From Background Notes [BN] for July 20th & 21st written
by Pastor Bob Brown:
Jesus could not have chosen a more hated group of people for observant Jews. The publican — tax farmer — was a Jew who sold his services to the Romans for a percent of the action. By this conduct alone, the publican made himself the enemy to his fellow Jews. With skillful intent…
Jesus could not have chosen a more hated group of people for observant Jews. The publican — tax farmer — was a Jew who sold his services to the Romans for a percent of the action. By this conduct alone, the publican made himself the enemy to his fellow Jews. With skillful intent…
…Jesus shrewdly chooses an illustration that drips with irony. He says, in effect, one of your greatest enemies is the best of friends to his own kind. Or, as they say, “There’s honor among thieves.” Of course that’s the problem with loving only friends: the act involves no special effort, since love flows easily to those just like us. Publicans loved their own kind, and nobody would ever think of praising them for doing so. In the same way, disciples love for their own kind calls for no special commendation. How does the love of nice people for other nice people actually differ in kind from not-so-nice people’s love for other not-so-nice people? What makes love so uninteresting in both cases is that there is no heroism in it; nothing extraordinary is achieved by it. Perhaps the most revealing term in 5:46 is to auto in the Greek: “the same.” Love like that is simply “same ol’, same ol’ …” [BN, 6]
Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:
* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am
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