Resurrection Day 2024 Sermon: The Importance of Resurrection

 The first Christians proclaimed a message of Jesus' resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:22-38; 4:2).  Jesus declared himself to be "the resurrection and the life" (Jn 11:25). 

The resurrection has always been at the heart of the Christian message.  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on March 39, 2024, Kyle Kettering  emphasized the importance of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.  

In the Jewish world of the first century, Kyle explained, many believed in the resurrection.  For example, the martyrs in 2 Maccabees 7 declared that they were not afraid of their persecutors because God would resurrect them (see e.g. verse 9).  In talking with Jesus about her brother Lazarus, Martha professed her faith in "the resurrection on the last day" (Jn 11:24).  The Pharisees, of whom the apostle Paul was one, were strong believers in the resurrection (Acts 23:6). 

Not all Jews believed in the resurrection, though.  The doctrine is not so easy to discern from just the Pentateuch, and the Sadducees were skeptical of it (Mt 22:23-33).  

Greek thinking, which valued an immaterial soul over the human body, did not accept the idea of resurrection.  Paul defended the resurrection to a largely Gentile audience in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15.  He emphasized that this was a teaching "of first importance," one that validates the idea of Jesus' atoning death.  Without it, Paul said, "we are of all people most to be pitied" (v. 19).

Kyle concluded that the resurrection 

• validates Jesus' mission and teaching.
• provides power; it is thanks to the resurrection that Christ lives in us.
• gives us hope. 

Seder 154: Acts 21---Paul the Vow-Keeper

 In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on July 29, 2023, Kyle Kettering explained that the apostle Paul has often been misunderstood.  A major source of misunderstanding, he said, was the influential work of antisemitic German scholars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, who saw first century Judaism as legalistic.  Their views have been corrected by more recent scholarship of the "New Perspective on Paul" and the "Paul within Judaism" schools.     

One statement of Paul's that is often misread is his "all things to all men" statement in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.  On the basis of this passage, some have characterized Paul as a kind of chameleon, an insincere "people pleaser."  An important corrective to this characterization appears in Acts 21:17-26, where Paul confers with James and agrees to sponsor the Nazirite vows of four men.

Kyle made several points about this passage:

1. James the Just, the brother of Jesus, led the apostolic community in Jerusalem until 62 AD (see Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History).  James had had a personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus, as had Paul (1 Cor 15:7).
2. The messianic community rejoiced at God's work among non-Jews (Acts 17:20).
3. There was also a large movement among Jews.
4. Zeal for the Torah did not conflict, in their minds, with following Jesus.
5. Nothing in the Torah opposes Jesus, and no teaching of Jesus is in opposition to the Torah.
6. Paul keeps his vow and helps others keep theirs.  He places himself under the authority of the Temple.  

Paul later describes himself as a Pharisee (not an ex-Pharisee) and confirms that he remains a faithful Jew (Acts 23:6; 28:17).  The book of Acts supports the idea of a Torah-observant Paul.  He was not a chameleon but a faithful keeper of his commitments.

Seder 61: Exodus 22-23---Further Applications of the Decalogue

 The "covenant code" continues in Exodus 22-23, with more applications of the Decalogue.  Each one can serve as the basis for a thoughtful discussion.  I will highlight a few of them here.  

Exodus 22:25-27 forbids charging interest on a loan to a poor Israelite, or engaging in any other practice that would leave someone trapped in a cycle of indebtedness and thus enslaved.  Such behavior constitutes a kind of theft.  

Exodus 22:28 teaches respect for those who are in authority.  Paul quotes this provision in Acts 23:5 when he discovers that the man he has been publicly rebuking before the Sanhedrin is actually the high priest. (That awkward moment is soon forgotten, however, when Paul raises the subject of resurrection, starting an argument among council members.)

Exodus 23:4-5 gives the important "love your enemies" principle.  Jewish tradition teaches that this is a way to heal relationships and turn enemies into friends.  This is another case where God's character is a model for us (Matt 5:43-48).  

Exodus 23:1-3, 6-8 are related to the commandment against bearing false witness.  The commandments against being a malicious witness and taking bribes reminds us of the incident of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21).  The teaching against "siding with the many, so as to pervert justice" reminds us of the wickedness that is carried out by mobs---in lynchings, for example.  

The second half of Exodus 23:19 has long been a puzzler:  "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk." One possibility is that there was a pagan fertility practice of this type, in which such a ritual was supposed to make a flock more fertile.  (However, we as yet have no record of such a practice.)

It has also been proposed that the word for "milk" should instead be translated "fat", using different vowels.  In that case, this becomes a prohibition of sacrificing mother and baby animals at the same time.  

The covenant code is presented to the Israelites while they are at Mt Sinai, although many of the provisions apply to their future life in the Promised Land.  Why are these provisions presented so early?  

One answer is that it isn't necessarily all that early.  God could take the Israelites to the Promised Land within a month at any time that he wanted to do so.  

Another answer is that at any time, the provisions of the covenant code reveal principles that can be applied in any setting, whether or not the nation is in the Promised Land.  Rob Wilson proposed this second answer in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 26, 2021.