Parent Category: Bible Resources

Category: Notes on the Gospel readings from Luke

Notes on Luke 21.5-19   November 17

Jesus has finally reached Jerusalem. In this last week before he is killed he spends a lot of time in the temple.

The temple was rebuilt after the exile in Babylon under the leadership of Haggai and Zechariah. The first temple was built by Solomon and was very good.  When the Babylonians captured Jerusalem they destroyed the temple. When temple that was rebuilt after the exile in Babylon it was not so good. However much later Herod the Great had made many improvements to it. People were impressed by how good it looked.

Some of the disciples were also impressed by it (21.5). But Jesus said it would be destroyed again (21.6). [In fact the Romans destroyed it in AD 70.]

The disciples want to know when this will happen.

But Jesus doesn’t tell them.

Read more: Notes on Luke 21.5-19 November 17

Parent Category: Bible Resources

Category: Notes on the Gospel readings from Matthew

Notes on Matthew 2.13-23 Sunday after Christmas   29 December 2013

This story follows the story of the Magi. Unfortunately the Lectionary has changed the order of the stories to fit the Church Calendar. The story of the Magi is connected to the Epiphany.  We will read it next week.

This story shows the danger that Jesus and his parents were in. Herod ordered that all the boys in Bethlehem less than two years old were to be killed. He did not want any rivals to his rule. The grief reminds Matthew of the reference to grief in Jeremiah 31. His readers might also remember what else was said in Jeremiah 31. God made great promises of salvation and rescue in that chapter. Promises that came true in the life of Jesus.

Jesus and his parents fled to Egypt. They stayed there until Herod died. Matthew links this with the time when Israel was in Egypt. In both cases God called his son out of Egypt. Jesus will have his own “exodus” at the cross when he rescues his people from sin and death.

The second part of the passage is about Jesus’ return from Egypt. The family does not want to go back to Judea because of Herod’s son, Archelaus. So they head to Nazareth.  Jesus is therefore known as a “Nazarene”. In this case it has the idea of an unimportant place. An out-of-the-way place. A person who came from there would not be famous. They would be despised.

This fits the whole of these early chapters of Matthew. The Messiah is despised and rejected right form the start.
Dale

Parent Category: Bible Resources

Category: Reading Guides to Bible Books

Reading Guide to John's Gospel

The following notes may help you begin reading John's Gospel.

1. What is it?

The writing we are studying is a special kind of literature. It is not a history, and it is not a modern biography. We call it a gospel, although the author doesn’t call it that, in fact he does not use the word gospel at all.

But gospel describes a certain kind of writing which is meant to help people know about Jesus and put their trust in him. The author calls his writing a book (20.30) and says he has written it so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

This purpose tells us the kind of writing it is, and so helps us interpret its meaning.

2. Who wrote it? and when?

There is a lot of debate about who wrote it. The title was not part of the original gospel, and John is not mentioned by name as the author. In the second century there was a strong belief that the apostle John had written it.

At the end of the gospel there is a kind of postscript written by others (21.24) attesting to the fact that the “disciple whom Jesus loved” wrote down these things (presumably the things in the book). There is considerable scholarly debate about the authorship, but there is strong evidence to think that the traditional view is still true.

Dates between 55 and 95 AD have been suggested. Probably a date in the later part of this period is most likely. The debate is focussed on certain historical details such as references to being put out of the synagogue  (a decision of the Council of Jamnia 85AD), the destruction of Jerusalem (AD70), the demise of the Sadducees, and the perceived development of doctrine expressed in John. See the commentaries for more details.

The early tradition claims that it was written from Ephesus.

3. Why is it not the same as the synoptic gospels?

One of the things that strikes every reader is how different John is from the synoptic gospels.

3.1 John omits many things included in the other gospels such as the transfiguration, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the temptations of Jesus, casting out of demons, and hardly any reference to the theme of the preaching of the kingdom of God.

3.2 John on the other hand includes material the other gospels don’t have. The events in chapters 2-4, the raising of Lazarus, the long farewell discourse in chapters 14-17 are John exclusives.

3.3 There are also some differences between John and the others, such as his view of the giving of the Spirit (20.22), whether John the baptist was Elijah or not (1.21), and how much the disciples understand in the early days of the ministry.

3.4 There are also some discrepancies in chronology between the synoptics and John. The cleansing of the temple (Jn 2.14ff; Mk 11.15ff), and the question of when the death of Jesus occurred, are examples.

4. Why did he write it? and for whom?

When we try to interpret John’s gospel we need to have an idea why it was written. John states his purpose clearly at the end (20.30,31). A likely way to understand this statement, according to Carson, is that John wrote so  “that you may believe that the Christ, the Son of God, is Jesus”. In other words the gospel is not so much about who is Jesus, but who is the Messiah. John’s answer is that Jesus is the expected Christ. John thus sets out to show who the Christ is.

If this is John’s purpose, then it is not primarily a purpose directed at Christians, who would already be convinced of the fact. Rather it suggests that a major purpose was to evangelise those who were not yet convinced that the Messiah was Jesus. This indicates that John’s target audience was Jews and Jewish proselytes. He is writing for people who are familiar with the Old Testament. His translations of Hebrew words doesn’t indicate that the readers are not Jews, rather that they are not readers of Hebrew. They are probably Jews of the diaspora who speak Greek.

If his purpose was something like this, we then have reasons to understand why his gospel is different to the others. He chose his material and style to suit his particular audience and purpose.

5. Making sense of John’s gospel

John has written a book. So we should read his book. As we read it we will want to see if he has any arrangement of his material (a structure) that helps us better understand what he is saying. We will want to look for recurrent themes and ideas, and especially we will want to see how he supports his claim that the Messiah is Jesus.

5.1 From the whole to the parts

John’s gospel is a narrative kind of book. It has long sections of story in it. So we should first of all read it as a whole. And then we should read each of the narratives as whole stories. This will help us avoid getting bogged down in the details.  On the way through, of course, we will need to attend to some of the details since they help us understand the narrative.

5.2 What to look for when you read it

Read through John’s gospel in one sitting if you can. Read it through more than once. As you do take note of the following:

• What does it say about Jesus?

• What is said about his relationship with his Father?

• What is said about salvation, what it is and how it is accomplished?

• What salvation blessings are enjoyed in the present and what are anticipated in the future?

• What is John’s picture of the Holy Spirit?

• What allusions and references to the Old Testament can you spot ?

• What misunderstandings of Jesus’ teaching and ministry are recorded?

Parent Category: Bible Resources

Category: Help from the Psalms

Thoughts on Psalm 91