Starting Points for Biblical Interpretation: Part One (Luke 24:44–49)

Learning to read Scripture involves a commitment to understanding how the entire Bible fits together. My two recent books Invitation (Seedbed, 2015) and (re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World (Cascade, 2016) have reflected on the narrative of the Bible as a coherent story from Creation to New Creation.

NIV Luke 24:44-49 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

This text occurs in the climactic section of Luke’s Gospel. The risen Jesus meets with his astonished band of disciples and begins to prepare them for their ministry as apostles. Here are some of the highlights:

1) Jesus views his life, death, and resurrection as the fulfillment of Scripture. Notice Jesus’ use of the phrase “Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.” This is shorthand for the totality of Israel’s Scriptures. Jesus taught his followers to read the Scriptures messianically. In other words, Jesus’ followers read the whole Bible as a witness to the mission of God as fulfilled in Jesus. This does not mean, as it has in some quarters of the Church, that the Old Testament becomes a mere pool of proof texts for the coming of Jesus. For example, the whole purpose of the book of Micah was not to predict that Bethlehem would be the place from which the messiah would come (Mic 5:2). Rather the Church is to listen to the witness of the Old Testament on its own terms and to recognize a trajectory that points beyond its witness to the coming of God’s Messiah to usher in the age of salvation.

2) Scripture is to be read missionally. If most Churches do a good job recognizing and teaching Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, it struggles in emphasizing the missional implications of this. Look again at verses 47-48. As a result of recognizing Jesus as the long-awaited messiah from God, the apostles are unleashed into the nations to be God’s witnesses. In other words, learning to read the Old Testament as a witness to Jesus is not about mere information it is about being transformed into a missional community with good news to share with the world. This will impact our reading of the Bible because it invites us to read Scripture missionally. That is we read the Bible not merely as a guide to personal piety or to create theological systems, but most profoundly in order to shape our own missional practice as we seek to live faithfully in our world as Jesus’ witnesses. The starting point for a missional reading of the Bible is the recognition of this reality. Christopher Wright in his essay “Mission as a Matrix for Hermeneutics and Biblical Theology” on page 109 asks, “Is it possible, is it valid, is it profitable for Christians to read the Bible as a whole from a missional perspective, and what happens when they do?” Wright, of course, believes that this is indeed the proper approach. Perhaps the pages of the New Testament bear witness to what happens when Christians do indeed read and act on the Scripture’s missional message. Wright's most comprehensive work on missional reading can be found in his seminal work The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative.

3) The Spirit of God empowers the Church. Verse 49 promises the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. This of course was fulfilled at Pentecost in Acts 2, but I want to suggest that this on-going reality has implications for our reading of the Bible. We do not read the Bible merely out of our own intellect, experience, education, and setting. Since the Spirit of God abides in each believer, it is important to recognize the role of the Holy Spirit in biblical interpretation. We do not read alone. Prayer for illumination is vital so that the Spirit of Truth may lead his people into the truth. I don’t want to overemphasize this aspect and I don’t see the indwelling of the Spirit as somehow legitimizing any or every reading of a text offered by a believer as there is a profound synergy involved in the interpretive process. But a text such as Luke 24 promises the empowerment of the Spirit in the life of the Church on mission. This implies, I think, guidance for the Church in its reading of the text as it seeks to bear faithful witness to the world about the salvation that God offers in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let us apply this promise by continually praying that the Lord would astonish us anew with the richness of the Word.

Ps 29: A Missional Reading

   Psalm 29 announces the eternal reign of the LORD. It portrays the revelation of the LORD's power through the imagery of a thunder storm. By doing so, Ps 29 subverts the claims of the Canaanite god Baal who was the storm god. This psalm models a missional use of culture to teach the truth about reality and God using the language of Israel's religious context.

Psalm 29

¹ Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
² Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

³ The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is majestic.
⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶ He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
    Sirion like a young wild ox.
⁷ The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.
⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
    the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
⁹ The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
    and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰ The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
¹¹ The Lord gives strength to his people;
    the Lord blesses his people with peace.

Psalm 29 is a hymn of praise that serves to declare the eternal kingship of the LORD. This is a psalm of orientation. It reminds us of the power, grandeur and prestige of God. It uses imagery drawn from its ancient Near Eastern context. It uses the imagery of creation and a thunderstorm. This language evoked feelings of awe for its original readers because it touched on core elements of Ancient Near Eastern religious thought. We need to read between the lines to hear its rich message in our 21^st century world.

In Israel’s day, all nations worshiped and served different gods and goddesses. One of the key ways of demonstrating the power of a god or goddess was through stories of the gods controlling and shaping creation. If a god had power over creation, this god could claim to be the true King. Another important element to show a God’s strength was the ability to create and sustain life. Rain was central to the well being of ancient people who depended on rainfall for the growing of food. For the ancient Canaanites, one of the most powerful gods was Baal. If you read through the Old Testament, Baal is one of the foreign deities that God’s people often turned to during times of apostasy (e.g., 1 Kings 18:20–40). Baal was the Story god and thus served as a god of fertility. The rain that he sent fertilized the earth and brought forth crops for the ancients.

In Psalm 29, the psalmist draws on language that is similar to the type of images associated with Baal and other similar gods. But there is one major difference. This is a psalm that declares boldly that it is the LORD who is the true king.

As we’ve been reading through the laments of Book 1 of the Psalter (Pss 1–41), we’ve repeatedly read prayers for protection from enemies. As part of these prayers, the psalmists have proclaimed their own integrity, devotion, and commitment to the LORD. We need to read these statements of integrity against the competing religions of the day. If the psalmists had lost their trust in the LORD, it would not mean that they would have become atheists as some do in our day. Instead they would have turned to some other god or goddess—perhaps the god or goddess of the people who were oppressing them.

 
Psalm 29 works against this by subverting the claims of competing gods. The Scriptures declare that the LORD is incomparable to any other god and in fact by the time of Isaiah the prophets declared of the LORD, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other” (Isa 45:22). Yet the false worship of idols continued in Israel. Psalm 29 thus uses imagery that others used to worship Baal and shifted the language to make it about the LORD. The psalmist does this to lift up the LORD as our true source of security in the world. He is King. He alone can be trusted with our lives. 

Commentary on Psalm 29

Psalm 29 unfolds in three movements: vv. 1-2 is an invitation to the hosts of heaven to worship the LORD, vv. 3–9 describes the coming of the LORD in a storm, and vv. 10–11 contains God’s blessing on God’s people.

Psalm 29:1–2 exhort the hosts of heaven to give the LORD the honor due his name and worship him in all of his splendor. Psalm 29 begins not with God’s people on the earth but with the beings in the presence of God in his heavenly courtroom. We saw a similar exhortation in Ps 148:1–2. The scope of the worship implied in Ps 29 will be all inclusive: everyone everywhere will grant the LORD the honor and glory due his name.

The imagery for the LORD is majestic and emphasizes his overall awesomeness. The phrase “splendor of his holiness” emphasizes distinctiveness of the LORD as ethically perfect, the one who stands above and beyond creation, and who acts rightly in all circumstances.

Verses 3–9 give the basis for this call to praise. In these verses, the coming of the LORD is portrayed through the imagery of a powerful thunderstorm that is roaring and coming off the sea toward the temple. The thunder is likened to the voice of the LORD. It shatters the silence and echoes out across the waters. In the ancient world, the waters of the sea represented a chaotic and destructive force. Here the LORD’s voice in the thunder demonstrates God’s superiority over all other forces (vv. 3-4).

In verses 6–9a, the voice of the LORD subdues and strikes mighty trees, nations, and deserts. All of the place names in these verses stand outside of Israel proper. The implication is that the LORD is not merely the true King of Israel, but is indeed the King of all Creation. The storm imagery is vivid. Imagine the most severe thunderstorm you’ve experienced and feel the power of the language here as the psalmist helps us to feel coming of the LORD.

Verse 9b gives the only fitting response to the awe-inspiring arrival of the LORD in the storm. All who have gathered cry out, “Glory!” Glory is the perceived awesomeness and weightiness of God’s presence. It is an acknowledgement of God’s greatness and our smallness in his presence. It is the feeling that we get when we stand before a majestic mountain or a huge waterfall or come other wonder of the world.

Verses 10–11 make explicit the message of the storm imagery. The LORD is King of Creation and rules forever. The earth is secure for God’s people. The LORD strengthens them and extends his blessings to them.

     
This psalm invites us to ground our security in the knowledge and assurance that the God of Creation is alive and well. He sustains our world, but more importantly for us as we seek to live faithfully, he promises to sustain us as we journey through this world on mission.   
© 2016 Brian D. Russell  

Invitation to Awaken our Humanity: The Image of God and Mission

I am becoming convinced that in order to fully understand the work that God accomplishes through Jesus the Messiah on behalf of all humanity we must reflect on God’s original plans for humanity. At minimum, salvation is God’s actions to restore humanity to His original designs for women and men. 

This essay will reflect principally on Genesis 1:26-31:

NIV Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

This text is profound and continues to spark conversations about the essence and purpose of humanity. This passage clearly affirms that every single human being has been created in the image of God (Latin: imago dei). This fact alone raises the implications of any study of this text. Yet, most attempts at penetrating the account of the creation of humanity make the mistake of trying to explain ontologically the meaning of the image of God – in other words, most try to explain the essence of humanity. This text however is more interested in the function and purpose of humanity. Below I will explore briefly two movements in this text and end with some theological reflection in light of the coming of Jesus Christ.

1) Humanity as the Pinnacle of God’s Creative Activity
Creation reaches its zenith in God’s crafting of humanity – women and men in His image. There are a number of clues to this reality. First, more verses are devoted to the making of people than to any other part of Creation. Second, “let us” language suggest the care and deliberation of God in the forging of humanity in God’s image. Much ink has been spilled over the precise meaning of the plural. The most plausible explanation is that “let us” is either a plural of majesty (God is so awesome that He speaks as a “We”) or it is God addressing the heavenly court. Regardless, this language clearly raises the importance of this section. Third, God appoints humanity to serve as God's regents and ambassadors. No other creature or created thing exercises authority over humanity. Instead, humanity is to reign over creation as God’s stewards or regents. Last, in 1:31 God offers a final evaluation of his creative activity. He previously reckoned Days 1 to 5 to be “good.” Now with the creation of humanity, God elevates his self-evaluation to “very good.”

All of these data suggest that the creation of humanity is the climactic event of God’s creative activity. All that remains for God to do at the conclusion of Day Six is rest (2:1-3).

2) Humanity as the Visible Representatives of the Creator God
A missiological focus is implicit in humanity’s creation in the image of God.

In the Old Testament, the word tselem is translated as image. It tends to refer to that which is visible. In other words, imago dei points to humanity as representatives of God in Creation. Throughout the Scriptures, creating visible representations of God is prohibited. It is striking to recognize that in Genesis 1 God created people to serve as a visible image of the divine. We are God’s representative agents. We may read this as a missiological mandate: God created people to be reflections of the Creator God. Humanity stands before the remainder of Creation as a witness to the God who has fashioned the heavens and the earth. Thus, from the beginning of Creation, we see that humans were born for a purpose. This purpose was to represent the character of God before the rest of Creation.

As a result of being forged in the image of God, humans fulfill a key role for God. Humanity was created to rule over creation. In our day, this has ironically been twisted into a warrant for abusing the earth and devaluing our fellow creatures. Genesis does indeed grant a high place to humanity, but this has to be understood in light of a representational authority. Humanity does rule for its own sake or prerogatives. Humanity exercises dominion over creation on behalf of God. The actions of people are to mirror those of God. Humanity’s mission is to reflect God’s character and prerogatives in its exercise of authority. We don’t act for ourselves, but for God and for others. This is the only sort of dominion that Genesis envisions. In its wider context, Genesis 2:15 confirms this reality, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (italics added). We may even call this dominion through servanthood.

The Apostle Paul will make a similar connection between creation and mission in his Second Letter to the Corinthians. In the same context in which Paul describes those in Christ as part of a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17), he uses the language of diplomacy in stating that as part of the new creation, “so we are God’s ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Cor 5:20).
There are two elements implicit in this missiological function: holiness and community. In Genesis 1, it assumed that humanity will achieve its mission of representing God through two key means. Humanity represents God to the World by reflecting God’s character. This is the essence of holiness. Related to this is the reality that God did not create a solitary human creature, but differentiated humanity into its two sexes – male and female. Humanity thus was created to live in genuine community with one another.

We may summarize humanity’s role as God’s visible representatives to Creation with three phrases/themes:

Global/Local Mission – humanity serves as the mediator/ambassador between God and Creation

People in Community – humanity lives in authentic and intimate community as part of its reflection of God’s character in fulfillment of God’s mission

Spiritually Transformed (Holiness/Character) – humanity embodies and reflects God’s character

I call these three themes the GPS for the Bible.

It is worth stating that every single person who has ever lived was created for this purpose. There are thus no worthless people. Everyone has amazing potential. The problem is that humanity corporately and individually has turned away from God and sought to find its own way.

3) Jesus as the Fullest Reflection of Our True Humanity
Jesus came to deliver humanity from sin, injustice, brokenness, and shame. From Genesis 3 onwards, Creation is ruptured by the persistence and pervasiveness of human sinfulness. Jesus came to live the truly human life. He perfectly enacted and fulfilled the mission of God. Jesus, the Word, took on our flesh and made known to humanity the truth and reality of God:

NIV John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’” 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has made it possible for humanity to live out God’s original purposes. By reconciling us to God and filling us with the Holy Spirit, Jesus has awakened humanity to God’s creational purposes and unleashed his people to live the life that God created them to live. We may say that Jesus came to make it possible for us to be fully human again.

Conclusion:
God created humanity to serve in a profound role. Humanity is the jewel of God’s creation. God has created each person to serve in God’s mission. As such, humanity lives to connect the reality of God to Creation by reflecting God’s character corporately in community and individually as persons created in God’s image.

We must not read these functions as rigid categories or attempt to straight jacket every human being into some clone or ideal. If God is endlessly creative, why should we attempt to “standardize” humanity? Are not we in the Church often guilty of producing “followers of Jesus” who are too often closer to being protégés or a Mini-Me than true reflections of Jesus? If God created every human being with a distinct set of fingerprints, why would we ever want to limit the creativity and skill set of followers of Jesus? It is time for the Church to call people to discover their true humanity in Jesus Christ. It is time for us to Awaken humanity.

For a more in depth discussion, see my book (re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World .

 

© 2016 Brian D. Russell

Bibliography for Reading Scripture Missionally

Arthur, Eddie. "Reading the Bible with the Global Church."  Encounters Mission Ezine 44 (March 2013)

Barram, Michael. “The Bible, mission, and social location: Toward a missional hermeneutic.” Interpretation 61 (2007): 42-58.

Bartholomew, Craig and Michael W. Goheen. The True Story of the Whole World: Finding Your Place in the Biblical Drama Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2009.

Bauckham, Richard. Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World Canon and Mission (Christian Mission & Modern Culture). Baker, 2004.

Beeby, Harry D. Canon and Mission (Christian Mission & Modern Culture) Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1999.

Beeby, Harry D., “A Missional Approach to Renewed Interpretation” in Renewing Biblical Interpretation (Scripture and Hermeneutics Series, V. 1) , eds Craig Bartholomew, Colin Greene, and 
Karl Möller. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000, 268-83.

Bosch, David J. “Towards a Hermeneutic for ‘Biblical Studies and Mission’” Mission Studies 3.2 (1986): 65-79.

Brownson, James V. Speaking the Truth in Love: New Testament Resources for a Missional Hermeneutic (Christian Mission & Modern Culture) T&T Clark, 1998.

Brownson, James V. “A Response at SBL to Hunsberger’s ‘Proposals…’ Essay.” The Gospel and Our Culture Network. Jan. 28, 2009.

Flemming, Dean.  Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission IVP, 2005.

Flemming, Dean. Why Mission? (Reframing New Testament Theology)Abingdon, 2015.

Goheen, Michael. A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story Baker, 2011.

Guder, Darrell C. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (The Gospel and Our Culture Series) Eerdmans, 1998.

Guder, Darrell C. “Missional Pastors in Maintenance Churches” Catalyst: Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives for United Methodist Seminarians 31.3 (2005): 4.

Hunsberger, George R. “Proposals for a Missional Hermeneutic: Mapping the Conversation” Gospel and Our Culture Network Newsletter eseries 2 . Jan. 28, 2009.

Kaiser, Walter C. Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000.

Kostenberger, Andreas J. and O’Brien, P.T. Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission (New Studies in Biblical Theology No. 11) Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001.

Martin-Archard, R. A Light to the Nations: A Study of the Old Testament Conception of Israel’s Mission to the World. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1962.

Parsons, Michael. Text and Task: Scripture and Mission Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2006.

Peskett, Howard and Ramachandra, V. The Message of Mission: The Glory of Christ in All Time and Space (Bible Speaks Today) Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003.

Rowley, H.H. The missionary message of the Old Testament, London: The Carey Press, 1945.

Russell, Brian D. Invitation: A Ten-Week Bible Study. OneBook. Seedbed, 2015.

Russell, Brian D.  “Psalms 1-2 as anIntroduction to Reading the Psalms Missionally” Encounters Mission Ezine 33 (June 2010).

Russell, Brian. D. (re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World . Cascade, 2016. 

Russell, Brian D. “What is a Missional Hermeneutic?” Catalyst: Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives for United Methodist Seminarians . April 1, 2010.

Wright, Christopher J.H. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative. Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.

Wright, Christopher J.H. The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission (Biblical Theology for Life) Zondervan, 2010.

Key Features of (re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World

(re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World is now available on Amazon or via its publisher Wipf and Stock (Cascade Books) 

This is my long awaited text on missional hermeneutics. I wrote it in order to help church planters, pastors and teachers of the Bible to proclaim the life transforming message of Scripture in our post-Christian, multi-cultural, pluralistic, and urbanized world.
 

Readers of (re)Aligning with God will:

(1) Find a clear summary of the Scriptural Story from Creation to New Creation. The distinctive approach of (re)Aligning is that it begins with Jesus’ announcement of the Kingdom and his calling of his first disciples. (re)Aligning with God then moves back to Creation in Genesis 1 and shows how the Old Testament narrative moves forward to its climax in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. (re)Aligning with God then shows how the early church under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit proclaims the good news of the Kingdom in anticipation of the New Creation. Throughout readers will hear Scripture’s call to (re)align themselves with God in order to live as a missional community that reflects God’s character to/for/in the nations.

(2) Discover how Israel’s Prophets, the book of Psalms and Israel’s Wisdom traditions fit into a missional approach. Most overviews of the biblical narrative offer little or no reflection on this large block of Old Testament Scripture. (re)Aligning with God offers a substantive reading of the role of the entire Old Testament including these often neglected sections. For example, regarding the book of Psalms, (re)Aligning with God reflects on how to read it as God’s prayer book for God’s missional people.

(3) Find a clear methodology for applying a missional reading or hermeneutic to their own interpretive work on Scripture. I’ve worked intentionally to offer a step-by-step guide to the process. This work comes out of my own experiences in church planting, preaching/teaching in a wide variety of settings, and teaching biblical interpretation to hundreds of pastors and leaders at Asbury Theology Seminary.

(4) Learn key differences in reading the Bible for Church (insiders/believers) and World (outsiders/seekers). As we seek to advance the Christ following movement in the 21^st century, it is critical to read the Bible for both groups and do so critically and intentionally. (re)Aligning with God makes a compelling case that we can do this effectively in ways that will lead to the renewal of current Christ followers and the initial aligning of former outsiders with Jesus’ kingdom.

(5) Encounter not only a summary of the over arching missional narrative of the Bible, but read full interpretations of an OT book: Jonah and a NT book: Philippians through the lens of a missional hermeneutic.

(6) Reflect on how to unleash the true power of Scripture to transform its readers/hearers by implementing a missional reading within your community of faith. (re)Aligning with God offers practical suggestions and strategies that can be applied immediately to your context. 

  If you have any questions, I am happy to converse in the comments below or via email: brian.russell9113 @ gmail.com. 

The Magi and God's Mission: Invitations for Outsiders/Warnings for Insiders

After the announcement by the angel to Joseph about Jesus' mission: God with us and save his people from their sins, Matthew's Gospel turns to an episode that is now so watered down that it has become pedestrian: Jesus and the visit of the Magi. 

In Christmas lore, the Magi are three kings who come bearing gifts. In the perfect nativity scene, the three kings arrive just after the shepherds and angels do on the joyous night of Jesus' birth. Yet a close reading of Matthew's Gospel demonstrates that much more is going on in the text.  In fact, there are profound missional insights in these verses including a strong warning to the community of faith. 

NIV Matthew 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6 "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

A Birth Announcement

Unlike Luke's Gospel, Matthew does not spend any time at all on the night of Jesus' birth.  There is no manger.  There are no angels singing to the glory of God.  There is not even a solitary shepherd mentioned.  There is not even a hint that Mary and Joseph have had any visitors to see their miraculous gift from God.

It is stunning and alarming that a group of astrologers from the east breaks this silence.  The Magi were most likely from the area of modern southern Iraq. They had traveled hundreds of miles. They arrived in Jerusalem in search of a king. They asked innocently, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”

At this point, this story becomes a study of character types. Matthew paints a strong contrast between the Magi and Herod/all Jerusalem. Some may be surprised by the latter group. Many of us miss the connection between King Herod and all Jerusalem, that is Jesus’ country(wo)men.

This contrast offers those who have ears 3 dangers to consider and 4 invitations upon which to act:

Danger One:

Being so invested in the status quo that we are unable to discern God’s work in our midst.

Change is difficult. Nonetheless, change is relentless and inevitable.  Yet we humans tend to resist change, almost instinctively. Whether it will be for the good or for the bad, we throw up walls to halt it.

Maxie Dunnam: “Most of us prefer the hell of a predictable situation rather than risk the joy of an unpredictable one.”

The Jerusalem of Jesus’ day was ruled by a tyrant, Herod. Herod was a non-Jew who had been appointed by the Romans. He was brutal and steadfastly interested only in maintaining his own rule. It is not surprising that he was disturbed by the announcement of the birth of a new king, but what about Jerusalem as a whole?  Why were they as equally disturbed as Herod?

Perhaps they were disturbed because the announcement came from outsiders. The bearers of the message were pagan astrologers from a far away land. They must have asked questions and made statements such as these:

What could they possibly know about a king of the Jews?  Wouldn’t God have let us know about such a birth first?  Everything was going well until the Magi showed up. Things were just starting to run smoothly around here. God doesn’t work among the lost, does he?

Danger Two:

Knowing the Bible so well that we stop listening to it or at least stop listening to God.

One of the deepest ironies in this text is that Herod and all Jerusalem know almost immediately where to find the long awaited King. The Magi make it to Jerusalem, the capital, but there is no new born King in Jerusalem. To answer the question of the Magi, Herod calls together all of the Jewish priests and bible scholars.  He inquires about the birthplace of the Christ, the Messiah. They immediately respond with a quotation from Micah 5:2 that prophesied the Christ’s birthplace in Bethlehem. Herod and Jerusalem do not suffer from a lack of biblical knowledge or insight.  They are lacking in its transforming power.  In contrast, the Magi without any access to Scripture recognize an anomaly in the heavens as a sign from God that a King has been born.  They act on this information.

Scripture is a gift from God, but unless it fuels personal transformation and missional action, bible reading and study can mask our true need for a vital moment by moment relationship with God.

Israel’s priests and bible scholars knew where the Christ was to be found, but did they act on this information? Why didn’t they run to Bethlehem ahead of the Magi?

There is always a danger that we substitute knowledge of the Bible for knowing the God behind the Scriptures. There is a profound warning here about substituting a relationship with the living God for mere information from a text.

Danger Three:

Being so committed to our own power and prestige that we seek to thwart actively God’s mission

Herod responds to the announcement of a new born king swiftly and decisively.  Despite recognizing the birth as the fulfillment of prophecy and despite the apparent worldwide announcement sent out by God that drew the Magi, Herod took the decision to attempt to murder the baby Jesus. Why? Because the arrival of a newborn king pointed to the end of Herod’s power and prestige.

Why do we as humans have the tendency to view the new as a threat to the old?  Why do we always take account of our own power and prestige rather than revel in the new movements of God and the new people that God is working to bring into God’s Kingdom?

The frightening side of this story is that Herod and all Jerusalem plot to eliminate this threat through violence. In essence, we find here a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death on the cross. When Jesus goes to the cross as the ultimate act of salvation for the world, it is at the bidding of the Romans and those in Jerusalem who will be shouting out, “Crucify him!”

Jesus’ call is radical. It is life changing. It calls for us to give up our own lives and follow Jesus into the world on mission. Jesus’ call is for self-denial and living as though one were already dead.  Jesus’ call to follow him is always a challenge to the status quo.  It is one in which the first become last and the last become first. The humble are lifted up and the proud made to bow low. For Herod and all Jerusalem it was too much of a risk to their own power and prestige to permit God to work outside of the system. Thus, Herod acts to thwart God’s intentions by acting to kill Jesus (Matt 2:12ff).

If the story of the Magi offers a series of warnings to insiders, it also offers profound invitations to those on the outside.

Invitation One:

Seeking to follow Jesus for the chance to experience a real life.

The story of the Magi is astonishing. Magi living hundreds of miles from Israel leave their families and their ways of life to chase the mere possibility of encountering the long-awaited King of the Jews.

What would have driven these men to go to such links to meet a king? They had to have realized through their observations of the stars that something spectacular was happening.  Moreover their God-given longing for the true God must have been stirred within them.  Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth century scientist/philosopher, said, "There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus." As I have argued elsewhere, being shaped after the image of God implies that we were created for authentic relationship with one another and with the creator.  We know this instinctively.  However, too many of us fail to act and remain unchanged. 

Jesus comes to all of us this morning and says, “Follow me.” Who among us will answer his call?  What would you give for a chance to live the life of God’s dreams?  What would it mean for you to live as the person whom God created you to be?

This text invites us to follow Jesus as the true way of experiencing the life of God’s dreams.

What do you need to give up today to embrace the life offered to us by God through Jesus?

Invitation Two:

Experiencing true joy in encountering Jesus.

After the detour in Jerusalem, the Magi follow a special star to Bethlehem.  The star stops over the place where the child was staying.  Our text says that the Magi were overjoyed over arriving at their destination. This was a joy in discovering an allusive pursuit.  As humans created in God’s image, we long for happiness.  We long to find meaning and fulfillment in life. Yet how many of us actually find it?  How often do we experience an overwhelming sense of joy in our lives? 

My children constantly remind me of the joy of living.  My daughters have always enjoy going for car rides to look at Christmas lights and decorations in the neighborhoods surrounding our home. When my children were preschoolers, there responses to a good light display were memorable. They would squeal at the top of their lungs, “LIGHTS!!!” at the first site of the display. Their faces would glow and their smiles were seemingly miles wide.

Joy like this is a gift from God.  It is a reminder of something that too many of us have lost. The Magi rediscovered their capacity for true joy when they encountered the baby Jesus.  We can too.  This text invites us to find joy

What is the source of greatest joy in your life?  What if following Jesus Christ were the only way to true joy?

Invitation Three:

Finding our true self in the surrender to and worship of Jesus.

The Magi aren't content to experience Jesus from afar. They have arrived at their destination so they approach and enter the house containing Jesus and his mother Mary.

There response is profound.  In the presence of this young child born not among the rich and powerful of the Jerusalem elite but out in the country in Bethlehem, these elites from the east bow down and worship him. The word worship is repeated three times in our passage (vv. 2, 8, and 11) and it is a significant term in Matthew's Gospel (13 uses).  Worship is the proper response to the person of Jesus in Matthew (cf. 2:2, 11; 8:2; 15:25, and 28:9, 17). It is the recognition of his person and authority. This stands in profound contrast to the actions of Herod and all Jerusalem who sought to thwart God's plans through the murder of the young king.

But the Magi do not stop with worship. They also offer the baby Jesus costly gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These gifts are gestures of submission. They represent the surrender of the Magi to the Lordship of Jesus. They are ritually offering to Jesus all that they are for the use of his Kingdom. This text invites us to do the same. True life is not found in amassing power, wealth, or prestige through our own efforts.  True life is found in surrendering all that we are to Jesus.

Have you gotten to the point in your life in which you have surrendered yourself to God and moved from a life focused on self to a life focused on serving God?

Invitation Four:

Returning to our old lives to share the message.

An encounter with God is never a mere existential experience.  When God meets us, we are transformed from self-centered persons committed to self-fulfilment and gratification to an over-oriented existence as the Spirit propels us back into the world to participate fully in God’s mission to bring salvation to the ends of the earth through Jesus Christ.

The Magi do not remain in Israel with the savior of the world. They offer themselves to the King and then they return to their homeland. We do not hear from these men again in the New Testament, but these unnamed Magi become the very first Christian missionaries in history. They came to pay homage to the King because they instinctively realized that Jesus was the one for whom their very beings longed. 

Having met Jesus, they return to their old lives. But this is only half of the story. They do return to their old lives but they are now living as transformed persons.  The actions of the Magi foreshadow the end of the Gospel where the Risen Jesus sends out his eleven disciples into the world to make disciples of all persons. This is the Gospel mandate.  Or as my friend Alex McManus reminds us, “The Gospel comes to us on the way to someone else.”

The Magi do not become secluded from the world. They become agents of transformation for others. This is our call as well.

How is God using you to shape the lives of others and to share the Gospel?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

For resources on preaching Scripture missionally and for establishing a missional community, I recommend the following:

 

Mission as the Center: Reminders from Jesus' Great Commission

Jesus' Great Commission remains a vital text for understanding God's mission. Here are some reflections that seek to draw out its key components.

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV)

1) Cross centered. The backdrop of Matthew’s view of discipleship is the death of Jesus on the Cross. The Cross is paradigmatic for the life of discipleship (Matt 10:38; 16:24). The cruciform life defines the essence of following Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross is the ground of salvation. Matthew does not provide a detail discussion of the “how” of atonement, but instead simply states its reality (e.g., Matt 1:21; 8:17 [cf Isa 53:4]; 26:28). Modern Christ followers must resist any pragmatic or theologically driven attempts to whitewash or marginalize the centrality of the Cross. Jesus’ call to “deny oneself and take up the cross” is a counter-cultural and revolutionary. It envisions a movement of Christ followers who live as dead (wo)men walking–persons who have died up front to self so that they can follow Jesus into the world to bring the Gospel to those who desperately need it. Mission assumes that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the defining reality for our world.

2) A Sent Church. Jesus modeled movement during his earthly ministry. Following his resurrection this movement is expanded to encompass all nations. Communities of faith that follow Jesus must engage the world by going. As my friend, Alex McManus says, "Christ followers must either be sending or being sent." Jesus did not wait for persons to come to him. He moved around the countryside modeling a ministry that actively seeks out lost persons so that they may be found and welcomed into the movement.

3) All hands on deck. Matt 28:18-20 contains the marching orders for all Christ followers. It is not merely a call to overseas mission work or the game plan for an evangelism committee. It is the modus operandi for all who follow Jesus. Making disciples requires each follower to deploy his/her gifts for the sake of the community and the world. It assumes that each follower exerts kingdom influence in the world. Sociologists have learned that each person has the opportunity to influence 10,000 people during their lifetime. What would happen if all Christ followers used their lives to influence even a fraction of these 10,000 with the Gospel?

4) Shaped by Scripture. The third leg of making disciples involves teaching everything that I commanded you. Disciples are mandated to instruct and shape the ethos of the community to reflect the teachings of Jesus. Disciples access the teachings of and about Jesus through the Scriptures. This is a point where serious reflection and reformation is needed today. Scripture is to be transformative, but too often the study of Scripture become merely a transfer of information or facts about the Bible. The mark of a mature Christian is how much a person knows about the Bible apart from how well a person’s life reflects the Scriptures. Ironically, this has led some leaders to de-emphasize the study of Scripture in some cases or in others to base the interpretation of Scripture on the personal experiences of the reader. Neither of these options is faithful to the message of Matt 28.

The way forward here is to read the Scriptures in light of God’s mission. Matthew 28 offers the mission of making disciples of all nations as the centerpiece of the Christ following movement. It is vital then that the disciples learn to read the text missionally.

For a primer on a missional reading follow this link: A Short Primer on Reading the Bible Missionally

5) Conversion and Personal Transformation. Making disciples means the transformation of lives. The core of Jesus’ message was (Re)Align with the new reality that God is bringing about in our day (matt 4:17). Matthew’s Gospel is not about easy believism. It assumes that the Gospel changes lives and shapes persons to reflect the character of God. The Gospel is inherently counter-cultural. It challenges both the ideological/theological systems of the world as well as those of cultural Christianity. It invites persons to participate in God’s mission to save the world. This means that we ourselves must be saved and transformed into the sort of persons that can follow Jesus into the darkest places on earth because we have become persons of the light.

 © 2007 Brian D. Russell (revised 9/2015)