Adult Bible Studies Teacher

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3 Adult Bible Studies Teacher Summer 2018 Vol. 26, No. 4 ENRICHMENT MATERIAL To the Teacher... 1 Before Paul Was Paul... 2 Literary and Historical Background to the Letters of Paul... 4 The Softer Side of the Apostle Paul Paul: An Introduction to His Life and Works Meet the Writer: David Mosser JUSTICE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Unit 1 God Is Just and Merciful 1 June 3 Justice and Sabbath Laws June 10 Parables of God s Just Kingdom June 17 Jesus Teaches About Justice June 24 Reaping God s Justice Unit 2 Jesus Calls for Justice and Mercy 5 July 1 Parable of the Unforgiving Servant July 8 Jesus Criticizes Unjust Leaders July 15 The Widow and the Unjust Judge July 22 Entering God s Kingdom July 29 Parable of the Great Dinner...88 Unit 3 Paul Teaches About New Life in Christ 10 August 5 God s Justice August 12 Global Economic Justice August 19 Loving and Just Behavior August 26 Practicing Justice Editorial and Design Team Jan Turrentine, Editor Tonya Williams, Production Editor Ken M. Strickland, Designer Administrative Team Rev. Brian K. Milford, President and Publishiner Marjorie M. Pon, Editor, Church School Publications Adult Bible Studies Teacher is designed for teachers of the International Lesson Series; it provides lesson plans for each week s material as well as articles on related biblical topics and on teaching methods. Adult Bible Studies Teacher (ISSN ). An official resource for The United Methodist Church approved by the General Board of Discipleship and published quarterly by Cokesbury, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P. O. Box , Nashville, Tennessee Copyright 2018 by Cokesbury. Send address changes to Adult Bible Studies Teacher, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P. O. Box , Nashville, Tennessee To order copies of this publication, call toll free: FAX your order to Telecommunication Device for the Deaf/ Telex Telephone: Automated order system is available after office hours, or order through Cokesbury.com. Use your Cokesbury account, American Express, Visa, Discover, or MasterCard. For permission to reproduce any material in this publication, call , or write to Permissions Office, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P. O. Box , Nashville, Tennessee Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Common English Bible, copyright Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society. New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright 2015 by the Committee on the Uniform Series. Adult Bible Studies is available to readers with visual challenges through BookShare.org. To use BookShare.org, persons must have certified disabilities and must become members of the site. Churches can purchase memberships on behalf of their member(s) who need the service. There is a small one-time setup fee, plus a modest annual membership fee. At the website, files are converted to computerized audio for download to CD or ipod, as well as to other audio devices (such as DAISY format). Braille is also available, as are other options. Once individuals have a membership, they have access to thousands of titles in addition to ABS. Live-narrated audio for persons with certified disabilities is available from AUDIOBOOK MINISTRIES at Photo Credit: Shutterstock About the Cover Kavala, Eastern Macedonia, Greece Today, Macedonia is the largest and second most populous region in Greece and is located in the northern area. Thessaloniki is its capital. (Macedonia is also the name of a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, not to be confused with Macedonia, Greece.) Paul was summoned in a vision by a man from Macedonia to go there and help them (Acts 16:9), which Paul understood to mean God had called [them] to proclaim the good news to them (verse 10). Acts 16:10 17:15 records the history of Paul s first journey through Macedonia. His first convert in Europe was Lydia (Acts 16:13-15), who resided in Philippi, in the eastern division of Macedonia. Not far from Kavala, the Macedonian seaport featured on the cover, are the ruins of ancient Philippi and the remains of two early Christian basilicas.

4 Enrichment Material Before Paul Was Paul All Bible references in this article are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Hardly any figure in Christian history has been more beloved or belabored than the apostle Paul. All too seldom, however, have his background and social status been adequately taken into account when evaluating the man. Paul was originally named Saul after the first ruler of the ancient kingdom of Israel. He was born around ad 5 in the major Cilician city of Tarsus, famous for its university and for being the site of Antony and Cleopatra s rendezvous in an earlier era. Acts 22:3 tells us that Saul was a citizen of Tarsus, which in turn means his parents were also citizens there. According to Philippians 3:5, Saul s parents were devout Jews. Even though they lived in the Diaspora city of Tarsus, they made sure Saul was circumcised, as tradition dictated, on the eighth day after birth. They knew and conveyed sacred biblical language to Saul, as demonstrated by his use of the phrase a Hebrew born of Hebrews. Saul s family engaged in the leatherworking or tent-making trade, and it may well be that this vocation that led his parents and later Saul to receive the honor of becoming Roman citizens. Perhaps at some point they received a government contract to make tents for legions in the area, and through the usual reciprocity procedures, they were granted Roman citizenship in exchange. This citizenship was to serve Paul well. Indeed, on more than one occasion, it saved his skin, for example, when he landed in hot water as a missionary in Philippi and Jerusalem. It appears that when Saul was a child, sometime around ad 10, his family moved to Jerusalem. It was there that Saul received his formal education, including training in Torah and Greco-Roman rhetoric. As he described years later in Galatians 1, Saul advanced rapidly through the hierarchy of early Judaism, first as a student and then as a young adult. He learned the Torah in Hebrew and Greek, he learned the oral traditions, and he became a follower of the Pharisaic movement. In view of the tension between Jesus and the Pharisees, it is understandable that there would have been tensions between Saul the Pharisee and the fledgling followers of Jesus in Jerusalem and elsewhere after Jesus execution by Pilate in ad 30. We learn in Acts 22:3 that Saul studied with Gamaliel, a great Hillelite teacher of the time, probably in Saul s later teen years and beyond. Unlike his teacher who in the Hillelite tradition adopted a gentle or moderate approach to dealing with heresy, Saul seems to have preferred the Shammaite Pharisaic approach, zealously attacking those deemed to be defaming the Jewish faith, including Jewish Christians such as James son of Zebedee. We read about Saul s behavior in Galatians 1. Paul wrote that those attacks were what he most regretted about his preconversion behavior (1 Corinthians 15; Philippians 3). 2 Adult Bible Studies Teacher

5 Though we cannot be sure, it is possible that Saul as a Pharisee proselytized Gentiles long before his conversion to Christianity, for this was part of the educational program he apparently underwent in Jerusalem. That same training included education in how to write effective letters; how to speak persuasively using rhetorical techniques; and, in the Hillelite tradition, how to interpret the Law in ways that would benefit and free women to play a larger role in Jewish society. One of the questions often raised about Saul is whether he was married before he became a Christian. We know that it was normal Jewish practice in that era for an able-bodied boy to be engaged and married no later than by his late teens. This fact, together with Paul s writing in 1 Corinthians 7:8 that he was unmarried, suggests that at the time of writing he may have been a widower. Another question is what kind of relationship Paul had with his family after his conversion. It is quite possible that his family shunned him when he converted, since they were devout Jews. However, in Acts 23:16, we read that the son of Paul s sister helped him when he was taken captive in Jerusalem, which may indicate otherwise. Some of the most compelling questions about Paul have to do with the period before and after his conversion. Acts 7 recounts at length Stephen s testimony and stoning, which Saul not only witnessed but consented to and approved. In Acts 8, Saul went on a crusade to stop the Christianizing of Jews by the Jewish followers of Jesus. Acts 8:3 presents dramatic images of Saul destroying the church, going house to house in Jerusalem, and then carrying his crusade on to Damascus. It was on the road to Damascus, sometime around ad 34 35, that Saul was stopped dead in his tracks by a vision of the heavenly Jesus. This vision is reported not only in Acts three times (Acts 9; 22; 26) but by Paul himself in Galatians 1. There can be no doubt that Saul s experience on the road to Damascus was the decisive turning point in his life. What is interesting to note, however, is that his name change from Saul to Paul did not come at the point of conversion, so far as how the story is told in Acts. Instead, Saul assumed the name Paul when he first addressed a Roman governor named Sergius Paulus (Acts 13). In other words, the name change had to do with Paul s mission to the Gentiles, including Gentile rulers, rather than with his conversion. In fact, properly speaking, it may not have been a name change at all. A better way of putting it is that Saul added a Greek name to his Hebrew name rather than saying that one name was substituted for the other. This was a common practice of Diaspora Jews, since they were called upon to communicate in Greek. Most interestingly, Paul decided to use the form Paulos instead of Saulos for the good reason that the latter, while sounding most like his Hebrew name, had a Greek meaning of one who walks like a prostitute, certainly not a suitable name for a missionary. Paulos, by contrast, in Greek means little and was something of a nickname, perhaps meaning shorty. In conclusion, Saul s vision on the road to Damascus was only the beginning of his conversion and initiation process. It took some days before Ananias laid hands on Saul, the scales fell from Saul s eyes, and he received the Spirit and was baptized. Thus, even in the case of an experience as dramatic and important as Saul s, conversion did not happen in the twinkling of an eye. What began on the road came to consummation in Damascus itself, and it involved not just a heavenly vision but the human touch of a disciple. Reprinted from Adult Bible Studies Illustrated, Fall Ben Witherington III is the Jean R. Amos professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary and is an ordained pastor in The United Methodist Church. Enrichment Material 3

6 June 3 Lesson 1 Unit 1: God Is Just and Merciful Justice and Sabbath Laws Purpose To discover how the Law enhances our lives as God s people Bible Lesson Matthew 12: At that time Jesus went through the wheat fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry so they were picking heads of wheat and eating them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, Look, your disciples are breaking the Sabbath law. 3 But he said to them, Haven t you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? 4 He went into God s house and broke the law by eating the bread of the presence, which only the priests were allowed to eat. 5 Or haven t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple treat the Sabbath as any other day and are still innocent? 6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what this means, I want mercy and not sacrifice, you wouldn t have condemned the innocent. 8 The Human One is Lord of the Sabbath. 9 Jesus left that place and went into their synagogue. 10 A man with a withered hand was there. Wanting to bring charges against Jesus, they asked, Does the Law allow a person to heal on the Sabbath? 11 Jesus replied, Who among you has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath and will not take hold of it and pull it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So the Law allows a person to do what is good on the Sabbath. 13 Then Jesus said to the man, Stretch out your hand. So he did and it was made healthy, just like the other one. 14 The Pharisees went out and met in order to find a way to destroy Jesus. Key Verse If you had known what this means, I want mercy and not sacrifice, you wouldn t have condemned the innocent. (Matthew 12:7) June 3,

7 Hearing the Word As we begin this series of lessons about God s justice and mercy, we will primarily use the Gospel account according to Matthew. Not all of our lessons in this quarter focus on Matthew texts. But as we begin, our lessons certainly will have Matthew as the jumping-off point. Much of what we will discover in studying and preparing to teach concerns the Law. But as followers of Jesus, we will see that God s law is regularly tempered with divine mercy. As any fair person who has a legal background might attest, law without mercy may create more harm than good. The Gospel teaching by and large focuses on the theme of abundant life, which is offered to us as a gift of God in Jesus Christ. The Text in Context Preceding the controversy with the Pharisees over Jesus disciples breaking the Sabbath law (Matthew 12:2) that begins our lesson today, we read that Jesus instructed the disciples on a number of matters (11:1). At this time, John the Baptist sent a message to Jesus via his disciples, asking, Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another (11:2). John had run afoul of Herod and his family and, because of that, literally lost his head (14:10). When the news of John s death came to Jesus, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself (14:13). We can only imagine the grief Jesus endured from his religious enemies and now Herod, clearly a political adversary. According to Chapter 11, Jesus continued teaching and instructed the disciples and crowds about the judgment of the unrepentant. But alongside the woes he pronounced on some of the cities, Jesus also revealed that it is he, Jesus, who will disclose who God is. It is here that Jesus invites: Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest (11:28). When we arrive at the beginning of Chapter 12, Jesus teaching appears to be more specific in nature. Here he discusses the meaning and importance of the Law. Sabbath Questions Matthew 12:1-2. The incident in verses 1-8 has parallels in Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5. Jesus and the disciples typically walked through grain fields as they traveled from place to place, working up an appetite. On one sabbath, the disciples were hungry, so naturally they were picking heads of wheat and eating them (Matthew 12:1). Unfortunately, some Pharisees saw what they did and spoke to Jesus about it. The Pharisees comments had to do with violation of the sabbath laws. As noted in the student book, the disciples were not criticized for stealing grain, because Deuteronomy 23:25 permitted people to pluck grain from a neighbor s field as long as they did so by hand. What the disciples were apparently guilty of was reaping (harvesting the grain), threshing (separating the grain from the stalks), and winnowing (separating the grain from the chaff) on the sabbath. Working on the sabbath was strictly forbidden in Jesus day and remains so for faithfully observant Jewish adherents. Many laws identify what is not permitted on the 24 Adult Bible Studies Teacher

8 sabbath. To engage in these activities was to violate the sacred law of the sabbath. Several of these specific laws have to do with preparing and eating food. For this reason, in Jesus day as now, some of the faithful preparers made meals before the sabbath began. Other sabbath laws pertained to, for example, building things, slaughtering animals, and determining how far a person could walk without being judged as working on the sabbath. Hence, in this circumstance, the phrase a sabbath s day journey makes sense. Because Jesus was the disciples teacher (the word disciple means learner ), the Pharisees confronted Jesus. In essence, they wanted to know why Jesus tolerated such a violation of the sabbath. But Jesus, who by this time in Matthew s Gospel has cast out demons (Matthew 8:28 and following) and answered questions about fasting (9:14 and following), knew how to counter such finger-pointing, which these Pharisees comments were no doubt intended to do. Jesus Responds to the Pharisees Verses 3-4. Reaching back into Israel s glorious past, Jesus brought to the mind of the Pharisees arguably one of the greatest political and military heroes of their nation. No one would argue with just about anything that King David did, with the unhappy exception of what happened with David and Bathsheba. Jesus said to the Pharisees, Haven t you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? (Matthew 12:3). He then told them that David and his soldiers ate the bread of the presence in collusion with Ahimelech the priest (1 Samuel 21:1-6). Jesus theological point with respect to the story of David and his companions (which means together with bread ) was simple. On occasion, it is more important to meet human need than to obey the ritual law. Jesus did not say this occasion happened often or regularly, but he did suggest in this story of David and his soldiers that sometimes human need supersedes ritual law. Again, Jesus Responds to Pharisees Verse 5. After Jesus referenced the story about David and his companions eating the bread of the presence, he used another example from Israel s religious culture. Jesus asked, Haven t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple treat the Sabbath as any other day and are still innocent? (Matthew 12:5). The meaning of Jesus question in reality, a statement is that if service in the Temple on the sabbath is not a violation (Numbers 28:9-10), then why is meeting human need in providing nourishment for a journey thusly condemned? Priests, as Jesus clearly pointed out, labored on the sabbath, which is a clear-cut sabbath violation; but it was assumed that this was just part of the priestly job. By analogy, then, Jesus seems to imply that meeting human need is part of the job of those who are part of the kingdom of heaven. Something Greater Is Here Verses 6-8. At times, Jesus could be cryptic in revealing truth to others. When Jesus said, I tell you that something greater than the temple is here, he created June 3,

9 wonder in the minds of his listeners. What did Jesus mean? No doubt, we can understand that Jesus referred to himself with this enigmatic saying. Sometimes Jesus referred to himself by the designation Son of Man, as we read in the New Revised Standard Version of our Gospel of Matthew over 25 times. In the Common English Bible, we find an analogous designation when Jesus says, The Human One is Lord of the Sabbath. The title Human One accurately represents the Aramaic and Greek idioms rendered here. The phrase has a sense of a human such as I. Either translation, Son of Man or Human One, reminds us that Jesus is that which is greater even than the Temple. In a curious twist, Jesus conveyed to the Pharisees that in a significant way, God established Jesus as the Messiah. In so doing, God also inaugurated a new interpretation of the Law. Jesus used his human/ divine authority to redefine what it means for his followers to obey the ritual law. It s important that we not simply paint the Pharisees as bad people. Indeed, it was they who were only trying to preserve the ritual law, which in their culture had been woefully neglected, as it has in our own. In Jesus day, the ritual law had taken a back seat to other concerns. We might see the Pharisees of our day as those who urge people to obey the sabbath, which is all but forgotten in most corners of our modern culture. Of course, the rub was that the Pharisees mostly saw Jesus as someone who had overstepped his authority. It was for this reason that many in the religious establishment, like the Pharisees, often asked questions such as, What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave [Jesus] this authority? (Matthew 21:23). But Jesus spoke with uncanny confidence as he addressed multiple people who questioned him. Several places in the Gospels point to Jesus apparent display of authoritative teaching. For example, Matthew recounts that the crowds were amazed because [Jesus] was teaching them like someone with authority and not like their legal experts (7:29). In rhetoric, this kind of argument that Matthew makes here is called from the lesser to the greater. In other words, Matthew is saying that the Temple is great, but something greater is going on here. Pay attention. Another Controversy Verses Jesus and the disciples resumed their journey and entered a synagogue, a place of worship and study in the Jewish community. Matthew tells us that a man with a withered hand was there (Matthew 12:10). We also know that Jesus opponents were looking for ways to bring charges against him (verse 10). Violating the sabbath laws by healing (or by reaping, threshing, and winnowing) was a clear-cut breach of sabbath. And the healing having taken place in the synagogue meant that there would have been numerous witnesses. The Pharisees asked Jesus about healing and sabbath law. This gave Jesus an opening to ask them a counter-question about a sheep. If the sheep was in trouble, an act of mercy and financial prudence would dictate rescue. Then Jesus claimed 26 Adult Bible Studies Teacher

10 forthrightly, How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! (verse 12). Jesus said that the Law allows people to act with good intent, even on the sabbath. Then, as if to accentuate the point, Jesus offered a real-life demonstration of his line of reasoning. He invited the man to stretch out his hand. When he did, Jesus made the man s hand whole, or well, again, just like the other one (verse 13). In other words, Jesus made a point about doing good on the sabbath by healing the man s crippled hand right in the synagogue and in front of the Pharisees. Jesus words and actions reminded the Pharisees of something essential. Although the Law is sacred and esteemed, sometimes in our zealous obedience to the Law, we can forget the bigger picture. Later, Jesus would make a similar point when he said, You blind guides! You filter out an ant but swallow a camel (23:24). God intended for human beings to use the sabbath for rest, re-creation, and worship. But the Pharisees, in their zeal to preserve the observance of the Law, elevated the letter of the Law over its spirit. Jesus healing of the man s hand demonstrated that this was not the best intention of the Law as God conceived it. Unhappily, the pride of being correct and as a consequence becoming overly righteous triggered a need in the Pharisees to find a way to destroy Jesus (verse 14). Seeing the Need Part of our American heritage is that we like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient and unrestricted people. Generally, we do not like for anyone to tell us what to do. When Reverend Cross writes in the student book about toddlers learning the word no first, he is certainly onto something. We begin early deciding that we do not like for someone else to tell us what to do. Part of this aversion to being told what to do is that we think of ourselves as being independent. But when people live in community (and it is difficult not to live this way in our world), laws help us peacefully and productively coexist. When every person wants to impose her or his will on others, then we have friction. While it is key to recognize that the law has a useful purpose in helping us live with one another, we also must acknowledge that we must sometimes override the law for the sake of the good. Imagine an ambulance carrying a patient facing a critical life-or-death situation stopping at every traffic light or stop sign on its way to the hospital. When there is no emergency, the driver will certainly follow the rules of the road. But when an emergency arises, the driver allows the crisis to overtake the normal day-to-day traffic laws that we all assume should be obeyed. Several metaphors describe the Jewish law, but perhaps the way Paul describes it is most helpful. In Galatians 3:24, he refers to the Law as a tutor, custodian, schoolmaster, or babysitter, using the Greek word paidagogos. The Law became our custodian until Christ so that we might be made righteous by faith, he wrote. The Law can help train us, but eventually we act on our own. June 3,

11 Living the Faith Review and familiarize yourself with the Purpose Statement for this lesson. As you prepare to teach, consider that everyone in your class will be quite familiar with the concept of law simply because they are members of a community and know that groups of people live together best when they observe certain rules and guidelines. Most people probably also understand the positive and the negative sides of the Jewish law. As you make plans to teach, note as many examples as you can, pro and con, about the Law and how we apply it today in church and in our general society. Beginning the Session Begin by noting that this Bible lesson divides nicely into parts, each part describing an event involving Jesus and his disciples and their actions on the sabbath. Go right to the heart of the matter by reading aloud Matthew 12:7. Ask class members to explain what Jesus meant when he said this. Encourage them to flesh out the meanings of mercy and sacrifice. Ask: What are examples of mercy you have seen? What are examples of sacrifice? What was Jesus referring to here when he spoke of sacrifice? Suggest that Jesus was no doubt using the term sacrifice here in the sense of ritual sacrifice. The Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke would have been familiar with sacrifice and its importance in their worship. God told Moses to say to the people of Israel: Make for me an altar from fertile soil on which to sacrifice your entirely burned offerings, your well-being sacrifices, your sheep, and your oxen. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I make sure my name is remembered (Exodus 20:24). Thus, sacrifice seems to have been a specific act to show obedience to the ritual law. A sacrifice seems obvious and tangible. We can see it and, more importantly, others can see it, too. We know when we have, metaphorically speaking, burned up our bull in a ritual sacrifice fire. Suggest that acts of mercy, by contrast, can sometimes be obscure. Because acts of mercy sometimes seem shadowy and not so public, we often cannot tell when these acts begin or end. No wonder human beings prefer the concrete act of a sacrifice. Sacrificing may seem easier than performing an act of mercy. Ask: Which is easier for you: an act of mercy or an act of sacrifice? Why? Examining the Scripture Ask volunteers to read aloud Matthew 12:1-14. Note the practical significance of what Jesus said. As Jesus and the Pharisees debated what is lawful on the sabbath, Jesus used concrete examples, four plain instances as cases of his claims about the Law. First, reaching back into Israel s past, Jesus brought to the Pharisees attention arguably Israel s greatest political and military hero. He then reminded them that David and his soldiers ate the bread of the presence in collusion with Ahimelech the priest (1 Samuel 21:1-6). Jesus counterargument had much dynamism because David was so revered by Israel. It would be difficult for the Pharisees to argue with 28 Adult Bible Studies Teacher

12 this perspective of their greatest political leader. Attached to the David example was a second case that Jesus brought into view. He reminded the Pharisees of the case of priests who worked in the Temple on the sabbath. This obvious infringement of the law of sabbath suggests that there are some activities that people of faith simply take for granted and ignore the violation. Jesus, of course, did not condemn the priests or the practice; he was only pointing out that the Pharisees seemed to pick and choose what they considered observance of the sabbath. Jesus third illustrative example (a living person with a withered hand whom he met when he went to the synagogue) helped make clear his point. Between the introduction of this man and his healing comes a short and picturesque answer to the Pharisees blunt question: Does the Law allow a person to heal on the Sabbath? So Jesus asked the Pharisees a counter-question about a sheep and a pit and the sabbath. This is the fourth concrete allusion that Jesus used to make his point. At this juncture, Jesus used the rhetorical argument, one that debaters would admire, called the argument from the lesser to the greater. This one promotes that if the sheep is of value, then how much more value is a human being? The argument from the lesser to the greater is found in several places that record Jesus words. For example in Matthew 7:11, Jesus says, If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. In another Gospel, Jesus reminds his listeners that if God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it s alive today and tomorrow it s thrown into the furnace, how much more will God do for you, you people of weak faith! (Luke 12:28). These are strong arguments, and in using them, Jesus showed his skill in debating religious and ethical questions. Read again Matthew 12:8. Then call attention to the questions Reverend Cross poses in the student book: What do you think it means to say that Jesus is Lord of the sabbath? What difference might that make in the way we act on the sabbath day? These are good questions. One might answer that as Lord of the sabbath, Jesus is authorized by God to interpret what sabbath means. Clearly, Jesus understands that mercy is more important than ritual sacrifice. This does not necessarily mean Jesus was opposed to ritual sacrifice. But as an interpreter of the Law, Jesus used as a guide the idea of mercy superseding sacrifice. As people living in the 21st century, we might legitimately ask why the sabbath law or any of the ancient Jewish laws were so important that the Pharisees fretted about them and confronted Jesus when he and his disciples seemed not to observe them. First, the Pharisees knew that Jewish identity was tied to observance of Jewish law. Second, if being the Lord of the sabbath meant Jesus was the final arbiter of ritual law, then his perspective extolled the virtue of mercy. God s people have an identity rooted in mercy. Accordingly, they then act in merciful ways. Observance of Jewish ritual June 3,

13 law grounds people in God s holiness. Yet, by practicing actions of mercy, these holy people put the intentional acts of God into a living and breathing human community. Mercy is what makes people whole and well. So when Jesus said that the Human One is Lord of the Sabbath, we might say that he interpreted acts of mercy to be superior to ritual sacrifice as a way to be faithful to God. We could even go so far as to say that trying to strictly observe the rule of the law of sabbath might mean we miss opportunities to be absolutely faithful to human need right before us! Applying the Scripture s Truth So as not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, first, remind the class that the Law has a useful purpose in helping us live with one another. Second, mention that sometimes we need to override the Law for the sake of the good. Sometimes, circumstances help us override the rule of law, but law is still vital for us to function in community. Call attention to the closing paragraph in Seeing the Need. Jesus overriding principle about law was simply that regardless of how important sacrifice may be, the Law ought always to be tempered with mercy. Close by praying together the prayer at the end of the lesson in the student book. Optional Activity In the student book, Reverend Cross refers to something Edwin Friedman, an expert in systems thinking, once wrote: When someone acts out of vision and clear direction for the future, 100% of the time, there will be sabotage. Involve volunteers in reading aloud the section in which we find that quote, Important to Realize! Lead the class to talk about change and our resistance to it. Ask them to respond to and discuss together the questons at the end of that section. 30 Adult Bible Studies Teacher

14 GET READY FOR A NEW RESOURCE IN THE FAMILY! KAVALA, THE PRINCIPAL SEAPORT OF EASTERN MACEDONIA, GREECE, OVERLOOKING THE AEGEAN SEA Adult Bible Studies Each quarter: Each week a host will provide biblical context, then tie that to personal stories and daily living. Summer 2018 Fall hosts: Brian Sigmon Samantha McGlothlin Stephen Handy COMING THIS FALL! Justice in the New Testament RELIGION/Christian Education/Adult $13.99US ISBN-13: Teacher FREE PDF Daily Bible Study PDF details on inside back cover _CVR_CV1.indd All Pages 1/30/18 1:14 PM