Jesus stories for Monday, Feb 5
The Good Book Club
Monday, March 5, Luke 12:1-21
Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.
‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.
And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’
Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
THOUGHTS FOR MONDAY. Jesus is still on the road, his face set toward Jerusalem, in fact Luke’s gospel is 24 chapters long and Luke has Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem for ten of those chapters, chapters 9 to 19; just so in today’s reading, where Jesus is teaching basically about being a disciple.
“The yeast of the Pharisees” is found in all three synoptics in various settings. Jesus is warning his disciples, here an enormous crowd, about the Pharisees’ b.s. (let the reader understand), they are full of hot air, yeast is what causes bread dough to puff up, and the Pharisees with their ostentatious religiosity are as full of it as Father Duffy in the Carol Burnett television sketches, they’ll be revealed for the empty stuffed shirts they are.
Another reference to בַ֥ר אֱנָ֖שׁ the Son of Man, the apocalyptic figure at Daniel 7:13, bar enash (the Greek Septuagint that was Mark’s, Luke’s and especially Matthew’s Old Testament source says υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου “son of human”), one like a human offspring whom the Ancient of Days will send with dominion, power and glory to rule the earth in an everlasting kingdom. BTW, bar is son and enash is a masculine noun, and in their patriarchal culture the Jews would have seen bar enash as a male, Son of Man.
I don’t think Jesus saw the kingdom of heaven apocalyptically in the way that Paul did, a new kingdom of God on earth that begins with the Second Coming of Christ; rather, Jesus saw the kingdom of God as here and now. GThomas quotes (logia 113) Jesus saying, “the kingdom of God is spread upon the earth and men do not see it.” So Jesus’ seems to have had what scholars might call a “realized eschatology,” i.e., “it’s here, you can step into by a repented lifestyle.” In my view, the evangelists (gospel writers) make that fairly clear, but the early church, and ever since, understand and preach the kingdom of God as an afterlife event, heaven beyond the clouds.
Here Luke means us to understand that speaking of “the Son of Man” Jesus is talking about himself as that cosmic figure from Daniel 7.
The warning about blaspheming the Holy Spirit - - neither Luke nor Matthew, not Mark, and certainly not Jesus, are Nicene trinitarian Christians. He’s warning against blaspheming the one true God as when Job’s wife says “curse God and die.” John Bunyan (Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners) struggled mightily with what that unforgivable sin might be, but in my mind it’s simple in its gospel context, clarified by Job’s wife: curse God.
About the man who asked Jesus to tell his brother to share the family inheritance, this comes out of the blue, I don’t think that guy was paying attention to what Jesus was preaching, he came to ask a favor; but at least it gives Luke the run-up to the marvelous parable that concludes deliciously with the personal apocalyptic, Fool! this very night is thy soul required of thee! Then who’s gonna be driving thy Cadillac?
