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Yeshua On Repentance

August 29th, 2011 | Add a Comment

When he came to his senses he said, "How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!" -Luke 15:17 Yeshua dined with sinners. Those of us who eat bread with him today are infinitely thankful for this. It is not, contra E.P. Sanders, that Yeshua offered the kingdom without repentance or light without trial. Those who dined with Yeshua did not think this is what he was offering. One said, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor" (Luke 19:8). Yeshua is at once inviting and imposing, welcoming and formidable. You may be to him the hundredth sheep, the one rejoiced over that was lost, or a whitewashed tomb. You may hear from him, "your faith has made you ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Applying the Gospels , Discipleship - Formation , Forgiveness of Sins , Judaism Today & Yeshua , Preachable Points , Teaching of Yeshua

How They Read "Messiah" #1

August 25th, 2011 | Add a Comment

It's important to neither exaggerate nor diminish the importance of messianic hope in the times of Yeshua and the disciples. Exaggeration looks like this: Rome and the Herodians continually had to quell messianic pretenders and uprisings. Diminishing looks like this: there was virtually no messianic hope in Yeshua's time and no one was looking for a king to lead a revoution. Both claims have been made. In Michael Bird's Are You the One Who Is to Come?: The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question, there is a helpful chart of some major messianic scriptures and references to the thought of the time about these texts. What kinds of things were people saying about Isaiah 11 in Second Temple Judaism? That will be our theme in this first installment. To help those who ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Apocalyptic Literature , Background to Gospels , Hebrew Bible as Testimony , Messiah

Yeshua Musterion

August 19th, 2011 | 3 Comments

This is a transcript for today's podcast. Musterion is the word for "secret" or "mystery," which is found in Mark 4:11. Find the Yeshua in Context podcast in the iTunes Store and at DerekLeman.com. "Love has ever in view," says George MacDonald, "the absolute loveliness of that which it beholds." This, I think, is some of what is going on with Yeshua's kingdom mission. "Where loveliness is incomplete, and love cannot love its fill of loving," he goes on, "it spends itself to make more lovely, that it may love more." The disciples were constantly misunderstanding Yeshua. And even this was part of Yeshua's method. He was willing to defer much of their learning to the moments after the great crisis of his death and the great revelation of his resurrection. Meanwhile ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Applying the Gospels , Cross , Discipleship - Formation , Identity of Yeshua , Reading Strategies

Greece, Rome, Israel #3

August 12th, 2011 | 2 Comments

And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. -Mark 11:18 The gospel did not just happen. The events which marked the onset of a new stage in the world's redemption happened in a time and place with three main cultural backdrops. Parts 1 and 2 introduced Greek and Roman influences on these events, both in Yeshua's time and the later time the gospels were written. What about conditions and social structures in Israel itself? What are some basics readers need to know about conditions and groups in Israel? What about Jewish concerns in the times of the evangelists? ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Background to Gospels , Beginners , Formation of the Gospels , Gentiles , Ideal Israel Theme , Identity of Yeshua , Judaism Today & Yeshua , Law, Torah

Greece, Rome, Israel #2

August 11th, 2011 | Add a Comment

"Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin, and let me look at it." And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesars." Yeshua said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him. -Mark 12:14-17 What has the gospel to do with Rome? As in the first installment about Greece and Hellenism, we're considering Roman background in the life and message of Yeshua as well as in the time of the evangelists who wrote the gospels ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Background to Gospels , Formation of the Gospels , Gentiles , Greco-Roman Background , Son of God

Greece, Rome, Israel #1

August 10th, 2011 | 1 Comment

Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. . . . He said to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." -Mark 7:26, 27. Our reading of the gospels should take into account three streams of culture. In particular we can says that the times of Yeshua were affected by: (1) the reaction against Hellenism or Greek culture in Israel that had come to the fore in the days of the Maccabees from 165 BCE on, (2) the influence of Rome both for good and bad in the life of Israel, and (3) the struggles of Israelite groups and cultures to define themselves in a changing world. The three cultural streams of the gospels should ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Background to Gospels , Formation of the Gospels , Gentiles , Greco-Roman Background

Yeshua the Galilean

August 5th, 2011 | 3 Comments

Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? -Acts 2:7 The miracle of that special Shavuot (Pentecost) at the Temple was something very human: the appearance of the Spirit of God in individual theophanies on the disciples. Many onlookers seem to have missed the tongues of fire that Luke says rested on the disciples. What they noticed was the strange speech. Humble Israelites were speaking languages from far away lands. And it occurred to the onlookers as more than strange that these powerfully endued speakers were Galilean. It was the Judeans, not the Galileans, who emphasized scribal education. If anyone might be expected to have such learning of languages, and possibly if anyone were to be chosen as a prophet, most would expect this to happen to Judeans and not Galileans. What is ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Background to Gospels , Beginners , Galilee , General , Preachable Points , Temple and Torah