Reading from April 21
Joshua 22:21-23:16
OK - so to finish the story about the people who built a new altar inside the land. Apparently they weren't building it for another God, but as a testimony to future generations about the closeness of man and God at that time. They were at peace and wanted a reminder for their descendants to see that there was peace if it ever got bad again...at least that's how I see it.
Chapter 23 focuses on Joshua sort of retiring from his position as leader. The Bible says he's very old at this point and is about to "go the way of all the earth" - which I suppose means "die." Just as Moses did, Joshua closes his time with the Israelites with a reminder to keep the laws of Moses and to faithfully worship and obey God. He reminds them that every single promise God had made so far had been fulfilled because they remained faithful - although just barely from where I'm sitting. Joshua also reminds his people of the consequences for not following God:
15 But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. 16If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you."Again, Israel was God's chosen nation, but they weren't immune from the wrath dished out on other nations. I suppose he was more patient with Israel, but if they stepped out of line, judgment was a-comin.
Luke 20:27-47
An interesting look at the idea of resurrection: (Jesus speaking)
37But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'[a] 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."So, is it possible that Jesus' resurrection isn't exactly a resurrection of his physical form? Is that what he's alluding to here? Jesus resurrection, if taken as fact, is possibly one of the greatest mysteries of all time. I think Jesus knew how mind boggling it would be and tried to explain it in human terms, but I'm not getting it. I'm sure some theologian out there knows exactly what JCs talkin about here...
Psalm 89:14-37
This psalm beautifully describes the duality of God's perfect love and perfect justice. The opening line sums it up perfectly:
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;Then, towards the end, the psalmist does a great job explaining the internal battle of love and justice within God.
love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
30 "If his sons forsake my law
and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees
and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant
or alter what my lips have uttered.
This caught my attention for two reasons, and both are in verse 33. First, seeing the language about fulfilling covenants and promises is relevant because of what I just read in Joshua, and second is the idea that even while the stuff like the Midianites was happening, God still loved his people. "I will not take my love from him." I guess with God, a loving but stern spanking results in millions killed.
Proverbs 13:17-19
17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.
18 He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame,
but whoever heeds correction is honored.
19 A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
but fools detest turning from evil.
Verse 19 there seems to be the antithesis of the one we read a few days ago: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." So the opposite would be "A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul". I suppose God's longing to be with man was a hope that was derferred for a long time. But with Jesus' sacrifice, it was fulfilled and sweet to the soul of God.
Boom.
My understanding of the Luke parable:
ReplyDeleteJesus is talking to the Sadducees, a sect (more like a political group) of Judaism at that time that "did not believe in resurrection." The majority of 1st century Judiasm believed in that the world was waiting, just as we are, for the "end of days" in which the world would be redeemed and set right as it was supposed to be before it became a broken Creation (the infamous apple picking). At this time, the dead would be resurrected and given new, perfected bodies.
The Sadduccees did not believe this hogwash. The Sadduccees also happened to be super-duper Torah literalists and very proud and Law-oriented, which is why they are sorta lumped together with Pharisees in the collective mind and in Jesus' criticism.
Meaning, in this passage, the Sadduccees were trying to trip up Jesus' teaching of resurrection (including some not so subtle declarations like "I am the Resurrection") by hitting him on technical details to make Jesus look stupid. Imagine a lawyer trying to get his client off the hook by citing some obscure provision that has nothing to do with the case.
Another way to look at it (and to get to your question, I promise!), Jesus' response to their question about who are you married to in the next life is basically "you're totally missing the point, aren't you?" It's like if you proposed someone to marry you, and the person responds, "Depends. How many times are you going to cook a week? And will we get a blue couch?"
So I bring AAAALL of this up to answer your question because it frames why Jesus answers the way he does. He basically says," the next age is something so amazing you can't even imagine, and God is very powerful and can handle resurrection."
And yes, I believe when it says resurrection, it means literal -- a body that was once dead is now physically alive. So many other passages in the Bible suggest that Jesus is saying he will be dead and he will literally, physically come back to life (although it also says the resurrected body is quite nothing like our own because it cannot die and it cannot decay). Jesus brings up the Moses quote, I think, to show that God fulfills his promises to resurrect all -- even the Israel patriarchs.
Here's a good summary from another blog http://realmealministries.org/WordPress/?p=1661:
"Jesus transforms the conversation away from the question of marriage and focuses on the paradigm shift that occurs between this age and the coming age of God’s kingdom. Some have taken Jesus’ answer as proof that marriage relationships are not part of the afterlife. This however is not the intended teaching of the passage. Rather Jesus focuses on the profound contrast between an existence focused solely on one’s current life and one that is shaped by the future life of the resurrection."