|
|
|
|
|
David O. Bales
|
| David Bales brings a unique perspective to this In The Original: Insights From Greek And Hebrew For The Lectionary Passages. Along with teaching World Religions and Ethics, he also taught Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Greek. He was a pastor for 33 years, and has written four books and innumerable stories, sermons, and articles about the Bible and the Christian faith. His website is: dobales.com. |
| |
|
In The Original: Insights From Greek And Hebrew For The Lectionary Passages is SermonSuite's newest sermon help. Each week David O. Bales will provide preachers with at least one and usually two insights from the lectionary readings. He'll elucidate the Bible passage with information that only comes from one who reads (not just "looks up") the biblical languages. Continued reading of this column will:
1) Better equip you for preaching;
2) Deepen and broaden your understanding of the biblical message;
3) Motivate you to learn or review your Greek and Hebrew; and
4) Increase your love for God and others. |
|
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Go to the full installment
|
|
|
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Many non-church people know the rough outlines of the story of the Prodigal Son. However, many church people don't remember why Jesus told it. The key is in the first three verses: "Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, 'This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.' So he told them this parable." Jesus gives offense because of the people he welcomes and eats with.
In the entire ancient Mediterranean world (as still in much of the world today) meals were a symbolic ceremony of family and friendship. The meal gave a sense of solidarity to all involved, whether kin or those of similar social class. Anthropologists call those kinds of meals "ceremonies" because they're regular, predictable events that confirm life as it is. Even the seating arrangement portrays honor and status (Luke 14:7-10).
Add to that the Pharisees' viewpoint. The Pharisees were lay people who set out to live every day in every place with the purity demanded of priests when serving in the temple -- taking seriously that the Hebrews were a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6). The Pharisees relied on the scribes (learned interpreters of scripture) to dispense opinions about what was and wasn't allowed in matters of ritual purity.
The continual conflict between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees is about his meal companions, which is discussed in scholarly tomes as "Table Fellowship." The Pharisees are concerned about both whom they eat with (have they touched a Gentile in the marketplace?) and what they eat (has it been tithed?) -- along with many other things (Mark 7:3-4). Their concerns aren't about hygiene. That's a modern preoccupation. The conflict is over ritual purity/cleanliness.
Jesus is simply indiscriminate about whom he spends time with, and whom he even eats with. His fellowship isn't closed around the "good" or even those attempting to be good. Jesus accepts people before they're good. By word and deed Jesus undermines social boundaries. He challenges religious exclusiveness. His table fellowship is non-hierarchical, radically inclusive, and demonstrates what he believes about the kingdom of God.
The banquet was a picture and symbol of the coming kingdom of God (Isaiah 25:6; Luke 14:15). Jesus wants everyone to come to the last banquet (Luke 13:29) within God's final and full presence. People are so important to God that instead of waiting for them to come, Jesus sets out to compel them to attend the banquet (Luke 14:23). Notice also that when he's at a meal, no matter whose house it is, Jesus as much as becomes the host who insists all must be invited (Luke 7:36-50).
His teaching and lifestyle drive the Pharisees toward murder. They claim he has a demon and accuse him of being a glutton, drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Luke 7:34). The differences between Jesus and his opponents result in Jesus' teaching in Luke 15. His parables in chapter 15 are prompted by the opinion his detractors hold of his associates and eating companions. Yet this is how Jesus conceives of his entire ministry: to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). When we view the parable of the "Prodigal Father" from the perspective of Jesus being criticized for whom he eats with, we end up standing outside a feast in ancient Israel. The party is going on inside. Music from the band wafts on the evening air. People are laughing -- maybe a couple tiki torches are burning. The father stands pleading with the older son (who represents our hard-earned self-righteousness). The parable ends with a cliffhanger: Will the older son come to the party?
PREACHING POINT
Consider the strong possibility that the people Jesus eats with aren't only unclean by the Pharisees' ritual standards, but also immoral by anyone's standards. Jesus isn't some folk hero like Robin Hood defending the unjustly downtrodden. He doesn't just take his meals with good-hearted misunderstood folk, but also those rightly stigmatized by his society. Jesus invites people we despise. Jennifer Thompson-Cannino felt revulsion and rage when she saw Ronald Cotton in the courtroom and believed he had raped her. Such are the people Jesus invites to eat with us in worship. God invites the people we hate (for good or for faulty reasons) to worship with us. Jesus chooses to eat with sinners -- like us...
>> More
>> Subscribe to In The Original
|
|
|
|
