19
Tice
CORNERSTONE UNIVERSITY
CHANGES IN THE MESSIAH’S MINISTRY
AS REFLECTED IN HIS TRAINING OF THE TALMIDIM
SUBMITTED FOR
REL339: GOSPEL LITERATURE
PROFESSOR WILLIAM T BREW
BY
BRIAN TICE / BOX 3594
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
20 APRIL 2006
The Ministry of Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus) was the pinnacle of Adonai’s salvation plan, the manifestation of Adonai’s desire for all humankind to come to faith, and thus to redemption. He voices this desire both in the Tanakh – “‘Do I take any pleasure at all in having the wicked person die,’ asks Adonai Elohim. ‘Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?!’” (Yechezk’el [Ezekiel] 18:23)[1] – and in the Renewal of the Covenant (Newer Testament) – “For it is not His purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from His sins” (2 Kefa [2 Peter] 3:9b).[2] Despite the universality of Yeshua’s mission, the earliest phases thereof were exclusively focused on the Jewish people, the global emphasis being revealed only in later stages of His earthly ministry.
From the very onset of Yeshua’s public ministry, there was an air of controversy about it. Even the men He chose to comprise His Talmidim (Disciples) roused the suspicions of the prevailing religious community and its leaders. Bruce makes note, “The presence of ill-affected men belonging to the pharisaic order was almost a standing feature in Christ’s ministry.”[3] The first Talmidim Yeshua called to His earthly ministry, Andrew and Shim’on Kefa (Simon Peter), were selected not from the great theological minds of the day but from the working class. They were both fishermen (cf. Mattityahu [Matthew] 4:18, Mark 1:16), as were their fellow talmidim Ya’akov (James) and Yochanan (John) ben-Zavdai (cf. Mattityahu 4:21; Mark 1:19). It appears that Yeshua meant to focus His ministry not on a top-down approach, but rather on more of a grass-roots model.
Spencer relates the passage on making the first two Talmidim into “fishers of men” (Mattityahu 4:19; Mark 1:17) with the words of the prophet Havakuk (Habbakuk) wherein the fishing metaphor connotes “destroying the nations without mercy” (Havakuk 1:17).[4] Spencer suggests that the Yeshua’s statement “I will make you fishers of men” was of the same spirit as the statement “It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword!” (Mattityahu 10:34). The Talmidim’s response to the “fishers of men” statement, however, raises considerable doubt that the statement carried a message of violence either as Yeshua intended it or as the Talmidim understood it.
Yeshua’s selection of Mattityahu (Matthew), a tax-collector formerly called Levi, demonstrates that the outcast sheep of Isra’el are just as much His concern as the lost sheep of Isra’el were, and as the adopted sheep (engrafted branches) of Isra’el would be shown to be. Bruce observes, “A publican disciple, much more a publican apostle, could not fail to be a stumbling-block to Jewish prejudice… a source of weakness rather than strength.”[5] The Gospel-writer Luke records, “The P’rushim (Pharisees) and their Torah-teachers protested indignantly against His Talmidim saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’” (Luke 5:30).[6]
Yeshua explains in response that He has come not for the righteous but for the sinners, that they might repent (Luke 5:32), an obvious reference back to Yechezk’el 18:23 and 33:11. Manson reasons, “Jesus saw clearly in the first century the thing that many of us in the twentieth still do not realise (sic.) at all adequately: that the evil-doer may be, and often is, the victim of forces that seem to lie outside of his own control altogether.”[7] While this does recognize that even the vilest of sinners is redeemable, it seems to, in post-modern fashion, remove the blame from the sinner and place it instead on society.
The ministry of Yeshua culminates in the consequences of all the sins of humankind being taken upon the execution stake with the Messiah. If an individual is not to blame for his or her own sin, as Manson seems to suggest, the significance of the Yeshua’s paschal sacrifice seems to greatly diminish. The prophet Yechezk’el’s words should be considered here: “The righteousness of the righteous person will not save him once he starts committing crimes; and likewise the wickedness of the wicked person will not cause him to fall once he turns from his wickedness” (Yechezk’el/Ezekiel 33:12).
The Hebrew word bwv (turn from) in that verse equates to the Greek word ejpistrevfw[8] in Yeshua’s statement (as recorded by the Gospel-writer Luke): “I am sending you to open their eyes; so that they will turn from darkness to light, from the power of the Adversary to G-d, and thus receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been separated for holiness by putting their trust in Me” (Acts 26:18). It can be seen here that the sense of personal responsibility for the sins one commits, as preached by the prophet Yechezk’el, is echoed in the words of Yeshua Himself.
Phases of the Messiah’s Ministry
Barnhouse, credited as a founding father of the Neo-Evangelistic Movement, divides the ministry of Yeshua into two facets – His Jewish ministry and His universal ministry, arguing: “When His own received Him not, He began offering the Gospel of grace to the whole world.”[9] His contention is that at a specific point in time in Yeshua’s ministry, in reaction to the Jewish people’s rejection of the Sermon on the Mount message (Mattityahu 5), “He stopped presenting Himself as the Messiah of Israel and took His way to the cross to become the Saviour (sic.) of the world.”[10] It would follow then that the Gentiles who came to Yeshua for healing prior to this shift, which Barnhouse places firmly at Mattityahu 11:20,[11] were, despite their faith, ineligible for salvation – this not having yet been offered to any outside of the people of Israel.
A distinction must be made between Yeshua’s ministry and His redemptive program, since He regularly administered His healing ministry to Gentiles long before He offered them a place in the Kingdom. While it is clear from Mattityahu’s Gospel that Yeshua initially offered His Kingdom exclusively to “the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el” (Mattityahu 10:5-6; 15:24), the breaking point between the Jewish and global aspects of Yeshua’s ministry that Barnhouse suggests is not so easily fixed as punctiliar. The flaw in Barnhouse’s theory is exposed by the pericope of the Kena’ani woman who comes to Yeshua asking for an exorcism for her daughter and receiving the response, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el” (Mattityahu 15:24).
This event comes immediately following the telling of a parable, but part of Barnhouse’s argument is that parable-telling did not become a feature of Yeshua’s pedagogy until “the great day of His rejection by the Pharisees,”[12] that being the distinct day upon which Barnhouse fixes the expansion of Yeshua’s redemptive program to the Gentile (along with the Jew). If the abrupt shift in Yeshua’s ministry came in Mattityahu 11:20, then His response to the Kena’ani woman works against any premise that places her story in the time of Gentile inclusion. Although such a shift did occur, it seems to have been a more gradual process, perhaps beginning to build at Mattityahu 11:20, but not actually offering the redemptive program to Gentiles until sometime after the incident in Mattityahu 15:24.
Another widely held position, replacement theology, claims that when the Gentile mission began, the Jewish mission ended. Yeshua and the Talmidim continue to minister to both Jew and Gentile throughout the Messiah’s earthly ministry, however, and even throughout the whole canon of Scripture. As Paul recognized in his epistle to the Romans, the Gospel message was issued “to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16; cf. 3:29; 9:24; 12:13). Manson notes, “There are hints in the Synoptic tradition that Jesus had carried on active work in Judaea before the last stages of the Ministry.”[13] The idea that Yeshua cast aside Israel and transferred Adonai’s covenants with her to the Gentile Church is not supported by the biblical text, which reports that the twelve Talmidim – all of whom are Jewish – are never replaced with Gentiles, nor do efforts to minister to Jews cease in favor of ministry to Gentiles.
The Purpose of Yeshua’s Miracle Ministry
The first of Yeshua’s public miracles,[14] according to the Gospel-writer Yochanan, was the making of water into wine at the wedding feast in Kanah (Yochanan/John 2:11). The same verse gives an account of the outcome of the miracle, and presumably the purpose for having performed it: “He manifested His glory, and His Talmidim came to trust Him.”[15] This particular sign was performed as an aid in training Yeshua’s Talmidim, not to make converts of non-Believers, but to amplify the faith of His Talmidim. Many other signs and miracles Yeshua performed also bear reference in the Gospel texts to having been done for the purpose of reinforcing the faith of the Talmidim. Yochanan tells his readers, “While Yeshua was in Yerushalayim at the Pesach festival, there were many people who ‘believed in His name’ when they saw the miracles He performed; but He did not commit Himself to them” (Yochanan 2:23). He later writes of the crowd which had amassed at the triumphal entry, however, “Even though He had performed so many miracles in their presence, they still did not put their trust in Him” (Yochanan 12:37).
Those upon whom or for whom these miracles were performed generally had faith in Yeshua already, who frequently made a point of indicating that it was due to their faith that they received the miracle or sign. Examples of this include the Centurion of whom Yeshua says “I have not found anyone in Isra’el with such trust” (Mattityahu 8:10), the woman with the issue of blood who reached for the techelet of the tzitzit[16] of his garment so as to be healed (Mattityahu 9:20-22), the blind men who pleaded for their eyes to be healed (Mattityahu 9:28), and the Samaritan women who believed solely on the report of another (Yochanan 4:39-42). Romans and Samaritans seemed to have no trouble placing their faith in Yeshua; but addressing His own Talmidim (the Twelve and other Talmidim besides), the Messiah said, “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life, yet some among you do not trust” (Yochanan 6:63-64a).
There were several occasions in the Messiah’s earthly ministry in which the Talmidim simply didn’t fully comprehend what Yeshua’s purpose was. Following the feeding of the five thousand, Yochanan writes of the crowd, “Yeshua knew that they were on the point of coming and seizing Him, in order to make Him king” (Yochanan 6:15a). As it was not yet time for the Messianic Kingdom to be established, Yeshua sent the disciples away, as Mark’s Gospel relates: “Immediately Yeshua had His Talmidim get in the boat and go on ahead of Him toward the other side of the lake toward Beit-Tzaidah, while He sent the crowds away” (Mark 6:45). Manson notes, “It is difficult to resist the impression that He thought that it would be easier to persuade the crowd to go home, if the disciples were not there; which suggests that perhaps the real sympathies of the disciples were with… the five thousand rather than with the purposes of Jesus.”[17]
Spencer comments on the account of the unnamed talmid (disciple) who answers Yeshua’s call to follow, “Sir, first let me go and bury my father,” to which Yeshua replies, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Mattityahu 8:21-22). He says that this passage calls upon the disciple to dishonor his father in violation of the Law of Moses, citing the Apocryphal book of Tobit, “My son, when I die, give me a proper burial. Honor your mother and do not abandon her all the days of her life…. And when she dies, bury her beside me in the same grave” (Tobit 4:3-4).[18]
What Spencer fails to understand, however, is that what Yeshua is calling the talmid away from is not his duty to honor his father, but rather the talmid’s plan to re-bury his father in accordance with a false doctrine which promised entry to heaven for unbelievers if they were buried at death, left for one year for the flesh to decay away from the bones, and then disinterred and reburied in an ossuary (bone box) without their flesh and thus without their sin, since the sin resides in the flesh.[19] Had the talmid’s father just recently died, the disciple would have been in his home mourning for 7 days per the Jewish custom of that era, not out about the streets. It was this second burial doctrine to which Yeshua objected in saying, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”[20]
Yeshua’s purpose here is similar to his purpose in correcting the Pharisees and Sadducees at other points in his ministry – in His words, “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete” (Mattityahu 5:17). It should be noted that the Aramaic that stands behind this statement carries a much different meaning than that which is conveyed in the Greek and English. Lamsa, whose native language is Aramaic, notes that “the Aramaic word nishrey (0r40d) – the word used in the Old Syriac/Peshitta texts) means to untie, to loose, to weaken;” and nimhley (fm0d) – which appears as plhravw in the Greek text and is translated as “fulfill” or “complete” in the English – should actually be interpreted “to clarify or interpret correctly.” [21], [22]
Sending Out the Talmidim in His Name
The two occasions on which Yeshua sent His Talmidim out to minister on His behalf were very different from one another concerning the instructions which He gave. He was incontrovertibly clear in sending out the twelve Talmidim that His ministry was intended, in its early stages, to be an outreach to the Jew alone: “Don’t go into the territory of the Goyim (Gentiles), and don’t enter any town in Shomron (Samaria), but go rather into the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el” (Mattityahu 10:5-6). This phase of the ministry begins to become more inclusive fairly early, however, as Gentiles begin seeking Yeshua of their own volition. Mattityahu gives the account of the aforementioned woman of Kena’an (Canaan) who seeks an exorcism for her daughter. Yeshua initially says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el” (Mattityahu 15:24), but then relents and says to the Kena’ani woman, “Lady, you are a person of great trust; let your desire be granted” (Mattityahu 15:28).