Ok so if you stumbled upon this blog looking for a resource on narrative theology, I'm sorry. This blog is not finished. My notes are under a state of constant revision, as I make them more readable, and as the sprit sees fit to reveal new insites to me.

It is my end desire to provide the kind of place where you will be free to explore all the resources I have been collecting.

But at this point most of my notes do not make much sense yet.

So if you have a question, or need help on a specific issue, please e-mail me (my address is on my about me page).

Otherwise feel free to read through, comment, and check back in a couple of months.

Grace and Peace

Tom

notes

In the beginning
Trinity = egg
Adam was the first human Made in Gods image
Adam needs a companion
Eden was huge
God made Adam name all of the animals
God gave Adam Eve
The betrayal
Flood - Warning signs?
Devinne chemo
Noah had it made a fresh start
The great building project
Tower = oppression and slavery
Its not that they were a threat to God, They were a threat to themselves.
Abram and Sari
Go walk
“I will make out of you a great people”... Blessed to be a blessing
Exodus
The people cried out, and God heard their cry.
God calls this guy moses who is a murder and a fugitive...
God tells him to stand up to Pharaoh and be like “A God” to Pharaoh.
After an extended struggle in which God humbles the worlds supper power (Egypt) Pharaoh lets Moses lead the slaves and refugees out of Egypt.
In the desert God says I have something for you to do, or more like someone for you to be.
A kingdom of priests...
A priest mediates the Devinne to people.
So God is calling these people to all be a message to the world.
Then God places them in what will be one of the most traveled trade routs in the world.
King David has a son named Solomon.
Solomon was a wise king.
But he forgot his peoples story
He forgot the dream/mission God had given them.
Solomon used slave labor to build his empire (palaces, gardens, fortresses, temple)
He imported AND exported weapons (God had forbidden this back in the desert)
He built military bases in places like Megetto ( in English Armageddon)
He collected great wealth (666 tons)
God HAS to stop this insanity... His Message is not getting through to the world.
What does it say about God when these people did these things in his name?
Exile
But God is patient
God warned them again and again and again
Then when “there was no remedy
People carried away into slavery
The “great” buildings were destroyed
The “great” wealth taken away
By the rivers of Babylon
The prophets tell of a liberating King who will come to rescue the people, and set them free.
Ezra experience
The people return their land with a decree from the emperor to rebuild their city and temple.
But as always they grew to be judgemental and arrogant once again...
scriptures have a very direct massage
God always hears the cry of the oppressed
God cares about human suffering and the conditions that cause it
God is searching for a body, a Kingdom of priests, a community of people to care for the things God cares about.
God gives power and blessing so that justice will be upheld for those who are on the underside of power.
That is what God is like
That is what God cares about
This is who God is
To forget this to fail to hear the cry, to preserve prosperity at the expense of the powerless, is to miss what God had in mind.
Humans have always misconstrued God's blessing as favoritism and Entitlement.
They become indifferent to God and their priestly mission, to bring liberty and freedom., restoration and healing, to others.
So God has to come down here and rescue us from ourselves
Jesus
….........................

Luk 2:8
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

Luk 2:9
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Luk 2:10
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Luk 2:11
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ [fn] the Lord.

Luk 2:12
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Luk 2:13
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

Luk 2:14
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Doxa

What is Glory?
Is it one of those things that you sing about, read about, maybe talk about, especially if you have been around a church for any length of time. But what does it mean “Glory to God in the highest?”

To help us unpack this a little we are going to study the word Glory a little, as it appears in the scriptures.

The word glory is a very complex nuanced sort of word...
Lets start in


Psa 19:1
For the director of music. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

The word Glory is the word kabowd (kä·bode')
and it means :
honor, glorious, abundance, riches, splendor, glory

And it comes from the root word kä·bad'
Which means to be heavy, or weighty


The heavens declare the Kabowd of God

Remember lessons one and two?
Have you ever looked at the stars , maybe through a telescope, or ever watched a mediator storm?
When I was a kid my dad took me out in the country away from all the man made lights to watch a mediator storm first hand...
I was struck by the idea that these rocks, which use to be part of something else much larger, and had been flying through space for who knows how long, were crashing into our earth our home. They had traveled perhaps millions of light years, much farther than even our strongest telescopes can see. And now they were burning up in our atmosphere.
Which is another good point, we live on a planet that is designed to protect us from all of this floating space junk...

DO you get a feel for how big the universe is?

Kabwod is heavy, signifying that other things are light, temporary, Its as if the wind could blow at any minute and they would be gone...

Dust*****************************
Everything turns to dust or rust
Rust****************************

Advisers spend a lot of energy convincing us that we will be happy if we just buy that new shiny car... But after a few years, especially if you live in a cold climate where they spread copious amounts of salt on the roads, it starts to turn into rust.

This is true of everything we lust or long for. (even other people)

**********************************************************

Kabowd is like the kick drum of the universe, its what happens when you come face to face with the bigness of the universe and you are reminded of the proper proportions of the universe and that you are not the most important thing in it!

This is the Hebrew Idea of Kabowd

Exodus 33:17




Exd 33:16
How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"


Exd 33:17
And the Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."


Exd 33:18
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."


Exd 33:19
And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.


Exd 33:20
But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."


Exd 33:21
Then the Lord said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.


Exd 33:22
When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.


Exd 33:23
Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."


Moses asks to see Gods Kabowd...
But God says “I will cause all of my goodness”

Rhe Rabbis say that the “You will see my backside” is a way of saying you will see the spot where I have just been.

So Moses says I want to see ALL of your Golor..
And God says You can't handle my Kabowd...

Can't you hear God laughing in this... Its like he says
You have to catch your breath when you see the stars, and now you want to see my Kabowd?

Central to understanding the Kabowd of God is the Awe the reverence the humility that comes from knowing who God is and who you are.

Sometimes we loose track of the proportions...

It is good for us to be reminded of this...

But the scriptures have a little more to say about Us (humans) and Glory...


Psa 8:3
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,


Psa 8:4
what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?


Psa 8:5
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [fn] and crowned him with glory and honor.


We are crowned with Kabowd?
What does it mean?

This is why when you hear a story, like of slaves beening set free
or
like of homeless people being fed and clothed
or
like of a community garden where people work together shoulder to shoulder and then give the extra food to people who are hungry

This is why you feel that leap in your heart, why you are like
YES NOT THAT IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

We are hard wired for Kabowd...
And yet we continually seek that feeling in so many other ways...
And we live in a culture that promises to fulfill that yearning that need for Glory in a million ways.
Marketers invent a new way to fall into debt every day. That is they try to convince us that they have tapped into a new way to find fulfillment and happiness...

But it is all Dust and Rust!

It should not be lost on you that the neon lights and the bright security lights drown out the stars. It you want to see the stars, to be reminded of the Kabowd of God, you have to escape all ot that.

So one of the central if not the central them of Christmas is this.

Gods Glory has come to earth... the fulfillment of the very things we long for the very things that our culture trys to sell us, but always falls short, is present is at hand. It has arrived and is available for anyone who is willing to accept it.

But only if you are willing to let go of all the lies, of all the dust and rust that our culture sells us!

Water to wine

Long long ago when Johnny Carson was the host of The Tonight Show he interviewed an eight year old boy. The young boy was asked to appear because he had rescued two friends in a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As Johnny questioned the boy, it became apparent to him and the audience that the young man was a Christian. So Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school. When the boy said he did Johnny inquired, "What are you learning in Sunday school?" Well, came his reply, "Last week our lesson was about when Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine." And while the audience roared, Johnny tried to keep a straight face as he said, "And what did you learn from that story?" The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he hadn't really thought about this. But then he lifted up his face and said, "If you're going to have a party, make sure you invite Jesus!" And he was certainly on to something in a simple yet profound way.


Jhn 2:1
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,

Alright so get your radar up. In this first verse we have a clue about what is going on here.

When does it say this wedding took place?
And Did Jesus do anything else on the third day?




Jhn 2:2
and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.


We have no way of telling when it happened, but Joseph must have died at some time after Jesus’ twelfth birthday, which is the last recorded time he was with Mary and Jesus (Luke 2:41-51)

The occasion was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, the home of Nathanael, a town around 10 miles from Mary and Jesus’ home city of Nazareth.

10 Miles is a long way to walk, so this is probably an important wedding for them.


Jhn 2:3
When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."


We don’t know who was responsible for the catering of the wedding at Cana, but i Mary felt some level of care and responsibility. She was told that the wine had run out before the master of the banquet. The master of the banquet didn't even know of the problem, he was suprised when the exceptional wine was brought out (Verse 9).



Hospitality was, and still is a big thing in the Middle East. In that culture it was the groom that was responsible for the wedding expenses. The family could be sued by the bride’s parents if people left the festivities unsatisfied, or thought that the catering was under par.

Why?

It was a social stain on the couple if their wedding had gone badly. It woiuld make them and their families outcasts.

People would be like... “see that kid walking down the street there. He's the son of that couple who through a banquit and couldn't afford enough food and wine for all the guests.”



The wedding is in trouble...

It was a dilemma that needed a solution. Mary did something about the problem. She went to Jesus and said, “They have no more wine.”

What do you think Mary was expecting Jesus to do about the problem?

How could Mary know what Jesus would do about this problem? Remember, this was His first miracle.

So we do not know if she expected anything miraculous, only that she was relying on Him in a tight situation, hoping that He would have an answer.

Perhaps she was expecting Him to make up a decent excuse to those attending. It’s possible that she was expecting Jesus to give a speech of some sort to get people’s minds off of drinking while the his disciples went looking for the nearest party store to buy some more wine.




The way the stewards looked to Mary for direction also tells us that the wedding was the occasion of a relative or close friend. She gave the instructions to the servants when the wine had run out as to what to do about the problem.



Jhn 2:4
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."



Mary was confident that Jesus was more than capable of fixing the problem.

Jesus’ answer at first seems kinda harsh; "Dear woman, why do you involve me?"





Jhn 2:5
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."


And you have to love Mary's response to the servants “Do whatever He tells you” (Verse 5).



Jhn 2:6
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. [fn]



The stone jars held water normally used only for ceremonial washing, a symbolic act of cleansing from sin, not for cleaning off the dust of the road or other dirt. They were placed at the door so a person would not enter the celebration in a ceremonially “unclean” state.
By dipping their fingers into the water and wiping them dry, a person would symbolically “wash away their sins” and be ceremonially clean. When we say, “I’m washing my hands of this matter,” we really mean we’re trying to absolve ourselves of any responsibility for it. The phrase comes from this practice, which was soon to be immortalized by Pontius Pilate in the matter of Jesus’ trial and conviction.
 
Canna was a small village 120 gallons means probably people from several surronding villages.




Jhn 2:7
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.



Jhn 2:8
Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so,



Jhn 2:9
and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside



Jhn 2:10
and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."


Jesus told the stewards to fill each jar to the brim and then take some of this water to the master of ceremonies. They must have wondered what He was thinking! Why would they serve the guests water which they were meant to wash with? Imagine the surprise of each steward who had put water from the stream into each water pot. When they dipped in ladle and out came wine, and not just good wine, but exceptional wine!

The master of ceremonies was quite surprised at the quality of this wine and was so impressed, that he praised the bridegroom.
 
 Jesus was to reveal the everlasting God, some established customs and rules needed to broken. At Cana, Jesus used six large stone jars as carafes for new wine…jars that were normally filled with water for purification ceremonies, for the ritual cleansing.

Jesus claimed the authority to break the rules, and put those jars to another use.
 
Imagine if someone threw a party and we all went. And while the crystal punch bowl is being carried to the center of the room, it accidentally slips and smashes to the floor. Daren says, “Don’t panic. I know something we can use.” He sends two of you out of the room to get the washing dish and carry it to the kitchen where the you are told to fill it with water and the washing bowl becomes our serving bowl! Get the picture? It goes against the grain, it’s disruptive...like what Jesus did behind the scenes at the wedding in Cana.
 
It goes to show there’s no telling what rules Jesus will break in order to disclose the presence and power of God. All we can be sure of is that God’s glory will not be reduced to traditions and rituals. Jesus is not interested in maintaining religious customs and established patterns.

One last thought...
Jesus never turned the water into wine...
He simply told the servaqnts what to do, and when they did it the water became wine.
The servants do what Jesus said and the hope of the family of the couple for a future is restored
The servants do what Jesus said to do and Joy is present at the feast.

Have you ever not done what Jesus said to do?
How can we do what Jesus said to do?

Jesus baptized...

What is interpretation?
Tell us about a great leader.
Tell us about your favorite teacher.
What was the job of a first century Rabbi?
Not a priest
not a scribe
more like a school teacher (there was no public schools so most young boys would be sent out to study under the local Rabbi but more about later)
They provided/taught an interpation of the Hebrew scriptures.


Jesus is often called Rabbi in the New Testament. That’s how He was perceived. And some of His teaching simply blossoms when we can begin to see Jesus as his contemporaries saw Him, a Rabbi.

Here’s the picture...
The primary focus of Judaism is on lifestyle and action not on head knowled or book learning.
The responsibility of a Rabbi was to teach an interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures. Hebrew Scriptures means what we know as the Old Testament, and it centered largely on the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Every Rabbi was associated with a particular interpretation or school, and his task was to pass on this interpretation of scripture to others. The teaching of a school or rabbi was called a “yoke.” So every rabbi was trained to pass on the “yoke” or the teaching of his school. Which he had learned from his Rabbi.
However, and this is a huge however, every now and again a Rabbi would come along with a new “yoke,” a new interpretation of the scriptures. This may not happen for several generations...

A Rabbi with this kind of authority would say things like:
“you have heard it said, but I tell you...”
Mat 5:21

So how would they know this teaching was legit?

Because it was so different it had to be tested first.
In order for a rabbi to teach a new “yoke” two other rabbis who had shimihah (authority) had to lay hands on him and publicly declare that they believed this Rabbi had shimihah and had a legitimate new “yoke” or teaching.


Mar 1:4
And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Mar 1:5
The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Mar 1:6
John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

Mar 1:7
And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

Mar 1:8
I baptize you with [fn] water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Mar 1:9
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Mar 1:10
As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Mar 1:11
And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."



In order to present a new teaching how many voices of approval does Jesus need?
Two
How many voices are there?

John the Baptist is one. He says:
“After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John affirms ahead of time the new “yoke” of Jesus.

God is the other:
“And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Principal of first mention...
We have Jesus in the water and
The spirit descended “like a dove”
Where else do we see the spirit of god hovering over the water?


Gen 1:2
Now the earth was [fn] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.


Every first century Jew would immediately recognize what was going on here.
This Rabbi had a new teaching, a new yoke, a new way of living.
And his authority was being confirmed in a powerful and supernatural way!
And with this powerful confirmation of His authority to teach, Jesus has been given the authority to do what He is about to do.


Lets look at this authority thing in action as they would have saw it...












Mat 21:23
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?"

Mat 21:24
Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Mat 21:25
John's baptism-where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?" They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?'

Mat 21:26
But if we say, 'From men'-we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet."

Mat 21:27
So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Then he said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Why do you think the religious leader were so spooked by Jesus question?
Where did John get his authority?

His father entered the holy of holies and received a word from god about John before he was even a thought in his parents mind
His father would have had to be an importatnt priest to even enter the holy of holies
This word was acompanied by a sign (his father became mute until John's birth)
His conception was a miricle
It is believed he was sent away to grow up in the desert with a radical tribe of religious zelots knowen as the essens

The religious folks would have been falling all over themselves to be the ones that gave John his athority.
But the Chief priest and the religious leaders don't know who gave John his authority!

John has all the marks of a prophet...

So couple this (Johns authority) with the whole spirit hovering, Gods voice from heaven thing.
The religious folks were pretty shaken up.

Dust

How Jewish children were taught the faith and how a rabbi selected his disciples?

The first formal teaching for a Jewish child began about age six and lasted until about age ten. It was called Bet Sefer which meant “House of the Book.” It probably took place at the local synagogue. During this period of time the students would memorize the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Yes, that’s right, memorize the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. Remember you couldn’t just go down to the local bookstore and buy a copy of the Torah. Most towns only had one copy and it was in the synagogue.

By age ten some of the students would show promise and others would not.

So around that age some of the students would leave the process and go into the family business or learn a trade.

The best students would go on to the next step called Bet Talmud which meant
“House of Learning.” During the next three or four years they would memorize the rest of
the Bible, all thirty-nine books, Genesis to Malachi.

At the end of this period more students would drop out, until only the best of the best were left.

These remaining students would begin to search for a rabbi who would accept them as disciples. When a student applied to a rabbi to become one of his disciples the rabbi would ask one essential
question. Can this student become like me? Can he put on my yoke?

If the rabbi thought the student could become like him he would say to the student, “Come, follow me,” and the student would become a disciple of that rabbi for life. Now, here’s the most important point. A rabbi would only ask someone to follow him if he thought that person could become like him.


Now, consider the second scripture. Jesus calls four fishermen to follow Him. What is He
doing? He is a rabbi calling His disciples. Why are these guys fishermen? Because no
other rabbi would accept them as disciples.

They were not the best of the best.

They were the ones who had washed out.

Yet, Jesus calls them to come with Him to change the world. And they do. They come and they change the world.

Who does Jesus call to be His disciples today? Everyone. What does this tell us? It tells us that He believes we can become like Him. We can put on His yoke, understand His teaching, and ultimately live our life like He would live it.

Rob Bell sums up this picture for himself. “I have been told that I need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that Jesus believes in me. The rabbi thinks I can be like Him.”





Mat 4:12
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee.
John jesus cousin who baptised him
in prison
This appears tbe the sign for him to start...
“my time has not come...”


Mat 4:13
Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali-

Mat 4:15
"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-

Mat 4:16
the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." [fn]

Mat 4:17
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."



Mat 4:18
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

Mat 4:19
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

Mat 4:20
At once they left their nets and followed him.

Mat 4:21
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,

Mat 4:22
and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.




Mar 2:14
As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

Beatiful Anger

**Use one word to describe Jesus**

Jesus was not Mr Rogers
And we do him a great disservice when we act like he was some Mr. Nice guy...

praotēs:
“A settling down and quieting of anger”

orgē:
„burning anger, accompanied by pain, for an apparent injustice … done by someone who was not entitled”

**Draw a picture of what makes you angry**

The 2 types of anger

1. eris - contention, strife, wrangling, seeks revenge

2. orgē - anger, movement or agitation of the soul, deep hurt



Mar 2:23
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.

Mar 2:24
The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

Mar 2:25
He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

Mar 2:26
In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

Mar 2:27
Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Mar 2:28
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
This bread Concreated holy was only to be eaten by the priest and only in a holy place (lev 24)

David was chosen by God to be King. There wasonly one problem... Saul still wanted to be king.

So David and his men were on the run. And Saul was trying to kill them at every turn. They were considreed enimys of the state.

Its hard to get much to eat when your wanted in every village, town, and city.

So one day David went to the temple and asked the priest for food. The priest had none, so David ate, and shared, the Concreated holy bread.

-----------------------
Jesus and his disciples were traveling and being hungry began to pluck and eat the grain in the fields they were walking through.


Who were the pharisees?

The Pharisees considered this threshing wheat, a Sabbath violation.

This was a natural thing to do and should not have drawn much attention. The problem was not theft. The law had a provision for this.



Deu 23:25
If you enter your neighbor's grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain.

But the Pharisees were so legalistic that they claimed this was a violation of the Sabbath observance.

And so Jesus uses this Judo kind of move...


Mar 2:25
He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

Of course they had heard... Remember these were the best of the best students. They had memorized the scriptures. They knew the story of King David by heart.


Mar 2:27
Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Bam!
The reason for the rules is to give people a rest, not make them work harder to avoid breaking the rules.
And then as if to twist the knife a little deeper he adds

Mar 2:28
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Son of man is a title given to the mesiah. He's telling them he has the athority to make the rules, not them.

Mar 3:1
Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.

Mar 3:2
Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.

Mar 3:3
Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

Mar 3:4
Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.

Mar 3:5
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Mar 3:6
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.


Which type of anger is Jesus displaying here?

1.eris - contention, strife, wrangling, seeks revenge

2. orgē - anger, movement or agitation of the soul, deep hurt

If the man has a shrivled hand he faced all kinds of challenges.
He would be outcast from much of socity for his deformity...
Remember they had no tooilet paper, so what hand does he wipe with, eat with...
This would have made it hard for him to get maried or have a family
It probably would have made it hard for him to own or work land or a business.

Jesus had a popeye moment!
“Thats all I can take, I can't takes no more!”

He had lots of these, and we'll be looking at some of them in the coming weeks.
It should kinda reminds us of the prophets...


Isa 58:1


Amo 5:21
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.

Amo 5:22
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, [fn] I will have no regard for them.

Amo 5:23
Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Amo 5:24
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

What are some examples in modern day life of these two types of anger?

lesson 3

Lesson 2

Scripture is an organic whole

The Principle of First Mention
The principle of first mention is the idea that if we to go to that part of the Scriptures where a word or concept is mentioned for the first time and study that first occurrence we can gain insight into the idea that God is presenting to humanity through the scriptures.

Historical and Grammatical
What do we need to be aware of culturally that affects this story?
What do we need to be aware of grammatically that affects this passage?
The aim of the historical-grammatical questions is to discover the meaning of the passage as the original author would have intended, and as the original audience would have understood it. A verse out of context can often be taken to mean something completely different from the original intention. These questions will help focus us on the importance of looking at the context of a verse in its chapter, book and Missio Dei (the mission of God).

Missio DeiMissio Dei literally means “Mission of God.” Beyond its literal meaning, however, is a concept that is a theological cornerstone in the formation of our understanding of the essence of the story of God and humanity. Missio Dei is the overarching narrative that affirms God’s intention to speak into existence a Creation, and the formation of a radical relationship with humanity. When that relationship was fractured, this mission was dedicated to the reconciliation of that creation.
Reconciliation is focused on the whole of creation; WHATEVER needs reconciling. Jesus came to seek and to save WHATEVER was lost - its more than just the individual person that needs reconciling. WHATEVER society was alienated, WHATEVER culture was broken must be reconciled. God's character demands nothing less. His desire is to bring all creation back under His care. God's mission is holy holistic, that is all encompassing. It is intended to impact every area of life on this planet - economic, political, environmental, social.