The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 8:9-14)
This parable is unlike the previous one; it is a “example story,’ which immediately shows how one should live or not live. This, too, contains an explanatory introduction. It is directed to those who rely on their pious way of life and think that they really live better than many other men. It is directed, thus, not towards hypocrites but toward that moralism, which is so natural for many people. They think they are right with God because they live an honest and upright life - maybe even hold on to some tradition extra strictly. The pharisee fasted twice a week. It was not mandated by law, but it was a good pious custom (a custom which was followed in the early church, although they were fasting on different days than the Jews). The pharisee was also scrupulously careful to do the right thing when it came to tithing, that is the tax to the temple. The problem was that he felt that he had done his duty and that he could draw a thick line between himself and all those who did not meet the demands of morality.
Against him, Jesus now sets a tax collector, who is conscious of his guilt. He only dares to ask for one thing: that God in his grace would “reconcile himself”, as it literally says, that is, to have mercy on him and forgive him. And Jesus explains that this man went home “justified.” Here Luke uses a word which is very common in Paul’s letters. In the gospels it most often means “to give someone justice,” but here it has the same meaning as in Paul: God declares someone righteous. We see here, how right Paul understands Jesus. Many trust that they are justified because of their moral conduct. That is self-deception and arrogance. The teaching of Jesus was to show these people that they, despite all their morality, still were guilty before God. Only one who humbles himself and confesses this guilt, can be free from it.
With that we have reach the end of what the exegetes call “example stories” (reseberättelser). As we have seen, this name is not a good choice. Luke does not have any interest in narrating Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. His wish has been to reproduce words and events from Jesus’ life, that did not occur in Mark and that he has not been able to insert earlier. Here he has found a suitable place to do this without having to break up the sequence of events in Mark. Now he is done with this large addition and goes back following the course of events, as Mark depicts them.
Jesus and the Children (15-17)
Luke talks about infants, babies. They had to be carried to Jesus. They could not understand what was happening. It is understandable that the disciples wanted to prevent them. But Jesus says that the Kingdom is for precisely such as these. Even the adults had to become like children to be able to enter into it. To able to understand these words, one has to know that a child in the ancient world did not have any rights or value. To “become like a child” means to waive any claims, to not have anything of one’s own to show up. This is the likeness between children and the tax collector in the temple. One received the kingdom of God as a gift. One can never earn it. Nor is faith a merit or characteristic that makes one earn the God’s gift. It is the beggar’s outstretched hand, which does not earn the gift, but receives it. And Jesus here teaches that children are able to receive that undeserved gift.
A Christian Facing Death (ii Tim 4:6-8)
Paul is counting on a conviction and is facing martyrdom. It is therefore possible that he does not have long to live. In the face of martyrdom, he does not feel bitterness towards his judges. He knows that he is a offering on God’s altar, and that this offering in some way will benefit the gospel. He is ready to move on. After all, death is not the end, but a gateway to the real life, at home with the Lord Jesus Christ. His life has been full of struggle. He has given everything, like a runner on the last leg. Now he is almost at the finish line. He knows that he owns the only necessary thing. He has kept the faith. Everything that is behind him is covered by forgiveness. Before him is laid up a crown, one that requires a whole-hearted effort as if only one could win it, even though it is for all those who believe in Christ and who longingly run to meet with him.
Paul’s First Defense Before the Court (v 16-18)
We do not know what Paul is referring to when he talks about the first time he was to defend himself before the court. For those who believe that he is now writing from Caesarea it is clear that it has to be a hearing in Jerusalem or Caesarea. Those who prefer to think of Rome as the scene have to choose between the year when the process was finally taken up at the Emperor’s supreme court or the first court hearing in a second captivity. One has to remember that what Paul mentions here should have been news for Timothy. It causes some difficulties for the theory that the letter would be written in Caesarea, because the first hearings should have taken place while Timothy still was with Paul. Those who count on a second captivity have often placed it in connection with the persecution by Emperor Nero (some time during fall 64 or into the year 65). However, it is highly unlikely that there would have been an orderly process against Paul during this persecution, when the whole legal system seems to have ceased to function. It seems impossible that he would have asked Timothy to come to Rome and take Mark with him during the persecution. Thus, this captivity must have begun before the persecution or occured a few years after. It is possible that the trial was going on when the persecution broke out and that they then cut the process with Paul short.
Anyway, what Paul has to say is that no one came to help him by offering to testify in his favor. That the case nevertheless had a somewhat good ending Paul sees as a proof that God still wanted him to carry out his message. This is almost exactly what is told about his dispute with the Jews and the Roman authorities in Jerusalem in the summer of 57 (Acts 23).
No comments:
Post a Comment