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Post by Josh on Jun 1, 2008 13:48:17 GMT -8
Post your comments/ questions/ discussion starters on Luke chapters 11 and 12 as replies here.
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Post by Josh on Jun 1, 2008 14:28:06 GMT -8
Today we discussed the "6 Woes" that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and lawyers of his day. We talked about the fact that Jesus seems to reserve his anger almost exclusively for those who relied upon their won misguided piety and how through the things he spoke he won enemies by exposing their hypocrisy.
We discussed how hypocrisy is something that the church must be on guard against as well. The details in Jesus' denunciation of the practices of many of the Pharisees and regiliougs lawyers of his day have practical applications for us as well, and serve as warnings.
One thing I forgot to read at the end of the lesson today was an interesting section I found in NIB commentary. Here, in a reflection on this passage, the commentator suggested we take each of these woes, invert them, and look at the them instead as a list of beatitudes. Imagine if Jesus had been able to praise the Pharisees, rather:
"Blessed are you Pharisees! For you practice justice and the love of God while you pay a tithe even on your smallest sources of income.
Blessed are you Pharisees! For you love to give others the seats of honor and greet the lonely and overlooked persons in the marketplace.
Blessed are you Pharisees! For you are like unmarked springs; you bless others without realizing it.
Blessed are you lawyers! For you ease the burdens on others and help them carry their loads.
Blessed are you! For you honor the prophets and strive to heed their warnings. Because of you there is hope for this generation.
Blessed are you lawyers! For you have found the key of knowledge; you have entered yourselves, and yo have helped others to find the way also"
What a great reminder of how the members of Christ's kingdom are to structure their lives.
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Post by Josh on Jun 2, 2008 8:49:07 GMT -8
Terry Taylor (of Daniel Amos/ Swirling Eddies fame) has a great song on this theme of Jesus (the "cynic") crashing the Pharisee's parties:
Hell Oh
Hell oh is anyone here? you don't get the picture hell glows bright and clear
and i'm just a cynic talkin' 'bout a white bleached sepulcher i'm bringin' ants to your picnic they're feeding on a dead man's bones
count down to tribulation, oh oh, oh, oh
hell oh isn't it clear? have i failed to tell you heaven is oh so near
there once was a cynic talkin' 'bout a white bleached sepulcher i'm the bee at your picnic who stung you 'till you had to run home
count down occupation oh oh, oh, oh, well
oh, oh, oh, hell oh is anyone here? you don't get the picture hell glows bright and clear
and i'm just a cynic talkin' 'bout a white bleached sepulcher bringin' ants to your picnic they're feeding on a dead man's bones
count down to salvation, oh oh, oh, oh
hello? is anyone here? hello? is anyone here?
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Post by Josh on Jul 26, 2008 21:59:28 GMT -8
Luke 11:2-4
He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'"
Matthew 6:9-13
"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
The differences between Matthew's version and Luke's version are interesting, of course. They provide different emphases and have different styles.
My idea on why "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" was omitted in Luke goes back to the theory that Luke very well may have been writing the books of Luke and Acts as some kind of legal defense for Paul in his trial in Rome- or at least an apologetic account to a notable Greco-Roman. In general, the Romans are spoken of pretty kindly in those two books, and Luke is very careful to point out that Christ's kingdom is not like the "kingdoms of this world". The "on earth as it is in heaven" bit would have been known to Luke and he would have agreed with it, but it wasn't necessary to include here if it needlessly endangered his friend through a misunderstanding of Christ's words.
Also, in regard to "lead us not into temptation" or as the NRSV alone translates it, "and do not bring us to the time of trial", there are some difficulties at first glance.
Asking God not to lead us into temptation seems to imply that God might be the source of our temptation. James may have been responding to this misunderstanding in James 1:13-14:
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
But, then, why pray it at all?
The alternative NRSV wording about saving us from the "time of trial" leaves us with even more apparent contradictions with Scripture, because whereas James tells us that God doesn't tempt us, Scripture says numerous times that it is God's will that trials come our way (1 Thes. 3:3, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1: 6-7 for starters). So why pray against His will?
I think a resolution lies in the fact that God does lead us into trials and that with trials, inevitably, satan and our own fleshly desires bring temptation. Since the two go hand in hand, I see the wording in the prayer (NIV and other translations preferable over the NSRV) as a way of saying, much more eloquently: "God, when you bring us through trials, don't let us fall into the temptations associated with them".
We'll talk about this more tomorrow...
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