Jesus & The Finger Of God (part 3)

So by his actions, Jesus clearly presents Himself as a new lawgiver, in the mold of Moses.  If one does not want to go that far and speak to Jesus’ private intentions, one could certainly insist that His biographers wished for their audiences to draw that conclusion. 

In Jesus’ case however, His status goes beyond that of Moses.  Unlike Moses, Jesus does not point to the finger of God as having written the commandments in stone at a time in the distant past, thus pointing to an entity separate from himself in the process.  Jesus does not appeal to the ancient working of the finger of God in the way that one may appeal to an established and recognized authority figure.  Rather, Jesus is reported as speaking of Himself using the same finger of God language that was most assuredly meant to communicate something which He believed to be true of Himself.  Undoubtedly, this is what Luke wants His audience to grasp. 

Later on in the same setting, Jesus goes on to say “For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation” (11:30).  This use of “Son of Man” is part of a building process within Luke.  That process effectively culminates with Jesus’ linking the coming of the Son of Man, referencing Daniel chapter seven and the Son of Man coming on the clouds to the Ancient of Days in order to receive His kingdom, to the destruction of the Temple, with a repetition of “this generation” in connection with the sign, while also speaking of the Son of Man during the course of His passion (an entirely different subject matter altogether). 

Jesus then, in Luke’s highly structured and structural setting, speaks of Himself in connection to the finger of God (with this functioning on multiple levels), and then speaks of the Son of Man, which can be shown to be self-referential.  Making the connection then, the Son of Man is obviously meant to be understood as a divine figure, and it is the Son of Man (the king of the kingdom of God, the Messiah, the Creator God manifest) that is speaking when providing new laws for the people of that God and casting out demons.       

As this study works backwards through the defining and definitive historical narrative that is the Hebrew Scriptures, the final instance of the finger of God is found in the eighth chapter of Exodus.  There, Moses has struck his staff on the ground, with this striking resulting in the dust of the ground becoming like “gnats throughout all the land of Egypt” (8:16b).  As they had done with the previous signs from Israel’s God that had been provided to Moses in order to prove the veracity of the message he delivered, the magicians of Egypt attempted to match the feat.  However, they were unable to do so.  In response, “The magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘It is the finger of God!’” (8:19a)  

No One Knows The Hour (part 12)

Looking through the synoptic Gospels and comparing the records that follow Jesus’ actions in the Temple and His being questioned as a result of those actions, one is forced to notice similarities and differences.  As has been seen, Matthew reports the parable of the two sons, the parable of the tenants, the parable of the wedding banquet, the challenge concerning Caesar and taxes, the question from the Sadducees about marriage the resurrection, and the rabbinic challenge concerning the greatest commandment.  From there, Matthew has Jesus proceed to offering up the “seven woes” that comprise the twenty-third chapter of his Gospel.  Matthew built on Mark’s account and traveled a longer path in the story of Jesus that he presented, and it must be said that Matthew’s account is the busiest of the three.   

Mark, which is generally understood to have provided the basis for both Matthew and Luke, does not have a parable of the two sons, narrates the parable of the tenants, lacks a parable of the wedding banquet, recounts the conversation about the paying of taxes, reports the question by the Sadducees, and offers up a memory of the question about the greatest of the commandments.  In something of an anomaly, Mark’s presentation of the exchange concerning commandments is actually longer than that which is reported by Matthew.  Matthew and Mark differ in their account of Jesus’ words, with Matthew’s Jesus saying “All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (22:40).  In Mark, Jesus does not say this. 

In addition, “The expert in the law said to Him, ‘That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that He is one, and there is no one else beside Him.’” (Mark 12:32b)  Here, the expert in the law quotes back to Jesus what has been said, which also informs the reader that Mark has another statement that is omitted by Matthew, in that Jesus here says, to begin His response to this man, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’” (12:29)  This is the preface to the specific quotation from Deuteronomy in regards to loving the Lord with heart, soul, mind, and strength.  This is also a reminder that in Matthew, Jesus is not reported to have mentioned “strength.”  The man continued, conflating Jesus’ answers and the quotations together, saying “And to love Him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (12:33). 

Just in case it may be thought that this study was reaching a bit by calling attention to the fact that the section being called to mind with the neighbor quotation from Leviticus begins with mention of the peace offering sacrifice, and that this serves as yet another reminder of the setting---that being the Temple and that which takes place in the Temple, this response confirms that such was not a reach at all.  Beyond that, just to reconfirm the intimate ties between the Temple, the importance of the promised land, and concepts concerning the kingdom of God, Mark reports that “When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’” (12:34a) 

This final statement is also part of a fuller account (in this particular pericope) than that which is on offer from Matthew.  Luke omits this exchange concerning the commandments entirely, which is not surprising.  One remembers that Luke made no mention of the withered fig tree in conjunction with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, so it apparently does not fit with Luke’s overall purpose.  Following his report about Jesus’ actions in the Temple and the questioning from the authorities that He underwent there, Luke follows Mark by not presenting a parable of the two sons, and moving right along to the parable of the tenants.  There is no parable of the wedding banquet as part of Luke’s Temple narrative, though Luke does present a great banquet, with similar features, in his fourteenth chapter.  Following the parable of the tenants, Luke moves to the discussion about taxes, and then to the question about marriage and the resurrection.

Preparing For God (part 2 of 2)

Continuing our correlation of the Levitical/Deuteronomic cursings (and Israel’s understanding of themselves and their plight alongside that comprehension, while also recognizing that it is possible that neither Leviticus nor Deuteronomy had taken their final written forms before the composition of Amos, but Amos’ apparent heavy reliance on the understanding of covenant curses implies knowledge of them) with the fourth chapter of Amos, we also find that “The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until He has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.  The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heart, and with drought and with blight and with mildew” (Deuteronomy 28:21-22a).  Also, “The Lord will make the rain of your land powder.  From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed” (28:24). 

Apparently, God takes very seriously the fulfillment of His plans and purposes through the people of His covenant, as He continues and says “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies…  And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth…The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed” (28:25a, 26a, 27).  Going on, we find that “You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.  You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them” (28:38-39).  “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and statutes that He commanded you” (28:45). 

All of these things can be intimately connected to health and wealth.  These curses are a destruction of that which represents the wealth of a people.  In Deuteronomy 8:18, we read “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth.”  Why does God give His people the power to get wealth?  He does so in order “that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers” (8:18b).  What was that covenant?  To find that, we return to the book of Genesis, and to chapter twelve, when God says to Abraham, as He announces a covenant that will be continued through Isaac and Jacob, to the nation of Israel, and on to those that are the children of Abraham by faith (post-Christ), that “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:2-3).  God blesses His people so that they can properly respond to His blessing in gratitude, as the world’s great patron, that they may extend the cycle and circle of grace and be a blessing to all the earth.  He also promised that whoever dishonored Abraham would be cursed.  Truly, it must be said that the nation of Israel itself dishonored Abraham, in forsaking the faith that had been granted to him and becoming unfaithful, and so they were cursed. 

Israel, whom God had chosen to perpetuate the covenant, had failed to perform according to that covenant given to Abraham, but because Israel had failed, that did not mean God had failed.  He is the faithful God that would keep His covenant of blessing.  He would set things right.  How would He do that in light of the fact that His covenant people had failed?  We find the answer in our text, where the Lord said, “prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (Amos 4:12b).  Though at first glance, it does appear to be an ominous statement, as we consider it we find that it is actually a statement of God’s profound blessing, as God continues to work to bring about His covenant promises, in spite of the failure of the people that He had appointed to the task of representing Him in His world.  Yes, in spite of everything, God looks forward and says, “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel” (4:12a).  In conjunction with this looking forward, God references the curses of the fourth chapter and says, “because I will do this to you” (4:12a). 

Because in His supreme faithfulness to His promises, He would do and had done all of these things to His people; so likewise, in supreme faithfulness, a Messiah would be born, would suffer, die, and rise again.  While there are many facets and implications to the Christ event, part of what was accomplished through it was the Creator God’s gathering together and uniting a new covenant people, in Christ, in recognition of the realization of the hope of the Resurrection, bringing the life of the age to come into the present in union with Christ (belief in Jesus and allegiance to His kingship), and by which the Creator God of Israel would bless the whole of the creation, including all of the peoples of the world (not just national Israel).  Jesus would be set forth as Israel’s king and God.  Though executed as a challenger to Caesar, and charged with being “King of the Jews,” He would go largely unrecognized in these roles, even though Israel had been repeatedly told to be prepared to meet their God.