Life Project Blog

Are you ready for a little adventure? Good, so am I!

The Old Testament book of Ruth is often used as a women’s Bible study, and I can see why when it shows the amazing faith of a young widow named Ruth. Yet, I think it is even better as a study for men, since the male lead is a real man’s man: Boaz. Both characters show what faith looks like in action, both main characters demonstrate godly humility, devotion and service, and as I see it, the take away from the story is one that each one of us can learn from. What does a godly woman look like? Take a look at Ruth.  What does a godly man look like? Take a look at Boaz… and guess what guys; Boaz didn’t have to turn in his “man card” to faithfully follow God.

Ruth 1:1-5

The story begins in the days of the Judges, when God was the only King in Israel. While the text doesn’t say which one of the judges was in office at the time, scholars tend to think that it must have been early in that period, since our text does not say “when there was no king” (Ruth 1:1). In any case, it seems that there was a famine in the land that should have been flowing with milk and honey.

It is important for us to bear in mind that famines were not supposed to happen, and that if one did occur, there were more problems in the land than just a famine. In the Law, God linked His statutes with blessings and curses; there would be blessings when the people obeyed the Law, curses when they did not, and one of those curses was famine (Lev. 26:19). That there was a famine in the land is indicative of disobedience afoot. It would seem that the situation became so bad that people were leaving Bethlehem, headed for more favorable areas where they could find food.

In our story, we find a man named Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their sons Mahlon and Kilion. As most of you know, it is always a good idea to find out what Bible names mean, and this is especially true in the Old Testament, so let’s see…  Elimelech means my God a King, Naomi means amiable or pleasant, and their sons’ names mean sickness and consumption. Perhaps the boys were sickly children, unlikely to live long lives; certainly, if I wanted to go “old school” with you, I’d say that the lesson is that out of an amiable and pleasant life comes sickness and consumption (the old name for tuberculosis) but when do I ever go “old school” here?

Off they go to Moab, the land of the Moabites just across the Jordan River, which isn’t really very far from Bethlehem, at least in terms of highway miles. Even so, it must have been night and day when it comes to the availability of food. Understand that for a Jew to leave the Promised Land to live among the gentile Moabites was a very big deal, and this family must have been very desperate to do this.

The family lived in Moab for 10 years. During this time, Elimelech died, and then the two sons married local Moabite women, and in turn each of the sons died leaving Naomi alone with her two daughters in law. No reasons are given for the deaths of the men, but one thing is very clear: These events were disastrous.  For a woman, or three women, to be left alone in the world without a man or an extended family in those days meant that one of three things would very shortly happen: The woman would find a man to marry, she would become a prostitute, or she would starve. Thus Naomi, Orpah and Ruth were in very deep trouble as our passage draws to a close. What will they do?

So much has been written, taught and debated concerning these few verses; I have done all of the above myself. For the purposes of this study of Matthew, I think it best to approach this strictly within its context in Matthew’s narrative.

Throughout his narrative, Matthew has been very careful to demonstrate Jesus as proclaiming the Kingdom. He shows Jesus’ proclamation, he shows Jesus teaching what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom, and then Jesus going out and demonstrating the power of the Kingdom. After that, Matthew shows how Jesus shifts His emphasis to revealing to the disciples just who He was, and what His mission was so that they might come to understand the means by which His Kingdom would be established. All of this was done for the purpose of preparing the disciples to carry on the Kingdom work of Jesus.

At this point in Matthew’s narrative, Jesus has completed His messianic mission precisely according to plan. The redemptive work has been completed so that humans might receive God’s grace and enter this new Kingdom relationship. Thus, the risen Lord is now passing the Kingdom torch to the disciples and from here on, it will be up to them to proclaim the Kingdom and make disciples as Jesus had done with them.

They have graduated from disciple, to makers of disciples.

Luke tells us that after this Jesus told the disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, and of course we know that this took place a short time later at Pentecost, where the Kingdom kicked off with the disciples, now Apostles in the vanguard. We also know that the Holy Spirit comes upon each one of us when we receive Christ and rise from the waters of baptism, and thus, the torch passes down through all generations until Jesus returns.

I think it is fair to say that this is the legacy of love, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that none should perish but have eternal life. Jesus accepted this mission willingly, and so He willingly sacrificed Himself in the greatest single act of love ever recorded. After that, He commissioned His followers to share that love by making disciples, and in our time, the greatest act of love that we could possibly undertake, is to join in the sharing of His love by making disciples who, in turn, share that love.

And so, Matthew’s narrative has come to its conclusion, and the rest is in our hands: Will we pass that torch on, or will we take an easier road through this life?

Matthew 28:1-15

Matthew’s account of the events that day, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, varies from that of Mark and Luke, and while we can discuss that some other time, I would point out that Matthew’s account carries forward His emphasis throughout the narrative of both Kingdom and the messianic mission of Jesus; in fact, these two themes are virtually inseparable: Jesus’ messianic mission was to establish His kingdom, which is not of this world. No, I haven’t forgotten that Jesus came to die on the cross for the redemption of Mankind; rather I am asserting that He did so in order to establish the Kingdom as a present reality.

Early on the first day of the week, which is the day after the Sabbath (Sunday), the women come to see the tomb. Unlike Mark and Luke, Matthew doesn’t get into the exact purpose for this. They arrive and then God springs into action again: There is a violent earthquake, as the angel of the Lord comes down and rolls the stone away from the tomb, and sits down on it and speaks to the women.

If you recall, we have seen the angel of the Lord speaking before in Matthew’s Gospel, way back when it was time to announce the birth of the Lord. Here he is again, only this time he bears an even more exciting message: He has risen!

Notice in verse 2 the contrast between that stone which was sealed and guarded at the behest of the Jewish authorities has now been thrown open and the angel sits on it, making clear the futility of the actions of the Jewish leaders to suppress God’s purpose. Notice also that the guards were still there and saw the whole thing and ironically fall down as though they were the dead ones, while the dead One had just risen from the grave. That’s some nifty writing if you ask me!

The angel quickly interprets the events for the women, gives them instructions, and invites them to see for themselves; they look in the empty tomb and hurry off. We shouldn’t pass this by without taking notice that God set events into motion so that women were the witness to all of this. In those days, few would likely believe a couple of hysterical women, but the only men present were the guards, who lay terrified on the ground: Interesting point to consider.

As the women hurried off, who do you suppose they would run into?

Well Jesus, who else? He tells them not to be afraid, and confirms their instructions…

Those guards were still back at the tomb with a really tough decision to make; could they possibly tell the truth about what had happened, who would believe them? I must say that at first, they made the courageous choice; they went to the high priests and actually told the truth. Now, the chief priests were on the spot: What would they do?

It was as though they now had one last chance to turn things around, for here were two terrified guards, veterans of brutal war, tough guys, who had just witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. The chief priests could have believed them, and it would seem that they actually did believe them, but rather than repent before God, they came up with a plan to deceive Mankind.

And to think that just the other day, they had asked for guards to be posted to keep the “deceiver” in His grave. Who was really the deceiver? In fact, “deceiver” is an interesting choice of words, for is not Satan the “Deceiver”?

They bribed the guards to tell a lie, and then bribed Pilate not to have them killed for falling asleep on guard duty. As if their actions hadn’t sunk low enough in having Jesus murdered, now they actually found a way to sink even lower; you might want to keep in mind next time you read the book of Acts, that the chief priest really knew the truth about Jesus, and we can prove it, for if they hadn’t believed the guards, then why they need to bribe them?

Matthew 27:57-61

Matthew blows right through this part, and my original thought was that I would also blow past the burial of Jesus and then through the posting of guards, and concentrate on his account of the resurrection. Yet as I was reading through the text, the thought hit me that the modern reader may miss some rather important points here, that Matthew would not have needed to mention to his original audience.

You see, dear reader, the Romans did not allow bodies to be taken down from crosses as a rule; they were left to rot.

There are two great empires in the history of Man that stand out as the two most successful Empires of all, the Roman Empire of antiquity and the British Empire of modern times. Most historians that I am familiar with say that the British were so successful in building an Empire because they brought British law with them and established about as much justice as one can, while subjugating a people. The Roman Empire worked because the Romans allowed an unusual amount of local autonomy, as we see clearly in the Gospels, and the New Testament writings in general. A provincial outpost such as Judea would have local governance within certain limits, as long as there was no overt rebellion against the Romans. If there was open opposition to the Romans, then their response would be swift, violent and brutal, as those in Judea would discover about 40 years later.

Individuals who didn’t follow the Roman rules were also dealt with merciless brutality, and that is where crucifixion came into play. Let’s be honest, crucifixion was not a very efficient method of execution; if the victim wasn’t roughed up too badly beforehand, it would take days for them to die, and that meant that guards would need to be posted for days to ensure that the victim wasn’t saved. The reason is that there is nothing inherently fatal about being nailed to a cross. By having the victim suffering in agony for days on public display served as a warning to all others not to cross the line.

But wait that’s not all! After the person finally died, their body would be left on the cross to rot and stink and be picked at by scavenger birds or animals until they fell apart in a heap of bones that dogs would chew on. That is why Golgotha (place of skulls) had its name. In Judea, as a concession to Jewish sensibilities, the Romans usually broke the legs of the victims before the Sabbath so they would suffocate… that was a good day to be crucified, as oddly as that may sound, because if you were nailed to a cross on the day after the Sabbath, and hadn’t been scourged first, you would be up there alive for several days.

Joseph was a rich and influential man, and a secret follower of Jesus. He is the kind of person who could get an appointment to see Pilate, and apparently as a favor, Pilate agrees to allow an honorable and decent burial for Jesus, whom he knows to be innocent, possibly as a last shot at the Jewish leaders.

Consider Joseph’s position here; he is, in a sense, “coming out” when he went to Pilate, putting himself in jeopardy by claiming the body. In doing so, he has just put a big target on his own back.

And thus, Jesus is laid to rest in haste on that most fateful of all days.

Matthew 27:27-56

I doubt that you need me to go through the details of Matthew’s text concerning Jesus’ scourging and crucifixion, for you can probably tell the story yourself, and there is always the link to the text itself. Nor am I inclined to indulge in the gruesome and macabre business of reciting the violent and bloody details so as to encourage a sense of guilt and self-loathing among my readers, for to do so is, sadly, to miss the point of the events on that most fateful of days.

On that day, as on all other days, a priest stepped out onto the highest point of the Temple, ready to blow his horn at exactly three o’clock. This was done every day to announce the sacrifices that reminded the people that God was faithful to keep His promise to deliver Israel from their sins. Unbeknownst to the priest blowing the horn, the real action on that day of days was taking place a short distance away at a location known as Golgotha, the place of the skull. For at Golgotha, the Son of God cried out and gave up His Spirit, in the last and final sacrifice of the Old Covenant− at that very moment, God fulfilled His promises to both Moses and Abraham, and completed His act of ultimate redemption. It was the dawn of a whole new age, the last age of this world.

As the hour approached, the skies had begun to darken. The taunts of the Jewish leaders that had begun when Jesus was nailed to cross, had died down; many people had gone home thinking the spectacle was pretty much over; there was a sense of unease among those who had remained. Jesus quoted the 22md Psalm near the end, and again there was a buzz in the crowd that remained; was He calling for Elijah to save Him?

But Jesus did not need saving, He was the Savior!

At the moment of His death, God springs back into action; there is an earthquake, and although the people at Golgotha didn’t know it yet, the veil in the Temple that barred entry into the Most Holy Place, the barrier that had separated all of humanity from God’s presence, had been torn open, for no longer was Mankind to be kept away from God.

In stark contrast to the ridicule of the Jewish leaders who should have known better, pagan Roman soldiers shame them by calling out that Jesus was indeed the Son of God!

The events of that day were of such magnitude, that it would take mere humans quite some time to process them.

Yet there wouldn’t be much time for reflection because God had quite a bit more to do…