Oct 2013 Echoes Newsletter

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Oct 2013 Calendar

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Weekly Announcements Sept 29 2013

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Weekly Announcements Sep 22 2013

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Weekly Announcements Sep 15 2013

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Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, September 6, 2013 Some concluding remarks about the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts There are a few other things that we have noticed as we have listened to Luke – the centrality of Jerusalem and the Temple to the story (Luke moves the resurrection appearances and the ascension to Jerusalem from Galilee); the authenticating role of the 12 Apostles; the understanding that Jesus’ death should be viewed more as a travesty of justice than a sacrificial death since Jesus dies as an innocent man (Jesus dies as the righteous one); the way in which Luke has written the story of Stephen’s death and Paul’s journey to Jerusalem and Rome as parallel stories to the journey and death of Jesus; among others. One last thing that we need to recognize is that Luke has written a story in which the Holy Spirit is clearly the main actor. Though Luke likely never conceived of the Trinity in the way the church would later define the godhead, Luke does lean toward that understanding. Jesus is viewed by Luke as being at the right hand of God. God’s presence in the world is enacted through the Holy Spirit. The Father of Jesus is also viewed by Luke to be in the place of power where Jesus has ascended. Luke is well on the way to the Trinitarian formula of the church. Because tradition has believed that the author of Luke and Acts was the Gentile physician, Luke of Troas, the books of Luke and Acts have often been thought to be written by a Gentile for a Gentile audience. As it turns out under closer observation these two books may be more “Jewish” than any others. Luke is certainly at least sympathetic to “Jews, zealous for the law” and may well have been one of them. This may be a case where tradition can lead us astray. Luke must remain an “unknown” author. While we can’t give this author a name we can marvel in the skill of his writing and the genius of his work. Thanks be to God for Luke!

Weekly Announcements Sept 8 2013

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Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Thursday, September 5, 2013 Some concluding remarks about the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts We have also noticed, perhaps surprisingly, that Luke portrays a very favorable impression of the Pharisees. The gulf between Pharisaic Judaism and Christian Judaism is not very wide. There are occasions when Pharisees are pictured as opposing Jesus and Christians, but the times when they are supportive are far more plentiful. When we consider that following the Jewish War (66-70 AD) the only two expressions of Judaism to survive were Pharisaic Judaism and Christian Judaism, this becomes even more interesting. Was one of Luke’s motives to attempt to bridge the gap between these two? Was Luke becoming aware of the increasing gulf that was emerging, and hoping to somehow prevent this erosion? If that was part of Luke’s motive he did not succeed. In the final years of the first century, Pharisaic Judaism and Christianity parted ways – and in the process, both changed. And Luke would have been disappointed at how quickly Christians forgot their roots and became hostile toward other Jews.

Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Wednesday, September 04, 2013 Some concluding remarks about the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts We have also noticed how Luke has dealt with the inclusion of Gentiles into Christianity. Luke tells this story from a Jewish point of view. Luke contends that it has been God’s intention all along to include Gentiles into the people of God. He has good OT backing to argue for that understanding. The prophets had foreseen the inclusion of the Gentiles. But, it is important that we understand that, from Luke’s point of view, the Gentiles are grafted into Judaism. Paul would have agreed with Luke’s view as he states so well in his letter to the Romans (Romans 11). From Luke’s point of view there can be no “Gentile Christianity” that stands apart from Christianity as the true expression of Judaism. Gentiles are included but have no standing on their own. Luke has also unveiled to us just how difficult it was for Jewish Christians to include Gentiles. The stories of Cornelius and then the Jerusalem conference bear witness to just how difficult this was and that it took many years for Jewish Christianity to break the barrier. And when the Gentiles are included it is not without some stipulations – they are included but required to observe some basic injunctions to make them suitable to associate with Jewish Christians without causing those Jewish Christians to become unclean. The deference within Luke and Acts is toward the Jews. As we have noticed this also creates a problem historically when Paul’s letter are read in conjunction with the book of Acts. Luke and Paul do not agree about the injunctions that Gentiles are to follow.

Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Tuesday, September 3, 2013 Some concluding remarks about the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts We have also noticed that Luke is intent on portraying the believers in Jesus in the most favorable light to non-believing Jews. Believing Jewish people are portrayed by Luke as observant of the customs of Judaism – they are good, faithful Jews! They are doing nothing that is contrary to the customs of the OT and causing no offense to their non-believing Jewish neighbors. This portrayal of Jewish Christians as committed to the OT customs includes Paul. The Paul that Luke portrays is actually “zealous for the law” and does nothing to give offense. We have noticed how this portrayal of Paul by Luke does come into conflict with Paul’s own letters. Historically, this presents a challenge for Luke’s and Paul’s readers. We have noticed how Luke unveils for his readers a picture of the life of Jewish Christians that may seem strange to those of us living almost 2000 years later. Luke portrays the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem as living according to the customs of all Jews – one likely would have a difficult time determining just who is a Christian Jew and who is not by only observing their practices. Christian Jews living in Jerusalem continued to participate in all the regular practices of Judaism. This is a picture of Christianity that has been completely lost to us Christians today. We know a Christianity that has abandoned most Jewish practice and become a Gentile experience. We think that is the way it always has been and forget that we have another part of our story to reflect upon. We can thank Luke for preserving for us this glimpse of a forgotten past. It is important that we hear in Luke’s story that Jewish Christians did not stop being Jews after they came to believe in Jesus. Even Paul is always portrayed as a person who understood himself as a Jew. To the very end Paul does not think of himself in any other way. As we contemplate how Luke viewed the relationship between Judaism and Christianity it becomes clear that Luke would not have viewed them as two separate and distinct “religions” as we do today. Luke would have thought of Christianity as the true expression of Judaism, the fulfillment of the Jewish faith. Christianity was not a new religion. Jewish Christians were not understood to have “converted” from Judaism to Christianity. To be sure, Luke was very well aware of the debate within Judaism about Jesus, but for Luke it was in internal debate. What is the proper way to understand Judaism? Luke’s contention is that Jewish Christians were the true Jews. Luke was not willing to give up that understanding. This is important for Luke because Luke refuses to accept the thought that God had given up on his people. Luke refused to abandon Judaism. That is why Luke consistently portrays Paul as going to the Jews first – even at the very end of the story when Paul arrived in Rome. The struggle within Judaism must be maintained in Luke’s view.

Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, September 2, 2013 Some concluding remarks about the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts Now that we have come to the end of the book of Acts it may be well to reflect back over the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts and identify some themes and make some finally judgments about our author. First of all it is important that we recognize that the books of Luke and Acts belong together. We need to read them as a unit. One is not complete without the other. Luke likely envisioned them as one work. He likely conceived them together in his mind and intended them to be read as one story. They are forever hooked together. As we reflect back over the story Luke has told us in his gospel and in the book of Acts it becomes clear that one of the things Luke wants his readers to know is that the Jewish people did receive the Messiah. He tells story after story of faithful Jewish people who were waiting for the Messiah to come and who did welcome Jesus. In the beginning of the gospel we meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Along the way we meet others like Joseph of Arimathea and Barnabas and Ananias of Damascus. Luke tells us of a great number of Jewish believers whose number has grown so large that at the end of the story they are beyond counting. Luke wants his readers to know that there were a great number of faithful Jewish believers. Of course the dark side of that same story is that there were other Jews who did not receive the Messiah – who did not welcome the visitation of God to his people as Luke would put it. But that is not Luke’s emphasis. His emphasis is on the fact that Jewish people did welcome God’s visitation to them.

Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Sunday, September 1, 2013 Read – Acts 28:11-31 We have now reached the final events that Luke will tell us about in the book of Acts. Like beginnings, endings are very important. As we begin to hear the end of Luke’s story we need to be prepared that we are in for something unexpected. We might even be disappointed. Luke has told us that Paul will stand before the emperor in Rome – that was Paul’s appeal and apparently God’s promise. We expect to hear a story about Paul’s “trial” in Rome. That is not the story we will hear. Luke does not tell us a story about Paul’s defense before the Roman Emperor. We are also very aware that tradition tells us Paul was martyred in Rome at the hand of the Roman Emperor. That emperor would have been Nero – one of the most despised and cruel of the emperors. It was Nero who first made Christians, along with many others, fight against animals in the Roman Coliseum. Nero’s biographer, Tacitus, also tells us of Nero’s cruelty against Christians and others by having them crucified on crosses that lined the Appian Way. At night Nero would have the bodies of those still hanging on crosses lit on fire to provide a crude form of streetlights. In the end Nero committed suicide before Roman justice could be meted out to him. We expect that Luke is going to tell us of a hearing before this evil Nero – no meeting between Paul and Nero will be narrated. And perhaps most surprising of all, Luke does not tell his readers about the death of Paul. We will need to reflect upon these unexpected absences from Luke’s story. In the meantime we need to reflect upon the ending that Luke does provide for his readers. Luke begins by telling his readers of the final leg of the sea voyage to Rome. We are reminded that three months have passed. That would have been the exact time needed for winter to come to an end and the passage of ships to begin again. The voyage from Malta to Puteoli, the sea port closest to Rome, was uneventful. At Puteoli Luke tells of believers who welcomed Paul and his companions and provided hospitality to them. A week later the last land journey to Rome begins. Along the way believers from Rome come out to welcome Paul – first at the Forum of Appius, about 40 miles from Rome, and then at Three Taverns, about 30 miles from Rome. All of this renewed Paul’s courage and led to thanksgiving to God. Luke goes out of his way to tell his readers of the welcome and approval Paul received from the believers in Rome. If there were some in the church at the time when Luke was writing who questioned the authenticity of Paul, Luke is attempting to lay their concerns to rest. Once Paul has made the final journey to Rome, Luke tells us that he was allowed to live by himself with one soldier to guard him. This is a picture of a person who enjoys a great deal of freedom. In fact, for some time the picture that Luke has been giving is of Paul as a relatively free man. With Paul now in Rome, Luke’s readers expect that a meeting with the emperor will soon be arranged. That was the purpose of his journey. That is not the story Luke now tells us. Instead, Luke tells us that three days after he arrived in Rome, Paul called together the leaders of the Jewish community who lived in Rome. They are kind enough to come to the place he is staying. We have noticed all along that the first people that Paul reaches out to when he arrives in a new place are the Jewish people who live there. This is a constant theme in the book of Acts and the pattern is not broken even in this last place and in the last story Luke will tell us about Paul. It is important to Luke that the Jewish community is approached first and that the Jewish community is not forgotten. This is still a mission to the Jews. The meeting gives Paul an opportunity to make another speech. This speech is shorter than most of the others we have heard. And, once again we should likely think of it not as a “verbatim” speech but a speech appropriate to the occasion. Paul’s speech is a summary of what has happened to him since his visit to Jerusalem and subsequent arrest. It is important that we notice that, as earlier, Paul begins by identifying himself with his Jewish audience – he calls them “brothers” and counts himself as one of them. Throughout the book of Acts, Luke continually thinks of Paul as a Jew – to be sure he is a Christian Jew, but that does not make him any less a Jew. Paul makes it clear that he has done nothing against “our people” or the customs of “our ancestors” (Acts 28:17). Paul is a faithful and legitimate Jew. Even though that is the case, it was the Jews of Jerusalem who arrested him and handed him over to the Romans. Paul makes it clear that the Romans were not able to find any charge against him that deserved death – he was declared innocent by Claudius Lysias, Felix, and Festus – all Roman leaders. He was also declared innocent by the Jewish king, Herod Agrippa, though Paul does not mention that. Because justice was denied him Paul was compelled to appeal to the emperor, and that is why he is now in Rome even though there still is no charge against him – apparently Festus never was able to write a letter documenting the charges against Paul. Now Paul has asked to present his case before the Jewish leaders of Rome since it was “for the sake of the hope of Israel” that he is “bound with chains” (Acts 28:20). We should likely understand that the phrase “bound with chains” is not something to be taken literally but a figure of speech to talk about being held in custody. We may be surprised to hear that the Jews in Rome have received no letters from Judea about Paul and that Jews coming to Rome have not brought evil reports about Paul. Will the Roman Jews finally be the Jewish community who will receive Paul? Of course there have been individual Jews all along the way who have received Paul’s words and became believers. But, as a whole community, the Jews everywhere have turned against Paul. The impression is that those Jews who became believers were also driven out of the synagogues along with Paul. The Jews do tell Paul that even though they do not have any specific reports against him, they are aware that “with regard to this sect (Christianity), we know that everywhere it is spoken against” (Acts 28:22). What may have been promising is now threatened with these words. A second meeting is scheduled. Luke tells us that great numbers of Jews attended the second meeting which took place at Paul’s lodging place again because he was not free to go to the synagogue. The debate lasts all day. Paul’s hope is to convince the Jews of Rome about the truth of Christianity by appealing to the OT Scriptures – something Paul has always done and something Luke is consistent about. We need to recall what happened to the travelers on the Emmaus Road – how Jesus explained to them that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die and be raised from the dead and that the OT scripture had told of all of this. The same was true in the upper room when Jesus opened their minds to understand the scripture. The same was also true of the Ethiopian Eunuch. The pattern persists and it is important that we notice that pattern here as well. The outcome of what must have been quite a day is the same outcome that has happened throughout the book of Acts – some are convinced and become believers and others are not convinced. The debate within Judaism rages on! Once the outcome is known Paul makes one last comment. It is a comment that we have heard before – though the specific quotation from the book of Isaiah is new. It is really a new statement of an old and consistent thought in the book of Acts. Isaiah had spoken of the Jewish people as a people who will hear but not understand, who will see but not perceive, whose hearts are dull, whose ears are closed, and who eyes are blind (Isaiah 6:9-10). Isaiah foresaw exactly what has been Paul’s experience among the Jews. Though it is not a part of the direct quotation from Isaiah used here, Isaiah has also been the prophet who most clearly foresaw the inclusion of the Gentiles in God plan and mission. And so Paul’s parting words to unbelieving Jews is that even though they will not hear, the Gentiles will listen to the good news God brings to them. The last thing that Luke tells us is that Paul “lived for two years in Rome at his own expense welcoming all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30-31). The mission continues! And so ends Luke’s story! No hearing before the emperor. No story of the death of Paul at the hands of Nero. In fact, no ending to the story at all! What are we to make of this strange ending? Most readers of Acts have been puzzled by the way in which Luke ends the book. It is not what is expected. Of course we are once again not able to decide exactly why Luke ended his story in this way. We are left to speculation. Some have speculated that Luke really must have intended to write a third volume and either never got around to it or if he did it never was published. Such speculation is very unlikely to have the true answer to the way Luke has ended his book. What kind of author would not get around to completing the story? If the first two volumes were published why would the third be lost? Speculating that Luke really intended to write more or perhaps did write more but it is lost is really not much of an answer to the dilemma of the ending of Acts. Others have speculated that Luke lost track of what happened to Paul at this point. That can hardly be the case – anyone who has gone to all the trouble to get this far would hardly have let the story of Paul slip out of his fingers at such a crucial spot. Likely that best answer is to believe that Luke really intended to end his two-volume work in the way in which he did. We need to remember that Luke’s story is really the full story of Luke-Acts. The two volumes belong together and are not complete without each other. Once again we need to admit that we are only speculating, and we do not know for sure, but it is likely that Luke ended the book of Acts as he did with a purpose. What might that purpose be? Why did Luke end his story in this way? First of all the way in which Luke ends his story is to end it in an open-ended way. It is a story that is not finished. Luke likely knew a lot more about the specifics of Paul – but the story is not finally about Paul. The story is about the good news of Jesus and that story is an open-ended story! So Luke ended his story in this way because the story had not come to an end as he was writing his part of it. This is much the same as the brilliant way in which Mark ended his gospel. The gospel of Mark ends in a disappointed way for many of Mark’s readers too. But Mark’s open-ended story does draw Mark’s readers right into the middle of it – Mark’s story is a story Mark’s readers must somehow end. Luke’s two-volume work ended in the same way – drawing Luke’s readers into the story and forcing us to continue it. Second, I suppose Luke could have told the story of the final demise of Paul. Certainly Luke and his readers did know that story. They knew the truth about Paul, that when it finally came time for Nero to dispose of Paul he killed him. Luke could have told us the gruesome details. But what kind of way is that to end a gospel story? Luke most likely chose not to tell us the story of Paul’s death because that would have taken us away from what is really important – the gospel of Jesus, the Messiah who was crucified, who God raised from the dead so that repentance and forgiveness of sins might be proclaimed in his name. Luke might also have gone on to tell his readers about the murder of James, the brother of Jesus, by Ananias the high priest in Jerusalem. He might have chosen to tell the awful story of the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. He might have told the story of the death of Peter. Actually Luke is such a good writer that we wish he had told us much more! Obviously he knew a lot more. But where does one bring a story to an end? What is the most effective way to end? Telling about the demise of James, the brother of Jesus, would have been an interesting tale but what would that have done to further the gospel and what kind of ending would that have been? Was Luke to move on past all of these events – the death of Paul, the death of James, the brother of Jesus, the death of Peter, and the Jewish War – and find somewhere else to bring his story to an end? Where would Luke find a better place to end? In the end there likely is no better place to end then exactly where Luke chose to end his story! Luke is indeed a brilliant author! What may seem at the beginning as a great disappointment turns out to reveal the genius of Luke. Thanks be to God for Luke! OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS I WILL BE POSTING SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF LUKE AND THE BOOK OF ACTS. I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS, REACTIONS AND QUESTIONS.