Luke 21:5-19

Luke 21:5-19 (NRSV)

⁵ When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ⁶ “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” ⁷ They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”

 ⁸ And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

⁹ “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” ¹⁰ Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; ¹¹ there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 

¹² “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. ¹³ This will give you an opportunity to testify. ¹⁴ So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; ¹⁵ for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷ You will be hated by all because of my name. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Luke 21:5-19 is part of the apocalyptic discourse we find in 21:5-36, dealing with the fate of Jerusalem.

Luke 21:5-19 (Mark 13:1-13 and Matt 24:1-14) (Year C November 13-19) is part of the apocalyptic discourse that extends to verse 36, dealing with the fate of Jerusalem. Luke gathered apocalyptic sayings of Jesus from Q (17:22-37), and now from Mark. 

These teachings arise out of an ongoing dialogue with chief priests, scribes, elders (20:1), Sadducees (20:27) and disciples (20:45), and follow a series of questions about Jesus' authority (20:1-8), paying taxes to Caesar (20:20-26), the resurrection (20:27-40), and just how the Messiah can be David's descendant if David calls him "Lord" (20:41-44). Then, an observation about the value of a poor widow's offering draws the reader's attention to the Jerusalem Temple, setting the stage for this passage. 

The apocalyptic milieu in which Christianity arose, along with a variety of other messianic sects, such as the Zealots and the Essenes, was one development of the prophetic tradition of dissent that figured so prominently in the history and religion of ancient Israel. As the repeated protests of religious apostasy and social injustice lodged by such prophets as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah were met with regular indifference or outright opposition, the stance of protest gradually hardened into one of despair at mundane reform, and prophetic attention increasingly became focused on divine intervention from outside the earthly sphere. 

The writers of apocalyptic imagery used to express this refocused attention did not invent it new, of course, but drew extensively from the tradition of divine appearances — theophanies — rooted in the most ancient layer of Israel’s religious tradition. Pre-eminent among the theophanies preserved in the Hebrew Bible was the appearance of Yahweh on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, which accompanied the giving of the divine law. Apocalyptic material draws from that tradition much of its language and imagery.

We have a message given in the Temple marking the climax of the public ministry of Jesus.  Here is the climax of the pronouncement that begins at 21:8, commonly referred to by scholars as the Synoptic Apocalypse (Mark 13:5-37; Matthew 24:4-36). Luke's version of this eschatological discourse gives Jesus' message a uniquely Lukan spin. While none of the gospel writers sugarcoats the catastrophic events that will befall both the chosen people of God (the destruction of the Jewish temple) and Jesus' loyal followers (the public and personal persecutions of Christians), Luke highlights these catastrophes as opportunities. For individuals this is a chance to let faith shine and witness to the rest of the world. These dramatic developments also serve a second purpose: to display divine sovereignty, intention, power and presence in the unfurling future.

Verses 5-7 is a prophetic saying concerning the destruction of the Temple. Jesus overhears people talking about the beauty of the Temple, especially its stones and the gifts or votive offerings and objects dedicated to God. Such objects became part of the Temple decorations. Some of these were quite elegant and expensive, like the so-called "golden vine" Herod himself is supposed to have given to decorate this place of worship. Herod expanded the grounds of the Temple. He added lavish embellishments and decorations to the site. The ancient world considered both Jerusalem and the Temple in its heart to be magnificent. Dazzling white stone, intricate carvings, gold adornments, all made the Temple building and its various courts a "wonder" to all. The Temple was an amazing piece of architecture. At the time of Jesus' ministry, it had been under construction for almost 50 years and was finally nearing completion. Josephus, the Jewish historian noted that its exterior lacked nothing that could astound the viewer. Massive gold plates covered the sides. The sun immediately radiated a fiery flash from which one needed to avert the eyes. First sight of it, one could mistake it for a snow-clad mountain, for the part of the Temple not covered with gold was pure white. Some of the largest stones were 40 feet long, 12 feet high, 18 feet wide and bright white in their appearance. This was more than a Temple in which to worship God; it was an incredible accomplishment of human beings. However, such admiration on the doorsteps of the Temple does not impress Jesus. In verse 6, he offers a prophetic pronouncement concerning the destruction of the Temple. As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down. The double negative makes it emphatically clear that a future event will destroy every sign of the Temple. The prophecy is consistent with the sign of the fig tree (only in Mark and Matt), the cleansing of the Temple, and his subversive teaching against religious authorities while in the Temple courts. An astute observer of the times in Israel could see that the continued conflict between Jew and Roman would lead to some major disaster. The saying illustrates Jesus’ insight into the religious and political condition of the day.  Jesus stands in the line of prophets. It left no room for negotiation. The prophetic saying left no room for negotiation. The time of the coming catastrophe is limited, as the Temple will fall in ruins, but its fall will be the sign for the intervention of God.[1] Despite its beauty, elegance, and the dutiful homage it evoked, its future is destruction. Jesus weeps for the city of Jerusalem because the days will come when its enemies crush the city to the ground, not leaving one stone upon another. The reason Jesus gives for this destruction is that they did not see the visitation of God had come to them (Luke 19:44). In 70 AD, the Roman army destroyed the temple first by fire. After the flames died down, Titus then ordered the stones themselves torn down, leaving nothing standing.

However, those who hear the pronouncement ask him when, not if, this destruction will be and the sign of the day of the Lord that this destruction is about to take place. They do not doubt the prophetic utterance of Jesus, but only question how much time they have left. This suggests the dialogue is now limited to the inner circle of the followers of Jesus.

Why spend so much time, energy, and wealth, on a Temple? Consider the possibility that all products of human creativity, all art and imagination, culture, architecture, institutions, nations, all are in service of our desire for immortality. Our lives will end. We will disappear as something inconsequential. However, we can pass on what we have to children and grandchildren. We can endow a chair at the university or build a great sone building. We can live forever in the family and communal institutions we build. We know we are mortal, so we imbue our institutions, as personal as family and as general as government, with immortality. We will die, but the family, the college, the denomination, the club, the nation, will last forever. Even in the modern era, we make government buildings to look like temples thousands of years older than they really are, for we plan for them to be here millennia after us. 

We might say to Jesus, look at our great institutions. Yet, in this prophetic saying, Jesus says it is all a lie. It all melts down, disintegrates, turns to dust. We do not know the date, even as it took 40 years after this saying for it come true. The harsh reality of this saying is that our political party, our denomination, our nation, will end.

 

Verses 8-11 is a saying concerning signs before the end. Instead of giving them a definite time, Jesus describes a series of telltale events. Jesus' reply is a caution against the constant temptation to look for signs. The disciples are curious about how they will know that the Temple is about to be destroyed. Jesus’ answer describes many different situations. First, he predicts false messiahs to whom the disciples should not respond. This proliferation of false leaders will be a sign of the end. They will declare that the eschaton has come and now is the time for action. He cautions his disciples against allowing others to lure them into premature action. In verse 8a (Mk 13:5b-6)  Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ ˆ(Ἐγώ εἰμι). In John 8:24, Jesus says the crowds will die in their sins unless they believe that “I am he.” Deceivers will come, trying to usurp the divine name. False prophets are masterful at attaching the credentials of heaven to their earthbound existence. The greatest danger deceivers pose to believers is the false notion that the Parousia is here, that the time for watchful vigilance is past. These words of the early church to followers of Jesus of any age are about the alluring snares and deceptions that will usher in this age. The very appearance of “false prophets,” Jesus cautions, should alert the faithful to an even more vigilant state.[2] In verse 8b (unique to Luke) And, ‘The time is near!’ (Ὁ καιρὸς ἤγγικεν). In Mark 1:15, part of the summary of the preaching of Jesus is that the time (καιρὸς) is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near (ἤγγικεν). In Matt 3:2, 4:17, the summary of the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus is that the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near (ἤγγικεν) Do not go after them. Josephus tells the story of another Jesus who gave dire warnings to the city just before its fall. Josephus refers to many false prophets around 70 AD. Note what Josephus says about the events that led up to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

These people owed their demise to a phony prophet.  He was someone who on that very day announced that God had ordered the people in the city to go up to the temple area, there to welcome the signs that they would be delivered.  Many prophets at the time were incited by tyrannical leaders to persuade people to wait for help from God. ... When humans suffer, they are readily persuaded; but when the con artist depicts release from potential affliction, those suffering give themselves up entirely to hope.^[3]

 

People are ready for apocalyptic speech when they are desperate. Do we really want such earth-shaking occurring among us? Would such an expectation be a threat or promise to us? Our lives stretch between the times. Many people have good reason look at their lives with a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. They are at peace with the world. Apocalyptic expectation in the Bible challenge present arrangements of society and look forward to something more and better. For those who experience this world as painful and tragic, the shaking of heaven and earth would be welcome

Second, in verses 9-11, still in response to the disciples' question, Jesus continues to describe other events signaling the rapid approach of this judgment day. ⁹ “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified. For these things must take place first, but the end (τέλος) will not follow immediately. Regardless of how intimidating such political upheaval will be, Jesus urges them to keep their sense of terror, anxiety, and fear at bay. Such paralyzing fear is premature, for the end is not yet, and reveals mistrust in the providence and purpose of God, since these things must take place first. ¹⁰Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom (Isa 19:2). Such a description of the times was common. Kings, peoples, potentates, and tribes will be at war and ravage Greece.^[4] The text then moves to the common apocalyptic expectation of wars. Kings, peoples, potentates, and tribes will be at war and ravage Greece (Sibylline Oracles 3:635, in Egypt, 163-145 BC). “They” will make war against each other, people against people and kingdom against kingdom (IV Ezra 13:31, 100 AD).^[5] The point is that as they have in the past, wars and conflicts will continue to occur. However, the simple unfolding of human history is a story controlled and timed by God. In and of themselves, these events are simply part of God's gradual, unfolding plan for human history ‑‑ they are not the looked‑for, eschatological, end times. Further, using Jewish images, Jesus reiterates his caution, now expanding the ravages from human tumults into natural disasters, ¹¹ there will be great earthquakes (Judges 5:4f; Psalm 18:7f; Isaiah 24:19), and in various places famines (Jeremiah 15:2; Ezekiel 5:17) and plagues. Such images continue in later Jewish writings. People who do not die in war will die in earthquakes, those who escape that will die in fire, and those who escape that will die in famine (II Baruch 27:7, 70:3,8, later in the second century).^[6] There was a famine in the time of Claudius, earthquakes at Laodicea in 61 AD and Pompey in 62.  Jesus cautions his disciples not to let events in the natural world receive the false label as portents of an imminent eschaton. God has used such events before in human history. God will use them again. Amid them all, there is no need for fear. Further, there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

Verses 12-19 (Mk 13:9-13, Mt 24:9-14)[7] contains sayings on persecution.[8] These sayings reflect detailed knowledge of events that took place after Jesus’ death. They do not refer to events in Galilee or Jerusalem during Jesus’ lifetime. They are sayings from the Jewish-Christian community. Before the destruction of the Temple, there will be persecutions.  The reason for the persecutions will be Jesus' name.  They will come from Jewish, Gentile, and even family sources.  Jesus will give testimony through them. 

Verses 12-13 focus upon persecution and testimony. ¹² “But before all this occurs, Luke highlighting the temporal order of end-time events, postponing the events prophesied in verses 10-11,[9] they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over, as the authorities wanted to do to Jesus in Luke 20:19, to religious leaders and thus to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before political leaders and thus to kings and governors because of my name. ¹³ This will give you an opportunity to testify.^[10] Once authorities have incarcerated the disciples, they will enjoy the right to speak out in their own defense. Verses 14-15 focus on Spirit under trial. ¹⁴ So make up your minds (literally "place in your hearts," a precise Semitic term in Lukan Septuagint language) not to prepare your defense in advance. It describes the careful preparation and meditation necessary before giving a legal defense. This kind of painstaking preparation Jesus cautions incarcerated disciples not to attempt. ¹⁵ For I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.^[11] Instead of offering advice on how his disciples might minimize their sufferings, he simply insists they are not to worry about or plan for their responses in these situations. Expect and wait for words to come to them from Jesus himself at the crucial moment - words that will utterly confound the evil intentions of their persecutors. Jesus will fill his followers' mouths with the right and necessary words. It is surprising that Luke's gospel, which does much to focus on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, clearly notes that in this instance Jesus personally, not the Spirit, will provide vocabulary and testimony for his persecuted beloved. The stress is upon the possibilities of witness that persecution will present. Verses 16-19 describe the fate of the disciples. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends. The people you love the most will hurt you the most. Such a statement is a piece of wisdom and a warning. We need to prepare ourselves for this. Disciples will also suffer abuse at the hands of loved ones. Undoubtedly the promise of Jesus' personal guidance and presence is most comforting, especially to those who will suffer trial and abuse, not from the synagogue or from the government, but from their own families and friends. And they will put some of you to death. Luke's rendition of these personal attacks and betrayals takes Mark's words and puts their verb form into the up-close-and-personal second person. Luke makes the relationship between the betrayed and the betrayer unmistakably personal by referring all the connectedness back through this second person "you." ¹⁷ You will be hated by all because of my name. The prediction of such future betrayals is certainly more distressing to the disciples than the threats from organized religious and political institutions. Jesus' prediction is shocking. It suggests to his followers that from now on, even when they gather into the very hearts of their families, they are never safe from argument, attack and abuse. ¹⁸ But, in a proverb or saying from common lore taken from Q at Luke 12:7, and not in Mark 13, not a hair of your head will perish.^[12] We can see a reflection of the special touch of Luke in this proverb. By reiterating this protective promise, Luke softens the harshness of the prediction of persecution that precedes it. Such a saying stresses the security of the disciples. They have no reason to doubt the providential care of God. The Father has intimate and detailed care for humanity. Thus, each disciple is an end that serves the providential care of God for the world as well. Yet, the way in which God has the good of individual creatures in view, namely, with regard for the divine care of all other creatures, is different from what the creatures themselves seek as their good.^[13] 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls (ψυχὰς).^[14] Those who hold out in persecution will find true and authentic life in with the sense of eternal life.[15] In 8:15, those who receive the word like good soil will bear fruit with patient endurance. We see another reflection of the special touch of Luke as he fashions a more upbeat message as he points to the promise of the future for disciples of Jesus. 

There was a reason early Christians did some things:

• left secret signs (the fish) to mark safe places to worship or seek a night's refuge;

• wrote secret messages (in the languages of their hymns and liturgies) to communicate with other Christians. 

It was a dangerous world in which to be a Christian. The political winds of tolerance and intolerance blew hot and cold depending upon the whims of the emperor, the mood of the regional rulers, the fanaticism of local synagogue officials or the tempers of the marketplace crowds. But the greatest threats to the small, struggling Christian communities were internal. Insiders were the ones who often turned in the early Christians who suffered martyrdom. The informers gave names of Christians to the officials. To make matters worse, these "informers" also coldly recommended what kinds of tests political authorities could give to see whether someone was really a Christian. Insider-informers knew that a true Christian would 1) never curse Christ, 2) never pray to Roman gods, and 3) never offer wine and incense to the emperor's statue. If any accused Christian willingly participated in all three of these, he/she was set free.

Since many people seeking to be faithful to the witness of the early church have misused eschatology, I am not sure what to do with eschatology. We also have the counter scientific evidence that we are moving toward nothingness. Most human beings are acquainted with discouragement. We are familiar with unfulfilled hopes and dreams. We may desire that death will bring the fulfillment of hopes and dreams that remain unfulfilled. Yet, when we consider the harsh reality that desire remains unsatisfied, we resign ourselves to human experience. We do not dare to believe that there is something more. When that experience combines with scientific data so nicely, death and nothingness are the natural result of life in this universe. 

In the year 1000, apocalyptic dreamers watched the skies for the apocalypse. The entire Middle Ages witnessed intense millenarian movements. Followers of Joachim of Fiore even resorted to self-flagellation, blaming themselves for Christ's failure to return on schedule. In the 1500s, Martin Luther thought the world was in its final days. William Miller, a Vermont pastor with thousands of followers, calculated that the world would end in 1843. J. F. Walvoord's 1974 book, Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis, was a million seller (even its updated and reissued 1990 edition). Hal Lindsey's Late Great Plant Earth was a multimillion seller through the 1970s and early 1980s.

Apocalyptic elements in the Bible can become fads in the hands of some theologians and preachers. I think of the Anabaptists of the 1530s in Munster, Germany, the Millerites of the early 1840s, the early 1970s publication of The Late Great Planet Earth, and the Left Behind books and movies. Such language also gained attention in the secular world with the turn of the millennium. A thorough study of such movements would be a long book. Harold Camping studied the Bible and concluded the world would end May 21, 2011. He placed his message on 5,000 billboards. He estimated 7 billion people would die. He used millions of dollars to convey his message. When the date came and went, he amended the date to October 21. By then, the fad had subsided. In our time, we are naturally and justly skeptical of such language. A well know story from colonial New England says that during an eclipse panicked several state legislators. They moved to adjourn, thinking the end of the world must be near. However, one of them said, "Mr. Speaker, if it is not the end of the world and we adjourn, we shall appear to be fools. If it is the end of the world, I should choose to be found doing my duty. I move you, sir, that candles be brought."[16]

Followers of Jesus in every generation will need discernment. People will always present themselves as the ones to solve a perceived crisis that, if not resolved, will mean the end of humanity. The suffering and fear of people might lead them to place their hope in such false leaders, but followers of Jesus need to be aware that the end is not yet, and that such sufferings, political failures that lead to war, and natural disasters, are part of the natural course of events on this earth. Faithful disciples will face many dangers. However, they should never doubt that these events are unfolding according to divine plan and in keeping with God's time.

As Karl Barth noted in his Romans commentary, we need to take to heart the notion that Christianity is completely and restlessly eschatological. One sign of the church adjusting its message to its contemporary setting too much is the loss of its apocalyptic speech and therefore its eschatological dimension. Regardless of our current setting, we need to know that the future of humanity and a concern for its destiny is not so much a matter of how or when, but a matter of who. Thus, dreadful things happen in this world, but do not despair. God has not given up on us. We must not give up on God or ourselves. The future is not in the hands of beastly powers. The future belongs to the Human One. The future has the human face of Jesus Christ, the one who died for us so that we might find life. The hope contained in eschatology for a world in which evil and suffering laid aside while peace and justice are taken out of the hands of human beings and accomplished by the work of God was important to Jesus and to the early church. Eschatology tells us that history does not end in a whimper but in redemption. Standing there in glory at the conclusion of all things is Jesus, the one in whom God has turned toward the world and each of us in love and grace. I modestly hope that Jesus and the early church are right. We are moving toward creation and history glorifying God. My expectation is that God as revealed to us in Jesus will not bring this end into existence through coercion and force, but rather, will find ways to lure human minds and hearts and the institutions they create toward an increasingly just and peaceful world.

This discourse of Jesus is a reminder that Christianity has a hope for the redemption of creation and human history. Like the Gospels, many New Testament writings, and the New Testament itself, theology tends to put eschatology, as a discussion of the doctrine of last things, as its last chapter. Yet, in another sense, good theology shows that its eschatology accompanies it along the way to the end. Without the hope contained in the concluding chapter, much of what Christianity says about creation, Christology, anthropology, ecclesiology, and Christian life, will make little sense. Eschatology attempts to keep chronos, time that passes by the clock and calendar, and kairos, the right and fulfilled time, in juxtaposition. It attempts a dimension of realism regarding the calendar. It attempts to sustain the expectation that, despite the incomprehensible nature of the direction of the present, the secret is that God is moving history toward its saving and grace-filled consummation. Such an orientation toward the future helps to see realistically the fallibility of the church, for it is not a finished product today. Christ finished his work on the cross and resurrection. The participation of the church in that work has not finished. The church is a community on the way to its completion. The same is true of our lives.[17] Human history will not be a genuine story unless we think in terms of ultimate ends. A proper estimation of eschatology will help the church avoid the danger of always adjusting the church to the needs and anxieties of the culture.

At the same time, if you pray the Lord’s Prayer regularly, you are praying apocalyptically: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. If you recite the Creed, you are affirming your connection to the apocalyptic hope of the early Christians: “And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. … And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” When we ask God to interfere with our affairs on this world, we are asking for an end to the world, as we know it. When the author walks on the stage, the play is over. The world as we know it, says apocalyptic hope, will melt away like a dream and something else that never entered our heads to conceive arrives, something so beautiful to some and terrible to others.[18]

---

[1] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 128.

[2] The difficulty historically here is that historians of the first century have no evidence of such rebellions until Bar Cochba in 132 AD.

[3] Jewish Wars, 6.285-87

[4] Sibyline Oracle iii 635

King will lay hold of king and take away territory.

Peoples will ravage peoples, and potentates, tribes.

All leaders will flee to another land.

The land will have a change of men and foreign rule

Will ravage all Greece and drain off …

[5] IV Ezra xiii 31 (ca 100AD)

And they shall plan to make war against one another, city against city, place against place, people against people, and kingdom against kingdom.

[6] II (Apocalypse) of Baruch. 27:7, 70:3,8, 

In the sixth part: earthquakes and terrors.

And they will hate one another and provoke one another to fight. And the despised will rule over the honorable, and the unworthy will raise themselves over the illustrious. … And it will happen that everyone who saves himself from the war will die in an earthquake, and he who saves himself from the earthquake will be burned by fire, ad he who saves himself from the fire will perish by famine.

[7] These sayings reflect detailed knowledge of events that took place after Jesus’ death. They refer to the trials and persecutions of Jesus’ followers, the call to preach the gospel to all nations, advice to offer spontaneous testimony, and the prediction that families would turn against one another are features of later Christian existence. They do not refer to events in Galilee or Jerusalem during Jesus’ lifetime.

[8] (Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 1951), 122, where verses 7-8, 12 are Jewish apocalyptic sayings and verses 5-6, 9-11, 13a are Christian additions.

[9] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 123.

[10] In verses 12-13, persecution & testimony, Luke expands what he found in Mark to conform to what he writes in Acts. Most scholars do not think Jesus could have said this.

[11] In verses 14-15, Luke revises what he found in Mark to conform to the speeches of Peter and Paul in Acts. Most scholars do not think Jesus could have said this.

[12] Verse 18 is a proverb taken from Q, found in Luke 12:7, which most scholars think Jesus said.

[13] Pannenberg, (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 2, 53-4.

[14] In verses 16-19, which most scholars do not think Jesus could have said.

[15] Schweizer, TDNT, IX, 647.

[16] Lamar Williams Jr., Mark, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983) p. 242.

[17]  (Hall, 1996), pp. 49, 476.

[18] (Lewis, A Book of Quotations, 1990), 1990, p. 80.

II Thessalonians 3:6-13

II Thessalonians 3:6-13 (NRSV)

⁶ Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, ⁸ and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. ⁹ This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. ¹¹ For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. ¹² Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

II Thessalonians 3:6-13 is part of a larger section, 3:6-16, with the theme of exhortation. It expands upon the exhortation in I Thessalonians 5:14, in which Paul and his team advise the leadership to admonish the idlers while be patient. Paul and his team remind their readers that they have learned how they ought to live and to please God by the example the team has set for them (I Thessalonians 4:1).  

            This passage becomes the third example of exhortations to the Thessalonian community about the role of working in Christian congregational discipline.[1] The first two examples come from I Thessalonians, and they prepare the way for the more pointed remarks of II Thessalonians 3:6-13. 
            First, in 1 Thessalonians 2:9, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy write, “You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” Here we see that Paul’s conception of his own work (as a tentmaker, Acts 18:3) is a part of his self-perception as an apostle. He does not peddle his message for money, like so many sophists of his day and ours. He does not even accept free sustenance of food and drink while preaching the gospel in the cities of Asia Minor. Rather, he demonstrates his love for his new converts by not burdening their material resources. 
            Second, in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, the authors again raise the issue of proper industriousness in the community, but here they do not use themselves as a model for imitation. Instead, they appeal to the love-commandment, which guides all ethical decisions in Pauline ecclesiology. In this section, the authors are responding to some inquiry about the limits of agape in the Thessalonian community — we can infer this by the formula, “concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you” (1 Thessalonians 4:9; cf. 1 Corinthians 7:1; 8:1). The community may have wondered whether the love-commandment included the mandate to support financially those who did not want to work. Alternatively, they may have been involved in commerce with outsiders of questionable moral rectitude, so that the exhortation toward self-sufficiency was simultaneously a push for purity in the community. In response to these inferred concerns, the authors encourage the Thessalonians “to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you” (4:11). Furthermore, in 5:14, the authors entreat them to “admonish the idlers” (ataktouV), demonstrating that they considered this lack of industry a problem worth nipping in the bud.  

            II Thessalonians 3:6 contains the statement of the problem Paul and his team with some in this community. The seemingly little problem of idleness has increased in its seriousness and its danger to the community. ⁶ Now we command you, beloved, referring to the whole church rather than just its leaders, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as founders of the community we are the only ones who have the right to make such a command, to keep away from believers who are living (περιπατοῦντος) in idleness (ἀτάκτως, or laziness and disorderliness) and not according to the tradition that they received from us. The author does not give a reason for the practice. 

            In this passage, Paul begins the conclusion of his second letter to the Christian community at Thessalonica. Much in tone and substance has changed in the passage of time between the first and second epistles. Paul's encouragement at the positive reports of the Thessalonians' faithfulness in the first letter has turned to concern regarding the idleness of some in the community. They have misunderstood Paul's early and unbridled missionary passion. It is apparent that due to Paul's enthusiastic certainty concerning the proximity of the coming day of the Lord (I Thessalonians 5), many believers questioned the use of working for a living at all. 

Having addressed the panic and fear that had assaulted some Christians who were convinced by the rumors, Paul now turns to another related result - idleness.  There is a definite military sound behind Paul's "commanding" language.  It is likely that these misinformed believers also used their identity as Christians - chosen ones of the coming Lord - to envision themselves as "above" menial labor.  He simply means he did not depend wholly on others for his livelihood. 

            Some persons in the community had reworked and reshaped Paul's teaching (his "tradition"), most probably by a variety of contemporary first century perspectives. There were several philosophic traditions that praised the blessings of leisure. For example, the philosophy of Epicurus (4th-3rd century B.C.), stressing tranquility and personal happiness, still held its sway in the empire of the first century (see Acts 17). While there is much that would distinguish the formal Epicurean from the Christian, hybrid forms of the varying philosophical and cultic expressions were common. Thessalonica was at the midpoint of the Egnatian Way, the main thoroughfare to Rome from the Eastern provinces. Whatever philosophical fad or tradition of the empire that was in vogue certainly would find a home in the cities along such a route. Some in the community may have heard stories of the first disciples leaving their work to follow Jesus. Hence, the rejection of a job might have been seen as an imitation of an earlier Christian tradition: Jesus called his disciples to leave their work and follow him (Mark 1:17)! Whatever the antecedent, what was implied was that work was not part of the faithful response to Jesus Christ, nor a proper way to prepare for the Parousia. When Paul had written that Christ was coming soon in the first letter, he had primarily meant this as a word of comfort amid hardship. However, some people reinterpreted his confidence about the end time to promote an attitude of idle waiting for the second coming. Therefore, at the end of the second letter, Paul reconsiders what it means to live faithfully in the interim between resurrection and the Parousia. He challenges his readers, both historic and contemporary, to do the same. What Paul has heard is that there are some who are requesting and receiving handouts of food from those who are working and who may or may not have extra provisions. It is almost certain that those requesting handouts are not the poor and needy but those who are claiming a higher status of faithfulness and therefore claiming positions of leadership. Paul calls them busybodies (v. 11), folks with too much time on their hands. Of course, the so-called busybodies might claim in defense their leisure as a sign of their philosophical and theological sophistication.

Thus, this passage reveals a third attempt within the correspondence to the Thessalonians to deal with the situation, but at this point the problem has grown worse. The authors clearly address the problem with the “believers who are living in idleness” (II Thessalonians 3:6), namely, as we will soon discuss, those who are “mere busybodies, not doing any work” (3:11). The text implies that this lack of industry is a voluntary decision that they must reverse. 

II Thessalonians 3: 7-10 point the prescription of the problem of idleness. ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, rather than those who presume leadership. Imitation was a form of honor and recognition of the teacher/founder of a school or community. For someone not to follow Paul's example was tantamount to dishonoring him. In dishonoring Paul, one was dishonoring what he preached. By dishonoring what Paul preached, one was dishonoring Christ. Here was the example Paul and his missionary team set: we were not idle when we were with you, ⁸ and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, and thus did not expect gifts and were not freeloaders. The concept of “eating someone’s bread” was a Semitic idiom for “earning a living,” as located especially in Genesis 3:19, where Adam is told, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.”[2] This reference to a commonly accepted maxim manifests the authors’ emphasis on the “tradition” that the Thessalonians received from them (3:6). But with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. Paul mentioned this in the first letter to the Thessalonians (2:9), as well as in his first letter to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 9:6-18). In I Corinthians, however, the concern is with defending his apostleship and his rights as one who proclaims the gospel.⁹ This was not because we as founders of the church do not have that right or apostolic authority (ἐξουσίαν) to demand a form of payment in kind, but in order to give you an example to imitate we labored for our daily bread. Paul could have invoked apostolic authority to ask for food. Paul was adamant that he would use this authority for exactly the opposite purpose in laboring for his own bread, in order that he might be an example for “orderly” and self-sufficient conduct. The authors build on their admonitions from their previous letter. Just as before, they remind the Thessalonians of their own work while they were present with them, but in this letter, they add a strong claim to authority. The authors claim that they possessed, as apostles, an authority that warranted material support from the Thessalonian community, but they did not make use of that right. A useful parallel can be made with the situation in 1 Corinthians 9, where Paul argues, “If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? ... Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:11-12).

¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. Here is a rule for Christian work. There are mixed reviews about the origins of the proverb-like rule that Paul sates here. Some scholars suggest that it is a traditional Jewish saying, while others claim it derives from an established Greek provenance.  He invokes the name of "the Lord Jesus Christ" to add undeniable weight and authority to his words.  Paul does not invoke this rule anywhere else in the writings we have from him. Captain John Smith records his stern words to the idle Cavaliers of the Jamestown colony, using these words.

You see now that power rests wholly in myself: you must obey this now for a Law, that he that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled) for the labors of 30 or 40 honest and industrious men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred and fifty idle loiterers. And though you presume the authority here is but a shadow, and that I dare not touch the lives of any but my own must answer it: the Letters patents shall each week be read to you, whose Contents will tell you the contrary. I would wish you therefore without contempt seek to observe these orders set down, for there are now no more Councilors to protect you, nor curb my endeavors. Therefore he that offends, let him assuredly expect his due punishment.[3]

¹¹ For we hear that some of you are living (περιπατοῦντας) in idleness (ἀτάκτως), mere busybodies (περιεργαζομένους), possibly referring to someone who appears to be working but not getting anything done, or even a micromanager or meddler, not doing any work (ἐργαζομένους), or in order to maintain the wordplay in Greek, “not keeping busy.” Even better rendering would be “they aren’t busy with anything except being busybodies,” which captures the spirit and semantics of the Greek text. Imaging a modern workspace, we might think of one who looks busy when the boss is around (a “poseur”), or someone who flits about a workspace commenting on or trying to participate in the work of everyone else. Both traits could exist in the same person, of course. The idlers were interfering in the business of others. ¹² Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, focusing on the positive result of the exhortation to work, to do their work quietly (ἡσυχίας), making it their goal as Paul had earlier ordered them in person, with the benefit that they will win respect from those outside the church and not having to depend on anyone else for what they need (I Thessalonians 4:11-2) and to earn their own living as earlier Paul urged in person (I Thessalonians 4:11 as well as in this passage). Paul's words here are a diatribe against the privileged few who were taking advantage of those who did labor. The church in Thessalonica is not only supposed to imitate Paul’s example of labor but also their words. These words strongly echo the themes of this passage. As a loving community, extending help to those in physical need is an obvious embodiment of that love. However, another dimension of that love is to recognize that we are agents of our lives. We have no right to what other people of earned. We certainly have no right to take advantage of their compassion, goodness, generosity, and decency. I do not want to minimize the importance of the advice Paul offers regarding our responsibility to work as part of our Christian witness in the world. Paul urges the Christian community then and now to maintain a normal lifestyle, being good citizens, helpful neighbors, committed spouses and parents, quiet and controlled believers. ¹³Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right (καλοποιοῦντες), thus acting responsibly, in order and in line with the tradition that had been handed down. Paul calls his community to a common-sense rightness of conduct and personal responsibility. The advice is so general that it can apply both to this particular situation and to the whole of Christian life.  Note their continued attempts to bring their excitable, idle-handed brothers and sisters back into the fold.

            Hence, at the close of the letter, Paul reasserts his authority. He calls for hard-working calm in the process of God's delivering the new age, judges those who claim any special privilege, dismisses the thinking of anyone who has been swept up in the cultural fads of the first century and admonishes those of high status who have too much time on their hands to return to their common sense. Paul also reminds those who have maintained the proper decorum of faithfulness not to regard those who are idle as enemies. Rather, those who follow Paul's tradition must set the example of living responsibly and faithfully so that, in time, those who have been "ashamed" might be one again.

            One may wonder why this lengthy and adamant ethical exhortation concludes this letter to the Thessalonians. An answer to this question may lie in the realm of eschatology. While Paul may have written I Thessalonians to encourage and provoke apocalyptic fervor in a church apathetic about the coming day of the Lord, the purpose of II Thessalonians may be to calm down the ecstasy that such fervor might produce. If the “disorder” of such excitement is the ultimate source of the “idleness” of which this passage speaks, this letter has more to say about both eschatology and ethics than simply “keep awake and be sober” (I Thessalonians 5). Paul now supports ethical commands for responsible actions in the face of the disorder and idleness that too sharp a sense of the future might create. While II Thessalonians knows the day of the Lord is to come, it also underscores the responsibility that the church has in living together in unity and sufficiency in the present, working together, not in idleness, in “doing what is right” (II Thessalonians 3:13) for “the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (II Thessalonians 3:5).

            I do not minimize the issue Paul raises here. For whatever their reason, some people in this Christian community had become idle. They were busy at being busybodies. They were working hard at meddling in the work of others. Such idleness does not seem to be one of the bigger sins. Not only that, but the antidote Paul offers is no big deal either. The antidote in this passage is work, being a good citizen, and doing the right thing. Given the weighty matters Paul considers in his letters, his advice here seems common and small.

Big problems arise from small problems;
The wise man takes care of all his small problems,
Thus he has no problems.
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 63

While not an absolute truth, this bit of wisdom is worth pondering. I hope you will do so with me. A book that has been meaningful to my spiritual journey is “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” I get the point. We often let trivial matters consume us to the point where we ignore the things that matter most. Yet, what shows up in the small stuff may well reveal much larger issues.

Let us consider a crime theory. James Q. Wilson of the Harvard Government Department coined the “Broken Window” theory of crime prevention. Trivial things matter, the Wilson theory goes, especially when it comes to infractions of public order. If a broken pane of glass goes unrepaired, people will shatter other panes, and then doors will be jimmied up and down the street. If graffiti on a train goes unremoved, more graffiti will follow, and so will robberies in the cars and stations. No tolerance for petty lawbreaking leads to fewer incidents of major lawbreaking. This “Broken Window Theory” has inspired police departments in New York and other urban areas to crack down on the small stuff to keep out the big stuff. 

In his book Leadership, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani tells of how he applied the Broken Window Theory to crime. In the process, the city reduced murders from 2000 a year to fewer than 600. He started with “Squeegee guys” — the annoying people who used to run up to your car when you were sitting at a traffic light, wash your window with filthy water and rags, and then demand payment. Giuliani had them arrested for jaywalking and — surprise, surprise — a huge percentage of them turned out to be felons. 

It turns out that murderers and muggers tend to break a lot of little laws, too. Therefore, when you crack down on the little infractions — when you fix the broken windows — you end up catching criminals that otherwise would have gotten away. A critic of Giuliani said that arresting subway turnstile jumpers was a waste of police effort when they should be chasing drug pushers. Well, guess what? They discovered that drug pushers were part of the turnstile-jumping crowd.

Attacking small and petty problems is rarely a waste of time, according to Broken Window Theory. Instead, it helps you to manage the serious issues, and prevent the condition of your building — or your city — or your church -- or your self — from spiraling out of control. 

We might apply this principle to spiritual life as well. Take the matter of sloth. It made the list of seven deadly sins. It seems like such a small matter. Yet, as Benjamin Franklin put it, “Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.” Our pride will lead us to secure our place in the world. We are the foundation of our lives, which leads to our anxious striving to secure the place we envision for ourselves in the world, usually some form of financial security or professional success. The other side of this anxious striving we find in the self-promotion and self-glorification of pride is the self-denial and self-renunciation of sloth. Both sins turn away from finding our worth, meaning, and purpose through our participation in God.[4] The desert fathers and mothers could refer to the demon of acedia, the noonday demon, as the sin that causes the most serious trouble of all sins. Acedia is a word of Greek origin that means, literally, “without care.” In the Latin tradition of the seven deadly sins, it comes down to us as tristitia or otiositas, sadness or idleness. But citing synonyms and translations will not do. For the monastic tradition, acedia or sloth is a complex spiritual state that defies simple definition. It describes a lassitude and despair that overwhelms spiritual striving. ... Medieval English writers often speak of acedia as wanhope, a waning of confidence in the efficacy and importance of prayer. Dante, on the fourth ledge of purgatory, describes those afflicted by acedia as suffering from lento amore, a slow love that cannot motivate and uplift, leaving the soul stagnant, unable to move under the heavy burden of sin. Across these different descriptions, a common picture emerges. The noonday devil tempts us into a state of spiritual despair and sadness that drains us of our Christian hope.[5] The reality is that we often think of sloth as a harmless form of physical laziness. Sloth is not simply laziness. Sloth is an inability to concentrate on serious matters. A close ally of sloth is despair. It neglects duty and refuses joy in what we do. Sloth and acedia refuse to see the grace in barren places. They cannot recognize the grace in good things. Persons who surrender to sloth and acedia are unable to rejoice in the gift of life and the beauty of the world God has created.[6]

Take the matter of what we say about each other. One cannot talk about nothing forever, so the talk finally degenerates into small rap about people. Some wonderful advice comes to us from the ancient Orient. We should test our words to see if they can pass through three golden gates: 
1) Is it true? 
2) Is it necessary? and 
3) Is it kind?

 

All too often, how I handle the unimportant things in relationships and family reveal much larger issues. How about you?

Somewhere in our lives, we have important time decisions to make, and if we do not repair the broken windows, that is, clean up the nonproductive, ill-spent activities, the whole structure of our lives is going to crash and burn.
            This catastrophe theory will emerge in broken relationships, a soured marriage, a barren spiritual life and a lack of time to do things that nurture both yourself, your family and community. “Brothers and sisters,” Paul concludes, “do not be weary in doing what is right” (3:13).
            Where are the broken windows? What needs repair in your life? What have you been meaning to address in your life that for some reason you still have not gotten around to? What would a friend, a brother, or sister, or parent, or spouse, say are the broken windows in your life? Other people can often see the damage better than we can. 
            When we crack down on the small problems to keep out the big problems, we are doing our work quietly and faithfully and well. When we fix our broken windows so that our personal spiritual structure will remain attractive and healthy and strong, we are following Paul’s advice to “not be weary in doing what is right.”

---

[1] (Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians [AB 32; New York: Doubleday, 2000], 456).

[2] (Earl J. Richard, First and Second Thessalonians [Sacra Pagina; Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical, 1995], 380).

[3] —Captain John Smith from the Colonial Williamsburg website. history.org. Retrieved May 23, 2019.

[4] Inspired by Shannon Craigo-Snell, “Pride and Sloth,” Presbyterian Outlook, March 2, 2015.

[5] Evagrius of Pontus, a fourth-century monk. R.R. Reno, Fighting the Noonday Devil (Eerdmans, 2011), excerpted in First Things, August/September 2003. firstthings.com. Retrieved May 23, 2019.

[6]  --Kathleen Norris, "A case of soul-weariness: Plain old sloth," The Christian Century, January 11, 2003, 8-9.

Psalm 118

Psalm 118 (NRSV)

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his steadfast love endures forever!

² Let Israel say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

³ Let the house of Aaron say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

⁴ Let those who fear the Lord say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.” 

⁵ Out of my distress I called on the Lord;

the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

⁶ With the Lord on my side I do not fear.

What can mortals do to me?

⁷ The Lord is on my side to help me;

I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

⁸ It is better to take refuge in the Lord

than to put confidence in mortals.

⁹ It is better to take refuge in the Lord

than to put confidence in princes. 

¹⁰ All nations surrounded me;

in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

¹¹ They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;

in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

¹² They surrounded me like bees;

they blazed like a fire of thorns;

in the name of the Lord I cut them off!

¹³ I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,

but the Lord helped me.

¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my might;

he has become my salvation. 

¹⁵ There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:

“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;

¹⁶      the right hand of the Lord is exalted;

the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”

¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live,

and recount the deeds of the Lord.

¹⁸ The Lord has punished me severely,

but he did not give me over to death. 

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the Lord. 

²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord;

the righteous shall enter through it. 

²¹ I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

²² The stone that the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

²³ This is the Lord’s doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁵ Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!

O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! 

²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

We bless you from the house of the Lord.

²⁷ The Lord is God,

and he has given us light.

Bind the festal procession with branches,

up to the horns of the altar. 

²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

you are my God, I will extol you. 

²⁹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

Psalm 118 is a pre-exilic psalm of individual thanksgiving. However, the reference to the nations and the battle imagery of verses 10-16 suggests a victory song. It is a powerful testimony to the direct help of God and joyful surrender to God who can overcome all afflictions.  The Talmud says worship leaders read it antiphonally in the liturgy.  Proselytes are part of the service.  Jewish tradition relates it to the feast of tabernacles, while many moderns relate it to the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, Ezra 6:15-16, Nehemiah 8, nor I Maccabees 4:54ff refer to it.  Dahood sees a king giving thanks for deliverance from death and military victory.  He also sees associations with the ancient hymn of Exodus 15, thus being pre-exilic.  This provides the conclusion to the Hallel portion of the psalter that began with Psalm 113.  Leaders recited these psalms at the great Jewish feasts, including the Passover.  This may have been the psalm used in Nehemiah 8:13-18, which refers to the post-exilic celebration of the festival of booths, where the people were to gather branches and construct booths on their roofs and courtyards.  See Ezra 3:4, Zechariah 14:16 and Exodus 23:14 for the observances of festivals. Death is a formidable power, which wants to take control; but God will not let it happen.  The day of rescue is a day for joy. 

Psalm 118:1-4 form the introduction. ¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good (tov); the steadfast love (hesed, lovingkindness, mercy, faithful or loyal love) of the Lord endures forever! The abiding goodness of the Lord is the theme of the psalm. He holds the Lord in highest esteem, as one whose qualities worshippers ought to desire. Jewish piety had the thought of the goodness of the Lord underlying the summons to praise and offer thanks in prayer, as here.[1] One can understand hesed as covenant loyalty, graciousness, and kindness. The Lord honors covenants made with us human beings, sometimes even when we breach them.  ² Let Israel say, “The steadfast love (hesed) of the Lord endures forever.”The repetition of participants provides intensification via the various groups' repetition of this phrase. We see a similar pattern in Psalms 107:1, 117:1-2, and especially 136 (all); I Chronicles 16:34, 2 Chronicles 5:13, Ezra 3:11. In verses 2-4, the poet invites Israel, the house of Aaron, and those who fear the Lord, to say the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. It invites them to participate in the liturgy. 

Psalm 118: 5-21 are an individual thanksgiving. ⁵ Out of my distress (a narrow, constricted space) I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place (connoting deliverance, relief). The Lord granting past favors are vividly in mind. ⁶ With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? Psalm 56:4, 11asks comparable questions. ⁷ The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. Trust in the Lord sustains him. With the Lord on his side, nothing can defeat him. ⁸ It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals. Thus, no human can harm the poet as long as the Lord is on his side, and thus, no human is as reliable as the Lord. ⁹ It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. We find the sentiment of verses 8-9 in Psalm 146:3 as well. The only place to be unshaken is at God's side. In verses 10-13, the poet is a kingly persona, or the poet speaks on behalf of the nation, as he refers to the attack of the nations. ¹⁰ All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! If a prayer by the king, he describes engagement with the adversary, in which the king holds life and death in the balance. Verses 11-12 may describe a siege. The narration has begun. The king describes engagement with the adversary, in which life and death were held in the balance. ¹¹ They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! ¹² They surrounded me like bees; they blazed like a fire of easily consumed thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!  The enemy swarms around the poet like bees, numerous and about to attack. We need to note the involvement of sound, as the poet refers to buzzing bees and crackling thorns. ¹³ I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. Since the Lord alone can bring deliverance and victory, Psalm 118 urges placing our trust in the Lord rather than either placing our ultimate trust in human beings or fearing them. His enemies pushed hard, so that he was falling, but the Lord helped him. In verses 14-16, using imagery from Exodus 15:2, 6 and Isaiah 12:2, the poet affirms that ¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my might; the Lord has become my salvation. We see no pride here. We see only submission to the victory of the Lord. ¹⁵ There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly; ¹⁶ the right hand of the LORD, which the Lord uses to defend Israel against its enemy, is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly." The Lord is the mighty hero. ¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD. The king views his future life and the time of suffering considering the Lord with whom he has had such a powerful experience. ¹⁸ The LORD has punished me severely, but the Lord did not give me over to death. Verses 19-20 are an allusion to entrance rituals whereby the righteous gain admittance to the temple, as in Psalm 15 and 24. ¹⁹ Open to me (the king) the gates of righteousness, referring to those in the temple, where only the godly righteous may enter. For the gatekeepers, one can also see Psalm 15, 24:3-10, and Matthew 25:31. Righteousness is living by the right, moral and ethical standards of the Lord in relationship to others, which includes mercy for the needy and helpless, along with equal justice for all in legal matters. Righteousness can also mean the saving vindication of the Lord. Hence, we see varied translations of 118:19: "Gates of righteousness" (NRSV, NIV, NASB), "Gates of victory" (Tanakh, NAB), and “Gates of saving justice" (NJB).[2] He wants the gates to open that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. ²¹ I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

Psalm 118: 22-29 become the testimony of the congregation. It becomes a confession of faith in the Lord. The deliverance beat the odds, rescuing and honoring the unlikely. ²² The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. A metaphor of reversal of expectations. Once rejected, Israel is now the keystone. The architectural imagery links with gates and gateway in verses 19-20. Verses 28-28 are a thanksgiving ritual in the temple amid the4 friend and family of the poet. The shift to the first-person plural suggests that these verses were recited by all those assembled. ²³ This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. It may refer to the building of the temple.  The saying implies that someone rejected has become prominent, and indeed irreplaceable. Some scholars consider this a proverbial expression that this passage applies to the king. "He had been near defeat and death, but now Yahweh has granted him victory and success.... Others take the stone to represent Israel, rejected as unimportant by the great empires.... In later times Judaism applied this verse not only to the king but also the expected Messiah, an interpretation adopted by the Christian church."[3] Given that Judaism applied it to Messiah, it is no surprise that Christians did so as well, for which see Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, and I Peter 2:7. From NT times, Christians have seen connections between Psalm 18:22-23 and the initial rejection and suffering of Jesus, followed by his subsequent vindication when God raised him from the dead. Ephesians 2:19-22 calls Jesus Christ ἀκρογωνιαίου (v. 20: the corner, cornerstone, capstone, or keystone). A popular hymn from the 600s and translated from the Latin by John Mason Neale (1818-1866) begins with the notion that God has made Christ the sure foundation, head, and cornerstone, the chosen one, and precious, binding all the church in one. ²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. ²⁵ Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! ²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. All four gospels cite this verse (Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:8-9, Luke 19:37-38, John 12:13). The disciples of Jesus and the crowds shouted it out as he entered Jerusalem that final time. Originally, "the one who comes in the name of the LORD" may have referred to the king who entered the temple as one who represented the Lord and the deliverance he brings. By the time of Jesus, Judaism understood the expression in a messianic way, and thus applied in the gospels to Jesus, who calls us to bear our cross daily (Luke 9:23) on the way to eternal hope. We may trust him along the way. We bless you from the house of the Lord. ²⁷ The Lord is God, and the Lord has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. Here are instructions for a ritual accompanying the sacrifice that entered the text of the psalm.  ²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you. ²⁹ O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. This forms an inclusio with verse 1. 

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[1] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 432.

[2] The Theological Wordbook of the Bible (article 1879)

[3] Bratcher and Reyburn (A Handbook on Psalms, 993)