{"id":72988,"date":"2019-04-16T23:05:16","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T05:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=72988"},"modified":"2019-04-18T00:26:26","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T06:26:26","slug":"new-testament-notes-218-222","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/new-testament-notes-218-222.html","title":{"rendered":"New Testament Notes 218-222"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Crystals<\/a>
Salt crystals (Wikimedia Commons pubic domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luke 14:34-35<\/a><\/p>\n

Compare 5:13; Mark 9:49-50<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we become bland, wholly conformed to the society and culture around us, in complete sync with surrounding social trends and current fashions, thinking just the thoughts that everybody around us thinks, desperately trying to ape the socio-cultural elite, there\u2019s no reason for us to exist and no reason to call us the Church.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rocky<\/a>
A flock of sheep \u2013perhaps even, judging from the background, in Utah
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luke 15:1-10<\/a><\/p>\n

Compare Matthew 18:12-14<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are at least\u00a0three\u00a0points to be drawn from these brief passages:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1) \u00a0The Lord really, really values the souls of individual people; there is nobody, not even the most unrighteous, for whom he has no concern. \u00a0(This works powerfully, I think, against certain Calvinistic suggestions that he essentially created some people for the purpose of damning them.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2) \u00a0Christians aren\u2019t supposed to interact solely with \u201cthe righteous.\u201d \u00a0If we\u2019re to reach out, we\u2019re to do it even to people whom we might regard as unlikely to accept the Gospel. \u00a0They might well surprise us. \u00a0(I know that I\u2019ve<\/em> been surprised. \u00a0More than once<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

3) \u00a0On one level, these parables seem to apply to people whom the Lord<\/em> has lost. \u00a0They\u2019re his strayed children. \u00a0(See the parable of the Prodigal Son, coming up next at Luke 15:11-32<\/a>.) \u00a0Taken that way, these parables charter missionary work and evangelization, taking the Gospel to people who haven\u2019t heard it. \u00a0(See Matthew 9:36-38<\/a>.) \u00a0However, they might just as well be taken as applying to those who\u2019ve once known the Gospel but have gone missing. \u00a0In that sense, these little vignettes support reaching out to those who\u2019ve rejected their covenants and abandoned their former beliefs. \u00a0Again,\u00a0we\u2019re to reach out\u00a0even to people whom we might regard as unlikely to accept our message. \u00a0They might well surprise us. \u00a0I\u2019ve been surprised on several occasions to see once embittered people return to full belief and fellowship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rembrandt's<\/a>
Rembrandt, \u201cReturn of the Prodigal Son\u201d (ca. 1668)
Wikimedia Commons public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luke 15:11-32<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is, of course, one of the great parables in the New Testament, and, if I may say so, one of the great stories in all of literature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It has at least two themes:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1) \u00a0It illustrates the mercy, forgiveness, and love of the father\/Father.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2) \u00a0It warns against smug self-righteousness and self-centeredness among those who\u2019re trying to be disciples.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would be important for either of those themes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Illustrating<\/a>
A Jan Luyken etching of the New Testament parable of the unjust servant or steward
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luke 16:1-9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is one of the weirder passages in the Gospels.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is Jesus really commending what is, by just about any standard, unethical behavior?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s extremely unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What he is<\/em>\u00a0clearly praising, though, is worldly wisdom, prudence \u2014 canniness<\/em>, if you will. \u00a0Competence in real life. \u00a0Functioning.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disciples of Christ are not to be fools. \u00a0They\u2019re to be fully in the world, while, of course, not being of<\/em> the world. \u00a0They\u2019re to be able to negotiate real life as well as non-Christians do while at the same time being fully Christian.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Incarnation of Jesus is a parallel to this, in a way. \u00a0He was fully divine, and his Kingdom was not of this world. \u00a0But he was fully human, too.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Luke 14:34-35 Compare 5:13; Mark 9:49-50 \u00a0 If we become bland, wholly conformed to the society and culture around us, in complete sync with surrounding social trends and current fashions, thinking just the thoughts that everybody around us thinks, desperately trying to ape the socio-cultural elite, there\u2019s no reason for us to exist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2625,3007,4600,4604,4606,4602],"class_list":["post-72988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-new-testament","tag-new-testament-commentary","tag-prodigal-son","tag-salt","tag-sheep","tag-unjust-steward"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Testament Notes 218-222<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Luke 14:34-35 Compare 5:13; Mark 9:49-50   If we become bland, wholly conformed to the society and culture around us, in complete sync\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/new-testament-notes-218-222.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Testament Notes 218-222\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Luke 14:34-35 Compare 5:13; 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