Good Shepherd Lutheran church

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Monday, February 25, 2013

Rahab- A hooker with a heart of God


Get it? Like heart of gold? It’s funny, get over yourself.

The story of Rahab is one that we tend to gloss over. We are able to say that she was a prostitute and then we quickly race to the manifestation of her faith and the way she saved God’s chosen people. It’s a beautiful story of a complete turnaround from sinner to saint.

Well…not really.

Let’s take a second to really look at the story of Rahab as we see it in Joshua 2:
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.
I’ve highlighted a few things here. First off, the very first descriptor that we’re given is that Rahab is a prostitute. I mentioned it before, I’ll probably mention it again, her livelihood depended on breaking the sixth commandment daily and encouraging others to do so likewise. You’ll also note that in this interaction she never repents of that fact either.

Next, look at how she protects the spies. It is obviously not in a truthful manner. We are quick to defend her saying, “Well of course she couldn’t have told the truth, they would have been killed!” But in the same way, it’s important for us to acknowledge that she isn’t perfect, even as she is carrying out works that will be used to glorify God.

In spite of who Rahab was, God used her to accomplish His plan.

Rahab’s account is made even more interesting when you look at the way that it combines so many different elements from both the Old and New Testaments. Take a peek at verses 18-21. So many things that we’ve seen before! Scarlet cord. Scarlet like blood. Identifying a house that should be passed over. Passover. Hmm. But as good New Testament Christians I’m sure you’ve been thinking of another kind of blood that provided salvation.

In this same section we also see the promise that is made to all those who are inside the house. The promise is that those who are in the house will be saved whilst all those who are outside the house will be killed. Replace the word house with  ark and it quickly brings to mind the promise made in Genesis.

Moving forward into the New Testament, Rahab isn’t forgotten! In Matthew 1:5 there is reference to Rahab, this time as a part of Jesus’ lineage. If you look at the other people who are mentioned as part of Jesus’ family tree, you’ll notice just how many oddities there are. So many people of whom you would not want to claim even a passing knowledge are proudly proclaimed as being the forefathers (and mothers) of the perfect king who came to deliver us from evil and proclaim salvation to all. But Jesus does. He proudly proclaims himself as the son of a lying whore and in spite of that he also proclaims himself the perfect son of God, who came to earth to bring about perfection to all people

Rahab isn’t perfect. We see her actively breaking commandments and even at the pinnacle of her service to God she is really only acting as a lying whore. But this is the kind of person who provides us with an example of faith. This is the kind of person that makes up Jesus’ own ancestral line. This is the kind of person that we strive to be. Not that I recommend you all go and start up your own brothel or tell lies “in the name of the Lord.” What this reminds us of is that we are sinful people. This is something that we can’t escape. However, this doesn’t stop us from being utilized by God. In spite of our sin, in spite of the inclination that we have toward evil, God uses us for his good. He takes our sin and, on the cross, he turned it into his goodness.


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Q


I’m sure you’ve been waiting all week to see what would be the topic for the letter Q. Would it be Queen Esther? Quirinius? The Quran? Nope, none of the above!

We are looking at Q.

Now, you may or may not have heard of the synoptic gospels, if you have, you’ve got a great head start, if you haven’t, well, you’ll have something new to show off to your friends.

The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Not John. Poor John! If you’ve ever read through these gospels, you will have likely noticed that they are awfully similar. They have a very comparable focus and even their word choices are remarkably close.

Has that ever made you curious? Ever wondered why that might be?

If you haven’t rest assured that somebody has! This, my friends, is what we are talking about today is Q, otherwise known as the Q-source.

Going in, I was sure that it was called Q just so that people like me would have something unique to bring to the table during an alphabet study, but turns out that it comes from the German word Quelle, meaning source. Would you believe that in a room full of old school Lutherans, not one person knew the proper pronunciation? I couldn’t either!

This Q thing, what is it exactly?  How is it fitting in to all this jibber jabber?

Q is one proposed hypothesis that could explain why everything fits together so nicely. The idea behind Q is that it contains all of the things that Jesus said and authors, especially Matthew and Luke, would be able to use it as a help as they were writing.

Doesn’t seem too ridiculous, after all, look at Luke, he tells us straight up that he is using other sources.

And if we read through an account that is found in both gospels, such as loving your enemies, (Matthew 5:38-48 and Luke 6: 27-36) we see an awful lot of similarity.

But there are also some pretty extreme differences as well. Take for example v. 46 in the Matthew account where it says “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” and compare it to Luke v. 32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” (emphasis added) You’ll notice (because I very clearly pointed it out) that Matthew purposefully uses the word tax collector instead of sinner. Could be no big deal, tax collectors were seen as pretty bad dudes, but isn’t it weird that Matthew, the known tax collector would include that in this account? This is something that seems to go beyond just a set of sayings that people were conveying to one another, this really impacted Matthew as he heard it to the point where he wrote it as he understood it, not necessarily as it was commonly expressed.

The idea behind Q is one that would very neatly tie up all the loose ends. When we get confused about how the writings of the Gospels are so similar, it would be easiest to point to one common piece that would solve all of the problems. In doing so, however, we are not giving enough credit to the dynamic qualities of Jesus’ words. When he spoke it was more than just a quote to be transcribed, it was a message to be lived. They were teachings that stuck with people and struck them so deeply that they could insert themselves in the teaching and still have it ring as true as it did when it was preached for anyone else in the crowd.

Q could be a possibility. It’s still a hypothetical source that doesn’t have any physical proof behind it, but it does make sense as a theory. However, what we should not neglect when considering this is the power of Jesus’ words. They were, and are, strong enough to stand on their own, and be remembered and applied by all.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Priesthood

What a terrible movie!
Know what I hate?


Rules!

They’re lame and even though I would consider myself more law-abiding than not, whenever someone tells me to do something there is a little spark of anger that rises up inside of me and rebels.

This, in conjunction with my lack of credentials would make me a terrible, terrible priest.

Old Testament priest, that is.

There are an awful lot of rules that you need to follow to be a priest!

These rules start before you’re even born!

I’d like you to meet stick man Dan. Now stick man Dan is an Israelite. He can trace his genealogy back to the tribe of Benjamin. He cannot be a priest.



Now meet stick man Mark. He is also an Israelite. He is from the tribe of Levi…things are looking good so far! Except stick man Mark is from the descendants of Moses. No priesthood for stick man Mark!

Last, but certainly not least I would like you to meet stick man Chaim. Stick man Chaim is also an Israelite, and like stick man Mark is from the tribe of Levi. There is one slight difference between stickmen Mark and Chaim, however, as stick man Chaim is from the line of Aaron so BOOM he’s a part of the priesthood!

Seems like a weird ruling right? Let’s go way back and see why this is the case!

By way back I mean the tale of the golden calf, which tells us about how the Levites were rewarded with the promise of service to God.   For doing what God told them they were promised a life of prestige and special rewards. A life that would be spent serving God and following his rules.

Now our friend Chaim was a good Jewish boy. He met all the requirements to be a priest. He was 32 years old, never trimmed his beard and all his body parts were shaped as they ought to be.

Reading through some of the requirements for priesthood in the Old Testament makes a person wonder how anyone could attain the level of perfection expected for this position. To serve as God’s holy elect was a huge responsibility! You were expected to live a life as close to God’s as possible! Perfection wasn’t just suggested, it was required! Unless you could live up to the specifications as they were laid out, your blood wasn’t enough to carry you through.

As Christians, this doesn’t come as a shock to us. We realize that we are completely reliant on the blood of someone more important to us to bring us to be part of this priesthood.

1 Peter 2:5-9 declares us to be part of the royal priesthood. It calls us a chosen people and gives a description of what we are expected to do in this position. But even as we go forth in this priesthood, we do so knowing that it’s not because of the perfection that we’ve obtained by our own works. We are able to serve God only because of the high priest who has already prepared the way for us. Unlike the priest of the Old Testament who spent every day in fear of their inability to maintain the perfection required to mediate between man and God, we can give thanks that our high priest has given us the perfection needed to stand before God and to proclaim the greatness of his name to all people.