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Week 42: Jer. 19 - 33, John 8-12, Psalm 117-119:1-24

The Great Shepherd

In our reading in John 10 this week, we will be reading Jesus' words about being the Good Shepherd. Many of us immediately think of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." But there are actually many messianic passages about "the Shepherd" in the Old Testament, and we can learn much about Jesus' mission and message by what these passages say about Him. Let's look at a few:

We can see many truths about Jesus as our shepherd even in this passage. It says that He will be born in Bethlehem, like His ancestor David who was a shepherd. His origins are from many ages ago, suggesting that He was co-eternal with His Father. And, it says that He would have a kingdom that would expand to the ends of the world. And that He Himself would be the source of the peace of His people. What powerful words!

Another passage about the shepherd describes His suffering too. Jesus quotes Zechariah 13 which says,

This passage suggests that the messiah would have an especially close relationship with God, but yet God would allow Him to be attacked and harmed by others. Jesus quotes this passage to tell His disciples that He expects that He will suffer, and that they as His "sheep" would be scattered - they would abandon him at His death. (Matt 26:31, Mark 14:27).

Yet another passage where the shepherd is mentioned is in Isaiah 40. There we hear about a person who would come before him who would be a voice crying out, '"In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord'". We recognize this as the passage that is a reference to John the Baptist (Jn 1:23). But the rest of the passage talks about the shepherd who is coming after him:

Here, the amazing thing is that the shepherd who comes after the one who calls out is actually the Lord God Himself! So if this passage is about John the Baptist and Jesus, it is a clear statement that the Messiah that John was proclaiming would be God incarnate. We were saying a few weeks ago that many messianic prophecies describe the coming of a great king, but do not explicitly say that He would be divine. But this one seems to say that the LORD himself will come as the shepherd.

One of the most important passages about the Good Shepherd is in Ezekiel 34. It also has some very powerful things to say about the Shepherd: 

This passage contains several rich things that are in the background of Jesus' statements about Himself. We can hear the background of Jesus' parable about the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to look for the one lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7). We also hear Jesus words about how when He comes again, He will judge between the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31 - 34). We even find a reference to this passage in His words to Zacchaeus: "...the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:9-10).

What is most interesting is that the Ezekiel passage clearly says that it would be God Himself who would come to seek out His lost sheep, and Jesus repeatedly says that He is the fulfillment of these words. Through this, His listeners would have heard his very bold claim that not only is He the Messiah, He is God incarnate, coming to earth to rescue his people.

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Week 43: Jer. 34 - 48, John 13 - 17, Psalm 119: 25 - 72

The Fragrance of Christ

Last week we read the story of Jesus being anointed by Mary with very expensive perfume. We read in Matthew that Jesus comments that she did it to prepare for the day of his burial (Matt 26:12), so we focus on the story of the anointing as pointing toward's Christ's death at the end of the week. 

But, there is another thing going on that would have been obvious to the disciples too, probably so obvious that Jesus didn't even need to mention it. In the act of pouring expensive, perfumed oil on Jesus, Mary was making a clear statement of who she believed He was. Through that act, she proclaimed Him as the Anointed One, which is literally what Messiah means in Hebrew, and Christ in Greek. 

The word Messiah, or anointed, alludes to the ceremony used to set apart one who is chosen by God, as a king or priest would be. Instead of being crowned during a coronation, kings were anointed with sacred oil that was perfumed with extremely expensive spices, making it like diamonds in terms of its preciousness. It was used only for anointing objects in the Temple and for anointing priests and kings, to show that they had been chosen by God. It would have been like putting on an invisible crown that conferred an aura of holiness. Everything that had that unique smell would be known to all as God's special possession.

After this initial anointing, kings would anoint themselves with other precious scented oils for special occasions. We read that both king David and Solomon did this:

So, in ancient times, the majesty of a king would be obvious to those around him, not only because of the jewels and robes that he wore, but by the scent of extremely expensive oils that were poured on him. These royal figures would process through the streets with the fragrance of the oils telling all of the bystanders that a king was passing by. We see this after the anointing of Solomon, who is placed on a donkey and parades through the streets of Jerusalem, while people stand by and cheer:

This leads to a very interesting picture of Jesus final week before his death. In that ancient society, bathing wasn't done that often, and Jesus had one garment that He wore every day.  So because of Mary's anointing, during the final week of Jesus' life, He smelled like royalty. In a very subtle way, God gave the people who interacted with Jesus a very powerful message about Him. Every where He went, He smelled like a king! 

John says that the very next day, Jesus rode on a donkey on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem in a scene very reminiscent of the coronation of Solomon. As He rode past, the people who were cheering must have sniffed the air and said, "It was a king that just passed by!"

Imagine the passion week in that light. As Judas comes to the garden with the guards to arrest Him, the guards sniff the air and wonder what royalty stands before them. As He stands trial, is mocked, and stripped naked, the aroma of who He is clings to Him and quietly suggests who they are beating. Even when the tomb is empty except for His grave clothes, that odor wafts in the air when the women enter. What an amazing God we have!

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. (2 Cor. 2:14-16).

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Week 44: Jer. 49 - 52, Lam. Ezek. 1 - 5, John 18 - 21, James 1, Psalm 119:73 - 120

Encouraging Evidence

This week we will be beginning to read the book of James, written by James, the brother of Jesus, one of the leaders of the early church. It seems ironic that we will start reading his writings only a few days after the newspapers announced a truly amazing find - an ossuary that has the inscription, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" on the side. 

Ossuaries are stone boxes that contain the bones of a deceased person. In the first century, after death, the body would be washed, anointed and wrapped in linen cloths, and then put in a family tomb. In a year, the tomb was opened again and the bones would be all that remained after the flesh had decayed away. The bones would be gathered together and placed in a box, called an ossuary, with the person's name. Often, in the Old Testament, it would speak of the deceased as one who was "gathered to his fathers" (Gen. 49:29, 2Kings 22:10). This refers to the fact that the person's bones would be gathered together with those of his fathers in the family tomb.

If this ossuary is really that of James, the brother of the Jesus we know, it is truly an outstanding find. It would be the oldest known inscription containing the name of Jesus, from 62 AD, an extremely early time. Interestingly, one of the few other ancient references we have to Jesus outside the Bible comes through his brother James, in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. He says:

There are a few reasons that we can't be absolutely certain that this box is the ossuary of the man James, from whom we will be reading. The three names on the box, Ya'acov (Jacob or James), Yosef (Joseph), and Yeshua (Jesus), were all common men's names in the first century. But, the fact that Jesus is listed as the brother is unusual, unless the brother is well known himself. It is interesting that often James seems to be referred to as "James, the brother of Jesus", both in the Bible and even in Josephus. We also don't know where exactly where it was found, except that the reports are that it was found in East Jerusalem, not an unlikely place if James was the leader of the early church there. The analysis of the stone and the chemical deposits indicates that it was most likely from the Jerusalem area. Archaeologists that have analyzed it are convinced that it is not a later forgery - it has a script and style very consistent with the late first century, which would be exactly the time the James died. Overall, the scholarly world says that while we can't be absolutely certain, this very well could be the ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus Christ.

What is amazing is that this find is one of several from just the past 50 years that are strong confirmation of the reality of the events in scripture. During the early 20th century scholars had a profound cynicism about the historicity of the Bible. This was mainly from the fact that they hadn't done enough archaeology, and didn't understand their results well enough to see the evidence that was there. But just in the past fifteen years, key evidence has been found for many of the characters in the biblical text. For instance, in 1990, the ossuary of the family of Caiaphas the high priest was found, and some of the bones that were found were those of a man in his 60's, presumably Caiaphas himself. So we even have the very bones of one of the people present at the trial of Jesus. Inscriptions with the names of Herod, Pilate and others have also been found. As you read the story in John this week, think about that!

Christians tend to be intimidated by scholarship and are fearful of higher study, feeling that it is more spiritual to not fill our heads with lots of facts. It is too bad, because if we believe that God is who He says, and that the message of the gospel is true, we should not lose confidence that it will hold up under scrutiny. The "good news" is that the archaeological evidence points our way, and we can study with integrity and see that the story holds up. If anything, the message only gets stronger when put into its native context.

In my own "walk", I have found that the more knowledge I have under my belt about the evidence for the scriptures, and even for potential difficulties in the text, the more bold my witness has been. Before, I felt like I was standing on one foot on a tiny bit of knowledge, fearfully defending the little ground I stood on. The more I study, the more the ground becomes solid around me, and the bolder I become in sharing with others. Jews say that "study is the highest form of worship" - and it is, because the more we study the real world, the more the reality becomes clear that God truly is here, and that He is acting powerfully in our midst.

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