Thayer Thursday – Pharisee irony
Chris Thayer is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees adult life groups and Biblical education. On Thursdays we share his weekly “Thayer’s Thoughts” for small group leaders, which are based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Click HERE to watch or listen to the accompanying sermon.
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Recently I’ve been reading a book written by N.T. Wright called Paul and the Faithfulness of God. One of the foundations of his book is that stories shape our worldview. We locate ourselves inside an overarching narrative that is passed on to us about how things work. This story or narrative is how we make sense of and communicate in the world around us. We don’t read, write, talk, or listen in a vacuum.
For instance, September 11th, 2001 changed how Americans think about and discuss privacy. Likewise, the horrible realities of slavery and segregation have deeply altered our language and national policies. The stories we grow up in and the ones passed on to us affect what we hear and how people communicate. This was true for the people who heard Jesus’ parables just as much as it is for us.
A First Century Jew lived within the overarching narrative of exile (as Wright notes in his Luke For Everyone commentary). The defining moment in Israel’s history was their redemption from bondage in Egypt.
However, by the time of Jesus – Israel had been put back in bondage. Due to their continuous rejection of God and His commands for His people: they were exiled from their land & then under foreign oppression for almost 600 years. They were lost and waiting to be rescued by God again. They were awaiting their deliverance from exile – a deliverance rooted in promises from God given through prophets like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Daniel.
Among varying opinions and beliefs on how to bring about God’s long awaited rescue, or redemption, of His people stood that of the Pharisees’. They were a group or sect within Judaism who had a particularly strong emphasis on purity and following the Law properly. Jesus tells the parables of the lost sheep, coin, and son directly after “the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” (Luke 15:2).
Thick with irony: the Pharisees, a group that is trying to bring about the redemption of God’s people from exile, miss that very redemption happening in front of their eyes! The first half of the parable of the Prodigal Son points the Pharisees and teachers of the law to this reality about God. He is bringing redemption, and they are missing it.
The entire nation got into the mess they were in because of their disobedience; they were the lost coin, sheep, and son. God’s deliverance is being enacted in front of them – yet they are so focused on trying to bring about that deliverance through their actions that they miss it.
Through and in the person of Jesus God is calling His people to Himself, beckoning them back from exile; the very exile the Pharisees are trying to overcome. Rather than being upset at Jesus’ actions, they should be rejoicing (With God!) that He is bringing about their redemption.
Chris Thayer
Categories: Biblical Scholarship, Biblical Theology, Blog, New Testament, Thayer Thursday