1. Kingdom of Heaven (God)

• Defined as the “Kingdom of God” everywhere but Matthew.  Mark uses many of the same parables to describe the “Kingdom of God”  the the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are synonymous.
• The Kingdom of God is described by scholars as “already here but not yet”
• The Kingdom of God/Heaven is defines as anywhere God reigns as King, such as His current reign the church (already here) and soon in a new heaven and a new earth (not yet).
• Additional study: Defining the Kingdom of Heaven (God)

2. Context.

• The build up to Matthew 13

The central theme of the First Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus as the only Christ, fulfiller of Old Testament prophecy and founder of the New Israel. Against this backdrop, the motif of conflict in Matthew is highly visible, and more forcefully presented than in Mark or Luke. The parables of Matthew 13 stand as a sort of miniclimax within the overall context of the gospel. In an emphatic way, Matthew presents the truth that Jesus’ rising conflict with the establishment of Israel has led to the beginning of a new Israel. This motif of contrast between “old” and “new,” false disciple and true, clearly can be demonstrated. Jeffrey A. Gibbs http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar54.htm

• Before Matthew records this series of parables the Pharisees had just accused Jesus of being a demon. Bordering on, if not blatant, blasphemy it serves as a literary springboard into a series of parables describing the kingdom of God.

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matthew 12:24, NIV ©2011)

• The Kingdom of God parables in Matthew 13 all deal with the growth of the new kingdom.  The Sower “Good seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understand it (yields a crop 100, 60, 30 times what was sown)

²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23, NIV ©2011)

• Weeds “good seed stands for the people of heaven”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. (Matthew 13:37-39, NIV ©2011)

• Mustard Seed and yeast: both about the growth of the kingdom.
• Parable of the net where good fish are collected in baskets.

⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. (Matthew 13:48, NIV ©2011)

3. The key to understanding this parable is in the six words “sold all he had and bought”

• There is no scripture that indicates we can buy salvation no matter how valuable the treasure,  it is in direct opposition to the message of the gospel.   Jesus himself asks in Matthew 16:26, “Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”  The only reference to a disciple having everything sold to repay a debt is in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.  The processing of selling and buying is in the context of discipline not salvation.  Salvation comes when the master “cancels the debt.”

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. (Matthew 18:23-25, NIV ©2011)

• Jesus “not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
• The preponderance of scriptures show that we were bought with a price.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.1 Corinthians 6:20 (NIV)

You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 1 Corinthians 7:23

(They Sang a New Song) …and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. Revelation 5:9

…even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.  2 Peter 2:1

[The redeemed] were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. Revelation 14:3-4

• Christ redeemed us.

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” ¹⁴ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Galatians 3:13-14, NIV ©2011)

4.  The elements.  Within this short parable there are three main elements that require interpretation.  The man, the field, and the treasure.  The parable was a literary form well know to the Jews as it was often employed in rabbinical teachings.  Throughout the teachings many elements of parables were standard images for something else.  For example a King in a parable always refers to God,  the vineyard to Israel, and harvest the second coming and judgement.  In this parable the elements come pre-defined by Jesus just a few verses earlier in Matthew 13.

• The elements

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

• The man (or the one in the field)

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.” v37

• the field

The field is the world v38

• the treasure (the thing found in the field)

the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom v38

5.  Conclusion.   The problem with the traditional interpretation of this parable is that is places the burden of sacrifice on us.   The problem is that we can never be good enough to buy salvation.  Like the rich young ruler who went away sad when he realized he could not do everything he needed to do to be perfect ON HIS OWN.  Even the disciples wondered who could be saved.  The answer  Only through God.

²⁶ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”   ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:26-27, New International Version, ©2011)

There is a treasure hidden right among us and we don’t even realize it.  The treasure is us…the church, the ones bought and paid for the redeemed.  We are the treasure and only one person could sell everything and buy us, Jesus Christ the Messiah.  Mark records the price that was paid for us right after the story of the rich young ruler:

³³ “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, ³⁴ who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:33-34, NIV ©2011)

Jesus sold everything and bought us.  Thats why we celebrate his death burial and resurrection through our baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and every day of our life.  Jesus bought us as a treasure through his death and resurrection.  We are his treasure.

Shalom

¹ Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  Luke 15:1-7 (NIV)

Context:  Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who are critical of his association with sinners.  Both presumably are hearing his response to them in the form of three parables, the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the loving father.

Outline

1.  “Suppose one of you…”

• The Pharisee would not have considered the profession of a shepherd nor allowed his son to be one
• Shepherding in the oral tradition of the Jews was a proscribed trade…that is, a trade that according to rabbis would be impossible to have and keep the law.   Lists of such trades can be found in the Mishnah (Kidd 4:14, Ket 7:10) and the Babylonian Talmud  (Kid
• Even though a Shepherd is a symbol for God throughout the old testament, the experience of the time was that a herdsmen were not law-abiding Jews (therefore sinners) and The law-abiding
• Aggressive and offensive language

2.  “loses one of them “ (Bad shepherd)

• The structure of Middle Eastern life and language requires that people do not blame themselves; “I lost my sheep” would be presented as “the sheep went from me.”
• Sheep are constantly getting lost.
• Shepherd must be diligent

3.  “And when he finds it “ (Good Shepherd)

• As Bible experts they would have instantly recalled Psalms 23, Jeremiah 23, and Ezekiel 34
• Ezekiel 34 Prophecy Against the Shepherds of Israel

¹…‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³ You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. ⁵ So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. Ezekiel 34:1-5 (NIV)

¹¹ “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. ¹² As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. Ezekiel 34:11-16 (NIV)

4.  “he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home” (Picture of a good shepherd)

• Rugged terrain made it difficult to bring the sheep back; a lost sheep is confused, exhausted and unable or willing to stand.   Often 70 lbs a sheep would have to be carried by the shepherd (not joyfully)
• The sacrificial action of the shepherd alone will save the sheep
• John 10:1-18 The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep….   ¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:11-15 (NIV)

• The cross was not used as a symbol of salvation in the early church.  Scholars believe this was because crucifixion by the cross
• The image of a shepherd with a sheep across his shoulders was often used as a symbol of salvation.  Carving in the catacombs and frescos in early house churches depict a shepherd with a sheep that is proportionally larger than the  the shepherd
• The early church understood the

5.  “‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’”

12 “…If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  Matthew 18:12-13 (NIV)

6.  Summary

• The Pharisees come face to face with the prophesy of Ezekiel, they have failed as the shepherds God intended them to be and through their religion, have neglected the lost sheep
• God loves his sheep
• Only through the shepherd will the lost sheep be found.  Through no effort of our own we are saved through Him
• Joy – common theme of each of the parable.

7.  Call The good shepherd loves you and longs for your return to the fold.  He will seek you out in the darkness.  He will lift you up onto his shoulders and rejoice.  All you have to do is let him…

Scripture Reading:  Luke 15:11-32

Introduction:

The Old Grandfather and His Grandson

by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Once upon a time there was a very, very old man. His eyes had grown dim, his ears deaf, and his knees shook. When he sat at the table, he could scarcely hold a spoon. He spilled soup on the tablecloth, and, beside that, some of his soup would run back out of his mouth.

His son and his son’s wife were disgusted with this, so finally they made the old grandfather sit in the corner behind the stove, where they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not enough at that. He sat there looking sadly at the table, and his eyes grew moist. One day his shaking hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young woman scolded, but he said not a word. He only sobbed. Then for a few hellers they bought him a wooden bowl and made him eat from it.

Once when they were all sitting there, the little grandson of four years pushed some pieces of wood together on the floor.

“What are you making?” asked his father.

“Oh, I’m making a little trough for you and mother to eat from when I’m big.”

The man and the woman looked at one another and then began to cry. They immediately brought the old grandfather to the table, and always let him eat there from then on.  And if he spilled a little, they did not say a thing.

Cultural Setting

Honor-Shame Culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE3Jc8YWS5E

Example modern honor killing:  Faleh Almaleki, an Iraqi immigrant charged with killing his daughter in a suburban Phoenix parking lot, acknowledged under questioning by police that he intentionally ran her over because she had become too westernized. Source Here

Shame and honor are positions in society, just as being right (and justified) is a position in our western culture. http://nabataea.net/h&s.html

It is better for a man that he should cast himself into a fiery furnace rather than that he should put his fellow to shame in public. Talmud Berakoth 43b http://halakhah.com/berakoth/berakoth_43.html#PARTb

The Key to the Parable

“1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:” Luke 15:1-3

The Audience

Sinner=In the vocabulary of first century Judaism a sinner is simply a person who is apathetic to the law and disinterested in its application to daily life.

Pharisee=The name Pharisee in its Hebrew form means separatists, or the separated ones. They were typically self-righteous and legalistic choosing their own good works not God’s) to make themselves appear superior.

Act 1  The Young Son

Asks for his share of the inheritance – wishes his father dead

Brings shame to his father – privately

Ends up doing everything wrong as Jew in a Gentile world…wishing he was a pig (nothing more shameful than that for a Jew)

[Jesus brings his audience into the story, this is what the Pharisees want to hear...participation theater]

The father does something unexpected for that culture…he extends his love to a son that was figuratively dead to him.

Relationship restored.  The act ends with a party

Act 2 The Oldest Son

The oldest son refuses to go into the party

Brings shame to the father – publicly

Claims to have never disobeyed his father (broken the law) but has shattered the relationship with the source of the law (his father)

As the father is making a great gift the older son is accusing his father of failing to love him

Jesus leaves Act 2 unfinished.  The plot of Act 1 is resolved in the restoration of the younger son, the fate of the older son is left unresolved.

Kenneth Bailey in Finding the Lost Cultural Keys to Luke 15 provides a [fictional] final verse to the parable

And the older son embraced his father

And entered the house

And was reconciled to his brother

And to his father

And the father celebrated together with his two sons

Jesus is trying to evoke a response from the original audience

We (the Pharisees) are the older son, and we too must repent and accept the love offered to us in/through God’s unique representative – Jesus.  Only then can we accept our brother – Kenneth Bailey

Conclusion

1.  Sin.  The parable exhibits sin of the law-breaker and the law-keeper, both can break their relationship with the father through selfishness and self-righteousness.

2.  Freedom. God grants freedom to reject his love.  We can choose our own way even if it causes infinite pain to the loving heart of God

3.  Repentance.  When we come to our senses all we have to do is come back to the father

4.  Grace:  A freely offered love that seeks and suffers in order to save

5.  Joy

December 26, 2010 “The House Built on a Rock:  The Church”

December 19, 2010 “O Lord Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz?”

December 12, 2010 “Daily Bread?” Notes

December 5, 2010 “The Lord’s Prayer” Notes

November 28, 2010 “Purer Motives” Notes

November 21, 2010 “Be Perfect as Your Heavenly Father is Perfect” Notes

Mercedes Benz
By Janis Joplin
Oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
My friends all drive porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
So oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz
Oh lord won’t you buy me a color TV.
Dialing for dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until 3.
So oh lord won’t you buy me a color TV.
Oh lord won’t you buy me a night on the town.
I’m counting on you lord, please don’t let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round.
Oh lord won’t you buy me a night on the town.
Oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz
My friends all drive porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
So oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/janis+joplin/#share

Bible class audio for December 5, 2010 “The Lord’s Prayer”

Outline and Notes:

1. Father.   The first mention of God as our father is by Jesus in this sermon…something he reinforces in his teaching on prayer.  The hearers had only known God as the God of the people at large with Abraham as their father.  We can approach God on a personal level like we would our father

2. Examples of how not to pray. Just to be seen or with lot’s of words like a pagan prayer.  Here is a pagan prayer from the time just before the birth of Jesus that sound a lot like mine, demanding stuff and physical protection, framed in a way that seems to make their god legally obligated to answer demands.

Father Mars, I pray and beseech thee that thou be gracious and merciful to me, my house, and my household; to which intent I have bidden this suovetaurilia to be led around my land, my ground, my farm; that thou keep away, ward off and removed sickness, seen and unseen, barrenness and destruction, ruin and unseasonable influence; and that thou permit my harvests, my grain, my vine-yards and my plantations to flourish and to come to good issue, preserve in health my shepherds and my flocks, and give good health and strength to me, my house and my household To this intent, to the intent of purifying my farm, my land and my ground, and of making an expiation, as I have said, deign to accept the offering of these suckling victims; Father Mars, to the same intent deign to accept the offering of these suckling offering.

The ritual is preserved in Cato the Elder’s De Re Rustica, “On Agriculture”. The first step was to lead the three animals around the boundaries of the land to be blessed, pronouncing the following words Roman pagan prayers were phrased like legal documents that could obligate gods for particular action and protection.

3.  The big concepts in the example prayer

• Talk to God as we talk to our father
• Praise him first
• Glorify the kingdom
• Submit to His will
• Ask for Epiousios Bread (Read #4)
• Forgiveness
• Spiritual protection

4.  The translators made a choice in most translations to translate “didmi ego semeron ego epiousios artos” as “Give us this day our daily bread” and our minds perk up thinking we can pray and God will give us stuff.

But that may not be what Jesus intended for us to think.

The Gospel writers used the word “Epiousios” (Ep-ee-you-see-ahs) which according to all scholars is only found in the writings of Matthew in his account of the Lord’s prayer and in Lukes account.  In other words (no pun intended) Jesus or the writers made up the word for some reason.  Linguists believe Epiousious can mean one of several things

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, edited by Bauer,Arndt, Gingrich, Danker, University of Chicago Press, 1. deriving from Epi and Ousia: necessary for existence, in agreement with Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome and others; 2. one loaf of bread is the daily requirement; 3. for the following day; 4. deriving from epienai: bread for the future. In Jerome’s translation, made in 405 A.D. we read (Mat 6:11): “Give us this day our supersubstantial bread” (“panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie”).

epi Most often it means above, over, on, upon, besides, or in addition to. ‘Ousios [ousia] means being, substance, essence or nature.

The word or prefix epi occurs over 300 times in the Gospels. Most often it means above, over, on, upon, besides, or in addition to. In a number of contexts it is translated into Latin as super. For example where epiappears in the Greek NT we read in the Vulgate: (Mt 14:25) ‘ambulans super mare’ ‘walking upon the sea’; and (Mt 18:13) ‘quia gaudet super eam magis quam super nonaginta novem’ ‘he rejoiceth more over that, than over the ninety-nine’; and Lk 1:35 ‘Spiritus Sanctus superveniet te’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon thee’. Wikipedia

Put the parts of the words together and you get supersubstantial or superessential.   I believe Jesus is teaching us to pray for something more than just a daily ration of physical bread but something super essential/substantial indeed…HIM!

The Sabbath Church of God website (Please don’t let the name stop you from reading this well referenced material)

E.W. Bullinger believed that the word epiousios is a reference to Jesus Christ Himself.  In the E.W. Bullinger Companion Bible, we find this explanation for epiousios: “daily  Greek epiousios. A word coined by our Lord, and used only here and Luke 11:3, by Him.  Compounded from epi = upon, and ousios = coming…Therefore, it means coming or descending upon, as did the manna, with which it is contrasted in John 6:32-33.  It is the True Bread from heaven, by which alone man can live – The Word of God, which is prayed for here.”

Jesus himself used manna and bread as a metaphor for salvation through him…Jesus doesn’t really seem to be too concerned if the questioners got any bread, read this:

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:24-35 (NIV)

A few verses to consider

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh Romans 13:14 (NIV)

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. Revelation 2:17

So I pray that in fact God does give me the bread of life.

Shalom

Overview of Jesus’ Sermon

1. Matt 5:3-16 = Intro,
(3-12) who will be the recipients of kingdom blessings
(13-16) calling those people to live out their countercultural lives in society as preservative agents

2. Matt 5:17-20 = Thesis, greater righteousness

3. Matt 5:21-7:12 = Body
(5:21-48) contrasting Jesus’ commands with the OT Law
(6:1-18) purer motives
(6:19-34) seeking heavenly (spiritual) rather than earthly reward ( echos from 6:4,6, 18)
(7:1-12) dealing with how to treat others7:12

4. Matt 7:13-27 = Conclusion, call to obedience

Key Points
1. Don’t put on an act
2. Seek Spiritual reward
3. Others, God, Yourself.

Purer motives; “Acts of Righteousness” (6:1-18)
To Others = Giving to the needy
To God = Prayer
To Yourself = Fasting

Importance of Greek theater

Sepphoris (Zippori, or “birdy”) was a major Roman and Byzantine city, the capital and heart of the Galilee province. It included a network of colonnaded paved streets, markets, residential houses, public buildings, bathhouses, theater, synagogues and churches. The richness of its mosaic floors (expanded in another web page), architecture and other findings indicate that the city was wealthy.It was a major Jewish town at the Byzantine times, and for some time the center of the Jewish administration in the Holy Land.

To Be Seen:= theaomai = Theater

Hypocrite:= hypokrites = Actor or Stage player