Sayings
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week's Study:
Matt. 5:48; 18:21, 22; 19:3-12; Luke 12:32-34; John 19:25-27.Memory Text:
"No one ever spoke the way this man does" (John 7:46, NIV).Some of Jesus' sayings present a whole host of values radically at odds with what often is viewed as normal. We are, He says, to turn the other cheek; that is, we are not to resist evil. Of course, almost everyone assumes that evil should be resisted, often by every means possible. And to love those who are our enemies? Are enemies not to be hated? It is friends and families we are to love, right? Not according to Jesus.
It gets even more confusing. According to Jesus, it is the outcasts, the harlots, and others like them who will enter the kingdom of God before so many of the so-called righteous. How can that be?
Jesus says that the blessed ones are the ones who weep, who are merciful, who are pure in heart. We thought the blessed ones were the rich, the powerful, those who have good looks and plenty of friends, right?
Yet, even those sayings were not the most challenging to come from the lips of Jesus. This lesson examines a few of Jesus' pronouncements that fall into the category of sayings, since they are not teachings in the strict sense of the term.
What did Jesus mean by these sayings? And how are we expected to apply them to our lives today?
*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 10.
| May 4 |
About Marriage and Abstinence
Some of Jesus' hardest sayings deal with the question of marriage and divorce. Read the following passage. What things are clear? What things are not so easy to understand? Even with what is not clear, what is the essential message that Jesus is giving here?
There is much to chew on in the Pharisees' question. Note, for example, the male-oriented nature of the question: "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"(vs. 3, NIV). Of course, the answer is no, and Jesus makes that clear (vss. 4-6). But the questioners' real motive emerges as we come to verse 7: "Why then . . . did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Going beyond Moses, Jesus tightens the terms for a marital split, coming down hard on those men with a yen for ditching wives. On one condition only, He says: marital infidelity. Any other grounds would constitute adultery (vss. 8, 9). Shocked, the disciples jump into the discussion: "It is better not to marry," (vs. 10, NIV) they state.
Their response provides the impetus for one of the most difficult statements to come from the lips of Jesus.
Read again Matthew 19:11, 12. Who are those that cannot accept Jesus' tough line?
Does Jesus mean to exempt them? Who are included in "only those to whom it has been given"(vs. 11, NIV)? Are these a special group of morally (sexually) gifted people? What are we to make of Jesus' eunuch reference? How are the three categories of eunuch to be explained, and how do they apply to us? Jesus' most puzzling line comes at the end: "The one who can accept this should accept it" (vs. 12, NIV). Is this a Divine concession for people too weak to comply with the high standard He outlined? And if a concession, does it apply to the whole discourse about divorce?
| As is sometimes the case, there are things in the Bible that are hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16). Why is it so important not to get hung up on those things, but rather to focus on and live out what we do understand? |
| MONDAY | May 5 |
About Forgiveness (Matt. 18:21, 22)
Jesus, we saw in an earlier lesson, is the embodiment of forgiveness. We return to the subject in this lesson, however, to grapple with the issue as to whether Jesus' statements about forgiveness (in the above passage, for example) are as simple as we sometimes make them out to be.
Reflect on Matthew 18:21, 22. What kind of offenses does Jesus have in mind here? How do we apply Jesus' words in cases of repeated sexual or physical abuse, such as within the home? Did Jesus have very egregious offenses in mind, such as when someone kills a pregnant woman, opens up her womb, and steals her unborn baby (as happened in Melvern, Kansas, in December 2004)? Could it be that Jesus, speaking to ordinary people about ordinary offenses, mistakes, and hurts that we experience in our normal interaction with one another, gives a command that does not envision the more complex and sinister cases of human criminality? What do you think?
Known in the media as Girl X, she came to a Chicago court in a wheelchair. Raising her head and making eye movements to communicate, the 13-year-old testified "about the attack in 1997 that left her severely disabled. She was the third witness in the trial of Patrick Sykes, 29, who is accused of raping her, beating her and pouring roach killer down her throat in the attack"—Mike Robinson, Associated Press, Washington Post, March 24, 2001, p. A22.
Is Jesus asking the victims of heinous acts to forgive not only the first occurrence but also the seventh? And is He saying that God will never forgive those who find themselves unable to absolve the demons in human flesh that commit them? The point here is not that we should not forgive. Rather, it is whether we do not misapply the gracious counsel of the Lord when we press it into the service of the kind of ghastly, mind-numbing atrocities listed above.
| As you think about the questions above, do not forget Jesus' words on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34, NIV). If Jesus is asking God to forgive those who crucified Him (who were included in them? The Roman soldiers? Caiphas? Pilate? Herod? The chief priests and scribes?), should we not forgive everything? Bring your thoughts to class on Sabbath. |
| TUESDAY | May 6 |
About Wealth and Giving (Luke 12:32-34)
To the rich young ruler who came to Him, Jesus said: "Sell everything you have and give to the poor" (Luke 18:22, NIV). Our explanation of this radical command usually has been that Jesus' stipulation was specific to this young man, based on a prophetic insight into the ruler's need. Here Jesus put His finger on the one big obstacle between the ruler and salvation: money. But does He not give that same directive to everyone?
In Luke 12:33 Jesus seems to apply to everyone with means the same injunction He gave the rich young ruler: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted" (NIV).
How should we understand this saying? Was Jesus advocating a redistribution of wealth for all Christians in all times and places? What practical problems would arise if we literally carried out His injunction? Take any given community, in which all Christians have sold all their property and given the proceeds to the poor, what now is the economic status of those Christians? How do they support themselves and their own families? And how do they now get the means to carry forward the rest of Jesus' mission-to take the Gospel to new frontiers, for example?
Three considerations may be helpful here. One is to note what actually happened during the course of Jesus' own ministry: His little group seemed to have had funds on hand-Judas kept them (John 12:6, 13:29). A second is to take a careful look at what happened in the early church, among those Christians closest to the life setting of Jesus' statement (in Acts 4:32-37 we witness what appeared to be an orderly, voluntary process as they sought to follow Jesus' injunction). A third consideration is to examine what happened in the early church beyond the book of Acts (in the letters of Paul, John, Peter, etc. we see no wholesale selling of property).
When you take all these things, as well as the whole Bible (which does not condemn wealth, per se), into consideration, what do you think was Christ's point? How does Luke 12:34 catch the essence of His message?
1 comment:
I believe Christ's point on the rich young ruler selling what he had & give to the poor was essentially to build wealth in heaven's resources; spiritual in essence. He wasn't so much speaking against becoming rich (i.e. Abraham, Isaac, Solomon, etc. very rich men). The rich young ruler was under the mistaken belief as are some of us, that our status and identity are very closely linked to what we have on this earth. As our identity is based on Christ, then that will express itself in our actions.
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