do so "by faith in the name of Jesus" (Ac 3:16), OR do you depend on your good intentions, your gifts and talents, your money, your zeal and passion, your past experience, you position of authority, etc?
8. Why did Peter say that the Jews and their leaders were ignorant in killing Jesus (Ac 3:17; Lk 23:34)? Are there not then consequences? Are they then not responsible?
• Who had foretold that the "Messiah would suffer" (Ac 3:18)?
9. What 4 successive blessings follow when you repent (Ac 3:19-21, 26)?
• What does it mean to repent (Ac 2:38; Mk 1:15)? Is it to feel sorry and feel bad about your sins? Is it mainly about self-improvement? Doing better? Do only non-Christians need to repent? What about Christians (Rev 2:4-5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19)?
• Are you confident that you have "turned to God" [be converted]?
• Can you explain refreshment that follow repentance: rest, respite, relief, restoration, regeneration, renewal (Mt 11:28; Jn 14:27; Phil 4:7)?

10. What did Peter conclude with prophecies from Moses, Samuel and Abraham (Ac 3:22-25; Dt 18:15-16, 19; 2 Sam 7:12; Gen 12:3; 18:18; 17:4; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14)?

www.westloop-church.org/index.php/messages/new-testament/43-acts-messages/689-acts-3

Imperatives, Indicatives and Ironies in Exodus 1-2

IRONIES (Read Exodus 1-2)

• The more Pharaoh tried to reduce the number of Israelites (Exo 1:9-11, 13-14), the more they increased in number (Exo 1:12, 7).

• Pharaoh wanted to drown the Hebrew males (Exo 1:22) but he and his army were drowned (Exo 14:28).

• Pharaoh feared the Hebrew men (Exo 1:16, 22) but it was the women who thwarted him (Exo 1:15; 2:1,4,9-10).

• Pharaoh tried to destroy Hebrew men, but he fully educated, trained, equipped and raised 1 Hebrew man Moses in his very own palace, who later delivered all the Hebrew slaves.

* Is God mentioned in the above? Is God involved? What do you learn? (Gen 3:5; 50:20; Ps 14:1; Prov 16:9)

• It was as though Moses belonged nowhere in this world. “Moses named him Gershom, saying, 'I have become a foreigner in a foreign land'” (Exo 2:22b). Moses was never at home anywhere...

1. ...not with his family and his own people though he was born a Hebrew.
2. ...not as an Egyptian, though he grew up in an Egyptian palace.
3. ...not with his Midianite family in the wilderness.
4. ...not in the promised land, for he wasn't allowed entrance.

• The Creator is not accepted or received by his creation. "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him" (Jn 1:10-11).

• Jesus' birth. He was born in a manger, while Caesar ruled the entire Roman world (Lk 2:1,7). Yet Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15; Rev 17:14; 19:16).

• Jesus' death. "You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish" (Jn 11:50; 2 Cor 5:21).

• "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Mt 19:24).
  

IMPERATIVES and INDICATIVES [Imperatives (commands) = what you should do {Law}. Indicatives = what God has done {Grace}. Christendom and evangelicalism often do not clearly distinguish Law / Grace, and misunderstands or confuses imperatives / indicatives, which confuses the church.]

• You don't repent and obey (and believe) [imperative] to be saved, but because you are saved (by grace) [indicative] you repent and obey [and believe] (Mk 1:15).

• The imperatives are based on the indicatives and the order is not reversible. [Law is based on Grace.]

• "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery [indicative]. You shall have no other gods before me [imperative]" (Exo 20:2-3; Dt 5:6-7).

• "For God so loved the world [indicative] that he gave his one and only Son [indicative], that whoever believes in him [imperative] shall not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16).

• "The time has come," he said, "The kingdom of God has come near [indicative]. Repent and believe the good news [imperative]!" (Mk 1:15).

• "We love [imperative] because he first loved us [indicative]" (1 Jn 4:19).

• "...work out your salvation with fear and trembling [imperative], for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose [indicative]" (Phil 2:12-13).

• "...he saved us [indicative], not because of righteous things we had done [imperative], but because of his mercy [indicative]..." (Tit 3:5).

• For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Rom 1:17, NIV)

• For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, "The righteous by faith will live." (Rom 1:17, NET)

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙉𝙤 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙚 𝙃𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣

Do you want: 

• All your desires to be known?
• All your secrets exposed? Or remain hidden?
• To sit through a video of every detail of your personal life?

None of this would be a revelation to God "to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid." 

God Values the Little Ones (Mt 18:10-14)

God Values the Little Fella (Mt 18:10-14). Disciples Don't Despise Dispensable Disposable Deplorables, for Jesus the good shepherd is the model for his disciples [SWS 4/26/2020; Ps 116; Lk 24 lectionary texts. Song: The Overwhelming Never Ending Reckless Love of God Coming After Me].

• [1] These Little Ones (Mt 18:10a)
• [2] My Father in Heaven (Mt 18:10b)
• [3] 100 Sheep One Lost (Mt 18:12a)
• [4] Leave & Search [for the little one] (Mt 18:12b)
• [5] One Found 99 Never Strayed (Mt 18:13)
• [6] My Father in Heaven (Mt 18:14a)
• [7] These Little Ones (Mt 18:14b)

Notice the rhetorical structure in this chiasm (ring composition) composed of 7 inverted units:

• the beginning [1], middle [4] and end [7] focus on "the little ones" (Mt 18:10, 12, 14), while
• [2] and [6] are a pair of my/your "Father in heaven" (Mt 18:10, 14), and
• [3-5] are a parable on finding the one lost sheep (Mt 18:12-13) with
• [3] and [5] focusing on "the one and the many" while
• the climax in the very center [4] displays the willingness of the shepherd to risk leaving the 99 "on the hills" to go after the one that went away (Mt 18:12b).

Questions for Reflection:

1. Who are "these little ones" (Mt 18:10a)? Why might one little one wander away (Mt 18:12a; 16:24; Lk 14:26; 1 Jn 2:15-17)? Is the sheep misled or does it go astray? Is it the fault of the sheep or the shepherd?
• Might Peter denying Jesus, doubting Thomas, the 10 disciples who ran off in the garden, and the "Jerusalem street" (Lk 23:35, 48; 18:13) be among "the little ones" who strayed and went astray?
• What was Jesus "still doing" on the cross with "the little ones" (Lk 23:34)?
• Who did Jesus say is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18:2-5)? 
• What does the disciples' question about the greatest show about them (Mt 18:1)? 
• Was Jesus speaking of children in general or of this particular child (Mt 18:4)?
• What does the change from "child" (Mt 18:5) [paidion] to "little ones" (Mt 18:6; 10:42) [ton micron] tell us? 
2. Why does Jesus caution/warn his disciples to "not despise/look down on" [neglect, ignore] the little ones (Mt 18:10a) [to treat others with scorn or contempt]? Why? [See Q. 3.] 
• Does this challenge the leadership of the church in every age?
• Do people/organizations/"churches" tend to despise the dispensables /disregard the powerless /overlook the non-contributors? [Or declare an interest in them as a power play?]
• Do you desire/wish to be in what C.S. Lewis calls "The Inner Ring"? [What's the motivation?] Should you not rather be a "sound craftsman"?
3. What does it mean that "the little ones" (believers) have angels before "the face of my Father in heaven" (Mt 18:10b; Ac 12:15; 1 Cor 4:9; Heb 1:14; Ps 17:8; Rev 2:1, 8, 12; 3:1, 7, 14)?
4. What does Jesus exemplify in the center/climax of the chiasm [3,4,5] (Mt 18:12-13)?
• How does the world regard the weak, the powerless, the poor, the nameless?
• Why do people not want to bother with the one sheep who couldn't keep up?
• Can the lost, the one who wandered off, find their own way home?
• What is the shepherd willing to endure in order to look for the one who is lost/went astray (Lk 15:4, 8; Jn 10:11)? How does this strengthen and encourage the 99? 
• What is the tendency of [church] leaders with regard to 1/99? 
• How might we want our [church] leaders to act?
5. What does the shepherd rejoicing over finding the lost sheep teach us about repentance (Mt 18:13; Lk 15:5-6,9; 19:10; Jn 4:32)?
• Who is the celebration and rejoicing about (Lk 15:6, 9, 24, 27, cf. Lk 15:30)? 
• When the lost one is found were they blamed, rebuked, shamed and exposed as a "bad sheep," made to feel bad?
6. Despite the intention of the Father in heaven (Mt 18:14) and the shepherd (Mt 18:12), what could still happen? Is there the possibility of failure?
7. What was Jesus expecting of his disciples (Mt 25:40; Jn 20:21; 1 Pet 5:2)?

Reference: Bailey, Kenneth E. The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament. IVP. Downers Grove, IL 60515. 2014.

Cultural Misconception of Luke 15

Points of Cultural Misconception of the Parable of the Compassionate Father

1. The request:  The prodigal's request is an unthinkable breach of traditional culture. (He wants his father to die.)
2. His father's gift:  The father reprocesses anger into grace and thereby deeply violates the code of an Oriental patriarch.  (As is shown five times in the parable).
3. A hurried sale:  The prodigal triggers the anger of the community. (He must leave town quickly.) 
4. The kezaza ceremony:  A threat hanging over the prodigal as he leaves town. (He must not lose the money.) 
5. Expensive living:  Not riotous (KJ), nor loose (RSV), nor dissolute (NRSV),  nor wild (NIV).  (The Greek word asotos is literally  a + sozo, i.e. without saving. No hints of immorality) 
6. Search for employment:  The prodigal must find a paying job so he can repurchase the land. (The kezaza ceremony now threatens.) 
7. Inauthentic Repentance: He projects A self-serving plan: (Augustinian or Pelagian?  Complications with the lost sheep and coin.) 
8. Turning point:  The costly demonstration of unexpected love. (Grace not law.  Love is offered before the confession.) 
9. A father who behaves like a mother. (The father is defined by Hosea 11, not by Middle Eastern culture.)
10. Authentic Repentance: The Prodigal Revises His speech – he is not interrupted. (Like the lost sheep, he accepts to be found). 
11. Christology:  Incarnation and atonement meet. (This happens with the shepherd, the woman and the father.) 
12. The meaning of the banquet (a theological trialogue): 
• Father's comments:  Because - He was lost and is found .. dead and is alive (divine passives)
• Young boy:  .... Because, he (the Father) received him (the prodigal)  with peace. 
• Older son:  You killed for him the fattened calf. 
13. Older son's anger at grace. (for some grace is not only amazing – it is also infuriating!)
• His mentality:  (You get what you pay for, don't you?)
• His response:  (He breaks his relationship with his father - like the prodigal, only more so.) 
14. Father's response:  The Father once again reprocessed anger into grace.  At the same time the father  urges the older son dealing with the prodigal in the same way. 
15. Older son's final reaction:  An unfinished theological symphony (participation theater). 

Reference: Kenneth E. Bailey.

Jesus Redefines Repentance (Luke 15:1-7)

Jesus Redefines Repentance and Salvation (Luke 15:1-7)

  "…in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent" (Luke 15:7).

The sheep brought back by the shepherd is a symbol of repentance.

The characteristic feature of the parables in Luke 15 is the Divine Love that goes out to seek the sinner before he repents.

• What is repentance? [As we discuss the questions consider how Jesus redefines repentance.]

• How did John the Baptist and Jesus preach repentance (Mk 1:14; Mt 3:2; 4:17; Lk 3:3; 15:1-5)?

• How did Peter preach repentance (Ac 2:38)?

• How did Paul teach salvation (Ac 16:31)?

• How do you help others to repent?

• What do you emphasize when desiring others to repent/change?

• Do you help others repent like Jesus or like the Pharisees leaders? What's the difference?

• Do you stress and smash the sinner or support and supply strength to the sinner to repent?

• Does Jesus/Do the Pharisees/Do you place the burden of repentance on the shepherd or the sheep?

1. How is the parable of the good shepherd (4-7) related to Psalm 23/O.T. (Ps 23:3; Jer 23:3; Eze 34:16; Zach 10:10)?

2. Did Jesus host outcasts (Mt 4:13; Mk 2:1; Jn 1:38-43)? Why would Jesus' loving welcome/eating with tax collectors and sinners upset and anger the Pharisees (Lk 15:1-2; 7:39)? [Their anger eventually led to them killing Jesus.] {Contrast the haberim [friends/elites] with the amhaarets [people of the land/lowest stratum of society].}

3. What is "this parable" (3) that Jesus told? How was this a subtle rebuke (4a; Eze 34:4)? Who are the friends (6)? How are shepherds regarded by the Jews?

4. What is the cost for the shepherd to leave the 99 sheep to go search for one lost sheep (4-6)? What does a sheep do when it realizes that it is lost? What is their only hope? Is the shepherd and sheep active or passive or both (4-5a)?

5. Who are the "99 righteous persons who do not need to repent" (7; Isa 53:6; Eccl 7:20; Rom 3:23)?

6. "..in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.." (7). What does "the same way" teach about repentance? How is Jesus' teaching about repentance "different" from how the Pharisees think?

7. How is this first of three parables a response/an answer to the Pharisees' murmuring (2)?

Non-Pharisee Repentance

To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but if that is all you do, you may remain just an elder brother. To truly become a Christian we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right. Pharisees only repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their righteousness, too. We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness – the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord.