Language of Culture “Life & Ministry of the Messiah, Part 2” from “That the World May Know” series

Understanding the World in Which Jesus Lived Jesus’ entire life overlapped the Herodian dynasty – Herod the Great (Matt 2:1-8, 12-18) – Herod Archelaus (Matt 2:22) – Herod Antipas (Matt 14:1-12; Luke 3:19; 9:7-9; 13:32; 23:7-12) The only one he met face-to-face

Understanding the World in Which Jesus Lived Herod the Great – Had 10 wives Cleopatra: son Philip (Luke 3:1, built Caesarea Philippi) Miriam: grandson Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-14, killed James, imprisoned Peter) – Great grandson Herod Agrippa II (Acts 25:13-26:32, Paul appears before him) – Great granddaughters (sisters of Agrippa II) Drusilla (Acts 24:24, wife of Felix) and Bernice (Acts 25:13, companion of Agrippa II) Malthace: sons Antipas and Archelaus

Understanding the World in Which Jesus Lived Responses to Jesus – Herod the Great Sought to kill the baby, Jesus – Philip Married Herodias, mother of Salome – Antipas Married Herodias (his brother’s wife) Killed John the Baptist Tried Jesus

Understanding the World in Which Jesus Lived Responses to Jesus – Archelaus Mary and Joseph refused to stay in his kingdom – Agrippa I Killed the Apostle James (brother of John) Imprisoned the Apostle Peter – Agrippa II Heard Paul’s defense before Felix “Married” his own sister, Bernice

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Jesus was neither rich nor politically powerful Jesus was aware of current events and recent history Luke 19:11-27 Luke 14:31-33 Matt 20:25-28 Matt 23:23-28 Matt 6:11-18

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Luke 19:11-27 re Archelaus – King goes to far country to receive his kingdom – Some go to oppose him – Kills those who oppose him

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Luke 14:31-33 re Antipas vs Aretas – King won’t go to battle w/out believing he can win – This arose when Antipas divorced Aretas’ daughter and war ensued

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Matt 20:25-28 re politicians/Gentile rulers – Roman and Greek rulers lord it over – God’s leaders are intended to be servants

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Matt 23:23-28 re Pharisees & theater actors – Hypocrites and Pharisees – Clean the outside/whitewashed tombs (actors makeup)

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Matt 6:2,5,16-18 re Pharisees & theater actors – Actors announced by trumpet – Fake faces like actors

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Jesus and Pharisees – Not all Pharisees were bad or despicable – Mark 12:34 (not far from the kingdom) – Luke 7:36 & 14:1 (supported Jesus, invited him into their houses) – John 3:1-2;7:50-51; Luke 13:31 (tried to protect Jesus) – Acts 15:5 (some followed Jesus)

Cultural Images in Jesus’ Teaching Jesus and Pharisees had common beliefs – Physical resurrection of the dead – Judgment day with reward or punishment – Expected a Messiah to return – Belief in angels – Need to obey God’s whole will – God is all-wise, all-knowing, just, merciful & loving

Jesus the Master Builder He was trained as a tekton, a builder He used examples from that world – Matt 16:18 (I build my church) – John 2:19-22 (destroy the temple and raise it up in 3 days – while viewing Herod’s temple) – Luke 14:28-30 (count the cost of building to illustrate the cost of discipleship) – Matt 21:42 (rejected stone was in fact the cornerstone)

Jesus the Master Builder NT examples from that world – Acts 4:11-12 (rejected cornerstone, and the only one who has salvation is Jesus) – I Peter 2:4-8 (we are living stones in a spiritual house, Jesus is the cornerstone that was rejected) As the cornerstone, Jesus holds everything together

Jesus the Master Builder Wherever Jesus taught, people saw stone structures – Rural houses – Herod’s temple and temple plaza – Roman pillars in palaces and theaters – When Jesus spoke of stones and buildings that is what people saw

Jesus the Master Builder Jesus, as the builder shapes us Are we willing to let him use and shape us? Acts 4:12 – And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.

Jesus the Master Builder Acts 4:12 bothers people today, but – Jesus is the only way – He is stone specifically crafted to be THE cornerstone – There is no other

The Significance of Nazareth After leaving Egypt, Joseph and Mary decided to go to Nazareth, vice Bethlehem – Archelaus was king – They were afraid of him – Fulfilled prophecy

The Significance of Nazareth The passage is Matthew 2:19-23 – Clearly Joseph was planning on returning to Bethlehem or Judea – But instead they settled in Nazareth of Galilee – This fulfilled a prophecy There is no prophecy that mentions Nazareth or Nazarene!

The Significance of Nazareth However the Greek word transliterated as Nazareth is probably derived from the Hebrew word netzer, which means “shoot” or “branch” – That term is often used to refer to David’s royal line

The Significance of Nazareth Isaiah 11:1-2, 10 ( 1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root… 2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him… 10 At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations…) Isaiah 53:2 (He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil…) Jer 23:5 (I, the Lord, promise…when I raise up for them a righteous branch, a descendant of David)

The Significance of Nazareth Jer 33:15 (In those days…I will raise up for them a righteous descendant (sprig or shoot) of David…) Zech 3:8 (Listen now…all of you are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch.) Zech 6:12 (…“The Lord who rules over all says, “Look here is the man whose name is Branch,…and build the temple of the Lord”)

The Significance of Nazareth Jesus the “Nazarene” means Jesus the “Branch” from the root of Jesse (the father of David) Jesus was in this way identified as a descendant of King David – This identified Jesus as the promised descendant – God’s promise to always have someone from David’s line on the throne

The Significance of Nazareth In Rev 22:16, Jesus says – I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about…I am the root and the descendant of David… Luke 4:16-30 – The people at first accepted, cheered Jesus’ claim (vs 22) – It would seem that Nazareth also believed they would be the home of the Messiah

The Significance of Nazareth Luke 4:16-30 – BUT – Then Jesus says “no prophet is acceptable in his hometown” and promised no miracles for them (vs 24-27) – The people are enraged! (vs 28)

The Significance of Nazareth While Nazareth seems to have had a high opinion of themselves (they were Shootville, Branchtown), others did not share that idea John 1:45-46 (“…”Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”…)

Jesus, The “Shoot” from Jesse’s Stump Isaiah 11 “ 1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, a bud will sprout from his roots. 2 The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him – a Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a Spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord.”

Jesus, The “Shoot” from Jesse’s Stump Old olive trees will quit producing olives – The farmer cuts off all the branches – Leaving just the stump – Soon new shoots will start growing out of the old stump – Sometimes the farmer grafts new branches into the old stump – Again the new branches take hold and produce

Jesus, The “Shoot” from Jesse’s Stump The stump, Jesse, is Israel Jesus is the branch, maybe the new growth from the dead stump And, we (Christians) are also branches (Gentiles are grafted in) Jesus also speaks of the vine and the branches in John 15

Jesus, The “Shoot” from Jesse’s Stump Vine – Jesus Gardner – God – Prunes the non-productive – Branches that are pruned (not connected to the vine, Jesus) do not produce – Branches that are connected to the vine, Jesus, do bear fruit

Jesus, The “Shoot” from Jesse’s Stump Jesus uses more gardening/farming examples in – Matt 3:8-10 (cut down non productive trees) – Matt 7:17-19 (good trees bear, bad trees don’t) Paul uses a similar illustration in Rom 11:13-24 – To describe how God is bringing Gentiles into His family

Jesus, The “Shoot” from Jesse’s Stump The olive tree and vine illustrations clearly teach that to be saved one must be connected to Jesus

Anointed Jesus is the Anointed One – In Greek that is Christ – In Hebrew that is Messiah – There are more than 375 occurrences of “anointed” in the NT Israel generally used olive oil to anoint its leaders (priests, kings, etc) – Making the olive tree image for Jesus appropriate