A DAY IN THE LIFE: Bema Trip

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the second week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

I have recently returned from my third student trip to Israel and Turkey. I call these study tours “BEMA Trips” as they are a part of my larger BEMA Discipleship program. I try to lead study tours every other year as an opportunity to allow students to engage the world of the Bible experientially. If you followed the other series on my blog this year, you might remember this post on MODE for Impact Campus Ministries. The BEMA Trips are a great example of how I try to pursue MODE with my students.

This year (2018) was the final instance of a combined trip to Israel and Turkey. The three-week experience was an incredible time — designed for students who only had one opportunity to do this and limited funding, the bang-for-the-buck of one trip ($5800) was something that couldn’t be beat by the price (and time commitment) needed for two separate trips ($4300 each). However, as my job has taken me further from students, and as I have lost a scholarship fund that allowed me to give out $50,000 of support to students who wanted to go, I have needed to shift my focus.

In the future, we are planning for two groups on separate trips to Israel and Turkey. While this will be more expensive, it will be much more feasible for the typical participant who has a job and can’t get three weeks off of work. It will also enable us to have different focuses for each trip. Everything being said, the trip participants are pretty tired by the time they approach the end of a three-week adventure where we hike 7–12 miles a day with over 1800 feet of elevation change. We are beat up physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Oh, but we are also filled up like never before. It is an opportunity that I thank God for every year. It really is my version of living the dream and I am blessed beyond belief to have the opportunity to do it!

But if this is something that only happens once every other year, is it really something that belongs in the A DAY IN THE LIFE series? The answer is yes, because of all the ongoing work needed to make these trips a reality.

After I return from a trip, I commit to my participants one year of focused, pastoral follow-up. I want to use my experience and the experience of my past alumni to help students make the most of their opportunity, so I will offer them some provocative guidance to help stimulate growth and appropriate responses (e.g., new habits, new community, new disciples) in their lives. I will also be available to them should they need to ask questions or wrestle with new efforts to become a more devoted follower of our Rabbi.

As that year comes to a close (and even a little before), I begin recruiting for our next trip. When we are ten months out, we open official registration and I am busy collecting information, paperwork, funding, and sending our preparation videos for those participants. Simply put, I am always doing something in preparation for or in response to a BEMA Trip.

Want to experience a little taste of our trip? I made a video with some snippets from each day of our last time in Israel and Turkey. (I even remembered to shoot a few introduction videos in Israel!)

REVELATION: A Slain Lamb

The pictures and images that drive the fifth chapter of Revelation follow in step with the parousia we described in the fourth chapter. We’ll continue to see a parallel in cultural context, as well as references to the Hebrew Scriptures in a way that preaches a sermon within the letter.

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Many of the pronouncements we’ve referenced in Roman settings (and will continue to reference) were made from scrolls. History would indicate that these scrolls were often made quite large to impact the listener visually; the scroll often contained the greatness and achievements of the Emperor. Some have suggested a tongue-in-cheek reference to “a scroll with writing on both sides” — meaning that the greatness of this King is so great, you couldn’t fit it all on one side.

However, one of the things we can make a direct tie to in the culture is the reference about worthiness. You might remember our discussion about the synagogue in Sardis; one of the finds in the ruins there was a plaque that sat over the Moses Seat: “Only he who is worthy. Take. Open. Read.” The audience of Revelation seems to be familiar with the idea that the scrolls of God should only be read by the person who walks in faithful righteousness. So who would be worthy to open this scroll?

At the synagogue in Sardis; Moses seat on the left, Torah closet on the right.

It should be noted that the references to things like “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” or “the Root of David” are more than just passing references to Jesus. They are intentional quotations of the Hebrew Scriptures that are intended to speak to the readers about the current situation. But this discussion will already be long enough without covering that here. Continuing in Revelation 5:

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 

John references this ruler who is worthy to open the scroll, but the reference is a deliberate play on the Exodus — fitting for a group of people crying out for deliverance from Roman persecution. This ruler looks like a slain lamb. For the Jewish people, the slain lamb had become the symbol of revolution, calling them back to the great story of God’s deliverance. Add to this John’s reference to the elders, the very people Exodus describes as needing to examine and identify the Pesach lamb in Exodus 12.

And the references don’t stop here — “… which are the prayers of God’s people” appear to be drawn from Psalm 141:2 and Psalm 16:3. The context of those Psalms would also speak to the audience, crying out to God for refuge and deliverance. Back to Revelation 5:

And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

One of the songs that will continue to make an appearance in the Revelation of John, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, is the song of Moses. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, they found themselves rescued on the other side, dancing along to the song of Moses. While the closing of that song (Exodus 15) seems to have a loose connection here, the possibility is bolstered by John’s Passover/Exodus references throughout the chapter.

One final idea that has always jumped out to me is the commissioning of Isaiah in Isaiah 6. Not only is the song from Isaiah mentioned just prior in Revelation 4, but the entirety of Revelation 5 is about worthiness, draped in a context of flying figures with many wings encircling the throne. This reaches back into our previous discussion, but the image clearly carries itself through chapter 5, as well.

REVELATION: Philadelphia and Her New Name

Now that we’ve been exposed to this hermeneutic in Revelation, we should be able to cover ground a little more quickly. We’ll take a look at the context of Philadelphia, we’ll let it shape the way we read the letter, and then we’ll ask where John is drawing his material from in the Old Testament.

Philadelphia is another city that was plagued in the first century by earthquakes. (You might remember the conversation in 1 Thessalonians about parousia and the second coming of a Roman emperor.) In AD 17 there was a major earthquake that destroyed Philadelphia; the rebuilt city was given a new name to honor the Caesar who helped them rebuild: “NeoCaesarea.”

In AD 60, another major earthquake hit and the city was rebuilt again by the Flavian dynasty. They sought to rename the city “Flavia,” but the name was rejected because of how the residents of the city despised the Flavian dynasty. (While the city’s name was changed formally, it appears nobody recognized the new name and it reverted to Philadelphia.)

Among the many things that plagued the early Roman empire, the lack of grain production crippled the Roman economy (think of our dependance on oil and we start to understand the problem). Rome was doing everything they could think of to produce more grain. In fact, one of the references in the book of Revelation (found in 6:6) matches exactly what we’ve found in Roman records; the price mentioned is 500 times the average price prior to the grain shortage.

One of the major exports of Philadelphia was its incredible wine; they loved their wine and were known throughout the land as having wonderful grapes. The Flavian dynasty, in an effort to curb the grain shortage, ordered more than 75% of the grapevines of Philadelphia uprooted. They were replaced with grain fields that never produced healthy grain (and they were certainly warned by experts that the grain wouldn’t grow). In light of this, you can understand the anger of the residents.

Philadelphia was also known as “The Door” to Asia Minor. It was the border between the two regions on the main highway. Once you passed through Philadelphia on your way west, you had entered into the province of Asia.

Now, let’s read the letter to Philadelphia and listen for context:

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

“What he opens no one can shut … See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.” We have a fitting reference to the city known as a doorway into the kingdom of Asia.

“… synagogue of Satan …” Most scholars have based the reference in our discussion about Smyrna on scholarship surrounding this reference in the letter to Philadelphia. It appears to be a similar situation where the Jewish assembly in Philadelphia is denying the acceptance of the Gentiles.

“I am coming soon.” This deliberate reference to a parousia speaks to a city that has experienced at least two of them.

“I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, … I will also write on them my new name.” Three different references to a new name in this letter? That’s more than mere coincidence; this is most certainly a play on the cultural backdrop of a city that’s had its name changed frequently.

But then we need to ask about John’s source material. Consider the following from Isaiah 45:

“This is what the LORD says to his anointed,    to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold ofto subdue nations before him    and to strip kings of their armor,to open doors before him    so that gates will not be shut:I will go before you    and will level the mountains;I will break down gates of bronze    and cut through bars of iron.I will give you hidden treasures,    riches stored in secret places,so that you may know that I am the LORD,    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.For the sake of Jacob my servant,    of Israel my chosen,I summon you by name    and bestow on you a title of honor,    though you do not acknowledge me.”

Here we see a reference to God opening doors that cannot be shut; Isaiah also spends an unusual amount of time talking about summoning Cyrus by name. Not only this, but the whole passage is about God using a Gentile to save and redeem His own people — a reference directed to the “Synagogue of Satan”?

Now consider Isaiah 62:

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,    for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,till her vindication shines out like the dawn,    her salvation like a blazing torch.The nations will see your vindication,    and all kings your glory;you will be called by a new name    that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,    a royal diadem in the hand of your God.No longer will they call you Deserted,    or name your land Desolate.But you will be called Hephzibah,    and your land Beulah;for the LORD will take delight in you,    and your land will be married.As a young man marries a young woman,    so will your Builder marry you;as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,    so will your God rejoice over you.

It’s another incredibly fitting source from which to grab material for the letter to Philadelphia. John made mention of nobody taking their crown, a reference to a passage that is also filled with references to a new name?

But there’s also one more in 2 Chronicles 3:

For the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits long, each with a capital five cubits high. He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.

John said they would be pillars in the temple of my God. Such a reference would take any Jew’s mind back to the temple of Solomon, because when we were told of Solomon’s project, one of the notable things he did was to set up two pillars. However, as you can see above, he doesn’t just set up two pillars; he does something peculiar —

He gives them names.

And again, I’m forced to recognize the literary genius that is the book of Revelation. We could write much more just on the different “hidden sermons” that are being preached through John referencing these passages (known as remez). May we continue to push in and learn more about the book that has perplexed so many for so long, but may we remember that if we’re going to study the last book of the New Testament, one of the most critical things we better bring with us is the Old Testament.

REVELATION: Waking Up in Sardis (part two)

As we continue our study of Sardis and the context that drives the letter in Revelation, if we proceed down into the city ruins, we would find the second largest gymnasium (remember to think “university”) in the Roman world of Asia and Asia Minor — second only to the gymnasium of Domitian in Ephesus. If you were to walk into the center courtyard of the gymnasium, you would be able to spin around to admire the palestra, the colonnaded courtyard whose edges would have housed the many classrooms utilized for Greco-Roman study.

Within the palestra and the gymnasium walls would actually be the largest synagogue found in the ancient world. This would strike anyone as being quite odd. Why would you put a place of Jewish worship and education so close to a place of Roman education? When you walk through the ruins of the synagogue, you are struck by many different features. First, there are no images on the floor, but you see an ornate Torah closet and Moses seat — what you would expect from a devout Jewish community. But there are other features which suggest compromise. There are lions toward the front of the synagogue, which wouldn’t be alarming in another context, but the goddess of Sardis, Cybele, was represented by lions. The Torah reading table has large eagles on its side supports, a distinctly Roman image. And then you have the synagogue’s location to consider.

Synagogue at Sardis, with the gymnasium palestra in the background

Is this ancient community committed to missional living? Or is this a community struggling with compromise? Or is it both?

It could be that this is what the letter spoke of when it told them to “wake up and strengthen their defenses” and that they had “a reputation for being alive, yet were dead.”

Of course, the archaeological team from Harvard disagrees — and I happen to agree with them.

The team at Harvard pointed out that the Christian bishop stationed in Sardis (long after Revelation was written), Bishop Mileto, was one of the most anti-Semitic bishops in Asia and Asia Minor. He mounted numerous written attacks against the Jews of Sardis, and not once did he ever accuse them of compromise. If their history was so littered with compromise, this would be a strange omission.

Harvard also points out that the mikveh fountain located outside the entrance to the synagogue was also listed as one of the eleven public fountains with free access in the city of Sardis.

It seems we have an ancient group of people trying to be a light to the Gentiles.

But for now, let’s take this conversation back toward the mountains of Sardis where the great temple to Cybele sits between the acropolis and the necropolis. Symbolizing the mythology of Sardis that surrounded life, death, and resurrection, one side of the Temple would frame the acropolis in the great doorway, while looking the other direction would frame the necropolis. The myth of Cybele is what would eventually give rise to the Greco-Roman worship of Artemis.

According to the story, Cybele had both male and female genitalia and was able to procreate on her own. Her grandson was enamored with her and longed to sleep with her, but Cybele, in need of no male companionship, continually rejected him. In a frenzied attempt to prove his undying devotion to her, the grandson castrated himself and offered his prized organs on the altar as an act of worship.

Every year in Sardis, over one million people would visit the city for a great 40-day celebration commemorating the myth. At multiple times during the festival, a large procession would leave from the city center (with everyone dressed in white robes), and they would make their way up to the temple to Cybele. The goal was to get yourself into such a drunken lather that you would be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and recreate the myth, offering your own castration to the goddess.

As one might imagine, not everyone would engage in this most holy of acts, but the priests of Cybele had declared that if you got some of the blood of those who did on your white robe, their offering would be accepted on your behalf.

Today, as one examines the ruins of the temple to Cybele, they might notice a small building built onto the corner of the ruins. (It dates to around the third or fourth century, near the time Cybele worship and paganism is dying out, but the point still stands.) It happens to be the ruins of a church. Much too small to be a place of corporate worship, some scholars have noticed the circular shape and identified it as a medical clinic. Some have theorized that the Christians here at Sardis decided to start a mission-based medical clinic and offer care to those who engaged in pagan worship.

Small church ruins sit in the lower right; temple ruins behind

I have always loved that picture. Whether the historicity of that claim is accurate or not is highly debatable, but the picture of a community of people building their church on the corner of the Cybele temple is an incredible image to me. It reminds me of Jesus’s words at Caesarea Philippi about where he would build his church. But I find myself reading the last half of the letter to Sardis with new eyes. See for yourself:

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

What a wonderful picture. May we be those who are willing to walk with Him into the darkest of places, bringing light and care, love and hope into the worst chaos imaginable. May we be willing to continue to build our churches at the Cybele temples and in shopping malls and the inner cities as ways of walking with Him, dressed in white. And may we never forget the importance of not staining our robes.

Those People

Paul stands up and addresses this mixed crowd with a teaching that boggles the mind. In typical fashion for the record of Acts, Paul begins by outlining the narrative history of the Jewish people in a way that sets up the point he’s trying to make.

Paul doesn’t sugarcoat the history of his fellow Jews: he talks about their history as a stubborn people led out of Egypt — about how God had to endure their conduct and help them find their inheritance. He sums up the history of the judges and Saul as their first king, alluding to the frustrating story that lay behind Saul’s rule. He mentions the pinnacle of Jewish history (particularly as seen from the first century) by speaking of the reign of David as a king who was after God’s own heart.

From this history, Paul connects Jesus directly to David and the work of John the Baptist. He speaks of the anointed calling of both and alludes to the fact that Jesus is Messiah. He then points out how Judaism’s leadership (the Judeans) did not recognize Jesus and made the foolish mistake of putting him to death. He speaks of the resurrection and the coming of the Kingdom.

Paul then goes back to recap the amazing story surrounding the resurrection by teaching through a series of brilliant remez quotations — which happen to function as a sermon in and of themselves — before ending the sermon with a direct and challenging application: it is the job of the Jewish people to carry on this story and be about the ministry of the forgiveness of sin. He warns that if they miss this calling, they would be the foolish scoffers spoken of in the Psalms.

Paul’s message is directly aimed at the Jews in attendance. While Paul recognizes all those in attendance, his first “sermon” that day was a sermon for the Jewish audience. He spoke of the Jewish story and how Jesus fit into the grand narrative of God. He continually referenced the “we” of the Jewish people throughout the telling of this story. “It is to US,” Paul said, “that this message has been sent.” Paul’s point is that this is THEIR story. It’s the calling of the Jewish people to carry this story well.

Paul is certainly not “playing it safe” for his first public teaching. Paul is a fiery preacher on his first day. As Jewish teacher, trained under Gamaliel, he is directly confronting the Jewish audience. He isn’t trying to hedge his bets. He refers to their background as a stubborn people, he critiques their leadership as being blind to the purposes of God, and he even closes the sermon with a thunderbolt challenge not to be a scoffing fool. Paul isn’t concerned with making or keeping friends.

Now, how do you suppose the people respond to this message that day in Pisidian Antioch?

Did you say, “They loved it! They welcomed it with open arms!”?

Of course you didn’t. Because you’ve likely been taught your whole life that those stupid Jews hated the gospel and everything from Jesus and rejected Paul everywhere he went. But, unfortunately, you have been taught all wrong. Have a look at Acts 13:

As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

Wait. What?

Let’s recap. Paul spoke a challenging word that day, he spoke very directly about the crucifixion of Jesus, and he taught at length on this teaching about the resurrection.

And the people begged them to come back and teach them more.

Brothers and sisters, the Jewish assembly didn’t have a single problem with the message of Jesus and what so many of us would call the “gospel.”

In fact, if you were to begin scouring the book of Acts, you would find the rejection of the Jews to the early followers of Jesus is hardly EVER connected to the story of Jesus, the crucifixion, or the resurrection.

So what will they get upset about? Let’s keep reading.

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,    that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

It was difficult for this group of religious God-worshippers to accept the fact that all of “those people” might be allowed into the family of God. While the debate was open between Shammai and Hillel regarding the place of justification in the life of the theosabes, what no rabbi had suggested was that a Gentile could ever be a full-fledged child of God. While the argument is initially intriguing to them, when they see the synagogue fill up the next week with unclean Gentiles, they cannot continue.

So Paul and Barnabas confront their brothers about the very message they spoke the week prior. This is their message to carry into the world! This is what God has always been up to! But since they don’t want to be a part of God’s great project (“…since you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life…”), Paul and Barnabas must now turn their attention to the good news they are there to proclaim. If the people of God are going to reject their calling, then Paul and Barnabas will fulfill it.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord.

I worry that if we miss this part of the story, we are missing THE great backdrop to the New Testament. This is what the gospel does to the world of Asia and Asia Minor. It brings all those on the outside, inside. This is found all over the New Testament! This is the story!

“If you let yourself become circumcised, the gospel is of no use to you…”

“You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but citizens and fellow members of God’s household…”

“…and now those of you who were far off have been brought near.”

I fear we may have missed the point. And somewhere along the way, we have exchanged the good news and the truth of the New Testament narrative for a message about heaven and hell and escaping a world doomed to destruction.

But the story has never been about that. The story has always been about a God who is redeeming this world. The story (a very Jewish story, by the way) has always been about a community of folks — a kingdom of priests — confronting the world and showing them God is, in fact, for them, and they do have a place at His table.

God’s story has always been an invitation to trust — to trust the story that there is Sabbath rest available to all.

Available to ALL.

You see, things don’t change much over the course of 2,000 years. There are still groups of people and entire institutions who claim to speak for God and are certain they have finally figured out who gets to be in and who is out. They seem to believe, contrary to the teachings of the very Jesus they claim to worship, that they have stumbled across the guest list to the great wedding banquet and they know who’s getting in and who’s staying out.

There are even people who talk about the gospel being for all people. Until your synagogue is full of a bunch of people who don’t look like you. Or until a handful of “those people” come and sit in the front row of your church.

You know who “those people” are.

It’s their economic status, skin color, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or dress code. Or a myriad of other things even less significant and humiliating to admit.

Quite frankly, they just aren’t like us.

And to hear God is inviting all people to the table to be his kids… Well, that just doesn’t sit well with us.

But it’s the gospel we’re called to carry into the world around us. It’s the announcement of a better Kingdom.

But it’s what He’s been doing since the dawn of creation. It’s the story He’s been telling the whole time. And I believe He’s hoping, with tears in His eyes, that we will be humble enough to accept it.

The Theosabes

Barnabas and Paul arrive in Pisidian Antioch and follow their typical script. They immediately find their Jewish brethren and join them in fellowship and worship at the local synagogue. After the normal synagogue service, visiting guests are invited to share a word of encouragement with the people gathered there. This is a basic gesture, especially for visiting teachers — let alone the fact that Paul is a student of one of the most renowned Jewish teachers of their day. I’m sure people couldn’t wait to hear from Paul.

And hear from Paul, they do.

We are told Paul stood up and motioned with his hand for the assembly’s attention. One thing to notice is this thirteenth chapter of Acts seems to signify the arrival of Paul as a teacher. Prior to the story of Pisidian Antioch, Luke is very intentional to say “Barnabas and Saul/Paul,” which would signify Barnabas is the leader (by putting his name first). After this story, it will become, for the rest of the book of Acts (with one exception), “Paul and Barnabas.”

This story appears to be a defining moment for Paul. It seems the church in Antioch sent Paul out with Barnabas as his teacher, and it is in this story where the roles switch. Barnabas will give Paul the nod, Paul will seize the moment, and Barnabas will become the student. Incredible humility.

Paul stands up and begins his presentation, “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God…”

Now wait a minute. We have to unpack a lot of context in this brief address.

We need to expound on the rabbinical climate of Asia Minor in the first century. Decades before the ministry of Jesus, the Jewish world in Asia Minor was having to figure out what they did with the Gentiles in their synagogues who wanted to worship the God of Israel. While this was not a problem in the world of Judea and Jerusalem, the rest of the Roman world was a different story. We are told by modern scholars that the population of Asia Minor was somewhere close to 20% Jewish.

That’s significant — one out of every five people.

Folks knew about the Jews; people in Asia Minor had exposure to the Jewish faith. And some of them really liked it. They learned to love the God of Israel and to love His words. They came to synagogue and tried to find a place of worship. And the Jews had to figure out what to do with that.

Is it acceptable for a Gentile to worship the God of Israel? All Jews were in agreement. “Of course.”

But one rabbi said, “Hey Gentiles, we are glad you are here. We love that you love the God of Israel. But it won’t do you any good unless you convert, take on circumcision (and the rest of the law that it represents), and become Jewish.” If you're thinking that such a position sounds a lot like Shammai, then you’re dead on.

But the other rabbi — indeed, a guy by the name of Hillel — said, “Gentiles, we are thrilled you are here and we love that you love the God of Israel. You are welcome to worship God and you can even find justification. If Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised, so can you!” Now, Hillel would have remained quite steadfast that these Gentiles were not Jews; they were not brothers in the family of God, but they were welcome to be distant cousins.

This is all well and good, but what does this have to do with the story of Pisidian Antioch? Well, Pisidian Antioch sits on the edge of the region known as Galatia. While almost all of Asia and Asia Minor was very Hillel driven (which makes sense; a Jewish world finding its place within a Roman context would like to lean toward inclusion), the region of Galatia was very definitely Shammai country. As we mentioned in the last post, Galatia was very rugged, primitive, “off-the-beaten-path,” backwoods territory. The Jewish population that settled there purposefully did so NOT to assimilate into a Roman context. There are six quotes from Galatian rabbis in the Mishnah and all six of them are Shammai quotations.

So this argument created three different people groups referenced in the land of Asia Minor within a Jewish context. There are people the Jews would call “brothers”; this indicated they were fellow ethnic Jews. They also spoke of “children of Abraham”; this was a designation given to proselytes — converts who were not born Jewish but had decided to take on circumcision and follow the law and become completely Jewish. Then there was a group of people who were called in the Greek theosabes; it’s a term we translate “God-fearer” or “God-fearing Gentiles.”

The Jewish argument was swirling about the theosabes. What do we do with the God-fearing Gentile? Everybody agreed about the “brothers” and the “children of Abraham,” but what do we do about the theosabes? It’s impossible to know which direction the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch leaned, but it’s safe to say the cultural argument was a tense one.

We also know that, whatever their position, Paul references the presence of all three groups more than once. When Paul stands up and says, “Men of Israel (Jews) and you Gentiles who worship God (theosabes),” that tells you that you have a little bit of everybody in the room.

Paul will later address all three groups directly. If Acts 13:26 is translated correctly (as it used to be in the 1984 edition of the NIV), it will read, “Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles…”

Brothers (group one), children of Abraham (group two), and you God-fearing Gentiles (group three).

Paul has some good news that’s going to stir the pot. What will their reaction be? I think we may be surprised.

THE SILENT YEARS: Hasidim

So the Greeks move into town and the people of God respond in different ways. Some of them certainly thought that this lifestyle was not inherently evil and preferred everything that Greece had to offer. And also, for sure, you would have seen all kinds of people responding with different commitment levels to walking the path of God, from true compromisers to those who just wanted to hold both worlds in tension.

And there’s an argument to be made there, but we will deal with this later.

Other Jews, however, responded with fierce resistance. They refused to engage the new Greek world as passive consumers of this new message and philosophy. They resisted in the choices they made, they resisted in the way they worshipped, and they resisted in where they chose to live. And all of that worked out alright until the Greek world went into turmoil. Alexander the Great died and the Greek empire was passed on to four different generals. We will talk about the first two later, but the far eastern part of the empire (think Babylon/Chaldea) was given to a Greek ruler named Seleucus, and the southern portion (think Egypt) was given to a general named Ptolemy.

Originally, the land of Israel lay in the southern kingdom of Ptolemy. Ptolemy’s style of rule was one of passive invitation and suggestion; similar to Alexander, Ptolemy believed that if you built it, they would come. However, Seleucus was bent on the domination of the Greek empire and wanted to be Greece’s new emperor of fame. As Seleucus pushed west, he went to war against Ptolemy and the southern kingdom fell to Seleucus. This changed the world of the Jews dramatically.

Seleucus’s style of leadership was starkly different from Ptolemy. Seleucus said, “Become Greek or die.” Massive persecutions were launched at those who would refuse to take on the Hellenistic world and its value systems (namely Jews). Seleucus was famous for the torture that was pursued in the city squares under his rule. People were boiled in oil, pulled apart limb from limb by horses, and skinned alive as they peeled one-inch strips of hide from their bodies.

This bloody mess only fueled the fire of resistance. One day, Seleucus stormed into the Temple of God, desecrated the holy place, and offered pigs on the altar. This was the last straw for many of the resistive Jews and they mounted a revolt, led by Judah “the Hammer.” We know him as Judah Maccabee and the Maccabean revolt. This revolt is also the story of Chanukah. The eight-day uprising led to the miraculous overthrow of what some might argue was the most powerful army in the world at the time. A little band of Jewish rebels took back the Temple and supposedly walked in to find the menorah out of oil, but still burning. This is the celebration of the festival of lights.

Let’s get back to the story. The Maccabeans took control of the Temple and the land of Israel and, for a brief time in history, the Jews had their land back. The Maccabeans turned control of the Temple over to the priesthood — the rightful rulers of God’s Temple system. The priestly family was known as the Hasmoneans and they were direct descendants of the family lines of Zadok, the high priest who was put in place at the opening of the Temple of Solomon (more on them later).

However, this priestly Hasmonean family, within a matter of years, became as Hellenistic as the Greeks. Josephus tells us that there were so many priests at the Greco-Roman mud-wrestling on the Sabbath that there were not enough left in the Temple to hold Sabbath services.

Let that sink in.

Yes, many of the Jewish people felt betrayed. After all of that work to push out the Seleucids and God’s miraculous provision to defeat their enemies, how could they simply compromise the way of God and become as Greek as their imperial counterparts?

And so, in disgust and dismay, those groups of fiery rebels headed north to the Galilee, which we have already discussed. They became people of fierce devotion and commitment to walking the path of God. They were people of the insula, the rabbi, and the synagogue. Set apart. Holy. Devoted unto the LORD.

They called themselves Hasidim, or “the Pious Ones,” and they were made up of two groups:


ZEALOTS

This group held on to the passion that led the Jews to revolt. They believed that the Kingdom of God would come through total devotion to God’s path, complete resistance and rejection of the Hellenistic world, and a commitment to redemptive violence. They believed that if they would rise up in faithful obedience — with the sword — that God would defeat their enemies. He did it at Chanukah. He did it with Joshua and the conquest. He would do it again.

One of the zealot sects that we know of was the Sicarii, known for their short daggers called sicae. They were known for hiding a dagger up their sleeve and taking a vow to kill any Roman they found who was alone. They saw any cooperation with Rome or acceptance of Hellenism as a rejection of God and complete idolatry. Their poster boys were guys like Phinehas, who speared the Israelite man and the Moabite woman who were having relations in front of God’s house.

Realize the teachings of Jesus that were committed to principles of forgiveness and loving your enemies would run counter to this worldview. Realize that every time Jesus interacts favorably with a Roman, it would be incredibly offensive to this group. Realize that Jesus called some of these guys to be His disciples. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.


PHARISEES

This group believed that the Kingdom of God would come through complete devotion to God’s path and completely resisting and rejecting the Hellenistic world. They did not believe that God would want them to take up the sword against their enemies, but that if they would simply worry about obedience, God would bring rescue to their situation.

You see, the Pharisees get a really bad rap in our teachings. Admittedly, this is for good reason: Jesus is ruthless against many Pharisees. But what we often fail to see is that, of all the groups that will be at Jesus’s disposal, He is going to insist, by His own choice, on working with this religiously pious group of leaders. Certainly, their piety bred a self-righteousness that prevented them from seeing those on the outside, those on the margins, and the very people who were forgotten in the stories of the Old Testament.

But this was a group of people who were fiercely devoted to God’s commands and walking the path well. Their commitment to God would put our personal walks with the LORD to shame ten times over.


The Hasidim were the pious ones. They headed north to start a new home for a new kind of Judaism. And it worked. When God showed up to do His work amongst us, He decided to set up shop right under the noses of the Hasidim. He didn’t build an apartment on the wing of the Temple in Jerusalem; He went right up to the Galilee and lived in Nazareth. He planted His ministry in Capernaum for three years — the Pharisee capital of the Jewish world. He called zealots and fishermen who were the sons of Hasidim to be His first disciples.

There is something here to learn from the fierce and zealous devotion of the Hasidim.

THE SILENT YEARS: Text!

As we begin to look at synagogue, we can learn a lot by studying the physical structure itself. Certainly one will need to realize that the components of this post are not universally found in each and every situation. Each synagogue that the world of archaeology uncovers seems to be unique and challenges different assumptions that we make about synagogue as a whole, but we can take a look at what we’ve found and draw relatively safe general conclusions. In other words, to say that EVERY synagogue matches the description below would be incorrect; but to say that the following description gives us an understanding of the world of first-century synagogue would be far more accurate.

When I teach my students about synagogue in the first century, I always teach them that synagogue has seven main parts:

 1. Mikveh: Before entering the space of worship, it was important for the worshipper to make sure that they were spiritually prepared. This meant a ceremonial washing that would invite God to cleanse their minds (thoughts), hearts (desires), hands (actions), and feet (walk). Outside of most synagogues, you would find a Jewish baptismal — otherwise known as mikveh.

2. Basilica: As you enter the synagogue, you would notice the pillars that run along the inside of the structure, supporting a raised central roof. This arrangement of pillars makes up the basilica. Not possessing the technology to span large distances in their architecture, the people were often forced to support the roof internally. An opening in the roof also allowed you to “read the Light (Torah) with God’s light (the sun).”

3. Chief Seats: Reserved for the elderly of the community, the chief seats were the place of honor. (Everyone else sat on the stone/dirt floor.) Jesus told his disciples never to seek out the chief seats, but always practice service and humility.

4. Bema: There was a slightly raised platform in the center of the synagogue where the Text was read from known as the bema. It is important to note that the bema stood in the center of the room; this made a statement about the Text in the life of the community. The community comes and gathers around the Text and it is central to their worship. As the world is westernized, the bema will move closer and closer to the “front” of the room and act more like a stage with an audience. No longer is it a community gathered around, but an audience coming to watch.

5. Moses Seat: The Torah reader for that morning would sit in the Moses Seat. Notice, as well, that there are no clergy in synagogue. A rabbi plays no special role in worship. Synagogue is about the community and the Text; everybody takes a turn reading from Torah. Furthermore, there is very little by way of a “sermon.” There is what’s called a derashah, but that is a 60- to 90-second statement of what the Text means to you. In our culture, we read the text for two minutes and talk about it for thirty minutes. In their world, you read the Text for thirty minutes and talk about it for two.

6. Torah Closet: The scrolls are kept in the Torah Closet. Very rarely would a village own the entire Torah, and definitely not the whole Tanakh, but your village might have the scrolls of Exodus, Jeremiah, and Esther, plus a portion of Isaiah. The neighboring village might have Deuteronomy, Judges, and Daniel. You get the idea. So how in the world did you know your Text? We’ll cover that in a moment.

7. Study Room: There was often a room adjoining the main synagogue where the community’s education would take place, known as the Study Room.


Before we move on, it’s worth noting that even in the construction of the building, the message is clear: The people of the Galilee returned from Babylon with a renewed passion and vigor for the Text. They had decided that if God punished them for not following His ways, then one of the main problems was that they hadn’t KNOWN His ways (remember, there was no printing press). They committed themselves to making sure that they would never again be found ignorant of God’s Word.

And so they came back with synagogue.

But that synagogue also came with an education system that the world of Judaism had never seen.

** To be sure, history is hard to decipher and the records are slim and spotty at best. How the “system” operated and the dates surrounding when everything took place are hotly debated topics. If I’m allowed to use the writings of the New Testament as evidence, it becomes much easier to piece history together; please realize that most scholarship does not allow the use of New Testament writings as evidence, so much of what I am drawing together will be debated. This is the “minimalist/maximalist” debate in history. I have pulled much of my information from the teachings of Ray Vander Laan and Rob Bell and continue to seek information from other sources. I have much work to do in this department.


BET SEFER: Ancient Jewish schooling started around the age of five, when children began attending bet sefer. During what we would call “elementary years,” the students were taught basic education through the lens of the Text. For example, math would be taught through elements of the Text: “The Tablets of Moses, plus the Books of Moses, equals the days of creation.” However, the main task of these young students was to commit the Books of Moses to memory. When I say “to memory” you may be wondering how serious I am about this claim. Realize that without the printing press, and without a copy of the Tanakh in your village, a remnant committed to knowing their Text will need to have that Text memorized.

BET TALMUD: The meager historical reports do not allow us to draw distinct lines around exactly how the next two stages work. There is much debate about which stage came first, what it entailed, and whether they were two separate stages or not. The process, however, seems to be relatively clear. The next stage of Jewish learning was reserved for only the best of those coming out of bet sefer. Most estimates I’ve heard of put less than 10% of the student population moving on, somewhere around the age of 10. Only the best students were invited to progress to this stage. Again, education would progress through the lens of Text, but this stage was even more strenuous, with the expectation being the student would memorize the entirety of the Tanakh. That is, the entire Old Testament, committed to memory.

BET MIDRASH: Finally, the best of the best would apply to follow a rabbi (which, before the destruction of the Temple, was an unofficial term that simply meant “teacher”). If the rabbi thought that the student had what it took to become just like himself in his walk with God, he would utter the rabbinical call: Lech achari (“Come, follow me”). We are now talking about less than 1% of the student population and most scholars estimate there were no more than 100 talmidim (or disciples) in the first century. We do not know of more than five rabbis in the first century, most of whom had no more than two or three disciples. Assuming that there were more we do not know of, it still doesn’t leave room for many more talmidim.

Take a moment to realize the level of commitment that was held by this Jewish remnant to learning and knowing their Text. Not only this, but the rabbinical method was central to teaching the people of God how to LIVE the Text out. The call to follow the rabbi was a call to mimic his every move. It was a way of training up leaders that would guide the people of God — as shepherds lead a flock — in the paths of righteousness.

You see, without an understanding of this post-captivity Judaism with its unbelievable commitment to Text, we miss so much about the world Jesus is born into. It’s not just the Judaism of the Old Testament; quite to the contrary, it’s a new Judaism with a profound commitment to walking in obedience.

They have become a people of the Text.

THE SILENT YEARS: Synagogue

Now that we’ve covered all of the books in what we often call the “Old Testament,” you’re probably assuming that it’s about time we peel into the gospels and start looking at the New Testament, right?

Of course not. In between the testaments lies a few centuries of history that change our understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus in a big way. It is almost impossible (I said “almost”) to appreciate the New Testament without an understanding of what is often referred to as the “Silent Years” between the testaments. As we’ll find out, these years are far from silent and are critical to our understanding of the context and setting of the New Testament.

The book of Esther really did indirectly describe the post-remnant world and the tensions that existed inside of it. The “remnant” that we typically speak of is the one that came back and rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. However, there was a completely different remnant that came back and set up the world that Jesus would be born into.

There was a group of people who returned under the arm of the Persian empire to rebuild. In a lot of ways, this remnant shared the worldview of those who stayed in Persia. While their personal callings were different (they were called to the difficult work of rebuilding), they shared an understanding about life under Persian rule. The writings we have from this period of history paint a picture and drive a conversation about what it will be like to live under a new rule. Walter Brueggemann calls this an “accommodation/resistance” worldview (to be held against a “rescue/return” worldview). Instead of a people who long for God to come and destroy the enemy, rescuing His people and giving them back their land, God appears to be changing the landscape and inviting His people to find a new way of living in the midst of empire. How will they accommodate this new empire and simultaneously subvert it?

Such a worldview will require making some changes that accommodate the work around you. Of course, it goes without saying that there was a completely different response to the situation (you may recall the tension of living within the shephelah). Another group, much more zealous and pious in their beliefs, responded in a different way. While the first group made their way back “home” to rebuild Jerusalem, another group would eventually make their way to the north and establish a Judaism that looked quite a bit different than the Judean counterparts. We will talk more about where this group came from later, but know that to understand the world Jesus enters, one must understand the world of the Galilee.

The people in the north settled in the area by building entirely new villages and towns that were dedicated from the start as being places where a new kind of remnant could establish a new kind of zealous, committed piety in their walk with God. Scholars estimate that somewhere around 150,000–250,000 Jews returned to the region of the Galilee to plant many villages. You will recognize some of the names: Cana, Nazareth, Zippori, Magdala, Genessaret, Capernaum, Korazin, Bethsaida, and Gamla to name a few.

And these people brought a newfound Judaism with them, as well. It was the Judaism of the rabbi, the disciple, insula, and synagogue. In the minds of the settlers in the north, this was not the Judaism of their counterparts in the south. This Judaism would have a commitment that kept them from the dangers of compromise and seduction of the imperial worldview — this would keep them pure in their walk with God.

In order to understand the Judaism Jesus is born into, I’d like to talk first about one image that will radically change our understanding of Jesus and his disciples: synagogue.

Ruins of the synagogue in Korazin