Confrontation in Nazareth (12)

“And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’” (Luke 4:22).

 

Some thoughtful folks see genuine wonder and praise in Luke 4:22, other thoughtful people see “who does He think He is, we know Him and His family?”  As we saw in our previous reflection, the congregation, His hometown church, soon tried to murder Jesus.

 

In John 8:30 – 59 there is a similar pattern. We go from “many believing in Him” (Jn. 8:30) to these same people “picking up stones to throw at Him” (8:59).

 

How does Jesus respond to “many believing in Him”?

 

“If you continue in My word then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:31 – 32).

 

Just as in Nazareth, Jesus could have left well enough alone. In Nazareth Jesus could have found a different passage to read in Isaiah, but He didn’t. In Nazareth He could have not introduced the stories of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, but He did. In Nazareth He could have eased into the idea that He was the Messiah, He could have given His hometown folks time to get used to the idea, time to adjust, time to consider, time to ponder, but He didn’t.

 

In John 8, in Jerusalem, He could have eased the people who were “believing in Him” into the idea that there was a freedom they were not yet experiencing.  He need not have brought up slavery to sin (Jn. 8:34 – 36). Why does He say that “You seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you”? (Jn. 8:37). After all, outwardly they were believing in Him, why not leave things alone, why penetrate their hearts? Why not give these people time?

 

Why keep insisting that they can’t hear His word (Jn. 8:43)?

 

And why, O why, tell the people, “You are of your father the devil”? (Jn. 8:44).

 

This makes no sense, doesn’t Jesus want to build a nice large church? Doesn’t He want to get His message across? Why does He alienate people?

 

The people go from believing in Him (verse 30) to accusing Him of having a demon (verse 48) to attempting to kill Him (verse 59). Things move quickly toward attempted murder in John 8 just as they do in Luke 4. Why, in both instances, does Jesus say things that will incite the people to reject Him and attempt to kill Him? Why can’t He be a seeker-sensitive Messiah? Why won’t God Incarnate cater to our needs and wants and desires and agendas? Why won’t Jesus play church?

 

“For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind” (Jn. 9:39). The simplicity of the story of Jesus and the blind man ought to instruct us. Just as Jesus was put out of the synagogue in Luke 4, so the blind man who was healed by Jesus was cast out of the synagogue in John 9. Even the blind man’s parents disowned him “because they were afraid of the Jews [the religious leaders]” (Jn. 9:22).

 

Jesus strips away our pretentions, our religious facades, our Sunday-morning personas, and He gets to the heart of the matter – we are blind; our heritage – whether religious or national or ethnic or family – does not make us God’s chosen people – we have no possibility of righteousness outside of Jesus Christ and He will make certain that we know this. We will either know this and accept this, or we will refuse to acknowledge Him and attempt to murder Him.

 

I imagine the attempted murder of Jesus Christ occurs every Sunday morning in “Christian” gatherings across the globe. The idea that He may be working in the widows of Zarephath or in the Naamans of Syria is too much for us, the thought that Jesus may want to burst our wineskins and replace them with Himself as our Temple, and that He wants to bring those who are not like us into our lives, is too much for us. We will kill those ideas, we will bury those teachings, we will replace any pastors who dare suggest such things.

 

We must seal ourselves off from the Samaritans in our communities and nation and world. We must isolate ourselves in order to protect our way of life, our “lifestyles,” our religious self-righteousness. Just as the people of Jerusalem, we say to Jesus, “We are the children of America and have never been slaves to anyone!” Unless of course, we are African – American.

 

We say to Jesus, “We are Pentecostal, we are Reformed, we are Lutheran, we are Roman Catholic, we are Anglican, we are Arminian, we are nondenominational, we are Conservative, we are Liberal.” Well, you get the idea. Don’t mess with our security, with our identity, with our righteousness.  Do not question our way of doing church, of church growth, of the End Times; and most certainly don’t take issue with our view of what it means to be prolife (as Pope Leo has done).

 

We see much the same scenario in John 6 as we do in Luke 4 and John 8. Jesus goes from a crowd to a few.

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (Jn. 6:26).

 

“Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, ‘I am the bread that came down out of heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, I have come down out of heaven?’” (John6:41 – 42). What does this passage remind you of?

 

When Jesus says, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father,” many of His disciples leave Him “and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:65 – 66).

 

Now here is the thing dear reader, and here you can know where you really are in your relationship with Jesus Christ. It all comes down to your answer to Jesus to this question of His.

 

“So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’” (John 6:67).

 

What is my response to Jesus?

 

What is yours?

 

 

Joseph - Reflections (7) Postscript

 

Joseph – Reflections (7) Postscript

 

Perhaps I should clarify two things from my main posting this morning, the first has to do with seminary and the second with vocational ministry. I may expand upon them at some time, but let me make some brief comments right now.

 

Regarding vocational ministry, especially pastoring, this is a tough place to be right now for men and women who love Jesus and the flock of the Good Shepherd. It is tough because there is such confusion within movements and denominations, such pressure to conform, and such pressure to produce. “Christians” compare churches with one another, and we are such consumers that we’ll just go elsewhere if our needs are not met, we don’t actually care all that much about denying ourselves and taking up the Cross and following Jesus. Pastors are bombarded with “how to” material that will make their lives better, attract more people, retain more people, increase offerings, etc.

 

Pastors used to be charged with the care of souls – not too many congregations care all that much about this anymore. As I’ve said elsewhere, whatever the remedy might be, it always must begin with me, with you, with us, with our local congregation…if it isn’t beginning with us we don’t have hope.

 

This tyranny to produce can be especially difficult for pastors, for they and their families may be literally out in the cold if they displease a congregation, a board of elders, or a power family within a church. This is a scandal that we don’t talk about, but it is ugly. It is even worse for youth pastors. A few years ago the average tenure for a youth pastor was six months – hard to believe, but true. Not long ago the average tenure for a pastor within a large denomination was less than three years. How would you like to have a job with those numbers? How would you like it if you had a family?

 

We have built our own prisons and I don’t see how we can escape, we can’t do it without the Living Jesus Christ in our midst.

 

Regarding seminary, in my main post I wrote that, looking back, I wish we had talked about the tension between natural wisdom and spiritual wisdom, the wisdom of man and his ways and the Wisdom of God. I’ve written before that early on in my pastoral ministry that I realized that I had been so well trained in preaching that I didn’t need the Holy Spirit – this frightened me. This is the kind of thing that I wish we’d discussed.

 

I could have raised the question in class, but I didn’t. So in one respect this one is certainly on me, I could have brought the dilemma up for discussion. I don’t think I had one professor who would have taken offense at my concern, I think they all would have invited discussion. On the other hand, I do think that this is such a core issue that it needs to be part of a seminary curriculum – the scribes and Pharisees knew the Scriptures, but they couldn’t see Christ (John 5:39). We are foolish boys and girls if we think this is not a danger to us…to all of us.

 

I’m still not certain just what seminary is supposed to be. Is it to be an academic experience or a spiritual experience in Christ? Are the faculty and administration to focus on loving Christ or loving knowledge? Either way, do we recognize that “knowledge puffs up but love edifies”? I have seen instances in seminary where it appeared that Christ Jesus came first, and then I’ve seen times when academia and the institution came first. When we try to measure up to the world’s academic standards there are inherent challenges, I’m not sure we help ourselves by ignoring them. Again, I don’t have answers to the tension other than perhaps if we acknowledge it, talk about it, pray about it, admit it…then maybe in Christ we’d be better off.

 

Vickie and I loved our time at seminary, so don’t misunderstand me. Yes, I’ve had to unlearn some things and some habits that were meant to be helpful, but isn’t this the same wherever and however we travel through life? You can only cover so much in three years of study, and all seminaries have their limitations – some more than others, some not as obviously as others.

 

Every generation has its challenges, including ours.

Joseph - Reflections (7)

 

 

“The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house and ruler over all his possessions, to imprison his princes at will, that he might teach his elders wisdom” (Psalm 105:20 – 22).

 

“That he might teach his elders wisdom.” Here is a man who was sold as a slave into Egypt, who then had a position of high responsibility in Potiphar’s house, who then was cast into prison, who was then given responsibility in the prison system; who, after many years, interpreted Pharoah’s dreams, who has now been exalted to the right hand of Pharoah, and who is now charged with teaching wisdom to the elders of Egypt.

 

It isn’t as if the Egyptians were ignorant, without deep understanding of many things, were not able engineers, were not efficient administrators, did not have an effective military – the Egyptians were hardly stupid. Yet, it was Pharoah’s purpose that Joseph teach wisdom to the elders of Egypt.

 

What would you think of Jospeh teaching you wisdom had you been an elder of Egypt? If you had risen through the ranks of Egyptian society and government, if your family could trace its Egyptian lineage back generations? What would you think had you been embedded within Egypt’s religious system at the notion that a Hebrew, worshipping a God that not only could not be seen, but worshipping a God who could not even be represented by images, was going to teach the elders of your people wisdom?

 

What would we think of the idea that a man who had been both a slave and a prisoner was going to teach us wisdom?

 

Perhaps Pharoah saw something in Joseph that he knew his elders needed. Pharoah could look around and see able administrators, engineers, artisans, priests, generals, agriculturalists, and educators, but he could not see what Joseph the slave and prisoner had – a depth of wisdom whose roots lay above and beyond Egypt.

 

“Now in the morning his [Pharoah’s] spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh” (Genesis 41:8).

 

My sense is that Pharoah saw something in Joseph that went beyond being able to interpret dreams, and that it went beyond seeing someone who could provide wise counsel to Pharoah; Pharoah saw someone he could trust, we might say that he saw “an Israelite in whom is no guile.” Perhaps there was a sense in which Pharoah “saw” much as the centurion of Matthew 8:5 – 13 “saw.” The centurion saw something “other” in Jesus, Pharoah saw something “other” in Joseph.

 

How is it that Joseph’s brothers saw a threat to themselves, saw a reason for jealousy and a pretext for murder, while Potiphar, the chief jailer, and Pharoah all saw something “other” and unusual in Joseph, so much so that they trusted him? Joseph was not only an ethnic foreigner, Joseph was in many respects a foreigner to this world, he was “a child of another world.”

 

The reaction of Joseph’s brothers to Joseph’s dreams was much like the reaction of the people in Jesus’ hometown synagogue (Luke 4:14 – 30), they wanted to kill him. A prophet is not without honor except among his own people.

 

I really don’t think that the Son of Man will ever find a place to lay His Head in this present age, why can’t we see this? Why do we keep seeking a home in this age?

 

It seems to me that we know little about wisdom, such is the tyranny of the pragmatic and the monetary. We evaluate life based on money, return on investment, on whether something will “work” or not. We do not value Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, nor do we honor the woman with the box of precious ointment who breaks the vessel and pours it (wastes it!) all on Jesus. “Sell it!” we cry. “Sell it! Do something practical with it!”

 

In 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 31 we see that we are not to use “cleverness of speech” in our preaching lest we should make the Cross of Christ void. We also read that the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, and that God has said, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.”

 

Paul writes, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:20 – 21).

 

As I read this passage, I wonder where I have placed my trust, I wonder how I have preached and taught. Have I relied on cleverness of speech? Have I trusted in “persuasive words of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:4)? Have I relied on methods, on the pragmatic, of the world’s communication practices?

 

“Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:22 – 24).

 

Perhaps we could say that the Pentecostals and charismatics are seeking signs, and that other traditions are seeking wisdom? Are we all seeking something other than Christ Jesus? Can we not see that Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God – that all of life is to be found in Him and in Him alone?

 

“Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30).

 

Joseph had a wisdom, the nature of which was not that of the Egyptians, it was the Wisdom of another Age, another World, another Person.

 

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory” (1 Cor. 2:6 – 7).

 

Therefore we read in Colossians 2:3 that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Indeed, Christ is the Wisdom of which we read in Proverbs Chapter 8, God’s Wisdom from eternity past into eternity present and flowing into eternity future.

 

Joseph’s wisdom was a wisdom formed through suffering, abandonment, betrayal, and trial; this is the wisdom of Christ, the wisdom of the cruciform life – a wisdom that makes no sense to the world or its powers. In Revelation, which among other things is a revelation of wisdom, it is those who lay down their lives, who do not love their lives, who are victorious. It is those who say “no” to the short-term rulers of this age, and who say “yes” to the Lamb who has been slain, who will overcome and prevail. It is the lambs who are led to the slaughter who are super overcomers (Romans 8:31 – 39) and who know the depths of the love of God.

 

The Wisdom from eternity lived in Joseph, Pharoah recognized this; to some degree Potiphar recognized this – which is one reason (I think) that he didn’t have Joseph executed, but rather put in prison, Potiphar knew Joseph was innocent.

 

I do wish that in seminary we had discussed the tension between the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God. I wish that we had pondered the “cleverness of speech” in 1 Corinthians 1:17 and the “persuasive words of wisdom” in 1 Corinthians 2:4 in their context. We may not have reached any conclusions, but perhaps it would have stated a conversation that needs to continue until we leave this life.

 

Most, if not all, of what I see in the world of vocational ministry and in church growth, much of what I see in Biblical interpretation, relies on methods that anyone can employ; that is, we do not need the Holy Spirit, we do not need revelation, we do not need supernatural wisdom. I’m not saying that God cannot use these things, I’m not saying that God doesn’t use these things; I am questioning whether we are truly relying on Him and whether we know that in Christ Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

 

I wonder if we have not become sociologists and therapists and communications specialists and marketing experts and entertainers and textual critics…and whether we are no longer apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor – teachers. I am reminded of Matthew 7:28 – 29:

 

“When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

 

As Peter writes, “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God” (1 Peter 4:11).

 

There was something different, of a higher and deeper nature, in the wisdom of Joseph that Pharoah recognized. Does the world see wisdom of the Divine Nature in us?

 

Are we discovering all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Jesus Christ?

 

If so, are we sharing them with one another?