Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 is a regimen in achieving a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees. What is wrong with the scribes and Pharisees' righteousness? The Torah, or levitical law, achieves justice through what is called the lex talionis, which we could describe as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth." (Ex. 21:24) This is justice because it guards against excessive vengeance. If you knock out one of my teeth, I can't knock out all of your teeth.
Jesus comes teaching a different law: if someone slaps you, turn the other cheek. On first glance, this seems like a dismissal of the lex talionis. But how can this be true justice? Its in-dignifying enough to be slapped once. But twice? And the person gets off scott-free? But if we look more closely, we see that Jesus' new law fulfills the lex talionis. Retribution hasn't been sworn off. The disciple of Jesus has offered to take the retaliatory slap as well.
This gets at the heart of what is wrong with the lex talionis. In a different world perhaps, "eye for an eye" would end a feud. The retaliatory slap closes the loop and nobody's mad anymore. But that's rarely the case. Instead, the feud takes on different forms.
This is the weakness of Torah. Designed to limit the violence of flesh, it instead becomes flesh's accomplice in perpetuating violence. Thus we have the saying: "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." This is the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. It only seeks to curb the effects of flesh, to clean up the mess it leaves behind.
But Jesus' way does end the feud. The disciple may feel like a victim turning the cheek to receive not only the first slap but the second, but this is not really the case. Peter Leithart writes:
"Following these instructions also, subtly, restores the dignity of the person who gets slapped. The slapper wants to treat the slappee as a victim, the object of oppression. The slappee has no choice, no dignity. But when the slapped person turns the other cheek, he wrests initiative out of his opponent's hands. Instead of suffering the shame of being a victim, the disciple takes initiative into his own hands - disciples offer their cheek, remove their undershirt, go a second mile, give to whoever demands (Mt. 5:40-42). In doing so, the disciple also exposes the bully for the brute that he is; turning the tables in a way brings shame on the oppressor." (Delivered, 141)
In this way, the righteousness that Jesus is teaching does not only curb the effects of the flesh. It overcomes the flesh. Living this way targets the flesh in such a way that permits the enemy to be reconciled as a friend. This is true justice - a community "whose life together constitutes a continuous critique of and assault on fleshly division and exclusion, phallic pride and bravado." (Delivered, 144) Imagine if a whole community lived this way! It's the best kind of community to be a part of.
It is a recapitulation of all that Israel was meant to be. Israel was called to be God's means for reuniting the whole world to God. Through his representative, the king of Israel, God would use Israel's law to bring restoration to the whole world. When Jesus comes, he forms an Israel within Israel, twelve disciples from within the twelve tribes of Israel. Where the original Israel had become exhausted and defeated in the battle against flesh, Jesus brings fulfillment to their charter by renewing Torah's assault on fleshly patterns of life. He drives out evil spirits. He delivers vulnerable flesh from the dominating powers of the devil. He heals blind, lame, and mute. Where the original Israel had become a system which gratified the scribes and Pharisees and excluded everyone else, Jesus' new Israel consists of the poor, weak, and vulnerable, and the Scribes and the Pharisees are on the outside looking in.
In Matthew 18, we find this:
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." (Matt. 18:1-5)
Leithart comments:
"Children become model citizens of the kingdom, exemplifying mature human life. The weak become exemplary, because in their desperate dependence and neediness they display the reality that most human beings cover over with a show of force and achievement, to make a good showing in the flesh." (Delivered, 143)
Finally, Jesus himself is crucial to this new society. He is the kingdom's king. Who is Jesus, after all? Much of what the people around him were wondering is if he were a new king like David? David's significance is that at a certain point in time, all of the promises to Abraham were determined by God to go through David. Before David, Israel stands as a nation on their cumulative obedience. Samuel says in 1 Samuel 12:14 that the king's obedience or disobedience, while important, was not central. Under David and his descendants, this is different. In his covenant with David, God calls David's future son, Solomon, a "son," as in God's son. Up to this point, only the nation of Israel has been described this way. Now the fate of the nation depends much more on the obedience or disobedience of the king. In a significant way, the king doesn't just lead Israel. He represents Israel. He is Israel. In the same way, Jesus doesn't just lead his new Israel. He is the new Israel. He is the new David, the new Solomon, the Davidic king whose kingdom is the nucleus of a just human society, weak people who he delivers from the power of the devil who he then gives authority to deliver others. Within the world of flesh, they live by the Spirit, by the authority and power of the man at the center of their community - Jesus, the man who lives in the flesh entirely by Spirit. He is just and he builds a community of justice around him.
He is God come out from behind his temple veil. He will be struck. And like he taught his disciples, he won't strike back.
Friday, April 5, 2019
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Lent 2019: Monday, March 25 - Abraham
In Matthew 8:5-13, a centurion approaches Jesus to ask for his servant to be healed. Two things strike us about this. One, the centurion simply approaches Jesus. This story appears among a cluster of other stories in which Jesus touches diseased, unclean, demon-possessed people. All these people, the Gentile centurion included, would have aroused an "ick" from the Israelites of that day. But as we've seen in the post on 'cleaning,' Jesus lives by Spirit in the flesh, and spreads health to the sick bodies.
Many societies with caste systems have had a social bottom rung. Often they are called untouchables. What led to Israel having this caste system? Not the Bible itself! Marilynne Robinson writes:
"The provisions for the poor which structure both land ownership and the sacred calendar in ancient Israel, the rights of gleaners and of those widows, orphans, and strangers who pass through the fields, and the cycles of freedom from debt and restoration of alienated persons and property, all work against the emergence of the poor as a class, as people marked by deprivation and hopelessness." (When I Was a Child, 77)
This echoes what we've seen, that Torah (levitical law) was not a means of separation from God chiefly, but was a way for people of flesh and under the power of death to have real access to Eden again. Robinson's quote helps us to see the true liberality of Torah to "work against the emergence of the poor as a class."
Torah is not opposed to the promise of Abraham, but rather is part of carrying it out. It is part of God's larger program of putting flesh to death. In this way, Israel would be the carrier of blessing to the Gentiles. Gentiles were only a problem if Israel lost her moors and became like the Gentiles. But as long as Israel followed her charter, the blessings flowed. Peter Leithart writes:
"Yahweh's life, blessing and gifts were available in the sanctuary, and he drew near to Israel to distribute those gifts, not only to Israel but also through them to the world. He gave his oracles to Israel so that Israel may become a light to the nations and a teacher of the wise. While Israel alone was the priestly people, the caretaker of Yahweh's house, Israel cared for the house on behalf of the nations. At the Feast of Booths, she offered seventy bulls for the seventy nations, and so offered up the world to the Creator." (Delivered, 103)
Leithart maintains that "in Torah, a Gentile is no more defiling than an Israelite." (103) No caste system. No untouchables. In fact, when Israel becomes like the Gentiles, when they start to boast in the flesh that God is at war against, when they live like Gentiles and set up hierarchies and caste systems, God turns to the Gentiles. And Israel has indeed become like the Gentiles in Jesus' day. They're not fulfilling their mission, causing what we earlier called a 'traffic jam' that is keeping blessing from reaching the nations. Jesus comes as a new Israel, the 'seed' of Abraham who fulfill this vocation. (Gal. 3:16) When Jesus acts like a true temple, bringing healing to lepers, demoniacs and Gentiles like our centurion, they oppose him more and more.
The second thing that strikes us about the centurion is his faith. He recognizes, as other Israelites don't, that Israel's prophets have healed, but never like this. Where others like Elijah and Elisha have called upon God to heal, they never healed simply by their own authority, as Jesus does. The centurion identifies this. Jesus is impressed and it inspires him to speak of things still to come:
"I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 8:11-12)
Jesus is speaking about Pentecost and also about the ultimate destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. God will come at Pentecost and through his Spirit will make a temple of all nations in Jesus' followers. This will fulfill the promise to Abraham that the nations will be blessed in his 'seed,' Jesus.
The Gentiles who were far from God are brought near. In Jesus' healing of the centurion's servant, they are brought so near that Jesus' word of healing leaps across the city blocks of Capernaum. The curse of Babel is not yet overcome. The promise to Abraham not yet fulfilled. The world is yet to be brought fully into God's fold. But here we see Jesus extending his welcome and fellowship to the world. In Jesus, God has crossed over from the holy of holies, passed through the outer holy place, ventured beyond the courtyard into fellowship with the Gentiles. The ladder between heaven and earth is here. All that was promised to Abraham is coming to pass.
Many societies with caste systems have had a social bottom rung. Often they are called untouchables. What led to Israel having this caste system? Not the Bible itself! Marilynne Robinson writes:
"The provisions for the poor which structure both land ownership and the sacred calendar in ancient Israel, the rights of gleaners and of those widows, orphans, and strangers who pass through the fields, and the cycles of freedom from debt and restoration of alienated persons and property, all work against the emergence of the poor as a class, as people marked by deprivation and hopelessness." (When I Was a Child, 77)
This echoes what we've seen, that Torah (levitical law) was not a means of separation from God chiefly, but was a way for people of flesh and under the power of death to have real access to Eden again. Robinson's quote helps us to see the true liberality of Torah to "work against the emergence of the poor as a class."
Torah is not opposed to the promise of Abraham, but rather is part of carrying it out. It is part of God's larger program of putting flesh to death. In this way, Israel would be the carrier of blessing to the Gentiles. Gentiles were only a problem if Israel lost her moors and became like the Gentiles. But as long as Israel followed her charter, the blessings flowed. Peter Leithart writes:
"Yahweh's life, blessing and gifts were available in the sanctuary, and he drew near to Israel to distribute those gifts, not only to Israel but also through them to the world. He gave his oracles to Israel so that Israel may become a light to the nations and a teacher of the wise. While Israel alone was the priestly people, the caretaker of Yahweh's house, Israel cared for the house on behalf of the nations. At the Feast of Booths, she offered seventy bulls for the seventy nations, and so offered up the world to the Creator." (Delivered, 103)
Leithart maintains that "in Torah, a Gentile is no more defiling than an Israelite." (103) No caste system. No untouchables. In fact, when Israel becomes like the Gentiles, when they start to boast in the flesh that God is at war against, when they live like Gentiles and set up hierarchies and caste systems, God turns to the Gentiles. And Israel has indeed become like the Gentiles in Jesus' day. They're not fulfilling their mission, causing what we earlier called a 'traffic jam' that is keeping blessing from reaching the nations. Jesus comes as a new Israel, the 'seed' of Abraham who fulfill this vocation. (Gal. 3:16) When Jesus acts like a true temple, bringing healing to lepers, demoniacs and Gentiles like our centurion, they oppose him more and more.
The second thing that strikes us about the centurion is his faith. He recognizes, as other Israelites don't, that Israel's prophets have healed, but never like this. Where others like Elijah and Elisha have called upon God to heal, they never healed simply by their own authority, as Jesus does. The centurion identifies this. Jesus is impressed and it inspires him to speak of things still to come:
"I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 8:11-12)
Jesus is speaking about Pentecost and also about the ultimate destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. God will come at Pentecost and through his Spirit will make a temple of all nations in Jesus' followers. This will fulfill the promise to Abraham that the nations will be blessed in his 'seed,' Jesus.
The Gentiles who were far from God are brought near. In Jesus' healing of the centurion's servant, they are brought so near that Jesus' word of healing leaps across the city blocks of Capernaum. The curse of Babel is not yet overcome. The promise to Abraham not yet fulfilled. The world is yet to be brought fully into God's fold. But here we see Jesus extending his welcome and fellowship to the world. In Jesus, God has crossed over from the holy of holies, passed through the outer holy place, ventured beyond the courtyard into fellowship with the Gentiles. The ladder between heaven and earth is here. All that was promised to Abraham is coming to pass.
Lent 2019: Saturday, March 23 - Eden
In Matthew 17, Jesus goes up a mountain with several of his disciples:
"After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
"Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
"While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
"When the disciples hear this, they fell down terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
"As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." (Matt. 17:1-9)
According to Peter Leithart, we see Jesus as a new Moses, a new high priest, and a new Adam in this scene. (Jesus as Israel, vol. 2, 69)
The mount of Transfiguration is like the mount of Sinai, where Moses went up and met with God in a cloud. Jesus shines as Moses face shined upon returning from meeting with God. Those present are exhorted to "listen," suggesting that Jesus, like Moses, brings a law and a teaching. Also, the disciples want to build tabernacles, just like Israel built a tabernacle at the foot of Sinai.
Jesus is a new high priest. Although Israel's priests wore clothes of great glory and beauty, sparkling with precious stones and golden thread, on the Day of Atonement, the great high priest wore a simple white garment, which is how Jesus' clothes are described here. Jesus as high priest enters into the holy of holies, into the Father's glory, which as we've discussed, means entering into Eden.
Just before they go up the mountain, Jesus tells his disciples that some of them will see "the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matt. 16:28) And they do! They see the new Adam. Just as Adam was created on the sixth day, Jesus is glorified in this place on the sixth day. Just as the Spirit overshadowed the creation in the beginning of Genesis, a cloud overshadows Jesus and the disciples on the mountain. When the disciples see Jesus alone again after the cloud leaves, they talk about resurrection, or new creation.
All the echoes of mountains in the Bible go back to the mountain of Eden. In the same way, this mountain signifies a new Eden, a new garden, a place where a new Adam will bask in God's glory. Instead of the old Adam's failure and his spreading death to all, the new Adam will spread glory to other Adams and Eves. In the scene of the transfiguration, Jesus shows his disciples what has been true all along. Being with Jesus is to have re-entered Eden.
"After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
"Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
"While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
"When the disciples hear this, they fell down terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
"As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." (Matt. 17:1-9)
According to Peter Leithart, we see Jesus as a new Moses, a new high priest, and a new Adam in this scene. (Jesus as Israel, vol. 2, 69)
The mount of Transfiguration is like the mount of Sinai, where Moses went up and met with God in a cloud. Jesus shines as Moses face shined upon returning from meeting with God. Those present are exhorted to "listen," suggesting that Jesus, like Moses, brings a law and a teaching. Also, the disciples want to build tabernacles, just like Israel built a tabernacle at the foot of Sinai.
Jesus is a new high priest. Although Israel's priests wore clothes of great glory and beauty, sparkling with precious stones and golden thread, on the Day of Atonement, the great high priest wore a simple white garment, which is how Jesus' clothes are described here. Jesus as high priest enters into the holy of holies, into the Father's glory, which as we've discussed, means entering into Eden.
Just before they go up the mountain, Jesus tells his disciples that some of them will see "the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matt. 16:28) And they do! They see the new Adam. Just as Adam was created on the sixth day, Jesus is glorified in this place on the sixth day. Just as the Spirit overshadowed the creation in the beginning of Genesis, a cloud overshadows Jesus and the disciples on the mountain. When the disciples see Jesus alone again after the cloud leaves, they talk about resurrection, or new creation.
All the echoes of mountains in the Bible go back to the mountain of Eden. In the same way, this mountain signifies a new Eden, a new garden, a place where a new Adam will bask in God's glory. Instead of the old Adam's failure and his spreading death to all, the new Adam will spread glory to other Adams and Eves. In the scene of the transfiguration, Jesus shows his disciples what has been true all along. Being with Jesus is to have re-entered Eden.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Lent 2019: Friday, March 22 - Cleaning
Jesus' ministry is well known for healing diseases and making the unclean clean again. But to appreciate this, we need to understand the Old Testament, levitical context for this. Sometimes we are ashamed of some physical attribute. Some of us are prone to cavities. Others have birthmarks. Some of us are bald. Others are heavier than they'd like to be. Were Pharisees just body-shamers - excluding people arbitrarily for their deafness, their leprosy, or their flows of blood? Was Jesus basically just saying "stop the bullying?" No. Questions about purity and impurity have to do with the spread of flesh and death, as we've been maintaining in these posts. We'll see that the Pharisees falsely manipulated Torah, but this only shows us how God's good Torah was being overtaken by flesh. This is humanity's core problem. War and victory over flesh and death will constitute re-entry into Eden.
If we look closely at the way levitical law treats skin issues, we'll be in a position to appreciate what is unique about Jesus' ministry of cleaning.
The purity regulations all had to do with putting flesh to death. Concern about defilement had to do with flesh's basic propensity to spread and pollute:
"Impurity infects because it is the spread of flesh - menstruation...emission, flesh showing through the skin." (Delivered, 111-112)
Flesh also pollutes:
"Skin disease pollutes when flesh shows through the outer covering of skin (Lev. 13-14). Emissions from the genitals pollute, and Leviticus uses basar (flesh) to describe genitals (Lev. 15:2, 3, 7, 13, 16, 19)...Flesh is not only a static source of defilement. Flesh spreads pollution, so that the woman with a flow of blood defiles any who touch her, and dead flesh spreads death to the entire space where it lies. Flesh is a potency whose power must be controlled and arrested if Israel is to be near Yahweh's house. And every time an Israelite washed away the stains of flesh when he drew near, he was carrying on, in a small way, Yahweh's war with flesh." (Delivered, 100-101)
For this pollution, the levitical law of Torah brought cleaning. Purity rites would clean with blood. "If a priest offers a purification offering, blood is taken into the Holy Place and smeared on the horns of the golden altar of incense. If a common Israelite sins, the blood of the purification is smeared on the horns of the bronze altar." (A House for My Name, 93)
How does blood clean? Leithart says two things. That it isn't magic, but it also isn't arbitrary. It isn't magic in that there isn't some inner natural quality to blood that cleans, but rather it is a given and attributed quality. God has given it that these natural materials used in these ways (levitical law) will achieve a certain effect. But it also isn't arbitrary. Blood contains the life of the flesh: "Any Israelite or any foreigner residing among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature..." (Lev. 17:13-14...nephesh or 'flesh' comes up three times in this passage) Offering up the blood, or the fleshly life of an animal substitute brings the death of their flesh, and is a participation in God's war against flesh:
"By offering up the life of the animal to God, the worshiper expresses both the renunciation of flesh and the faith of Abraham, who abandoned his fleshly future to God to do with what he would - and received a "new son" back in return...The blood of the animal, emblematic of the fleshly life of the worshiper, is spread on the furniture of the sanctuary so that the sanctuary bears the guilt and impurity of the worshiper. Torah's sacrifices enact a ministry of condemnation - a condemnation of flesh for the purpose of transforming it to Spirit. (Delivered, 113)
In Matthew 4:23-25, we see Jesus' mission of healing and cleaning:
"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them." (Matt. 4:23-25)
What is startling about this is, in light of what we've been saying in this post, is that Jesus is touching people who are unclean: he touches lepers and dead bodies. He touches a woman with a defiling flow of blood. But instead of "contracting their contagious miasma, his cleansing life flowed to them." (Delivered, 138). The lepers were healed of their leprosy. The woman's flow of blood stopped. The dead were raised. Not only did Jesus do this. He taught his disciples to do this.
Jesus' ministry of cleaning recapitulates Torah's ministry of cleaning. He does all the things the tabernacle did. He accomplishes all the healing qualities that God had given to sacrificial blood. As we'll continue to see in these posts, the life of the Spirit is opposed to the life of the flesh. Here, we see that Jesus lives by the Spirit, and flesh doesn't spread to him.
To conclude, it is also worth noting how even though the levitical law was meant to be a soldier in God's war against flesh, the main problem with Israel over the course of the New Testament is that they had become primarily an accomplice to flesh. Nicholas Perrin describes how the temple functioned as Israel's predatory lending bank:
"The windfall income that would accrue to the temple leadership through illegal gain could then in turn be quickly turned around for punishingly high-interest-rate loans to the destitute. By being in a position to leverage usurious, high-risk loans, the temple financiers were then able to foreclose quickly and efficiently on landholders struggling to eke out an existence. Increased temple landholdings eventually meant more wealth for the priestly elite, more wealth meant even more high-interest loans, more high-interest loans meant more foreclosures on the land, and the cycle went on - crushingly so, for those at the bottom of the economic ladder." (Perrin, quoted in Delivered, 148)
In other words, Israel had become Egypt. Just as Egypt enslaved the Israelites in the time of Moses, so Israel was enslaving Israel in the time of Christ. They presented as scrupulous obedience to levitical law what was really an appropriating of the law for their own selfish boasting. They used the levitical law not for putting flesh to death. They used it to set up fortresses to protect their own flesh. This is most pronounced in their exclusion of the unclean. Rather than cleaning them, they excluded them. Rather than relieving their burdens, they added more. This is where the pressure point is. Much as Egypt had trusted in its own gods, Israel trusts in their misappropriation of Torah. And just as God enacted plagues on Egypt's gods in Exodus, God also enacts plagues on Israel's gods in the gospels. But instead of plagues of destruction, Jesus brought plagues of healing:
"Jesus came as a new Moses, and as such he brought "plagues" that destroyed "Egypt's" world of worship in order to make way for a new one. The plagues included eating with sinners; healing on the Sabbath; showing kindness to tax collectors and Gentiles; touching lepers, corpses, and women with flows of blood. He instructed his followers to subvert the world order by returning kindness for harm, blessing for insult, by bearing others' burdens. Jesus came with plagues of mercy that subverted the perverse Torah-regime of the scribes and Pharisees and the brute force of the Romans." (151)
Jesus shows us restored Eden in his touch, in his presence. His life overcomes the pollutant of death. His health overcomes the pollutant of disease. His accusers see in him a sinner who eats with sinners. His followers see a living embodiment of what the tabernacle was meant to be - a hospital for the healing of sinners so that they can be restored to Eden and to God's presence. It's even better than that, because this Jesus-hospital is Eden. This Jesus-hospital is God's presence.
If we look closely at the way levitical law treats skin issues, we'll be in a position to appreciate what is unique about Jesus' ministry of cleaning.
The purity regulations all had to do with putting flesh to death. Concern about defilement had to do with flesh's basic propensity to spread and pollute:
"Impurity infects because it is the spread of flesh - menstruation...emission, flesh showing through the skin." (Delivered, 111-112)
Flesh also pollutes:
"Skin disease pollutes when flesh shows through the outer covering of skin (Lev. 13-14). Emissions from the genitals pollute, and Leviticus uses basar (flesh) to describe genitals (Lev. 15:2, 3, 7, 13, 16, 19)...Flesh is not only a static source of defilement. Flesh spreads pollution, so that the woman with a flow of blood defiles any who touch her, and dead flesh spreads death to the entire space where it lies. Flesh is a potency whose power must be controlled and arrested if Israel is to be near Yahweh's house. And every time an Israelite washed away the stains of flesh when he drew near, he was carrying on, in a small way, Yahweh's war with flesh." (Delivered, 100-101)
For this pollution, the levitical law of Torah brought cleaning. Purity rites would clean with blood. "If a priest offers a purification offering, blood is taken into the Holy Place and smeared on the horns of the golden altar of incense. If a common Israelite sins, the blood of the purification is smeared on the horns of the bronze altar." (A House for My Name, 93)
How does blood clean? Leithart says two things. That it isn't magic, but it also isn't arbitrary. It isn't magic in that there isn't some inner natural quality to blood that cleans, but rather it is a given and attributed quality. God has given it that these natural materials used in these ways (levitical law) will achieve a certain effect. But it also isn't arbitrary. Blood contains the life of the flesh: "Any Israelite or any foreigner residing among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature..." (Lev. 17:13-14...nephesh or 'flesh' comes up three times in this passage) Offering up the blood, or the fleshly life of an animal substitute brings the death of their flesh, and is a participation in God's war against flesh:
"By offering up the life of the animal to God, the worshiper expresses both the renunciation of flesh and the faith of Abraham, who abandoned his fleshly future to God to do with what he would - and received a "new son" back in return...The blood of the animal, emblematic of the fleshly life of the worshiper, is spread on the furniture of the sanctuary so that the sanctuary bears the guilt and impurity of the worshiper. Torah's sacrifices enact a ministry of condemnation - a condemnation of flesh for the purpose of transforming it to Spirit. (Delivered, 113)
In Matthew 4:23-25, we see Jesus' mission of healing and cleaning:
"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them." (Matt. 4:23-25)
What is startling about this is, in light of what we've been saying in this post, is that Jesus is touching people who are unclean: he touches lepers and dead bodies. He touches a woman with a defiling flow of blood. But instead of "contracting their contagious miasma, his cleansing life flowed to them." (Delivered, 138). The lepers were healed of their leprosy. The woman's flow of blood stopped. The dead were raised. Not only did Jesus do this. He taught his disciples to do this.
Jesus' ministry of cleaning recapitulates Torah's ministry of cleaning. He does all the things the tabernacle did. He accomplishes all the healing qualities that God had given to sacrificial blood. As we'll continue to see in these posts, the life of the Spirit is opposed to the life of the flesh. Here, we see that Jesus lives by the Spirit, and flesh doesn't spread to him.
To conclude, it is also worth noting how even though the levitical law was meant to be a soldier in God's war against flesh, the main problem with Israel over the course of the New Testament is that they had become primarily an accomplice to flesh. Nicholas Perrin describes how the temple functioned as Israel's predatory lending bank:
"The windfall income that would accrue to the temple leadership through illegal gain could then in turn be quickly turned around for punishingly high-interest-rate loans to the destitute. By being in a position to leverage usurious, high-risk loans, the temple financiers were then able to foreclose quickly and efficiently on landholders struggling to eke out an existence. Increased temple landholdings eventually meant more wealth for the priestly elite, more wealth meant even more high-interest loans, more high-interest loans meant more foreclosures on the land, and the cycle went on - crushingly so, for those at the bottom of the economic ladder." (Perrin, quoted in Delivered, 148)
In other words, Israel had become Egypt. Just as Egypt enslaved the Israelites in the time of Moses, so Israel was enslaving Israel in the time of Christ. They presented as scrupulous obedience to levitical law what was really an appropriating of the law for their own selfish boasting. They used the levitical law not for putting flesh to death. They used it to set up fortresses to protect their own flesh. This is most pronounced in their exclusion of the unclean. Rather than cleaning them, they excluded them. Rather than relieving their burdens, they added more. This is where the pressure point is. Much as Egypt had trusted in its own gods, Israel trusts in their misappropriation of Torah. And just as God enacted plagues on Egypt's gods in Exodus, God also enacts plagues on Israel's gods in the gospels. But instead of plagues of destruction, Jesus brought plagues of healing:
"Jesus came as a new Moses, and as such he brought "plagues" that destroyed "Egypt's" world of worship in order to make way for a new one. The plagues included eating with sinners; healing on the Sabbath; showing kindness to tax collectors and Gentiles; touching lepers, corpses, and women with flows of blood. He instructed his followers to subvert the world order by returning kindness for harm, blessing for insult, by bearing others' burdens. Jesus came with plagues of mercy that subverted the perverse Torah-regime of the scribes and Pharisees and the brute force of the Romans." (151)
Jesus shows us restored Eden in his touch, in his presence. His life overcomes the pollutant of death. His health overcomes the pollutant of disease. His accusers see in him a sinner who eats with sinners. His followers see a living embodiment of what the tabernacle was meant to be - a hospital for the healing of sinners so that they can be restored to Eden and to God's presence. It's even better than that, because this Jesus-hospital is Eden. This Jesus-hospital is God's presence.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Lent 2019: Thursday, March 21 - Eating
In Matthew 9:9-13, Jesus calls a tax collector to follow him as a disciple (his name is Matthew!) When it turns out that Jesus spent the evening having a meal with Matthew and other "tax collectors and sinners," Pharisees ask why.
Pharisees believed that it was key to program of national redemption that their food not be defiled by the presence of uncleanliness. Tax collectors aided and abetted the primary Gentile enemy - the Roman Empire, both in their daily dealings, and in their livelihood. All of this served to make tax collectors in particular a constellation of uncleanliness for Pharisees.
When Jesus responds, he describes himself as a physician who needs contact with the sick to be able to heal them. He also quotes a passage that says, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." The quote is from the prophet Hosea, who condemns Ephraim and Judah for their faithfulness being as fleeting and temporary as morning dew. Hosea says he desires "hesed" or loyalty, rather than sacrifices. Interestingly, right before Hosea says this, he makes reference to his prophetic words, which cut in pieces and kill. What does this mean? Hosea's words serve a priestly function, to make the unfaithful people into a pleasing sacrifice who are loyal, merciful, and compassionate. The Pharisees problem is not that they focus on sacrifice, but that it doesn't lead to loyalty, mercy, and compassion. In other words, it doesn't lead to table fellowship between God and sinners.
In an earlier post, we described the levitical sacrificial sequence: an animal represents the sinner. The animal representing the sinner is killed. It's blood is displayed. The animal is turned into smoke. The priests eat a meal. We see here that the sacrifice all leads to the end that God can have renewed fellowship with sinners over a meal. Sacrifice allows them real but limited access back into the garden so that they can eat with God at his house and at his table.
That Jesus eats with sinners is a sign of Eden. In Jesus' presence, it is as though we have already passed through the veil of the holy of holies and get to sit in the presence of God. Of course, we haven't crossed that threshold. God has crossed over to us in Jesus. Food is never just fuel. Meal times are communion times. The tables in our homes are micro versions of the table fellowship we celebrate in worship as the body of Christ. Nourishment there can't be measured strictly in calories or vitamins. Just as food shapes the strength of our bodies, so table fellowship shapes the strength of our identity, that who I am is shaped by my communal memberships, and not the other way around. To eat with Christ is not only to be fed by food, but to be fed by him.
Pharisees believed that it was key to program of national redemption that their food not be defiled by the presence of uncleanliness. Tax collectors aided and abetted the primary Gentile enemy - the Roman Empire, both in their daily dealings, and in their livelihood. All of this served to make tax collectors in particular a constellation of uncleanliness for Pharisees.
When Jesus responds, he describes himself as a physician who needs contact with the sick to be able to heal them. He also quotes a passage that says, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." The quote is from the prophet Hosea, who condemns Ephraim and Judah for their faithfulness being as fleeting and temporary as morning dew. Hosea says he desires "hesed" or loyalty, rather than sacrifices. Interestingly, right before Hosea says this, he makes reference to his prophetic words, which cut in pieces and kill. What does this mean? Hosea's words serve a priestly function, to make the unfaithful people into a pleasing sacrifice who are loyal, merciful, and compassionate. The Pharisees problem is not that they focus on sacrifice, but that it doesn't lead to loyalty, mercy, and compassion. In other words, it doesn't lead to table fellowship between God and sinners.
In an earlier post, we described the levitical sacrificial sequence: an animal represents the sinner. The animal representing the sinner is killed. It's blood is displayed. The animal is turned into smoke. The priests eat a meal. We see here that the sacrifice all leads to the end that God can have renewed fellowship with sinners over a meal. Sacrifice allows them real but limited access back into the garden so that they can eat with God at his house and at his table.
That Jesus eats with sinners is a sign of Eden. In Jesus' presence, it is as though we have already passed through the veil of the holy of holies and get to sit in the presence of God. Of course, we haven't crossed that threshold. God has crossed over to us in Jesus. Food is never just fuel. Meal times are communion times. The tables in our homes are micro versions of the table fellowship we celebrate in worship as the body of Christ. Nourishment there can't be measured strictly in calories or vitamins. Just as food shapes the strength of our bodies, so table fellowship shapes the strength of our identity, that who I am is shaped by my communal memberships, and not the other way around. To eat with Christ is not only to be fed by food, but to be fed by him.
Lent 2019: Wednesday, March 20 - Festivity
In Matthew 9:37, Jesus says to his disciples: "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field."
There is a double-sided quality to harvest in the New Testament. One side conveys a sense of separation, division, and judgment. In this sense, the harvest is what happens at the end times, and wheat is gathered and taken into the barn, and weeds are gathered and burned.
The other side though, is festivity. Harvest itself is an indication of abundance, of rest at the end of labor, of feasting at the end of fasting. In an earlier post, we explored how much of the tabernacle is arranged to show that Israel is God's bride. Meeting with God for Israel has a romantic connotation. Furthermore, the tabernacle is often referred to as a "tent of meeting" or a tent of festivals. The same Hebrew word is used in Genesis 1:14 when God makes lights in the sky that will indicate "sacred times." A list of these festivals is given in Leviticus 23: sabbath, passover, festival of unleavened bread, offering the firstfruits, festival of weeks, festival of trumpets, day of atonement, and festival of tabernacles. These are all "trysts" between the bride Israel and bridegroom God. The tabernacle and all of its rites and rituals communicated the deep purpose of marriage between Israel and God. And this is a picture of Eden, of being restored into God's presence. It is a garden where love blooms.
This is more clear if we look at prophetic testimony about Israel's return from exile: it is consistently presented as a festival time when God will truly re-establish his garden-kingdom in Israel. Amos writes: "'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,' says the Lord your God." (Amos 9:13-15)
When Jesus comes he recapitulates the festival times of the tabernacle. Amos was describing a kingdom yet to come. Jesus comes saying the kingdom has drawn near. Jesus taught his disciples not to be anxious about anything for the body - money or clothes. This is harvest logic. It's a time of abundance. The harvest is here! The kingdom is near! In Matthew 10, Jesus calls his twelve disciples and gives them authority to drive out impure spirits. This has a military connotation, but the battle is not against flesh and blood. Jesus says: "As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons." (Matt. 10:7-8) Jesus is a warrior for rest, abundance, and festivity.
Jesus is asked why his disciples don't fast. Jesus says:
"How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (Matt. 9:15-17)
Peter Leithart writes:
"Jews fasted in anticipation. Fasting meant waiting, and specifically waiting for the feast to begin. But once Jesus has come, the time of anticipation is over; the time of waiting has reached its end. With His coming, everything begins to change. He comes as a man who has authority over the wind and the sea. He comes "before the time" to triumph over the demons. He comes to forgive sins. He comes to welcome tax gatherers and sinners, to heal the sick, and to preach that compassion is better than sacrifice. With the coming of Jesus, the feast of the kingdom has begun. He has come to make all things new." (Jesus as Israel, 195)
Finally, we need to see that this festive community is not just something the disciples go out to create. It is not just a message they proclaim, but something that they already are. It is their community - a new type of people. Throughout the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is forming a new Israel, a community built around 12 new tribes, who will represent a righteousness beyond the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, they won't merely suppress flesh-inspired behavior, but will live in such a way as to overcome the flesh. They don't merely try to control the evil effects of sin and flesh, but go on to seek reconciliation and reunion in love. Jesus and his disciples are a picture of Eden.
There is a double-sided quality to harvest in the New Testament. One side conveys a sense of separation, division, and judgment. In this sense, the harvest is what happens at the end times, and wheat is gathered and taken into the barn, and weeds are gathered and burned.
The other side though, is festivity. Harvest itself is an indication of abundance, of rest at the end of labor, of feasting at the end of fasting. In an earlier post, we explored how much of the tabernacle is arranged to show that Israel is God's bride. Meeting with God for Israel has a romantic connotation. Furthermore, the tabernacle is often referred to as a "tent of meeting" or a tent of festivals. The same Hebrew word is used in Genesis 1:14 when God makes lights in the sky that will indicate "sacred times." A list of these festivals is given in Leviticus 23: sabbath, passover, festival of unleavened bread, offering the firstfruits, festival of weeks, festival of trumpets, day of atonement, and festival of tabernacles. These are all "trysts" between the bride Israel and bridegroom God. The tabernacle and all of its rites and rituals communicated the deep purpose of marriage between Israel and God. And this is a picture of Eden, of being restored into God's presence. It is a garden where love blooms.
This is more clear if we look at prophetic testimony about Israel's return from exile: it is consistently presented as a festival time when God will truly re-establish his garden-kingdom in Israel. Amos writes: "'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,' says the Lord your God." (Amos 9:13-15)
When Jesus comes he recapitulates the festival times of the tabernacle. Amos was describing a kingdom yet to come. Jesus comes saying the kingdom has drawn near. Jesus taught his disciples not to be anxious about anything for the body - money or clothes. This is harvest logic. It's a time of abundance. The harvest is here! The kingdom is near! In Matthew 10, Jesus calls his twelve disciples and gives them authority to drive out impure spirits. This has a military connotation, but the battle is not against flesh and blood. Jesus says: "As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons." (Matt. 10:7-8) Jesus is a warrior for rest, abundance, and festivity.
Jesus is asked why his disciples don't fast. Jesus says:
"How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (Matt. 9:15-17)
Peter Leithart writes:
"Jews fasted in anticipation. Fasting meant waiting, and specifically waiting for the feast to begin. But once Jesus has come, the time of anticipation is over; the time of waiting has reached its end. With His coming, everything begins to change. He comes as a man who has authority over the wind and the sea. He comes "before the time" to triumph over the demons. He comes to forgive sins. He comes to welcome tax gatherers and sinners, to heal the sick, and to preach that compassion is better than sacrifice. With the coming of Jesus, the feast of the kingdom has begun. He has come to make all things new." (Jesus as Israel, 195)
Finally, we need to see that this festive community is not just something the disciples go out to create. It is not just a message they proclaim, but something that they already are. It is their community - a new type of people. Throughout the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is forming a new Israel, a community built around 12 new tribes, who will represent a righteousness beyond the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, they won't merely suppress flesh-inspired behavior, but will live in such a way as to overcome the flesh. They don't merely try to control the evil effects of sin and flesh, but go on to seek reconciliation and reunion in love. Jesus and his disciples are a picture of Eden.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Lent 2019: Tuesday, March 19 - Curtains
New life and restoration must come from God and not from us. In the Bible, this is often depicted as new life coming from God's house, because that's where God is. As we've seen, the holy of holies is the room of the temple where God lives. So in Ezekiel's vision of restoration in chapter 47, we see that water flows out from the temple. It is a river of life, causing creatures and fish and fruit trees to flourish. It flows into the Dead Sea, but instead of becoming salty, the salt water becomes fresh. New life comes out from the temple. God steps out from the temple, out from the fenced-off place of the holy of holies, and renews the land.
In Matthew 12, Jesus and his disciples eat heads of grain from a grainfield. As they ate it on the sabbath, Pharisees cry foul. In his defense, Jesus makes reference to priests who desecrate the temple on the sabbath day and yet are innocent. As Peter Leithart writes, priests are commanded to do work on the sabbath. Jesus doesn't mean they are breaking the law. For others, it would be perhaps. But not for priests. Working on the sabbath, offering their sacrifices is the way they keep the sabbath.
By the Pharisees light, this is a sabbath-breaking, but what Jesus is in effect saying is that he and his disciples are priests. How can this be? We find this is so because the disciples have a traveling temple with them, the new Jesus temple. Jesus says: "I tell you that something greater than the temple is here." Leithart writes:
"Jesus Himself is that greater-than-temple Something. He is the locus of the presence of God, the place where God dwells in fullness. As long as He's there with His disciples, their work, even if it was work, is legitimate work on the Sabbath. Where Jesus is, there is the temple and presence of God..." (Leithart, Jesus as Israel, Vol. 1, 245)
What does this mean? A few posts ago, we talked about how the tabernacle and temple served to provide Israel real but limited access to Eden. It served to provide hope that God will eventually make a way back to Eden. That is still yet to happen, but we've made a remarkable turn on the way to that happy conclusion: God himself has stepped from Eden into the world. The curse of death separates us from that space. It is guarded by flaming sword and temple veils. It is a holy boundary to protect us from the holy one. But the holy one has now crossed over the veil into the world. He has parted the curtains and moved into our neighborhood. The one who lives perfectly by Spirit has moved into the world of flesh and death.
The gospels show us Jesus doing everything that God was doing from the tabernacle and temple. This will continue to be true. The one change is that it is all out in the open. Peter Leithart writes:
"The one change - the single shift so massive that it changes everything - is that Yahweh is no longer hidden. At Sinai, Yahweh established his home in the midst of Israel, but with Jesus, Yahweh takes a further step into the world of flesh, beyond the tabernacle of curtains at Sinai. And then it becomes clear that the whole sanctuary apparatus, all the purity rules and rites of purification, all the sacrifices, the whole system was a complex type and shadow of Jesus' life and ministry." (Delivered, 137)
All the levitical law of Torah shows us the culture of what it means to live with God in his house. What would it look like if God came out from his house and mingled with sinners without the veil of the temple barriers?
It would look like Jesus.
In Matthew 12, Jesus and his disciples eat heads of grain from a grainfield. As they ate it on the sabbath, Pharisees cry foul. In his defense, Jesus makes reference to priests who desecrate the temple on the sabbath day and yet are innocent. As Peter Leithart writes, priests are commanded to do work on the sabbath. Jesus doesn't mean they are breaking the law. For others, it would be perhaps. But not for priests. Working on the sabbath, offering their sacrifices is the way they keep the sabbath.
By the Pharisees light, this is a sabbath-breaking, but what Jesus is in effect saying is that he and his disciples are priests. How can this be? We find this is so because the disciples have a traveling temple with them, the new Jesus temple. Jesus says: "I tell you that something greater than the temple is here." Leithart writes:
"Jesus Himself is that greater-than-temple Something. He is the locus of the presence of God, the place where God dwells in fullness. As long as He's there with His disciples, their work, even if it was work, is legitimate work on the Sabbath. Where Jesus is, there is the temple and presence of God..." (Leithart, Jesus as Israel, Vol. 1, 245)
What does this mean? A few posts ago, we talked about how the tabernacle and temple served to provide Israel real but limited access to Eden. It served to provide hope that God will eventually make a way back to Eden. That is still yet to happen, but we've made a remarkable turn on the way to that happy conclusion: God himself has stepped from Eden into the world. The curse of death separates us from that space. It is guarded by flaming sword and temple veils. It is a holy boundary to protect us from the holy one. But the holy one has now crossed over the veil into the world. He has parted the curtains and moved into our neighborhood. The one who lives perfectly by Spirit has moved into the world of flesh and death.
The gospels show us Jesus doing everything that God was doing from the tabernacle and temple. This will continue to be true. The one change is that it is all out in the open. Peter Leithart writes:
"The one change - the single shift so massive that it changes everything - is that Yahweh is no longer hidden. At Sinai, Yahweh established his home in the midst of Israel, but with Jesus, Yahweh takes a further step into the world of flesh, beyond the tabernacle of curtains at Sinai. And then it becomes clear that the whole sanctuary apparatus, all the purity rules and rites of purification, all the sacrifices, the whole system was a complex type and shadow of Jesus' life and ministry." (Delivered, 137)
All the levitical law of Torah shows us the culture of what it means to live with God in his house. What would it look like if God came out from his house and mingled with sinners without the veil of the temple barriers?
It would look like Jesus.
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