Timothy & Countering The Culture (part 31)

As one continues to consider the talk of riches and the desire to obtain them, substituting the love of money for the love of neighbor, Paul can be heard to go on to say that if you must engage in competition, “Compete well for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).  It is when these words are heard as part of a call to be a counter-cultural witness, that surely they are better understood. 

Paul takes no issue with those that possess wealth, nor does he desire Timothy or other believers to look down upon them as part of the cosmic role reversal that takes place as the church rightly images out the tenets of its Lord.  Rather, as should be expected from Paul, he desires that encouragement and edification be the order of the day, with self-sacrifice and preferential treatment coming to the fore as the practice of love. 

That expectant tone can be heard when traveling a few lines further in the text and hearing “Command those who are rich in this world’s goods not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain” (6:17a).  Why?  “For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.”  Rather, they are to set their hope “on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment” (6:17b). 

Yes, it is the Creator God that should be looked upon as the ultimate patron, provide all things (not Caesar).  For this reason, and to their own benefit, “Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds” which are works of public benefaction, “to be generous givers, sharing with others.  In this way they will save up a treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the future and so lay hold of what is truly life” (6:18-19).  They will lay hold of what is truly life, rather than the fleeting and fickle notion of public honor which is normally the measure of a man, as he goes about providing a firm foundation for himself and his family, that his honor may go on and on.  This pales in comparison to that which honors Jesus.

In beginning to round out this study, having explored the counter cultural elements in Paul’s letter to Timothy, and having heard Paul instruct Timothy (and by extension the household congregations in which Timothy has a hand) in an engagement that stands against the prevailing culture, and doing so for the purpose of transformation spurred by the witness of service and sacrifice, it is right to marvel at the subtle genius of the cosmos encompassing, restorative, and often paradoxical plans of the God of creation.  One is reminded that while yes there is a commandment to come out and be separate, that separation is only a portion of the preparation for a full engagement with this creation that groans for the revelation of the sons of the covenant God and the ultimate re-creation that is heralded by that revelation. 

...Like A Gentile Or Tax Collector (part 3)

Shortly thereafter, Matthew reports that “Jesus went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease and sickness among the people” (4:23).  This, again, is the region to which Matthew refers as “Galilee of the Gentiles,” which would certainly play into the statement about the covenant community treating an individual like a Gentile or tax collector.  In addition, the Matthean author adds, “So a report about Him spread throughout Syria” (4:24a), which was also a Gentile area.  Accordingly, owing to all that Jesus was doing and saying, “large crowds followed Him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan River” (4:25).  Nearly from the outset, Jesus’ ministry, as presented by Matthew, is intimately connected with Gentiles. 

In the fifth chapter, Jesus is heard to say: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven… For if you love those who love  you, what reward do you have?  Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they?  And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do?  Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they?” (5:43-44,46-47) 

The juxtaposition of “enemy” and “those who persecute you,” with “tax collector” and “Gentile” are undeniable.  It would appear to be clear that they are to be taken as one and the same.  What is also undeniable for the purposes of this study, is that such a juxtaposition is firmly ensconced within Jesus call to love them and pray for them.  This would most definitely serve to inform an audience as to what it means to treat somebody as a Gentile or tax collector, would it not?

Moving to the eighth chapter then, it is said that “a centurion came to Him asking for help: ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.’” (8:5b-6)  This centurion, a Gentile, was part of the oppressive, occupying Roman military machine.  It is likely that he would have been treated with contempt by the citizens of Israel, and a presumed Israelite messiah-figure would be expected to take up an adversarial role with such a person.  The role of the centurion Gentile, among other things, was to keep the people of Israel in submission.  How did Jesus respond?  Did He refuse the request of this Gentile oppressor of Israel?  On the contrary, “Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’” (8:7) 

The record of chapter nine of Matthew records that Jesus “saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth” (9:9b).  A tax collector---a Jew that collaborates with the oppressors that are keeping Israel in exile from the promises of its covenant God---would attract a special type of scorn from his fellow countrymen.  So here is another opportunity for Jesus to shun one of these dastardly collaborators with the hated Romans.  Yet Jesus instead says “Follow Me” (9:9c).  After Jesus pulls this tax collector into His growing band of disciples, He has a meal with Him. 

Now, whenever Jesus, who is going about offering up messiah-like actions (at least in the eyes of His contemporaries), and who is clearly being portrayed as the Messiah in the stories told about Him by the early new covenant community (with this being the obvious pre-disposition of the author of this Gospel), sits down at a meal, the thoughts of “messianic banquet,” which indicated the coming of the kingdom of the Creator God (which Jesus consistently announced), would not have been trailing far behind.  Those who participated in the messianic banquet, which can only be understood with the context of the Creator God’s covenant with Israel through Abraham, were those that would rule in that God’s kingdom.  It is in that context that the author writes “As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and His disciples” (9:10).         

Table Of The Justified (part 5 of 6)

Though it is always tempting to allow a stream of thought to reach its conclusion simply because we have reached the end of a chapter, we have to continue on in to chapter fifteen of Romans in order to hear Paul continuing to work out the implications of meal table practices that were quite vital to the communities of Jesus believers (as indicated by Acts 15, Galatians 2, 1 Corinthians 11, and Romans 14, to point to a few New Testament Scriptures).  We do so in full cognition of the fact that the meal table provided a working picture of the justified community, comprised of Jewish and Gentile believers in equal standing before God because of their faith in the Gospel. 

So after Paul insists that whatever is not performed in accordance with the faith (like that of Abraham) that shows itself forth in an unswerving loyalty to the way of being human that bears out the image of the God revealed by Jesus (in imitation of Jesus as He interacts with His world) is sin (failure to bear the divine image, or to fall short of the glory of God, as God’s intent for humanity/Abraham/Israel/Jesus/Church is to reflect His glory into the world), Paul writes “But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves” (15:1).  This is the epitome of self-sacrificial love.  Indeed, Paul’s call, in accordance with the Gospel is “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up” (15:2), which, though it may not be intentional in the least (and thought it may stretch the boundaries of possibility and analogy) to be a faint echo of the Jesus tradition’s parable of the “good Samaritan,” in which the question posed by Jesus, at the conclusion of the story, which comes in answer to the “who is my neighbor” posed to Him prior to His telling of the story, was “who acted as a neighbor” to the one in need.  Indeed, we can line up the parable with this verse and ask: “Who did good?  Who built up his neighbor?” 

We do not want to get pulled too far aside into speculation about the possibilities of allusions to stories from what would have then been the oral Jesus tradition, but it is interesting that verse three has Paul making reference to Jesus as he writes “For even Christ did not please Himself, but just as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’” (15:3)  Clearly, there is something in his thoughts, as he writes what would come to be designated as verses one and two of chapter fifteen, that has put Paul in mind of Jesus, and talk of neighborliness seems as likely as anything else.  With this mention of Christ, Paul quotes from the sixty-ninth Psalm.  With this quotation, he makes Jesus, or more specifically, the Messiah, the referent of the Psalm, and he does so in the course of instructions concerning the way that those that believe in Jesus---those that are the Temple of God, the house of God, by the Holy Spirit---are to function, as neighbors. 

More directly, this quotation comes in the course of talk about food and table fellowship, which is of vital concern to Paul (remember, controversies concerning the dietary practice of Gentile believers prompted a determinative conference in Jerusalem).  This does not surprise us at all, as we consider the words of the Psalm in their context, with Romans fourteen and the first few verse of chapter fifteen firmly in  mind: “Let none who rely on You be disgraced because of me, O sovereign Lord and King!  Let none who seek You be ashamed because of me, O God of Israel!  For I suffer humiliation for your sake and am thoroughly disgraced.  My own brothers treat me like a stranger; they act as if I was a foreigner.  Certainly zeal for your house consumes me; I endure the insults of those who insult you.  I weep and refrain from eating food, which causes others to insult me” (Psalm 69:6-10a). 

Self abnegation, suffering for the sake of others, talk of brothers, foreigners, the house of God, and food causes this Psalm to fit nicely alongside this portion of Romans, well-informing the believing community as to what is expected of its members as they endeavor to take up the cross of Christ in and for the world.  Having quoted from the Psalms, Paul punctuates his quotation with “For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope” (15:4).  Clearly, Paul finds confirmation of his vision of the ideals of the kingdom of God painted on page after page of Scripture.