You are browsing the "Reference Shelf" category

REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 27, 2012

12.1–12 (Mt 21.33–46; Lk 20.9–19): The parable of the vineyard. In Isa 5.1–7 the vineyard represents Israel. 6: Beloved son echoes the baptism (1.11) and transfiguration (9.7). 7: A reference to the cross is unavoidable.

REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 20, 2012

2.1-12 (Mt 9.1-8; Lk 5.17-26): The paralytic. 5: Granting forgiveness of sins was a divine prerogative. 9: The saying appears in a different context in Jn 5.8. 10: The title Son of Man has both human (”mortal”) (Ezek 37.3) and superhuman (Dan 7.13-14, 1 Enoch 37-71) connotations. Enigmatic like the parables, the title requires hearers to determine the meaning for themselves.

REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 13, 2012

1-2: Imitators of God, never used by Paul, though he speaks of imitating Christ (1 Cor 11.1), himself (1 Thess 1.6; Phil 3.17) or others (Phil 3.17).

REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 6, 2012

3.18–4.1: Household codes governed life within the extended family. See Eph 5.22–6.9; 1 Tim 2.8–15; 6.1–2; Titus 2.1–10; 1 Pet 2.13–3.7. 5: Making the most of time, see Eph 5.16. 6: Seasoned with salt, carefully or wisely selected. See Mk 9.49–50; Mt 5.13.

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 29, 2012

46-48: This saying of Jesus is not literally written in any surviving version of Israel’s scriptures. This is the testimony from the scriptures his witnesses are sent to make. 49-52: The promise of the Father is the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to be awaited in Jerusalem (Acts 1.4, 8; 2.33). 53: The temple remains a crucial center for divine activity (1.9; 2.27, 37, 46; 20.1; Acts 3.1; 4.1; 6.13).

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 15, 2012

24.36-53: The messiah’s final appearance, commission, and departure. 36-37: Luke’s story emphasizes both the awesome wonder of Jesus’ appearance and the physical reality of his resurrected body (flesh and bones, see 20.34-36).

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 8, 2012

28-31: As in 19.41- 44, only Luke relates Jesus’ dire prophetic oracle, echoing Jeremiah’s call to the ”mourning women” to raise a dirge over Jerusalem (Jer 9.17-22). The cries to the mountains and the hills recall the destruction oracle of Hos 10:8.

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 1, 2012

22.7-23. 7: Passover (Mt 26.1-5; Mk 14.1-2; Jn 11.55) was a significant occasion because of the crowds in the city and because the feast symbolized Israel’s freedom from oppression (Ex 12.1-20; Deut 16.1-8; Lev 23.5-6).

REFERENCE SHELF – MARCH 25, 2012

12 (Lk 6.31): The Golden Rule has numerous parallels (see Tob 4.15). Jesus’ contemporary, the Pharisee Rabbi Hillel, stated the principle as ”What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.

REFERENCE SHELF-MARCH 18, 2012

22-23 (Lk 11.34- 36): Reflects the sermon’s themes of sight and appearance. 24 (Lk 16.13): More economic admonitions; ”mammon” is the Aramaic term for wealth (see 19.16-30). 25-33 (Lk 12.22-31): A redefinition of human needs and desires.