“Read, Point, Do: life in the kingdom of justice”
May the words of our mouths and the meditations
of our hearts
be pleasing to you, Oh Lord, our rock and our
redeemer.
“Read, Point, Do: life in the kingdom
of justice”
(Lev. 19.9-18; Ps. 96; Lk. 3.1-20)
C.S. Lewis
begins his book Mere Christianity by noting that people who quarrel
“say things like this: ‘How’d you like it if anyone did the
same to you?’ – ‘That’s my seat, I was there first’… -- ‘Give me a bit of your
orange, I gave you a bit of mine’… Human beings, all over the earth, have this
curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get
rid of it… [However], they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break
it. These two facts are the foundation
of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in” (pp. 3, 7).
Lewis is
underscoring the reality of the innate human sense of right and wrong, of justice. We all know that life should be characterized
by justice, or at the very least, that our rights should be
respected. Justice is a tricky thing,
but it is not a negotiable part of the Christian life – it is absolutely
essential, and today’s Gospel makes this clear.
Testimony
by Jason…
In chapter 7
of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says:
“I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than
John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (And
all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors,
acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with
John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the
lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)” (7.28-30; cf. 18.9-14;
19.1-10).
God’s
purpose of integrating people into his kingdom had been carried out by John’s
campaign of baptism “for the forgiveness of sins”, was being carried out by
Jesus’ campaign of sharing table fellowship with “sinners” and story-telling
and healing and would be carried out by the community who would gather in the
name of Jesus and practice a lifestyle of radical solidarity.
Profile
of a Baptizer.
When we
think of John the Baptist, what kind of person comes to mind? Someone who was mad, sad and bad? (I.e. crazy, depressed and dangerous?) Perhaps we think of some fire-and-brimstone
preacher. I suggest to you this morning
that John the Baptist was a joyful person.
The first time that (the as yet unborn) John was in the presence of (the
as yet unborn) Jesus, he leaped for joy (Lk. 1.44). When (the as yet unnamed) John was born, the
whole neighbourhood rejoiced with Elizabeth (Lk. 1.57-8); as Gabriel had
predicted to Zechariah, “you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice
at [your son’s] birth” (1.14). If you’ve
ever travelled to the Middle East, you know that this is how it is…
A
strange childhood. John came into the world in the
context of joy. But it was a strange
world – imagine having parents that were the age of your friends’ grandparents,
of having your elderly father tell you stories about an angel who surprised him
at work one day and predicted your birth and said that you “would turn many of the
people of Israel to their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah you would
go before the Lord, to turn…the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk. 1.16-17). Perhaps your dad’s wrinkles would scrunch up
and his eyes twinkle as he told you about coming home from the Temple, unable
to speak, perhaps with a dozen roses under his arm… and then your Mom would blush
and interrupt the story and then your Dad would hug her and they would burst out
laughing at the memory… And then, before you were old enough to begin to make
sense of these things, your parents died.
You found yourself in the situation of many children today in places
like Rwanda and Cambodia, places that have lost entire generations to genocide –
you were alone and forced to fend for yourself.
So, Luke tells us at the end of chapter 1 of his version of the “good
news”, John “grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the wilderness until
the day he appeared publicly to Israel” (Lk. 1.80). The orphan whose existence defied biology disappears
into the desert and stays there until the story of his birth had become a tall
tale to tell children at bedtime; even if he had returned home, no one would have
recognized him. I can’t wait to see that
movie… So, that’s the last we hear about John for…30 years. Luke surely got his information about John
from people like Peter’s brother Andrew, who had been a disciple of John before
following Jesus (cf. Jn. 1.35-40). This
is simply how people in the ancient world told the story of people’s lives…
Preparing
the kingdom, waiting for the King.
So, let’s set
the scene of today’s Gospel – God’s people 2,000 years ago were waiting
expectantly for something (or someone). First-century Jews had a Bible – what we call the “Old Testament” – and their Scriptures
contained many wonderful promises about the
future moment when Yahweh, the God of Israel, would once again visit and
save his people. They spoke of this
future time as the arrival of the “kingdom of God”, the moment when the
Creator and King of the universe would finally reign over his people and
the whole world, as the Psalms and the prophets had said.
Well,
centuries had come and gone since these promises had been made. Life
had gone on – the harsh reality of trying to eke an existence out of the
soil and the flocks, all the while being bled dry by taxes and subjugated to
the daily humiliations of being a conquered people in an enemy-occupied
land. Hopes had been raised and dashed, time and time again. Several groups formed in the centuries before
the birth of Jesus, each one having its own view of the kingdom and what one
should do in the present to hasten the kingdom’s/the king’s arrival.
Many undertook an intense study of the Scriptures, looking
frantically for clues as to when the great moment would arrive (usually trying
to figure out when Daniel’s 70 weeks would come to an end. The more things change…) and trying to teach
others how they should be living in the meantime (= the Pharisees). This was a
“kingdom by torah-observance” movement.
Others had gotten tired
of waiting and decided to “storm the Capitol” in the hope that God would notice
and “get with their program”, one of revolt against the enemies of Yahweh’s
people (= the Zealots, brigands).
This was a “kingdom by violence” movement.
Some have
speculated that John may have been part of the Essene community for a
while before striking out on his own.
This is entirely plausible – many priests who had become fed up with the
corruption of the Sadducean hierarchy in the Temple fled to Qumran by the Dead
Sea to await the Day of the Lord. This
was a “kingdom by piety” movement.
Perhaps some
of Zechariah’s acquaintances had taken John to Qumran after his parents
died. Also, the Essenes practiced daily
ritual baptism – is this where John got the idea? Maybe…
The program of all of these “kingdom” movements was to mark
themselves out in the present time as being the true, faithful people of God
over against pagans and “sinful” Jews.
When God returned, he would “justify” and vindicate those who had
demonstrated their loyalty to him as being the true people of God. They would enter the Age to Come as the
Righteous (i.e. the “justified ones”).
John proclaims “a baptism for the
forgiveness of sins”, which also ties in with the theme of return from
exile (cf. Is. 40.1-2). This is a
movement of covenant-renewal, which all the exilic prophets spoke about (cf.
Is. 54; Jer. 31; Ez. 36). Isaiah spoke
of the new covenant in terms of God speaking “comfortably” to Israel, his
estranged bride (cf. Is. 40.1-2); through Jeremiah, God describes himself as a
betrayed husband and promises to write his Law on the hearts of his unfaithful
people; Ezekiel spoke of God replacing his people’s heart of stone with a heart
of flesh, so that his people would be enabled to obey His law. As we will soon see, John’s movement was a
“kingdom by justice” movement.
Now, let’s be clear – John was no
lawyer, he wasn’t a member of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Judaism. He wasn’t a “doctor of the Law” like
Gamaliel, the “master” of Saul of Tarsus.
John wasn’t part of the official juridical structures. Yet he was extremely interested in what we
would call “social justice”. When we
hear the terms “justice” or “righteousness” or “justification”, we tend to
think about personal salvation, the “gospel”, or our need to be considered
“just” by God in order to be saved, usually achieved by saying the right
prayer, or believing the right doctrinal teaching, or having the right
spiritual experience. None of this would
have made any sense for John, or for Jesus, for that matter. For John and Jesus, justice wasn’t a question
of praying or believing, it was a matter of doing concrete things in
daily life that would demonstrate that one was faithful to the covenant with
Yahweh and was thus a true member of the people of God who would be shown to be
“in the right” (i.e. “just) when Yahweh returned to judge and save his people.
“Doing justice” isn’t simply a matter
of “making the world a better place”; it’s a matter of reflecting the image of
God, of being truly human in an often-inhumane world. Yes, the more people who live their vocation
to be the image of the Creator, the better the world will indeed be.
Joyful Judgment.
John announces imminent judgement
upon the people of God – “Brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (3.7). The biblical prophets had often compared
Israel to a fig tree (cf. Is. 5). Now,
says John, Yahweh is coming to see if his tree has born fruit (cf. Mk.
11.12-24). Serpents, wrath, axes and
fire – this is not exactly the stuff of bedtime stories (unless you’re reading The
Hobbit). This is the side of
judgment that usually appears to our mind’s eye when we think about it –
judgment is something to be feared, to be spoken of in a whisper, to be
defended against.
And yet, there is our Psalm – a song
exploding with praise by every single aspect of creation in eager anticipation
of the arrival of God who will “judge the world with righteousness, and the
peoples with his truth” (Ps. 96.13). Ever
wondered how you get trees to sing – answer: tell them that the King is coming
to judge the earth (96.12). “Let the
heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all
that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it”
(96.11-12). Did not Jesus say that if
the children were prevented from singing his praises, the very rocks would cry
out? (cf. Lk. 19.40). Children – and
apparently creation itself – intuitively know that it is “right and just” to
praise God thankfully. There are many
things that us adults must unlearn if we are to truly reflect the
Creator’s image into the creation and nature’s praise back to God.
As I said earlier, I believe John
shared the exuberance of today’s Psalm – when you are a member of an oppressed
people, the news that the Judge of all the earth is coming to finally set
things right is “gospel” indeed!
Life in the kingdom (1): READ
The Word of God. Luke begins chapter 3 of his version of the
good news by helping us get our chronological bearings by mentioning all those
types of people who usually end up in history books: emperors, procurators,
kings, high priests, etc. (3.1-2). “The Word
of God” comes to someone whom history would not have remembered if it had not been for his cousin, and his cousin would not have
been remembered by history if he had not been raised from the dead and exalted
to the right hand of God.
While the great and the good are reclining in their palaces, the Word
of God comes to John…in the wilderness. Perhaps this was the moment when John decided
to leave the Essenes and go preach by the Jordan, just as Abraham had left home
when God told him to go “to the land that I will show you” (cf. Gn.
12.1-3). Maybe…
In Luke’s 2-volume work, the “Word of God” never refers to
Scripture. The
Word of God is always something that is proclaimed by a
Spirit-inspired creature, be it Gabriel, Elisabeth, Mary, Zechariah, Simeon, John,
Jesus or a disciple. The Word of God is heard and (dis)obeyed, whatever the case may be. In the book of Acts, the Word of God “grows”
and “prevails” (Ac. 6.7; 12.24; 19.20) as the apostles proclaim it boldly. For Luke, the Word of God is the creative and
prophetic word spoken of by Isaiah, the Word that “shall not return to its
speaker empty, but that accomplishes that which God purposes” (Is. 55.11). The Lukan “Word” is indeed “living and
active” (cf. Heb. 4.12). What Luke gives
us is a scriptural account of how the Word of God was proclaimed by John and
Jesus (and others) and how it either effected judgment and/or salvation in
people’s lives and indeed, how it influenced world events. The Word of God proclaimed by the first
Christian missionaries served to convert the Roman Empire… to the point when it
made sense for Emperor Theodosius to make Christianity the official religion of
the empire at the end of the 4th century.
Hermeneutics.
Luke is a master at demonstrating how the events of the “good news”
fulfill the Scriptures of Israel (i.e. OT).
Luke interprets John’s ministry as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s “voice of
one crying out in the wilderness” (3.4-6 = Is. 40.3-5, the beginning of
Isaiah’s section about return from exile [40-55]). As Gabriel had foretold, John is preparing
the return of Yahweh to his people and thus the end of the exilic state of the
people – the condition of being unforgiven and experiencing the covenant curses
in their own land (cf. Dt. 28; Neh. 9). Few
imagined that this would look like John’s cousin coming for baptism and going
off into the wilderness on his own, like John had done years before… “all flesh
shall see the salvation of God”, Isaiah had said (Lk. 3.6).
The OT
& the Church. In his book, Keep in Step with the Spirit,
J.I. Packer says that we must correct our view of
“…what Christian commitment involves, by stressing the need
for constant meditation on the four Gospels…the nature of discipleship itself is
most vividly portrayed in the Gospels. Some
Christians seem to prefer the epistles to the Gospels and talk of graduating
from the Gospels to the epistles as if this were a mark of growing up
spiritually, but really this attitude…suggests that we are more interested
in theological notions than in fellowship with the Lord Jesus in person…we
should never let ourselves forget that the four Gospels are…the most wonderful
books on earth” (p. 61, 2005 edition).
Quite
so. And this is precisely what we are
doing through this sermon series on Luke’s Gospel. I would add that the only way that we can
accurately understand the Gospels – and Jesus himself – is to immerse
ourselves in the Bible of John, Jesus and the early disciples, i.e. the Old
Testament. Since this is the story that
the evangelists are telling us has reached its climax in Jesus, we would do
well to familiarize ourselves with it as much as we can. Here are some non-negotiable portions of the
OT that we must get to know: the books of Genesis and Exodus, Samuel and Kings,
Ezra, Is. 40-55, Jeremiah, Haggai & Zechariah, Daniel & the Psalms. We must have a firm grasp the storyline of
creation, fall, Abraham, Exodus, Monarchy, exile and return.
The books of
Maccabees can also help us understand important events in the 2nd
century BC that are referred to in the Gospels (ex: Jn. 10.22ff).
We must READ
the Gospels in light of the OT and the OT in light of the Gospels – they are
mutually informative. The risen Jesus
told the apostles on Easter day: “These are my words that I spoke to you while
I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of
Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened
their minds to understand the scriptures…” (Lk. 24.44-45). Reading the OT allows us to get to know Jesus
better.
Here’s a
challenge for all of
us all the way through this series on Luke. I challenge you to read a chapter from the OT
every week in preparation to hear Sunday’s sermon. So, we know that Pastor Jonathan will be
preaching on Luke chapter 4 next week. Good
reading that would deepen our encounter with Luke 4 would be Isaiah chapter 61,
Deuteronomy chapter 8, Psalm 91, 1 Kings chapter 17 or 2 Kings chapter 5. See what happens!
Life in
the kingdom (2): POINT
“As the
people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts
concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah…” (3.15). John doesn’t waste time disabusing people of
their false hopes that he is the Messiah.
He refers to someone who is coming after him, someone who will baptize,
not with water, but with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In the fourth Gospel, people come to John and
tell him that Jesus is baptizing more people than him. John replies: “He must increase, but I must
decrease” (Jn. 3.30). John’s mission was
to point to Jesus. He sought no
recognition for himself. He was the
warm-up act, in service of the main event.
It wasn’t about him.
On Dec. 7th
2020, Walter Hooper died. Walter
had become the personal secretary of C.S. Lewis during the final months of the
latter’s life. After Lewis’ death,
Walter became his literary advisor of the estate of Lewis and ensured that
Lewis’ work would not die with him.
Walter spent his entire career promoting Lewis’ work and publishing and
re-publishing letters, essays, poems, and books by Lewis as well as writing
several books, including a biography, of his friend and mentor. Walter believed that Lewis’ works were a gift
to the Church and he undertook to make sure that Christians of all
denominations would benefit from the thought of the great apologist of the
faith. If you’ve never heard of Walter
Hooper, that is perhaps appropriate.
Walter always said that he was extremely pleased to have spent his life
in the shadow of a greater man. It
wasn’t about him, it was about the good of the global Church. Walter pointed people to Lewis, and Lewis
pointed people to Christ.
Paul told
the Corinthians: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11.1). That’s a huge challenge for us as followers
of Jesus; do we dare to be examples of what it means to follow our Lord? The tax collectors and sinners at the time of
John & Jesus found themselves caught up in the purposes of God. Do we have that sense of being part of God’s
purposes for Rigaud, for Vaudreuil-Soulanges, for Québec, for the world?
Life in
the kingdom (3): DO
When it
comes to the question of salvation, Luke is a very practical
thinker. In response to John’s
announcement of imminent wrath, those listening ask the logical question: “What
then should we do?” (Lk. 3.10, 12, 14).
This question is put to John 3 times in 5 verses. Luke rubs our noses into this question at
least 7 times in the 2 volumes of his literary work (Lk. 3, 10.25, 18.18; Ac.
2.37, 16.30). John responds to his
questioners, “Share with those who don’t have enough clothing or food; don’t
exploit others; don’t abuse your power to extort money from people; be content
with your salary”. John’s reply might
strike us as being a bit too… “worky”; surely, we are not saved by our “works”,
by what we do! And yet, there is
no way to avoid the fact that John tells the people of God that in order to
avoid (punitive) judgment, they must DO certain things and NOT DO other
things. Well, that was John – after all,
he’s kind of an OT figure. Surely if
this same question had been put to Jesus, he would have responded
differently, right?
In chapter
10, the question is put to Jesus, this time more explicitly. Luke tells us, “a lawyer stood up to test
Jesus.
“Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit
eternal life?” (10.25).
(at this point, we might think that Jesus is surely going to
tell this arrogant lawyer to accept him into his heart as his Lord and Saviour,
to “get saved”, to embrace a particular Creed, to get “born again”, etc. But what does Jesus actually say?)
Jesus replies by asking what the lawyer has read in the Law
(he is a lawyer, after all). He responds
to Jesus’ question by quoting the 2 greatest commandments – love God (Dt. 6.5) and
love your neighbour (Lev. 19.18).
Jesus says, you’re right!
Do this, and you will live.
(surely, there is no better way to “repent” than to love God
and your neighbour!)
“But wanting to justify himself, he asked
Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (10.29).
(In other words, wanting to prove that he was right. But Jesus had just tricked him into giving
the right answer! What’s going on
here? I think that the lawyer was
convicted by the fact that though he could quote the 2 greatest
commandments, he was not in the habit of obeying them…)
Jesus responds by telling the parable of the good Samaritan. At the end of the parable, Jesus asks the
lawyer a final question – Who was a neighbour to the man who was robbed
and left for dead?
The lawyer replies, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and DO likewise” (cf. Lk.
10.25-37).
(we could add “and you will inherit eternal life”. At this point, we might say, wait a
minute! John 3.16 says that whoever
believes in Jesus will have eternal life!
Indeed, but what does it mean to “believe”? We might reply, “to believe means to have
“faith”!” We might quote Paul: “by grace
you have been saved through faith…not the result of works…” (Ep.
2.8-9). But in the very next verse, Paul
says, “we are…created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (2.10). So, Paul says that we have been saved through
faith in order to live a lifestyle of good works. Paul bookends his famous letter to the Romans
by speaking about the “obedience of faith” (Rm. 1.5; 16.26). Why would Paul – in the 5th verse
and the second-to-last verse of his letter to the Christians in Rome –
speak of the “obedience of faith”? Well,
the emperor expected all his subjects to be loyal to him, to demonstrate
allegiance to him (not least by paying their taxes), to trust him
to provide for them and protect them from Rome’s enemies. Caesar demanded the obedience of faith from
his subjects and Paul is telling the Christians of the imperial capital that
they owe their obedience, not to the emperor, but rather to the anointed king of
Israel and Lord of the world, Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Lk. 23.35-39). If you “trust and obey” Jesus in this sense,
then you will indeed have eternal life, the life of the Age to Come, not only
as a post-mortem reward, but as a present reality.
There is
simply no escaping it – we must DO certain things as followers of Jesus. James goes so far as to question the
genuineness of the faith of a person who does not DO the works that faith
requires (cf. James 2.18-26). I’m
not advocating for a kind of legalism that would have Christians never laugh,
dance, smoke or drink alcohol. That is a
very negative view of Christian obedience.
But what about those things which we ought to have done and have
not done? What about what Jesus called
the “weightier matters of the law” – justice, mercy and faith? (cf. Mt.
23.23).
There is a common
perception that “conservative” Christians tend to be concerned with questions
of, for example, sexual morality and neglect social issues like poverty and
inequality and “liberal” Christians tend to focus on social justice while
adopting permissive attitudes towards homosexuality and sexual behaviour
outside of marriage. Interestingly
enough, John the Baptist took a strong stance on social issues and
sexual issues. Herod Antipas, the
tetrarch of Galilee had an affair with his sister-in-law, who then divorced her
husband Philip and married Antipas. John
denounced Antipas’ and Herodias’ adultery, and you know the rest of that story…
The kingdom
of God cannot be limited to the sphere of private morality or “religious” or
“spiritual” questions. The kingdom of
God, the reign of the Creator, through the Lord Jesus, to whom all authority
has been delegated, lays claim on every and all aspects of our personal and
public lives.
As Abraham
Kuyper, the 19th-century theologian and prime minister of Holland
said, “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence
over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”
This is my Father's world. O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world: why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!
We belong here; we are children of the Creator, redeemed by the Son and filled with the Spirit. Let us boldly live lives of justice and bring hope to our hurting world, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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