Jesus: Rabbi

Luke 13:22-30

We are not really acquainted with the term rabbi. Many of us may know that Rabbis are the leaders of Jewish Synagogues, but who were they in Jesus’ time? What is a rabbi? How do you become a rabbi? What do they do?

Rabbi means “My Master” it was a term of respect and not an official title until after A.D. 70. A rabbi, in Jesus’ time was more than just a gifted teacher; he strove to be the embodiment of Torah, the Law.

Jewish boys in Jesus time began reading and memorizing Torah by 5 or 6. At age 10 began learning the oral Torah called the Mishnah – the rabbinic traditions. By this time they knew many scriptures by heart. At age 13 they concluded their formal training and began learning a trade. The most gifted were encouraged to continue studying until they were 18 or 20 or until they married. Only the most brilliant would go on to study under a great rabbi as Paul studied under the great Gamaliel.

The life of a rabbi

Most rabbis were not from the wealthy or priestly classes, they were ordinary folks. Most worked other jobs and taught and traveled during off times, or slow seasons of their work. They were never paid for teaching although they accepted the hospitality of others.

Rabbis interpreted Torah, explained the scriptures and told parables and stories to help people grasp an understanding of who God was and what he wanted of their lives. They were teachers and guides. They would take disciples who would study under their direction and travel with them for years.

The Rabbi’s disciples

Disciples not only studied scripture, but the rabbi’s life also. The disciple wanted to acquire the rabbi’s knowledge and character. Learning was not about retaining data, but about gaining wisdom for living [How do I live faithfully before God?]

How did this take place?

The disciple lived with the rabbi. He became a humble and caring companion and servant. Transformation takes time and the relationship allowed the time to be transformed. A blessing from the Mishnah depicts the intimacy and transformation that was possible: “May you be covered with the dust of your rabbi”

The Text

Now look at his passage of scripture in light of what we know of Jesus as our Rabbi.

As Jesus was teaching, something he said triggered a question in someone’s mind. That person asked the question as they might have done with any traveling rabbi. “Are there only a few who will be saved?”

To answer that question Jesus told a story and gave some instruction, like any rabbi would have done. And notice what he says…

Strive to enter the narrow gate. Strive implies agony, struggle and effort. A person must strive as a athlete strives to win a race. It does not really matter how many will be saved in the end, but only that you are saved. Salvation does not come by going with the flow. The relationship is offered freely as with any friendship. But to maintain the relationship requires work; as with marriage.

Strive for the Narrow gate – narrow implies prerequisites, not everyone who thinks they are in are in. The invitation goes out to all and for all – whosoever will…. But, in order to reap the benefits of the grace of salvation, there are certain requirements. Paul says those requirements include:

• Confess Jesus is Lord – That means Jesus has the right to direct my life. Jesus determines what is right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable.
• Believe that God raised him from the dead. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were ordained by God as the means of my redemption. God’s action validates everything Jesus said and did. I must trust that my relationship with God is based not on my effort, but God’s grace. I must seek to live in that grace for the rest of my life.

As the passages continues Jesus indicates there will come a time when all opportunities to be part of the kingdom of God are gone. At that time many people will find themselves on the outside and will want to come in. But the Master will say to them, “I do not know where you are from – I don’t know you – you have no relationship with me.

Many people want the benefits of God’s grace without the commitments of that grace. Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes that attitude as “cheap grace”:

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace … is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship. Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 2.

Those on the outside will begin to protest, “Don’t you remember me? We had dinner with you we heard you teach we came to hear you speak when you were in our town.” The Master will say, “Get away from me all you do is evil. They thought that because they knew who he was that implied a relationship that was not there. They had a passing acquaintance with the Master and not a relationship with him.

The horror is that those people will see people they admired feasting at the master’s table, and even some people they never expected to be there. Those were the ones who strove to enter the narrow door and had real fellowship with the master.

Striving to enter through the narrow door begins with becoming a disciple of Rabbi Jesus.

Conclusion

To sit at the feet of a great rabbi, you had to excel in your study. You had to be the best of the best of the best. You had to be invited by someone who recognized your inherent abilities.

Very few of us would have been chosen. But that puts us in good company! It puts us the same company as all of the disciples all of the people Jesus hung around with.

The Apostle Paul, a rabbi in his own right, put it this way:

[1 Co 1:26-29 ESV ] For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

[1 Co 6:9-11 ESV ] Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Today Jesus says:

I choose you. Strive to enter the narrow gate. Sit with me, learn from me, eat with me, live with me, imitate me, follow me.

What will you do with that invitation from Rabbi Jesus?

Jesus: Messiah

This series of sermons was born out of a desire to spend time reflecting on Jesus and the various roles he assumes in the faith.

The first has to do with Jesus as Messiah.

Matthew 16:13-20

Jesus challenges his disciples to declare their understanding of his ministry and mission. Peter ultimately declares that Jesus the long awaited Messiah of Israel. Jesus commends his answer, but not his expectations. Peter’s expectations of the Messiah where those of many Jews at the time: Messiah would come to save Israel from their oppressors and destroy their enemies.

When Jesus told the disciples that he would be killed and rise on the third day be raised, it was too much for Peter to fathom. The same thing happend when John the Baptist was in jail.

Jesus had to change their expectations of the Messiah. Messiah would come to conquer, but the conquest would begin with death and resurrection and happen first in the heart.

In the same way we often have own expectations of what Jesus Messiah will do in our lives

Often we want a conquering hero, a Rambo God. We want someone who will come to our rescue and save us from the problems we encounter,  someone to make our lives smooth and trouble free, someone to take all of the struggle out of our lives, someone who will save us from the lot of every other human on the planet, someone who will save us from the consequences of our actions.

Jesus often has to correct our perceptions of Messiah. Most of the time what we really want is a Genie in a bottle and not a Messiah. We want a Messiah who will be at our beck and call and make life comfortable. We want a Messiah who will come and destroy our enemies and deliver us circumstances we do not like. And judge the people we do not like.

But the ministry of Jesus the Christ, at this point in history, is to conqueror and redeem our hearts.

At his point in salvation history Jesus is redeeming and judging from the inside out – where we need it most!

Jesus as Messiah frees us from all the things that bind us to our self-centered lives and offers us to opportunity to live a God-centered life.

Jesus, the Messiah marches boldly into our hearts and begins his work of judgment and redemption.

• He judges our motives, our prejudices and reactions
• He redeems our pain, our brokenness, and our bitterness
• He judges our unforgiveness and our inner rebellion
• He redeems our hopes and our perceptions
• He gives us peace with God and the peace of God that is found in our trust in God no matter the circumstances
• He releases us from the bondage of sin and self-centeredness into the freedom to live as God intended.

Jesus Messiah begins his work in our hearts the same way he started it with Peter. He asks a simple question: “Who do you say I am?”

Look at the evidence…The testimony of Jesus, the lives of those you know as Christians, the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The testimony leads to the conclusion that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.

The only response that makes any sense is the same response that Jesus asked of Peter and the rest of the disciples — to lay down our lives for our Messiah, to follow in his footsteps.

[Mt 16:24-28 ESV ] Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

There will come a time when everything will be put right. There will come a time when judgment will fall. There will come a time when every tear will be wiped away. But it is not hear yet. So, until that day we give ourselves completely to Messiah. Our biggest problems in life stem from the fact that Jesus doesn’t measure up to our expectations of what a Messiah should be.

Every one of the disciples performed miracles, raised the dead and saw many baptized into the way of Jesus Messiah, but they also suffered tremendously and rejoiced in spite of it. Maybe the problem is not Jesus, but our expectations. Some may say that is not enough, Paul thought it was.

[2 Co 4:16-18 ESV ] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

So what do we do? We allow the mission and ministry of Jesus Messiah to shape our lives, our expectations and our future. There may be many things happen in this life as we journey with Jesus; many things we do not understand. But we do know this: we walk with Jesus.