As Julia says "Moving Forward."

Having already spent 6 blogs banging on about Jesus turning water into wine and how our prior beliefs affect the way we interpret the life of Jesus it’s time to look at moving forward. Of course in moving forward we need to check what us behind us so that we know where we have come from and thus where we are going to. I would like to, in light of what I’ve covered previously, propose some principles that will help us build a stronger faith and encourage us to share the joy we have in Christ based on the life and teachings of Jesus as portrayed in the Bible.

Firstly I would like to propose that we for ourselves commit to in depth study of the gospels on a regular basis in an attempt to grow in understanding of what the text says and means to us in today’s world and to be able to intelligently share this study with others. One way I intend to do this is to use my Strong’s more and look up different words comparing when they are used and what they translate in each context. This ought to give a clear distinction of possible outcomes and thinking through what the word may actually mean.

Secondly I would like to suggest we adopt a principle of healthy discussion amongst believers and missionaly to non-believers rather than having a debate mentality.  Choosing to discuss rather than debate will give the chance for both sides to grow in knowledge and is a more loving approach rather than a prideful need to be right. Practically I guess this would mean rather than disproving others and proving your points try to fit their view and your view together to make one view that matches what is known to be true already.

Thirdly a principle I know I need to work on is learn what the bible actually says! So many arguments could be avoided if we learn to remember what the bible specifically says rather than guessing and making wrong assumptions. If someone quotes something and you want to respond but don’t know what the verse actually says don’t try blurt out something and say that’s what the bible says, say I think this is what xyz says in abc but I need to check to make sure. Memorising Jesus words can be most useful as most of what the Bible talks about is summarised in Jesus words and can be an easy way of memorising a summary of the entire Bible.

My hopes are that after having read these blogs there will be less whining about different interpretations of Jesus life and ministry, but rather that we will choose to enjoy differences. The differences that spur us on to dive deep into the gospels getting a better picture of the man we call Jesus, and whether the wine on that night was actually wine or grape juice.

I leave you with the following to inspire you to move forward in your pursuit of gospel portrait of Jesus.

Julia Gillard's Moving Forwrd Remix
I love pulling material from other blogs for my blog...http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2008/01/keep-moving-forward/

United we Stand. Together we Fall

The fact that we are fighting a battle against the forces of darkness and against a culture saturated with selfish intent it make no sense that are trying to bring down each other through a process of dogmatic challenges where we are out to prove whether Jesus did this or that. The Bible tells us what he did so we shouldn’t mould and twist Jesus words to suite our own purposes. I get that we disagree with each other about certain theologies and ways of worshipping God plus what ways we live our faith, unless there is no major in-correctness going on we should enjoy our differences. Each denomination has arisen out of the need to emphasise a key point of the story God has put us in.

For this very reason the idea that whether Jesus did turn water into wine or grape juice shouldn’t be something that causes division amongst brothers and sisters showing to the outside world that God isn’t really there if his people can’t get along. If someone from a different church says something that is against what you believe don’t respond out of anger and the need to defend yourself, take the time to study what the bible says and discuss with them your ideas so that you both can get an even well rounded view of God. This is especially important for people who are involved in the same local church or mission community, people won’t join in or accept your message if there is constant quarreling and in fighting amongst those who are involved.

I know for some conservatives the “Da Vinci Code” may seem like a threat to the Christian faith and should be shunned, considering it evil but really this is a blessing in disguise. People had lost interest in Jesus and the Christian faith but people are more interested in who Jesus was and what happened around 30 A.D. Although some things may have been very twisted like Mary and Jesus becoming married and having children it still presents us with the chance to talk about Jesus humanity and choice to become fully human being fully able to be tempted, but chose not to give in. All the secrets Dan Brown tells of that the church holds and weird rituals we can be open and say the church did things that we aren’t proud of and control was lorded by some manipulating others for their sake but in the end good prevailed and things became right again. Having something this intriguing in the form of a movie presents us with the perfect opportunity to watch it together with friends and discuss what true comparing it to what the bible says happened.

Not many people would suspect that a Christian would be willing to talk about something secular but then turning it on its head looking at the truth behind everything. Every challenge that we face presents us with the opportunity to not to react out of fear but instead to show the resolve in our faith that we get from studying who Jesus as described the Bible is.

BTW I got the pic (strangely enough) from:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/davinci-code.htm

Jesus challenged his culture, now culture is challenging him

The institution of the idea that Jesus would have created non-alcoholic wine is only a symptom of the sickness that is affecting the Christian church. In a time of misogyny in politics, political correctness and tolerance it would appear Jesus is becoming more and more watered down so that he is palatable for everyone. Jesus is being reduced to a good man who died on the cross for us and to teen bobby Christian music where many lyrics give a ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ kind of feel to worship. Most of the hard things Jesus talks about get brushed over because we find them to uncomfortable for our picnic in the park faith where the non-believers are begging to be fed. Jesus was a calm man who knew the right things to say but also knew how to literally ‘turn the tables’ on the people of his times.

This watered down Jesus is a return to the early tendency to change the focus of who Jesus was from the Messiah who came to battle sin to a romanticism of a great man who saved us and told us many wise things. The only way we can counter the overly meek and mild Jesus is to return to the text and study what shaped his actions. It’s time to dust off the Old Testament and see the signs that Jesus followed in his ministry and to look at what around Jesus caused him to become the radical (in its original sense) leader urging the people to return back to a true faith as we must now do also. Where as Christians have turned Jesus into a security blanket our modern culture have tossed him away as you toss away a restrictive coat, they feel they have no need for him. For us we should be showing those who don’t believe that life is lived more fully and that we have something more than those who choose not follow Jesus. In Australia even up until the 70’s a large influence was held on the culture but since then the Christian faith has just become fake and hypocritical to most people making it seem pointless and a way of those in power to control the lesser.

Jesus wasn’t about control but rather he was about freedom, freedom from sin, freedom from our selfish desires and freedom from us. We need to capture this freedom back... Actually we need to submit to this freedom for as we all know “If any man wants to gain his life, he must lose it first.” This regaining of the faith the way Jesus wanted it to be will draw people into the love of Christ like a horse to a watering hole.

A Developing Portrait of Jesus

As I eluded to in my previous blog the way we view Jesus has changed over time, this may have been to fit a image of Jesus needed at a certain time, change of theology or even a misinterpretation of the bible. Even with the benefit of seeing the Old Testament scriptures fulfilled by Jesus and the gospels detailing Jesus we still struggle to understand who Jesus and what he was like.  It is with no doubt that Jesus was to be the Messiah and be fulfilled this role by selflessly dying an innocent man on the cross. This selflessness, the image of a man giving without expecting anything in return is the subtle undertone of Jesus ministry and life. Like for example in the wedding at Cana Jesus was not supplying a need, the people didn’t need the wine to survive it was more a want. Not only did he do it, he did it to abundance wanting people to enjoy the time.[1]

The gospels paint a clear picture that Jesus was a man of action and of looking out for God’s children. This ranges from healing people to being a Sheppard guiding people in the ways of God and teaching them love, a love that God has for them and for us to have to each other. Jesus identifies himself as being the good Sheppard in John 10:14 for his flock to take refuge in him. This image sets a precedent that Jesus is a leader that we are to follow and model our actions on.[2] Jesus use of the good Sheppard would have been a strategic move when ministering to the Jews, as the y would have heard that reference and realised that Jesus was referring to the good Sheppard of Psalm 23.

We can see that Jesus is saviour, provider (off all our needs)[3], shelter and a leader to his people from the gospel and from specific claims he makes and invites to make the connection to. There has been a real danger that throughout the early life of the church and the early writings about Jesus that the image of him which was presented could have been shaped and moulded to fit the perfect ideal Jesus. Although the scripture itself may not have been changed the images taken from scripture were in danger of being shaped.[4] To counter this contemporary study of the apostolic Christ has sought to return to the roots of whom Jesus is; the real man not philosophical romanticism of what his principles are.

We know from external writings that Jesus was a real person who existed at a real time, in a real place with real people. We also know what the culture of that day was and what shaping influences existed that would have affected Jesus. Exploring Jesus’ life as a man in ancient Israel allows us to see why Jesus made the claims he did and why he would commence such a dangerous mission in a completely volatile environment.

I find this Jesus looks into you.

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[1] The pulpit Commentary, Reynolds H.R., Vol 1 pg 98, 1985, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, USA

[2] Ibid, Excell, J.S., Volume 2 pg 75

[3] A commentary, Fausset A.R. pg 152, 1978, Edmans Printing Company, Grand Rapids, USA

[4] Jesus Christ: The Witness of History, Anderson J., pg 28, 1985 2nd Edition, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, USA

http://shroudofturin.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/image73.png

Wine, Dine and Vine's

Ok so it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty of figuring what exactly Jesus made from the water. Most of you would suggest that the ‘wine Jesus created would be a non-alcoholic unfermented grape juice as I used to. My investigations have shown results that would suggest otherwise which I have come to learn to believe and think gives way that Jesus did create wine as we know it today and inevitably suggesting that we can consume alcohol. I followed a process of exegesis looking at what circumstances would have being shaping Jesus actions and how he responded. The other process I followed was to understand how wine could be translated and if there were multiple ones then what wine was used in this case enter Vine’s expository dictionary and Strong’s exhaustive concordance.

My first port of call was using Strong’s to find out the different uses of the word wine. My search of Strong’s turned up to show three main possibilities of what wine may have been used including the option of grape juice wine rather than a cab sav or merlot kind of wine. The wine that suggests non-alcoholic juice in Hebrew is “tı̂yrôsh” which simply refers to a fresh juice from clusters of grapes that would not be fermented. As John was written in Greek (at least suggested by most scholars) a Hebrew translation won’t work so when you derive it into Greek the word refers to a wedding gift, which is symbolic of what Jesus act was but doesn’t solve the alcohol problem. The second possibility would be “γλεῦκος”  (gleukos) which means a newly fermented wine which would be sweet and potent which is more likely then tı̂yrôsh. The last possibility would be “οἶνος” (oinos) which was the generic term for wine in Greek of that time. This was a more matured wine and would thus have more flavour and body. Given that in verse 10 the master of the banquet commented on how this was the best wine not a cheap cask wine (gleukos). I then referred to Vine’s to confirm or discount my theory about this and it suggested that my interpretation was correct, that John would have been talking about oinos and I dare say if you read John in Greek you will see it there. If he used gleukos it doesn’t change the implications.

Understanding the context in which John had written was also useful to understand whether Jesus would indeed create alcohol. In those days wedding celebrations were a big event where lots of people turned up. Celebrations could often end up spreading to being a week long festivety by which time at the end most people would be very drunk and unable to tell the difference between good and bad wine. Usually the good wine was brought out first so that sober heads could enjoy it and as time went on the quality of the wine decreased along with peoples’ ability to enjoy it. We know Jesus would have been sober in avoidance of sinning and ruining his mission. It is this avoidance of alcohol to reduce the ability of sinning that created the idea Jesus made tı̂yrôsh rather than oinos.

Vine's Expository Dictionary, Vine W.E., 1989, Riverside Book and Bible House, Iowa Falls, USA

The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Strong J., 1996, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, USA

http://biblesuite.com/greek/3631.htm, 17 June 2012

http://www.churchofchrist.com.au/Tracts/Jesus%20Wine.htm, Ian McPherson, 20 August 2012

 http://theartofbottledpoetry.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/egyptian-wine-jars-louvre-paris.jpg