On Line Bible Study - For the week April 26-May 2, 2010

Lesson 437

Luke 6: ¹One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. ²Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

³Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." ⁵Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

This is the 'second situation' of three that we find in this section of Luke's Gospel - 5:33-6:11. The first situation, discussed in the previous lesson, had to do with fasting, prayer, and Jesus' tendency to think of people first, and the law second. The situation we are considering today has to do with Jesus and the Sabbath.

Isn't it interesting that the Pharisees know what Jesus and his disciples are doing on the Sabbath? Why weren't they home resting, observing the Sabbath? Clearly, the religious authorities are keeping a close watch on Jesus.

The story has an interesting inconsistency in it - the Pharisees' concern had to do with Sabbath laws; the scripture Jesus uses to refute them has nothing to do with the Sabbath. In citing David's use of the consecrated bread (I Samuel 21:1-6), the Sabbath is not an explicit part of that story. Perhaps Jesus is simply comparing David's need as rising above the laws governing the Sabbath.

Darrell Bock points out that the disciples were in violation of four Sabbath practices - they were reaping, threshing, winnowing, and preparing food. All this "wrong-doing" by simply rubbing grain in their hands and eating the kernels! From our perspective it is easy to see how foolish this complaint was. We can easily see the planks in the eyes of the Pharisees. It is more difficult to get beyond the lumber in our own.

Perhaps we could sum up Jesus' statement by recognizing this: Human need trumps religious ritual. Even the hallowed Sabbath must yield to the Savior's determination to heal, nourish and comfort.

We will consider one more situation - the third one in this series; but the issue is the same.

On Line Bible Study -- For the week April 19-25, 2010

Lesson 436

Luke 5: ³³They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking." ³⁴Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."³⁶He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "

This section of Luke's gospel (5:33-6:11) presents us with three situations and two controversies. The first controversy is about fasting and prayer and concludes with Jesus using the imagery of new wine, with its requisite requirement of new wineskins. The next controversy occurs in two different situations - Jesus' reverence for the Sabbath. Sometimes it is difficult to determine how much detail to go into in these studies! Our texts are so rich with so many layers of meaning.

For the sake of simplicity, let's focus on two factors.

First, this section presents Jesus as moving away from strict religious practice and toward greater concentration on people and their needs. If you recall the stories just preceding, Jesus has been faulted for his declaration that sin has been forgiven; then he is chastised for eating with sinners. In the text above he is challenged because his disciples, unlike those of John (the baptist), don't fast and pray.

We know that fasting was practiced in the early church, and we know that Jesus also fasted. But there is a time for fasting, and this is not one of them. In fact, Jesus suggests that something very new is taking place. He lets it be known that he is aware those who are accustomed to the old are always going to prefer it to the new. Is there evidence here of the church distancing itself from its formal Jewish moorings?

As the controversy moves forward - from fasting to Sabbath observance, we encounter the second factor for our attention: the religious leaders are moving from frustration with Jesus toward a determination that he must be stopped. We read in Luke 6: ¹¹But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. So easily do we recognize their shortsightedness and so easily do we miss our own - the proverbial splinter in the eyes of others gets more attention than the plank in our own. What is more important in our own time with regard to organized Christianity - the perpetuation of our religious systems, or the propagation of the truth about Jesus?

So Luke challenges us: will we develop an appetite for what Jesus is doing? Are there times in our lives when we actually (even if unwittingly) attempt to thwart the move of the Holy Spirit?

On Line Bible Study - for the Week April 12-18, 2010

Lesson 435

Luke 5: ²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, ²⁸and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. ²⁹Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" ³¹Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
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The passages from the previous two studies dealt with a man sick with leprosy and a paralyzed man whose sins Jesus forgave. They deal with physical ailments. The passage under consideration today deals with sin. Jesus has come not only to heal the sick but to call sinners to repentance. Perhaps what is troubling to religious rulers of Jesus' day is the fact that not only does he bring sinners into his inner circle of acquaintances; he deputizes them.

The story of the call of Matthew is told by the three synoptic authors - here in Luke, and also in Mark 2:13-17 and Matthew 9:9-13. As scholar Darrell Bock points out, Luke's telling has two distinct components to it - Levi leaves everything, and the emphasis on repentance. Another interesting note - only Luke tells us this meal at Levi's home is a "banquet for Jesus". In the other two gospels, the setting is presented more simply, telling us Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house.

One might be tempted to see in this story Jesus taking sides - for the sinner and against the teachers of the law and Pharisees. I'm not sure that is what is intended. Rather, repentance and discipleship are the project for all of us. It's less a question of sides and more a matter of inclusion. Whereas the Pharisees seem more focused on who has, Jesus focuses on who needs - and in that way of looking at life, everyone is in the same boat. Perhaps that is the mistake the Pharisees and teachers of the law are making - a sin of wrong emphasis rather than a sin of commission.

Another way to look at it: the people seated at the table are not wrong for having the food in front of them; their sin lies in their blindness toward the needs of the hungry begging on their doorstep. Jesus does not disagree with the Pharisees' assessment of Levi - he was a sinner. The Pharisees think of Levi as being wrong; Jesus sees him as in greater need of what the Pharisees already claim to have.

One more point of interest, present in each of the three versions of this story: The Pharisees do not directly confront Jesus. Rather, they speak to his disciples and ask: "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" (Mark and Matthew read: Why does he eat .... and Why does your teacher eat ... respectively.) Some scholars believe this story was originally aimed at or told about the disciples of Jesus.

Jesus overhears the question and responds directly. But the question is not put to him initially. This makes me think of how easy it is to focus on the behavior of believers rather than the teachings of the master! When the emphasis shifts from following Jesus to justifying ourselves the message is lost. And the fact is this: there is no meal ever served absent sinners at the table. The mission of Jesus (and therefore, the ministry of the church) is all-inclusive. Everyone is welcome because everyone is hungry.