Jesus for Everyone

This blog is to supplement the current teaching series through the Gospel of Luke at Beaverton Foursquare Church, in Beaverton, Oregon. We are providing weekly self-study/digging deeper questions for those desiring to go beyond the scope of the sermon in your exploration of the complete passage. We are also providing links to the sermon introduction videos filmed for this series on-location in Israel. Our prayer is that we can better learn how to live and love like Jesus this year!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Week 40 "What Jesus Saw"

 We have no video this week as we added this lesson back in to our schedule.
However,  we do have one for next week all ready to go!
Text: This week we’re covering Luke 20:45-47 and Luke 21:1-4 where Jesus calls out the scribes for o seeking personal honor and advantage at the expense of widows in contrast to the offering of the widow’s two mites.
Other passages to read: We encourage you to read "horizontally" in these passages that are parallel or provide background information to our text from Luke 20:
  • This whole passage is paralleled : Matthew 24:1-51; Mark 13:1-3
  • Widow’s Gift: Mark 12:41-44; 2 Kings 12:9 (origin of offering box)
  • Other Giving passages Referenced: Malachi 1:6-10; 2 Corinthians 8-9
Points to ponder: In your study this week, you might want to think about one of these questions:
  • Why was Jesus warning the people about the scribes at this point?
  • What was wrong with the scribes giving? What made it wrong?
  • What does Jesus mean by “greater condemnation”?
  • What does this short pericope about the widow’s gift teach us about giving?
  • Why does Luke place this pericope about giving here?
We try to answer these questions on the Jesus4Everyone blog in the next week’s post.
Questions to ask ourselves: The following questions are intended to help us move towards greater personal application of what we learn about Jesus as we ask them of ourselves…
  • Is there something I do because I like the recognition I get as a result?
  • How do I seek places of honor in my life?
  • Is there some way that I take advantage of others for my own gain? If so, then what steps will we take to change our behavior this week?
  • How do I approach my giving to the Lord? It is a duty, a burden, an after-thought, a special occasion only, or is it a vital part of my worship?
  • Why might Jesus look up at my giving?
Pastor Randy’s Sermon Notes: "What Jesus Saw"
  • Read Luke 20:46-47
  • Read Luke 21:1-4
1.       Jesus see’s the plight of the widow
  • Oppressing widows and devouring their homes is an egregious offense in the sight of God.
  • “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
2.       Jesus See’s Our Giving
Five Things You Can Do With Your Money:
·         Spend it à me
·         Repay debt à me
·         Pay taxes à America/we
·         Save it à me
·         Give it à God & Others
Four Ways to Give:
·         Tip
·         Tithe
·         Spirit Prompted Offerings
·         Sacrificially
Three Step Financial Plan:
·         Give
·         Save
·         Live
3.       Jesus See’s the Heart Behind our Giving
·         Read Luke 12:31-34
·         Where is our heart?
Quotes and Commentary:
Here are a few observations I have made from this story of the Widow’s Offering:
o   Their giving was motivated by an external appearance of righteousness.
o   Her giving was motivated from an internal reality of worship and trust.
o   She gave all she had
o   They gave more, but less, for it was out of their abundance.
o   Their offerings literally adorned the outside walls of the temple (the golden vine) which would be destroyed in 70 ad.
o   Her offering adorned the temple of her heart for God’s eternal pleasure.


N.T. Wright comments,
The scribes measure their own value by the length of their robes, the flattering greetings in public, and the places of honor at worship or at dinner. They are living by one scale, but God will measure them by the true one. Privately, they are using their legal skills to acquire legacies from widows who have nobody to speak up for them. Their religion is a sham, and God sees it. By contrast — another time when the scale of measurement works the opposite way to what people would expect — the poor widow who gave all she had into God’s treasury had given more than the rich people who gave what they could easily afford…

Because God’s way of measuring reality is not our way — because it was always his intention that David’s Lord should become David’s son — it is also his desire that the same attention be given to the questions of human behavior and integrity, on large and small scales, as we give to the questions of defining and defending the faith. (Wright, Luke for Everyone, [WJK, 2004] 249)
Here is a note about the ornamentation on the front of the Temple, that came from the offerings of the rich.
The Herodian Temple was decorated with the national symbol of Israel…a huge golden vine. According to the Mishna, the doorway of the temple was flanked by two square-shaped pillars each formed of ten cubes measuring four cubits on the sides. On these two pillars rested …five oaken beams, separated from each other by square stones set on a line with the pillars. It was a reproduction of the triumphal arches then so common in the east. Upon the immense trellis, or grille, stretched a golden vine, of which the grapes, according to Josephus, were of the height of a man. He adds that it extended almost [40 feet across the top] (from north to south) and that its top was [100 feet] from the ground. Tacitus also speaks of this vine.

Here is a wonderful description by Edersheim about Jesus' observing the widow's gift in the temple that day:



And as Jesus so sat on these steps, looking out on the ever-shifting panorama, His gaze was riveted by a solitary figure. The simple words of St. Mark sketch a story of singular pathos. 'It was one pauper widow.' We can see her coming alone, as if ashamed to mingle with the crowd of rich givers; ashamed to have her offering seen; ashamed, perhaps, to bring it; a 'widow,' in the garb of a desolate mourner; her condition, appearance, and bearing that of a 'pauper.' He observed her closely and read her truly. She held in her hand only the smallest coins, 'two Perutahs,' and it should be known that it was not lawful to contribute a less amount. Together these two Perutahs made a guadrans, which was the ninety-sixth part of a denar, itself of the value of about sevenpence. But it was 'all her living,' perhaps all that she had been able to save out of her scanty housekeeping; more probably, all that she had to live upon for that day and till she wrought for more. And of this she now made humble offering unto God. He spake not to her words of encouragement, for she walked by faith; He offered not promise of return, for her reward was in heaven. She knew not that any had seen it - for the knowledge of eyes turned on her, even His, would have flushed with shame the pure cheek of her love; and any word, conscious notice, or promise would have married and turned aside the rising incense of her sacrifice. But to all time has it remained in the Church, like the perfume of Mary's alabaster that filled the house, this deed of self-denying sacrifice. More, far more, than the great gifts of their 'superfluity,' which the rich cast in, was, and is to all time, the gift of absolute self-surrender and sacrifice, tremblingly offered by the solitary mourner. And though He spake not to her, yet the sunshine of his words must have fallen into the dark desolateness of her heart; and, though perhaps she knew not why, it must have been a happy day, a day of rich feast in the heart, that when she gave up 'her whole living' unto God. And so, perhaps, is every sacrifice for God all the more blessed, when we know not of its blessedness. (Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 741-742)
Previously on Ponderables: In your study the last couple of weeks, you might have thought about and answered these questions that were posed. Here are some of my answers to these questions:
·         What “things” were the priests concerned about, what was prompting them challenge Jesus authority? You should have been able to find at least three “things”: His Triumphal entry (19:28-39); the subsequent driving out the merchants from the temple (19:45-46), and teaching the people daily in the temple (19:47). He has set up shop in the temple as though it was his house. Hmmm.
·         In what ways is Jesus’ parable in vv 9-16 similar to Isaiah 5:1-6 and in what ways is it different? I answered this to some extent on the SOAP journaling blog.This parable is a close parallel to Isaiah 5:1-6 and would have been a parable that Jesus’ listener would have been very familiar with. They would have understood right from the beginning that the vineyard was a symbol that represented Israel and that the ending of the story in Jesus’ telling boded badly for them… We see here in Jesus’ expansion of the Song of the vineyard he has the noble owner of the vineyard not only sending servants (can we see the OT prophets?) repeatedly demonstrating great patience with his renters, but he sends his Son. But after his rejection and death, the renters will be destroyed and the vineyard given to others.” Here is a comparison chart from Kenneth E. Bailey’s Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, page 414.
Elements
Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard
(and its allegorical symbols)
Jesus’ Parable
(and its allegorical Symbols)
Owner
the Lord of hosts
God
Vineyard
house of Israel
Israel
Vines
men of Judah
--
Benefits anticipated from:
the vineyard
the renters
Expectations
good grapes
part of the crop
Consist of:
justice and righteousness
??
Yield
wild grapes
(bloodshed and cry of pain)
no share given to the owner and there are beatings, insults, and bloodshed.
Result
vineyard is to be destroyed
vinedressers to be replaced.
·         Why does the vineyard owner show such patience? The key is not the wicked tenants as most editorial comments title this section but on the character and claim of the Noble Vineyard owner. Especially in light of Isaiah 5 where God asks the people to judge between him and his vineyard and asks the question, “What more could I have done?” Well in light of the NT our answer to the question in Isaiah 5 would be that God could have sent his son.
·         Why does he send his son? Is he naive or does he know what will happen ahead of time? Oh, he knows, and knows that it is the only hope. As Bailey says so well, “the vineyard owner's hope is that the violent men in the vineyard will sense the indescribable nobility of the owner who sends his beloved son alone and unarmed into the vineyard in response to the violent acts they had committed against the owner's servants.” (p. 418) And later he summarizes this concept, “The reprocessing of anger into grace. The vineyard owner does not respond to the renters with force or violence. Rather he chooses incarnation with its total vulnerability. To do this he must reprocess his anger into a costly demonstration of unexpected love/grace. That incarnation implies forgiveness for those who accept his offer of love.” (p. 425)
·         What might be a better title for this parable? “Parable of the Noble Vineyard Owner”
·         When those listening say, “Surely not!” in v. 16, to what are they referring? The reaction from those listening was emphatically opposed to such an ending. Were they denying that they would kill the Son, or rejecting the idea that the land of Israel could pass to others? Perhaps both depending on who was answering. Sadly, like Peter’s denial of Jesus’ mission to go to the cross, those that denied this message’s fulfillment would see it come to pass not 40 years later.
·         In v. 18 what is Jesus talking about? Jesus answered them with a parable based on Psalm 118:19-28 and Isaiah 8:14, a passage the Jewish leaders would have been very familiar with. Is it somehow better to be broken than to be crushed? Yes it is. The idea is the brokenness of humble repentance as opposed to the crushing weight of final judgment. We can humble ourselves or be humbled and the first option is much to be preferred!

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