Week Forty-Two Reading Assignment:
Matthew 15 - Mark 9
A striking feature in all this writing is that it was done in the street language of the day, the idiom of the playground and marketplace.
In the Greek-speaking world of that day, there were two levels of language: formal and informal. Formal language was used to write philosophy and history, government decrees and epic poetry. If someone were to sit down and consciously write for posterity, it would of course be written in this formal language with its learned vocabulary and precise diction.
But if the writing was routine -- shopping lists, family letters, bills and receipts -- it was written in the common, informal idiom of everyday speech, street language. And this is the language used throughout the New Testament.
Some people are taken aback by this, supposing that language dealing with a holy God and holy things should be elevated... But one good look at Jesus -- his preference for down-to-earth stories and easy association with common people -- gets rid of that supposition.
(Eugene Peterson, The Message)
In the Greek-speaking world of that day, there were two levels of language: formal and informal. Formal language was used to write philosophy and history, government decrees and epic poetry. If someone were to sit down and consciously write for posterity, it would of course be written in this formal language with its learned vocabulary and precise diction.
But if the writing was routine -- shopping lists, family letters, bills and receipts -- it was written in the common, informal idiom of everyday speech, street language. And this is the language used throughout the New Testament.
Some people are taken aback by this, supposing that language dealing with a holy God and holy things should be elevated... But one good look at Jesus -- his preference for down-to-earth stories and easy association with common people -- gets rid of that supposition.
(Eugene Peterson, The Message)
This Week's Teaching Video:
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This Week's Teaching Video:
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Charting Our Progress
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Tell Me the Stories of JesusAs we read the Gospels -- and especially the Gospels of Matthew and Luke -- we meet one of the most cherished characteristics of Jesus' ministry: His parables. They were so much a part of His teaching style, in fact, that Matthew reports, "Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable" (Matthew 13:34 NIV).
"Parable" is a difficult genre to define, and New Testament scholars are not always in agreement about which teachings qualify as parables and which do not. For our purposes here, however, we will not nitpick about those details. It is sufficient for us to note these three things. First, we see that Jesus entrusted truth to story. This is a profound business, for stories convey meaning differently than mere propositional teaching can. To say that God loves and welcomes us even when we rebel is beautiful and true. Still, it says so much less than the story of the prodigal son manages to say. Second, we observe Jesus' abundant use of picturesque language. Even` when not using a parable per se, still His teachings are full of pictures -- rich with imagery that makes the message come to life. And, finally, we note that His stories and His imagery are all rather routine. That is to say, Jesus borrows from the stuff of day-to-day life and experience. The truth is immediately and univer-sally accessible, therefore, because it is presented in terms of common experiences and everyday sights. |
Just What Is the Kingdom Like?We noted in the column to the left the importance of parables in Jesus' teaching ministry. And within that collection of parables, we discover that a dominant, recurring theme is the kingdom of heaven (or, sometimes, the kingdom of God). Because it is so prominent, we want to give that theme a little thought here.
On numbers of occasions, Jesus begins a parable by saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like" (e.g., Matthew 13:45). Elsewhere, He presents it as a question: "What is the kingdom of God like?" (Luke 13:18 NIV). Or, in a similar vein, He also says, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God?" (e.g., Mark 4:30 NRSV). The point is that Jesus uses the stories and images of His parables in order to illustrate what the kingdom of God is like. So what is it like? Well, let's look at a few sample parables, and after you read each, answer the questions below about it.
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