One of the kind of delightful things about the Bible, if you are a bit of a nerd, is the way that it echoes. Newer parts of the Bible-- the later biblical authors-- will often find themselves describing their own situations in ways that deliberately echo older biblical language. Or, that language gets picked up, and changed in some way.
Let me give you one example. Let's read from Psalm 8 (RSV, with less concern for gender, is helpful here):
8 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is thy name in all the earth!
Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted
2 by the mouth of babes and infants,
thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars which thou hast established;
4 what is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou dost care for him?
5 Yet thou hast made him little less than God,
and dost crown him with glory and honor.
6 Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands;
thou hast put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is thy name in all the earth!
So what is man? This incredibly blessed and exalted human being.
And what is God? The one to be praised, for the way he watches over people, and provides for them.
Now let's turn to a slightly less known passage, Job 7 (RSV for a reason):
17 What is man, that thou dost make so much of him,
and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,
18 dost visit him every morning,
and test him every moment?
19 How long wilt thou not look away from me,
nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?
20 If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men?
Why hast thou made me thy mark?
Why have I become a burden to thee?
21 Why dost thou not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be.”
So what is man?
Man is this intense object of scrutiny by God, who is constantly watching over him. But to what end? God is the one who watches over Job, waiting for Job to make a mistake, looking for an excuse to make Job miserable. This watching is a burden to God. Job is a burden to God. But Job knows he will get the last laugh, in a pyrrhic victory of sorts. One day, verse 21, Job will die, and God will have no one to keep seeking out like this.
It's a dark passage. Right? But notice that Job here is echoing Psalm 8, in a way that twists it, and bends it. And it's only if you see this echo, that you can really appreciate Job. We hear Job's words, and the way they echo Psalm 8, and we find ourselves shaking our heads. We know that when God "visits" his people (an accidental, kind of amusing verbal link), when he watches over them, a different outcome is expected.
A much bigger example that Matthew develops, is the connection between Jesus and Israel. Israel was God's first-born son (Exodus 4:22-23). And when Israel was in Egypt, they were under an evil king, who killed all the male babies. God saved his people from this evil king, by calling them out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1), into the wilderness to be tested, and then across the Jordan.
All of this is echoed in Matthew. In Matthew, Jesus is God's son. He was born under the reign of an evil king, who kills all the male babies. God saves his son from this evil king, by calling this little family into Egypt (using a verse from Hosea that describes Israel as being "out of Egypt"). When he's older, after being baptized in the Jordan, he goes into the wilderness to be tested. What is Matthew doing, in deliberately telling his story this way? These aren't coincidences, or random. And Matthew isn't copying/pasting the OT into his story, exactly. Matthew is echoing the basic storyline of the OT. And what he's signaling to his readers, is that Jesus is God's faithful son, in a way that Israel wasn't. And in some sense, I think, Jesus, as representative of Israel, is rebooting the story of God's kingdom, and God's people, on earth. Or, maybe, we could say that Jesus is the mulligan, a way that God gifts Israel a do-over.
If you find yourself thinking this is fascinating, I know two great books to read. The first, written by a Jew, is Michael Fishbane's book Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel. He explores how this works in the OT. It's super expensive, and a tough read. But if you're curious, and lean nerd, I'll lend it to you. The second is Richard B. Hayes book Echoes of Scripture. Both of these books became instant modern classics.
And if you're not curious at all, and you find yourself a little bored, and wondering what I'm doing, well... the wait is almost over.
Today's passage totally echoes a famous story from the OT. You can't appreciate today's passage, or even really understand it, unless you hear the echo.
So let's start in the OT. 1 Kings 17:7. There's this prophet named Elijah, and God has been providing for this prophet out in the middle of nowhere. But his source of water dries up, and God decides, rather than keep providing for him miraculously out in the wilderness, that He will provide for Elijah some other way.
Verse 7 (starting here to respect the "and then," marking a new story):
(7) and then, at the end of the days, the wadi dried up
because there wasn't rain in the land,
(8) and the word/Word of Yahweh came to him [=Elijah], saying,
(9) "Rise!
Go to Zarephah,
which belongs to Sidon,
that you may dwell there.
LOOK! I have commanded there a woman-- a widow-- to provide for you,
(10) and he rose,
and he went to Zarephah,
and he came to the gate of the city,
and LOOK! There! A woman-- a widow-- gathering wood/sticks,
and he called to her,
and he said,
"Bring, please, to me a little water in a vessel/cup,
that I may drink,
(11) and she went to bring,
and he called to her,
and he said,
"Bring, please, to me a piece of bread in your hand,
(12) and she said,
"The life of Yahweh your God/Elohim, if there is to me any food,
except only a handful of flour in the jar, and a little olive oil in the jug,
and LOOK! I [am] gathering two pieces of wood,
and I will go,
and I will make it for me and my son,
and we will eat it,
and we will die,"
(13) and Elijah said to her,
"Don't be afraid.
Go!
Make, in accordance with your word.
However/only, make for me from it a small round loaf at first,
and bring [it] to me,
while for yourself and for your son, make afterward.
(14) because thus has said Yahweh the God of Israel:
"The jar of the flour will not be finished,
while the jug of the olive oil will not run out
until the day Yahweh gives rain upon the face of the earth,"
(15) and she went,
and she made in accordance with the word of Elijah,
and she ate-- he, and she, and her house, [many] days.
(16) The jar of flour wasn't finished,
while the jug of the olive oil didn't run out,
in accordance with the word of Yahweh that He spoke by the hand of Elijah,
(17) and then, after these things, he became sick-- the son of the woman-- the female owner of the house--
and his sickness was very strong,
until there no longer remained in him breath,
(18) and she said to Elijah,
"What do you have against me, O man of the God/Deity/Elohim?
[that?] You came to me to bring to remembrance my sin and to cause my son to die,
(19) and he said to her,
"Give me your son,"
and he took him,
and he carried up to the upper room
where he [was] dwelling there,
and he laid him down upon his bed,
(20) and he called to Yahweh,
and he said,
"Yahweh my God/Elohim, is it also upon the widow whom I am staying with as a foreigner with her, that you have brought evil/disaster upon [her] by causing her son to die?" ,
(21) and he stretched out upon the child three times,
and he called to Yahweh,
and he said,
"Yahweh my God/Elohim, may it return, please-- the life (neck/throat/soul) of this child upon his midst/inner being,
(22) and Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah, [or, "heeded the voice..."]
and the life of the child returned upon his midst/inner being,
and he lived,
(23) and Elijah took the child,
and he took him down from the upper room,
and he gave him to his mother,
and Elijah said,
"LOOK! Alive, your son [is],"
(24) and the woman said to Elijah,
"Now this, I know:
that a man of God/Elohim, you [are],
and the word of Yahweh in your mouth [is] true/trustworthy."
Much of our Bible is filled with dark, ugly, tough stories. But this one is beautiful. Right? And it ends with Elijah giving the child to his mother, and her drawing a conclusion about who Elijah is. It's now that she believes that Elijah is truly a man of God, and that when he speaks the word of Yahweh, that it's trustworthy.
So now let's turn to Luke 7:11, and hear another beautiful story. And I'm hoping you'll hear the echoes. I'll just read the whole thing:
(11) And it happened on the next day, he (Jesus) went to a city called Nain,
and they were going with him-- his disciples, and a great crowd.
(12) Now, as he drew near to the gate of the city-- ["gate"; 1 Kings 17:10]
and LOOK! He was being carried out-- a dead person , a one and only son to his mother--
and she was a widow,[1 Kings 17:9]
and a large crowd from the city was with her--
(13) and seeing her, the Lord had compassion on her,
and he said to her,
"Don't weep,"
(14) and approaching, he touched the coffin/bier.
Now, the ones carrying it stopped,
and he said,
"Young man, to you I say, Rise!,"
(15) and the dead one sat up,
and he began to speak,
and he (Jesus) gave him to his mother. [1 Kings 17:23]
(16) Now fear took/seized [them] all,
and they glorified God, saying that [1 Kings 17:23]
"A great prophet was raised among us!,
and that
"God has visited his people."
Do you hear the echoes?
Jesus and Elijah both meet a widow by a city gate. Both widows, at least eventually, have their only son die. Jesus and Elijah both raise the son from the dead. They both give the son to his mother. And it results, both times, with a speech that draws conclusions from that raising from the dead.
How does the crowd decide that Jesus is a great prophet, from Jesus raising this son from the dead?
Because they hear the echo. What God did, in the very distant past, He is now doing again through a new prophet, Jesus. God is visiting his people, helping them, rescuing them, through Jesus.
So here, we should find ourselves asking a question. Why does Luke build this whole story, frame it, to reach this peak? Why does it matter that Jesus is a great prophet?
If we were on Family Feud, and had to give Jesus 10 labels, I'm not sure that "prophet" would make the list. But it's apparently really important to Luke. And in a way that maybe surprises us, it's also really important to Jesus.
Back in Luke 4, near the start of his ministry, Jesus describes himself as a prophet. Let's turn there, and remind ourselves of his words. Luke 4:22-28 (NRSV updated no reason):
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
So Jesus describes himself as a prophet. Today, if we were going to be cheeky about it (and gently poke modern culture, which is important), we'd say that this is how he self-identifies. Jesus says, verse 24, that no prophet is welcomed in his own hometown. He then compares himself to Elijah, and Elisha, and basically says that his ministry is like theirs in two ways. The first, is that his ministry is one of power. There will be signs and wonders. People will be healed. And second, his ministry will primarily be to outsiders, to people on the margins.
What we are going to see in the next few weeks is this idea, of Jesus being a great prophet, becomes a key theme in Luke-Acts. And really, it becomes a thread that holds part 1 and 2 of Luke's work together.
At this point, let's flip back to the high point of today's story, Luke 7:16:
(16) Now fear took/seized [them] all,
and they glorified God, saying that [1 Kings 17:23]
"A great prophet was raised among us!,
and that
"God has visited his people."
Our tendency, maybe, is read the crowds' words about Jesus being a great prophet and want to criticize them. Is Jesus a prophet? Is that an adequate way to describe Jesus? Is he someone like Elijah?
We want to add to this, and say more (and at least one of my commentators spends some serious time doing this). We prefer to describe Jesus using different words.
I think Luke is teaching a profound truth, that's deeply rooted in the OT. But this truth isn't something that I, at least, grew up being exposed to. Even after reading Jesus self-identify as a prophet, I struggle to appreciate it.
So let me ask you a question: Why does Luke frame his story in a way that leads up to this idea of Jesus being a great prophet? Why is this important?
A big part of the answer is (1) It helps us understand Jesus' mission, and his relationship to God. Jesus, like the prophets of old, is used by God to show compassion to his people. It's through Jesus, that God visits (Luke 7:16). It's through Jesus, that God speaks his word. Jesus' words, are God's words.
Now, how do we know this? There have been many people throughout history who claim God speaks to them,
who claim that their words are God's words. Sometimes these people are telling the truth. Other times, they are deliberately lying. And I suspect that sometimes people don't hear God quite as well as they think.
But how do you know? Let's reread the punchline from the 1 Kings 17 story, the widow's words:
(24) and the woman said to Elijah,
"Now this, I know:
that a man of God/Elohim, you [are],
and the word of Yahweh in your mouth [is] true/trustworthy."
The woman had already known who Elijah was. She knew, up front, that he was Yahweh's prophet. But there's knowing, and knowing. And when Elijah comes downstairs with her son, well... that will change the way you view someone. And that will change the way you view their words. When Elijah raises your son from the dead, you know that the word of Yahweh in Elijah's mouth is trustworthy. You don't have to filter his words. You don't have to use discernment. You just accept them as having authority, and power.
And when we turn back to Luke, we see the exact same thing starting to happen. We saw last week, with the centurion's servant, that Jesus spoke from a distance, and the servant was healed. Jesus' word had authority over the sickness. And we see here that Jesus speaks, and a boy is raised from the dead. It matters here that Jesus speaks, and doesn't touch him. His word has power, and authority. And understand, I'm not talking about the Bible here at all, yet. When Jesus speaks, his words have power and authority. [I think part of our struggle with this is that we want to tie the power and authority in Jesus' words to his being God, but Luke, and Jesus, tie that power and authority to his being a prophet. We have built our understanding of Jesus on the basis of systematic theology, and not Luke. Jesus is God-- I have no problem with that. But we unpack what that means in a way that's foreign to the gospel of Luke, and that takes out the idea that Jesus is sent from God, having God's words, like a Moses/Elijah/Elisha.]
And what Jesus speaks is truth. The words Jesus speaks, are God's words. And we know this because Jesus spoke, and raised a boy from the dead. So with Jesus, you don't have to filter his words. You don't have to use discernment, and test them. You just accept them as being from God, as having authority, and power.
Luke, I think, expects us to take this, and bring it back into Jesus' teaching in chapter 6. The words Jesus speaks have authority. They are trustworthy. Jesus' words are a firm foundation, that we can build our lives on. Let's reread Luke 6:46-49 (NRSV updated no reason):
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you? 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. 48 That one is like a man building a house who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.[f] 49 But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it quickly collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house.”
What Jesus is looking for, is for people to "come to him," "hear his words," and do them. Those are the people who will be safe on the day of God's judgment.
Many of us have been Christians so long we don't really need convincing of this anymore. It doesn't occur to us that it requires an awful lot of trust to believe that Jesus' words are from God, and that the only firm foundation in life comes through obeying Jesus.
But if you struggle, if you're unsure, that's ok. Luke would like to help you. Just think about the power and authority found in Jesus' words, to heal, and to raise from the dead.
Are you with me so far? Is everyone tracking? What Luke is teaching us, is that Jesus' words have power, and
authority, and that they can trusted as being from God.
Now, let's take another step.
When you read the OT prophets, the more normal way for prophets to speak goes this: "Hear, O Israel, what Yahweh says: Obey my words. Turn back to me." You don't hear Isaiah more simply say, "Obey my word. Do what I'm telling you."
But that's what Jesus simply says. "Do what I tell you." He doesn't say, at least not here, "Do what God tells you."
Do you hear the difference? Jesus' words claim a level of power and authority that Isaiah's don't.
Now, let me add my wrinkle. There is someone else in the Bible who sometimes speaks with this type of power and authority. This someone often says, "Hear the word of Yahweh. Obey the words of Yahweh." But other times, he sounds more like Jesus. "Obey my words." Any guesses on which prophet this is?
(Moses).
Let's turn to Deuteronomy 12:28-32. Lexham English Septuagint, lightly edited. Where it's edited, I used caps:
28 You shall keep and obey and do all the WORDS (logos) that I am commanding you in order that it may go well with you and your sons ?forever?, if you do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.
29 “But if the Lord your God utterly destroys the nations into which you are entering there to take possession of their land from ?before you?, and you dispossess it and you dwell in their land, 30 be mindful of yourself, lest you seek out to follow after them after they have been utterly destroyed from ?before you? saying, ‘How do these nations act towards their gods? I will do so also.’ 31 You shall not do so to your God, for they are abominations to the Lord that he hates, what they have done with their gods. For they have burned up their sons and their daughters with fire for their gods.
32 *“All the words that I am commanding to you this day you shall be mindful to do. You shall not add to them or take away from them.”
Moses, speaking as a great prophet, tells the people, "keep and obey and do all the words I am commanding you, and God will give you and your descendants a good life, forever. All the words I'm commanding you, be mindful of them. Keep them. Don't add to them, or take away. Just do them all."
Moses speaks with great power and authority. He speaks as a great prophet, sent from God.
Now let's hop down to Deuteronomy 18:15-22 (still using Lexham English Septuagint, but not sure I need to be). Moses here gives the people a promise:
15 “The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you from your brothers like me; you shall listen to him. 16 According to all that you asked from the Lord your God at Horeb the day of the assembly, saying, ‘We will not continue to hear the voice of the Lord your God, and we will not see this great fire again, lest we die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘All that they said to you is right. 18 I will raise a prophet for them from their brothers like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them ?whatever? I might command him. 19 And the man, whoever may not hear whatever that prophet may speak in my name, I will exact vengeance from him. 20 But the prophet who may act impiously to speak on my name a word that I did not command him to speak, and who may speak in the name of other gods, the prophet shall die there.’ 21 But if you say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word that the Lord did not speak?’ 22 Whatever that prophet may speak in the name of the Lord and does not come to be and does not come to pass, this is the word that the Lord did not speak. In impiety the prophet spoke this; you shall not hold yourselves off him.”
Moses promises the people that one day, God will raise up a prophet for them like himself. But when we read the OT, we find no one quite like Moses. Not Joshua. Not Elijah. Not Isaiah. No one is at Moses' level. No one else has his power and authority. (Deuteronomy 34:10-11 makes this point explicitly.)
Until Jesus.
So I think this is part of what Luke is angling at. Much later, in Acts 3:22, Luke/Peter will say all of this explicitly, but we are supposed to start hearing it now. Jesus is the great prophet, promised by Moses, sent from God, who has God's words in his mouth. And we can tell that the words Jesus speaks are trustworthy, and that they are from God, because of the power found in Jesus' words to heal and raise from the dead. That's what gives us courage, and faith, to build our lives around passages like Luke 6, the Sermon on the Plain.
So if you're like me, you grew up hearing that Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. But the prophet part maybe never did anything for you. It didn't seem like such a big deal.
But for Luke, the prophet part is huge. Jesus is sent by God. He speaks God's words. And he speaks with a level of power and authority not seen since Moses. Is Jesus more than this? Absolutely. But Jesus is this. Jesus is the great, promised prophet, who we should trust, and obey.
Let me leave you with one last teaser, that we find ourselves exploring in far more detail in Luke 9-10. Jesus' words have great power and authority. When he speaks, people are healed, and raised from the dead. All he has to do is speak. Right?
This should raise a question for us. What is Jesus' relationship to his disciples-- including us, today? Does Jesus share his power and authority with us? Is he with us? Is our ministry supposed to be not only one of obedience, and submission to Jesus' words, but also one of power? What exactly is our relationship to Jesus?
At this point, that should be an open question.
Translation:
(11) And it happened on the next day, he (Jesus) went to a city called Nain,
and they were going with him-- his disciples, and a great crowd.
(12) Now, as he drew near to the gate of the city--
and LOOK! He was being carried out-- a dead person , a one and only son to his mother--
and she was a widow,
and a large crowd from the city was with her--
(13) and seeing her, the Lord had compassion on her,
and he said to her,
"Don't weep,"
(14) and approaching, he touched the coffin/bier.
Now, the ones carrying it stopped,
and he said,
"Young man, to you I say, Rise!,"
(15) and the dead one sat up,
and he began to speak,
and he (Jesus) gave him to his mother.
(16) Now fear took/seized [them] all,
and they glorified God, saying that
"A great prophet was raised among us!,
and that
"God has visited his people."
