We continue our trip to the Good Way by going back to that time centuries ago to Pentecost.. after the crucifixion, the apostles and many of the followers as possible in a upper room hiding from local authorities. We’re not going to go into a lot of detail, but on that day of Pentecost, the spirit came upon them and a whole new ministry was opened before them. After Pentecost, the apostles dispersed throughout the ancient world, traveling from Jerusalem to Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and as far as India, Ethiopia, and Spain. They traveled mainly in pairs, preaching, in Jewish synagogues and to the Gentiles, to spread the gospel, the of The New Way. We’ll just look at a few of them for a quick idea of the area that they actually covered. Andrew travel to Scythia and Greece. John spent time in Ephesus and was exiled to the island of Patmos. Thomas went on to preach in Persia and India, and Matthew spread the gospel in Ethiopia. Bartholomew, he reached Armenia and India. James the greater preached in Spain and was murdered in Jerusalem. Many of these apostles traveled from Judea and Samaria towards the “ends of the Earth,” establishing churches along the Mediterranean coast, and in areas, like Babylon and Asia Minor.

We’re gonna open this road trip so to speak with the apostle Paul. Paul was already a rising star and likely active in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus’s crucifixion, which would’ve occurred in a AD 30 to 33 somewhere in that area. He was an active persecutor of the early church with a few years of the crucifixion witnessing the Martin of Stephen, which is in act 7:58 before his conversion which is typically dated between AD 33–36. Paul trained under Gamaliel in Jerusalem and he was already a zealous Pharisee aligned with the Shammaite school before and during the early Christian movement. (The School of Shammai was founded by Rabbi Shammai, who lived around the time of Herod’s reign and was known for his strict adherence to Jewish laws.)

Paul’s active role in persecuting Christians likely begin immediately following the crucifixion and continued his conversion on the road to Damascus. The best timelines that are available that agree with each other about the conversion probably happened roughly 2–7 years after the crucifixion. Even though there may be a little bit of repetition here, we should make note of the fact that Paul was likely around 30 years old during this time with some estimates putting his conversion at again AD 33–36. The new church young and struggling had many enemies in this time. We are picking up with Paul in the book of Acts simply because he wrote at least 13 of the books of the New Testament. The very first mention of Paul in the New Testament occurs in acts 7:58. He’s introduced as a young man named Saul. This was the Saul present at the execution of Steven. He approved of it, Stephen being the first Christian martyr and Paul held the garments of those doing the stoning. Paul is described as a zealous Pharisee and a prosecutor of the early church going as far as traveling to Damascus to arrest the Christians there. That could is found in Acts 8:3, 9:1–2. It is in the book of Acts 9 that we read of a dramatic encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, turning him from the persecutor to an apostle. We can also read in Acts 13:9 that the switch to the Roman named Paul occurs during his ministry to Gentiles on Cyprus. So Saul was his Hebrew name that he used exclusively until act 13:9. He was referred to by Ananias in Acts 9:17 as brother Saul. Paul actually was known at times by both names. He was a Roman citizen who was known as Saul which was Hebrew and Paul, which was Latin Roman, and he used them based on his audience.

The development of the early church was an extremely uncertain time for these new Christians. They would encounter many many difficulties along the road to the Good Way.

Thank you for joining us the week in “The Pew”….Our goal is to bring to you the gospel in a manner that teaches not preaches. God Bless…

Life is Good 

jk

He has Risen…  indeed, now we settle down into the routine of obeying the Great Commission and going forth and telling everyone that He is alive and salvation could be theirs through acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, let’s take just a short time to go back to that courtyard a few centuries ago. Pilate had done everything he could to rid himself of this problem. We all know how the situation ended. Jesus was turned over to the soldiers to be beaten and then crucified and a thief, Barabbas was turned loose because the crowd demanded it to be that way. It is here in this moment that one of those little gems that I’m always talking about in the scriptures raises its head. The crowd became a mob incited by the the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin. That gem…that mob mentality is still with us today. When we break this situation down, we find that the Sanhedrin, which is a Greek word that means assembly or council with the aid of the Pharisees actively transformed the crowd into a mob, that would accept nothing less that the death of Jesus on the cross.

We’ll not spend a lot of time going into a great deal of details about the Sanhedrin other than expressing, they were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put. In the New Testament readings, the Sanhedrin began with an informal examination of Jesus before Annas, the acting high priest. The account of that situation can be found in John chapters 18 and 19. There was a formal session before the entire Sanhedrin, Matthew chapter 26. There the decision was made to turn Jesus over to the Roman authorities to be tried and crucified. Now we do not wish to confuse you, but the other group was an influential religious one  within Judaism in the time of Christ and the early church. That group was known as the Pharisees, the word coming from a Hebrew word meaning separated. They boast of their acceptance of oral tradition in addition to the written law and they had a teaching that all Jews should observe the 600+ laws in the Torah, including the rituals concerning ceremonial purification. What’s interesting about the Pharisees is that they were mostly middle-class businessman and leaders of the synagogues. They were a minority in the Sanhedrin but held a majority number of positions and they were able to control the decision-making of the Sanhedrin because they had popular support of the people. We make note of this, the Pharisees, because Paul was a member and it was Paul who wrote 13 of the books that we know of in the New Testament. I am going to take time here to list a few of the things, the doctrines that the Pharisees taught and lived by.

-They believe that God controls all things

-There will be a resurrection of the dead

-There is an afterlife which will have an appropriate reward and punishment on an individual basis

-They also believed in the spiritual realm, including the existence of angels and demons

We know that Paul spent quite a bit of time persecuting Jews, and even bringing them back to Rome for trial. But of course, not every Pharisee was opposed to Jesus. Nicodemus was a Pharisees, who rightly considered Jesus a “teacher who has come from God.” There was a time when Nicodemus later defended Jesus before the Sanhedrin, one of the things that is noted about Nicodemus is that he was at the cross and helped bury the Lord’s body. Some of the early Christians were Pharisees as well. As we travel down the good way, we will encounter Paul on many different occasions for many different reasons. The apostle Paul was trained as a Pharisee and his credentials in that group were Stirling. Paul regarded himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law, he had a zeal for persecuting those in the church who strayed so to speak as for righteousness based on the law. Paul will come to a point when   in time when he is confronted by Christ for his actions against the Jews and people of faith and his encounter with Jesus Christ  shows us, that no person not even the strictest Pharisees is justified by just keeping the law we can find that in Galatians 3:11.

Let’s go back to that crowd that became a mob centuries ago in that courtyard. We do not know because we weren’t there exactly what went on in Pilates mind but it is written that he had moments of doubt about doing this thing. He really wanted nothing to do with crucifixion or Jesus, he probably really just intended to give him a good lashing and turn him  loose, but the crowd wouldn’t have it. The picture that comes into my mind is that scattered among the crowd in different places where groups of Sadducees and Pharisees, whose main objective for being there was to make certain that Jesus died on the cross. At their urgings a crowd of curious, boisterous folks from all walks of life in the city at that time became a mob. A mob is a large, disorderly, righteous crowd who possess intense emotions, are susceptible to suggestions, and do have a potential for violence, so if it becomes more than just a mere gathering. It is the”Pews”opinion that is what drives a lot of of our problems in today’s society. There seems to be no tolerance anymore for civil discourse, or trying to understand another person’s opinion. We have become a mob driven by those with certain agendas, political ambitions, and what can only be described really as a general disrespect for others around us. I do not believe that it would be inaccurate, perhaps a bit dramatic, but not inaccurate that Jesus was a victim of a political agenda, and overly zealous, religious customs, and agendas. I believe today that those very things are very much present with us in the current state of our society.

Life is Good

jk

Like many of us that write a blog every year at this time it’s a struggle maybe to find something new to write about, but that’s really the story. You just can’t find something greater than Easter Sunday. This is the first year and I will not bore you with the number of years involved, but this is the first year that the wife and I have not been able to attend the Maundy Thursday or if you prefer Holy Thursday. It is the Christian way of commemorating the last supper in the washing of the disciples feet and the institution of the Eucharist. When I sat down and started to work on this this afternoon on Good Friday, I didn’t really know what I was going to write. I know it appears that this particular time that the wife and I won’t be able to physically attend Good Friday services. Going back to last night it was approximately 1993 years ago at least that’s what the scholars are dating it to Thursday evening that Jesus celebrated the final meal with his apostles before his crucifixion. Now they’re a lot of different thoughts about the exact date. We don’t really know most people think, by people I mean scholars, biblical scholars, believe it was 1993 to 1996 years. That would’ve placed it in about a AD 30 or AD 33. Luke 22:7–38 is widely considered the most detailed account of the Last Supper. It focuses heavily on the institution of what most of us today referred to as communion and something that is overlooked when we speak about this time of the year, the inauguration of a new covenant. Now I’ve written several blogs about covenants, but this strangely enough is the first time that I’ve ever thought about the covenant within this Easter story. I have a lot more details, but that’s exactly what they are details. The sign to remember here is that the last supper is a foundational presenting the final Passover meal which Jesus connected to his impending sacrificed of the Passover lamb, bringing old traditions to fulfill it.

Jesus Christ was known by a number of names and titles in the Bible and Christian tradition highlights different aspects of his role in divinity and humanity. What we have come to think of Jesus reflects his mission as Savior,Teacher, and Divine figure. Some of those were interesting biblical titles that we are all familiar with. Christ, Messiah, meaning the anointed one, Christ is the Greek translation while Messiah is a Hebrew translation. He was referred to at times as Lord originally a title of respect it became an assertion of divine status overtime. Son of God says all that needs to be said and emphasizes a unique relationship with the Father and his Divinity. The Son of Man is sometimes referred to as Jesus’s favorite designation, it highlights both his humanity and his role as a divine figure. Then there’s a word we don’t really use too much logos. When we turned to the descriptive roles and metaphors that were used for Jesus, we read about the savior redeemer, the one who rescues humanity from sin. The good Shepherd, focuses on his care, protection and guidance of his followers. Lamb of God, symbolizes his role as a sacrificial offering to remove sin. And of course, thread of life he is the source of spiritual substance. And it goes on. We’ve also referred to Jesus as the light of the world. He provides spiritual illumination in the darkness. He is known as the way the truth and the life, Jesus defines himself as the only path to God, and of course, the true vine, he is a source of spiritual life and growth. There are many more additional titles, Rabbi,Teacher, Lion of the tribe of Judah, root of David. The first born, last Adam second Adam, theological titles, focusing on his role in the new creation. He had authority over death, the resurrection and the life. And he was the Mediator or the one who reconciles God and humanity.

Well, I’m back at the keyboard again after taking time away in order to watch the Good Friday services from our church. Here again I along with my wife find ourselves in a new situation. This is one of the first years in a long, long time that we haven’t been at the Good Friday services. The service traditionally includes scriptures and hymns that tell the story of those final hours leading up to the crucifixion itself. Like I wrote earlier there’s not really a whole lot more you can write about this event in our Christian history. I wrote a blog some years ago about the people closest to the cross when Jesus died so I thought I might share that with you this year. There was his mother Mary, her sister Mary of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the disciple who Jesus loved which scripture identifies as John. Jesus had a lot of followers and sometimes we don’t really realize that, but I have often used the term that when he was traveling in his ministry, there was a time it would probably have looked like a a caravan. So we know that those I have listed were there, but there were also so many other women who followed him from Galilee and watched from a distance along with Roman soldiers and there was always as usual, a crowd of taunting bystanders. So wrap it up one more time Mary the mother of Jesus, remained close to the cross until the very end. The apostle John was the only male disciple recorded to be present at the scene. It was Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower present in all gospel accounts. And John 19:25 is where Marry the wife of Clopas is identified. There are also records of Mary, the mother of James and Joses, Salome, and Joanna. There were the Roman soldiers who were in charge of the crucifixion, including a centurion who later recognized Jesus’s divine status and the two thieves, each crucified on either side of Christ. There was a crowd of Chief Priests, Scribes, Elders, and onlookers, passing by the crucifixion site.

I’ve tried my best to be as accurate as possible, going out and getting as much information as I possibly good from as many reliable sources as I possibly could. That being said there is one thing about the crucifixion that I find not unsettling, but rather what we don’t always talk about. You know how people are always saying they want to have closure…well with the crucifixion, there is no finality. Because three days later, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and and so began our journey to salvation. They, the disciples had shared their Last Supper with Christ, and yet they had not been able to grasp fully what he was trying to tell them. That covenant of the bread and the wine, for 1999 years the people and followers of Christ have kept that promise and that covenant. You may read all the commentaries and blogs that you wish but if you want the story straight, then do this…go to scripture…read God’s word, read the Bible.

Life is Good

jk