Synoptic Gospels: 263-264

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folks have already expressed some appreciation for that anyway well i was going to ask uh...
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brother george for his uh... his expert note -taking opinion on exactly where we were i think uh...
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at least what i have looked at is we're in the middle of section two sixty three in the blue book of some would like to maybe uh...
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distribute the copies that we have we have been studying through the synoptic gospels for uh...
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the majority of the past decade and uh... so uh...
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if you don't get end up with one of those it's uh... matthew twenty and mark ten are the two parallels the sons of zebedee and precedence among the disciples my uh...
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my recollection is that we had not really completed looking at this section before getting to Zacchaeus as i recall so once again uh...
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we'll look at mark chapter ten verses thirty five to forty five this is section two sixty three in the uh...
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synoptic and james and john the sons of zebedee came forward to him and said to him teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you and he said to them what you want me to do for you and they said to him grant us to sit once you're right here once you're left in your glory but you said to them you do not know what you are asking are you able to drink the cup that i drink of the baptize the baptism with which i am baptized and they said to him we are able just said to them the cup that i drink you will drink in the baptism with which i am baptized you will be baptized but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant but is for those for whom it has been prepared when the turn the ten heard it they began to be indignant at james and john and jesus called them and said to them you know that those who are supposed to rule over the gentiles lord over them and their great men exercise authority over them but it shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant whoever would be first among you must be slave of all the son of man also came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many now the last time that we were in the synoptic study we looked at the synoptic issue of the mother of the sons of zebedee versus james and john the sons of zebedee we looked at our answers for that particular issue and the synoptic issues that it raises we had worked through the fact that the disciples had become indignant at james and john for the request that was given to jesus that they would in essence have priority over the others is the interpretation we saw jesus statement that they were not to be like the gentiles are not to be like the gentiles who lord over them their great men exercise authority over them this was not to be what you would have amongst the church and when you see how the church is organized in acts when you see that is organized as local assemblies you do not have the creation of a external authority outside of the local assemblies even acts chapter 15 and the
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Jerusalem Council is not a sufficient basis for the assertion that there is to be some kind of hierarchical organization existing outside of the local assemblies where you would have individuals who in essence
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Lord over a large portion of the church or larger sections of the church the way that the
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Lord and his apostles established the church really contains within it a antidote to the idea of clerical ism of the creation of a special priest class of the creation of a view of men who have some type of ultimate authority over large swaths of the church now of course it did not take long for that apostolic example and the
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New Testament example of the formation of the church to be overrun by a return to older ways not only the idea of a what historically is called a monarchical episcopate a monarch episcopacy the the bishops so a reigning bishop early on in the second century you have someone like Ignatius who is bishop of a city and clearly he represents the first step in a in a creation of a hierarchical structure even though interestingly enough his letters likewise illustrate that he knew that not all of all churches function that way and one of the interesting churches that he writes to that has no single bishop is the church at Rome that continued to have a multiplicity of elders just as we have in the
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New Testament until about the year 140 then you began to see that creation of a monarchical episcopate there as well but the fact is that this idea of great men exercising authority over them in 2005
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I had the opportunity of lecturing in in Italy and spending one day in in Rome specifically and I visited st.
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Peter's and I will never forget not only the ornateness of the building and the gold and the marble and all the rest that goes with it but these massive tombs these massive statues of these these popes some of whom
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I knew their personal stories and just had to chuckle just a little bit at seeing that the grandiose nature of their entombment in light of the lives that they lived and you just can't help but think of this text in that in that context you said the disciples it shall not be amongst you yes they they like to call the
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Pope the the servant of all but not too many servants end up in in marble tombs with ornate ornate decorations all over it so once you abandon the the biblical parameters then it's easy to start exalting people to positions that the
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New Testament never even dreams of existing in in the church instead the path to greatness as church history certainly shows us over the years is seen right here but it shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant never be first among you must be slave of all and when we think of those who whose names do loom large in the history of the church it is those who gave their lives in service not who accepted service of everybody else and so you think of the great names and how often they would sacrifice and give of themselves in the in the mindset of a servant and that is what made them great and what causes us to remember them even though obviously many of the greatest servants of Christ we will not know about until the day of judgment itself and and eternity will reveal these things for many have died martyrs deaths that we we do not know today we can certainly through the use of electronic means hear much more about people who are suffering for Christ then then we have in the past we might only hear you know even a matter of decades ago it might be quite some time before you hear about someone's death maybe there might even something could have been done had communication been faster to try to save certain people from a certain fate but today we can find out in a matter of moments when for example in Pakistan our fellow believers are condemned to hanging into death for blaspheming the
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Prophet which is which is the charge that is used by the majority Muslim population against anyone who dares to stand up against them who dares to to speak what is right and of course to even say that Jesus is the son of God is considered by the
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Muslims to be a blasphemy of the Prophet because the Prophet said otherwise so if you're saying Jesus son of God then you're saying the
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Prophet was a liar therefore under the laws of Pakistan you must die and hence you have the persecution the constant fear every single day of our fellow believers of the
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Muslim majority that very gladly utilizes this to persecute our our brothers and sisters all under a government propped up by our billions and billions of tax dollars keep that one in mind
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Afghanistan the exact same type of thing is happening there we don't necessarily hear about everyone we do hear more and more about this but it's happened all down through history the fact that the path to greatness for a believer is through service is laid out here and it is interesting before I look at the 45th verse
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I just want to note something on the synoptic level notice that Luke does have an extremely abbreviated version of this story in chapter 22 verses 24 to 27 a dispute also rose among them which of them was to be regarded as the greatest doesn't even mention
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James and John doesn't mention James and John's mother anything like that but you have the same response the
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Kings and Gentiles exercise lordship over them those in authority over them are called benefactors but not so with you rather the greatest among you become as the youngest and leader as one who serves for which is the greater one who sits at the table or one who serves it is is it not the one who sits at the table but I am among you as one who serves now that is either a greatly abbreviated version or in all probability given that on the night of Jesus's betrayal as they are walking to the
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Garden of Gethsemane what are the disciples after the
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Lord's Supper and after the washing of their feet Jesus has given them the example of servanthood after all of that what are they arguing about who is going to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven
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I've said many times if I was Jesus I would have given up on these guys
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I mean obviously they just don't get it let's look for some better guys but thankfully that's that's not how the
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Lord works but it seems to me most probable that what
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Luke is giving us here is a synopsis of a number of the things that Jesus said over and over and over again because this dispute arose over and over and over again
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I mean you know when you have 13 people walking along a trail they can't all be gathered around one guy so you're always going to have the the dust -eaters in the back and they're going to talk with one another and especially when things have taken place like when they were sent out and they were given authority to heal and so on and so forth you can just imagine you know the guys in the back they know they're out of earshot or think they're out of earshot of Jesus and what they can start talking about so Bartholomew did you see did you see that healing
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I performed back that was a tough one wasn't it he seemed to be doing great we're all that when
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I great yeah well yeah but you said demon I dealt with oh let me tell you and you know here comes the conversations and we know human nature we know what people are like and and so I would imagine that this came up many many times because it's recorded for us enough time to represent the fact that probably many times this this conversation took place but the basis of this being the servant whoever would be first among you must be your slave is then laid out in the example of Jesus himself for the
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Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve and to give his life is a ransom for many and so the very foundation that the
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Christian is to have to view his life of one of service is given to us by Christ even though he is the
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Son of Man the Son of Man has servants who serve him in divine service and Daniel in the book of Daniel the
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Son of Man has has servants who give him the true the highest form of spiritual worship and service the
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Son of Man is a is a term that had a rich background but he says the
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Son of Man came not to be served he will be served but his purpose in coming was not to subjugate his disciples or the earth at that time and exercise his divine power and establish a human kingdom instead he came to serve so the purpose of his coming this is very much again demonstrative of the fact that what
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Paul presents to us in Philippians chapter 2 in the Carmen Christi that him is
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Christ is to God that he made himself of no reputation he took on human form he became obedient he humbled himself even the point of death even the cross death this is not some secondary thing this is not some oh man
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I created now man's fall what I could do now or or the idea that Jesus came first to be
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Messiah for Israel to accept him as Messiah and to exalt Israel and and establish the old covenant all the rest is that well
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Israel's now rejected Jesus now we come up plan B there are people who have that idea to know it the whole purpose of the coming of Christ is repeatedly laid out he has come not to be served but to serve from the start that was his intention is to serve and that service is exemplified especially in the phrase and to give his life as a ransom for many we have seen that phraseology before it comes to us out of Isaiah the servant by his sacrifice will justify the many here he gives his life as a ransom for many in the angelic announcement of the birth of Christ the reason he is called
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Jesus Yahshua Jehovah saves is because he will save his people from their sins his is a salvific mission as a mission of service it is through the accomplishment of that mission of service that then as Paul says he is exalted he has given the name which is above every name of the name of Jesus every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess of those in heaven earth and on the earth all the glory of God the
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Father and then as a result of the accomplishment of his sacrifice you then have the fact that every knee will bow and the kingdom of God is certainly established with a king and so we serve him but we serve him and following in his footsteps he gave us the example in his life of service and so that then becomes what
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Jesus teaches them but we know this takes place before the night of the betrayal so even after teaching them this certainly when it says give his life as a ransom for many what what what what does that mean how you know the same same theme struck in Matthew chapter 16 if you recall and what
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Satan's receive of Satan yeah sort of what's Peter's response far be it from you
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Lord you you will not die you're you're the Messiah and Jesus's response to Peter is get behind me
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Satan you are not mine of the things of God but the things of man so the message just doesn't sink in until the reality of the crucifixion is there and the coming of the
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Holy Spirit to help them to understand that section 264 I believe we have already covered back in 96 going to double -check this here yes we've covered that in section 96 this is why we're actually going to be picking up speed here so we can go to Zacchaeus and then the parable the pounds is repeated in 299 so we'll get to that one eventually and then the anointing of Bethany we've already looked at that one and so actually we're who we are just a couple sections away from the triumphal entry and without a doubt the most difficult synoptic issues are right around the corner so it's we're gonna have to get a deep seat in the saddle no those ways about it because it'll it'll get it'll get difficult all right you roasting
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I guess I've got roasters in the room so we'll see what the thing is saying here it's saying 75 76 so that's getting up there a little bit so just the fans running is a fan running the back if someone could check that at least if air is moving
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I've got a fan on me that helps the Sun does start beating on this wall and it's believe me the warmest spot in the room is right there all right yes
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Luke chapter 19 verses 1 through 10 Luke chapter 19 verses 1 through 10 he entered
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Jericho was passing through and there was a man named Zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector and rich and he sought to see who
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Jesus was but could not on account of the crowd because he was short it says he was small stature but that's the politically correct way of saying he was short so he ran on a head and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him for he was to pass that way and when
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Jesus came to place he looked up and said to him Zacchaeus make haste and come down for I must stay at your house today so he made haste he came down received him joyfully and when they saw it they all murmured he has gone in to be a guest of a man who was a sinner like he has stood and said the
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Lord behold Lord the half of my good they give the poor if I have defied anyone of anything
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I restore it fourfold Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house for since he also is a son of Abraham the
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Son of Man came to seek and to save the loss now we all know the story
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I I am old enough to remember this story on flannel graph amen hallelujah brother yes
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I okay yes there's a number of flannel graph hands going up there I remember that too you know
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I I don't know how long it took the
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Sunday school teachers back then to cut out all those little figures and put them up on the flannel graph but that was in my day that was that was video entertainment you know that was that was the best we could come up with was yes
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I do oh yes oh yes the key is was a man yeah some like that yeah we little man yeah yes
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I do recall and so yes it's been a while since I sang it however it's not in the
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Trinity hymnal for some odd reason I'm sure why but yes
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I I do recall that from from long long ago and I don't think we're going to be pasting that one in like we did and can it be in the front of these old ones so but we all know the story fairly well and it's interesting that possibly this is
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Luke's way of repeating what we just saw in the statement of Jesus so man came to give his life ransom ace here you have the
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Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost but here an example is given it's nowhere anywhere else and this kind of thing gives scholars who are wedded to particular theories of dependence of Luke and Matthew on mark and so on so forth fits because it's like okay it's one it's one time like in the parable of the pounds on the next page you have some type of parallel between Luke and Matthew and remember remember seven years ago we did the introduction of the synoptics we talked about the various theories that are out there and one of the primary theories is that Matthew and Luke are following what's called the
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Q source Q the German word quela which means source so if you call it the
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Q source you're calling it the source source but it sounds good and that they have this this collection of Jesus's sayings primarily that we no longer possess but that doesn't really explain a whole lot of why
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Luke would go off on his own or Matthew go off on his own and things like that but it's found only in Luke and we have this interesting story there's it really strikes us as a very strongly historical story about a particular man maybe
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Luke in his travels had met Zacchaeus you would expect that Zacchaeus would be a believer in Jesus Christ once the gospel is proclaimed and maybe in the persecutions that came against the early
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Christians that Zacchaeus had been forced out of the land of Judea out of his home which was one of the purposes
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I think in that early persecution of Christians while the gospel had said you shall go forth to the uttermost parts of the earth sometimes
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God has to do some pushing to get folks to the uttermost parts of the earth but maybe
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Luke encountered Zacchaeus at some point don't know can't say but it seems that you have here a very straightforward story and you do of a short
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Christian or a future short Christian the tax collectors were detested because they were considered to be traitors in essence this is a position that you would purchase because no one could ever really know exactly what the taxes were supposed to be sounds familiar so the tax collector just sort of got to establish that for himself and Rome would allow him to charge a certain percentage or whatever he could get without causing rebellion now you you cause you know someone rebels because you're doing way too much and you lose your job but clearly he was a chief tax collector which would basically mean he was probably over others this is sort of the
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Roman amway version of tax collection from the past and it's simply straightforwardly says he was rich but he also had short man's disease and so he was well known and you can just imagine in your mind
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I he's trying to see this miracle worker he's heard about him and the crowds are all along the streets and streets that didn't look back then like our streets look today
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I assure you if you've ever been over there they're very narrow and so you know just a few people on either side of the street is gonna pretty much block it off and you're gonna see this little guy this little run to the guy run around behind folks and I'm sure there are plenty of folks who saw him back there and if they had liked him they would have said ah
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Zacchaeus come forward hear that or he was nervous about that because you know ah
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Zacchaeus come forward here comes here comes the horse you know push him out there and boom ah poor
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Zacchaeus but one of the two and so he can't see but there weren't multiple multiple multiple ways to go along the roadway so he knew of a sycamore tree and who knows if this was the very first time he had been up the sycamore tree but he goes up the sycamore tree there clearly is some kind of a miraculous element to verse 5 because there is no indication that Jesus has ever met
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Zacchaeus yet he has knowledge of his name and stops and looks up in the tree at this point
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I'm sure that Zacchaeus was for a moment mourning the ease with which everyone could see him he was wishing he was short and down in the crowd at this point until Jesus said for I must stay at your house today so Jesus points him out make haste and come down for I must stay at your house today now there's obviously a purpose for this on Jesus's part he knows exactly who
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Zacchaeus is and he knows exactly what the response of the crowd is going to be when he goes with Zacchaeus because he knows how the people feel about Zacchaeus and the crowd sees it and they murmur and he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner so once again the theme is struck as it is struck many times in the
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Gospels in many different ways that Jesus was a friend of sinners that he associated with the wrong crowd but you will know that whenever Jesus is found amongst sinners he is never doing what sinners do he is never rejoicing in their sin and the result is always the of those who are sinners now the term a sinner here is not meant to indicate for example a prostitute but this is just simply a word of derision he's a sinner because he has betrayed his people and he works the
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Romans and a good Jewish person would not do what Jesus is doing now
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I don't know what kind of time frame exists between verses 7 and 8 if you notice if you're thinking back to the flannel graph with me the assumption always is that verse 8 is after dinner after maybe
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Jesus has spoken words of wisdom and life and conviction and explained who the
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Messiah should be I we are not told all we have is Jesus in the roadway make haste come down so Zacchaeus comes down received him joyfully so evidently that's when they go to the house and when the crowd sees they've gone to the house that's when they're complaining and griping and complaining and so at some point after dinner whatever
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Luke does not give us a menu or anything else there's there's a lot of summarization going here but when it says
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Zacchaeus stood I sort of chuckle about that are you standing Zacchaeus oh good okay just checking but I think the reason it says that Zacchaeus stood is because how you would eat dinner remember you would eat dinner lying down resting on one elbow in that culture in that day which
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I can't believe was overly good for digestion but that's how it was done
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I guess if that's how you'd always done it then you'd get used to it we do it sitting down and any more for most of our society sitting down behind the wheel of a car that's how you that's how you do it and so it says that he has stood this probably would be stood after the dinner while everyone else is still reclining which would be something you would do if you're making an announcement which is exactly what he is doing because it says that he has stood and said to the
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Lord behold Lord the half of my goods I give the poor and if I have defrauded any one of anything
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I restore it fourfold now this would be in line with Old Testament categories
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Jesus accepts his words at face value they seem to be from a a true heart because Jesus response to him is today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham for the
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Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost and so Jesus knows that the crowd outside because of the
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I guess the only way we could really put it properly is the infection of the Pharisees has adopted a view of God's law that is very externalistic and therefore a matter of well
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I won't have anything to do with someone like that that clearly is how the key is had been treated all along and Jesus is showing of kindness to him but not a compromising kindness results in this man's well today salvation has come to this house how was that show that was shown in the fact that there was a change of what that he is was passionate about clearly he had been passionate about his possessions of this point so much so that he was willing to be made a pariah amongst his own people he was willing to walk down those narrow streets and endure the looks of hatred being despised no one even though they all knew his name because he would come knocking on their doors when it was tax time no one would say his name and kindness it must have been a difficult life but when your passion is your stuff your things then that's where your your love is that's where your focus is but to give away half of his goods and restore fourfold any one who had been defrauded would mean
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Zacchaeus would be living on the margin now you'd only be collecting what he was supposed to collect not becoming rich and that was the clear demonstration that something had truly taken place in his heart if he had just you know made a major donation to the ministry of Jesus and left it at that that would be more of a stabbing of the conscience then truly a demonstration that there had been a a change in the man's heart but what he does results in Jesus's announcement that salvation has come to this house resulting in one of the more famous statements in the
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Gospels the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost this is a text that I have often used in a series of texts because it's a purpose statement it's not a hope statement it's not a
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I wish I could do this statement it is why did the Son of Man come well we just saw in the preceding page the
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Son of Man came so notice you have the Son of Man came in Mark 10 45
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Luke I'm sorry Matthew 20 28 now you have the
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Son of Man came now if you parallel the two then he came to do what in Matthew and Mark to give his life as a ransom for many in Luke in this story to seek and to save the lost so obviously the atoning work of Christ the giving of his life as a ransom for many is the means and mechanism whereby he fulfills the statement here to seek and to save the lost so many people because of our traditions because of maybe how we were raised or what we hear so often around us hear this and reinterpret
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Jesus's statement Jesus's statement in Luke chapter 19 verse 10 is made after the accomplishments of the salvation of Zacchaeus and yet so many people will take that phrase of accomplishment to seek he miraculously sees
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Zacchaeus in the tree knows his name knows the situation he calls him to himself goes into his home we're not told what's said but we can imagine he seeks and he has saved the lost
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Zacchaeus was lost he was a son of Abraham and given that he follows the
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Mosaic law and restoration he knew what God's law was wasn't ignorant he undoubtedly been raised in the synagogue which only made his becoming a tax collector all the worse here it's in the context of accomplishment and yet so many people see this and they read it for the
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Son of Man came to seek every single person and to save those who allow him to do so isn't that how most people understand it
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I mean it's just a mindset but they're not realizing that in this context there's an entire crowd outside that have missed what
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Jesus is about that's why they are murmuring and when you see that term murmur check that phrase out sometime because in John chapter 6 the crowd was murmuring about what
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Jesus said and Jesus's response to them was stop grumbling amongst yourselves no one can come to me unless the father has sent me draws him and I'll raise him up on the last day that was
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Jesus's response they're murmuring and grumbling in John 6 and they're outside murmuring he's got in to be a guest of man who's sinner if he was really a prophet he'd know that that guy was a sinner he'd know that woman was a sinner that's that's touching his feet wiping his feet with her hair he'd know that if he was really a prophet and to take phrases like this and say well he was he was trying just as hard to save them as he was that kiss just makes a mockery the whole thing but it's that tradition a tradition that gets in people's way this is a phrase of ability just as John 6 the phrase of ability you are not believing the ones the father gives me will follow me here we have for the
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Son of Man came to seek and to save both and yet so many will say well yeah he tries he really puts forth a good effort if he can fail at this then the very
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Son of Man a divine figure in the book of Daniel can come and try but fail and there are a lot of people say yep that's right and I say nope don't believe it for a second all right we will pick up I will just have to remember this because we don't have the official keeper of the notes with us today so we will pray that George is alright and we will pick up with the parable of the pounds next time all right let's pray together our gracious Heavenly Father we thank you for your word we thank you for preserving it for us down to the centuries and we do thank you that the