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Writer of Fancy: The Playful Piety of Jane Austen
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
OK, let me try this again. Land is Israel, sea is Gentiles. A boat is a bit of land floating on the sea, and a boat with Jesus in it is a perfect picture of the little flock of disciples that constitutes Jesus’ first church. It’s a bit of Israel floating unsteadily in the sea of nations.
From the boat, Jesus tells parables that reveal the mystery of the kingdom. But His place and posture also reveal mysteries. The boat is the mustard seed and the leaven, too tiny to be noticed but eventually transforming the sea into dry land by the wind of the Spirit (another Exodus). At first, it’s just Jesus in the boat; He doesn’t even have any fishers of men with him. Someday, there will be a boat as big as the sea, so there will be no more sea, and we can all walk across the sea without sinking.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 6:24 am
Matthew 13:11: to you [it is given] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 6:02 am
“To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus tells His disciples (Matthew 13:11). What mysteries?
A clue from the OT: The only place where the word “mystery” is used in the canonical books of the LXX is Daniel 2, where it is used 8x. And Daniel 2 also talks about a “kingdom” set up by the “God of heaven.” This combination of terms is found only here in the LXX.
Where does this get us? Two steps, at least.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 3:50 pm
INTRODUCTION
The split within Israel continues to widen. Chapter 12 ended with Jesus teaching about His re-constituted family (12:46-50), and the end of chapter 13 reiterates that a prophet is without honor in His home town (13:53-58). Jesus appears in “their synagogue” for the last time in 13:53-58. With Israel growing dull of hearing, Jesus begins teaching in parables (13:15).
THE TEXT
“On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then He spoke many things to them in parables. . . .” (Matthew 13:1-23).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, April 28, 2008 at 4:32 am
Matthew 12:42: The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
As I mentioned in the sermon, 1 Kings illustrates the international reach of Solomon’s kingdom by recording the visit of the Queen of Sheba. She came with tribute and gifts, and also with a good deal of skepticism. But Solomon’s kingdom was that rare thing that was better than the reports.
What particularly took Sheba’s breath away was the order and richness and beauty of Solomon’s court, and particularly of Solomon’s table:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 6:06 am
Matthew 12:45: the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.
Jesus spends most of the debate in our sermon text talking about the generation of Israel that saw His coming, witnessed the powerful signs He performed, heard the good news, and yet failed to repent. When he talks about the last state of the man being worse than the first, He is talking in the first instance about “this generation,” as He goes on to say in this same verse.
Yet, Jesus’ sobering warning was not meant merely for the Jews of His time. Peter repeats the same warning later in the New Testament, and if anything, Peter makes the warning even stronger:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 6:01 am
In our sermon text, Jesus repeatedly evaluates “this generation.” “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign,” He says in response to the scribes and Pharisees. The men of Nineveh will rise in judgment against this generation, along with the Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, to condemn this generation. He tells a story about a demon being expelled from a man and then returning, and says it is the story of “this generation.”
Jesus evaluates individuals, but not just individuals; He judges nations and groups. Jesus evaluates and judges generations, and each must stand or fall of its own. Generations may be evil and adulterous, or faithful and good.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 5:55 am
John Nolland points out in his commentary on Matthew that the combination “evil and adulterous” is found in the LXX of Hosea 3:1, applied to Gomer. He suggests that by using this phrase, Jesus is echoing Hosea, and implicitly comparing the Jews to the generation of the exile.
This makes sense of the following verses in Matthew 12, where Jesus moves from condemning the adulterous generation to saying that He will give the sign of Jonah: And Jonah, of course, was the prophet who delivered Nineveh from destruction, so that the Assyrians survived to destroy the Northern kingdom. Hosea’s “evil and adulterous” bride/generation was, in fact, the same generation as Jonah’s (both during the days of Jeroboam II, Hosea 1:1; 2 Kings 14:23-25).
This reference helps to specify the nature of the adultery of the scribes and Pharisees. Hosea 3:1 explicitly compares the adulteress to Israel: “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” By asking for a sign, Jesus implies, the scribes and Pharisees are betraying their love for other gods.
The logic, presumably, is that Jesus is the bridegroom (9:15), but that the demand for a sign veils the bride’s preference for another. And, of course, is this generation is “adulterous,” then the bride/generation should be expecting to receive divorce papers.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for seeking signs, but He promises to give a sign, the sign of Jonah. Two observations: First: Signs are given; signs are gifts.
Second, the first time we hear of “giving signs” in the Bible is Deuteronomy 13, which describes Israel’s proper response to a false prophet who attempts to seduce Israel away from Yahweh. Perhaps Jesus is suggesting that the scribes and Pharisees are looking to be seduced; seeking a sign is seeking an occasion for adultery, for following false gods by following a false prophet.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees as an “evil and adulterous generation” for demanding a sign. Israel is being conceived, clearly, as a faithless bride; and she is a faithless bride because, in the face of countless signs of Yahweh’s favor to Israel in Jesus, she is still searching for some indication of that favor. They are like the generation of the exodus, an “evil generation” (Deuteronomy 1:35).
One of the interesting things about Jesus’ statement is that the generation - a time-slice of Israel - is considered adulterous. That is, it’s not Israel in her whole history, but Israel in a single generation that is the faithless bride. Each generation of the bride has to prove herself faithful; even if the last generation clings to her husband, the next may be adulterous.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 2:40 pm
INTRODUCTION
In the early chapters of Matthew, Jesus is shown as the new Moses and the new Israel. The focus is shifting in chapter 12. Jesus is the “son of David” (v. 23), a warrior confronting Satan’s kingdom, and greater than Solomon (v. 42). In the following chapter, He takes the role of Solomon in teaching about the kingdom of God in parables.
THE TEXT
“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’
But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. . . .” (Matthew 12:38-50).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 4:36 am
Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.
Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees here for being bad trees and producing bad fruit. Their bad fruit is primarily their words – their blasphemy against the Son of Man, the poison that comes from their mouths. They are serpent’s children, and they speak like the serpent, lying and poisoning with their words.
Jesus is also exhorting His disciples, us, to be good trees and to produce good fruit. But we should remember that when Jesus talks about us producing fruit, He is talking in the first instance, always, about Himself.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 6:22 am
Matthew 12:28: if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
In many historic baptismal rites, there is a moment of exorcism. The candidate for baptism is asked if he renounces the devil and all his works, and all his ways, and all his pomp. In some baptismal liturgies, baptism in water is accompanied by other rites that signify an exorcism.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 6:19 am
We don’t quite know what to do with all the talk of demons and devils in the New Testament, and we often adopt an implicitly secular understanding of the world. We don’t take much account of demonic influence on human life. We think psychologists and sociologists can explain most anything, and we don’t have to take the influence of spiritual beings into account at all. We’re at home talking about addictions and psychoses, but we fear we’ll be locked away if we mention demons.
The Bible teaches, on the contrary, that the world is, in C. S. Lewis’s word, “crowded.”
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 6:09 am
INTRODUCTION
Nowhere in the Bible do we find as many references to demons as in the gospels. When Jesus arrives, Satan begins an all-out assault, and this provokes the great conflict at the center of history: Satan and his demons against the Spirit-filled son of David.
THE TEXT
“Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’ Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’ . . .” (Matthew 12:22-37).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, April 14, 2008 at 4:56 am
Matthew 12:8: For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is an institution, a rule, a commandment, a marker of time, a social practice that distinguishes Jews from Gentiles. It is also a basic structure of human history.
The creation week begins with the creation of light and the separation of light and darkness, and climaxes with God entering into rest on the Sabbath. God labors for six days, dividing and moving and filling, and then sits enthroned to enjoy His creation.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 5:56 am
Jesus knows how to confront. He issues a series of eight woes against the Pharisees and scribes, and they are very severe. When He is challenged, He often raises the stakes instead of qualifying himself. He knows what it’s like to attack and not back down.
In our sermon text, though, Jesus learns that the Pharisees are plotting to kill Him, and He withdraws. Matthew sees this as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy about the Servant who “will not quarrel, nor cry out” and who refuses to break a “battered reed” or snuff out a “smoldering wick.” In the middle of an escalating conflict, Jesus retreats.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 5:50 am
INTRODUCTION
Jesus promises rest to the weary who come to Him (11:28-30). Next thing we know, He’s in conflict with the Pharisees over the Sabbath (12:1-14). Jesus’ Sabbath-keeping stands in sharp contrast to the Sabbath-keeping of the Pharisees. The response of Israel’s leaders is becoming more defined: They want to kill Jesus (v. 14).
THE TEXT
“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!’ . . .” (Matthew 12:1-21).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 5:04 am
Matthew 11:25, 27: At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. . . . All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
In His prayer, Jesus describes an exclusive relationship with the Father, a relationship of mutual but exclusive knowledge. The Father knows the Son and the Son the Father, but no one else knows either. Except, astonishingly, Jesus says that the Son reveals the Father to whomever He will. Through the Son, we begin to share in the knowledge of the Son; through the Son, we are brought into the exclusive relationship of mutual knowledge between Father and Son, and when we are introduced into the inner fellowship of God, we also come to know “these things.”
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 6:06 am
In our sermon text, Jesus speaks of the Father who hides and reveals things. We like the idea of a God who reveals things, but a God who hides things is disturbing.
Jesus is not the first to talk about the hiding and hidden God. Isaiah said, “You are a God who hides Himself,” and several prophets speak of the Lord hiding His face from His rebellious people, and several Psalms are pleas that God would not hide.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 5:48 am
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