Topic 9 Good News for the Needy

1. Topic 9 Good News for the Needy Kingdom of God brings justice for the poor, healing for the sick, and forgiveness of sinners. • Jesus’ outcast followers • The poor • Economically deprived. • Included rural peasants; small landowners; tenant farmers; hired laborers; beggars; widows; orphans; etc. • OT: sympathy for poor (Deut.; Pss.; prophets). • God is refuge of poor; demands justice for them. • Poor become models of piety, utter dependence on God. • Popular thought: poverty is due to sin (cf. Mk. 10:25-26). • Pharisees dismissed the poor as the ‘am ha-’arez = “people of the land,” i.e., uneducated peasants who had no time or resources to study/practice meticulous observances of Pharisees, esp. tithing, ritual purity, and Sabbath. (cf. Jn. 7:49).

2. Jesus’ outcast followers – cont. • Sinners (cf. Mk. 2:17) • “The righteous” • Did not claim perfection. • Strive to do God’s will; make atonement for shortcomings. • Categories of “sinners” • Ordinary sinners – those who observe law but fail in some point; means of atonement are provided. • Gentile sinners – sinners by definition; outside the covenant; godless; hopeless; forgiveness hardly possible. • Jewish godless sinners – Jews who made themselves as Gentiles; equally hopeless. • Included members of despised occupations (tax collectors; prostitutes; robbers; gamblers; usurers; pigeon-flyers; shepherds) and uneducated “people of the land” (Jeremias). • Limited to flagrant sinners; criminals; truly wicked people (E. P. Sanders). • Outcasts of society – ostracized by the respectable; suffered guilt, anxiety, shame; no practical way out.

3. Jesus’ outcast followers – cont. • The sick • Interrelated with the poor and sinners. • Disease grows out of poverty and vice versa. • Illness/poverty often viewed as punishment for sin. • Disease often rendered unclean, excluded from temple. • Jesus looked on all 3 groups with compassion: • They are the downtrodden who labor and are overburdened. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). 2) God is not against but for them; God’s kingdom will liberate these outcasts and bring them near.

4. B. Justice for the poor • Jesus’ answer to John (# 64 Mt. 11:4-6 par. Lk. 7:22-23) • “…the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” • Fulfills prophetic expectations including justice for poor. • Good news for poor is offensive to the comfortable who think kingdom belongs to them. • “Inaugural” sermon in Nazareth (# 10 Lk. 4:16-21) • “…he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor… release to the captives…to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (cf. Isa. 61:1-2). • Isaiah proclaims end of exile in “Jubilee” imagery: release of debt-slaves and return of forfeited land in the 50th year (Lev. 25). • Jesus announces fulfillment: Kingdom of God brings relief from oppression of poverty, debt, absentee landlordism, etc. • Not just a metaphor for forgiveness of sin – envisions a “renewed Israel” in which covenant principles of justice will rid the land of poverty (cf. Acts 2:42-47).

5. B. Justice for the poor – cont. • Beatitudes (# 73-74 Lk. 6:20-26 par. Mt. 5:3-12) • “Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God.” • Blessed = fortunate, happy, congratulations. • Paradoxical: how fortunate are the poor, hungry, mourners, persecuted. • Eschatological: kingdom of God brings relief, blessing, reversal. • Matthew: “poor in spirit;” “hunger/thirst after righteousness.” • Makes spiritual quality: spiritual poverty; stand before God empty-handed. • Probably secondary expansion. • Luke: “you poor;” “you who hunger;” “you who weep;” “you who are hated.” • Briefer; more direct; more concrete; more sharply paradoxical. • Balanced by 4 woes: warnings of doom to the rich, full, laughing, well-spoken-of. • Kingdom of God brings “eschatological reversal of fortunes”: oppressed poor will be lifted up; rich oppressors will be cast down (cf. Lk. 1:52-53; Mk. 10:31).

6. B. Justice for the poor – cont. • Conclusion • In kingdoms of Caesar and Herod, top-down oppression prevails; the powerful rich live large by dominating the poor. • Kingdom of God brings a new order where justice prevails: no oppression; no rich and poor; no superior and inferior; domination replaced by service (cf. Mk. 9:35; 10:42-44).

7. C. Forgiveness for sinners • Centrality of forgiveness • N. Perrin: forgiveness is the central aspect of Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God. • N. T. Wright: if kingdom of God means end of exile, it must bring forgiveness. • Only two explicit pronouncements; implicit throughout. • Healing a paralytic (# 52 Mk. 2:1-12 par.) • “…your sins are forgiven” (v. 5) – divine passive. • Scribes accuse of blasphemy – bypasses temple, rituals of repentance. • Jesus demonstrates authority to forgive by healing (v. 10). • Anointing by a sinful woman (# 83 Lk. 7:36-50) • “Your sins are forgiven” (v. 48). • Setting of table fellowship in Pharisee’s house. • Host snubs Jesus – refusing to offer common courtesies. • “Sinful woman” lavishes affection at Jesus’ feet. • Parable of Two Debtors: the one forgiven more loves more. • Woman’s lavish love was gratitude for forgiveness (v. 47). • Pharisee expresses no such love because he hasn’t experienced such forgiveness.

8. C. Forgiveness for sinners – cont. • Call of Levi (# 53 Mk. 2:13-17 par.) • Criticized for eating with “tax collectors and sinners.” • Parable of the Doctor to the Sick. • People who are well don’t need a doctor. • “I came to call not the righteous, but sinners.” • In contrast to “righteous remnant” communities (Pharisees; Qumran), Jesus focused not on keeping people out but on getting people in. • Jesus’ table-fellowship with sinners – an “enacted parable” of forgiveness (cf. Perrin, Rediscovering, pp. 102-08). • Historically certain – all main sources; criticized by opponents. • Implies acceptance and forgiveness (cf. 2 Kgs. 25:29). • Symbolizes kingdom of God (cf. “messianic banquet” in Jewish eschatology). • Celebrates joy of kingdom already arriving; anticipates future consummation. • Deliberately subverts program of Pharisees: they restricted table-fellowship to the ritually pure; Jesus practices “open commensality” (Crossan).

9. C. Forgiveness for sinners – cont. • Lost Sheep/Lost Coin/Prodigal Son (# 172-173 Lk. 15 par.) • Three parables of rejoicing over finding something lost. • Setting (v. 1-2): defends Jesus’ eating with sinners; invites grumbling Pharisees to join in. • In first 2, joy over finding the lost is shared by friends/neighbors; in 3rd, grumbling older brother refuses, left outside trying to decide whether to come in and celebrate. • Lost Sheep • Matt. (18:12-14): God’s concern for the “little ones” (weak/ “insignificant” members of church). • Luke: shepherd is intent on finding the lost sheep; his joy is shared by friends; compared to God’s joy over repenting sinners. Defends Jesus’ ministry of seeking the lost (on God’s behalf). • Lost Coin • Only in Lk.; note Luke’s balancing of male and female characters; use of female image for God. • Woman’s ten coins may be dowry or nest egg; intent on finding lost coin; her joy is shared by neighbors; compared to God’s joy over repenting sinners.

10. C. Forgiveness for sinners – cont. • Lost Sheep/Lost Coin/Prodigal Son ( Lk. 15) – cont. • Prodigal Son • Only in Lk.; longest of all parables; the father is focal character (Parable of “the Loving Father” or “the Waiting Father”). • Part one: compares father’s reception of son with God’s reception of sinners. • Younger son shames father by asking for inheritance, liquidizing it, and then squandering it. • From depths of degradation, returns home, hoping for mercy to be received as a hired hand (model of repentance). • Father breaks all bounds in receiving son with joy: runs (undignified); kisses (acceptance); robe (honored guest); ring (authority); shoes (not a slave); fatted calf (feast for whole village – father’s joy is shared). • Depicts God’s unmeasured love, forgiveness, and joy in welcoming sinners who repent. • Part two: compares older brother’s refusal to celebrate with Pharisees’ grumbling over Jesus’ reception of sinners. • Contrasts father’s grace with brother’s grumbling; unworthy brother is getting what should have been his (cf. Pharisees). • Closes before brother decides whether to join celebration – God’s table has room for all; but we must accept one another to participate.

11. C. Forgiveness for sinners – cont. • Parable of the Two Sons (# 203 Mt. 21:28-32) • First son refuses to work in vineyard, then repents and goes; second son says he will, but does not. • Application: “the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you (chief priests and elders).” • “The righteous” don’t see themselves as sinners; don’t repent. • “Sinners” know who they are; seize opportunity for pardon; closer to kingdom than “righteous.” • Parable of Pharisee and Tax Collector (# 186 Lk. 18:9-14) • Pharisee • Upright; scrupulously religious; model of Torah observance. • Prayer: gives thanks for moral/religious superiority to others; goes beyond letter of law in fasting/tithing. • Tax collector • Notoriously wicked; traitor; dishonest, corrupt extortioner. • Prayer: recognizes hopelessness; pleas for mercy. • Punch line: the tax collector goes home “justified” (made right with God) rather than the Pharisee (“for all who exalt themselves will be humbled; all who humble themselves will be exalted”).

12. C. Forgiveness for sinners – cont. 9. Parable of Laborers in the Vineyard (# 190 Mt. 20:1-16) • Landowner hires day laborers throughout the day. • Some work all day; others only one hour (late-day workers hired out of compassion?). • First-hired agree to work for one denarius; others are told they will get “what is right.” • Workers are paid in reverse order; all get same (one denarius). • Full-day workers complain that others got same. • Got what they agreed to; landowner has right to be generous with his own money. • Application: defends God’s generosity in welcoming late-comers into kingdom. • God’s love is not proportional; his mercy embraces all alike. • “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” • Does this “floating” saying (cf. Mk. 10:31) really fit parable? • God’s generosity has a surprising upside-down effect: outcasts are included; “in-crowd” are excluded.

13. C. Forgiveness for sinners – cont. • Conclusion • Two distinctives of Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness: • Offers unrestricted forgiveness to sinners – no one is beyond redemption unless they reject forgiveness (cf. Mk. 3:28-29). • Forgiveness precedes/bypasses customary rituals of repentance – it is an act of sheer grace. • Why does Jesus embrace sinners? • It is sinners who need help – if Israel is to be renewed, sinners must be reintegrated into the covenant community. • Sinners are closer to the kingdom than the righteous. • Sinners have no pretenses about who they are. • “Nothing separates people so completely from God as a self-assured religiosity” (Jeremias). • God is infinitely gracious and seeks to have dealings with sinners – Jesus’ mercy is an expression of God’s mercy.