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An Ephesian interlude (4): a reflection for Day 12 of Lent

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  “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also… They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor [1] , saying that there is another king named Jesus .” (Acts 17.6-7)      Rome: the best the world had to offer. Nero (reign: AD 54—68) inherited the empire which had been forged by Julius Caesar and his heir, Nero’s great-great-grandfather, Augustus.   Beginning a century before Nero’s accession to the imperial throne, Caesar and Augustus had “pacified” the world – each victory of Rome’s legions was heralded as “good news” (a gospel) – and thus established (so the imperial propagandists said) an empire of peace and justice.   All the peoples of the world had to do was submit, worship the emperor…and, of course, pay their taxes for the privilege of living in the world of Rome.   Rome basically steamrolled its way around the Mediterranean, slaughtering all those who opposed it, bribing local elites to ensure...
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An Ephesian interlude (3): a reflection for Day 11 of Lent

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  “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also… They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor [1] , saying that there is another king named Jesus .” (Acts 17.6-7) “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones     and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things     and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1.52-53)      The story Luke is telling is of a God who up-ends the world-order…by sending his Son Jesus…to be conceived “prematurely” in the womb of a Galilean girl, to establish his kingdom among his people…by being murdered by them and then by the risen (!) Messiah’s messengers fanning out from Jerusalem to wreak “holy havoc” on the Roman Empire…through the proclamation that this Son of (the real) God is the true Lord of the nations.   Make no mistake, Luke’s two-volume oeuvre is a work of subversion.   Jesus and the kingdom of God a...
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An Ephesian interlude (2): a reflection for Day 10 of Lent

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“Paul entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” (Acts 19.8-9)      The historian of the first century has to deal with a peculiar problem – how did the movement loyal to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah of Israel survive the death of its leader?   Many Jewish messianic movements came and went both before and after the time of Jesus, and they all – without exception! – came to the same tragic end (cf. Ac. 5.36-37 for a few examples of movements who preceded Jesus’).   As Luke knew well, a crucified “Messiah” was a failed Messiah, a false Messiah (cf. Lk. 24.19-21).   So, the (honest) historian has to face the question – why did this movement survive (and thrive!) when all the others ended up i...
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An Ephesian interlude (1): a reflection for Day 9 of Lent

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  “Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to Jerusalem . He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.” (Acts 19.21)       In many ways, the book of The Acts of the Apostles mirrors Luke’s Gospel.   In “the first book” (cf. Ac. 1.1), Luke has Jesus “set his face” to go to Jerusalem (Lk. 9.51) and then embark on an 11-chapter-long journey to the Jewish capital.   In the sequel to his Gospel, Luke portrays Paul as “resolving in the Spirit” to go to Jerusalem, where he will – like Jesus – cause a disturbance in the Temple, be put on trial for blasphemy and be handed over to the Roman authorities before undergoing a 2-year imprisonment, interspersed by multiple hearings before different Roman governors as well as a Herodian tetrarch (Ac. chapters 21-26; cf. 9.15-16; Lk. 23.1-12).   Unlike Jesus, Paul will not be executed in Jerusalem, but will fina...
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Politics at the dinner table: a reflection for Day 8 of Lent

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  “…the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world...” (Luke 11.49-50)      Jesus and the disciples continue to journey towards Jerusalem.   The number of people thronging around Jesus is increasing (Lk. 11.14, 29; 12.1), and so is the tension between Jesus and the obstinate members of “his generation”.   As often happens in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus gets invited to a dinner-party to participate in a type of Pharisaic “symposium”, a learned discussion over a meal (11.37; cf. 7.36; 14.1).   The conversation quickly becomes a heated debate about law-observance.   Jesus proves once again that he has an extremely low tolerance for splitting hairs over the fine points of jurisprudence…and for hypocrisy (cf. Lk. 12.1-3).   Jesus goes so far as to utter three “woes” – i...
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Seeing is (not necessarily) believing: a reflection for Day 7 of Lent

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  “…some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.” (Luke 11.15-16)      Jesus and the disciples continue to journey towards Jerusalem.   The number of people thronging around Jesus is increasing (Lk. 11.14, 29; 12.1), and so is the tension between Jesus and the obstinate members of “his generation” (cf. Lk. 11.29-32, 45-52).   Once again, people “test” Jesus (11.16; cf. 10.25).   This is the Greek verb peirazo , which means “to test, to put on trial”.   This is the same verb from Lk. 4.2, where the Devil “tempted” Jesus for 40 days.   The nominal form – peirasmos – is found at the end of the Lord’s Prayer (“do not lead us into ‘temptation’”; Lk. 11.4; cf. 4.13).   These words denote not only the “temptation” to do wrong, but also the “testing” of one’s character and convictions, whether genuinely or cynically.   Indeed, t...
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Surprising prophets: a reflection for Day 6 of Lent

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“Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11.29) “If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11.13)        Jesus and the disciples continue to journey towards Jerusalem.   As chapter 11 of his Gospel opens, Luke, as he often does, shows Jesus at prayer (11.1; cf. 6.12; 9.28).   The disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, and Jesus proceeds to give them the “Lord’s Prayer” (11.2-4; cf. Mt. 6.9-13).   Jesus then continues, exhorting the disciples to be persistent as they pray – ask, seek, knock – in order to receive…the Holy Spirit (11.5-13)!   It is striking that Jesus speaks of the Spirit as being the “objective” of the disciples’ prayer-life .   However, in the context of Luke-Acts, it makes perfect sense.   Taken as a whole,...
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