By Roy B. Blizzard
In 1983, we first published the book Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus. A number of things led to the writing of book – textual studies and, archaeological finds that had led scholars working in the field, particularly In Israel, to arrive at new and significant conclusions regarding the history and culture of the first centuries B.C.E. and C.E. These new discoveries would have tremendous impact upon our understanding of the life, times, and in particular, the words of Jesus.
Those of you who have read our book, or have listened to our tapes or lectures on this subject, are already aware of the following facts I reiterate briefly. First-Jesus was a Jew. Second – As a Jew, he would have, as all of the other Jewish boys of His day, begun at an early age committing the Scriptures to memory. This is an important fact for our present discussion.
In Jesus' day, study meant memorization. By the age of fifteen, the young Jewish boy would have had, at the very least, most of the biblical text committed to memory. This is of the utmost importance in understanding the way Jesus taught. Third – Jesus was a rabbi and, as a rabbi, utilized methods of teaching well known and widely practiced. The rabbis in Jesus' day would use a word or a phrase that, when heard, would cause a mental explosion in the minds of their hearers, as the word or phrase would be an allusion to a passage, a chapter, or a book well-known to them. In using the word or the phrase as an allusion, it would formulate or reconstruct the whole chapter, or theology, in their minds.
Jesus utilized this method of instruction to such a degree that almost every time He spoke, you can ask the question, "Where did He get that?" or, 'To what passage is He referring?" Knowing the passage or the chapter will assist in not just reconstruction of the theology as a whole, but will enable one to understand the real message Jesus was attempting to convey. It is only when we understand these very important facts that we can begin to look at the words of Jesus afresh, and receive enlightenment and inspiration from the depth and true meaning of His teaching.
Without the knowledge of the way Jesus taught, however, many of His words are difficult, confusing and misunderstood. For example, In Matthew 23:14, we read, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye devour widows' houses…" This passage Is parallel to Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47. Apart from any textual problem that might be present, the question we are to address is how do you "devour" a widow's house? What did Jesus mean that the scribes, or, as in Matthew, "…scribes and Pharisees…devour widows' houses?"
To the non-Hebrew speaker, this phrase is not only perplexing, but meaningless. However, it certainly meant something to the people of Jesus' day. But what?
In Hebrew, the word for house is bayit, but bayit in Hebrew can mean not only house, that is, a physical structure or building in which one lives, but it also can mean household, family, clan, or estate (Matthew 18:23-35). In order to understand this phrase used by Jesus in accusation of the hypocritical scribes and/or Pharisees of His day, it might be helpful to turn to II Kings 4:1. "Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen."
Because this poor woman was unable to pay her debts, the creditor was going to take her two sons in place of the debt, and reduce them to servitude. Such was a common practice in Bible days. In taking the poor woman's sons away and reducing them to servitude, he had, in essence, "devoured her house."
This is reflected in Proverbs 30:11-14,
There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor off the earth and the needy from among men.
It may come as a surprise to some to learn that the debtors prison was a very present reality with us well into the nineteenth century; and only in rather recent times in our country has the practice been abandoned, In Matthew 18, in the parable of the unmerciful servant, we see this practice clearly reflected in verses 23 through 35. We will only take time to note verses 28, 29, and 30 of the parable, but you should read the entire passage in context.
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying; "Pay me that thou owest." And his fellow servant felt down at his feet, and besought him, saying, "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
I am sure that most of you know well, as the subject has been discussed before in various articles, that the practice of tzedakah, or charity, was obligatory and the foundational principles of biblical faith. To care for one's parents, widows, orphans, the poor, or the needy, was not just a mitzvah, it was a duty, an obligation.
On several occasions, Jesus chastised certain of the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy, for placing ritual and tradition above the more practical aspects of law, that is, man's responsibility to his fellow man. This is clearly demonstrated in Mark 7:1-13, which is parallel to Matthew 15:1-9. The hypocritical scribes and Pharisees had themselves chastised Jesus and His disciples for transgressing tradition, and Jesus responded by chastising them for transgressing the commandment of God by the tradition. Then, He used the example of how, in circumventing their responsibility to their parents, they would bring an offering and declare it to be corban, or a sacrifice offered unto God, and therefore, since it had been offered to God, they were able to circumvent their responsibility in caring for their parents. Since it had been offered to God, they certainly could not use it for such a mundane purpose as to assist in their parents' support!
In verse 13 of Mark 7, Jesus said, "Making the word of God of none, effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." Because of their hypocrisy and lack of mercy In their relationships with their fellow man, it seems apparent that to "devour" a widow's house means to sell the son, or children, into slavery to pay for the debt of the widow, rather than being merciful and forgiving the widow's debt.
Another difficult passage frequently mistranslated and/or misunderstood can be found in Matthew 24:28, parallel to Luke 17:37. Without going into a discourse on eschatology, it "will suffice simply for us to note this particular saying. In Luke 17:30, Jesus spoke concerning the day when the Son of man is revealed. In verses 34, 35, and 36, Jesus said that two will be in bed; two will be grinding; two will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. And in verse 37, they asked, "Where, Lord?" Jesus responded, "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."
Misunderstanding is due in large part to mistranslation. Rather than eagles, the word should be more properly translated vultures. This simple statement of Jesus was perhaps of much greater significance than what we have previously thought. Vultures fed on carrion. In this saying, Jesus was referring to himself as a dead body, and wherever that dead body is, there will the vultures be feeding.
In the Gospel of John 6:31-35, and again in 51-58, this idea of one feeding on the body is dramatically set forth. Here also, you should read the entire passage, but for the sake of brevity, we will quote only verses 51-58.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily; I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
Now the question presents itself. How does one eat His flesh and drink His blood? In I Corinthians 10:16, in speaking of the Lord's Supper, or communion, as it is commonly called, Paul related, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?"
In Chapter 11, verses 23 through 31, Paul again spoke of the analogy of the Lord's Supper, and the body and blood of the sacrifice of Jesus. This saying that seems so simple on the surface now becomes pregnant with meaning: Whatever the circumstances, those who follow Him are enjoined to look beyond the circumstances and to simply look to Him, to feed upon Him and, in so doing, be nourished and sustained by Him. This, of course, was the purpose of the Lord's Supper for the early Church:
In his book, Healing and Christianity, Morton T. Kelsey wrote,
Indeed, as Christians took part in the Mass, joining in the celebration of the Last Supper, they found themselves transformed by the Spirit. The living presence of the risen Christ, as it was seen, broke through, infusing the bread and wine and the worshiper; who gathered to make the sacrifice. This sacrament became the experience par excellence in which men could be touched and transformed, and sometimes physically healed, by the Spirit.
The communion service is just such a rite, through which the individual participated in the death and resurrection of the Lord. Just as it was believed, that the Spirit is carried by men's material bodies and that Christ was incarnated in a human body, so this rite is, basically, a structured situation in which it is possible for the individual to find contact with realities in the spiritual world that have moved Christians since the first century.
Another interesting event that is not all that difficult, but is nonetheless frequently misunderstood, is recorded, by all three of our synoptic writers, Matthew 12:1-8, Mark 2:23-28, and Luke 6:1- 5. In the King James, it is especially confusing as the text reads in Matthew 12:1, "At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and His disciples were hungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat." Luke records, "And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the corn fields and His disciples plucked the ears of corn and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And certain Pharisees said, 'Why do you do that which is not lawful on die-Sabbath day?"
What did they pluck? Why did they rub it in their hands? And what was the violation of the law? When we read these passages in English we see the word, corn, and quite naturally think of ears of corn and the disciples pulling the husks from the corn the way we would shuck ears of corn. However, corn, as we know it, was unknown in the Middle East until relatively recent times. Corn, or maize, was a source of food for the American Indians, and only after the discovery of America was corn, or more correctly, maize, known outside of the Western world. The word, corn, simply means a grain, or a kernel, or any small, hard seed of grains such as wheat, barley, or oats, but also other plants, such as apple, grape, or pepper.
Jesus and His disciples walking through fields of wheat were plucking the heads of wheat from the stalk, which constituted reaping, and then rubbing the heads in their hands to separate the kernel, or corn of wheat, from the chaff, which constituted winnowing, both of which were forbidden on the Sabbath-with one exception. That exception was pikuach nefesh, the saving of a life.
It was not forbidden for one who was hungry to pluck heads of grain, to rub the grain to separate the kernel from the chaff, and to eat, as long as one ate all that was harvested. If one harvested more than what they could eat, that then would constitute work, which was against the law. It seems apparent from Luke that certain of the Pharisees thought erroneously that Jesus and His disciples were harvesting more grain than was needed until Jesus explained their reasons for so doing and gave the example of David's eating of the show bread. His explanation apparently satisfied them, and Jesus then went on His way.
In Matthew 11:19, parallel to Luke 7:35, we find another interesting, and yet confusing, statement by Jesus. In these Scriptures, some had accused Jesus of being a glutton and a drunkard. In response, Jesus said in Luke 7:33-35, "For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say he has a demon. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking and you, say, 'Behold a glutton, and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified of all her children."
What did Jesus mean when He said that wisdom is justified by her children? In Hebrew, the passage reads, Va titzdak hachochmah al-yeday kol beneha. Let's work backwards. In this context, "children" means disciples, students, or followers. Tzedakah, the word we have seen so many times that means righteousness, or alms giving, can also mean to vindicate, or to justify, as in a controversy with one's enemies. Hochma, the feminine noun for wisdom, can, in a certain context, mean just the opposite.
Jesus was a master at sarcasm. Perhaps nowhere could we find a clearer example than here. Jesus said that real wisdom is manifested by the intelligence of the offspring it produces. Since certain individuals had attributed the works of Jesus to the devil, this was an indication of their true stupidity, as one's true wisdom is manifested by the offspring it bears. Since these men had made such a stupid statement, or had arrived at such erroneous conclusions, it was a real indication of their stupidity, as true wisdom is obvious from its conclusions.
In effect, Jesus was saying, "Since you have concluded that I am a sinner, that is a clear indication of your real stupidity." In the statement in Luke, Jesus was actually pointing out their lack of wisdom rather than commending them for having any.
