7. Things Are Not What They Seem

Lesson #7 Things Are Not What They Seem

(6: 17 – 7: 50)

1 Things Are Not What They Seem

In a very nice literary move, Lesson #6 opened with Luke moving Jesus’ rejec>on at Nazareth to the beginning of his public ministry, rather than toward the end, as MaDhew and Mark have it, foreshadowing Jesus’ condemna>on and death at the hands of the Jewish and Roman authori>es in Jerusalem.

Lesson #6 then introduced seven vigneDes of Jesus teaching and healing, illustra>ng his increasing popularity with the crowds, followed by three ques>ons regarding fas>ng and working on the Sabbath, ques>ons that planted seeds of discontent that will grow into fierce opposi>on as our story con>nues.

Lesson #6 closed with Jesus assembling his twelve Apostles.


As we enter Lesson #7 we must ask ourselves: “What did people expect of Jesus?” Unlike Jesus’ portrayal as a fiery revolu>onary in the Gospel according to Mark, Luke portrays him as a profound moral and ethical teacher who says, rather meekly: “Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me” (7: 23). To this point in Luke, Jesus is far from the confronta>onal firebrand we meet in the Gospel according to Mark.

Lesson #7 alternates Jesus’ teaching with miraculous healings, including raising the widow of Nain’s son from the dead. Like the first seismic rumblings deep beneath the earth, barely no>ceable, we are moving toward something big, something that will shake the very founda>ons of the earth.


Lesson #7 presents a carefully structured, 5-‐part sequence:

1.   that opens with Jesus’ teaching the “Sermon on the Plain”;

2.   con>nues with Jesus healing the centurion’s servant;

3.   escalates to Jesus raising the widow of Nain’s dead son;

4.   clarifies Jesus’ iden>ty and purpose through a visit from John the Bap>st’s followers; and

5.   concludes with a dinner party at the home of Simon the Pharisee.


A_er Jesus appoints his Apostles on the Mount of Bea>tudes in our closing scene of Lesson #6, “he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground” (6: 17), the very same place he stood when he got into Peter’s boat to teach and where he called Peter to become a fisher of men, earlier in our story (5: 1-‐ 11).

Luke sets the stage for Jesus’ teaching in 6: 17-‐19.



“A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.”

(6: 17-19)

Not me.

Things Are Not What They Seem

Jesus is gathering huge crowds from a 100 mile area, Tyre and Sidon to the north (in Lebanon of today), Judea and Jerusalem

to the south. People are swarming in from everywhere!

7

And “power came forth from him.”

Oooo! I wish I had been there!

Then Jesus begins his “Sermon on the Plain.”

Drawing heavily upon MaDhew’s “Sermon on the Mount” (MaDhew 5-‐7) Luke recasts MaDhew’s material, elimina>ng references to the Mosaic law (e.g., “You have heard it said [in the law] . . . but I tell you . . .”) and highligh>ng Jesus’ more universal teachings (e.g., “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”), teachings more relevant to his gen>le audience.

By shi_ing the loca>on of Jesus’ teaching from the Mount of Bea>tudes at the top of the hill to the “plain” at the boDom, Luke clearly separates the two teachings, deflec>ng aDen>on from MaDhew’s “Jewish” version and emphasizing the universality of Jesus’ message in Luke’s version.


Things Are Not What They Seem 9

The “Sermon on the Plain” is a simply structured, 5-‐part teaching:

Introduc>on (20-‐26) 1. Love your enemies (27-‐36) 2. Stop judging others (37-‐42) 3. Proof of inten>on (43-‐45)

Conclusion(46-‐49)


As MaDhew began his “Sermon on the Mount” with nine clever and memorable “bea>tudes,” (5: 3-‐12), so Luke begins his “Sermon on the Plain” with four clever and memorable “bea>tudes” (20b – 22), balanced by four clever and memorable “woe to you” statements (24-‐26), the en>re unit pivo>ng on a proclama>on (23).


“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.

Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you . . . (20b-22)

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day. Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. (23)

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

But woe to you who are filled no, for you will be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.

Woe to you when all speak well of you . . .” (24-26)

Not me.


Nicely done, Luke!

12

It sure is!





The “Love your enemies” sec>on consists of five, 2-‐part balanced statements: 1.   “Love your enemies, do good to those

who hate you” (27); 2.   “Bless those who curse you, pray for those

who mistreat you” (28); 3.   “To the person who strikes you on one

cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic” (29);

4.   “Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back” (30);

5.   “Do to others as you would have them do to you . . . ” (31-‐36).

Listen to Luke 6: 21-‐36 in context:

A_er opening with Luke’s clever and memorable “bea>tudes” and “woes,” Luke’s “love your enemies” sec>on elevates Jesus’ teaching to an impossibly high moral and ethical plain, a standard that is not restricted to the covenant community of Israel—one under the Mosaic law—but one that applies universally.

Luke then shi_s the focus from the high standards of one’s own behavior to not judging others’ behavior.





Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Blind Leading the Blind (distemper on canvas), 1568. Museo di Capodimonte, Napels, Italy.



The Greek word translated “hypocrite” is uJpokrithvV (hoop-‐ok-‐ree-‐TACE).

It means “actor,” one who wears a mask, pretending to be someone he is not.

Jesus uses the word as a scathing insult.


Greek theater mask (terracoDa), 1st century BC. Louvre Museum, Paris.




In the end, what you believe and what you say must manifest itself in your ac>ons.

Chris>an theology is clear, as St. Paul says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the giX of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast” (Ephesians 2: 8-‐9).

Yet, St. James says: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2: 14)?

The old Reforma>on bug-‐a-‐boo of “faith” vs. “works” is a false dichotomy: a genuine saving faith will always manifest itself in a life of ac>ve love, or a life of good works. “Faith” and “works are like breathing in and breathing out: you can’t have one without the other.

Listen to Jesus:



“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil: for from the fullness of heart the mouth speaks.” (6: 43-45)





“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

(6: 46-49)

Jesus—the carpenter—knows what he’s talking about!


When Jesus finished his “Sermon on the Plain” he walked a short distance north along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, returning home to Capernaum.

On arriving, a delega>on from the synagogue met him:

Listen to Luke 7: 1-‐10.


Roman Centurion

A Roman Legion consisted of 6,000 men and was divided into ten Regiments, each having a name. Cornelius, the Centurion at Caesarea Mari>ma who summons St. Paul in Acts 10, is a member of the Italian Regiment. Each Regiment consisted of 600 men. A Centurion commanded a 100-‐man unit in a Regiment. All legionnaires were professional soldiers serving 25-‐year terms. Athough not exactly analogous, a centurion was similar in rank to a career mid-‐level officer, a Captain or Major, in today’s Army or Marine Corps.


Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

Capernaum’s 4th-‐century synagogue, built over the remains of the original 1st-‐century basalt structure.



Would a Roman centurion have had the means—or the desire—to have “built” the synagogue at Capernaum?

• Although Roman soldiers were generally disliked (or despised!) by the Jewish popula>on, there were notable excep>ons; for example, a_er speaking with Peter at Caesarea, the Roman centurion Cornelius and his family are bap>zed and become the first gen>le converts (Acts 10).

• Capernaum sits along the great Great Ri_ Valley, a divergent tectonic plate boundary, prone to frequent and severe earthquakes. Indeed, a massive earthquake on January 18, 749 (referred to in Jewish sources as “The Seventh Earthquake”) destroyed Capernaum, along with several other ci>es in Galilee and Judea, including Scythopolis [Hebrew = Beit She’an], one of the ten “decapolis” ci>es men>oned in Scripture.

• A centurion would probably not have had the financial means to “build” the synagogue at Capernaum, but he and his 100 men could certainly have provided labor for its construc>on or rebuilding.

We read in our next sec>on:

“Soon aXerward [Jesus] journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.”

(7: 11).



Capernaum !

Nain ! About 9 miles south of Nazareth.

Nazareth !

Nain [Nein], today a small Arab village in the Galilee.


Lucas Cranach the Elder. The Rise of the Young Man of Nain (altarpiece), 1569. Town and Parish Church of St. Mary’s, Lutherstadt WiDenberg, Germany.


So far, Jesus has:

1.   taught the “Sermon on the Plain”;

2.   healed the centurion’s servant; and

3.   raised the dead.

The three episodes escalate in significance and intensity, promp>ng John the Bap>st to send two of his disciples north to Galilee to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (7: 19).

Read the story in 7: 18-‐35.


Not me.


Why would John have such a ques>on

about Jesus?

35

That is strange!

John EvereD Mallais. Christ in the House of His Parents [“The Carpenter Shop”] (oil on canvas), 1849. Tate Britain, London.



The ques>on, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (7: 18-‐19) suggests that although John knows Jesus quite well—they are rela>ves, a_er all, and at Jesus’ bap>sm the voice of God iden>fied Jesus as God’s son, with whom he is well pleased; nonetheless, John seems to expect very different behavior from Jesus, more along the lines of the fiery prophet who will come “before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day” (Malachi 3: 19).

If we are correct about the Essene influence on John’s thinking, the “War Scroll,” found among the Dead Sea scrolls, may shed light on John’s expecta>ons.

War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness [“War Scroll”], 1QM, 4Q491-‐496. Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem.



• The “War Scroll” was among the first 7 scrolls found in Cave #1 by a young Bedouin boy in 1947. It consists of 19 columns, but is missing the boDom por>on of each, as well as the final page or pages of the composi>on.

• The Essenes had a decidedly apocalyp>c world view. The “War Scroll” tells of a great baDle between the “Sons of Light” and the “Sons of Darkness,” led by a great leader, a “son of David.”

• Although the war lasts 40 years, the scroll focuses on the final days, much like Homer’s Iliad.

• A_er 6 bloody engagements, in the 7th “the great hand of God shall overcome [Belial, the leader of the Sons of Darkness] and all the men of [his forces shall be destroyed forever]” (1QM 1: 14-‐15), ushering in a new and righteous Kingdom.

Not me.


Did John think Jesus would be the

leader of that baDle?

40

Makes sense to me.

Perhaps so.

But Jesus was doing something very different. Rather than appearing as the fiery prophet in Malachi 3: 19 who brings the “great and terrible” day of the Lord, Jesus brings the blessings of Isaiah 61—the very passage he read and preached upon at the synagogue in Nazareth: he brings “good news to the afflicted” . . . “liberty to the capcves” . . . “comfort to those who mourn.”


Moving to our final sec>on, Jesus has just been in Nain and he receives a dinner invita>on from Simon, a Pharisee.

He accepts.

And we have the story of Jesus pardoning the sinful woman who stands behind him weeping, bathing his feet with her tears and anoin>ng his feet with ointment from an alabaster jar.

Read Luke 7: 36-‐50.


Peter Paul Rubens. Feast at the Home of Simon the Pharisee (oil on canvas), c. 1620. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.


Not me.


Who is the sinful woman in this

story?

44

Not Mary Magdalene,

that’s for sure!

Jose de Ribera. Mary Magdalene (oil on canvas), c. 1641. Prado Museum, Madrid.



Mary Magdalene is NOT a pros>tute nor is she the sinful woman of Luke 7: 36-‐50. • As far back as the 4th century Mary Magdalene (or “Mary of Migdol,” a village a liDle south of Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee) was conflated with the sinful woman of Luke 7, as well as with Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus.

• Pope Gregory the Great in his Homily #33 con>nues—and enshrines—the error:

“Mary whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. What did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices.”

• For the next 1,900 years the Western church con>nued the erroneous confla>on, lis>ng Mary among the great repentant sinners and patroness of wayward women and pros>tutes.

Three different stories; three different towns; three different women!


Migdol !

Nain !

Bethany !

1.   How does Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” differ from MaDhew’s “Sermon on the Mount”?

2.   Why would the centurion feel that he was not worthy to enter under Jesus’ roof?

3.   Jesus raises the widow of Nain’s dead son. Does anyone else raise the dead in Scripture?

4.   Why would John the Bap>st ques>on whether Jesus was the one he expected?

5.   Why did Simon the Pharisee invite Jesus to dinner?


Copyright © 2015 by William C. Creasy

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7. Things Are Not What They Seem